Thought Prints

Carpe Diem #929 wind bag My MIL was a wise woman.  She was quite, conservative and yet liberal.  She saved the lint from her dryer and rolled into balls.  At the end of a month she would figure what each dryer load cost from the extra electric usage.  When asked about the Supreme Court's ruling on abortions being a choice, she approved, to my utter surprise.  Mom A. had a standard by which she judged folks.  Quite folks were nice, talkative folks were windy, accented with a bit of a frown. silence heals scars on earth's skin nature reclaims ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #928 Extra-Sensory Perception (and Common Sense) That terrifying dream.  The curve and train trestle underpass along Hwy 5.  Riding in a crowded pickup cab.  The train whistle and an engine bearing down on us.  Startled awake.  Several times the dream occurred.  The fifteen year old was bewildered and frightened at the same time.  Then the call came.  Daddy's cousin and 3 men had been struck by a train at that very crossing.  The dream was never dreamed again. ethereal warnings ensnared on dream catcher cosmic web ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #927 Synesthesia breathing deeply flower petals engulf pain  mind smells roses ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem Special #199 Hamish's 5th a teaser We had been on the road for almost three weeks.  The open beauty of the High and Great Plains had been replaced with the rough and tumbled Rocky Mountain ranges of North America.  Glaciers were seen from both sides of the tan Jeep.  Deer, elk, bear, mountain goats, moose and mountain sheep greeted our curious eyes. The untamed magnificence was embellished with the aqua ribbons of waters with names like Athabasca and Bow Rivers. European immigrants spilled into these areas over the last couple of centuries.  Trappers then trains then tourists would try to tame these vast landscapes.  To some degrees there was success often to the detriment of first nations and the land itself.  And here we sat, two more tourists.  We wanted to see the view of Lake Louise from an observation point a several hundred feet above the lake.  There was a trail of sorts.  The climb was a challenge....

Carpe Diem #926 Nature Nature for so many is the visual world that surrounds us.  The forests, flowers, skies, deserts, mountains, streams, etc.  Not all of nature is visible.   Colors are actually frequencies of light waves.  A leaf will absorb all frequencies except green which it reflects and that is what we see.  The smells of nature are molecules carried on air currents.  Kinetic energy plays a part in being able to smell dinner cooking or burning.  Being the wife of an amateur radio operator opens up another rhelm of nature's invisible world. sun spots crackling radios natural connections ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #925 Love lusty moments simmered slowly through the years satisfying embrace ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #924 humour (reprise) The family motto was, "We laugh to keep from crying."  Laughter could be heard during 'family visitation', a tradition that is part of the grief and burial rituals in parts of the US.  Not ever really class clown type folks just folks that could take any situation and see the humor (humour).  Dad accidentally called a quick stop store to ask if they were the undertakers handling a deceased friend's remains.  Dad asked, "Do you have Bill Morgan's body?"  The owner did not understand and yelled to see if Bill Morgan was in the store.  A couple more exchanges occurred before Dad realized he had not called an undertaker.  Oops. Later in regard the same deceased friend, he and Mom were to take the late night shift of 'sitting with the body', a ritual of unknown origins.  Dressed to the nines in suits and Mom in heels they prepared to leave our home.  Dad backs the car out of the garage.  Mom closes ...

Carpe Diem Theme Week #1 episode 7: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Insight 6 balance isn't always necessary Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, Welcome at the last episode of our first Carpe Diem Theme Week in which we explored The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. We discovered that life and dead belong to each other and that we can learn from dead how to be in our life. In this last episode we learn that balance isn't always necessary. Introduction This month our regular prompts are all about senses and in one of the first (regular) episodes of this month Hamish asked us to look at " equilibrium / balance " and I think this introduction I already have written, so I will quote myself here: [...] "Balance ... it has not only to do with movement, but I think it also has to do with "inner balance". You have to be "in balance" mentally to stay focused on the things you have to do in your life. in t...

Carpe Diem #923 desire Retirement dreams meant two things, time with grandchildren and travel.  Through a generous cosmos the experience became ... called into the distant unknown ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem Theme Week 1 episode 6: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Insight 5 The Teacher isn't holy too just one leaf struggles with the wind like Basho © Chèvrefeuille Introduction "Some of you have called me "Master" or "Sensei", I feel honored that you see me as your master, but I am just a humble guy, who happens to love haiku and is (damn) good in writing them. I am grateful for the love and kindness you sprinkle on me and have sprinkled on me during our existence, but I am still that guy who launched a daily haiku meme to promote his love for haiku ... I am just your humble host. That's what I love to say to you too: "Look around in your world, experience the beauty of nature and be creative in your own way. I am only your "living manual"." .... Chèvrefeuille I bow my head in front of Basho's statue whispering "thank you" © Chèvrefeuille life path trod by the best of ...

Carpe Diem Special #198 Hamish Gunn's 4th Petal lanterns Inspiration: petal lanterns — a waterfall of flowers her lips touch mine © Hamish A very nice (delicate) haiku by Hamish to inspire you to write a haiku or tanka trying to catch the spirit of the haiku by Hamish. Here is the host's attempt: her sweet perfume overwhelms my senses Honeysuckle blooms © Chèvrefeuille rosebud lips trumpet the notes of love whiff of petals ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Hi, friends and welcome to the new blog for haiku and other forms of poetry writing.  As I was attempting to come up with a name for this blog my Dad's love of one poem he learned in his youth came to mind.  Daddy would frequently quote these two verses of Longfellow's A Psalm of Life:   Lives of great men all remind us         We can make our lives sublime,     And, departing, leave behind us         Footprints on the sands of time ;      Footprints, that perhaps another,         Sailing o'er life's solemn main,     A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,         Seeing, shall take heart again. Daddy was generous to a fault.  His laugh could fill a room.  Daddy's wit was known by all.  His brute strength gave him forearms like Popeye.  Never a man of wealth by world standards, he, never the less, left footprints on peoples hearts....