Book Board Chat

A photo of Molly, Lindsay's and Taylor's dog - click here.

Some clear night like this,
when the stars are all out and shining,
our old dogs will come back to us,
out of the woods, and lead us
along the stone wall to the cove.
There will be foxes, and loons,
and a houseboat floating on the lake.
The trees will lean in, a lantern
swinging over the water, the creaking of oars.
Now we will learn the true names of the stars.
Now we will know what the trees are saying.
There is wood in the stove.
We left the front door open.
Does the farmhouse know
that we're never coming back?

Poem by Gary Lawless. Photo taken by Llyn in October 2010.

Kathleen/Lludwig, The poem is When Your Last Parent Dies by Luci Shaw. I am including it here with a photo I took about 5:15P tonight. I ignored the pouring rain and hauled out Dad's paint-stained ladder from the garage. I wasn't sure how I could make it speak to space, as it were, but I able to add some starry effects!

Click here to go to photo

When Your Last Parent Dies
Move up to the top of the ladder.
Looking down over your shoulder you can see
the replicas from your own body crowding the rungs
all the way down. Precarious, you teeter there
on the final step with nothing in your hands
to hold. They grab at emptiness. The glancing
stars are falling all around you. Cosmic dust
stings your eyes. There is no one above you
to encompass the wideness of space. You
are the final clasp that buckles
earth to heaven. Somehow, you
must hold up the ladder, heavy with life.

Just when you think you have heard it all, something new comes along. I've been grocery shopping for over 40 years and usually it is same old, same old. On the 'what a drag' front, after I had all of my groceries organized on the conveyer belt [I put frozen and refrig items first and then work back to box, can, etc and finally soaps etc, the computer froze on the women in front of me whose items were all checked out. The clerk suggested that I load all my stuff back into my cart and go to another line. uh, I think by the time I would do that and wait in another line and then unload again the computer would be back up. I sorta sighed and said that is ok, I'll wait and hope that my ice creme doesn't melt. The woman in front of me then says to the clerk, "Oh food is not important - don't worry about it. It is not like it is life or death. I work in an ER dept [didn't say doing what] and that is what is really important." gee, do ya think that maybe she was saying that for my benefit! lol

But that is not the "always something new." A couple had gotten in line behind me and I had just started taking my stuff out of the cart they grabbed the "divider bar" and started to put all of their stuff on the belt. Gee people, I had 10 items out of my cart and still a whole cart to go and you are already starting to take up all the space I was going to use. Now that is not the "always something new" either...after they heard the computer was down they picked up the stuff they had already put on the belt and went to the next one. As they were checking out a price check needed to be done so the clerk called for an assistant to come and find out the price. This grocery store has a deli, self-serve food bars, plus "take-out" places which freshly made foods are served. The couple had bought some Chinese food and a price had not been put on the container. The asst asked for the container and as she started to walk away the woman said "Where are you going with my food?" The asst stopped and said, "I am taking it back to the stand to find out the price." The woman then went into "How do I know that you are not going to put poison on my food before you give it back to me?!" They tried to tell her that they wouldn't do that but she insisted that it could happen and she didn't want it anymore. Her DH didn't say anything. Guess he either agreed or knew that she just had a 'thing' about her food might be poisoned. Gee, I would worry more about the sanitation of a kitchen in any place where I eat or get food from than a store asst putting poison on my food on a price check. DH had a laugh and said such interesting things never happen when goes grocery shopping. haha Also ran into an old friend who I have not seen in awhile.

96 degrees when I arrived home and the DH and two workers are out there in the blazing sun working away.

dupo I'm so very sorry about Miss Kitty . ..I wrote this poem for a friend who ahd lost a pet a few years ago . I post it for you in Miss Kitty's memory .

Weep not for me , Beloved.
My spirit now soars among the stars.
When you look up and glimpse their sparkling beauty ,
remember all that we shared ,
and know that I loved you .. as you did me .
That our time together was so wonderful ,
and that love and memory lives on forever .

Copyright , Rebecca J. Frazee... 01/ 25 / 2008