Roots lying unseen
Giving strength to what is seen
The same with our Faith
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Photography
My Blood Runs Red…
Today I stopped to visit a big red Farmall M sitting along the road. It brings back so many memories of driving one in the summer during my teen years many years ago. I thought I would share some photos and memories with you.
My blood runs Farmall red
Filling my mind with memories
of days gone by so long ago
Back when fields were plowed
With three bottom plows
Turning over thick rich soil
Farmall red is a color full of life
Of roaring engines full of power
Days on the farm combining wheat
Shoveling it into the granary bins
Of lumbering Holstein cows
Coming down the lane udders full
Ready to be milked morning and night
Barn filled with the smell of hay
Silos filled with chopped corn fermenting
Big red Farmall tractors helping it happen
Yes, my memories run red… Farmall Red.
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge:
Posting for d’Verse open link night.
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For more great farm stories check out my book Farm Stories on Amazon Kindle. You can read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited.
Bully Rodents
Onery rodents
Squirreling their way to (my) feeder
Finches bullied away
Ferreting the feeder cage
Just can’t worm their way through wire
Makes my day!
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Posting for d’Verse prompt using animal names as verbs!
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O
You Know it has to be Good!
This recipe is tried and true
Favorite of mine just for you
Sausage and pineapple
in beef broth stew
Onions and green peppers
And celery too
A little black pepper
and some garlic for you
Spooned over rice
too be good to be true
***
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Posting for Punam’s pepper prompt at d’Verse. A 44 word Quadrille. This is a favorite recipe of mine that is delicious. It is best served with All-Bran Muffins fresh out of the oven.
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Fledgling
Grumpy little bird
Left its cozy nest too soon
Sits alone begging
***
Mama bird watches from tree
As we slowly pass on by
Cataracts or Cubist Vision
“Portrait of Eivind Eckbo” painted in 1914: Thorvald Hellesen
When I was very young seventy years ago, my grandmother was suffering from blurred vision from cataracts. She was not able to get surgery to get them replaced like I was and spent her final years unable to see clearly. It is amazing how far medical surgery has come.
Grandma’s eyes grew dim
Figures blend like cubist art
Winter of her life
***
So much we take for granted
in our self-centered lives
Grandma with my oldest brother
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Today at d’Verse, Lillian asked us to choose one of five paintings by Norwegian painter, Thorvald Hellesen, and write a poem in any form that inspires us.
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Reading Fun
I started my teaching career in the early 1970s at a small-town elementary school in Bridgewater, Virginia. From the start my goal was to try to make learning fun for my students. In the photo above are two of my fourth-grade students putting their paper cars on the wall for Evil Knievel to jump over on his motorcycle. Some of you might remember when he tried to jump the Grand Canyon!
We had a reading program called SSR Silent Sustained Reading that the students were to read the last twenty minutes of the day. You can see they really got into reading as a result. Those were good days to remember.
Cars stacked for the jump
Students got into reading
when learning was fun
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Today at d’Verse, Frank asked us to write a Haibun that speaks to a memory. This was one of the fun projects I did with my students. I still have connections with a few of those early students on Facebook.
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For more stories check out my book on Amazon Kindle:
Attitude Adjustments
Attitude
Back in the 90s when I was still teaching school, I was feeling burned out and disillusioned with my job. I did an assessment and looked at what it would take to get another job that would pay me what I was earning as a teacher. With my boys starting college it was not the time to bail out on my job. The only other option was to work on me! I finally came to this conclusion:
It is easier to change my attitude
Than to change my job
I found this to also be true in my marriage relationship.
It is easier to change my attitude
Than to change my spouse
I am sure there are other situations in life where this is applicable as well.
Muttart Conservatory Photo: Dwight L Roth
Keep Moving
Sweat waters my brow
Working a growing garden
Letting it happen
*
Nature’s bending exercise
My personal weight loss program
Photos: Ruth and Dwight Roth
I am not a big fan of exercise, but I do love working in my garden. It is something I have done for many years. Although my garden is getting smaller as I get older, I still love getting my hands in the dirt and seeing the plants grow and produce. This is the kind of exercise I can get into.
I am posting this for Michele’s “What Moves You” challenge. We are to post a photo and a written response to show how we keep moving and stay healthy. You can read more about it at her Word Press site My Inspired Life.
check it out and join us:
https://myinspiredlife.org/2023/04/29/what-moves-you-blog-challenge/
Also posting for open link night at: https://dversepoets.com
Does the Songbird Still Sing?
“The Gujarati poet Parul Khakhar was reprimanded for her poem referencing Covid 19 and bodies in the Ganges – ‘Shavvahini Ganga’ (Ganges the Carrier of Corpses) – read this article “Flogged, imprisoned, murdered: today, being a poet is a dangerous job’ by Tishani Doshi for more detail. Her subsequent poem is entitled “You Are Not To Speak” a witty riposte in my view.”
Paul, guest host at d’Verse today, asked us to remember the poets who have and are now persecuted and caged away for their views and words. Words of political nature carry weight and have influence. Those who speak and write them are often censored by the authorities who are supposed to be working for justice and human rights. My poem today is a reflection of my thoughts after reading the article mentioned above.
**
Does the songbird still sing behind walls of stone
While with windows caged, they are left all alone
**
Hidden away by forces dark and sinister
Does the songbird’s words still ring along the banister
**
The songbird’s voice melodic and sweet
Cuts through to the heart of Power’s seat
**
For some, they hear a nightingale singing
While dark hearts hear only raucous ringing
**
The songbird does sing behind walls of stone
For a mind that’s free is never alone
**
And though no one hears her caged voice singing
The words she writes will go on ringing
**
From every stone steeple and podium high
Those words will resound, they will not die
***
Photo of the Fortress at Koblentz: Dwight L. Roth
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Roth Poetry 