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 →
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 →
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 →
MEYERED MARBLE It is curious, is it not, how others find us via our posts in the round-about-traffic, that interchange between and beyond you and me, and me and you, and you? What makes Ellie's POEM of consequence to me? I've begun to wonder what "kids"* think about as they look toward tomorrow. Their future.... Continue Reading →
PEGGED It wasn't what they said. Actually it was exactly that. It was not only what they said but the how of it. It was neither smart nor kind. The stolid and impassive back and forth seemed to go on for ages (because everyone agreed it had been ages)...and was in the end...all for naught. ... 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 →
PASS THE PEAS Obtuse comment from My Reader: "It is about time...!" Personally, I had hoped that 2016 was going to be a banner year for the whole lot of us. However, it looks as if the result on several particular outcomes, just two mentioned...Brexit and Mr. T...has snapped more than garters, and left more... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
No, she never wanted to be a burlesque dancer. What she wanted and only because he asked was a china teacup and saucer preferably English and old, blue or orange or both. Her immediate vision was that it was to be similar to the small collection they once had. The collection he took with him... Continue Reading →
This is how it goes, usually… 1 January – take down Christmas tree. Pack. Store. This is how it went… 26 December – Christmas tree down. Packed. Stored. Five-day head start on usual Christmas tree take-down. Forget January. Early. Easy. Done. Forgotten. Bliss. Thirty-one plus five extra days of forgetful bliss. Thirty-one plus... Continue Reading →
At first it was curiosity and wondering about a word. Then mental machinations and mindless wanderings took the high road and soon profound curiosity became a fever-pitched research obsession. It was all about a word, and the word was G-R-E-A-T-N-E-S-S. A good word GREATNESS. A great word. Greatness (n.): from the adjective GREAT to... Continue Reading →
I turned sixty-four last year...which means, by the sequential rules of maths, I will turn sixty-five this year. My birthday is several months away but My Reader knows and understands that the light bulb has been glowing but has not been fully illuminated to the albeit dimly lit, soon-to-be reality of the happy sixty-five birthday... Continue Reading →
OVERHEARD: two women, seated, waiting for their afternoon bus to arrive...one is knitting furiously talking to a seatmate who is watching her and has commented on her obvious talent, "....I guess I get it from my Mother, although she didn't knit...."
Jots from a Small Apt. 