Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
Small and humble,
It fills bellies,
When there’s no
Choice of grain.
The green leaves,
The tiny fruit,
Pantry for
Times of pain.
For the Sunday Still’s challenge: #Close and #Green
Small Staple
Good stuff!
A Slice Of The Big Apple
Sometimes the core of the issue
Can find growth in the yard
But the meat of the matter
Is what you must not discard …
Note: New York State is known for its apples. Also, New York City is called “The Big Apple” … with multitudes of people wanting to have a slice of that apple for themselves … So, though the photo may not be the ‘traditional’ way of portraying the ‘apple-appeal’ of the City, I’d like to think you’d agree that at the very least it shows it in a very digestible manner … 🙂
For the Sunday Stills photo challenge: State/City symbols
Share this:
No Longer Cold
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
It had stared
Though the window
At the clothed
Indoor tree
Wrapped in tinsel
And glory,
Gifts at its feet,
Stars on its crown.
And it shivered,
Naked,
In the cold.
All leaves long gone.
“This tree is naked,”
A child stopped,
Compared,
Bemoaned.
“It is too cold.”
Not anymore, Child,
Not anymore.
Note: I took this photo earlier today in New York City, as I walked past this brownstone’s holiday decorations. This post is dedicated to all who are outside, looking in. May you be seen. May you be clothed. May you be known. May you no longer be cold.
Also, for the new Monday Window challenge
And an extra tag for Frank’s Tuesday Photo Challenge of: Holidays
Share this:
Windows On Display
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
His artwork,
Carefully crafted by
Little fingers
And a big
Heart,
Proudly on display
At the family’s
Living room,
Like any well deserving
Art.
Note: This is one of a series of creations by my nephew, who was about 7-8 years old when he crafted this and other lovely depictions in modeling clay 3D art.
For the Lens-Artists Challenge: on display
Share this:
Present Time
Photo: Annie Spratt on Unsplash
It is time for the presents
It is time for the wraps
It is time for the ribbons
All the holiday traps.
You will ooh and will ahh
You will grin in delight
And I’ll hold my breath hoping
Your smile holds upon sight.
It will be what you wanted
Whether you know it or not
Because no matter the present
It wasn’t one that you bought.
As the evening progresses
And the empty box stares
I will hope you remember
Just how deeply I care.
So I gift you the plenty
That I hold in my heart
And the dream of tomorrow
Where we shan’t be apart.
For the dVerse challenge: gift rhymes
Share this:
On Delicate Wings
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
What had happened to you
In the short life
You knew?
Your wings’ rhythm
Aflutter
To a drum
Gone
Askew?
Your beauty imbued
By what could life
Subdue,
You flit on right
Through,
Gloriously determined,
To be you,
To be you.
For the Sunday Stills challenge: A bug’s life
Share this:
Fuzzy Ewe
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
The hands of this artist
Young in years
Rich in view,
Made a cute fuzzy ewe
From what could well escape
Notice by
Me and you.
Note: Dedicated to my super talented and beloved niece, Aviv, 7 years old when she made this earlier this year. You never cease to amaze me! XOXO
For the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Fuzzy
Share this:
Pinked
Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
Won’t hold back
An all out bloom,
Fully pinked
By soul’s perfume.
For the Nancy Merrill’s Photo A Week Challenge: Pink
Share this:
Blue thoughts on Yellow
Photo: Karen Forte
In middle school the uniforms
Were yellow tops and blue skirts
For the girls,
Yellow tops and blue slacks
For the boys.
The hue of yellow
In the official
Button downs,
Was a pale shade that made
Even the ruddy
Cheeks of children
Wash out
In the sun.
I used to think perhaps
This was the only color
Merchants had on overstock
When the school had first opened:
A fabric rescued
After years of fade brought on
By being forgotten
By everyone.
Oh, it was a decent enough school,
With friends I have kept
In touch with since the
Beginning of Sixth Grade.
It was the yellow hue
That had me blue.
Decades passed
And while
The beauty and the range
Of it in nature
Does indeed move me to tears,
I’m yet to own
A yellow garment
Even after
All these years.
For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Blue and Yellow
Share this:
Wrap It Up In Gratitude
Photo by Carl Attard on Pexels.com
Me being a softy for all manner of new beginnings, wrapping ups, looking back and facing forward, I’ve decided to participate in this lovely idea of a blog-to-blog blanket of gratitude, friendship, and community. Want to join? Read how here (also, thank you, Dale – for the idea).
The short of it? Set a timer for 15 minutes and let loose: write, detail, list, describe and put your gratitude into words. No edits needed. No wrong answers. No test at the end. Nothing to lose and everything to gain.
If you are so inclined, read my unedited, uncensored Gratitude Wrap Up — here I Go!
- Family. A blessing even wordy-me hasn’t enough words for.
- Friends. For all the gifts of laughter and joy.
- Joy. Because life is so much richer with it.
- Life. Without it, there would be nothing.
- This planet. Without it there would be no life as we know it.
- Oxygen. I adore the stuff. Can’t imagine living without it.
- Water. The obvious stuff, but also in rivers and oceans. Especially the beach.
- Waves. In the sea. In the ebb and flow of life. In the ups and downs of everything. In hellos and even in the sweet sorrow of goodbyes (for there had to have been a hello for there to be a goodbye).
- Light and the gift of sight.
- Colors. In nature. In emotion. In people. In energy. In food. In flowers.
- Flowers. Not so much the cut ones in bouquets as the ones still living, blooming loudly without shame or apology.
- Apologies. For making room for amends and for allowing humility, humanity, empathy, fallibility, and compassion.
- Compassion. I’d put it first. But this is unedited and … it really fits everywhere. Any day. Any time.
- Time. To live. To breathe. To be. To learn. To write.
- Learning. For there is so much more to know!
- Writing. Because, well, it is like breathing.
- Breathing. It’s lovely. Also, see #6 …
- Children. For everything they are and the hope they hold and the laughter they bring and the teachers they are.
- Hope. The hope you feel. The hope you know. The hope you may be able to give someone, someday. The hope you might’ve forgotten but now remember.
- Memories. So many of those. Some I might’ve wished to never know, but since they are part of me, I’d rather know than not, for they are all a part of me and made me into who I am today.
- Today. Every day. There would be not past or present or future without it.
- Tomorrow. For exemplifying hope by working on becoming a today and by that showing trust in what can be.
- Trust. For the depth of connection it allows, especially as it is never something I take for granted, having known betrayal.
- Connection. No person is truly an island. We need our shores to touch those of others, through waves and flow and ebb and sun and rain and heart and sound.
- Sound. For the gifts of hearing, listening, and understanding.
- Comprehension. For this world is complicated enough, and I am grateful to know some meaning.
- Meaning. For life. For love. For connection. For work.
- Work. Because to live is to work. Not just in what one defines as a job, but in what one can define their life’s work to be, and the glimpses of the plan.
- Plans. Love them. Sometimes I am not sure I feel the love, but I know I do, someplace, or I’d have never made the plans …
- Love.
- Love.
- Love.
- Repetition. Some things get better the more you know them. The more you do them. The more time you spend in them. They improve with age.
- Aging. Seriously. I’ve earned every wrinkle. I’ve labored in the sun for every freckle. I’ve stitched every bit of wisdom, sometimes from tatters of harder times to make a quilt of who I am.
- Being me. Not because I’m so special, but because we each are. And I’m happy for the opportunity to be me. Just because (also, I’m a limited edition. They broke the mold after making me, so it’ll be a waste to not make the most of it even if just because I’m super curious to see how I’ll unfold).
- Curiosity. Can’t help it. Don’t want to change it. Wonder where it’s all coming from.
- Wonder. It keeps me on my toes. It keeps my ‘awwww’ and ‘wow’ and ‘whoa’ muscles working.
- Muscles. I’ve got the skinny-Minnie edition of those, so I’m grateful for every fiber: they keep me upright, they keep my fingers typing (yeah!). They keep my heart pumping.
- Heart. In all its manifestations. Even broken hearts are better than being heartless. I’m so so grateful to have heart and to know so many people who have golden ones.
- Gold. Not the metal, but the color – in the sunrise, in the sunset, in the sparkle, in the light.
- Sunrise and sunset. They never fail to quicken my heart and expand my soul.
- Soul. It’s older than this body. It’s wiser than this life. It’s been hanging around this universe a while, and it’s been traveling in a little cluster with other souls, most of whom I totally adore.
- The universe. Don’t understand it. Can’t grasp the size of it. Not sure I really ‘get’ how it went ‘bang’ and where it is expanding or collapsing into, but I sure am grateful for it. May even be grateful for extraterrestrials. Come to think of it, I bet I already know a few such travelers.
- Travel. To new-to-me and known-to-me places. It expands my mind and nourishes my spirit.
- Nourishment. In all its forms but especially in its most basic, which I know so many in this world still struggle to have access to, even as there should be more than enough for all of us. Having healthy food isn’t something to take for granted.
- Health. This, too, in all its forms and in its most fundamental. I’ve been blessed to know both health and some of its challenges. It keeps me grateful. It keeps me aware.
- Awareness. Being conscious is a good thing. Seriously. I know what I’m talking about.
- Talking. I’m SO grateful for the gift of gab. I’d implode if I didn’t have words.
- Words. Language. Communication. My elements. My calling. My profession. My path.
- Journey. Especially that of life. With all of you who cross my path and join my path and whose path I am allowed to join. I’m so so grateful.
Want to make your own stream-of-consciousness gratitude list? Follow the link below.
For the 2018 Annual attitudes of gratitude list
