Day Lilies

Gentle fingertips pluck the lily from a tall stalk.
With lines and spots, a map of joy and stress
On cheeks turned up toward the sun
Dottie follows the thin web down into foliage
Specks of brilliant green spiders try to dodge detection.
A pink plastic Easter egg missed by grandchildren
Reveals its hiding place among the leaves.
Within are two shiny quarters. Cool.

Dottie examines the six perfectly shaped petals
Green throat, now maroon, now cantaloupe, now butter yellow
With all stamens sporting dress shoes dusted in pollen
And one pistol, bulbous and sticky, protrudes.
This flower lasts just one day but deserves a moment of respect
Its perfection never duplicated.
This one gets the nod - - the admiration.

Soon Dottie moves on
To those more mundane details of the day
Bills, papers to grade, correspondence
Plans for the weekend, the month, the lifetime ahead

Tomorrow another lily will bloom.
It may rain
Droplets that scar fragile petals
Or sun too hot
Could scorch and wither them
One day to bloom and flaunt
Attract, pollinate, and germinate
Twenty-four hours – a lifetime – no time
For the mundane details of
A tedious life.

Quilts

I love this quilt! It is huge!! Kristi got married in 2007, and the table cloths were white with this blue starry fabric and little silver bells. With the fabric from the wedding, I made this mondo quilt of 16 log cabin blocks with multible borders. You can't see it but the back is pieced with all the scraps no bigger than 18 inches square. I gave it to Kristi for Christmas this year. I think she likes it : )

Quilts

Here is another quilt I made for the family reunion raffle. It is about the size of a larger throw. the image is a Japanese screen. The fabrics in the screen are alternating, although it is hard to tell in this photo.

Quilts

I made this little quilt for our old dog, Sebastian. He lives at Don's brother's house and tends to tear up the top of the couch. This one fits right over the top of the couch and he sits up there every day.

Quilts

This QUEENsize quilt if for me. It is on my bed, and the cats really like it. It is made with all Moda fabrics and is the same pattern at the neutral-toned raffle quilt. These are some of my favorite colors in a quilt!!

Quilts

Well, I just watched a tutorial on how to really upload pictures. I'm stoked!! Now I can post pictures of just a few of the quilts I have made . These are all ones I made before Christmas.This quilt is one I made for the Family reunion raffle. It is QUEENsize done in mainly neutral tones with silvery stippling.

I'm losing my touch.

Touchless, waterless, paperless, do not respond to this email no call list t-zone wifi zone the zone zone in zone out fisheye url crumple zone abs nav system credit crunch ecotourism green footprint semi-organic manageable debt toxic debt trillions tda tsa ppo reduced annuity hmo repurposed reduce recycle reuse mode moded remoded outmoded disingenuineness anthropomorphic cgi pixellated shuffle iso condition coded hegemony G20 conversion iphone itouch
"I" messages personal life coach memes free range blunt force critical friends plc site team plt super standards power standard standardization research based SMART SPLAT MERGE IDEAS splurge roasted rough grind finely ground turf builder moss eradication pcb tho ten to two ratio high efficiency low suds eco-friendly no cfc time zone blue ray ddr dvr dhl snail mail zip mail metrosexual non-specific gender orientation civil union civil liberties vote survey vote-by-mail voter confidence mds systemic poverty conservative democrat liberal republican centrist bipartisan bipolar biracial bilingual byproduct buy locally think globally sustainable trifecta odds evens eventuality dogma radical fundamental extremest ozone vialbility post birth stem cell t-cell super cell gitmo enemy combatant mortal kombat jump drive thumb drive stick pm ed vd std hep a b c d e f ..... hiv aids copd mri cat.

Language is a funny thing. Why is there a b in debt?  The k is silent in "know" and doesn't even exist in "renowned" - - what's up with that?  Does the word "stagnation"  means a country full of male deer?  No, it means the condition of not developing or moving forward.  We all know "repel" means to push back, but what has that to do with rappelling down the side of a tower? Why aren't the two words spelled more like each other?  Don't you have to push back with your feet so you don't do a face plant?  
Nobody ever used the word "vetted" until Sarah Palin appeared in public. There is a movement in public education called "Critical Friends." That is just a really revolting term for coworkers.

And what about all the little phrases we use every day? The other day I told Briana that she needed to "fish or cut bait" when she was just standing right in the middle of the kitchen in the way. She asked, "Bait needs to be cut?" She didn't get it. Don has these great and somewhat vulgar Army comments that make perfect sense like "Put the turd back in his pocket," and "He's just a polished turd." Gross but extremely accurate! Another one of Don's that I hate is "Why buy the cow if the milk's for free." You can guess the meaning. "That's just whack!"

I'll be posting more on this topic.