A goal for 2012 is to paint all kitchen and back-hall cabinets & drawer fronts (now chocolate) and shelves (yellow)--to beige. This picture shows both an unpainted section and three of the painted ones. It's already July; I'd better get busy on the rest.


Poems about the old homestead

first-time homeowner
at age 71
--a heady feeling
~~~

"So It Goes"
I work
the whole morning
in the brush & brambles
with not one scratch on old, thin skin
of arms.

Inside,
I scrape my arm
on the countertop edge,
gouging the skin. Blood spurts beneath,
on top,

like blood
does when aspirin
(low dosage but daily)
is consumed. (Doctor's order!) Quick!
 Band Aids!
~~~

trash hauler's motor
vibrating the thin windows
of this old, old house
~~~

living here 6 years
before ripping out
the old shelf paper
~~~

through the bare window
of the old house on the hill
a computer screen
~~~

"It's About Time"
Painting--
 finally--the
faded-to-gray mailbox
flag with red, sparkly fingernail
polish.
~~~

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

SO HOT FOR SO LONG

Grandson Billy wetting down the oaks before burning the massive brush pile earlier this year

A few poems for the dry and hot season the nation is currently in.

so hot for so long

the beautyberry leaves

curl and brown

~~~

electric meter's

unending circle's

this summer

~~~

mid-summer heat

dairy cattle udder deep

in the stock pond

~~~

hellphase of summer

incandescent skies

forcing me indoors

(from Arkansas Times)

~~~

Weather

determines my

day's schedule in some ways:

No rain? I water the plants; too

much sun?

I move

out of the swing

to the shade. Too hot? I

retreat inside to the AC's

comfort.

~~~

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

While vacationing in Tennessee and on the way home to Arkansas

 Cherokee Village AR woods, but very well could be those at Fairfield Glade TN

sleeveless in summer

the skin on my upper arms

really my mother's

~~~

After

3-digit days,

the welcome cold front drops

 the early morning temps to the

sixties!

~~~

when does a sapling

become a tree and a creek

become a river?

~~~

bare upper branches

along the wooded roadsides

makes me wonder

~~~

child's question: more trees

or more people? Tennessee

gives trees an edge

~~~

spiky trunks

bared by an earlier storm~

green fields of milo

~~~

a patch of brown leaves

on the tree's small branches

its first summer

~~~

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press





Observations from Fairfield Glade TN - sisters' trip

Three of the four sisters on last year's trip to north central Arkansas.
 L.to R.: Carolyn, Barbara, Pat

This week ends the Couch sisters' 13th annual summer trip. Our adventures began in 1999 on the Cumberland Plateau out of Crab Orchard. This year, we revisited Tennessee in the same general area. Some poems written during the week follow.

a resort condo

in the Tennessee forest

bird and insect song

~~~

nature's

ambience marred

by ACs' drone

~~~

"Cream-a-holic sister"

Using

all four creamers

from the motel's breakfast

in one cup of coffee, she drives

for more.

~~~

"For once, a cool morning"

Far off

thunder during

the night. Somewhere, perhaps,

a respite from prolonged heat of

summer.

Bluejay

sounding puny

against the crow's raucous

call, but with the cool temp and breeze,

who cares?

~~~

"Seeing moss on a tree knob"

Needing

directional

assistance, one of us

remembered that moss grows on the

north side.

~~~

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press