Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “our feathered friends”. The birds above are evident, and noisy. You might miss the ones below. They are nearly in the center, wading, who knows why, across the lagoon.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It has been a beautiful week in Northbrook, Illinois. I was able to walk about Somme Woods and Skokie Lagoons Forest Preserves, enough to put a smile on my face.
Today, I’m glad and feeling fine. My thoughts are cloud-free clear. Tomorrow rain may soak my roots Nourishing those fresh young shoots While I am standing here.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “a wet weekend”. My weekend was more like the photo below than the one above, but they both have water in them.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I have been taking this past week morning walks starting around 5:15 AM to watch the sun rise in Techny Park (Northbrook, Illinois). Watching it rise through the trees and then being reflected on the pond has made me smile.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “forces of nature”. The top photo is a storm coming in on the Atlantic Ocean and the bottom is Tennessee in the fall.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The weekly Smile. We took a road trip from Florida to Illinois over the past three days going from very hot and humid to still hot weather. On the way there we stopped at a beautiful rest area in Tennessee around the Cumberland Gap on Route 24. It brought back memories which made me smile. The photo below was taken in the fall a few years ago of that rest area heading south. Last Saturday we were on the other side heading north.
Umbrellas aiming to the sky Are open on the beach. Some are yellow, some are blue, Some are multicolored too, Smiling within reach.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme “midsummer”.
Linked also to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I was wondering what made me smile this past week of midsummer and then our daughters texted me, “Happy Father’s Day!!”. There it was. That made me smile.
The shadowed edge Where dark blocks light Shows warmth of day On fading night
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “shadows and silhouettes”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The beaches opened on Friday. I waded in very warm water on Saturday, a beautiful day, and smiled.
The ocean’s gray without its blue And gray without the people, too. But I’m not feeling all that gray. I got through May. I'll go for June.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “shades of gray”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. What’s there to smile about? Well, we’re still here. I got my life reorganized a bit, true, but perhaps that was all for the better. I need to do some housecleaning every once in a while. And this past week it did rain a lot. That made me think of hurricanes and Noah’s Ark until I saw the double rainbow in the east.
Those whose eyes refuse to see the sunshine will Not see the moon rise slippery on the waters. Evenings darken waves on oceans wild or still. Before that night falls may my fresh eyes see And not ignore the ancient moon that follows me.
Linked to dVerse Quadrille where Linda Lee Lyberg is hosting with the word “slip”.
Heat on hotter heat and water on my brow I walk and wonder why I left the condo sunny, sweaty, ever smiling anyhow.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Prompt where Dale offers the theme of “feel the heat”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile.
I don’t know if you can feel the heat in these photos, but after a few minutes of an hour walk, I felt it. This Thursday I am featuring tercets, especially like those Dante wrote for the Divine Comedy, but when I found out how difficult these were having not only 3 metered lines that rhymed but with no more nor less than 33 syllables for each tercet, I wondered if I could write one. Feeling the heat suddenly the above poem popped out. And I smiled (with relief and gratitude).
So many geometric shapes! I toss the ones that will not do. I take the lighter ones with smiles And these I set in upright piles As markers for my trail to you.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “geometric shapes”.
Linked also to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I have long realized that when my poems get shorter and shorter they become more like nursery rhymes. This past week that realization made me smile all the more.
On beaches blocked and empty Oceans still will drum. Seagulls once searched on this shore For bread crumbs. They can find no more. The sun turns slowly bright To fix the morning with daylight Discharging darker dreams of night. The gulls arise and soar.
Linked to dVerse Quadrille. De Jackson (aka WhimsyGizmo) is hosting with the word “fix”.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “The World In Lockdown”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I noticed this past week that the beaches are still closed, but the boardwalks are open. I do prefer walking on the boardwalks’ hard surfaces than on the soft sand, but the sand with bare feet washed by the waves is nice too. Things will change in ways I can’t imagine perhaps for the better and the thought of that makes me smile.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 