I Married a Cat… She Married a Dog!

When two people  commit themselves to a lifetime together, rather shocking personality traits begin to show up. We have all heard that opposites attract and I have found this to be true in my own marriage. But to me a better description is to see it in animal images. This poem describes the differences in our personalities. These differences present a lot of challenges in our life. Understanding these differences helps us overcome and survive these challenges.

I Married a Cat… She Married a Dog

I married a cat

Sleek and beautiful

Strong and independent

Yet likes to come and be close when

She is ready and feeling loved

Claiming the house as her space

Demanding attention when things get neglected

Purring when things go right

Scratching when things go wrong

Loving and caring and always there

I married a cat

She married a dog

A co-dependent creature

Full of noise and excitement

Always barking about something

Demanding attention

Not to be denied

Protective and possessive

Tail wagging and drooling for love

Always wanting more

Assuming and thoughtless

Taking everything for granted

Leaving sheadings everywhere he goes

Always there when things get tough

Full of love and compassion

A wife’s best friend

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Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Reposted from a year ago…

 

 

Seeds of Hope

Seeds are amazing! There are millions and millions of them all around us. We depend on them for food. Animals and birds eat and transport them to other places. Many seeds lie dormant in the ground until the moisture and sunlight are right to sprout.  Some have husks like the black walnut. Seeds have been found in the Egyptian tombs that are thousands of years old, but when planted they still sprout! Some seeds will not grow until a forest fire has passed through and allowed their shells to break open and sprout. The seeds around us are like hope in our life, always there waiting for a time to come forth bringing renewed hope and beauty.

Seeds of Hope

Seeds of hope and beauty

Lay embedded in every soul

Waiting for the right moment

The right conditions

To germinate and grow

They are always there

Planted by our creator

Springing forth as the fire passes

Or the storm levels

Or layers are scraped away

Just as a forest comes back

From the ashes fireweed and beauty

From burnt bark sprouts green shoots

Losses soon covered

With renewed hope and beauty

*

Seeds of hope and beauty

Lay buried in your soul

Waiting for their time

Don’t wallow in the ashes left behind

Or the destruction you experienced

Or negative words meant to level you

Bask in the sunlight of God’s love and grace

Water your soul with the joy of service

Renew your hope and inner beauty

Always there waiting patiently

For its time to come forth in your life

Beauty from ashes the oil of gladness

Bring hope and beauty to others

Renewing your soul

Reviving your spirit

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Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Know the Storms will Come

Know that Storms Will Come

Young and invincible I heard the tales

Of mid-life crisis and relationship dips

Never thought it would happen to me

Must be talking about someone else

As time went on and kids left home

The nest was empty for the first time

Work and stress and baggage compressed

Came out of the closet to haunt us

Know that storms of life are sure to happen

No matter how strong are the pilings

Tsunami waves and hurricane winds

Pound every foundation and structure

Relationships dip some crash and burn

Depends on pilings and a willingness to learn

Can Humpty Dumpty be put together again

It’s up to you to decide

When storms come as you know they will

Is it easier to relearn on a new unknown model

Or overhaul the relationship you already have

We kept the one we already had!

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

 

 

 

 

Butterfly Morning in a Garden of Flowers

My friend Bob invited me to his house this morning to see the butterflies and flowers he has in the backyard.  His flowers were dazzling and the butterflies were beautiful. As they flitted from Zinnia to Zinnia, I snapped away. These are only a few of the beautiful shots I got this morning. This is definitely poetry in motion and no further words are needed!  Enjoy!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

 

Blood Red Beauty

 

Blood Red Beauty

Blood red petals floating fragile in the wind

Relationships intertwined yet ephemeral

Young and energetic shining moments

Splendid beauty in a garden of flowers

One by one the petals fall

Old relationships mature move on

New colors emerge as old ones die

Relationships are strong

Be they short or long

Bleeding blood red for all to see

Their shining day in the sun

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

 

 

 

 

Come Fly With Me!!

Where in the world would you travel if you could do so! There are so many interesting places and cultures to choose from. As I worked on this project, it brought back a lot of events and people in history that made me smile! This collection is 24 x 42 inches. A friend of my suggested the travel idea with the suitcases. I liked the idea and this is the result. I was able to use some larger stamps as well as larger blocks of stamps. These are stamps from all over the world!

Come Fly With Me

Come fly the unfriendly skies with me

Together we will see the world

No more snacks or food for free

Just a bag of saltless peanuts

And enough soda to make me pee

*

Seats so narrow we barely fit

Squeezed tightly and compact we sit

Like Leggos locked in place

We sit there with a smile pasted on our face

*

Come fly with me in spite of the odds

We’ll see the world together

Our bags will arrive from deep in the hold

Our carry-ons light as a feather

*

We will be sure to have  lot’s of fun

When we reach our destination

Japan or China or maybe New Zeland

In Rome or Paris or the House of the Rising Sun

*

In spite of  our tight seats we sit in

It will all be worth the show

At the window seat I’m pinned in

I’ll love it all I know

*

So come fly with me in New York we’ll meet

And rise above our fears

Float on clouds throughout the years

And fold up all our feet

*

And if by chance they come slinking

Down the aisle to take my seat

I won’t fight or wiggle or swear

I’ll say thank you my dears

And…”Let me Out of Here!!”

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Stamp Art: Dwight L. Roth

 

 

Fireflies/Lightning Bugs

Tonight as I look out my windows the little lights of the fireflies are blinking on and off. I find them very intriguing. When I was a child we called them lightning bugs. We caught them on summer evenings and put them in a mason jar where we watched them blink on and off.  They have a very interesting mating ritual that uses the blinking to attract one another.  Those of you who have been following me may have read this one before. I am reposting it to remind us all that summer is here.

There is an excellent youtube video showing the fireflies of the Smokey Mountains of NC where they all blink in unison on warm summer nights.

The Flight of the Firefly

In the dusky twilight

The B-52’s take flight

As the sun sets behind the trees

Lightning flashes across the sky

From fields of green

Leaving shelter and blade they fly

Looking for that one true soul mate

Flying into the evening breeze

Their neon lights flash

First one

Then three

Then a synchronous light

Signaling their desire finding a mate

No match.com

Just the evening’s calm

Circling in flight above the yard

Blinking in rhythmic pulses

Not making a sound

Not even a whisper

Just a blink of love

To a future mistress

Finding that special connection

A once-in-a-lifetime gift of continuance

As the blushing clouds of evening

With their black eyes float by

The dance of love in flight continues

In the night sky

As darkness rolls in like a blanket

The B-52’s with their love connections

Turn out the lights

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Picture from Pinterest.com

Country Roots

Country Roots  (Childhood Details Collection)

My country roots extend into that tall upright radio

Inherited from downstairs when a new one was purchased

With a big dial that crackled and popped when tuned

Early roots wrapped around that 12″ vibrating speaker

Mounted right behind the fabric in the bottom of the set

With a magnet so thick and so strong

It could pull the fillings right out of your teeth

Knobs and dials that can pick up shortwave and more

Signals from all around the world and in the U.S.

My roots emerge from the AM station from just over the mountains

Guitar banjos and voices streaming out hillbilly music

Wheeling, WVA and Fort Wayne, IN came in loud and clear

Country songs from the early 1960’s still float through my head

Saturday night meant I could listen to the WWVA Jamboree

On 40,000 Watts of Power coming over the airwaves

Bringing pure country music to my ears filling every fold in my brain

Jim Reeves singing “He’ll Have to Go”

Hank Snow singing the “Great Speckled Bird”

Loretta & Conway, George & Tammy, and the Browns

Hank Williams singing “Jambalaya” and “Hey Good Lookin’”

All left their mark like “Country Sunhine”on my brain each night

Branded like a steer and marked for life with Country Music Roots

Commercials told of products you could buy to make you a star

Learn to play the piano like the wonderful Floyd Cramer

Playing “Tennessee Waltz” and “Last Date” high on the keyboard

A sound like no other before or since

Wayne Rainey played the blues harmonica so well

“And for $5.95 you too could own your very own Harmonica

Including an easy to follow instruction book with numbers to match”

Hooked I dreamed of one day playing music like that

Sounded so easy I took the bait sent in my money

A brown padded envelope addressed to me came in the mail

It had a cardboard box with a shiny ten-holed harp

Typewritten song book had songs like “Jesus Love of my Soul”

“You are My Sunshine” and “Irene Goodnight”

All with numbered notes some plain and some circled

Showing when to blow in or when draw out

Never did become very good even though I tried

Yes country music grabbed me at a young age

Dreamed of playing the guitar and finally got one

An old Stella that barely stayed in tune

Learned to play Hank Williams and Johnny Cash

And Folk-Gospel songs from the heart

When I watch the specials on PBS

It still takes me back home

To that big old radio

And the WWVA Jamboree

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Photo: from the history of the WWVA Jamboree

http://www.wheelingjamboree.org/timeline_history.php

Guitar Photo: Wikipedia

 

Living Only to Mate

When you hear Living Only to Mate, you might think I am talking about people or animals, but in this case I am referring to the Luna Moth. According to Wikapedia, it goes through several different growth stages. It finally emerging as an adult that has no mouth, does not eat, and lives for about a week and only to mate. Lunas mostly comes out at night, but can be seen during the day.

This beautiful creature was sitting in my grass yesterday. I noticed it as I was walking by. I got my camera and shot a few photos. This one is a male as shown by the straight wing line across the top of its body. I was very excited to see it.

I say poetry is beauty and beauty is poetry… no words needed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small Town Trains

Waxhaw North Carolina: Small town trains

Seems like almost every small town in North Carolina has a train track running right through the downtown and a water tower with the town name on it.  Trains roll through and shaking windows and rattling doors as they fly by!

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Poetry in motion as the trains come rolling through….No words needed!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Dwight L. Roth