Woo, Woo, Day Two

April 2

Day two of NaPoWriMo, and I have a second poem. Crazy.



Trimmed

the well crafted poem
is nothing like this lived life
wild erratic
swing escapade
now noticeably staid
now whistling wild whipped
bouncing from metaphor to metaphor

not reason bound or language tied
nothing pinned
I sew with abandon
dance without style or preformed rhythm
a never to be repeated samba
the untrimmed seams of the untrained seamstress

can't sell this
no one would buy
but do I want to sell, really

if I could work a miracle
with a watercolor pencil
and fine line pen

if I could train my life
into beginning, middle, end

where would I say
this finds me

mid-stitch, deep in a dip
can I even sort the meteoric twists

can't slow down now
tuck a dew rag into my shorts
and take off once again

how the street does change
mid-morning to mid-night

wisteria blooms
forsythia blossoms fall

the rain washes pollen
from the front porch

NaPoWriMo
April 1, 2010

April is National Poetry Month and as part of the celebration, poets are challenged to write a poem a day for the whole month. Sort of appropriate that this begins on April Fools Day I think, 'cause I'm just crazy to even try.

Now, a poem a day means nothing will be polished or even edited at all, or at least mine will not. So anyone reading this has to look at it as a repository of ideas, not anything that is even near the finished product.

That said, I will give it a go.

When Did Becoming

when did becoming turn became
this path, once random
a genuine pleasant ramble
the imagined destination
a pinprick on the horizon
a gambol across a desert even
lighthearted

now my feet are heavy
lead filled wings
unable to lift
a bare inch forward
each step a slog

there is interest, still
at each juncture
a blade of grass a wonder
the bee that stops
mid-flight to watch
me, of all things
interested, in his short life
with my old bag

an instant for him
then a flit and he has forgotten
while I, slow, steady
contend with the discontent
of mystery

when did I miss that boat
that sailed to the middle
of Green Lake
caught the tide
ever so small

even that boat I missed
now, meant to be content
with this pace
this place
or maybe a day trip out
but always back to nearly here

where I started

Cheese at the Farmer's Market

Finally we have cheese at the Farmer's Market in Shreveport. I am so excited.

The cheese makers come from south of Dallas, which seems like a very far piece to come, so I hope they had an excellent day and will be back. They sell artisan cheeses made from milk from their own cows, so this is the real thing.

I got some nice feta, which I am using for supper tonight mixed with tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, also from the marker. I added just a hint of ground Jalapeno Pepper, a market find and some oil, also market available. It will be a wonderful addition to the cucumber salad I made with the other half of the one I cut up with the feta. Had to use Greek Yogurt from Kroger, as there is no yogurt at the market yet. As the main dish, a spinach pie (just warm it up in the oven). How do I survive without the market?

Have some cheddar, which will go well with cauliflower to make a cheese soup, and, for school lunch next week, pepper jack. The market just makes Saturday as far as I am concerned.

Thanks to Noma for seeking and finding some interesting vendors.

Pumpkin & Lentil Soup

It has been raining here for the past 20 hours, so the perfect time to make some comfort food. What could be more comforting than soup?


I got pie pumpkins at Kroger last week, 2 for $4, which was a bargain I think and today was the perfect day to use one of them. What I love about this kind of soup is that the only waste is the stem. Very eco-friendly and healthy.


First cut the pumpkin in half and scooped out the seeds. Put the seeds into a small pan with a bit of oil, salt and various spices. I personally like Indian. Coat the inside of the pumpkin with a bit of oil, salt, pepper and spices. Indian again for me, though even sweet spices might be good. It depends on your taste. Bake both seeds and pumpkin in a 325 oven for an hour or so, until the seeds are crunchy and the pumpkin is soft.


Meanwhile, start some yellow lentils with salt (not much), cayenne pepper, and some onion powder. Also brown some onion and two stalks of celery. Add these to the lentils, and, when it is baked nicely, add the pumpkin, skin and all. Boil the whole in water just to cover and then shut it down to cool.


I worked the Revel of an hour or so and when I got home put the soup into the blender a bit at a time to make it creamy. Serve with a nice big spoonful of plain yogurt on top. Splendid.


Will take the seeds to school for a snack tomorrow. Lots of soup left for an easy Monday.

Natchitoches Meat Pie Fish

I am the "Artist for a Day" in the children's section of the Red River Revel on Monday and as such needed a project to teach. Came up with a new way to make fish, or at least I cannot find the idea anywhere on the web, so it is new to me. There is one thing I have learned, however, and that is that no matter how novel the idea seems, there is probably someone out there in art idea land someplace who has had the same brain storm before.


The fish I am teaching are made from a pancake of self-drying clay with a triangle cut tail section. The rest is then brought together much like a meat pie. The mouth is left open and eyes and fins are added. The nice thing about self-drying clay is that in a day or two it gets hard enough to paint with watercolors, tempera or acrylic.


I like this idea for the regional appeal. Plus, it is so easy that even a three year old can do it with a little bit of help. Perfect for the Revel.

Quilt on Second Thought

After thinking for a week that I really didn't have, my chioce is...

This is the location of a drum roll, or one verse of "Scotland the Brave"-

To just go ahead and do what I was going to do anyway before I went around hunting up compliments from my husband and justification from Kaye, my quilting expert.

Decided to use the photo option this time just to spice up the blog a bit. It is not sewn together yet, so this is just an approximation.

I don't really care anymore what anyone thinks. The beauty of this blog is that no one reads it, so I can say anything I want and get things out without critical worry. Where I live a blog can spark tons of criticism and many arguments. Right now there is a big debate going on about authentic criticism of local theater. Lots of raw feelings about this. Don't think personal feelings about my quilting decisions will have quite the ability to spark a fire.

Of all the uses for blogs, I think this one is best. Say what I want for anyone to read, so not just writing a letter then burning it, but knowing that it will remain a rant!

Baby Quilt

Sooooo, haven't done a quilt since the one I made for Edward when he was still a twinkle, and now, too late, I find that quilting has come into the 21st century along with everything else. But me? I'm stuck in the 80's. However, my newest grand-baby will be strictly up to date.

Could be worse, I'm thinking, as I could be stuck in the 70's or 60's, but back in the 80's good scissors were still a tool that was cool. Now, if you don't own a roto-cutter and a self healing cutting board, you are in the dust. A 21st century quilt is expected to be exact. A 21st century quilter is expected to be precise.

Additionally I'm told that the squares, well, nearly squares, that I made are not really baby appropriate and my expert would rip most of it apart, down to the size a baby would appreciate.

So my conundrum: Should I just start over and save the really nice, even if I do say so myself, sort-of-squares for an interesting, if unfortunately skewed, larger quilt? Or do as she suggests and rip, rip rip? I'm leaning to a new start with new tools. After all I have learned tons from this and I like what I have done.

I like unfortunately skewed anyhow, sort of a metaphor for life. Anytime I have to explain my metaphors, they are probably not that effective. Story of...