Opal Reflections
Perspectives through Prose, Poetry and Photography
Haiku Friday: Blue-sky Hope
Felled mother-trunk
Strewn with fractured fence debris,
Frames blue-sky hope.
I wrote this Haiku while looking back on my hurricane Sandy photos.
It struck me then, as it does now, that though this Grand Dame Tree that had thundered loudly to the ground across our yard. screamed and echoed of the destruction that was all around us; when considered after the storm, it symbolized that the morning-after tenuousness was filled with hope, and the clearing created by uprooted tree and fencing would redirect earth-energy into the younger, still-standing tree-lings, permitting the healing sun to shine through onto new growth.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details (2)
We awoke this morning to a blanket of snow. Striking though, is the beautiful way this wet whiteness clumps and clings to the hexagons of thin chicken-wire fencing.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details
While photographing my sleeping puppy, who had found his snuggle-bed atop my knitting project..a red and white afghan; I decided to approach it from a puppy’s eye view, only to rediscover the beauty and symmetry of the knitted stitch and the striking intensity of the red and white fabric, juxtaposed by the unknitted skein of merino wool. It appears that Puppy’s perch was perfect.
Breaking News…Popover Gremlin Strikes Again!
I love cooking.
I love cooking for my family.
I love cooking dishes that others dare not attempt.
I love to juggle food preparation logistics like a project manager, to produce a fantastic family feast.
Most of all, I love hearing “Amazing!” and “More, please!”, as my grandsons wolf down my culinary creations.
Topping the Favorite Culinary Creations list is “Grandma’s Perfect Popovers,” a time-honored, perfected family recipe that is a uniquely marvelous melding of art and science. It is truly magical to witness a popover tin filled with thin, runny batter, morph into a dozen high-rise, hollow puffs of crispiness, filled only with steamy tendrils of tender warmth. I am proud to say I’ve mastered the ‘art of the popover’ and these ingeniously simple beauties have become Sunday morning staples in my home. Most importantly, I love serving them to the “ooh’s” and “aah’s” of my family.
Though for many, the appeal of a popover is their hollow crispiness, it’s the peel-apart, tender tendril-ness, that #2 grandson cannot resist. The evidence speaks volumes, as these crime scene photos show.
When I realized that the “Popover Gremlin” had struck again, my heart melted instantly; like butter in a fresh-from-the-oven popover. Once again, my perfect creations had been thoroughly and systematically demolished by this repeat offender (note that the remnants were rearranged carefully, with a remarkable sense of order), and I (and my melting heart) offered a quiet prayer of gratitude for this truly precious moment.
Thank you, Dylan!
Consolation
This was written in response to Trifextra Challenge:
Lilies of the Valley
A sensation of relief wrapped him
Like a comforting blanket,
When he found remnants of the Lilies of the Valley,
Still growing wild by the house.
The man discovered the hidden, inner child.
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I wrote this response to Trifextra Challenge. Upon reading the beautifully written words, I chose to call upon a treasured childhood memory of my Father. We had a wild patch of Lilies of the Valley growing on the side of the house, and in a location that I could view from my bedroom window. More importantly though, I recall the many times my Father would share with me, his delight in the resurgence each year of the incredibly beautiful and indescribably fragrant tiny blossoms. I never fail to think of him when I inhale that scent. Hence, my offering this week.
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The Challenge: This weekend we are playing another type of word game with you. Below are photos from the 33rd page of one of our very favorite books, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. What we want you to do is to scour the page (click to enlarge), choose 33 words, and reshape those words into a piece of your own. Your piece does not have to tell an entire story. We just want to see what you can do with this particular word bank. Punctuation is up to you. Use whatever you need, whether or not it appears in the photos.
A Feast of Praise
As concert nears, the excitement is building in our rehearsals. This music is beautiful and challenging…truly “A Feast of Praise.”
Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward
Since the early eighties, we’ve called Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Village, our ‘home away from home.’ We always stay in the same building; lagoon view, with a room facing the Magic Kingdom and a patio that spills onto the plush green lawn strip that leads to the sandy beach and the dark blue waters of the lagoon. Our grandchildren (like their parents before them) delight in running out of the room towards the beach, at all hours of the day and night.
Each morning, in particular though, their squeals of laughter join a soothing cacophony that underscores for me, the special peace I feel when I am here. Let me set the scene:
The sand-rakers have been out early, combing away the sandy footprints left the night before by the festive firework watchers. The pattern that remains after raking, is perfectly linear and well-defined with lovely mini-trenches, waiting to be disturbed by toddler footprints. As most families are waking to a lovely sunrise and planning the day’s activities, families of Canada geese, waddling ducks and their ducklings, and snowy white egrets emerge from the shrubs and the watery marshes, swooping in to stake their claim.
To others, their footprints may seem to mar the orderly, carved lines created by the rake-mobile. But to me, they symbolize not only constancy and predictability, but also the inescapable notion of forward progress. Every day, despite serious challenges facing our beloved planet, this insistent forward surge of life continues, whether we are there to witness it or not. So when we are there, even after all these years, we tentatively and carefully tread into their habitat; hoping to share this fleeting moment with our fine feathered friends.
Haiku Friday: Leafy Paris Hardscape
Paris – so much more
Than City of Lights and Love;
City of Shadows.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss
Stephanie met 12 week old “Bandit” and immediately fell head over heels, as evidenced by this KISS. There have been many puppy kisses enthusiastically shared since this moment last April, but somehow, lasting bonds were formed at this memorable first meeting.
Lighthouse in the Mist, Cape May, NJ
Bandit
Festive View from the Pub, Peddler’s Village – Lahaska, PA.
Home Sweet Home
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