Life is a four letter word
So is love……………..
Stupid is as stupid does: or Super Bowl Sunday–rah, rah
Today is Super Bowl Sunday. I do not understand football and I can probably be forgiven because, while my mind works in delightful ways, it does not compute sports strategy. In high school I liked to watch basketball but if I was passed the ball in gym class I became confused—there were so many options—dribble it somewhere, pass it to someone, try to get it in the basket, or, as I did quite often, stand there until someone shouted at me with instructions. Girls did not play football in gym. I tossed a football around a bit with my older brothers in our backyard (mostly I tried not to get hit in the head) but that was about it. I am familiar with the weirdly shaped ball, but not the true essence of the game that is named after it.
The sport baffles me—I understand when they throw the ball, and when they try to stop someone from advancing it to their goal post, but it seems like most of time it is a bunch of bodies piling on top of one another—I guess in an effort to stop the ball—but that usually seems beside the point. I watched the movie with Sandra Bullock and the adopted son who became a famous football player, and when the little brother explained strategy with mustard and other condiment bottles, I understood to a point, but when you replace the bottles with people, I am still somewhat ill at ease with the game—which seems a bit violent. A game where head concussions are a regular achievement is not generally my cup of tea.
Today, in all my glorious ignorance, I am going to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday. I got some wings—spicy and mild (for me), a chocolate cake with a football on it, and I am rooting for a local guy who plays on the bird team. For anyone local, the guy’s name is Luke Wilson, and he is from LaSalle, Ontario, only about 35 minutes from where I live.
I have never watched a Super Bowl game in my life. I have been to Super Bowl parties and partaken in the wonderfully bad food, but I have stayed away from the huge television set usually in a place of pride in someone’s family room, and watched a movie on the smaller TV upstairs with those like-minded souls who accompanied their spouses to the party (I am not being sexist here—many a lady I know understands and likes football). I used to go to football games at university but hydrated on purple jesus (sounds so disrespectful now—but it was kind of like grape juice spiced with alcohol) it did not really matter what was going on in the field as long as we did not cheer when the other team scored.
Today I am looking forward to the commercials and half-time and the food. I always get these wonderful ideas thinking my family will follow suit and we will have a wonderfully close-knit bonding experience. These plans usually go awry—but I never give up. I usually find the unplanned times together work best, but I still give it the old college try (without the copious amounts of alcohol).
So, go bird team go. Perhaps I should find out the real names of the teams –what do you think?
(I used the Comic sans font so you would know this is supposed to be funny—did it work?)
Writing Wednesday is Back and Inspired by Carl Sagan
(Photo credit: lawndart)
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. ~ Carl Sagan
books (Photo credit: brody4)
Magic ~ something I have long been looking for and it has been right there in front of me all along. Sagan is right–books are magic—and they are a magic that is available to everyone!
This quote has to be my all time, hands down, forever and always, FAVOURITE. It speaks to my very core. Sagan says exactly what I believe about books—that thay transcend time; that they are a conversation that never ends; and they are the very thing that “binds us together” and are “proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
I found the quote on one of my favourite blogs mybeautfulthings, and I have to thank her profusely for providing this inspiration. Many times I think writers wonder what the point is– if adding another book to the number that are already out there is worthwhile—but Sagan answers these questions beautifully.
Books put you “inside the mind of another person” and by doing so give comfort, teach you something, and provide you with another point of view, or one that agrees with what you already think.
I am inspired now to keep writing,….
What inspires you?
A Moment
early morning (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Up early
A little cranky
And creaky
Still tired
Can’t sleep
Wander out to the kitchen
Pour a cup of coffee ~
That first sip
And all is right with the world.
Tell me about a blissful moment………………
Up a Creek Without a Paddle
English: “The Red Canoe,” watercolor, by the American artist Winslow Homer. Courtesy of the Peabody Collection. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Casting off in a canoe without paddles
Unearthing a smooth slender but substantial twig
that reached to the
shallow bottom
She carefully steered the boat out into the pond.
The water was calm
The journey short ~
Success.
Bliss often comes from “making
do”. Have you ever found bliss by “making do”?
Starve a Little
I don’t think my fridge has ever been this messy (Photo credit: *Bitch Cakes*)
Sometimes I fill my fridge with food
And it is too full
And I cannot find anything
Sometimes my mind is the same way
It is too full
And I cannot find anything
I do not feel like cooking when my fridge is too full
There is too much choice
I cannot think when my mind is too full
There is too much choice
Sometimes we need to starve just a little
To find our creativity.
WINGS
Bird’s nest (Photo credit: TaranRampersad)
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” ~ Pema Chodron
Pema’s words hit a chord and inspired my poem, for this the 24th day of Poem-A-Day:
Wings
Sometimes it feels as if my wings are clipped
But when I am thrown out of the nest
I find I can still take flight
It was all in my mind…………
Have you ever found your bliss when you freed your mind?
Worship
Inca Trail (Photo credit: Pedro Martino)
What is that
Sneaking in through the slats
Of the shutters on my dining room windows?
My cat found a place to sit in its slanted presence
In front of the open door~
I am feeling more cheery, zesty even
Could it be?
Tell me it is so—
Has the sun finally decided to show its shiny face?
I am almost afraid to utter its name
Afraid it will be scared away
To hide behind the clouds again
Sun (Photo credit: DBduo Photography)
Its rays lost in the mysterious ether.
I understand the Incas now.
Is the sun showing its face in your neck of the woods–sometimes bliss is just enjoying the sunshine.
Lake Erie Fairies
Illustration of fairies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dazzling sunlight dances
on the water; crystals form ~
Fairies brought to light.
Not Really A Very Good Poem
‘Tis the eve of my birthday
One of those birthdays that end in a 0
So for some reason are deemed more significant
Than most other birthdays.
Sometimes birthdays that end in 5 are major hurdles
but not usually until you reach 65
Though 25 is an exception ~
A few others that seem noteworthy are 18, 19, and 21
Admittedly
13 is a milestone, and sweet 16 too
Happy Birthday to You! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But what about all the other years?
Why are 31, 41, 51 and my next year’s birthday less remarkable?
I have decided that every year and every age is important
And am going to celebrate each and every one as if they ended in O!
(Okay, this writing a poem a day is getting a little long in the tooth—today shows the definite strain of trying to come up with something close to acceptable—but hey, I am still hanging in there, though today it seems only by the skin of my teeth). I am trusting you will not be too hard on me.
Bliss is sometimes putting it out there even if it is not quite up to par — sometimes you have to settle for good enough. Do you agree?
On the Homefront 