Happy New Year

My days are now more precious
More treasures I do see
More birds sing at my window
New melodies today  me.

There’s a sweeter breeze caressing
My face as it wafts on by
It sighs and whispers softly
Of days so long gone by.

My life so fast is changing
I hardly can keep up
But I know that all these changes
I really don’t wish to stop!

So you breezes keep on whispering
Fuel my spirit with your fire
For it’s only through these struggles
That I’ll achieve what I desire.

Cause a spirit that is stagnant
That no longer has a goal
Is an essence that’s departed
Like the body with no soul.

A New Day

A New Day

Morning dawns across the heavens

As the bright sun claims supremacy once again

Conquered now, the stars are take cover

Behind the mantle of dawn’s delight

Like chastised children hiding from Mother’s reproaching frown.

Darkness retreats, now defeated

Its departure a victory o’er the night

Silently the slumbering new day wakens

Its course as yet uncharted – insecure

But potential beckons – buoyant, optimistic

To dream of ventures, aspirations 

That defy the scrutiny borne of fear

Presenting bravado like a dare

Yet treading stealthily lest they overstep their bounds.

Limitions

My  Achilles Heel

Just when I think I’ve conquered

Just when I think I’ve won

Just when I think I can succeed

I find  I’ve just begun.

The task looms large before me

It hackles all my senses

It gains its sheer momentum

And shatters my defences.

My confidence just plummets,

In the face of this big mission

It’s really not then simple

To reach this goal’s fruition.

I may have to change direction

And abandon this objective

It seems that I made decisions

Without a true perspective.

I thought I was invincible

That my powers would abound

I never considered limits

Or how they would confound 

Those tasks and that are around me
Those commitments every day

They gobbled up my leisure

And left no time for play

Finally?????

Reality

So call me "unorganised". I have been here two months and I have no regrets about the move, but I am still waiting for one more "AHA" moment though this last AHA may never come.  The item I am looking for could just be a casualty of the move.  It is just that it was a special souvenir  and I was rather fond of the item.  However, it is a small price to pay for a move that was otherwise very positive. It will take time to develop a lasting comfortable routine but I am getting there.

Moving is a stressful venture, especially for the elderly.  It uproots your home, your routine, and most definitely your comfort zone.  But it  carries with it important benefits that that make the stress almost worth it.  (Notice I said "almost")  I am sure that my last "AHA so there you are!" moment will probably erase the "almost" entirely  but in the meantime,  the memory of the stress associated with moving is still rather fresh in my mind.  Still,  like everything else in life, "This too shall pass".  In the meantime, summer is here, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming and the sun smiles at me every morning, so life is GOOD!

An Awakening

Acknowledging An Awakening

The brilliant orb of light awakens me

The Eye of Judgement from heaven above

 It pierces my downcast emotions

Condemning and rebuking me

For my unwarranted despondency

Wishing for something even I cannot define

It stabs and spears at my voracity

And my failure to comprehend

That my rational needs have all been met. 

Reality crashes through my melancholy

Charging me with disapproval and admonition 

Shaming me for my ingratitude.

Scattering my despondency to oblivion!

I humbly review my good fortune

So unrivalled that I bow in shame

I acknowledge all the notable blessings

Supplied so bountifully throughout my days

That I revile at my ingratitude

And renounce my senseless greed!

Timely Discovery

I found this poem when I was browsing through my files today.  I don't remember when I wrote it but it seems so appropriate  for what  I have been going through lately.  I wanted to share it with you. I apologize if it is  a repeat. 

Managing Impatience

What I feared did not happen

What I imagined did not come through

What I planned did not materialize

All my lists just followed queue.

 I suppose I should be grateful

I know less than I thought I knew

This time my apprehension

Failed to raise a coup!

It stressed me out for nothing

It frazzled me to no end

I could have stayed unruffled

But I failed to comprehend

Life is what we make it

We fear what we don’t know

If we face it with timidity

It’ll defeat us just to show

Fear cripples our capacity

To be the best that we can be

It limits our potential

And zaps our energy.

It makes us question everything

We used to think was right

It makes us fear the future

And makes us run in flight.

We multiply the negatives

The bad things that could go wrong

 We cripple that great spirit

That used to be so strong

We conjure up scenarios

Of catastrophic mayhem 

It cripples our potential

And serves as our REQUIM!

Amended Goals

Another Year,  Another Spring

Another year, another spring

Another promise in the making

Another dream, a goal, a vision

A new opportunity for undertaking

That task that once seemed so important

That I spent such hours in scheming

Has somehow lost its zest appeal

And no longer now has much meaning.

For ambitions seem to shift and change

With the whims of my emotions

They stray and flounder under stress

And alter prior devotions.

Progress and Change

Numbered Aspirations

My days are now more precious

More treasures I do see

More birds sing at my window

New melodies to me.

There’s a sweeter breeze caressing

My face as it wafts on by

It sighs and whispers softly

Of days so long gone by.

My life so fast is changing

I hardly can keep up

But I know that all these changes

I really don’t wish to stop!

So you breezes keep on whispering

Fuel my spirit with your fire

For it’s only through these struggles

That I’ll achieve what I desire.

Cause a spirit that is stagnant

That no longer has a goal

Is an essence that’s departed

Like the body with no soul.

Getting There

Hi All

It has been a very stressful albeit exciting and very busy couple of months for me.  Last fall, I visited a place that  that I liked very much and I decided I wanted to live there myself.  (It wasn’t that I disliked living where I was, but the new place had many amenities that that were just not available at the place where I was.)  I decided to move.  That is where the stress came in. Not that it was a bad decision!!!! But it meant disrupting my comfortable routines and my well-organized home and going to a place of absolute chaos, living out of boxes, and searching, searching, SEARCHING  for things that I had always known exactly where to find  and which had always been readily available at my fingertips.

 I am now having alot of  “AHA!  so there you are” moments and although the “AHA” moments are always rewarding, I find the preludes to them extremely distressing. They deplete my energy and distort my concentration.

But "This, too, shall pass!!!" Bear with me while I get myself organized and into a NORMAL routine. 

Life's Surprises

Mid Night Meanderings

I know I should be sleeping

I know I’m wasting time

I’m waiting for a piece of peace

To still this paradigm

My life is in a state of flux  

My brain works overtime

It portrays an image of a life

With blessings all sublime

Just when I thought it hopeless

When I expected least

My wish for just a simple fix

 God answered with a feast.

So now I lie awake content

Not in a state of strife

I can now go to sleep at night

All satisfied with life!

Still Here

Happy New year.
(Somewhat late for most folks but if you'll pretend you're Ukrainian for a few days, New Years is still coming on the 14th. Still for the Ukainians and the non-Ukrainians alike, I wish you all a great new year and if you had a not-so-good 2014,  I hope that 2015 will more than make up for it. So dump the bad memories in the garbage and let's have a great 2015!!!!!
 
I'm still here, perhaps not as tough as I'd like to be, but I'm still kickin' and on the green side of the grass yet!!! It's been a rough few weeks but I'm just not ready to throw in the towel that easily.  Bear with me while get back to normal and get my fiesty self back again.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Blessings

As we commemorate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in a manger in a lowly stable in Bethlehem, I would like to  wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a year filled with many blessings. May you all truly experience the true "Joy to the World" just as did  His Blessed Mother and the shepherds and the Wise men on that day so long ago! 

A Dream

My Dream

I dream of a world of plenty

I dream of a world of peace

I dream of love unbridled

I dream that wars will cease.

 I dream of a world of caring

For all of God’s creation

Of harmony and freedom

For each and every nation.

I dream of a world of sharing

All good fortunes we receive

I hope and pray that this old world

Will PEACE - someday - achieve.

That “color” will not matter

And religion will not divide

That “right” and “wrong” will triumph

As we all stand side by side!

Motivation

Managing Stress and Impatience

What I feared did not happen

What I imagined did not come through

What I dreaded did not materialize

All my lists just followed queue.

 I suppose I should be grateful

I know more that I thought I knew

This time my apprehension

Failed to raise a coup!

It stressed me out for nothing

It frazzled me to no end

I could have stayed unruffled

But I failed to comprehend

Life is what we make it

We fear what we don’t know

If we face it with timidity

It’ll defeat us just to show

Fear cripples our capacity

To be the best that we can be

It limits our potential

And zaps our energy.

It makes us question everything

We used to think was right

It makes us fear the future

And makes us run in flight.

We multiply the negatives

The bad things that could go wrong

 We cripple that great spirit

That used to be so strong

We conjure up scenarios

Of catastrophic mayhem 

It cripples our potential

And serves as our REQUIM!

Remembrance Day ---Still

Late Tribute to Our Veterans

This poem is two weeks late, however it is still relevant since November is still with us and our wounds, like our memories, are still open and raw.  Please forgive my  "harping" on a theme that can never grow old. This poem  "wrote" itself in my head the other night and did not let me sleep so I had to just get up and put my pen to paper.

 Another  Tribute to Our Veterans 
No one stops at that graveyard now
No one stops to stare
At those endless rows of  crosses
We're so used to seeing them there.

We gather there just once a year
A tribute for to pay
To thank them for their sacrifice
On each Remembrance Day.

But those crosses keep on reminding us
Of the souls we can't forget
Those strangers who gave up  their lives
For folks they had never met.

Those souls were someone's brother
Those souls were someone's friend
Once they held a baby
Once they held a hand.

But that heart  has now stopped beating
That laugh is forever still
That mind has now stopped dreaming
Of goals they'll  not fulfill.

Dreams Do Come True

Big Day Coming

Our Writing Group, called Blue Pencil Cafe, has published a book called "Out of the Blue".  It is a compilation of the writings from our members and we are having a book launch on  Monday, November 24 from the SAGE  site (15 Churchill Square,  corner of 102A   Avenue and  100 Street) in downtown Edmonton.  There will be readings by our members as well as a chance to meet the authors and see displays (and even purchase if you wish)  some of their other writings.

 Refreshments will be available on site.  Come and meet our writers and perhaps even join our group for the next season.  I am certain you will get (as I did) much inspiration from this  group. Many of us are now "living our dream!" We come from all walks of life but we all share a common dream and this group lets us live it!  Come and join us.

Remembering

A Final Tribute

T'was a day to remember

That his mother could not forget

A day that’s still so painful

That haunts her nightmares yet.

An agonizing, poignant sacrifice

Was demanded of her that day

When her only son was taken

To fight a war so far away.

He was just such a young lad

So innocent, naive

But he died before he had a chance

His grand dreams to achieve

Now strangers tend his gravesite

With grateful hearts overflowing

For a life that he gave up for them

Thus peace on them bestowing.

But his mother and his family

Still mourn his untimely passing

As they stand there on Remembrance Day

His final tributes now amassing! 

New Horizons

Questions

I have been reading  a new blog   Brenda @ Its A Beautiful Life recently and although I I have not been able to get all the way through it yet because of overriding previous engagements, I have found much inspiration and insight there that has been helpful to me in my own life.  I guess we all struggle with some kind of problems, whether they be insecurities or 'writing blocks' or what ever else it is that creates those stumbling blocks that make us question ourselves and keep us from  performing at our optimum level. Or perhaps it its just me. Brenda seems to have all her ducks in a row, while I am still trying to round mine up.  (Sometimes those ducks just don't herd well.) Many of my questions are still unanswered.

Is it our age that makes us question ourselves, or it it our bad experiences from the past? Because I honestly cannot say that I have taken such 'beatings'  in the past, but I have to admit that I miss that self-confidence that once came so naturally to me.  I find myself questioning many decisions that would never have worried me in the past.

Perhaps I should just finish reading the rest of Brenda's blog.  Maybe I will find the answers there.

Autumn Splendor

Autumn Splendor

Autumn’s flamboyant landscape beckons to me

With brilliant golds, rusty reds, bold burgundies

Stately oaks, aspen, birch and cherry

Flaunt their splendor with sheer abandon.

Those branches, once were a verdant green

Now display their new attire with bravado.

 Like outstretched arms, they reach out

Lacing their leafy fingers high above

As though embracing one final time

And form this lovely tunnel for my passage.

Not to be outdone,

Even stately Lombardy poplars join in the fun.

Like slim golden sentinels they stand

Overlooking this gaiety and pomposity

And boldly join this carnival of exuberance.

As they sway in the gentle breeze.

With one final display of boastful daring

The trees obscure the sun’s fading rays

With their own supreme display of glory!

Before shedding this magnificent garb

To don the barren nakedness of winter grey

And sink into a long and peaceful slumber.

Giftware and More

A Literary Festival

Getting ready for Words in the Park in just over a week, at Sherwood Park on October 25th. Please take note of this "Fall Feast of Words" at the Strathcona County Library, which will include a great selection of literary events. There will be a variety of books from various authors, plus many other items  suitable for yourself or as Christmas presents for friends and family.  It should be a great social and noteworthy experience for presenters and consumers alike .  If you require more info, check out the website: http://words.sclibrary.ab.ca/EventInfo

Hope to see you all there!