Saturday, August 10, 2013

Haiku Monday Winner: Shallows



(Shadows in the Shallows by  artist Mark Shasha)

Thanks to all players this week,
 we have been well entertained by the entries.

Almost: Becca
looking in the mirror
silver pond reflects true depths. None.
beauty fades away
(sigh, 8 syllables in the second line)

Show: Foam
by and by it ceased ...
shallow pool illuminates
my flower pot weeds
(loved the photograph and the humor)

Place: Pam
superficial, fake
empathy, no true feelings
shallows of the soul
(clever interpretation of theme)

WIN! Grumpy Granny
wide water ripples
not deep, but quick, deceptive
balance is tricky

(Ah yes! life is full of ripples and deceptions, keeping your balance is ...winning!)

Congratulations Granny!
 We look forward to your theme.




Hello Haikuers,
This week our theme is "Shallows"
Since y'all are a  creative collection of players , we are already looking forward to the entries.

Judging is always subjective but in our homage to the still missing Troll, we try to uphold his teachings by requiring these basics:
5-7-5 format
 kireji the cutting word which connects two thoughts and,
 kigo, a seasonal reference.

We award points for all of the above and bonus
points for clever interpretation of the theme.
Visuals are optional but... well we really enjoy a great relationship between the 'ku and the view.

Please post your entries here with an "I'm up!" notice if you have posted on your own blog with visuals so we will know to come have a look.  Play is open until midnight on Monday Pacific Daylight Time.

Luck to all!


The shallows at Lake McDonald Glacier National Park




Chesapeake Bay shallows blue crabs





G.K Chesterton 1935 Still relevant 2013




"Moose in the Shallows" by artist  Edward Aldrich




Wisconsin  Egg Harbor





New York Times Best Seller





Salt Water Shallows "Game" Fish


:-)

Monday, August 5, 2013

Haiku Monday: Reflections




Jumping the moonbeam
Summer nights rushing pleasure
Best when play'd with you




This is confusing.
Ball is there. But ... where am I ?
Here? Or in there too?

Friday, August 2, 2013

The Mighty Are Falling





The first time I really new Blowfish and I were in for lifelong struggles was when we went to buy a lot for future homebuilding. I had found a lot I loved.  An acre studded with beautiful Live Oaks along the shores of a small , pretty, spring fed pond.

I rounded up Blowfish and took him off to see this jewel of a find only to hear him say, " Damn Fishy, we'd have to spend most of the budget taking down these trees"
" What!?!?!?"
"You can't build a house on a lot with these big trees on it".
" Walk over here with me. There actually is a perfect clearing for the house. I can control the foot print so we will not have to lose any of these major trees."
" Well this one right here has to come out for my driveway."
" No! Look over here , this is the perfect spot for the driveway entrance between these two smaller oaks. Look how beautifully the limbs form a perfect Gothic arch over the exact spot of the driveway entrance."
" That's so stupid Fishy, over time the tree roots will damage a driveway and, if you put a house under a tree that is stupid too."
I am not overly fond of being called "stupid". My excitement over this awesome find was deflating fast.
" Blowfish, let me share a vision with you"
"Why? I don't like it, too many trees, too much raking, hard to mow around tree roots. No,  this does not work for me"

I tried, and failed miserably in explaining to Blowfish the importance of our trees to Southerners. He  hails from New York where, apparently, they take down every single tree. When I first met his parents they proudly told me they bought their lot  because it was a " beautiful treed lakefront lot." Looking around I saw no trees so I said, " Oh no! What happened to your trees?" Looking puzzled they explained to the idiot Southerner it was necessary to take them all down because of the risk to the house in Winter. " What risk?", I had asked. Very patiently, as one does when talking to an idiot, they explained trees were risks to houses " Because of the weight of ice and snow in Winter and the snapping and falling in high winds." Really? I looked from face to face and said,
 " We don't experience much of that here in Florida".

I learned over the years it was just not possible to ever change the Yankee beliefs of Blowfish or his parents. I did try hard to keep the worst of their beliefs out of Mermaid's head since she was born to, and was being raised in, the South. Once my beloved mother in law pulled me aside and told me it was not appropriate to teach Mermaid to say "Yes Ma'am or Yes Sir" because it was racist. They never accepted the manners of our region and did not want their grand daughter to either.  That was not our best day.

Here in Carolina we have had an unusually wet Winter, Spring and Summer.  Because the land is saturated and there has been much flooding, once mighty oaks are falling. Lots of them! In our neighborhood one family has lost their giant Peace Oak which has graced their front yard  since long before it was a yard and long before their home was built. There are 3 oaks in the pond at the end of our street no longer standing tall, shading it's shores. Neighbors just two doors away had an oak fall taking out their Pergola but thankfully, not their new roof. There are detours all over from downed trees, power outages and tremendous messes requiring  heavy equipment and multiple crews to manage.  Our weather reports are as much about wind advisories  as they are about  sun or rain. There are warnings about wet grounds , high winds and falling trees. There is even a hotline for reporting the newly fallen. Many of our parks and playgrounds are temporarily closed too. There are warnings everywhere. I pray for our trees.



The other night I was telling Blowfish how sorry I felt for a nearby family losing their anchor trees.
He asked, " Anchor trees?"
"You know, the key trees on the property which help anchor the  home to the land."
"Fishy, don't be feeling sorry for people who do not have enough sense to take down the trees around the house. In fact we should talk to the treeman about taking some of ours down as a precaution".
" We won't be doing that."
" Why not?"
" I am a Southern woman, you threaten my trees you threaten me."
" You need to get over that."
" I have the right to self defense.  For myself and those things which are important to me. You seem to not understand it is a tragedy for these families to have lost their trees.  I spend thousands to keep our trees maintained  because I love them. We will not be taking any of them down. To say you even want to is very disturbing. Sometimes I wonder if you have learned even one thing about me in three decades."

Blowfish had that look.
that  passive aggressive  calculating stillness which means he was through talking on a subject and would just proceed with what he had determined was right for him.  I walked out of the room wondering if it was a sin to think about chainsaw accidents.