A Not So Jolly Holiday

Still no resolution this morning.

Sometimes I wish we could take a holiday from those times in life when dreams are breaking on the sand and hope is water, slipping through our fingers. But living was never meant to be a smooth ride, was it? And tender mercies glisten in the sun.

We're counting on those warm and tender mercies.

Life's a Beach?

Here I am at the beach with my sister and two of my sons, enjoying the sea breeze and basking in good company.

I'm not ready to talk about it yet, but something big and potentially unpleasant is going on in my life. The resolution, one way or another, will come today...and I will probably deal with it in my post tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you have prayers to spare, would you please direct them at my youngest son? I can promise you that he is very deserving of them.

Thanks.

And thanks for always being there.

=)

Come Into My Parlor...OOPS

OOPS. I really AM getting old, because somehow I read Jenny's instructions and thought she said we could add 25 additional words to our usual 100! On second look (and after I had already written this poem), I finally got the message. 30 words only. *sigh*

Be that as it may, we drove all day to get to the beach, and I am way too tired to write another, so please forgive this overlong Centus. I promise to make next week's extra short to redeem myself. (The prompt is in red.)

∞§∞

Come Into My Parlor

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

"I'm not getting any younger,"

said the spider to the fly.

When into my web you blunder,

could you let me know you're nigh?

My eight eyes are growing dimmer,

My eight legs are growing lame.

This arachnid's getting slimmer.

(I'm not saying you're to blame.)

But if you would be my dinner,

it would be so awfully nice.

As a meal you'd be a winner.

You won't have to ask me twice.

I will open wide for you, dear.

I will savor every bite.

It's a lovely thing you do, dear.

Thanks for dropping in. G'night!

∞§∞

Brain Drain

I'm willing to bet that my brain used to be larger than the inch or so pictured here, but I have clear evidence that it is indeed shrinking. (Or maybe the correct word would be shriveling.) Either way, you can be sure that I find the whole experience shattering, shocking, and shameful...including but not limited to the shortcomings that accompany it. (As you can see, the ability to alliterate is not among those shortcomings.)

not yet, anyway

Sadly, the ability to choose the word I want, when I want it, definitely IS among them. And then some. I never imagined that my once fertile mind would be dependent upon a thesaurus to find the word I was looking for, but these days I find myself tethered to that tome constantly. Where are those easily produced words of yesteryear, tripping from my tongue, pen, and keyboard like streams of sparkling water, flowing freely? Oh, how the mighty have fallen! These days I can't come up with le mot juste to save my life. Not that I don't know what it is...oh, I know all too well exactly what it is. The problem is that I can't come up with it...And no other word will do.

*sigh*

It's...

(Cue frenzied, impatient search through thesaurus here.)

Ahhh, yes. Discombobulating. To say nothing of flummoxing, befuddling, and downright flabbergasting.

Gingko biloba, anyone?

;)

I'm hitting the beach next week (poor hubby has to stay home), so please bear with me if I'm a bit irregular about my posting!

Marriage: A Family Is Born

A Family Is Born

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

Man and woman.

Heaven’s grace

reaching, touching

altar’s lace.

Gift of God,

the sealing power.

Life eternal

from that hour

is theirs. A prize

to lose or keep

by covenant

that runs heart-deep.

A family born.

A promise sure.

If man and woman

but endure.

His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

Psalms 89:29

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Trees Breathe Life; Don't Kill Them

Sorry to jump on my tree bandwagon again so soon, but I am hopping mad. I just learned that a beautiful spot near my home has been basically clear-cut of 15 oak trees as part of a project to build condominiums. This news is bad enough in itself, but what makes it worse is the fact that when this whole thing came before the city council, careful care was taken to preserve these beautiful oaks. Somehow, these (insert expletive here)developers, who purchased the land and plans from the organization that originally presented this (now) travesty to the council, decided to totally ignore the caveat to protect these trees and just ripped them out.

Oh sure, they have the oaks boxed, and they intend to "replant" them, but replanting hardly ever takes with trees this age...And all of this was done undercover, so that no one found out about it until after the fact. Many people who live in and love this village are devastated, myself included.

Surprisingly enough, they did leave the redwoods. Maybe those are considered more "commercial."

*sigh*

How can people be so cavalier about such majestic creations? The live oak in my yard is like an old friend, and its presence is felt by us every day. That now denuded hollow was sacred ground; I really believe that. And anyone who ever walked through there could feel it.

Honestly, I could beat those people up right now. I'm not even kidding.

"/

All for One and One for All

Whether you're sharing a lifeguard tower

or a campfire,

growing up with siblings is a happy blessing.

photos by tendershootz

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HOPE YOU HOP ON OVER TO BAKOW BOOK BABBLE TO

READ AND PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION I'M LEADING ON

JAMIE FORD'S HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET!

Strawberry Fields Forever

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to...

strawberry fields. Nothin' is real,

and nothin' to get hung about.

Strawberry fields forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed,

misunderstanding all you see.

It's getting hard to be someone,

but it all works out.

It doesn't matter much to me.

Strawberry fields forever!

PHOTOS BY TENDERSHOOTZ

Grow Old with Me

Jenny made a few threats about rocking our boats today with the Saturday Centus. Happily, she relented and offered the usual 100 words and a prompt (in red, below) that will raise no eyebrows.

∞§∞

Grow Old with Me

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

Mornings were brutal. He woke up half of a pair, then remembered all over again that part of his fraction had vanished.

Nights were worse. Spending long days picking up shards and shavings of misery (as he did) made it hard to put them down again. Too hard. So he took the lot to bed, sorting with bare hands, hoping to discard at least a few–the ones that pierced and made him bleed. Ragged ones, with unforgiving edges.

Above the headboad, a sign of the times (other, better times) mocked him. And the sign read, “Grow old with me; the best is yet to be.”

She hadn’t.

∞§∞

Cary Was SO Very...

Smooth, suave, sophisticated, and absolutely gorgeous!

(Classic and timeless, too.)

Is anybody else out there a Cary Grant fan? I am, and this is a picture of him next to his daughter, Jennifer, who has written a memoir about him entitled Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant. Apparently, he retired at age 62 and spent the last 20 years of his life helping to raise his daughter, though his marriage to her mother (Dyan Cannon) ended in 1969, three years after his only child's birth.

Ms. Grant shares fond memories of her famous father, who was apparently devoted to his only child. By her own account, as described in People magazine, he "picked up young Jennifer at school, read to her, taught her life lessons, saved every photo, souvenir and scrap of paper that that two of them shared," and catalogued them. In fact, many details of the book are based upon carefully kept memorabilia preserved by this proud dad.

I haven't read the memoir, but I think I will, because Cary Grant was a great favorite of mine. Some of his best and brightest movies were Topper, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Bishop's Wife, Room for One More, To Catch a Thief, An Affair to Remember, House Boat, Operation Petticoat, North by Northwest, That Touch of Mink, Charade, Father Goose, Walk Don't Run. I especially loved him with Katherine Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Loretta Young, and Doris Day...but he made every costar look good!

I think his role as Dudley the angel in The Bishop's Wife may have charmed me the most (David Niven was no slouch either), but every one of the movies listed above was enchanting. In fact, I plan to steep myself in sweet, sighing nostalgia by renting them all again this summer. Wanna join me?

;)