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.
A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments. Thank you Sammi!
My head and camera (the phone one) has been in the clouds for the past few days. Might as well make that work, right? And yet, a thought, clear as day, pops into my mind for this prompt yet I cannot put it into words. What is up with that? So I start and I add and I remove and I move around until I erase the whole damn thing and write it in one fell swoop. How does that happen?
dVerse is back after a two-week break. This week’s Quadrille is hosted by Kim who asked us to use the word “Blue” in any way we desired. Soooo many possibilities. I was stuck, so I was inspired to ask The Oracle for a hand and with a few key words, she helped me get unstuck.
I sit in my own house, a stranger, as my agent takes over and shows it to potential buyers who are waltzing around opening cupboards and checking my stuff – I was going to leave but Serge (agent) told me there was no need. I had already sent off the boys and Zeke so I made myself small in my office, yet available for any questions…
Most weeks I have a whole lotta nuthin’ on my agenda. One day goes into the next and nary a more exciting outing than a trip to Costco or the grocery store. At other times? BOOM! Not only do I have three days in a row of activities, the three times involve crossing the bridge into the City of Montréal. Snow causes a mess as it takes at least eight days to clean up the city after one dumping. A mess means traffic. Traffic means short-tempered peeps. Short-tempered peeps means frustration abounds.
Well, guess what? Not this chica! Sure there was traffic and it was, shall we say, interesting navigating the streets of Old Montreal and downtown (west) but hey, I did find parking in parking in lots, and twice underground. I’m thinking I’ve scored freakin’ well, dontcha think? No fusseration happening over here.
On the Thursday, I had a date with Edi, my new friend, made through my neighbours five houses down. Turns out Edi is divorced and has no one to play with (when it comes to plays) so I told her that the next time a decent one came to town, did she want I should call her? An emphatic YES was the response. We-he-hell… I was good on my word. The Centaur had a special “Valentine’s Day” Sale for any tickets purchased for the February 14th representation of “The Last Wife” a play created by Kate Hennig about Catherine Parr, Henry the VIII’s sixth and last wife. Told in today’s times, it was funny, brilliantly acted and the set decoration was truly creative.
BUT, to get to the Centaur, I had to drive along de la Commune Street in Old Montreal and I was struck by the colour of the sky. I was able to pull over and get this picture of the Montreal Clock Tower – ok, I lied. I was at a stop sign so I rolled down my window (really, Dale? Rolled down your window? More like pressed the automatic button…) and took a quick click – hence the blur. But that blue!
Just before turning up on St-François-Xavier Street, across from the Montreal Science Centre, I noticed the blue was even deeper so did the same thing as earlier – managed a bit less blur…
Met up with Edi, we found a restaurant (Méchant Boeuf) that would seat us before the play – remember, it was Valentine’s – no easy task to find!! We enjoyed our meal and made our way back to the Centaur in the slush and snowbanks and mess and enjoyed, as mentioned, a fabulous play.
On my way back to my car, I was struck by the purply-blue (dark periwinkle?) of the sky which really made the whitened-by-streetlamps old buildings pop (I did not play with any filters for any of these pictures, by the way!)
On Friday, I had a dinner and a movie date (Roasters, followed by “What Men Want” – total chick-flic and we laughed our heads off) with the girlfriends. I also had a house visit scheduled for 4:30, which screwed up my timing to be in town at the Forum Movie Centre for 5. My son assured me he would be home by that time and didn’t get here till almost 4:45. That would be the day I was late! Here I was pushing the ladies to be there for 5:00 so we’d have time to eat before the 6:50 movie and I’m the one who arrived at close to 5:45. I won’t lie. I may have cursed a bit lot before leaving, while I was being redirected because of road work, etc. That said, just before 4 pm, I was sitting at my desk when I looked up and was struck by yet another shade of blue! Looks almost ominous, doesn’t it? I loved the depth near the bottom, paling as it goes upward.
Saturday was a beautiful day! I promised Zeke we would go out for a nice long walk, and long walk we did, breaking in my new FitBit proper-like – making my 10K steps. While making our way to one Everything had a bluish tint…
Skating loop
The moon at daytime
Standing guard
Tall Tall Shadows
Sunday morning, blessed with another beautiful blue day, I found myself driving along. Shaking my head, I am oh-so glad I have a driveway in which to park my car unlike these poor buggers on the left, parked willy-nilly as this side of the street has yet to be cleared…
I definitely must return to this spot (Ontario Street) to retake this beautiful mural of Alys Robi, a Québecois chanteuse, sans damn truck in the way. I had to pull over because I was struck by this work of art.
“Let Her Sing Forever”
My house once again my own, I leave you with two Alys songs, first a young Alys doing a cover of “La vie en rose” and a more mature Alys, doing “Laissez-moi encore chanter” – because that’s what the mural represents, and this recording, awful as it is, was on my birthday!
Taotalk is a forum for the discussion of both the academic and pragmatic aspects of dao and Daoism, with participants expressing themselves on Daoist writings and pragmatics from their unique perspectives. It serves as a community for Daoists, and those interested in Daoism, to gather and talk dao.
A Dalectable Life 