More Silas Mann Photos!

Silas Arthur Mann has arrived!

Silas Arthur Mann arrived last night at around 7:45 PM. He weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20" long! He is a most beautiful baby - OF COURSE!!!!!!! Yeah MIcah and Melia!

More Rich Wedding Pictures

I just recieved some more pictures from Rich Williams Wedding that I thought I should post.

More Kick Off

Kick Off Sunday!

Here are some pictures from Kick Off - thanks to everyone who made it such a great success! The jousting was good fun!

Two More Poems

Click on the title of this post to find out more about the Writer's Almanac!

Poem: "Meadowbrook Nursing Home" by Alice N. Persons, from Don't Be A Stranger. © Sheltering Pines Press, 2007.

Meadowbrook Nursing Home

On our last visit, when Lucy was fifteen
And getting creaky herself,
One of the nurses said to me,
"Why don't you take the cat to Mrs. Harris' room
— poor thing lost her leg to diabetes last fall —
she's ninety, and blind, and no one comes to see her."

The door was open. I asked the tiny woman in the bed
if she would like me to bring Lucy in, and she turned her head
toward us. "Oh, yes, I want to touch her."

"I had a cat called Lily — she was so pretty, all white.
She was with me for twenty years, after my husband died too.
She slept with me every night — I loved her very much.
It's hard, in here, since I can't get around."

Lucy was settling in on the bed.
"You won't believe it, but I used to love to dance.
I was a fool for it! I even won contests.
I wish I had danced more.
It's funny, what you miss when everything.....is gone."
This last was a murmur. She'd fallen asleep.

I lifted the cat
from the bed, tiptoed out, and drove home.
I tried to do some desk work
but couldn't focus.

I went downstairs, pulled the shades,
put on Tina Turner
and cranked it up loud
and I danced.
I danced.


Poem: "Psalm" by Stuart Kestenbaum, from Prayers & Run-on Sentences. © Deerbrook Editions, 2007.
Psalm

The only psalm I had memorized was the 23rd
and now I find myself searching for the order
of the phrases knowing it ends with surely
goodness and mercy will follow me
all the days of my life and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever only I remember
seeing a new translation from the original Hebrew
and forever wasn't forever but a long time
which is different from forever although
even a long time today would be
good enough for me even a minute entering
the House would be good enough for me,
even a hand on the door or dropping today's
newspaper on the stoop or looking in the windows
that are reflecting this morning's clouds in first light.

New Poems

I found some new nice new poems from the Writer's Almanac that I want to pass on. The first doesn't look like a poem - but it is!

Poem: "Seagulls" by Louis Jenkins, from North of the Cities. © Will o' the Wisp Books, 2007.
Seagulls

There were no seagulls in the harbor, none at the marina. I saw none in the air. There were no seagulls at Canal Park, or McDonalds, or at Russ Kendall's smokehouse, or at the Kmart parking lot, or any of their favorite hangouts. It's winter and snow is falling, but I don't believe seagulls fly south. I've often seen them standing around on the ice all day, as if they were waiting for a big bus to come and take them to a casino. Where are all the seagulls? This is not a question I ever thought I'd ask myself. You get used to someone being around and if they go away you miss them. That's how life is. But seagulls are primarily a nuisance, and if you can't count on that, what can you count on?

Lily and Jedi

Lily and Jedi had fun playing in the backyard the other day with a big blue ball and a card board box house. I was glad I grabbed the camera

Link to more camping pictures

There a lots more great Hot August Moons camping pictures at http://www.rjweb.org/wpc/2007-08-camping/index.html or click on the title of this post.

Even more Rich wedding pictures

Rich had three good friends attend and Leanne had three good friends attend we all hit off really well and had a fun time. After Rich and Leanne left on the honeymoon we took a walk downtown and then returned for a quick jump in the pool. The night before we sat around the kitchen table with the lights out, watching a mid-western thunder storm and telling tales about Rich and Leanne - Great fun!

Rich's Wedding Part Two

The ceremony went well. The bride was lovely and Rich looked pretty good too. Everyone had a great time. Here are a few more pictures - sorry no dog pictures and no house pictures - maybe next visit I'll get some of those to share...

Rich's Wedding Part One

Many of the readers of this blog know Rich Willliams. I am in Neosho, MO this week to perfom his wedding. His bride is a great gal named Leanne. Between them they have 5 dogs! Cabboose, Barnabus, Angel, Rock and Mister. Sort of a yours, mine and ours type of thing. They bought a beautiful historic home that I will try to get some pictures of tomorrow. And maybe a few dog pictures too. These pictures are from the rehearsal. There is an awesome mid-western thunder storm going on right now - it is 2:30 AM - lightening is flashing! Thunder is rolling! My hotel windows are wide open. It is really great!

WPC Church Picnic

We had a great picnic on Sunday. Rick James took some very nice pictures. You can see more pictures at http://www.rjweb.org/wpc/2007-08-picnic/index.php

Princess Class

Lily recently attended a "Princess class" it was a week full of little girls learning about being princesses! At the end they had a princess recital. Here are a few pictures.

Hot August Moons at Tahoe

I just returned from a fun week camping with families from Westminster at Sugar Pines Campgrounds at Lake Tahoe. We laughed, sang, ate, fished, rode bikes and played together. It was a great week. A highlight was a daily jam session with Steve and Sean Frost. Steve brought along an acoustic bass and Sean and I had acoustic guitars. We jammed on some old CSN&Y, John Mayer, Clapton, Robben Ford and of course - the old standard 12 bar blues. I think the other campers enjoyed the music…. At least we kept the bears away if nothing else...

iPod Tales

I recently sent a friend the following story and thought I would post it here (with a few embellishments) for all to read. It might bring a tear to your eye.

My iPod died yesterday. Poor iPod. I originally got it for free from my son, Peter. He said that it didn’t work and I could have it – GEE THANKS! But it was cool, because it only cost 50 bucks to repair. It was an old Photo iPod – so no video or cool games. But it worked well and I loved it. I had it for a few joy filled months and then one fateful day I dropped it in the sink while washing the dishes and it drowned. A warm hair dryer helped along with a trip to the Mac repair shop. ($180 – I should have buried it then). Then, it stopped working a little over a week ago and I took it in and they said they couldn't fix it - BUT when I got home it worked! The iPod lives!
Yesterday, it was in the cup holder in my car. I spilt coffee and thought it missed the iPod only to find when getting to the gym that I had filled the bottom of the cup holder with coffee and my iPod was soaking in it! The poor thing thought it was charging, really it was shorting out. I was able to trade it in and get 10% off a new model...
So today is my first day with my new iPod! I am already thinking I should have gotten the 80 gig instead – after loading all my music, books and podcasts – it took up 20 gigs! I could dump some podcasts....

Here's a recent poem

I recently wrote a few divorce poems that I may share on my blog. Here is the first one about the dock in Santa Cruz, CA


Waves
Rhythmic
Chaos
Depth
Dark and light blue
White caps

Sunlight flash
Band of gold skipped off the dock
Up to the sky
Into the waves
Sinking deep

Lost forever?
Resting in the sand?
Eaten by a fish?
Forgotten?

God only knows….