Subtle Lightning Bolt...(or Savoring the Simple)

I came across an old picture of suppertime recently when all of the family still lived at home...

How ordinary that sacred scene seemed at the time!

I was really planning on posting this What's-for-supper Thursday last night
(click link for previous posts) but the old engine ran out of steam...

I thought I had a supper-menu planned until I cleaned out the fridge
and realized there are too many left-overs that need using
and I could not justify my original chicken dinner plan...

so, what to do with a bunch of less than stellar looking tail-end garden-gleanings?

Roasted Vegetables;

red and green peppers, carrots, beets, squash, sweet potatoes, brussels sprout and broccoli.
(last 3 veggies from store:)

Toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar,(a few tbsp of each) cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp)

 and sprinkle of kosher salt.

Bake at 400F til tender approx. 15-20 min. 

With the leftover hamburgers and mashed potatoes I tried an invention!

When Matt and Victoria asked 'what's this?' I wasn't sure what to call them so they are still

Hamburger and Mashed Potato Thingys.

Slice the burgers in half and put in a baking dish.

I had some 'tired' kale that needed using so I made a filling by browning in olive oil

 fresh chopped garlic, red onion and kale with stems removed.

Add a splash or two of apple cider vinegar, some salt and pepper.

I'm not mentioning amounts because I didn't measure and they vary
depending on how many people are being served.

Put a glob of filling on each burger half then top with leftover mashed potato filling;

To the potatoes I added pepper, paprika, parsley, two beaten eggs
splash of light cream and shredded cheese.

Garnished with a jalapeno pepper-ring.

Bake on top rack above veggies for same amount of time!

I'm realizing how quickly the numbers at the supper table are dwindling 

so I try not to take for granted the seemingly sometimes messy and mundane..

But the messy-and-mundane could be addressed while supper baked 

making eating time extra-relaxing! 

Supper hour minutes is a little later right now due to work schedules.

When I asked Matt for a verdict on the hamburger-potato thingys he said 

he thought of this scene from the movie What About Bob...😋

Life can draw us apart

The tide that furls and breaks

Turns what seems like common-place art

Into sacred keepsakes

Ah, Time can take its toll

Much quicker than we thought

Tying the strings of heart and soul

Into a tender knot

See how the daylight dims

So swift above earth’s prow

Gathering hours into hymns

With simple here and now

Where sometimes with a jolt

We are startled anew

By what the subtle lightning bolt

Of tick and tock can do

© Janet Martin

 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Ode to the Stretchy Skirt...

PAD Challenge day 7: 

For today’s prompt, pick an article of clothing, make it the title of your poem, 

and then, write your poem.

 (below, a 'stretchy skirt' and shirt load enjoying one of our last nice laundry days; not today) 😁

Stretchy skirts are so forgiving

Room enough for give and take

After all, dears, We. Are. Women.

(Therefore men, we fluctuate)

Toss that scale out of the window

Why ruin a perfect day

Grab a stretchy skirt and sweater

Never mind what numbers say

Ask yourself…how are you feeling?

Do a two-step, whirl and twirl

In a stretchy skirt, no limits

You can feel like a school-girl

Don’t cater to fashion experts

Pulling, pinching, cinching, ouch!

Grab a stretchy skirt and sweater

And you will not be a grouch

Stretchy skirts are always perfect

Never out of season-style

Get a couple, it is worth it!

You will smile and smile and smile

Stretchy skirts are so obliging

Polite to a fault, (I know)

But they deserve a small homage

“Stretchy skirt, I love you so”

© Janet Martin

Opening Scene to What Has Not Yet Been Before

PAD Challenge day 6: For today’s prompt, write an opening poem.

Dawn yawns and stretches, draws the sun from edges brushed with pink

The trees long flushed with gold stand stark and dark against yon brink

Time’s seasons flare and fade like floats in nature’s grand parade

While we try to make sense of its intense, immense crusade

Where some of us are bystanders and some march left-foot-right

Some lounge, cool as can be and some are wound up way too tight

While the bronze gong is drawn up, up away from eastward verge

As we are swept into a resolute, momentous surge

…that always pulls us to the place where we are facing west

To watch the sun slip past skyscrapers, trees, beneath earth’s crest

And where we stood to watch dawn yawn and fling ajar its door

We peer into the darkness of a day that is no more

...where some take note of progress, some notice nothing too much

Some feel hope like a warm handshake, others want for its touch

Some stand tall as a stallion, others fall beneath the strain

Waiting for dawn to yawn and stretch and do it all again

© Janet Martin

To Everything There Is a Season...

PAD Challenge day 5: Today is our first Two-for-Tuesday prompt day. Pick one prompt for your poem today, or write a poem for each prompt, or write one poem that works with both. Today’s prompts are:

1. Write a pleasure poem, and/or…
2. Write a displeasure poem.

 A peek at past week's pleasure...

Pleasure is intoxication

of a leaf-imbibed farewell

Displeasure, the white invasion

covering the leaves that fell

Pleasure is the crunch and rustle

where the air wears leaf-spun toll

Displeasure is winter's hustle

invading our autumn stroll 

Pleasure is the painted parting

of summer and autumn's clime

Displeasure is winter starting

before its appointed time

Janet Martin 

(this poem may be experienced both literally and metaphorically😉)

Life Goes On

A few weeks ago we attended the wedding of my neice.

 She married our lifelong neighbour's son!

At the wedding hubby and I chatted for a little while with the groom's uncle
 (age 63) who moved to Manitoba years ago and raised his family there.

He encouraged me to make/take the time to go with Jim/hubby sometimes
because we just never know what life can bring.
Since that conversation 3+ weeks ago Jim has met him completely unexpectedly (twice!)
as he drove through Manitoba.
Suddenly a truck pulled alongside his truck and a man with a friendly smile
and honk waved as he went by. It was Ken Weber!

Yesterday he passed away suddenly due to a heart attack!

A few days ago a this community was rocked by the death of a young woman
 killed in an awful traffic accident, leaving us asking,
(after coming through a sorrow-stricken October)

 who/what next?!!

 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,

 so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.…

1 Thess. 4:13-14 

This song was played the other Sunday for our 'hurting bad' church family

as we mourn the sudden loss of a few of its members...

because, life goes on!

Life goes on

The holes where loss

Leaves gaping wounds

Ah, who can fill?

Where Death

(That Ruthless Random Beast)

With precise aim

Is never still

Life goes on:

Worlds rocked anew

With Grief’s insistent

Unforeseen

Where all we knew

Cannot return

To be the way

That it had been

Death’s sickle swings

Ah, who is next

To fall beneath its

Binding blade

Where love, ah love

Will suffer long

The aftermath

Of parting’s trade

Where life goes on

In spite of Death

(Though much is taken

Much remains)

To stir our hearts

And steal our Breath

As Hope in God

Alone sustains

Life goes on;

It eddies, swirls

Where love and sorrow

Ache and brim

As love of God

Kindly consoles

And fills the holes

With hope in Him

© Janet Martin

Triple Word-Play

PAD Challenge day 3: For today’s prompt, write a poem of threes. 

Your poem could be about the number three or feature three of something, for sure, but it could also do some other things. For instance, your poem could be composed of tercets (or three-line stanzas), have three syllables per line, or be a three-line poem (like a haiku or lune). Or write about tricycles or triangles or any number (though mostly the number three) of other plays on three.

morning, noon, night
young, middle-age, old
yolk, shell, white
hot, warm, cold

future, present, past
 good, better, best
first, between, last
work, play, rest

run, walk, sit
think, write, read
edit, edit, edit
plant, water, weed

dream, dare, do
stop, look, leap
 much, moderate, few
love, laugh, weep

bears, pigs, kittens
 oh what fun
porridge, wolf, mittens
  run, Goldilocks, run

big, medium, small
second, minute, hour
 roof, floor, wall
stem, bud, flower

you, him, me
(makes me a third wheel)
expensive, cheap, free
beg, borrow, steal

mix, bake, eat
pour, steep, drink
spicy, sour, sweet
or pure black Columbian (wink)

one, two, three
jump, fall, fly
you, I, we
hello, hug, good-bye

Janet Martin