Good Friends are Hard to Find

Twelve years ago, we moved to the Charlotte area to be closer to my son and his family. We both had just fully retired. Downsizing was a challenge as we went through our years of collecting and saving.  The question became, “Why would we save this?” The trash bags filled and got dumped. We had two yard sales and got rid of many household items as well as tools and wood I had collected. There are very few if any of the items we sold that I now miss.

I was working for my friend, Bunky, managing his siding warehouse. When moving day came, he personally came and brought his siding crew of workers to help us load the 27ft U-haul Van. He was in his mid-seventies at that time, but he got in the back of the truck where he packed and stacked all the stuff we were taking with us. By lunchtime we were loaded and ready to hit the road. Friends like that are hard to find.

We arrived in Charlotte late in the afternoon. A friend of my son coached a teen soccer team. He came and brought his guys, and they helped us unload the truck. By the end of the day we were moved in and ready for a rest.

Winter transitions

tell you which friends will show up

helping make your day

*

Today, at deverse, Frank Tassone gave us the job of writing a Moving Haibun. I have heard that moving is second only to divorce in the amount of stress it creates.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Words Like Water…

Words like water either enrich and give life or erode and destroy

Enriching words affirm, inspire, reassure, and show love

Thoughtless words sting, hurt, divide, and traumatize

Children like clay are malleable, treasures yet to be formed

Words shape the pot into its final design and words become the glaze

Some become masterpieces with a beautiful glaze that shapes their lives

Others become Raku* treasures with a rough tough crackle glaze shaped by life

Whether children or adults let your words be uplifting and encouraging

Let words be like water giving life and refreshment to all you meet

Today I read Jan Beek’s beautiful blog post reminding us how important words are in our personal relationships. I decided to carry on the message particularly in how we raise our children. What we say stays with them for the rest of their lives.

Check out her blog:

https://janbeek.blog/2023/07/27/watch-what-you-say/

*  https://rakupottery.ca/2020/12/07/the-not-so-secret-steps-involved-in-making-raku-pottery/

* https://rakupottery.ca/pit-firing/

Zinnias and Butterflies

Summer butterflies

Enjoy Zinnia nectar

A beautiful gift

My little garden…

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Stoned or Dreaming

                    Women of Algiers in their apartment – Eugine Delacroix

Women with glassy eyes sit waiting

for the next caller to request their services.

Smoke from the narghile pipe numbs their senses

transporting them to another place and time.

Ignoring the harem slave girl, as she waves adieu in parting,

the hashish settles in… and time stands still.

Today at d’Verse, Grace and Melissa have come up with three paintings from which we were to pick one and write an ekphrastic poem in any form. I found the painting by Eugine Delacroix very interesting. With a little research, I found it may depict women in a harem in Algiers. I also discovered that he did a second painting of the same women in a darker more evocative format.

                                 Women of Algiers in their apartment #2 – Eugine Delecroix

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Party Boat

Packet Boat churns its way down the Monongahela River.

Smoke pours from its stacks as the big wheel gnaws the water

with never ending voracity, leaving whitecaps sparkling.

Waves lap round river stones scattered along the banks. 

Dancehall music floats gayly on the wind.

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Painting of the Packet Boat: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse our Quadrille prompt from De Jackson is water. This painting of the Packet Boat comes from the age of steam. Friends who grew up down along the river tell me they remember hearing the party boats going by when they were children.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

Stalemate

Blood and smoke mingle

Freedom’s light of truth grows dim

Buildings blown to bits

***

Ukraine’s beauty lies destroyed

Bodies rest in shallow graves

*

Pray for peace in Ukraine

Watercolor Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Satellite Dish or Bass Guitar

Today I finished my Satellite Dish Electric Bass. I have been ruminating on how to make it for about six months. It is fretted and has a long scale of 34 inches. I carved the neck from a piece of banister top rail that I got at the Habitat Restore. The dish came from my roof when I cut the cord and went totally over the air for my TV service. It has a stick-on pick-up that is under the bridge area with a jack and volume control knob. It has a good loud sound. My grandson came and helped me work on it one morning. Today I finished making the string height adjustments.

Repurposed dish

From TV to music

Deep string vibrations

Click on the thumbnails below to see the build process:

Moments in Time

All of life is just moments in time

Experiences that stay forever in one’s mind

A childhood joy/trauma/ impression

The teacher who cared and made a difference

The first kiss //fireworks in your brain

Broken heart // pain of separation

Moments in time are all we have

A mosaic of color showing the whole

As we step back and look at the big picture

A wedding //the birth of a child

Stresses of life // work // love

Shape our lives // cementing tiles in place

Permanent pieces fixed in time and space

The death of a parent // loss of a spouse

Wonderful joy of grandchildren shouts

Good friends who come and go

Each adding a sparkle to the whole

Cemented together with love and compassion

Leaving our star on the walk of time

***

Photo of me receiving recognition from Virginia Governor Mills Godwin back in the 1970s.

Posting on the open link at d’Verse Poets Pub

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Homebrew or Deathtrap

This year the Japanese Beatles seem to like my zinnias. They do not bother the tomatoes right next to them. I decided to make my own beetle trap using an orange juice bottle and a half of a plastic milk jug. I hot glued the two necks together so that the open milk jug would funnel them into the jar below.  I made a mixture of water dish soap, a little orange juice, and a little wine and put some in each of my two containers. Then I started collecting them in clusters off the leaves and putting them into the jug. The number of beetles diminished greatly and today I saw the jug had some big fat ones that I had not put into it. They were drawn to my sour brew!

Hot temps home brew

Irresistibly sour

Beetles slide down chute 

Click on photos to enlarge:

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Good Times at Nags Head

Sand and surf God’s natural sandbox

A place where awe and imagination merge

Watching our two boys chase ebb and flow

Squealing with delight as the surf laps their ankles

*

Amazing creatures evolve out of the sandy beach

With each shovel full of sand they take shape

Octopus, Sea Turtles, Sharks and Whales

All come to life at the hand of their creator

*
Sandcastles with moats and towering walls

Sit on the edge of destruction

Hot Rods with seat and steering wheel

Roar to life in that three-year old mind

*

Riding the swells on a bubble of air

Feeling the power of the ocean breathing beneath

Waiting for just the right wave to ridH

Driving into the shallows

*

Those were good times, no, great times at Nag’s Head

Some forty years ago

*

Now it’s grandchildren and a new creator

Bringing awe and imagination to life

And that three-year old still loves God’s ocean playground

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Punam asked us to write a poem about a vacation memory. This poem is about our trips we took to Nag’s Head on the Outer Banks of NC. Such great times and wonderful memories.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com