Opal Reflections
Perspectives through Prose, Poetry and Photography
Roses and Lollipops
As Jack Jones advised ”…Keep them handy, flowers and candy…Roses and Lollipops”.
It’s concert day and for as long as I can remember, every time I sing in a concert Bobby always surprises me with flowers and candy. And surprisingly, I’m usually surprised!
This afternoon Choral Art Society of NJ will present “Americana,” and once again, my wonderful husband will be sitting in the audience. I won’t be next to him, but he’ll be with me for every note of every song.
🎶
Concert Week
This morning, music’s running through my mind,
Unending fragments, strains of melodies
that play incessant, just beneath – behind
my consciousness, a chorister’s peculiarity.
Now full awake, I finally realize,
Ahead this week, there lies the rationale,
Rehearsals, repetitions, parts revised,
For many voices, raised as one chorale.
These ‘worms’ reside within my ear canal
Where only I can hear and oft repeat
those tricky parts and passages, et al
I’m ready, though, will soon be bittersweet.
It’s concert week, the climax of our song,
Anticipation, joy, then set aside, ere long.
This week The Choral Art Society will fine tune our “Americana” program, rehearse in concert spaces and present this collection of choral settings of American music. I love concert week! But this time next week it will be over and I’ll be removing my music from my black folder and filing it away. It’s wonderful and yet, strangely bittersweet; like a long-anticipated vacation that is over all too soon.
But for now: Rejoice – it’s concert week!
The Pushover
I hardly notice anymore or check
His soft-click pitter-patter, at my side,
My challenge: “stay” when leaving for a sec,
Seems all for naught, he hears “stay near” instead.
Or if perchance I move from couch to bed,
He pounces up to snuggle in “his” lap,
My skeins are oft upended, tossed in shreds
As he secures the spot on which to plop.
And yet I’m helpless to resist this pup,
I gladly let him redefine my space,
Pushover to his charms, his wags, his crop
of wavy fur, and, oh, that funny face.
Some say I am his owner, he’s my pet,
I say “no”, he owns me! I’m content.
America
Blooming outward, scrolls ‘tween swirls embed,
Simplicity of form each rounded side,
In shades of palest blue and pastel red,
Each going its own way yet unified.
Symbolic of the majesty it hides
beneath its vault, the chambers of our state,
Tempestuous tempers, diff’rences magnified,
But always striving to elucidate.
Through sessions bearing witness: freedom’s fate
enwrapped in fervent promises fulfilled,
‘t was touted loud – the people’s common slate,
Debated endlessly t’ward laws and bills.
This dome inspires all who pass beneath,
A prayer is raised for wisdom’s wreath bequeathed.
While en route to a Seton Hall – Georgetown game, we stopped at the Capitol. I was speechless viewing the dome, and thought how unifying it seemed. These days we need a unifying message. I hear it and I share it here.
Convection Perfection
Chocolate chip or double ginger cakes,
Oven temps do rise to make them fine,
Otherwise these beauties ne’er could flake, though
Kitchen stoves of yore might gleam and shine.
I wonder how my grannies did their bakes,
Ensuring morsels, chewy, soft, sublime.
Official Dogwood Photography Challenge
Week 40 Story Telling: Modern Convenience
What modern convenience of 2019 can not you live without? Create an image that looks like an advertisement for your favorite Modern Convenience.
Uncertainty
Around the wide, wide world this afternoon,
‘neath searing sun and darkening shade, a storm,
It gathered, silent, ominous, it loomed,
So sudden, interrupting mindless norms.
We journeyed on, ignoring what could come,
No choice but journey on to foreign shores,
With backward glancing, hopeful we had time,
But we were wrong, the black clouds billowed more.
As calm skies disappeared, we grew unsure,
We questioned which the wiser path would be,
To linger longer, waiting for “all clear”
Or hurry faster ‘cross the EPCOT sea.
Water, earth, wind, fire – nature’s curtains,
We only know, uncertainty is certain,
Official Dogwood Photography Challenge
Week 39 Inspiration: The Elements
Earth, Fire, Wind, Rain, and Spirit. Find inspiration in the elements of our world.
Legacy
I’d watch him early mornings, pre-work hours,
Examining his plot aside the fence,
He’d smile to see the haze of yellow flowers,
That patience soon would bear some evidence.
I wondered how the psyche of this man,
His fingers slaked and bruised with mason’s glue,
Could find contentment, purpose from his land
that ‘fore and after work, he’d tend and hoe.
With pride, when harvest came, he’d reap the gift,
These beauties, filling bushels from the shed,
His chore of love became his evening shift,
We’d marvel at the bounty, rife and red.
Decades hence, with Romas from a stand,
I put up stores of fruit, with him in mind.
Each August, I devote several weekends lovingly coring, peeling and processing Jersey tomatoes from the farmers’ markets. I cannot help but think of Dad, a hardworking tile man, and remember how proud he was of his garden in the back – especially his crop of tomatoes. I remember, too, the Sunday visits home, when he and Mom would load us up with cans of tomatoes from the shelf on the way to the basement. This photo is more than just a bunch of tomatoes…it’s evidence of a treasured legacy.
Official Dogwood Photography Challenge
Week 37 Storytelling: Seasons
The weather is changing! Find inspiration in the seasons.
Great photographers can tell a story with an image.
The Bench
There doesn’t seem
to be a glimmer,
No sun to be seen.
It’s hidden high,
Hiding Nigh
beyond the gathering
ominous
overcast .
My lonely dockside bench
Side-casts a looming shadow
upon the slaking slats,
As if waiting,
On guard
against the choppy,
darkening
sea.
It’s at these moments
of intersecting time and space,
Of place celestial yet earthbound.
Evolving atmospheres,
cluttering cloudy
brew-pot of storms,
sobering
serenity.
Week 37 Storytelling: Seasons
The weather is changing! Find inspiration in the seasons.Great photographers can tell a story with an image.
By the Sea
Glancing o’er my shoulder, golden glimmer,
green-white shards with petals lithe and awesome,
Shining ‘gainst the sunrise walk a-shimmer,
Striking, spiking splendor: beachside blossom.
To everything, a season…
Moon hangs on high, as if by silken thread,
Reminding all that night precedes the dawn,
Black storms recede to wispy gold instead,
This pastel morning after rain has gone.
These seven days and nights we journeyed on
in magic ever-after-ness, and ponder,
Joys abound, from this our marathon
beneath the summer sun, with warmth and wonder.
Our family trek this year will soon be yonder,
Spreading lanes with memories we’ve gathered,
For special moments, ne’er be placed asunder,
And family ties have strengthened with each matter.
I view the sunrise on this last of days,
Vacation ends; new pathways wend their ways.
❤️🧡💛💚💙
On this, the last day of our annual Disney-world vacation, I zipped up the luggage for early airline check-in at the Polynesian Village, United Airlines desk.
I stepped out onto our lanai for a last look and a long sip of freshly-brewed Kona coffee. The lagoon waters were still and serene under the waning crescent moon, as the predawn, wispy sky hinted of the dissipating storms from last night, and of the tropical day ahead.
Today is a new day. Today we go home. Today, with a few teary eyes, we leave our home-away-from-home. Our doggies, our tomato plants and our own bed pillows await our return. It was a lovely and memorable vacation for many reasons and our 52nd Wedding Anniversary was joyful and special.
And, as always, it’s nice to come home.
Transformation
Waking up early in New Hope this morning (after a lovely matinee of Mama Mia at Bucks County Playhouse, a wonderful dinner at The Logan Inn, and an evening stroll along Main Street and night cap at Nektar’s) we ventured out for breakfast. The River Cat Cafe was the perfect place to begin our day, and we sat outside next to an inspired garden. Then I spotted this sculpture – the perfect response to this week’s Dogwood challenge.
Junk
rusted, crusted
cracking, bending, extending
hard, ugly, transformed, reformed
eye-catching, striking, sculpting
rewired, inspired
Art
Official Dogwood Photography Challenge: Week 26 Composition: Geometry
Chaleur d’Amour
Even here,
though out of view
as yet, unseen
its singular scent
enwraps my
senses;
Romantic
Irrepressible
Unforgettable.
Causing me
to pause,
to full inhale,
as visions of a long ago
invade and deep pervade
my mind;
Beautiful
Serene
Green.
A young man
shyly pins it to her dress
And she, in turn
returns his
loving gaze;
Silent
Innocent
Timeless.
This creamy gardenia, a warm, fragrant, iconic summer bloom, was for my parents the romantic symbol of their courtship. It was the summer of 1944 (I was not yet a glimmer in Daddy’s eye), when on every date, he would present a delicate gardenia blossom to the love of his life. Today, I nurse the buds on my gardenia ‘tree’, recalling with each new blossom, the romantic story they shared with me, so very long ago.
Photo Friday: #warm
Choral Art Society presents Americana
Bandit
Partial to “Red Heads”
