Valentine candy clearance
Crumpled corners on pink hearts
Broken biscuits and stale cookies
The holiday heartbeat forces choices
Keep the candy or look for love

People are so easily confused. It takes a long time to figure out life and how we fit into this world. Sometimes we never really figure it out. It has been nearly a month since Valentine's Day. While looking at the discount bin at the grocery I discovered a variety of marked down holiday items. There were several boxes of kid's cards and a stack of gift bags (shedding glitter), and a whole bunch of heart decorations. The hearts were pretty beat up. Some were iridescent Mylar coated and others had sparkles and glitter but all of them had seen better days. They were marked to sell at only 25 cents for a stack of 5. It reminded me of some people who mistake infatuation with love. You know that state of desire and obsession that like a Valentine cookie looks good but after a few bites it loses its appeal. Too many people can't seem to learn from their mistakes. They cling to the idea that pretty plates DO guarantee a good meal. They are so sure that the icing flowers are the prize even when they know after eating just one they will have a sugar headache. Either by force of habit or fear, they refuse to look beyond the heart shaped box of chocolates... Too bad they are missing out on real love.

The poem is some free verse using Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 prompts #10 - Write about love, and #12 - Use the words: biscuits, beat, choices, pink.

When I look at the sky I hear Beethoven
Fierce chords and crescendos
As cumulonimbus clouds sail by
His 5th symphony plays in the wind
Soon the thunder and lightning join
Resonating in my chest
As I’m sure it did in his
To bypass deaf ears

This is my offering for the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 using prompt #9 - mention a famous composer. It is now March and it certainly looks like this month is going to be very lion-like this year. The upside is that according to folklore March should go out "like a lamb" meaning we will have mild weather at the end of this volatile weather month. In the interim I'm torn between swapping the winter clothes out for the spring finery. My heavy winter coat really should go to the cleaners but I'm afraid that as soon as I send it off to be cleaned it will snow! So in an effort to avoid any more frozen precipitation my coats will stay in the closet. You can all thank me later.

Capture the moment
The empty frame expectant
Memory captured
Our shy smiles frozen in time
A snapshot of friendship

This is a tanka - a Japaneses poetry form consisting of 5 lines with a strict syllable count of 5-7-5-7-7. The first 3 lines are a haiku. Like most Japanese forms rhyming does not occur. This fulfills the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 prompt #4 - Discuss something in a frame.

I have lots of empty picture frames. This is not because I lack photographs that are frame worthy. It is instead because I have so many frames! I've always liked old and antique frames. I went through a phase where I bought many frames at estate sales. Sadly they usually still had photos in them. It makes me wonder why someone would sell their great grand parents' wedding portrait. After purchasing these frames I'm loathe to remove the existing pictures. So they sit in my basement storage until I find the perfect picture to insert over the current resident. Then too I have been gifted numerous frames. Some are modern and some are artistic. Some have photos already in them and others are earmarked to receive a special photo. I have one that was given to me by saintvi. It is a metal frame that says "One Big Happy Family" and in that frame is the group photo of GeoWoodstock X in Sellersburg, IN. We missed the photo and ended up taking a picture (Sparky, me, saintvi and Jola500) and being photoshopped into the picture. It was the best group photo of a GeoWoodstock event to date! The other frame that I have that is special is one with a dragonfly on it that was a Christmas gift from Crystalline. It contains a photo of the two of us taken at my sister's resort house this last Christmas! Both of these frames contain more than the photo - they hold a memory of a day and a trip and an event - laughter and joy and a camaraderie that transcends time and space. When I look at these frames I see more than the smiles in the photographs...

If you’ve ever wanted fairness
And had your wish granted
You would realize the folly
Of punishment for sins recanted

If you’ve ever wanted mercy
And pleas fell on deaf ears
When the prison cell is locked
Not to open for many years

If you’ve ever wanted justice
And righteous judgement too
Remember mercy’s value
If you wore the other shoe

Last week's sermon message was interesting. It was about fairness. We all say we want things to be fair. And at the same time we know that life is not fair. Yet the concept of fairness is plainly illustrated by the "eye for and eye and tooth for a tooth" from biblical times. That was only fair. We only want fair when we are the wronged party. When the tables are turned we crave mercy. It was explained that God is righteous which means we will certainly get what we deserve but God is also merciful which tempers the punishment. If there is righteousness without mercy there is only punishment and no redemption. If there is only mercy without righteousness there is no accountability. The two must be in balance. But it must be clear - being merciful is not fair. So what do you want, fairness or righteousness and mercy?

Seeping into the space between
A kind word and a warm heart
Taking over conversations
And relationships before they start
Occupying a seat at the table
Pushing us together yet we remain apart
Demanding attention undeserving
Phones and technology become too smart
The human condition deteriorates
Going to hell in a hand cart!

Here are some rhyming couplets for the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 - prompt #5 use the word: technology. It has finally happened that my phone is smarter than I am. I hate to admit it. The fact remains that my phone has functions that are completely foreign to me. I have to go to the Sprint store to figure out applications I didn't know I had. I need to learn the secrets of password protection. I have to figure out how to get the most out of my computer, my printer, my phone. Until I figure out how to make them serve me, I am a slave to the mystery of their functions. Technology can be the bane of existence or it can be a help for everyday tasks. The question is whether we are the masters or the slaves...

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is a day of fasting and prayer marking the beginning of the Lenten season. As a reminder Catholics attend services where we receive ashes on our foreheads. These are made from the palms from last Easter and are mixed with a special oil called Chrism. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. As the priest applies the ashes to a person's forehead, he speaks the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Many people think that Lent is when Catholics "give up" something and then as soon as Lent is over they can pick up right where they left off. Really what should be happening is a conversion - a turning away from self destructive activities and habits. The idea is that come Easter you will have had a change of heart and with that a change that becomes permanent. I am not giving up chocolate. I am going to try very hard to give up mean thoughts about some of the people I work with. I have to realize that when I entertain negative thoughts about them I only hurt myself. If I can approach the little irritations that come with rubbing elbows with other humans with a sense of forgiveness and tolerance, I bet I can be a better coworker and a better person too. It won't be easy. Sometimes people jump on my last nerve. Sometimes I'm not as patient as I should be. But I have the power to ignore the slights, hurts, and button pushing.

An old birthday party tradition
The blindfold over eyes is placed
Small hands tightly grasp the stick
A pause before swinging
Lucky poke cascade
Candy gold coins
Piñata
Birthday
Loot

They have been selling the Mardi Gras piñatas at the grocery store. There are usually 3 or 4 available year round but right now there seem to be a multitude perched on top the produce displays done up in the colors of Mardi Gras - purple, green and gold. As a child I was fascinated by the concept of a paper mâché creation filled with candy and small toys and sometimes even coins! By the time I actually was able to participate in a birthday piñata bashing I was no longer enchanted. I discovered the truth. The candy was not only the cheapest kind but stale and the toys were little better than what passed as prizes in a Cracker Jack's box. Still this tradition lives on.

I cringe ever since the fiasco at a Cub Scout meeting. Imagine 30 young and eager boys crowded around a blind-folded boy swinging a baseball bat as if her were in the major leagues. The more wildly he swung the closer the spectators leaned in. Finally he connected. The piñata exploded on impact. The assembled Scouts literally dove into the area. The boy with the bat threw it away as if he was racing to first base. He was knocked off his feet. It was a miracle that no one was injured. But I digress. The point is that today is Fat Tuesday. The day before Lent begins. As such is a day when all the decadent items are removed from the house mostly by cooking cakes and cookies and pies and other delights which must be consumed. Lent is supposed to be a time of prayer, fasting and alms giving - when we deny ourselves to join in solidarity with those less fortunate. The piñata is the very symbol of greed and gluttony in my mind. It is no wonder it has been co-opted into the Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) revelry.

By the way this is my Winter Scavenger Hunt offering for prompt #8 - Use the words poke, cascade, pause, and gold. I wrote a Nonet which is a poem with 9 lines where the first line has nine syllables. Each following line has a syllable less and the last line has one syllable.

For Sparky's birthday I planned a dinner out and a movie. We decided to go to his favorite shopping spot - E&S Sales and then to Goodwill since it was half price day. When I contacted our sons to see when they could go to dinner they informed me that they were both working full days. They were going in at 10:00 AM and working until 9:00 PM which left no time for a meal out. As I searched for some activities for Sunday, saintvi suggested we go geocaching! We managed to find 23 caches!! Granted they were all what are called park and grabs (PNG). The PNG is usually a very small cache container that is usually hidden close to a parking spot or in an area that you can drive up to. We spent the afternoon tooling around back roads in Southwestern Michigan and finding the caches on sign posts, fence posts, and in trees along the road. The weather was miraculous for February - sunny, dry, and warm. When I say warm I mean it got up to 62 degrees. Sparky shed his coat and his sweatshirt. We drove with the car windows down in February! It was surreal. We took a group photo at our last cache. It was of the 4 of us. Sparky took the picture (because his arms were the longest) and saintvi and I leaned away while the opossum smiled - or maybe it was a grimace - in the background. Who says you can't have adventures in your own backyard? All you have to do is go looking for them and you will surely find them. Especially when you are with friends!

Sevenling Blue Sky

Blue sky novelty
Winter heat index
Snow melt merit

Aardvarks in South Bend
Flying elephants
February ticks

Global warming comes

This poem is a sevenling. This form consists of 2 stanzas of 3 lines each of which contains an element of 3 (3 details, 3 names, 3 possibilities, 3 statements, etc.). The 2nd stanza may be connected or contrasting the 1st stanza. The final 7th line should act as a narrative summary. There are no metrical rules but because it is a short poem it should have some meter, rhyme, or rhythm. The tone should be offbeat or disturbing.

The weather is unseasonably warm. The plants and animals are confused. My immune system is confused. The sap in the maple trees is running and will soon stop because it is too warm. If that happens the price of real maple syrup will become so high it will be out of the reach of the common man. We don't use maple syrup (aka "toxic ooze") but others do. I feel for those pancake connoisseurs out there. The cherry trees are preparing to flower. If that happens and we get a frost there will be no cherries this year. I can only imagine that many of the cherry orchards will be put to the torch and go out of business since they are still trying to recover from a couple of years ago when the crop was destroyed. I like my cherries. I will be very sad if we lose the tart cherries. The thought of no cherry pies this year brings a tear to my eye. Perhaps I'm just in the dumps because the weather has been so fickle this month. We go from mild to hot to cool to hot to cold... I am ready for spring and February has been nothing more than a big tease!

We have had unusually mild weather in Northern Indiana. There isn't any evidence of snow. In February we mostly have mountains of snow piled along the boundaries of the parking lots. Often there is a glacier like pile of ice sitting in the center of the mall parking area taking up nearly a whole row of parking spaces. No snow. With the lack of snow we have also had warmer than usual temperatures. The balmy weather has confused the plants and the wildlife. The little crab apple tree in the front yard has started to put out buds. I have some daffodil bulbs that think it is time to sprout. The last time that happened I ended up with daffodils with stumpy leaves due to frost taking the ends off. The amount of road kill is reminiscent of late March. All the critters seem to think it is time to mate making them stupid in love and willing to dash across the road to find their lover. It is so warm that I saw college students in flip-flops. It is so mild out that my heating bill was a paltry $62.81. Usually in January and February the bills hover around $200. It is unseasonably warm.

This shift in the seasons is disconcerting to everyone! I think it is starting to affect the economy too. The snow removal folks (and I'm talking about the guys who put a plow on the front of their trucks and make extra money plowing the driveways of the older folks) are praying for snow. There was an article in the paper about how sales of sleds, skis, and winter clothing were down from last year. I was at Kohl's, Sears, and Penney's and they were all having giant clearance sales on sweaters, coats and the hat/scarf/mitten sets. They aren't at ridiculously reduced prices yet but they are heading that way. I was able to buy a Dana Buchman sweater dress marked down from $95 to $16. Now I only hope I can wear it before it gets too warm! (I thought I'd never say anything like that!!)