Pausing Between Pages to Simply Be...

The girls and I love reading so often while the guys golf we read...and talk... 
and listen to the lyrics of the sea. 
We 'drift' on the bobbing dock, 
caught somewhere between reality 
...and book-world.

O, Beauty of being

You kiss half-shut eyes

And taunt life’s ineptness

With paradise

O, tireless sea-song

You surge and recede

A blue-throated ballad

To thought's nameless need

You strum ancient shorelines

That cradle the sea

Where we drift twixt book-land

And reality

...while pleading with edicts

Of hours and such

To fine-tune the pages

Where sky and sea touch

© Janet Martin

I'd Like...

I’d like…

To see the sun climb, dip, then slip

Into a pink and silver sea

To watch the brunt of hours drip

Without appointment, languidly

Between the pages of a book

Where summer’s while is fancy-free

Slow-poured like sweet tea in a nook

Of laughter, love and family

I’d like…

To disengage the clock that tocks

And tells me what I ought to do

While flowers flaunt their vibrant locks

Beneath a dome of blue on blue

…and then another day is done

And I say where and when and how

…and scold that age-old wagging tongue

That orders more than days allow

I’d like…

To wash my toes with sand and sun

Let common landmarks slide away

Like post-cards waving, ‘see you soon

Enjoy your little get-away’

Then I would like to turn and blow

A kiss of kin-ship to it all

Replying, I can hear the sea, so

Farewell while I heed its call
Farewell, while I heed its call

© Janet Martin

Yes, it's five o'clock-diamonds time:)
I will be away for a week or two. See you soon!

Sometimes I pretend the above hills are a smidgeon of Ireland;-)
Everything is so green this year due to large amounts of rain!

Heave Ho, Push, Pull

Sometimes it would seem easier

To crumple weakly and admit

That we fail more than we succeed

It would seem easier to quit

For gain is not an easy fight

We slip and slide, stumble and fall

Still, no matter what odds may seem

To quit is but to lose it all

And so we keep on keeping on

For quitting is to fail in full

One moment at a time, my love

Heave-ho, heave-ho, push-pull, push-pull

© Janet Martin

Sometimes when life hands us a stinging slap to the face,

A quick fist to the gut,

a hard kick behind the knees

it would seem easier to quit trying so hard,

but to become stronger we need to push against the odds,

not by our own strength and power,

but God's. 

He is faithful...

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. Ps. 18:2-3

internet too slow for pics 

Let's Dare To Live

 ...how soon the afternoon donned deeper shades, then disappeared...

Each morning climbs the hill until it becomes afternoon

Then, like the shade that climbs through every fence and gate to lie

Across the yard, the afternoon turns into vesper-tune

And so it goes, from bud to rose to slumber’s lullaby

Then we should pause, because who knows how soon That Gong will toll

And we should purpose in this place of God-anointed Time

To marvel at the way a day, a bud, a year unfolds

Then falls away like petals when the bloom has lost its shine

Let’s let a moment linger longer on our fingertips

That drip-drop from Time’s spigot will run dry. When? Ah, who knows?

Let’s laugh a little more and fill hello with first friendships

Let’s smile, let’s share, let’s dare to live as if This Door might close

Now morning climbs the hill and if God wills, the afternoon

Is waiting like a shroud that every morning dons at last

We cannot hold back moments; soon an hour claims its due

Let’s hope-love-pray before this day turns into Ever Past

© Janet  Martin

Because It Is What It Is And That's That

I searched for a different answer

One more suited to my cause

But it wouldn’t change a smidgeon

Because the truth never does

Truth cannot be teased to please us

Truth will not alter its stance

It remains unchanged in spite of

Finagling or circumstance

Though we may not always like it

And though we may change its name

Underneath our blither-blather

The truth is, truth stays the same

© Janet Martin

Pl-e-e-e-a-s-e! I pleaded with Google…give me something that doesn’t say, Pick them ASAP!!

But every year in a bevy of fresh voices replies roll in to others asking the same question and the response does not flinch! Potato bugs MUST be picked diligently and ASAP! Yech!

It is too dark to see and just feeling for those squishy critters when you can't see is FREAKY!!! I'll finish in the morning before I pick up Melissa for a day at home:-) yay! 

I thought about taking a picture of the scoundrels but refused to give them the honor! Instead, here is a picture I took earlier while weeding...