Donner's "How do you run away from the things in your head?" Thread

[Donner]

Make Up Your Mind
"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day." Robert Frost

I pull the wool jacket back out
I was hoping I wouldn't see again
until September.
April is a hit-or-miss month,
the middle child of spring -
May-warm enough some days
to bring out halter tops
and shorts, March-cold others
when even the trees don scarves.





“But it is a sort of April-weather life that we lead in this world.
A little sunshine is generally the prelude to a storm.” William Cowper

[HowardM2]

(I tried fluffing here once before but the glitches ate it; I hope I'm not feeding them again.) Some really nice things here. "On Making Ham and Bean Soup" is my favorite because of the way it moves perfectly to its conclusion. "Enlightenment" is delightful with a neat kicker at the end. The two "Low Tech" pieces are funny bits of frustration; so is "Etiquette for Mowing." "Every Small Town Cafe Has One" reminds me pleasantly of the place my father and his cronies had coffee every morning for 40+ years; thanks so much for that memory.

[Donner]

Thanks, Howard. (I'm having the same problems with the board, no worries.) Your visits are always appreciated.

* * * * *

Lion's Tooth

My lawn has been landscaped for free
with dandelions. I tell my daughter
that science has a technical term
for the seed heads that come later - "clocks"
they're called, but they're really fairies
that will float away free with her breath,
like this. She hands me the bouquet
she's picked and chases after the tiny enchanters
as I imagine Eve's youngest daughter might have done,
listening to her mother talk about the place she was born
as mothers do with daughters while they take a break
from the weeding. She doesn't remember having to pull dandelions
in the Garden. Here, there are so many.
Her daughter picks a handful of silvery puffs
and blows them downwind toward Eden.


Dent-de-lion - "lion's tooth" in Old French.
Dandelion clock - 1. The white seed head of a dandelion after flowering.
2. A children's amusement in which the number of puffs needed to blow
the filamentous achenes from a dandelion is supposed to tell the time.

Everything you might want to know about dandelions.

[kristalynn]

Thanks for Lion's Tooth. I'm getting stressed today about little things, and your poem was enough to take me away enough to look at the big picture and realize it's not so bad! Now I'm feeling more inspired to get some of my own writing done (I hope!) I also really like the tree donning the scarf. Love the picture too. Washington weather. My sister lives there and loves it and my daughter wants to live there when she is on her own.

[Angela]

Donner:

Lion's Tooth:

My garden is so very full of wishes right now. I love the time spent with my daughter. (She will be 16 this summer. I can remember looking under mushroom caps for fairy houses! Where does the time go?!) We will be in the garden this weekend. All the hard work that awaits is nothing.

Angela~

[Donner]

Andrea - Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, glad something I wrote could help relieve some of those day-to-day worries we all go through. My older sister moved to CA years ago to escape the western WA gray days. (Eastern WA is a totally different weather story.) She stayed. Gray days don't bother me in the least.

Angela - Wait until she's 32. I've prepped my garden, but you don't plant here until around Mother's Day.

The board has been pretty glitchy when I've been on in the evening, so I've fallen behind in my fluffing. I'll try to make up today.

Donner

[Donner]

Taco Night

I. My son makes his taco

He takes two burrito-
sized tortillas,
slathers on refried beans,
first one, then the other,
then half the meat,
then salsa,
then cheese,
then large spoonfuls
of sour cream
and guacamole,
then the lettuce,
prepping one,
then the other,
then the one,
then the other,
then folds and digs in,
one, then the other,
while mentally planning
a parentless week.

II. My husband makes his taco

He takes a low carb tortilla,
dollops three spoonfuls
more refried beans
than his diet allows,
then the meat,
then some olives,
then cheese, salsa
and sour cream,
more than he should
(but he's technically
now on vacation),
a few more olives,
some tabasco to taste,
and lettuce,
but not too much
because salad's
what he had for lunch,
then repeats the process,
including the beans,
while planning
how many fish taco
stands he'll check off
that he's read about
in Fodor's.

III. I make my taco salad

I cover a salad plate
with chopped lettuce,
sprinkle with crushed lo-fat tortilla chips,
then just a bit of meat for taste,
then the cheese,
just a bit, then salsa,
chopped tomatoes,
cilantro and green onions,
wrinkle my nose at the olives
some wise guy
keeps pushing at me,
stop it,
then spoons on, no, wait, ok fine,
some sour cream
while planning on getting in
my two miles in the morning
before we leave for the airport
in the hope that will help me
still fit into my new swimsuit.

[Donner]

Looking Ahead

It's not the packing
I mind, it's the laundry
after we get back.

[Mike M]

way behind on this thread and will come back for more, but I liked "Two Cats" and the offhand use of the endearment "my pet."

[GreaterMandalaofUselessness]

Hi Donna,

I'm just catching up on your thread before you go on holiday.

Instructions: "where I can feel them bloom / from the roots up". The ending makes this for me.

Make up your mind works nicely with photo that prompted it.

Lion's tooth I love the way this one shades into the mythical. Memories of the Garden, where no weeding ever had to be done. This is has nice wistful feel. Ah, paradise lost!

Taco Night. I enjoy the conceit here, each person imagines the week to come around their taco making. Good luck with the swimming costume

Looking Ahead Noo! Don't think about that now! Wait till you come back. And then get your husband to do it.

Have a fabulous holiday!

Matt

[Donner]

Thanks, Mike and Matt, much appreciated. Matt - My husband did his own laundry a few days ago, so gold star for him.

I'll be posted as I can while on vacation. Fluff may be a bit sparse depending on the day's schedule or whether I die whilst parasailing but one never knows and I promise to catch up when we return.

[Donner]

Studying Common Spanish Phrases for Travelers
While Waiting at the Airport for Our Flight

I recognize sí, no, por favor, de nada,
Buenos días/tardes/noches and hola,
but I'm having trouble pronouncing discúlpeme
(dees-COOL-pay-may) and ¿A cuál hora? (ah kwahl OH-rah)
and I'm anxious that I'll use the wrong "I'm hot,"
when I want the AC turned on. I'm beginning to wish
I'd taken two years of high school Spanish instead

of my great great grandparent's German,
or that we were flying to Berlin instead of Cabo.
The fluid foreign words I don't understand
that come pouring from the kitchen
at Los Palomas are the same as I'll hear in the market
stalls and streets around Baja. Not so much the mall,
the shops there cater to cruise ship patrons
and speak the language of the dollar. But I'm sure

if I nod and say Muy bien, gracias as fast as they do,
I'll get by. I dog-ear the page, glance out at the tarmac
and wonder what the Lopez's and Flores' first thought
when they moved from their estado to mine
and saw the signs for Dosewallips, Duckabush and Humptulips,
Puyallup, Hamma Hamma, Skookumchuck, Suquamish,
La Push, Issaquah and Pysht and, not finding those
words in their English phrase books,
wondered if they'd boarded the wrong plane.

[Jee Leong]

Common Spanish Phrases strikes a chord with me. I've been trying to learn Spanish for the longest time. I hope to get past the beginner's stage this July when I will be spending a month in Spain.

[UnkleBob]

I really like Instructions. I do not know why I have such an affinity for burial/do this upon my death poems or essays. One of my favorite books, The Undertaking, has an essay on instructions of how to conduct matters after his death. I even like that song, If I Die Young, which I do not know if that is the name of the song, but I am not going to look it up. Ham & Bean Soup was quite enjoyable as was The Practicality of Ceremony. I shame your husband for putting tabasco on a taco. First, tabasco is a pepper sauce that should be used for Red Beans & Rice, Jambayala, maybe on chicken fingers, but tacos is quite unacceptable. Secondly, it is the worst of these. Cholula or Valentina are much better options. Enjoyed that poem also.

[Donner]

Jee - Ooh, Spain! I have friends whose daughter at two is bilingual, speaking both Spanish and English. I, however, have trouble conversing in one language in my 60s.

UnkleBob - I agree about tabasco, but my husband slathers is all over everything as most people would ketchup, with is also totally uncivilized.

Glad you both stopped by to read and comment and found something to enjoy.

Donner