Long Live The Mess!

 Beauty is a messy business, isn't it?!

Fresh bouquets from gardens and fields

 spill petals and bugs.

Food prep spills, splashes and drops

before the delight of dining!

(hopefully LOTS of food prep happening today 

for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow...

In Canda we celebrate thanks-living in October)

And wow! the mess that we can make while enjoying dinner!

(esp. when children are present. ahem.

We love blaming messes on children, don't we? 😅💖)

And in the daily course of chores and joys,

From indoor to outdoor we go,

and even though we kick off shoes 

on the mat inside the door

we still somehow trail lots of outdoor in.

In the summer road dust,

 (Because our windows are big

and we live in farming country with lots of tractor traffic!)
in the winter, furnace dust

and wood stove ashes, but we are cozy!

Isn't it great?!!

The whole mess of a full life aka happiness!

coffee spills and all!

Before we can enjoy this...

This....

Before we can enjoy this... (recipe below)

This...

Midst lots of eager, curious, happy helpers/tasters!

And one MIGHTY mess!!

Oh! isn’t beauty worth its mess

Or joy its price of grief

Is not the bloom of happiness

So worth the tattered leaf?

The petal that falls from the stem

The crumbs from bit o’ cake

Are they not worth the diadem

Of stars strewn in their wake

Like teardrop, bittersweet, unfurled

Upon the cheek, soft kissed

Before the door shuts on a world

Of mayhem turned to mist

© Janet Martin

Veg Soup recipe...

I tweaked this recipe to my liking

omitting corn and adding black beans.

Also besides precooking the black beans

I mixed everything raw and water bath canned it,

steaming each canner full for 3 hours

(in case you would like to try it!)

From the old Mennonite Community Cookbook

Because You Can't Have One Without the Other

(I apologize to you who read, sometimes before I've found 

some editing flaws I missed previously...

These poems generally get penned and posted amidst 

MUCH more than merely writing)

Wow! going from 23C yesterday to 6C this morning gets one's attention!

There's no denying it: another garden-year is drawing to a close!

But the flowers are not going to fade without a fight!

They've shrugged off a few frosty kisses already!

Maple trees toss their fiery tresses, as if daring Father Time!

He just smiles because he knows who always wins in the end.

October's to-do list is bittersweet!

-cut back or pull out spent glory.

-Harvest final fare

-Dig out flower bulbs that can't withstand winter-brr!

-plant flower bulbs for spring tulips etc.

-Collect seeds for gardens not planted yet

-Tuck leaf-duvets over slumbering flowerbeds

-Plan for next year's growing season/gardens

The folding always follows the holding💞

Sometimes I tend to rue the shadows of longing’s despair

Forgetting that it is the sun that puts the shadows there

How quick the readiness of thorns beneath love’s lovely rose

Can prick the headiness of holding with soft curtain close

The hellos that fill hugs/mugs with happiness ignites the knell

That trembles in the offing that assembles fond farewell

The wind that woos the lover to the darling of his heart

Is the same wind that hovers, to dearly draw them apart

Oh look! The baby smiles and coos and sits, walks, runs, then flies

Time’s book full of spent centuries still takes love by surprise

Thus, I cannot afford to stand too long with mournful stare

To gaze upon a world that fell to pirates of the air

Where waves that roll across the shore and thrill children at play

Are followed by the waves that wash their sandcastles away

And the breath-taking beauty of life’s garden in full wreath

The prelude to the duty of the grave that lies beneath

Sometimes, I tend to rue the letting go of seasons felled

Until I look back, humbly glad for all I had and held

Sometimes, I tend to rue the rending ache for seasons spent

Until, with awe I thank God for the loveliness He lent

© Janet Martin

Sometimes, I tend to rue the letting go of seasons felled

Until, with awe I thank God for the loveliness I held...

With Mercy Renewed

 

Once more we hoist hope's painful glory, taut with testing gales

Aren't you thankful God is greater?! His love never fails!

Into the mist of circumstance hope hoists a stalwart sail

With Mercy Renewed we advance to face today’s fresh gale

Where Faith bids us to forge ahead in spite of Unknown’s haze

As highs and lows of joy and dread author protest and praise

Where touch and taste enhance what it cannot quite satisfy

Where we can choose to dance or shake a fist in mean reply

Where what we stand or fall for is of vital gravity

The tempted and the tempter look a lot like you and me

And nothing is too commonplace to slip between the cracks

Of giants that we have to face and enemy attacks

Thus, we cannot afford to rush into the day at hand

Until we beckon to the Lord to be First in Command

For many perils lurk and many vices wait to snare

And many upsets irk us in this life so full of care

Where everything we strive for is worth nothing much at all

If everything we live for is so very temporal

Where both beauty and broken play a painful, precious part

In shaping natures human into ‘blessed pure in heart’

Where we would grow so weary doing the good, that we (should) do

Without trusting a dear and faithful God/Guide to help us through

For life is not a game of chance and love/God will never fail

Into the mist of circumstance hope hoists a stalwart sail

With Mercy Renewed, we embark once more into the fray

The God of Moses parts the dark and we are on our way

© Janet Martin

Abide With Me

Isa.40:28-31

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

An Enveloping Grandeur

 This day flew by in a flurry of beauty and duty...

spending as much time as possible outside on a perfect fall day!

Romans 1:20

 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—

his eternal power and divine nature—

have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, 

so that people are without excuse.

Neighbours cutting corn...

The hum of a harvester is one of my favorite fall tunes!

First grape harvest...at last!

(After years of waiting, eight grapes😅!!)

A striking chord of color takes the countryside by storm

Like an autumnal orchestra delighted to perform

What a terrific montage nature’s conductor untwists

Generous virtuoso of choirs and soloists

As planting season’s hope rings with harvest hymn’s crescendo

And fills heights, deeps and slopes with visual arpeggio

An enchanting ensemble of crimson, scarlet and gold

Ignites each woodland candle before it turns dark and cold

Where glory-hallelujah meets us from The Hand that gives

With beauty that depletes the poet’s pen of adjectives

And thankfulness is at a loss for words; the creature knows

That we are so unworthy of the goodness God bestows

A sacred exaltation is unfurled in autumn’s blaze

The wonders of creation never ceasing to amaze

Ah, how can we be quiet when the whole earth shouts His name

In an unrivaled riot of panoramas aflame

Where only fools do not join in, declaring ‘it is good’

God’s divine nature clearly seen and clearly understood

…where aspen halos shimmer like lampposts along the lane

Where silver poplars glimmer against backdrops blue with rain

Where hemlock, oak and mountain ash, willow and maple tree

Spill green and bronze and garnet splash to autumn’s symphony

Evoking in its splendor a most tender beckoning

An enveloping grandeur bidding everyone to sing

© Janet Martin

...and last but not least a big pan full of black beans!

I hope to try the above recipe tomorrow

substituting black beans for corn

Of Something Very Personal

I seem to be on a bit of a better-late-than-never routine these days!

partly because recently I'm really struggling with last lines, 

so sometimes it is taking a little longer to complete the poems!

But all by the grace of God and for His glory, go/write I!

Away, away night’s crepuscule recedes; earth reappears

To set time’s stage of hopes and needs with wage of smiles and tears

A sash of marbled splendor, charged with God’s glory and grace

He lavishes time’s spender with love, never commonplace

Where once more to the holy beck and call of life we press

To give its Author all we can, or something far, far less

Where what may seem A Little Poof of moments, as they fall

Becomes the Living Proof of Something Very Personal

Kind of like a love letter by our deeds and choices penned

Then signed, sealed and delivered to God at life’s sacred end

…with no room to edit, omit, excuse, explain and such

It will be very evident who we loved, and how much

© Janet Martin

Psalm 63

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, 

my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.

But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone that sweareth by him shall glory:

but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

I'm Glad That Time is Full of Days

No matter what, for better or worse,

tomorrow today will be over!

(Forever After)

Let's do all we can to make it a good one,

All for the glory of its Giver, God!

I’m glad that Time is full of days

Still waiting to unfurl

Between hurt’s hurdles and dismays

An oyster with a pearl

Between summer and winter’s snow

An autumn ode to grief

A world of woodland-wicks aglow

Then winnowed leaf by leaf

Between the dolor of farewell

The color of surprise

Of sun gold where blue shadows fell

O’er hello’s laughing eyes

Between trails blazed and settled dust

The bittersweet finesse

Of trials teaching us to trust

And treasure/define happiness

Between desire and despair

The opportunity

To take a leap of faith to where

Tomorrow used to be

To walk to years beyond our reach

With little girl and boy

And hold the small hands bound to teach

Old teachers about joy

I’m glad that time is full of days

Still waiting to become

New melodies of thankful praise

To He, whom days come from

I’m glad that time is full of days

With nights tucked in between

Like phantom, featherdown duvets

On Bygone’s evergreen

© Janet Martin

Col.3:17

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, 

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Ode to Grief...

You hide in jolly hollyhocks

In eyes alight with dreams

In leisurely barefoot, beach walks

In rainbow zinnia streams

In little lass with little curl

In outdoor time for tea

To celebrate a little girl

Who just turned half-past three

In ‘my, how fast sweet baby grows’

In pangs pure love imparts

In vignettes made of mementos

To carry in our hearts

In treetop tress, first green, then red

Orange, russet, gold, then doffed

In brittle crunch beneath our tread

Where leaf-lilt echoes waft

In fading valor of the sun

In autumn-morning mist

In days, that trick us summer-spun

With nights silver-frost-kissed

In swells of history disguised

In gleaming rise of day

The essence of the Thing we prized

Snatched to dusk’s foaming fray

In what has almost disappeared

As if it never was

A Very Vexing Vaunt veneered

With breath-taking Because

Because of love, because of joy

At every turn you lurk

I sense you in the carefree boy

In poise of play and work

In gardens, grand with grin and groan

Of seed's bounteous wealth

In hands, weathered, worked to the bone 

In thankfulness for health

In pansies, ever-pleasant charm

In hope and happiness

In sweeps that ripple, rife and warm

With life and loveliness

In arms that never quite grow cold

Though Child slips from Her knee

To chase the winds of growing old

On wings of vanity

You hide in touch cut to the quick

An artisan of scars

You always hover in the thick

Of laughter’s falling stars

Ah, grief, the price of love, ah love

So worth grief's cruel test

For only love can be enough

To satisfy the rest

© Janet Martin

Of Original, Age-old Hymns (or Bloom of Hymns)

Happy, Happy October!

Today's hymns have never been heard before

in this new day the Lord has made,

and yet, they are as old as Time!

Come, let us adore Him

Let's rejoice and be glad!

For soon the hymn that spills the hour

will fade like petals from the flower

Oh, what a pity if we miss

The bloom of hymns that Today Is!

We celebrated the last supper of September 2022

with quickly dwindling garden-fare

Fresh garden-slaw with stuffed red peppers!

Then, though this was all I could see of the spectacular sunset

it was enough.

 September's Last Love Song...

This is the (first October 2022) day the Lord has made

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

The earth is like a fount that brims

With woodland, field and garden hymns

The Author of its melodies

Instills His praise in hills and trees/ (and skies and seas)

In notes that dazzle through the dell

Where, not by chance, Darling Brook fell

To draw us from the pressing gait

Of hurried traffic, always late

To theaters with grassy banks

Where we may pause in humbled thanks

To He who does not cease to write

Masterpieces of sheer delight

Woven through thorns that hold the rose

To soothe the wounds that thorn bestows

And heal the hunger of the heart

With songs that nature’s throngs impart

Until we too lift our voice

Reminded simply to rejoice

In this, ‘the day the Lord has made’

The glory of His love displayed

As mercy fills the fount that brims

With original, age-old hymns

© Janet Martin

I wanted to meander home from a few errands yesterday

until aghast, I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see a line of traffic piled up behind me...

The hill and curve thoroughfare, woven enchantingly through first-autumn vistas, 

made it impossible to pass😅😜

Oops! I was both apologetic and vexed!

I guess that's what back roads are for 

but then we end up with a dirty vehicle

and vexed Hubby!

Reminds me of last weekend when Father asked Daughter how

she could get such a dirty car when all the roads from point A to Be are paved!!

'Well,', confessed Daughter, 'I took a different way,

 Because the sideroad looked so pretty!'

Her father chided. Vexed!

Her mother beamed with pride

(For) what are a few mud-flecks compared

To dirt-road countryside! 💓😍😅

This Is the Day- CityAlight