FACE OFF This is not a true story... He paused when he entered the room and made eye contact with no one. Was he embarrassed? Him...embarrassed? No. Impossible. It had to be something else. Something important. Dire, perhaps? Whatever it was it was in his eyes. Unmoving. Staring at something but nothing. Vacant. Those who... Continue Reading →
THE CHILD It was a whirl-wind romance fraught with complications. No one knows for sure because no one talked even though asked...but The Child could surmise the complication was a drunken night on the town with him shipping out the next day to fight the end of a war, and her rebounding from a heartbroken,... Continue Reading →
THE LETTER It was there on the table waiting for him. The letter. Words written down. Finally. This after years and years of mental word choices, sentence construction. What to say? The Son was having health issues. Was it a genetic disorder. Inherited condition. When to write? Answers needed now. Important and imperative information... Continue Reading →
CHAIR WITH MAN A reunion of as many siblings who could make the journey. It wasn't as long-planned as it was necessary. For some, those left who could still journey, came in great anticipation of sibling camaraderie, retelling and reliving memories, softening sibling youthful blows and jabs, but mostly an attempt to tamp down... Continue Reading →
PICNIC: 3PEARS2FIGS If we started counting... The bus drivers who take your children to school, or you to work. The paper-people who deliver your morning read to your front porch, the bush next to your front porch, or miss entirely and hit the roof. The cab driver who doesn't ask questions and doesn't sing,... Continue Reading →
GIRL WITH CHAIR He is sitting on the rim of a wood planter box that houses a smallish palm tree providing no shade on this warm day, and looking away from where I am standing. My camera is a second away from capturing this perfect shot. An image photograph for a potential sketch. One... Continue Reading →
TALK TALK TALK "The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax Of cabbages - and kings - And why the sea is boiling hot - And whether pigs have wings." Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, Ch. 4
PENN'S TABLE Watercolour by RRiederMy Reader says I've been reading too much. Reading and listening to the daily news, overhearing conversations, listening to opinions from all sides, some aloud some silent but seen face-on just the same. There's something to be said about that, but you won't hear it directly from me nor My Reader.... Continue Reading →
DH IMAGINED He asked when can I meet you? How about I deliver myself to you on my thirty-ninth birthday? Chuckle. Then, he said...perfect. Seems like forever ago when we walked up to each other for the very first time. He looked at me and I him. What I saw for the first time...my... Continue Reading →
MANDARINS Isn't this just the berries? Actually, not berried at all...more like fruit-looped, but no matter. It's great to be on the other-side of winter. The easel in the studio remains occupied and work honing watercolour skill and hoping to find that sweet-sweet place of satisfaction is the continuum. It is the forever hope... Continue Reading →
He salutes me every morning. Him…that old guy…the early morning walker. Like me. Although, I know that I’m not the only one. I imagine he salutes every one he passes whether on the same side of the street, or not. Ex-military, for sure. Crisp camouflage pants, green jacket with emblems on the sleeve, name... Continue Reading →
The Dancer stood. Then moved toward the floor. No need for another. The music moved The Dancer. Along with the others. In confident directions. Last dance. Last call.
An idea within an idea within an idea. It never seems to stop until...someone else is doing something else that someone else is doing and the fire is lit..and it begins again. In a different place altogether from where you think you've started. My Yorkshire fellow artist and friend Rebecca from STUFF AND NONSENSE, (can... Continue Reading →
Jasper Johns burgled my mind. He took all the thoughts I’ve had about my ART that tumble around in my head, and said them aloud to important curators of important museums and important writers working on important feature essays about ART and artists. Importantly enough, wordsmith gems gleaned and made with humour sometimes not, are... Continue Reading →
LAPIN BLEAU via Thoughts on Integrity Sometimes words spoken or written by others hit a nerve, make a point, provoke, and not just a mere thought but myriads of thoughts....that are too important to ignore. Angst, about when the sky will finally fall, real or imagined, is palpable. This is not about Chicken Little. This... Continue Reading →
IRISH FARM HOUSE Did you get my message? The Reader said it was about time we had a sit-down, and The Reader is right. It really is time. There isn't much that comes and goes around that The Reader doesn’t comment on, has an uninvited opinion on or a question about. However, this is not... Continue Reading →
PESCE The Reader looks more than dubious that somehow I can connect fishing for words to the watercoloured fish on a platter surrounded with leafy, green things, yellow-ish squiggles and red rounds that may or may not look like small, yet delicious potatoes. I can't so I won't. No surprise there, The Reader smirks. Very... Continue Reading →
NUMBER FORTY-SEVEN "All his own geese are swans, as the swans of others are geese." Horace Walpole (1717-97) British writer Referring to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Wait! Wait! shouts My Reader. Geese? What geese? That's a cow...I don't see any geese! Point taken...
CONVERSATION CUL-DE-SAC She wasn’t an easy person...understand not in the infamous being easy sense, she just wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Safely said, her glass was always less than half-empty. Who is kidding whom? It was empty. My Reader might think this a rather harsh and hard-to-tell recollection of The Mother. She was exactly what... Continue Reading →
Curious still about the etymological origin of twice…as defined in Origins A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, authored by Eric Partridge is this: “2. In double degree or quantity (twice as good).” Twice. As. Good. Originally, my thinking was this would be easier to explain than I’m [actually] finding it to be. I’m attempting... Continue Reading →
ice>noun 1 a roof covered with ice: frozen water, icicles; black ice, frost, rime, glaze. icy>adjective 1 icy roads: frozen, frozen over, iced over, frosty, frosted, ice-bound, ice-covered, iced up; slippery; literary rimy. Yes. All of the above. I'll be in touch...
SEASON OF REMEMBRANCE
BIRD IN A BOWL Funny thing about that weather. Yesterday on the half-past five morning first dog walk of the day the weather was clear-skied, star-studded crisp and thirty-three degrees. Then again, at the morning nine o'clock second dog walk... Continue Reading →
SHACK and PUMP HOUSE The telephone would have exploded had he not answered it. The Stepfather knew who it was. His mother. She never minced words. She demanded and commanded. The Old Man was getting old. No, he was already old. He was getting older. There was debt. The Stepfather had to come help... Continue Reading →
"...The sound of silence. Background noises no longer there... painful spaces of time... Other sounds eventually fill the empty space..." __ Other sounds do eventually fill the empty spaces that once filled a home that played the daily tune of "BEWARE OF THE DOG"... whether a big bark threat or not. He spoke openly about... Continue Reading →
Jots from a Small Apt. 