Month: March 2016

Radiant

Wow!

Jan Wilberg's avatarRed's Wrap

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Pink still means something to me. I know it’s not supposed to. I know pink has been exploited, used for profit and for keeping girls in their place. Pink is trite, the flag of gender stereotyping, the dog whistle of sexism, making it easier for those inclined to elbow women to the side.

I know all of this but pink still means something to me.

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Today, the official start of the Iditarod 1,049 mile sled dog race across Alaska, pink means warrior.

It means Dee Dee Jonrowe running her 34th Iditarod at the age of 62. And she’s not just an old broad that everyone thinks is cute for trying again. She’s finished in the top ten 15 times. She’s endured broken bones and frostbite to finish races. She raced three weeks after finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

She’s one tough lady and pink is her color.

Today, it’s…

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Sheet Conceit

snobbery is not my thing
until it comes to sheets
thread count, deep pockets
all the criteria to meet
yet a rift has arisen
in the sheet that was fitted
and three holes slice through
where they should be knitted
but quality bedding
is priced rather dear
so pieces i’ll
buy here and there
though i swear i can’t sleep
on mismatching linens
my sensibilities
they do offend.

Something of Substance

The name meant nothing to her. She’d heard it murmured by others 

once or twice, and whispered it to herself in the grayed shadows of night. But still, 

the word was just a pair of syllables, having no weight or depth of their own. 

Why then did she find her fingertips bruised, nails chipped and bloodied from

repeated attempts to scratch the letters into the stone she’d tucked inside her 

pocket? Surreptitious strokes, thumb circling, reassuring.

  

The Adventure Continues

(Note: If you’ve happened upon my blog this evening for the first time, I’m chronicling an epic (for me) road trip that began on February 17, and will hopefully conclude on March 6, when I’m reunited with my husband, Studly Doright, and my two kitties, Patches and Scout.) 

Somehow I survived the rodeo and related events on Thursday night. With a heavy heart–at least a nine pounder, I left my brother’s home in Houston and headed three and a half hours south to see Studly Doright’s eldest sibling, the beauteous Lyn, who lives near Corpus Christie with her husband, Mike.

Mike is dealing with some serious health issues right now, but he’s tough as an old Texas boot, and I have every confidence he’ll recover fully. I just needed to go and give him a kick in the rear to facilitate his healing. He’ll thank me later.

I stayed the night with Lyn and made her buy me breakfast at Hester’s, a great bakery in Corpus Christie, before I dropped her off at the hospital where Mike is a reluctant guest. It was hard to leave her there. My heart gained an extra pound.

From the hospital I drove the overwhelming distance of 35 miles where I met my cousin Diane for coffee in Rockport. Diane and her husband have relocated to this Texas coastal town from California, and we hadn’t seen each other in years. 

  
We didn’t get to visit long, but it did my heart good to see her. Our first comments to each other were exclamations of how much we looked like our respective mothers. Again I said a sad goodbye and resumed my trip. My heart weighs at least 15 pounds at this point.

Finally I set my GPS to take me home. Of course I needed to stop for lunch–heavy hearts need extra calories–and came across a little barbecue place in the middle of nowhere.  

  

The pig statue at Auntie Jo’s Barbecue beckoned to me and soon I was enjoying a pulled pork sandwich.

  
This kitty kept me company as I ate. I might’ve snuck her a few bites from my sandwich. We bonded.

With lunch over I became serious about finding my way back to Doright Manor. The GPS informed me that I had 13 hours of driving ahead of me. With that in mind I set a goal to get at least half that distance behind me before stopping for the night. 

I almost made it, too! Unfortunately I ran out of daylight around the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. My night vision has never been great, but lately it is awful. 

Tomorrow I still have roughly seven hours to go before I get to see Studly and the cats. Tonight I’m tucked into a hotel bed, watching The People v. OJ Simpson on TV after having dined sumptuously on Taco Bell fare. Ah, the glamorous life! 

Good thoughts for Mike’s recovery and for safe travels will be greatly appreciated.

Peace, people!

A Pickle for Your Thoughts

a pickle for your thoughts
i like the way that sounds
for if one takes a pickle
and divides it into rounds
the sum of all its parts
you see is greater then by far
than one single copper penny
that under any circumstance
shouldn’t be eaten from a jar.

  
Peace and pickles, people!

Rodeo

As a native Texan I’d heard tales of the mythical Houston Rodeo–an epic 20 day extravaganza featuring competition between the top cowboys and cowgirls in their respective events. Now at the age of 59 I finally got to savor the experience first hand. And what an amazing experience it was!

My brother, Kelly, works with a man who has volunteered at the rodeo in various capacities for more than two decades. This man has two sets of season tickets that he offers to friends during the event. We were fortunate to get incredible seats close to the action so there wasn’t a calf roping or bull riding that we missed. 

The pageantry was “over the top Texas” with fireworks and wagon races, mutton busting and a host of other events.

   
   
Once the rodeo events were completed for the night country singer Jason Aldean took the stage and rocked the house from a rotating stage. There were no bad seats for the concert.

   
   
We drank copious amounts of beer, consumed peanuts, nachos, fried Snickers and fried pecan pie. 

And smiled.

 

My brother Kelly and sister-in-law, Susan
  
My goofy self and brother Kelly
  
My handsome son, Jason who came from Dallas for the rodeo, and me.
 
What a great evening! And I didn’t even relate my bull riding experience. That’s coming in another post.

Peace, people!

Stranded

Somewhere between
I want to and I did
were a lot of dead
spots filled with
I can’t and
maybe I shouldn’t and
even girl, don’t you dare.
I got stranded once
on the island of
I’m not worthy, but
the good ship
I believe in you
saved me and brought
me to safety.

  
Peace, people.

Woman About Houston

I spent the first night of a two-night stay with my brother and his wife in Houston. It’s not my first trip to the country’s fourth largest city, but it is the first time I’ve been armed with GPS and felt brave enough to wander about on my own. 

So what did I do with my morning? Well, first I spent some quality time having a mani-pedi at Footopia. 

  
These are my happy little piggies.

Then, I thought to myself, “Friend, you’re in Texas, the home of big hair. Go and have it styled for the rodeo. So I did just that at a salon that specializes in blow outs, The Blow Out Bar. 

  
Apparently my hair is too short to become really big, but I liked the results.

After that I had a bit of time to kill, but little money, so I just rambled about looking for something interesting. My reward was a place called Wabash Feed. 

  
Not only did Wabash Feed have food for animals of all persuasions, but they had plants and fertilizer, pottery and funky  objets d’art. Best of all, they had live animals: Bunnies and chickens and pigeons and a one-eyed turtle.

   
    
    
 
I wandered around Wabash Feed for an hour or so, and wondered if Studly Doright needed a pet chicken to assist him in his shop. In the end I decided a chicken might not be able to handle a wrench or a screwdriver rendering them lousy shop assistants. 

Finally it was time for a snack. And where better than a place called Luke’s Icehouse?

  
I had an ice cold Shiner Bock and a chicken quesadilla with terrific salsa before returning to Kelly and Susan’s home. 

Now I have a couple of hours to relax before we head to the rodeo grounds where  I was told that one can enjoy a fried Oreo, among other things. I’d better go ponder that.

  
Yeehaw!

Peace, people!

Cell by Cell

Profound. Read more at poesypluspolemics.com.

Paul F. Lenzi's avatarPoesy plus Polemics

dementia “Dementia” Fused Glass Art by Lucas Krenzin

insufferable demon
nibbles the brain
cell by cell
puts his torch
to the calendar
lighting his meal
with insidious
ambient menace

cell by cell
is a lifetime of
wisdom consumed
as the mind
shrinks down into
diminished capacity
paler with pallor
of memories lost

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Open Letter to Oklahoma Voters and Lawmakers

Important words here. Scary words. Truthful words. Read more at stevenewedel.wordpress.com.

Steven E. Wedel's avatarSteven E. Wedel

I am a teacher. I teach English at the high school of an independent district within Oklahoma City. I love my job. I love your kids. I call them my kids. I keep blankets in my room for when they’re cold. I feed them peanut butter crackers, beef jerky, or Pop Tarts when Michelle Obama’s school breakfast or lunch isn’t enough to fill their bellies. I comfort them when they cry and I praise them when they do well and always I try to make them believe that they are somebody with unlimited potential no matter what they go home to when they leave me.

What do they go home to? Sometimes when they get sick at school they can’t go home because you and the person you’re currently shacking up with are too stoned to figure out it’s your phone ringing. Sometimes they go home to parents who don’t…

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