winter wonderland

the car without chains

starts to slide

...even my car has an opinion

NaNoWriMo....let the words begin...

I won't be making my bed for the next 30 days...

how did I know

you'd come around again

full moon

This is one of my favourite pictures of my father. The tough, six-foot retired cop, his big, strong, rough hands carefully trying to comfort a screaming, unhappy grandchild. Caught with the dreaded curl dangling out of place on his forehead, hands full, unable to quickly comb it back before the camera clicked. The rare gentle side I don’t even think he knew he had. It was there. It just took him awhile to find it.

after death

the things in life

that really matter

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I miss you still

hot summer night

our clothes lie

lifeless

on the bedroom

floor

father's day

my life with you

flashes before me

...wherever you are

the space in between my thoughts        weightless

first caterpillar

even when no one is looking

life still goes on

solar eclipse

the moon having its way

with the sun

NaHaiWriMo prompt - local seasonal reference

june gloom

already the nursery

out of milkweed

June gloom is a southern California term for a weather pattern that results in cloudy, overcast skies with cool temperatures during late spring and early summer.  Usually the cloudiest time of year for the coast, perfect for gardening, and meditatively savored before the hot summer days to follow.

NaHaiWriMo prompt - cats

blooming tulips

the cat tells the dog

who's boss

hidden

in a sea of clouds

the mountain road

NaHaiWriMo prompt - springs, fountains, waterfalls, floods, seas

Yosemite Falls

my fears accidently slip

into the water

The house is quiet again, half empty coffee cups are turning cold in the evening air as the dog hunts for fallen jelly beans in the patio. The faint sound of a lone violin playing Chopin's Nocturne has just begun to play along with the echo of two dogs barking at each other in the distance. Finally settled, I have my way with the rising full moon.


end of day
all that's left
is the fragrance
of a flower

Together we celebrate

Happy Easter

Happy Passover

Happy Spring!

...one of my favourites NaHaiWriMo prompt - Bubbles

lazy afternoon

a bubble floats by

with my house in it

wildflowers

how fast they grow

in my garden

The sky was thick with billowing storm clouds, the wind fierce. Heavy rain pounded the freeway as hurried tires spewed sheets of watery mist from the back ends of their speeding vehicles, causing red lights to glisten in its trail and caution to be heeded. Briefly, and quickly, the sun peaked out from a tiny sliver of space between the clouds and the horizon, just as it dipped into the ocean. Red lights glistened again, this time slowing down to view the spectacle that was showing off in the east.

first spring storm

taking the time for another

cup of coffee

Just as I was leaving, I saw this beautiful cloud formation in the rear view mirror. I pulled over to the turnout at Red Rock and would have gone back to the north end of the mountain to spend the rest of the sunlight hour to gaze at, study, write about, this beautiful formation. If only time would have allowed. Next time my lenticular cloud.

winter to spring

each moment

a blessing

first spring snow storm

the property line

between our houses

disappears

snowed in

two finches fighting

under the pine tree

a river of stones #31 January

Thanks once again, Fiona and Kaspa, for bringing the world together

for another month of stones!

united we stand

in the river

of stones

a river of stones #30 January

once again half of the moon

a river of stones #29 January

Yesterday was Emmy's third birthday. For three years she has been my constant companion. She always curiously tilts her head back and forth as she listens to my complaints and ideas when no one else is around. She agreeably weathers the sand at the beach or twisting mountain roads when she accompanies me on photo shoots. She waits patiently, except for one yarn incident when she was a puppy, for me to return home from a day out of town, only to greet me with the most ambitious welcome. Today, as I gave her an extra treat for being so cute, I thought, she did all this without speaking on single word.

a river of stones #28 January

on the horizon

a ball of fire sizzles

January's end

a river of stones #27 January

Why is it so spooky under the pier at night, even as people are laughing and drinking at the restaurant above? Their footsteps echo below as I step into the dark and disappear, shivering; so, I quickly rush back into the light, safe and sound, and I become a timbered shadow.

moonless night

in between shadows

I find a dime

a river of stones #26 January

These past two nights the crescent moon has been gleaming in a cloudless evening sky, reminding me of a haiku that I wrote last year. Can't help but giggle a bit.

crescent moon

the way you smile

late at night

a river of stones #25 January

red sunset

my heart beats

faster

a river of stones #24 January

The store went silent as we watched her yank his ear and call him stupid. She quickly looked up at the four of us, then hurriedly rushed her son towards the front door. As they passed me, I spontaneously raised my right hand and signed, "I love you". The little boy smiled back at me as he walked out the door.

winter rain

jumping through mud puddles

all the way home

a river of stones #23 January

If this used to be a one-lane dirt road when my grandmother was born, and it's an eight lane plus freeway now, I wonder how many lanes of traffic there will be when her great-great grandchildren learn how to drive?

weekend trip

to los angeles

how fierce the dust spews

from the horses' nostrils

a river of stones #22 January

I have so many folders on my computer that I spent most of the day organizing and deleting files that were not needed. I ended up throwing out several hundred photos, over 350 files, 143 documents, and not one piece of paper was shredded or lost to the trash can.

I think I just saved a tree?

next year's firewood

bleeds into the sky

tree of life

a river of stones #21 January

Saturday, so much to do, places to go, pictures to take, poems to write. By mid-morning I decide to do absolutely nothing.

sometimes

it's called a break

procrastination

a river of stones #20 January

a river of stones #19 January

my muse

still on vacation

home alone

a river of stones #18 January

I guess I'm getting used to this new decade I'm in.

When asked how old I was today, I responded,

"Old enough to buy a string bikini

and wise enough to not wear it."

underneath all this

a wiser eighteen year old

senior citizen

a river of stones #17 January

Spending the afternoon with a two-year-old is demanding. Spending the afternoon

with two of them....nothing but trouble.

time out

on the sofa

tornado season

a river of stones #16 January

editor editing duster dusting

dusty mustard dastard fretting

edit deadline fretting bedtime

betting online light on

all of the time

bedding no sleeping weeping

no eating no meeting no knitting

commiting ommitting

delete delete delete instead

then edit some more

and get to bed

a river of stones #15 January

It’s true, a writer’s life can be lonely, yet, we can fly to any city in the world, put ourselves in a precarious situation, go back in time and change things around, take on a lover in France, write a three word poem or a monstrous novel, and, if things get too dangerous or the lover in France becomes too obnoxious, there’s always the delete button.

How’s your afternoon going?

solitude

how still the silhouette

of a bird

a river of stones #14 January

Where's the snow????

mid january

the oak tree

starting to bud

a river of stones #13 January

I was on a walk at the beach when the sun started to set. I stopped to take a few pictures and thought about how lucky I was to catch such a beautiful sunset. Then, a helicopter flew into the frame of my camera and I thought, what a hell of a view this guy must have had! Hope he had a camera.

sometimes

the grass is greener

lucky duck

a river of stones #12 January

Because I was busy, all day long I concentrated so hard on what stone I was going to write that I forgot to write it.

lonely night
across the canyon a dog barks

continuously

a river of stones #11 January

As I watched the dark night turn to ashen gray it expressed a glowing aura of timid light that divided the earth and sky. Through the dense atmosphere a crown of blue morphed into brilliant streaks of yellow and pink across the skyline and mingled with orange and royal blue brush strokes; darker, deeper blue, a deeper pink that bled into a silver swirl of blue and gray and slowly settled on a thin layer of pale cirrus clouds. After several minutes of this ritualistic dance a white ball of fire emerged gloriously, pompously, above the horizon; all colours faded into black and white, and then it was day.

sunrise
steam slowly drifts to my lips
from your tea cup

a river of stones #10 January

happy birthday, son

you are officially older

than me now

love, mom

a river of stones #9 January

Wondering what it would be like to crawl around the earth on sixteen legs and then one day shed an outer skin, antennae, eyes, legs included, and turn into something completely different? With wings yet? Guess we'll all find out one day.

in my sleep

I can fly to other worlds

full moon

a river of stones #8 January

come on sky

what colour are you today

california heat wave

in the middle

of winter

a river of stones #7 January

Sitting at a traffic light, I observed a pigeon standing in his own crap, watching the traffic go by. After I completed my errand and returned to the same intersection, I saw that the pigeon was still there. Does he not even care that the moon is almost full?

domesticated pets

my cat plays the piano

after midnight

a river of stones #6 January

Not feeling well today, I decided to take it easy, read a bit and rest on the sofa. That quickly turned into a nap. I dreamt of flying with a flock of birds, the sun setting on black wings in a cloudless sky, the sound of cawing; loud, louder. Then I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie, black birds everywhere; in the street, on the roof, still cawing even louder. When I heard their huge wings flapping far and near I realized that I wasn't dreaming anymore.

reality

sometimes it haunts you

in dreams

a river of stones #5 January

Finally took the tree down today. Now there's a big empty space where Christmas used to be.

winter blues

I really miss

my dad

a river of stones #4 January

No, Stella, Grandma's not mad at you for breaking the trunk off of her Ming Dynasty jade elephant.

spilt milk

is just that

spilt milk

a river of stones #3 January

The moon followed me home again tonight, peeked through my window as I got ready for bed, then silently sank into the horizon as I drifted off to sleep.

gibbous moon

the night light in the hallway

burned out again

a river of stones #2 January

A female white ringed dove flew down from the pine tree and sat in the frigid stream right next to where I was sitting. She didn’t look very well and my human side wondered if she would let me pick her up and take her to the Veterinarian’s. She sat in the cold stream, taking small sips of water now and then, choking a bit on something I couldn’t see and then closed her eyes. I felt helpless, yet remembered all of the National Geographic films that showed the natural life process of Nature’s animals. She seemed to know what to do with her fate and did not complain once.

mid-winter

still no snow

on the mountain