tongue and groove

gutters

i was reading Linda's latest post and saw that fabulous photo of leaves taken by her friend, Jane. it reminded me that i sometimes enjoy shooting gutters and the detritus found in them.  i need all of the inspiration reminders i can get right now because i've felt absolutely stumped by the mere thought of picking up the camera. (what to shoot?) so i went to my Flickr feed and searched for a "gutters" tag and found a few photos i'd uploaded. (i'm a lazy uploader; i often shoot, but don't post to Flickr.) as i looked at the photos, i noticed that this one came up in that tag search. i'd forgotten all about that journal page i'd created from gutter trash four years ago for Keri Smith's How to Wreck a Journal group. i'd not only forgotten about the journal page, i'd forgotten that Keri had commented on the photo of it.

Keri's blog was among the earliest blogs i found when i began blogging 7-1/2 years ago. i love her blog! ironically, i found the blog of the man who later became her husband shortly after i found hers. so it was cool to see that the writers of two of my earliest bookmarked blogs ended up married to each other. seeing that old journal page made me think of Keri and how much i enjoy her blog, but i realized i hadn't read a recent post from her. as i was thinking that, i clicked back to Google Reader and saw that, lo and behold, there was a post from Keri dated yesterday. she's back in California. for awhile, Keri and her husband lived in this town. i never met her when she was here, but she would write about sitting in a cafe a couple of blocks from our house. her husband did quite a bit of work at a place where i worked at the time. i never spoke to him either. it was so surreal to see him walk into my workplace after reading his blog for years that it sort of freaked me out.  :)

there's no point to this post other than this: synchronicity is always a delight and i'm continually amazed at how things always seem to come full circle.

arboretum terrace

it seemed kind of amazing that i had the place entirely to myself in the middle of a Saturday afternoon...

Inspirace (Inspiration)

If you can spare 10 minutes, I encourage you to watch this.  It's a love story set inside a drop of water and it was created by Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman in 1948.  He animated it by heating and bending glass-blown figurines.  Amazing...and beautiful!

And if you're more the marching band type, there are several video clips and photos of Saturday's UC Davis Picnic Day parade at Flickr here.

In case I haven't mentioned it here, J and I watched/listened to (online and on TV) last Thursday night's school board meeting which lasted nearly five hours...only to hear them say they were postponing any decision (the part that impacts my position) until later this month.  So there's still no news, although there have been comments made by coworkers that lead me to believe there's at least a reduction coming.  We'll see.

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I haven't written much poetry for National Poetry Month, but seeing Jamie's last prompt at Wishcasting, prompted this ramble this morning. 

John Muir in 1912:  "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." 

Happy Monday!

lost highway

A while back, Rob who runs Writers Island sent me an email asking if I might submit a few ideas for writing prompts.  I was honored to be asked and I sent off a few. 

Fast forward to last night when I realized it was already the 10th of April and I hadn't written a single poem yet for National Poetry Month.  I clicked over to Writers Island to see what prompt was up...and found my own, posted last Friday.  How embarrassing to be a week late to write for my own prompt.  It reminded me (as I've been reminding myself about 10 times daily) how out of touch I've been feeling with my creative self.  And yet I'm not surrendering to an attack of the shoulds.  I'm just letting things be what they are...as they are...knowing full well that they always circle back around.

My prompt from last Friday was "lost highway."  Here's what I wrote for it.  It's cross-posted at Moojo Cafe. (Some of you may remember Poem Road from years ago...one of these days I'm gonna use that site for a poetry project.)  ;)
 

lost highway

time slips past as
heartbeats anchor days
the scenery's a blur
on this lost highway
eyelids flutter
quell the pain
can't help yourself
look back anyway
if only you could
roll up the window
shut out the world
hum your history
to the beat of the road
smile to yourself
in the rearview mirror
lose yourself
to your self
close your eyes
tickle death
in between sighs
the journey unfurls
beneath your tires
sometimes the only
way back is on
the lost highway

Suddenly it's warm.  It's been sunny for awhile, but the warmth is welcome.  It's supposed to be in the upper 80's this weekend.  Last night we had the front door open (we live much of the year with the front door open) and I felt like taking a stroll with the camera.  I attached it to the tripod and stepped out about 8:30.