Poetry Monday: Plans For The New Year

Hello hello hello! It's New Year's Eve AND Poetry Monday, and as we prepare to ring in a fresh new year, this week's topic is "our plans for 2019" . . .

Join Diane, Delores (I hope,) and me as we turn to a clean page in our poetry-writing books and talk about our hopes/dreams/wishes/plans for the upcoming trip around the sun.

If you'd like to write a poem too, you may leave it in the comments on any of our blogs, or post on your own blog; if you do the second, please let us know in the comments so we can come along and read and cheer you on. Use the topic, or another of your choosing.

It doesn't have to be a long poem, it doesn't have to rhyme, and it doesn't have to be filled with big words or big ideas. Experiment, make it "you," and have fun!

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"And For The Tenth Year In A Row, I Resolve To . . ."

This is the year I will lose fifty pounds
I'll eat all my veggies and not lie around
I'll re-find my waistline, wave Bye to one chin
In fifty-two weeks, oh THE SHAPE I'LL BE IN!

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Some of the reasons I need this resolution:

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Thank you to everyone who commented last week. Luckily, my spot of sadness passed with the holiday, and I'm back to myself again. I appreciate the support and kind wishes, and hope you all had some good things in your holiday season.

See you next week. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

What are YOUR plans for 2019? Do you ponder and plan the year ahead or do you just dive right in and take it as it comes?

Update:  Poetry Monday will be on temporary hiatus for January as our fearless leader, Diane, takes a break.

I'll be posting at random for the month :)

Poetry Monday: That Time Of Year

Hello, everyone -- it's Poetry Monday, and the topic this week is "that time of year."

I'm going to take a pass this week, but if you feel up to the task you can join Diane (and possibly Delores) in writing a poem; and you can post it in the comments on any of our blogs, or on your own blog. If the latter, please leave a comment so we can find you and cheer you on. Use the topic or not; there are no poem police here :)

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I am not feeling all that Christmas-y this year. As the actual day approaches, I am getting more and more morose. I'm missing my father, who passed away a few years back. I'm missing my daughter and her family, who you might remember moved far, far away last month.

I'm hoping a few hours spent with most of the rest of my close family members and some pie will make me feel better tomorrow.

For today, I think I'll just leave you with a Walmart ad which made me all teary but at least it wasn't in a bad way. Even if it is just a clever marketing ploy on behalf of the richest company in the world, it's still sweet and heartwarming. I hope you like it as much as I did.

Wishing all you lovely people a peaceful holiday, no matter who or what you celebrate, or if you don't -- or don't want to -- celebrate at all.

A big Donkey hug to every one of you :)

Update:  Next week's topic is "plans for 2019"! . . .

Poetry Monday: Holiday Romance

It's Poetry Monday . . . and the topic this week is "holiday romance."

Join Diane and me (Delores is on temporary hiatus) as we take this topic out on a date. You can leave a poem in the comments on either of our blogs, or post on your own blog. If the latter, please leave a comment to let us know where to find you. Use the topic or not; just have fun.

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I may be in the minority here, but I've never had a holiday romance. So I felt a bit at sea when considering the topic.

Then I thought about romance in terms of "what," not "who," and a dim bulb finally brightened.

The thing I love to do that's connected with the holidays is to make Christmas tree ornaments. I don't know why, but making ornaments brings lightness to my heart and a sparkle to my eye. I get butterflies when I think about it. Truly I do. That may be weird, but it's how I'm wired.

A hundred points for anyone who noticed that "wired" is just "weird" with the letters rearranged.

So anyway, the last few years I've made a lot of Christmas ornaments to sell at craft sales, using stacks of buttons or thread spools. (I make other stuff, too, but that's a different topic.) You can read about them and see some pictures here, or you can take my word for it and just look at these pictures from last year:

Snowmen made from buttons. I also make Santas, Christmas trees and angels.

Thread spool ornaments . . . with buttons on top and bottom . . . and that's a hand-made tassel on the left one, people. Not so impressive when one realizes that everything was hand-made at one time, though. Why do we think machine-made is the pinnacle of beauty, I wonder?

This year I tried a couple of new things:

Little felt people,which may look familiar to Steve and his readers at Shadows & Light, modelled on an ornament given to me last Christmas, similar to the ones Steve found:

The first one off the home assembly line. A bit wonky. Kept for personal use, as is usual with my first drafts.

Angels with musical instruments:

Angels with music books:

Angels with flowers:

Angels with feather wings (my personal favourite); these are tiny, about two inches high:

And bundles of cinnamon sticks with dried orange peel stars, inspired by two things: the need to use up a bag of cinnamon sticks I inherited when our daughter moved away, and reading about crafting with orange peelings by Cherie at North Yorkshires Craft Guru -- thanks for the inspiration, Cherie!

They smell pretty good. You can't smell them? You're not close enough to the screen. Come closer. Closer . . .

Now, I'd like to report that these items were a huge hit with buyers at the several craft sales where I flog my wares and that I am now very rich because so many sold . . . but that would be lying. I sold very few of them, which was a disappointment. But I had fun making them, and I'm proud of the final product, and they will keep until next year's sale, where they will get marked down in price in order to move them along.

And I've found my new project for next year's sale: Gnomes!

One variation of many on the gnome theme. This is not my work, but I hope to replicate it. (photo: Pixabay)

Another hundred points for anyone who noticed I've managed to work a whole post about crafts into what was supposed to be a Poetry Monday post.

Thank you for your patience. To help make up for it, today's poem is another short one!


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Can I Interest You In Yet Another Glittery Gizmo??

Some folks would be on cloud nine if they could be on a beach with their feet in the sand
But I could die happy if I had buttons/ribbons/fabric/felt/beads and a glue gun in my hand


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Wishing you a week of romance or creativity -- or both!

Update:  As next Poetry Monday is Christmas Eve, the topic will be "that time of year" . . .

Poetry Monday: Decorating For The Holidays

It's Poetry Monday AGAIN ALREADY . . . and this week's topic is "decorating for the holidays."

Join Diane and me (Delores is on temporary hiatus) as we drag memories and dreams out of the closets and basements of our brains, rummage noisily through them, and create a thing of beauty from the whole dusty mess.

You are welcome to leave a poem (yours, or one you've read and liked) in the comments on either of our blogs, or on your own blog; if you do the second, please leave a comment so we can come along and applaud your creation. Use the topic or not; just have fun.

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I don't do a lot of decorating for the holidays, now that our kids are grown and we rarely have company. Therefore, this week's poem veered off the topic a wee bit. In fact, you might say it's more about un-decorating than decorating.

In the thirty-eight Christmases that have passed since my husband and I were married, we have always had at least one cat in the household. Most of them have been fairly well-mannered.

But there was one interesting Christmas that we had a too large tree and a too small tree stand and an athletic cat who tackled the tree three times . . .

. . . three times of hearing swooooooosh-crashhhhhh-tinkle-slosh as the tree fell over, another ornament smashed to bits, and the water in the stand escaped and ran over the floor . . .

That was the same Christmas I had a chest infection and wanted to lie on the couch twenty-three hours a day. And it was also the Christmas our kids were seven and ten, which I have found to be a very excitable age range when it comes to Christmassy things.

Ah, but if everything went as planned, how would we have any fun?

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Christmas With B.T.K.

That year is etched
In my mind's eye
The year the tree
Aspired to fly
Three times it fell
With wingless grace
As Big Tan Kitty
Trashed the place
Three times he tried
Its limbs to scale
Three times we saw
A major Fail
In spite of the
Resulting mess
His kitty swagger
Claimed Success

Big Tan Kitty, in later years. Slightly more sedate.

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How do you decorate for the holidays? Do you have to take pets into consideration?

Wishing you a good week, my people :)

Update:  Next week's topic is "holiday romance" . . .

Poetry Monday: Gifts

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic is "gifts."

Join Diane and me (Delores is on hiatus for now) as we poetically wrap/unwrap our thoughts on this timely topic. You can leave a poem in the comments on either of our blogs, or post on your own blog. If you do the second, please leave a comment so we know where to find you.

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Around this time of year, it's not uncommon to come across a blog post about "the worst gift you've ever received" or something similar.

Well, what about gift-giving? What's the worst gift you have ever given, one that just bombed, for whatever reason?

I know what my answer would be. It was a seashell brooch I bought at a craft fair for someone who loved the beach and even used a beach theme in decorating her porch. It was always a challenge to find a gift for her, but I was SO SURE this brooch was a winner. The crafter had painted little gift boxes the blue of a tropical ocean, and had painted a beautiful backdrop for her display table in a similar blue. The actual brooch itself was peculiarly ugly, but set in its little blue box it looked nice, just like it would look on (or near) a beach. It wasn't even a complete shell, just a piece of broken shell. The crafter missed her calling; she was a marketing genius.

As soon as I got it home and looked at it again, I realized what I had done. Not only was it ugly, but I had never seen the intended recipient wear a brooch of any kind, even a pretty one.

By then, the money was spent, I had no more time to look for an alternative, and I basically gave up trying. I just wrapped it and gave it. My fears were realized when she unwrapped it and tried to find something nice to say. I still feel squirmy inside at the thought!

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Let's Just Laugh About It And I'll Make It Up To You Next Christmas


Did I buy the ugly brooch because
The maker marketed with flair?
Or was my good sense overwhelmed
By noisy chaos at the fair?
Perhaps I simply caved to thoughts
Of finishing my Christmas shop . . .
I'm sorry, friend; I really should
Be dragged out in the street and shot!

Can you see the shell on the right side that I have circled in blue? Imagine that with a brooch pin stuck on the back. Yes, it was that bad. Maybe worse. It was hard to find a Pixabay photo that showed an adequately unsuitable shell, because people mostly try to take pleasing photos. And there's nothing wrong with this shell in its proper setting. That setting, however, is the BEACH, not somebody's good blouse.

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Wishing you a lovely week, and if you are doing holiday shopping, I urge you to be smart about marketing ploys!

Me? I learned my lesson :)

Update:  Next week's topic is "holiday decorations" . . .