Winter Whites and Blues

Posted on February 1, 2022 by Dale | 198 Comments

Frank J. Tassone hosted Haibun Monday for dVerse yesterday. He wants us to get seasonal in honour of winter. Those of us in the northern hemisphere might be just about done with the white stuff and cold but hey, it does have it’s beautiful moments. Should you want to try your hand, just click here and add your link. All jokes aside, I do love winter – not as cold as we’ve had, thank you very much!

There is something special about waking up to a fresh blanket of snow. Bleary-eyed, you crawl out of bed, not really ready to face the day (or maybe you are). You open your blinds and catch your breath. While you were sleeping, nature was laying down a gift. All is covered in pristine white and the skies are as blue as they can only be in winter.

Now energized, you check the temps and dress appropriately to go out and get a better view. Away from the noisy streets, as you make your way, you feel the silence grow louder the further you go. The crunch under your feet is now muffled by the layer of fluff, your breath comes out in plumes and your jacket crinkles as you walk. While the sun is shining brightly, it is stingy with its heat. But you don’t really mind as you’ve dressed accordingly and while slight, you do feel the lightest of ray of kisses on your exposed cheeks.

Ah! If only all of winter were so! But alas. That is the part of the gift of having four seasons. We must enjoy the best of them while we can.

Blanket of white snow

Blue skies and crisp air delight

I’m ready for spring

Glorious Autumn

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Dale | 96 Comments

dVerse spoke to me today! Kim from Writing in Norfolk is hosting and today’s theme is: Haibun Monday: Being But Human – what is it she is asking? This: to write about a time when you last watched stars, a storm, the sea, an animal, or something else in nature that left you with a sense of wonder or awe. Aim to write no more than three tight paragraphs, followed by a traditional haiku that includes reference to a season. Hmmm. Here goes:

As I walk along in an autumn woods with no sounds save the crunch of dried leaves beneath my feet, the wind rustling the leaves above me and maybe the occasional trill of a bird I find my heart slowing, my breath deepening, my muscles relaxing and my mind freeing itself from whatever worries I might have. As this happens, I become more aware of my surroundings: I marvel at the velvety, almost neon green moss growing on fallen trees. I delight in the different kinds of fungi growing here and there: white, bright yellow, striped greys, polka-dotted red. I watch and smile at the antics of squirrels and chipmunks darting here and there, looking for nuts they will hide away for the winter. The sky is a shade of blue not seen the rest of the year, which makes the yellows and reds and oranges pop all the more. I am blessed to live through this season every year.

Colours brilliant
Fall into crispy ground
Joy is found in death

Desire

____

Image: Matthew Woodson

Light at the End of the Tunnel – Crimsons’s Creative Challenge #54

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Dale | 64 Comments

Missed last week’s challenge. Some days the muse just leaves me hanging. She can be so persnickety at times, can’t she?

When I saw this picture I was reminded of one I had taken that was similar-ish. My search brought me to more than one! I even had to drop one as a haiku is but three lines long 😉 I hope having a picture between each line does not break up the rhythm too much…

Thanks, Crispina, for challenging us week after week!

The endless arches

Went on and on, yet he hoped

He would find the light

Steps – Crimson’s Creative Challenge #40

Posted on August 15, 2019 by Dale | 61 Comments

Good Thursday night… for twenty minutes, anyway! I wasn’t sure I would participate in Crispina‘s challenge this week and then, I thought I would just supply a “reply photo” but then found two and couldn’t decide on which one to use and decided to use both, then thought: “I can’t just plop two photos!” So I thought I’d write a little story but then nothing came to me and, driving home from work, a haiku came to mind. Only to promptly disappear as I parked my car. Sigh. As I played with my pictures, other words came to mind so. Well. This is what you get!

Where do these steps go?

In the middle of no where

How can I resist?

Do I see a light?

This is an invitation

I cannot resist

More steps up ahead

A neverending journey

Makes life worth living

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #13 – General Truths

Posted on February 8, 2019 by Dale | 85 Comments

Phew! Was getting carried away with this one. Went back to Crispina’s rules and regs and realised… oops! Gotta cut back! I knew I had a haiku in mind for this one. Then decided it turn it into a Haibun. (I’m no expert here so I just might be misnaming my offering. Apologies, if I am!)

General Truths

I look at this gate or door of sorts and quotes pop into my mind:

“When one door closes, another opens” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
“If the gates are open, walk in; if the gates are closed, find a way and move in!” ~Mehmet Murat Ildan
“Be an opener of doors” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A very little key will open a very heavy door.”~ Charles Dickens

Adage, expression, axiom, cliché, proverb… I never realised there were so many different words meaning

“a short statement expressing a general truth”

General truth. Makes sense, they didn’t ‘come to be’ out of thin air, did they? Don’t know why it’s such an insult to be called a cliché if you are happy with who you are. Why allow naysayers power over you?

Funny how the quotes that came to mind speak of breaking barriers.

Choices to be made

Doors and gates: End? Or

Possibilities?

(150 words)

Haiku – Magnolia

#WeekendCoffeeShare – Spring Walk, Paperwork, Breakfasts & More Snow?

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Dale | 27 Comments

Hello my friends and welcome. Please do come in. You’ll have to stamp your feet to remove the snow. Yes. Curse, cuss, swear, sigh. We got more snow last night. Hello? First day of Spring was Monday? Remember, Ma Nature? Oh well, welcome to Spring in Quebec!

So, if we were having coffee, or tea, or some other beverage, we would complain a bit about yesterday’s snowfall. It is what one does when one is done with it. I, for one, am done with it. No, no, don’t try. You can’t convince me how pretty it is. It really is, isn’t? I don’t care. Come back next Winter.

OK… getting ahead of myself.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you what an absolutely beautifully, gorgeous day we had on Monday! Oh my! First day of spring and the sky was blue, the clouds were white, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the snow was melting! Zeke and I were way overdue for one of our super long walks and man… oh man… did we ever take one!

That 10.9 km is 6.8 miles… just sayin’…

I had decided I wanted to make my way to the St. Lawrence River so we could watch the ice pieces float by and hopefully catch some wildlife. We did so and we ended up all the way into the Old Boucherville section. What a walk! Leaving my house, we walked along Industrial Boulevard to Fort St-Louis. Those who are on Instagram got pretty much a play-by-play of my walk!

And there were honest-to-goodness buds on the trees. Really! Considering last Wednesday’s snowstorm, who’d a thunk?

Crossing the tracks, we walked along a road that runs parallel to the highway until we reached the overpass to the river’s edge. I always stop and admire this house. It speaks to me!

We continued on, past the ever-present construction until we reached Marie-Victorin. This street/boulevard goes through at least six towns (I will have to verify that one!) running the length of the St.Lawrence River. Boucherville, Varennes, Verchères each have their special cachet that I shall have to share with you further!

A little Haiku

Reflections

Loons

From my home town, we get to see the various Boucherville Islands that are now a Provincial Park and we can access via mini ferry (holding bicycles and people only) during the summer season.

Dock to the ferry

Visitor

Zeke – I’ll just wait here

I started taking a bunch of pictures of many of the old houses and realised that I shall share them with you on another post. They deserve to be front and centre! However, I do think it worthwhile to share our big Paroisse Ste-Famille, where I was baptised many a moon ago…

Paroisse Ste-Famille

Shining in the sun

We walked around the little streets, snapping pictures of old houses and I was struck by the gold of the hedge that seemed to pop out of nowhere.

By now I’m wishing I had someone I could call to pick us up and take us the rest of the way home! We were both pooped and decided our evening was going to be one of vegging on the couch!

Tuesday was paperwork day. I realised my passport was due to expire by June of this year and decided to bring it in directly to the passport office. I mean, come on, what if someone comes into my life, sweeps me off my feet and wants to take my on a trip of a lifetime! I must be ready! Of course, reading all about Cady Luck Leedy’s story about HER passport woes is what really made me look at mine in the first place! The whole sweeping off my feet thing is more of a, well, okay, I’ll admit it, a girl can dream, right? I was shocked and pleasantly surprised that the whole thing took a mere one hour and fifteen minutes from beginning to end. How do you like them apples? To think I was going to set my alarm at stupid o’clock to wait in line for the doors to open at 7:30 am. Pfft…. I got there at 11:30 and was in my car by 1:00 pm. And that’s because I did some window-shopping on my way back to my car. Pretty darn good, let me tell you!

As I had sold my car for scrap, I also had to go the S.A.A.Q. (DMV for ya’all) to register the transaction to no longer be liable for the hunk-a-junk. And, lucky me, I got $165 back for the registration! Woot!

On Wednesday, I had breakfast with my youngest sister. Always nice to break the fast with her. Actually, am overdue for breakfast with second sister as well… Hmmm… will have to make arrangements. My mom, Yvon and their grandson arrived at 1:00 pm to visit the apartment my sisters had found for them. It was a big moment and we all (sisters) hoped that Mom and Yvon would fall in love with it (or at least in good like) and agree that it was the place to move to. For those of you who read my Friday Fictioneers this week, you will note it was totally based on this happening! They not only liked it, they signed the lease for June 1st! Wonderful. Now we will all be within 15 minutes of each other. It will definitely take a load off my mother’s shoulders. Of course now we have the lovely prospect of moving them from a house to a 3 1/2 apartment. That will be so much fun. Not.

Nothing much I feel the need to share for Thursday but Friday – yesterday. Well. We’ve come full circle to the beginning of this tale. I must repeat. What in the name of hell is up with Mother Nature? Oh man! That snow is pretty. To be sure. If it were elsewhere. I will admit that Zeke and I enjoyed taking a walk in it and of course I had to take a couple of pictures. Cool the different effects of no flash and flash and a little fun with PicMonkey…

No flash but street light

Flash

I would have sent this out earlier but this afternoon we all went bowling for my niece’s volleyball team. What is it about bowling that is so much fun? Almost the whole family participated and a good laugh was had by all. Now, I’m not one to toot my own horn but I did have to ask for a printout of my scores because man oh man… I was on fire!

Action shots

Uh huh… yeah…

I think I have gone on long enough. We must have gone from coffee to water to wine by now, eh? I hope you enjoyed my little tour of Boucherville and my sharing of my week’s stuff. Now, it’s your turn. Tell me how your week was!

Thank you to our lovely hostess Emily of Nerd in the Brain for hosting this weekly coffee gig. You can click on her name to make your way to her blog where you can find the link to add your coffee talk, should you like! (I haven’t figure out yet how to get the link working on my blog as yet. Mostly because I’ve not really tried!)

Have a marvellous week and see ya’all next week!

Lotsa love,

Dale

A Mindful Walk

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Dale | 48 Comments

The day was too beautiful to waste my time in a gym (and really, like I was going to go, eh?) or in the house, cleaning, so, why not go outside for one of our (Zeke and me) walks? We were way overdue and hadn’t gone on one of our mega long walks in a long time.

I chose to go over to the other side the main drag (de Mortagne, for those of you in the know) which helps me get my 10,000 steps in. Though Météo Média “told” me it was -9ºC, but felt like -18 ºC, I found myself overdressed. I should learn to NOT to put on my thermal shirt under my coat unless the temps dip to -35ºC!! Didn’t take long to remove the scarf and stuff it in my camera bag! Taking pictures usually requires me to warm my hands between each shot but not today. The sun made a huge difference. That and the lack of wind!

As I was walking, I started thinking of my blogger/Facebook friends and how amazing it is to have connected with people all over the world. People I have yet to meet in person. People who have touched my life in one way or another. People who graciously and generously sent me love when I needed it and who encourage me to try new things and challenge myself. This post has become a sort of thank you to a just a few of them!

It all started as I was taking pictures of trees. Suddenly I thought of Phyllis, because she loves trees! We met through an on-line photography class, and I’ve followed the tenuous arrival and amazing growth of her beloved grandchild, Madeline. What an inspiration they all are in that family!

I came upon some benches. They were not the prettiest ones out there but benches make me think of Raye, a wonderful artist and writer, (though she doesn’t write much any more – much to my chagrin) that I met through another blogger, named John. Raye’s writing grabbed me and next thing I knew, I was stalking her, reading every single one of her posts and leaving my two cents’ worth all over the place. She played along and we found that we must have been separated at birth in one of our past lives. We have been known to use another’s site for our bantering (right, John?) and have since become friends – by the way, RRR, we are WAY overdue for a Skype session, hmmm?

Speaking of John, I wish I had one-third of his photographic talents. I’m working on it! This Irish guy has an eye for beauty in the simple things. Here’s a little something for you. I was playing with the shadows… At least the blue sky was my friend 😉

Walking along, I came upon the little “bridge” in the middle of nowhere in Parc de Coutance. Well, of course I though of Jean, another Irish blogger (methinks I may have met John through her, I could be wrong, but does it really matter?) She is fascinated with all things bridge and not just the structural kind made of wood or metal or whatever but mostly the social kind between people, cultures, etc. No one, and I mean NO one loves her homeland as Jean does. It just oozes through her words and pictures of her beloved Tramore County.

I was starting to enjoy myself immensely because my walk suddenly had a new purpose. Well, purpose, that’s a big word. Let’s just say I had made a game of it. Exercise, fresh air, great company and now a game. What fun!

Photography has been a part of my life ever since I got my first Kodak Instamatic. Remember those? With the flash cube you added on top? Fun. I took one lesson at Dawson College and truly enjoyed myself. I’ve been the “Kid Kodak” in my family for a long time (still am) and have the boxes of negatives and photos to prove it. That said, when Joy showed up… (The how I met Joy is a four-blog-hop process! So.. Thanks Jessica for getting the ball rolling!) …and offered on-line photo classes, I jumped in. I learned a lot through her and – no worries, Joy, I WILL do my classwork on the last one I signed up for. My timing was shot, my computers were shot, the light was shot and next thing I knew it was over and done with. But I’ve kept my lessons and will do them. Promise. PicMonkey has become my new best friend for editing photos and having fun with my images!

The clouds were making cool patterns and Janet, chef, teacher, artist, writer (another who needs to write more!) came to mind. I would link to one of her blogs but, cannot. This link is a guest blog she did and truly gives a sense of who she is. Her sarcastic humour is what got me at first and that was through her comment on another blog (please, do not ask me which one!) Next thing I knew, I was once again a stalker. We have since become friends as well and like to Skype for a good chin-wag when we can. She is brilliant and I am lucky to count her in my circle.

Original

Fun with Curves

I then was on a mission for the colour purple. Figures. No matter where I looked, I could not find anything purple! Ah come on! How am I supposed to honour Rochelle? She’s the queen of purple. Her blog is called Addicted to Purple! I can’t use just any old image! This woman has become my writing mentor and friend. I was half-way home and thinking dang… I am going to have to play with the colours of something or other and make it purple! And then… I burst out laughing! Okay, I admit, I may be pushing it a bit but you gotta laugh, no? Lucky for me, these little girls flocked to Zeke and one just so happened to be dressed in the appropriate colour. So I used both. Because. It’s my blog.

The colour Purp (le)

Girls with Zeke

Now I am going to cheat here as there is another I would like to mention. That would be Sarah. It is all her fault that I write haikus and am now a member of Friday Fictioneers. Last Friday, during our walk, I composed a couple of haikus in my head – then dictated them to my cell because, frankly, they would be lost otherwise – but didn’t post them when I got home because I was invited out and just didn’t take the time. Sooo. we’ll just pretend the following was from today, okay?

And lastly, before you all fall asleep in boredom, I cannot write such a post and exclude Zeke now, can I? He’s way more popular than I am! How can he not be; such a handsome and faithful companion…