Lending Out Our Largess

It gives us great pleasure to be sharing our mountain home,
Even though the visiting couple is visiting our home alone.
We are busy with our alternative lives down south,
So we can't sit and visit with them on our own couch.
They are young and enjoy the natural life,
Free from the city's congestion and strife.
They also can avoid their home's greater heat;
Summer in the mountains is a wonderful treat.

I often fantasize about forming a community
Where we would all share the best of what we've come to be.
In the summer we could teach children survival,
Without all the electronics that their real lives should rival.
It has been so lonely to have all this largess,
And to have no young folks, with our resources, to bless.
Nothing would please us more than the creation
Of a place we could teach the strengths that built our nation.

Our Girls Are Gone

My girls are gone, and I'm so sad,
But what they left has kept me glad:
Because of asparagus mixed with crab sauce;
Fried pasta hasn't seemed like a loss.

Susan and Mark came by to partake
In what me family had a stake:
R's red beans on rice or in a cup;
There are many ways we have to sup.

B and S's great stir fry,
So good it makes me want to cry.
Now, we're on our own, to my distress;
I only hope we won't digress.

Busting a Gut with Giggles

I may yet drive my daughter over the edge. She's quite a competent school teacher, and has little tolerance for foolishness. She was even serious as a baby, deep in thought at all times.

The day started off with one of those circular arguments between my daughter and me that only happens in families who are committed to loving each other even when they aren't feeling much affection for each other. When my grandaughter arrived by boat, we switched over to taking walks and board games.

All my life I waited to be a granny so that I could share my most foolish side with a bunch of giggling grandkids. I can only do this on my own turf because at the homes of others, I get the children in trouble with their parents. But in my house, it's my rules, so we have a grand old time grinning and goofing off.

S has always attempted to adjust the rules of all our games as we play them because she bores easily and loves to yank my chain. I insist that we follow the rules to make it fair to everyone involved. We played Rummikub and then taught ourselves a game, UpWords, with which none of us is familiar. By the end of the game, S had gotten so silly that I was threatening to hang her by a bungee cord from the second story balcony, and dip her into the pool below.

R and her daughter then went in search of the wonderful concoction that we call Sno Balls which are a cross between a slushy and the sno cones seen at school fairs. Here, in South Louisiana, they are an art form. The best sno ball stands shave the ice just like wet snow, pack it down as if they were building a snowball fort, and slather the "sno" with any number of secret recipe sweet sauces that one requests. R and S came back with pina colada for R, root beer for S, and black cherry for me and Richard. We waxed poetic and reminisced about the sno balls and sno ball stands of previous summers at the lake.

While my daughter started fixing supper for her invalid mom, our granddaughter, S, decided that we need to come up with a focus for all my free time in my old age. When I inquired as to what skills she thinks I possess that I should pursue, she said that I'm good at talking. To prove her point, she used the video recorder that she had figured out for me and asked me to give impassioned speeches on any topics that came into my head. By the time her mama made her stop the camera, she was almost in stitches with giggling, and I probably busted a few of mine.

Sailing Through Surgery Recovery

I'm going to have to be helpless more often. I'm getting visits from so many people I love. E (my friend since she sat next to me in Sister Dominic Savio's honors English class when we were both fourteen), my son, and his wife kept Richard company while I was in surgery; then E stayed at the hospital until mid-afternoon to entertain me after I was awake.

On my first day home, my next-door neighbor, L, at my childhood home from the time I was six, brought her two dogs and a basket of fresh fruit, along with all sorts of provisions. L and I talked of life's lessons learned, and I taught her to play Rummikub before Richard came home to make one of his marvelous salads to go with the chicken chowder that I had prepared before my surgery. She stayed the night, and we all played Scrabble. She and I are now planning a run on the beach with her dogs when I'm released for exercise.

L vacuumed her way out, and G, who was my next-door neighbor when we both had babies, came in. We spent a great time together discussing our favorite spiritual topics, napping, and playing some more Scrabble. Scrabble and soul searching, what a comforting combination!

The following morning dawned with the joy of knowing that my daughter and her younger daughter, S, were going to be my sitters. I knew that my daughter could cook, but little did I know that her thirteen-year-old was picking up the mantle of kitchen queen. We've been treated to stuffed peppers, two varieties of home-baked cookies, and a stupendous sausage soup.

Food for the body, soul and mind was brought by these two beauties. My granddaughter loaded photos onto my new digital frame that I had received as a birthday gift and figured out for me how to use my new video camera. She challenged me to a game of Scrabble, and entertained me while I watched her dance with her Wii. She and her mom also graciously spent several hours reclining with me and chatting.

Yesterday, the bed was rocking with three of our grandkids rollicking as they kept me company. My thirteen-year-old grandson, N, was so sweet to lie next to me and regal me with tales of his lacrosse camp and other summer activities. His ten-year-old sister, M, snuggled with me, which is still one of her favorite things to do with her Granny. My daughter-in-law and S joined us on the bed for a game of Yahtzee before the bed started bouncing with activity. About that time, my son arrived to whisk them all away.

Today, we took it easy. Richard puttered around doing domestic duties for me, and my daughter and her daughter came back to spend some relaxing time. I had my first post-surgery walk with my daughter before we returned to my bed for a great game of Rummikub.

Throughout all this, Richard has played several games of Scrabble with me, run errands, brought home frozen confections, kept me company over endless hours of murder and mayhem on TV, and been an all-round good host and sport. And I have a beautiful view of the harbor from both my bedroom and living room. Surgery doesn't seem so bad when done this way.

No Price to Pay

Some have aquariums to watch the soothing moves of fish;
Others have cats and kittens to observe their antics;
Some have dogs to watch them as they slumber;
But pets don't soothe me; they make me frantic.

I always wonder what they need that I'm not providing;
If left in the wild, they'd fill their own needs.
The dogs and cats would find meat, the sea life their food;
The birds would find fish, bugs, and plant seeds.

I enjoy simply watching the "wild things;"
This includes people at their work and play
Because I have no ownership stake, I have
All this enjoyment with no price to pay.

Of course, it's my good fortune that
When I peer out my living room window
There are no riots or angry animals;
All appears to be peaceful down below.

The Ivory Tower and Dinner Hour

It seems to be time, once again, to commit to a way of life,
Whether to be party girl of our community or grandmother and wife.
There are many souls hanging out at several of the pools,
Waiting for party pals in breaking all the rules.
This side of me still lives just below my skin;
It doesn't take much for my party self to begin.
I seem to have a mischievous glint in these eyes of mine,
Always looking for a place to connect to something divine.

But most times the playmates are not looking to be whole;
They're actually looking for someone to play the devil's role.
I must be careful as I cruise around here without a friend,
Someone to remind me that means don't justify their ends.
The problem there is that most times it costs much money
To get together with those who share what I think is funny.
So, until I procure employment, I'll hide in my ivory tower,
Where the high point of my days is our shared dinner hour.

Like the Sky and the Sea

The ring of clouds gathering around the lake
Will soon be the water in which we all partake.
Our nourishment from fields, beasts, and all things
Are the gifts that this daily "lake effect" brings.

Why can't we be more like the sky and the sea,
I give to you and you give back freely?
Why can't we be like the trees and the rain,
I transform your gifts and give them back again?

Have you ever watched birds as they build their nests?
They use only what is needed, and for others leave rest.
If it is true that energy is an never-ending loop,
What do we accomplish when, to hoarding, we stoop?

The powerful seem to be nothing but energy sinks,
Damming up the flow and leaving none for others to drink.
They would rather be in control of a stagnant pool
Not caring that slow death is that over which they rule.

All moral ownership comes with some responsibility
If we take only what we're meant to, the rest will be set free.
Then all creation's energy will flow through us and back.
The balance we see in "lesser" creatures, we humans seem to lack.