Part Four;Of A Few More of My Favorite Things

Eeks...one more?! Cause this poem is a little like this winter... it just keeps on giving! but,

I’m gonna stop now…

Jim/hubby told me when I called him tonight, I’m worse than a long-winded preacher!😊

And that gave me the line I was looking for at the time…a sunset that preaches!

Anne of Green Gables

And picnic tables

Heaped high with freshly picked

Beans to preserve

Stratus-cloud artistry

On a blue heaven-sea

Beauty unrivaled

Purely undeserved

(listen for the crack of an aluminum bat near the end...some children playing ball in a field:)

April woods ringing with

Spring-peepers singing

Crack where a ball

And the bat’s sweet spot meet

Bird-feeders granting

Delight so enchanting

Rainbow of feather-friends

Squabble and eat

Home-sweet-home’s Comfortable

Sense of belonging

Old granite dishes

A soak in the sun

Hard work, soft zephyrs

Wide, worn verandas

The feeling you get

From a job well done

Forget-me-not fairylands

Waking girlhood again

Wildflower wander-lanes

Like a postcard

Sisters being silly

An orange tiger-lily

The face that you made

When you ate raw rhubarb

Books without covers

Because they were loved so

Hummingbird hov’ring

At a nectar-fount

Wonder that renders

That blund’ring tongue speechless

 …too many blessings

To begin to count

Antique alarm clocks

Smooth, wave-washed river-rocks

Sassy-faced pansies

Of purple-gold swirls

Maple-sweet drizzle

On pancakes still sizzling

Bengal spice tea

For us ‘middle-stage’ girls

Foxy fedoras

Deep red gladiolas

Wispy half-willow leaf

Quilts spread on green sod

A sunset that preaches

A toddler that teaches

A whisper that reaches

From us up to God

Big yellow hello

Filling east-faced windows

Russet-leaf cartwheels

From summer-song spent

The end of the couch

That they knows is ‘mom’s corner’

Family all home

Her heart fully content

Woodpile replenished

Roads home from the dentist

Campfires, snow-tires

Stored in the shed

One second diamonds

As they jump off the dock-end

Moon on the water

And me in my bed

© Janet Martin

#3, And Last But By Far NOT Least of My Favorite Things (and not all of them, by far!)

Hand-me-down faith

Of our fathers and mothers

Imagine living

Without More-to-come’?!

Comfort and courage

In Hope’s Rock of Ages

God Abides always

In both storm and calm 

Crock-pot creations

Slow-cooked into dinner

‘Helpers’ that hop up

On step-stools to see

As they join the ranks

That we all are a part of

… beautiful, wonder-full

Discovery

Pudgy-foot pit-pat

Of sweetie-pie toddlers

Feet wearing mittens

Or mom’s high heel shoe

Cuddle-bug kisses

And breath-stealing innocence

Keeping us humble

And gentle and true

Kettle-bells, kick-boxing

Kitchen-gym workouts

Rekindling zest for

Life’s best; ah, routine

Spotify playlist

Piano-Guy serenade

Makes peeling potatoes

A chore, fit for a queen 

Front row seat hilltops

Listening to 'show' tunes

Where Longshadow Sundown

Strums barb-wire guitars

As twilight’s slow motion

Rolls in like an ocean

Until every hilltop

Is covered in stars

Girls in white dresses

And boys being boist’rous

Love learning lyrics

That ‘hold’ cannot know

Ear full of echoes spilled

Where yester-voices

Drift through a Doorway

From long, long ago

Living as if joy

Was not hinged to sorrow

Writing as if there’s

No tomorrow there

Laughing in spite of

Longing’s knife-like hunger

Dancing as if

I was Fred Astaire

Slow flip-flop amble

On dusk-dusty rambles

Taking the time to

Forget about time

Collecting colors

And kisses and whispers

That will fit finely

Into timeless rhyme

Warm homemade muffins

With grand-babe’s approval

Second-cup Saturdays

Once, every week!

I love grocery-shopping

The sound of corn popping

And raindrops plip-plopping

On garden and street

Sun-warm tomatoes

(ah, heaven will serve those!)

Summer siestas

At half-past three

Happiness finding

Old-new ways to happen

Beneath sprawling wreath

Of a black-walnut tree

Swallowtail chases

Unexpected graces

Like finding a flower

In a sidewalk crack

Making the most

Of this forward-faced journey

Because we all know

There is no going back

Driving for hours

Without destination

Taking the long way

To where? we don’t care

As long as it’s you

In the driver’s seat, darling

Gordon Lightfoot on the radio

And wind in our hair

By-and-by... we’ll be back

But don’t come looking

Too much to do

For two people in love

Glad for the ‘have’ we had

But here’s to hoping

We will always feel

Like it’s not quite enough

© Janet Martin

As I hunted for a pic under the 'simple things' label

I was reminded again

Simple Things are life's Best!

A Few More Of My Favorite Things (part 2)

Part one here...A Few of my Favorite Things

…glimpses of heaven

in gardens and children

soft socks or slippers

when winter gale howls

Old England classics

Vlasic pickles

Icicles dripping

From Sun-tickled jowls

Prize-winning posies

(there are no losers)

Work to keep busy

When worry would rue

Rag-taggle rooster

Strutting, cock-a-doodle-doo

Rise and shine, farmer

We love and need you

Bowls full of peas to pod

Holes full of puddle

Puddle full of colorful

Little boots going ‘splosh’!

Jar full of flea-bane

On sunny south window-sill

Mouth full of maybes

On a rare morning off!

Breeze bearing fragrance

Of blossom tree’s beauty

Cutie pie snuggled

In the crook of my arm

Traveling with princes

And pages and sages

Wood-fire crackling

With old-fashioned charm

Snacking on popcorn

Or packing up early

To ride a bicycle

Over the lea

Where a new day brims

On east horizon-lines

Heavy with helpings of

Of what waits to be

Clean tidy kitchen

(No sink full of dishes)

After the baking

And cooking is done

Heart full of wonder

A boy’s pocket-plunder

Cherishing joy

Of each daughter or son

One rainy afternoon

Without Duty’s diction

Clinking of teacups

Just the two of us

Weathering love’s

Bittersweet afflictions

Through fiction’s fancy

… Pride and Prejudice

Nursery Rhyme newcomers

Oh, don’t you just love ‘em?

Miss Muffet, pat-a-cake,

Twinkle, little star

Sometimes I wish

For the sake of your sweetness

That you could stay

Just the way that you are!

Red-cheeked geraniums

Faces pressed to windows

Waiting for weather

To go out to play

Cicada-drone wafting

Through hot August high-noon

Crickets crick-cricking

Sweet summer away

Frost-brittle corn fields

Tea-kettle canticle

Mossy-nook temples

And book full of poem

Backyard vacation

Simple celebration

For zinnia, rose

Portulaca and home

Bulrush Ragamuffins

And saucy, fat robins

Visions of vegetable rows

Thriving, weed-free

Wide-open windows

To let in the music

Of bird-song, leaf-guitars

And wind-symphony

Time out for talking to

Forgotten flowers

Snow-storm while supper-soup

Makes us feel whole

Moaning with gladness

At the sheer finesse

Where Beth Powning’s memoirs

Bare a woman’s soul

© Janet Martin

A Few of my Favorite Things...

PAD Challenge prompt 16:For today’s prompt, write a favorite poem. Maybe that sounds a bit silly, but what I mean is to write a poem about something that’s your favorite. A favorite teacher. Favorite movie. Favorite ice cream flavor. I don’t know, because I have my own list of favorites. Only you can do you…and your favorites. Who knows? Maybe this will end up being your favorite prompt this month...

Below, my favorite 'favorite things' song!

So, because of the late-night laundry date I reveled in a few favorite things!

Fresh cup 'o coffee

A rose glazed with dewdrops

Green haze of May days 

after spring has sprung

laughter of little ones

cheese before supper

 toffee bits melting

sweet, slow on my tongue

babies to rock-a-bye

books to belong to

backwood meander

just talking to trees

scrabble and apples

and company-set tables

 a long line of laundry

flapping in the breeze 

poems and poetry

with words or pictures

moody blue back-drop

thunder far away

bird-song and brook-song

and sea-song and love song

wanderlust dusting

 an open highway 

summer-sand beaches 

and winter-land wonder

spring-flavored sunbeams

a to-do list

Getting up early to

hear the sun stirring

kicking back covers 

of starlight and mist

making a memory

fragrant with flowers

planning a picnic

for today at two

fishing and fireworks

wish on a first star

fulfilled by the longing

of being with you

dancing at daybreak

with destiny's mystery

meeting at midnight with

future and past

pausing on pasture-lands

stippled with steeples

where shadow-builders

Lower twilight's mast

taming a tempest

of whispers with inkdrops

framing heart-pieces

in rhythm and rhyme

where there is always

too much to be written

and there is always

never enough time

love that is painful

because it is pleasure

love that is pleasure

because it is pain

Finding the treasure

in a moment's measure

laughing like I was

carefree once again

Listening to reason

while lying at leisure

beneath the lattice

of leaf overhead

  hearing the tiptoe

 of a poem's hello

long after it is time 

to go to bed

Janet~

...on that note, Goodnight

or Good Morning 😏