love stories {april 7, 2022}

66 years ago today, my parents were married at St. Patrick's Church in Bloomington, IL. My dad was an only child so Mom's brother, John, was his best man. Mom's matron-of-honor was her sister-in-law, Patricia. This picture was taken after the wedding, when it was tradition that the groom did not see the bride until she walked down the aisle with her father. No first looks like the couples do today! Regardless of how traditions may change, one thing is a constant, and that is family. Mom, Dad, and Uncle John have left this earth; Aunt Pat celebrated her 91st birthday on St. Patrick's Day. What a fantastic four!

Another Illinois April wedding is coming up in a couple of weeks when my daughter marries the love of her life. It's been a long time coming due to the pandemic invasion on life. And like the photograph above, their wedding will be a celebration filled with blessings: love, new beginnings, optimism, hope, and family.

wordy wednesday...haiku {april 6, 2022}

April is National Poetry Month and for this Wordy Wednesday here's a little dose of HAIKU.

A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem, 17 syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. 

I am the first with five

Then seven in the middle

Five again to end.

As the form has evolved, many of its regular traits - including its famous syllabic pattern - have been routinely broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment.

On a trip to Washington DC a few years ago, T was doing his mortgage banking conference work and I was wandering through the Golden Triangle neighborhood. (I definitely had the better deal). As I walked with no specific purpose along the streets, eye-catching signs with haikus popped up here and there. Come to find out, since 2014 the Golden Triangle neighborhood has sponsored a poetry contest to bring pops of warmth, color, and inspiration to the streets of downtown DC during the late winter months. Not the traditional 5/7/5 format but on point with the haiku philosophy. What a serendipitous find!

ted! {april 5, 2022}

One year ago today we said good-bye to our big, sweet, one-of-a-kind dog, Ted. He was 9 years old and had epilepsy. He went into a seizure sequence that could not be broken and we made the heart breaking decision to euthanize him.

My daughter adopted Ted from Cincinnati Lab Rescue in 2013. He had been dumped on the side of a road, someone found him, and the kind people at the rescue took him in even though he didn't have an ounce of Lab in him. When she adopted him, she was told that he was two years old, 90 pounds, and he was done growing. Well, come to find out, he was one year old and he grew to 150 pounds of love and rascaliness.

Ted lived with my daughter for a couple of years but her busy career and ultimate move to Chicago to a small apartment was not a good fit for him so he came to live with T and me. She so wanted to keep him. She gave it her best effort but it wasn't fair to her or Ted for him to be an urban dog. 

Fast forward to 2020. T and I sold our house and moved to downtown Dayton. No more opening the back door to a fenced in yard to let him out. Ted and I became walking buddies in every kind of weather at least twice a day. While we walked, I took photos of downtown Dayton to share on social media. And then I got the idea to put Ted in my photos...a big dog telling stories about his strolls around town with his walker-in-chief. "Tales from Ted" was born and friends really enjoyed hearing about our adventures. This was during the pandemic shutdown and walks with Ted became a sort of therapy to take away the stress of the unknown from the virus and an avenue to connect and bring smiles to people via social media. Also as Ted and I took our slow walks around town, we found street money, coins that people had dropped here and there, many times by the parking meters. Our grand total was $50.00 which was then donated to Cincinnati Lab Rescue.

The other day T and I were grocery shopping and I saw this bottle of pinot noir.

I do believe it looks like a sophisticated Ted. We're going to have a glass tonight to toast the big guy and all the love and happy memories he brought us.

fill the silence with your music {april 4, 2022}

I'm not one to watch award shows but last night I watched the Grammys for one reason. Wolfgang Van Halen. He was nominated for a Grammy for his song, "Distance," which he wrote about his late father, Eddie Van Halen. I loved listening to Van Halen throughout their career and now, here was Eddie's son being recognized for his musical accomplishments.

As the show went on and my attention waned, John Legend and a number of Ukrainian artists took to the stage and paid tribute to the lives lost in Ukraine, calling upon the world to continue sending support to those who are still living through the war. Ukrainian President Zelensky introduced the performance with a very stirring speech:

"The war. What is more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people. Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died. And we’ll never see them drawing. Our parents are happy to wake up in the morning in bomb shelters. But alive. Our loved ones don’t know if we will be together again. The war doesn’t let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway. We defend our freedom to live, to love, to sound on our land. We are fighting Russia, which brings horrible silence with its bombs. The dead silence. Fill the silence with your music. Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about the war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way you can. Any — but not silence. And then peace will come. To all our cities the war is destroying — Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Volnovakha, Mariupol and others — they are legends already. But I have a dream of them living and free. Free like you on the Grammy stage."

Zelensky's voice sounded tired but at the same time filled with determination and hope. I hope his words will stir some action for nations to step in and help his battered but not defeated country.

time marches on {april 3, 2022}

Late last November, while walking along the nature trail close to my house, the leaves were down, the trees were bare, the gray and brown neutrals of the coming cold temperatures were all around. But there they were, what an eye catcher...bright green orbs, hedge apples, lined up on a fallen log. 

Over the winter months I took a lot of walks along the trail. The hedge apples on the log remained a constant but they changed over time. They turned yellow, they shriveled, they had little nibbles on them, they separated into pieces, and eventually they disappeared.

Five months later, from fall, through winter, and to the beginning of spring, there is new life on the log. Where the green moss once blanketed the log, there is now a new growth of red and yellow tentacles reaching out, thriving on the deteriorating wood. 

Spring adds new life and new beauty to all that is.

"ted" thousand steps {april 2, 2022}

One year ago on April 2, 2021, my big dog Ted and I took an early morning walk around downtown Dayton. It was Good Friday, T and I were going to Cleveland to spend Easter weekend with our son and daughter-in-law, and Ted was would go to the kennel for his weekend stay. I loved our early morning downtown walks when it was still quiet but the world was beginning to wake up. This morning was particularly lovely and even though T asked that we not be out too long, Ted and I took our time and savored the peaceful onset of the new day. Some things just can't be rushed when a big dog controls the pace.

Random thoughts as we walked around downtown:

⁕ Roosters cock-a-doodle-do when the sun rises on the farm; urban geese honk away on the rooftop at 8:00 a.m.

⁕ “It is a beautiful and delightful sight to behold the body of the Moon.” — Galileo Galilei

 

⁕ "Every day is a good day; it's what you make of it."

~ Ron the parking lot attendant

 

⁕ "It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day."

~ Johnny Nash

We got back to the apartment, packed the car and headed to the kennel. Ted got his enthusiastic greeting, "TED!!!" I gave him a big hug and told him that I loved him. T and I headed to Cleveland for the weekend with our youngest and oldest sons. That morning's walk was the last walk I had with my big guy. Ted was epileptic, he started seizing at the kennel, the kennel staff got him to an emergency clinic, but his seizures did not stop and we had to euthanize him 3 days later. My heart was broken.

One of my walking goals was to make my daily quota of steps to this day to honor my big Teddy, my best walking bud. Today was for you, big doggy.

national poetry month {april 1, 2022}

National Poetry Month

In April 1996, the Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month to remind the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets, marking poetry's important place in our lives. 

Today is April Fools' Day so how about a nonsense poem to celebrate the day...Lewis Carrol's "Jabberwocky."

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

    And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

    The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

    The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

    Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

    And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

    The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

    And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

    The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

    He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

    Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

    He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

     And the mome raths outgrabe.

''Jabberwocky'' is a nonsense poem because most of its words are made up. You can't use a dictionary, or anything else, to tell you what 'brillig' is or give you a picture of 'slithy toves. You have to use your imagination and context clues.

Courage, love, and good versus evil are the major themes of the poem. The poem revolves around the heroic victory of the boy who risks his life to kill Jabberwocky. Although his father warns him about the evil creature, the boy musters up the courage to eradicate evil from the world.

Poetry is important because it helps us understand and appreciate the world around us. Poetry’s strength lies in its ability to shed a “sideways” light on the world, so the truth sneaks up on you. Poetry teaches us how to live. Poetry is like the Windex on a grubby car window—it bares open the vulnerabilities of human beings so we can all relate to each other a little better.