Wordless Wednesday – Puppies Brighten Up My Day

My Cane Corso Puppy Xeno

Divination

I’m getting into this whole poetry thing.  I wrote this poem a few years ago after taking a tour of a Yoruba Art exhibition in Louisville Kentucky.  I felt inspired. I hope this inspired your day.

Divination

Your round surface is worn from years of prophecy,

although the center is intact. Prepared to

celebrate the governing forces.

 

Carefully, the Yoruba ceremony begins with a

sacred interpretation. What will be revealed?

I pray. 

Wisdom, guidance, consequences 

or perhaps despair.

Watching the stones shift back and forth.

Shivering with fear and regret

I pray.

 O, spirit of my ancestors and messenger

of the gods. Creator of land, earth and man

have mercy as your eyes look upon my soul.

What is Your Central Theme?

I just spent a LOVELY afternoon with people that I have known my entire life; whom I consider family. Which got me to thinking about how the family structure can be such a peculiar dynamic. My grandparents would consider family to be those that we share a DNA bond. Nowadays family has such a different meaning. For me, I consider family to be those that I love and trust; people who have been significant in my life regardless of the fact that we don’t have any relation or share a genetic code. I also I find myself spending a lot of time working with the topic of family within my writing.

I’m currently working on revising a short story that I have been working on for quite sometime. I really need to move forward and send the thing out to a few literary journals for publication – but that would take another blog post to discuss the issue about publication. At any rate, the main focus of the piece involves a woman who is trying to work through her own purpose and identity. The narrator of the story is a seven year old girl. I’m not sure why I went with having the story told from this perspective but I like having the naïve narrator demonstrate a silent strength that we – as adults forget we possess.

I’ve also used vernacular as a central component of the character. It’s taken me a while to begin to understand my central theme as a writer and I think I’ve found it; family, vernacular, and identity. This is really starting to sound much like my own personal life. But I guess as a writer – we all write from our personal experiences one time or another.

How have you worked to find your voice as a writer? What is your central theme as a writer?

Chicken Fever

The older I get the more I appreciate nature, farming, gardening and sustainable foods.   My hubby and I have participated in community gardens for many years.  We enjoy growing and harvesting fresh vegetables.

This year we are stepping up our effort.  A new ordinance was passed a few weeks ago that allows residents in the city to raise hens.  There is a lot of work to get the permit approved. I will need written permission from my neighbors (I’m not thrilled about this, after all its MY property) and build a coop that meets specific code standards.

I’ve been doing a lot of research and networking with the local group Cream City Hens.  I still have a lot to learn but I’m SO excited. Building the coop and raising the baby chicks is next on the agenda.

Earlier this week, I called a few friends to share my good news.  Unfortunately, they were not at all excited.  In fact, one friend even suggested that I leave animals and farming to people that actually live on farms; hens are not for city dwellers.

Nevertheless, I’m moving forward with raising hens; my chicken fever is here to stay.

Tell me what you think about urban farming and raising hens?

Kitchen Makeover – Part II

I’m back – Sorry it’s taken so long to post. No I didn’t get buried in the rubble but it certainly felt like it, with the Memorial Day Holiday and the kitchen makeover I was completely wiped out.

The kitchen makeover is coming along pretty good.  As I predicted, I embarked on major a project that would take more than four days.

We are almost there, the cabinet doors are being affixed as I write this post and we should have the new light fixtures by the end of the week.

I have some before and after pictures, I will post them very soon.

 

 

Kitchen Makeover

This weekend I decided to take on the task of remodeling my kitchen.  I figured a few coats of paint would do the trick.

Wrong?  Who was I fooling.  I couldn’t settle for just paint. Not me, the person with the ultra triple-A type personality.

I had to go BIG – do it all; completely transform my kitchen from old and stale to contemporary yet fabulous.

How’s it going?  Well, I probably have more paint on my body than on the walls and my hubby didn’t have a heart attack when I told him I wanted him to re-do the cabinets.

So I guess it’s going pretty good.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I hope to have this all done by Monday morning.

So I probably won’t post for the next few days, but I promise to share pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

The weather in Wisconsin is AWFUL!!  This is how I’m feeling today – a little melancholy.  With 46 degree weather and no sun – just rain, rain, and more rain – can you blame me?

A Fried Chicken Leg?? Can’t Be !!

One morning last fall, in a mad rush to get my daughter to school on time, I left my coveted sidekick – la cell phone` at home.   I don’t know about ya’ll but I NEED my cell.  So like a bat-out-of-hell, I rushed back home before heading into the office.

As I walked towards my house I noticed a really peculiar object lodged between the drain gutter and the house. I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I figured it was probably vegetation over growth; seeing as though my husband never seems to clean out the gutters the way I’d like them done.

Anyway, I stopped to take a closer look.

What the Hell Is This?

This Can NOT Be A Fried Chicken Leg!

Yep that’s it……a fried chicken leg (Don’t believe me? Take another look.  Go ahead see for yourself).

But how did it get there?  It can’t be garbage scraps.  I don’t fry foods very often, don’t care for chicken legs and lastly, it has a breading that is sure to be loaded with gluten.  My family had better not be trying to pull a prank on me!!

After getting my cell phone, I looked at the chicken leg again.  Shaking my head in disbelief, I called my hubby. Of course, he didn’t believe me until I sent him the pictures.  It must be our new ‘not’ so friendly neighbors.  What if they were gypsies placing some sort of weird curse on our home because they don’t like our dogs? I gotta be realistic, there are anti-dog people in this world.

I shared my theory with hubby. He laughed and tried to reassure me it was probably a squirrel digging in the garbage to harvest before the winter.  A squirrel?  No way. Besides do squirrels even harvest?

Infamous ‘Chicken Leg Hoarder’ Squirrel

I pondered this notion for a moment.  Hubby might be right, this could be a possibility. We always seem to have an abundance of squirrels living in our tree in the backyard.

Although, I tend to like the gypsy story better.

Jimmy John’s Fiasco

It’s been a year since my gluten free journey began and I’ll be honest – this has been one hellava ride.

It’s not as easy as it seems, going gluten free is more than just eliminating certain foods.  It’s a complete life altering transition.  I’ve read other blogs discuss the excitement in trying new foods.  That might work on some small level but for me; food is social, comfort, and entertaining.

Eating (or the inability to eat) food in social settings has turned my lifestyle upside down.  Exactly what I am I suppose to eat at a professional event? Or when I’m invited to a dinner party with friends?  As much as I would like special treatment, let’s be real the gluten filled foods on the menu are my option – take it or leave it. Not being able to eat in a social setting leaves me feeling like a complete dork.

A few weeks ago, I had a glimmer of hope after ordering the Turkey Unwich (short for a sandwich with no bread) from Jimmy John’s.  I was a little apprehensive during the phone call, as the order taker from Jimmy John’s didn’t seem to understand exactly what I was ordering.  I reassured her that even though it was an odd request, it was a listed item on the menu.

In what seemed like a nanosecond, the Jimmy John’s delivery guy was at my door.  Proudly smiling, the delivery guy handed me a rather heavy package.  Immediately, I knew it was wrong and returned the package to the driver; the smell of the fresh bread was too much for me.  Hey don’t judge me. The smell of warm bread is my weakness. Besides, I never said I didn’t like wheat bread. I called to explain the mix-up and of course I get the order taker who at this point became extremely rude and seemed put off that I even ordered a sandwich without bread; the nerve of me.

It took three delivery attempts to actually get my order right; it was too late I had lost my desire to have the Unwich.  I resorted to a banana and cup of applesauce for lunch. Damnit! Jimmy John’s I knew it was too good to be true.

Cluttered Heart

Today’s prompt for The Red Dress Club was to write about sloth or one of the seven deadly sins.  This piece is about forgiveness, something we all struggle with.

I think my heart is cluttered.

My health is great. My mental stability is just fine. HA- I’m sure hubby would tell a different story during my ratchet time of the month.

I’ve taken a path in my life that I’m very comfortable with – honestly no regrets.  I have discovered a comfortable level of peace and understanding in my life.

But something just doesn’t seem right….

I’m sure I’ve told all the people that are important to me how much I appreciate them.  Anyone who knows me – knows I speak from my heart, KEEPING IT REAL along the way; the good and the bad.

So my heart can’t be cluttered from that…..

Are there things I need to get off my chest to a few people that have pissed me off along the way?  Naw, cause I’m certain I took care of that awhile ago.

I’m stumped and not sure what could be causing this uneasiness I’ve been feeling lately.

I’ll admit.  I have a mean-streak and I don’t forgive that easy.  In fact, I don’t forgive at all.  Especially, when I have accepted and overlooked lots of pain and rejection from people.  I just compartmentalize the issue and move on.

But maybe, just maybe forgiving would help to release the small compartment that is now the size of a storage unit.

I’m not entirely convinced and I’m a little skeptical about the process because quite frankly, I’m still pissed at the betrayal.  I won’t get into the specifics, you know who you are.

Possibly it’s why my heart feels cluttered.

I probably need to let it go – be free of the bullshit. But I’m not so sure about this approach.  Sometimes, I like being angry and pissed off it helps me get through the pain. Also, some people just don’t deserve to be forgiven – plain and simple.

This is gonna take some time.  I need advice.

Tell me.  Why and how do you forgive?