Gone Fizzing

 In just a few hours
 the Fizz and I
will be away
on another road trip.

We will travel
 some back country roads
to places I treasure

I will maybe
 do a Cocoa Beach

drive by
 although
 I prefer

The drama
of incredible
Sebastian Inlet

I will visit
 a  Farmer's Market
so beautiful
 people
 get married there

I
will enjoy a breakfast
picnic here with
2 generations
of
 loves

I will  attend
 a birthday party
 for a nephew 

to deliver
 one of these

1942 vintage
Shawnee
"Smiley"
 cookie jar

Because
childhood is 20%
of our lives
but
it rules
the 80%
which
follows

I will travel
 the old 441 route 

where images from my youth
 still remain. 

barely

I will spend
 an afternoon 

here 

in the company of
 loves
I seldom see

watching
an athlete
and
 a noble steed
become

tandem spirits

in

pursuit of perfection

under moss draped tress

in the golden sunshine

of my childhood

on one of these days

I will visit

this 

site

I hung a wind chime

In the tree by Mama's grave
Love! Whispered in chime.

Haiku Monday: Excalibur

Excalibur rule:
To defend what can become
Raise your swords in might!

Twelfth year  Merlin dreams;
Wiseman. Protector. Legend.
But, I loved Arthur.

My dreams expanded
When Sean became King Arthur.
Excalibur nights! 

Comment Woes! Leave Haiku Monday here

Oh OH OHHHHHHHH
There seems to be a problem on the original
 Haiku Monday Post
 in the comments section.

Please Visit the Previous Post!
To read the parameters of this week's game
( 5-7-5. kigo and kireji) and the subject:
(Don't Mess With Mother Nature)
2 judged entries per competitor 
(write and post as many as you please)
Read entries to date on previous post.
                                                            Follow the links for visuals and more!


Wow! wow! wow! to all of you who have taken this opportunity to educate us on the subjects of your Haiku. I have learned about Mongoose and Sparrows and predator weeds! Awesome subjects all.

Haiku Monday: Don't Mess With Mother Nature!

Many of our Haiku writers are also brave activists on their blog sites .

They particularly are vocal on the horrors and risks of GMO's and FrankenFoods.

As a salute to these  mighty warriors

This week's Haiku  subject is:

Don't Mess With Mother Nature

Haikus are to be posted by midnight EST February 13, 2012

The usual requirements of the 5-7-5 format with the use of  a 

cutting word  and a reference to nature required.

You may post as many haiku as you wish, but only two per contestant will be judged.

A caution about visuals:

I am squeamish about horrid visuals.

The image above is an example of what is too  much.

There will be nightmares.

If you post visuals and they are more nauseating that the FrankenFrog above

please! post a warning so I will know not to look.

This means your Haiku should make it's point without the visual .

Webbing between toes?

How many feet did you count?

Monsanto! Cha-Ching!

Happy Weekend to All

Heads up!

                                               So is this the opposite of working your butt off?

Truth in Haiku

I am writing this post as a sort of apology to our blog 'hommies'.  Some of you, over the past year or so have sent e-mails or left comments asking if all was right in my world. It seems you noticed a change in  my posts or my lack of posts. All of you sent offers of comfort or help. So endearing of you all. Thank you.


Last year when I was in the throes of cleaning closets and doing laundry my  mother was dying.
I was not there. Nor was I here. I was in some strange limbo  keenly aware of her imminent departure and torn between honoring her preferences or succumbing to my own. Her dying was a slow, relentless march. Not a swift crossing.  There were numerous times in the years preceding  her death where I hopped a plane or drove  like a maniac to get there " in time".  There were miracles and gratitude. Then the devastating  reality I would again have to leave her because she lives there and I live here. Impossible to stay, impossible to go.

In our last visit, a few weeks before her death, we both knew she was out of miracles. There had been a crisis, there would be more until the last one. Before her final day came I had to  come back here. I dreaded leaving her for a minute. But. We both knew I had to. On the day I was to  leave I sat for a while outside trying to summon strength to give my mother a fine farewell. I tried to think how I would feel if I knew I would  be saying good bye to my child forever. I buckled at the thought.  Yet I knew this parting would be harder for her than for me because while I had to find the strength of character to say good bye to one person I love so dearly ... my mother had to  suffer the agony of saying good bye to all of us.  She was weary. I knew this.  We said all the good things there was to say.  I left knowing she wished to  be spared of repeating this goodbye. I left knowing she wished for me to be spared the vision of her in death.  I left knowing I would never see her again. I wailed like a baby the minute I cleared the building. I shrieked and howled  and raged and wept and kept my promise. To drive  away.  To leave my mother to die without me.

 My truth is I do not have the acceptance of Karl, the grit of Chickory, the openess of Boxer or the grace of Aunty ... all of whom were able to share their losses  and accept the prayers of this blog family. I did not share because the loss was too huge, the vulnerabilities too numerous, my control  far too fragile. I could not bring myself to speak of this loss. When friends asked after her I gave the same answer I had been giving for years, " She is in God's hands". I could not speak of other realities.  I could not expose my grief for fear of collapse.

But there  are Haiku Mondays.
In this venue, over time, on various blog sites,  I think I have been speaking  of my loss.

Today's haiku is this:

I hung a wind chime
in the tree by Mama's grave
Love! Whisper'd in chime

( I actually did this )

On other Mondays I had written these:

Furious rain pelts
my anguish ...cleansing my grief
joy crests in my soul

( Mermaid took me to a beach to cry out my grief)

Moonlight silver hair
halos my mother's beauty.
Soft. Like Angel 's wing.

( My mother did indeed have moonlight hair)

Her exquisite face
fills the dreams of seven men
Sleeping beauty death

( husband, son, sons in law, grandsons = 7
She died in her sleep )

There is no warmth in
touching cold unyielding flesh.
Yet I am sustained.

( An angel statue )

One A.M.  cell tweet
Awakens heart pounding fear.
Oh God! Keep her close.

(the messengers call)

Bagpipers lament
announces life's last vict'ry
Celebrate her joy!

( It was a beautiful funeral)


Thank you all for your friendship.
I am grateful.

John Boy's Home

I met John Boy this week.

 Actually his name is Culpepper but he looks, speaks and acts a bit like John Boy Walton. I met him because he is newly engaged to the daughter of a client.  Last week Grant called and said,

" Fishy! Our Kellen is getting married. We have approved of the young man of her choosing but we are not too thrilled with his home."

" Hi Grant. Nice to hear from you. Congratulations to your precious Kellen. What's wrong with his home?"

" Our Kellen cannot live there! It could be a nice starter home but at the moment it is a disgrace. It smells. It's filthy. It needs just about everything."

" Did I understand you to say you approve of Kellen  bringing into the family a man with a disgraceful, smelly, filthy home but despite these facts  he is a fine choice?

" Yes.  The thing is when he came to Big University to earn his education his sister came too. Their folks bought a smallish house with the plan to enclose the single carport into a suite for Sis, then fill the other 3 bedrooms with Culpepper and his friends. The idea was to let the renters pay for the cost of the house. It has mostly worked well for their family.  But, the house has been a sort of Frat House for  the past seven years, the front yard has been the parking lot to residents and guests so it is a right mess."

" Wait! I am stuck on the idea this family planned to have their daughter be the only girl in a Frat House!"

" No! They would only permit her  to come to BigU if Culpepper  would promise to be her vigilant protector. The idea was she would have her suite on one end of the house and six "fine young men" would be on the other end.  Culpepper would have control of who the other housemates would be and was charged with choosing wisely. "

" So it was these wisely chosen roommates who trashed the house into it's current state?"

" Exactly so. Truthfully any home used to house 7 college students will suffer consequences"

" True.  How many live there now?"

" Culpepper  has been buying this home from his parents since he graduated four years ago. He moved into the Carport Suite and had 6 renters in the other three bedrooms Now he is down to just the one boarder, often the boarders girlfriend and, there is Sterling"

" Sterling?"

" A very large, young, male, entire, Weimaraner  who spluges the walls"

plays with LOGS for toys! 

" What did you say? "

" Well apparently male dogs who are not fixed have output  with movement.  The lower walls of this house are just disgusting. And, they smell.  This has got to be taken care of. Is there some sort of highly washable paint?  We do not want our Kellen to have a decrease in her standards because of her marriage to Culpepper.  The house needs painting, new flooring, replacement windows all the bathrooms and the Kitchen need to be remodeled.

The issue is this; Culpepper is confident and proud.  He and his parents " fixed up the place" when they bought it from retired Professor Methuselah so they are not understanding the need for improvements.  He is a bit touchy or defensive about our wealth.  He declined all our offers for help in revitalizing his home from Frat House to a place you could proudly bring your new bride from a fine family. We did  convince Culpepper at least the Master Suite should be freshened up a bit. He agreed so one weekend he  and  Kellen went forth  like newlyweds on HGTV.  They  purchased some hideous orange and lime green bedding at Bed, Bath and Horrors  then went to Wowe's for paints to match the bedding.  They worked themselves into exhaustion only to produce a dreadful, garish mess of the entire  suite."

" When you say "suite" is that the converted carport  for Sister?"

" Yes. We stopped by with take out as planned on their big  painting weekend. When we arrived Kellen was crying and Culpepper looked deflated. That room was a  right big mess.  I felt so sorry for them!   I offered on the spot to hire a painter and just duplicate the room you designed for Kellen at our lake house.  Culpepper was too tired to resist. We took advantage a bit and gave Kellen  the bedroom furniture too. We were afraid Culpepper would say she could not have it but before  he could dissent  Kellen was hugging us and crying her thank yous."

" Wow Grant, what a wonderful gift."

" Thank you. But when you see this house you will understand it was a decision more selfish than generous.I just would not be able to sleep  thinking of our Kellen living in garrish squalor.  I want to give  a FishyDesigns  consult to these kids as an engagement present. They need a plan to avoid anymore design tragedies. The wedding is in June, this last roommate moves out in May so there will be quite a rush to get things in order for them before Kellen goes to live there. We really need to plan everything now. Their schedules are so different they are rarely off on the same days but could you plan on meeting with them on a Sunday afternoon? "

The appointment was scheduled.

 On the day, Grant was delayed, so I met with Kellen ,Culpepper and Sterling. The house is an ordinary 3/2 brick ranch with an enclosed single carport space and a shed like laundry room off the Kitchen. The original hardwood floors are in serious need of refinishing. Instead Culpepper has decided to put down a floating laminate floor to withstand the effects of Weimaraner toenails and to carpet all bedrooms.   Neither are good decisions. He  would like to change the conventional floor plan to an "open concept" floor plan for more ease of entertaining. Culpepper  is a high school coach and middle school shop teacher. He also works with the youth at his church. It is very important to him  this home  be  "open" to his youth ministry. This calling  is his mission, his purpose and as such all elements of his life are centered on  meeting  or supporting this dedication.  He has structured his life to advance this purpose and has chosen a  mate to support him in this mission above all other things.

 Kellen is a newly graduated nurse.  A smart, capable, cardiac intensive care nurse. She is  22 years young, starry eyed, easy going and generous of nature.  She smiles and laughs at  every syllable Culpepper speaks.

Mostly.

When we were surveying the Kitchen, Culpepper , exerting control, stated precisely why there was no possibility of upgrading the Kitchen. He carefully explained, in school teacher to the daft mode, why no changes to the current layout could be accomplished or would be tolerated. I listened to every single issue he vocalized then mentioned  there were, in fact, numerous options which could be implemented  for reasonable sums and in a relatively brief time which respected all of his key issues but could still net significant improvements.

His response was, "  I have studied this issue and made decisions. I am a shop teacher so I understand these things as a professional. I will not be looking at any options for my Kitchen."

Dear God!

Did I mention the Kitchen has white  melamine cabinetry , laminate countertops and vinyl flooring?
Not to mention it stinks and had Sterling "output" on all the walls and was claustrophobic for one never mind for two? While I was wondering why in the name of logic Kellen wanted to hitch her wagon to this particular future she stepped forward and  in the sweetest  liquid steel  voice ever heard said this,

" Ms. Fishy, please help us. I cannot cook in this Kitchen and,  we have appetites."


Good Night John Boy.
Game Over.