One Fish, Two Fish

For Mellow Yellow Monday, I offer this fish picture that I took at Seaworld on Saturday. Seaworld was my Valentine's present, which we finally were able to get around to this weekend. I also went to Aquatica, which I totally loved. I told Dale that my perfect vacation in Orlando would be going to a different water park every day. I'm pretty sure he hopes that I'm never in charge of our whole vacation!

Ziplining in Idaho

So, during my Idaho vacation I went ziplining outside of Horshoe Bend. Of course, this was purely research for the current book Mary Ann and I were writing (Zip!) for the 3rd-4th grade market - but it was still pretty fun. These guys were our 'guides'. I think their names were Mike and Kip. 100% safety conscious, fun guys.

There were two kinds of ziplining. One was from tower-in-a-tree to tower-in-a-tree. these runs were short and for me, not that much fun. But at the end, there were the long-distance pole-to-pole runs. This run (Wild Turkey?) was 1700 yards long. The landing area is a brown patch in the middle of the photo. You can barely see it.

Here I am in front of 'Double Trouble' where two zipliners could go at once. I understand that depending on weather you go up to 45 miles per hour. It was a lot of fun, but needed a chair lift so you could go back and do it again and again. 4 short tree runs and 2 long rides wasn't all that much for $75, at least not for me. You can spend all day at Disney for less....

Summer in Idaho

Just got back from a visit to my daughter in Boise, Idaho. Mostly hot days and cool nights, perfect walking weather. There were flowers everywhere - northerners going crazy with color during there short growing season. It was a great trip!

TWW - kneel, transparent, gloom

You know the drill - make a poem using the 3 words from the Three Word Wednesday prompt... transparent was hard for me to fit in...


Move

don’t kneel in the shadow
praying for sunshine

where there is darkness
there must also be light

gloom begets gloom,
get up, choose a direction,

any road will take you
somewhere else

don’t kneel at the window
peering through,

the way is transparent,
just move

Blue Ribbons

My friend Yvonne (the one with the 10 chihuahuas) has another unusual habit, she enters things in the county fairs around her area. During her last visit we came up with the idea of dressing several of her dogs in 'Harley' outfits so they could masquerade as a 'biker gang' (barker gang?) for a Halloween costume contest she enters. Well, Yvonne took the costumes and entered them in the Marin County fair and tada! they won a blue ribbon!

She also enter my 'alchemy' poem and it won a blue ribbon too! This was a Three Word Wednesday prompt - this is a fun prompt to try if you like to play with words. I have quite a collection of these fair ribbons now, and I'm planning to use them in a 'craft' soon.

Duck Walk

Today we were supposed to write in the style of another poet. I'm not very familiar with the style of other poets, but Billy Collins is my favorite poet. If you would like to hear him read one of his poems (and be blown away) try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Iq3PbSWZY Meanwhile, here is my poem of the day. Enjoy....

Duck Walk

as we strolled before sunrise,
chattering in three-quarter time,
a Mallard couple waltzed across our path,

we stood, silenced by our desire
to avoid trespassing on their moment,
when, behind us, the rising sun

cast it’s light over us, like some
enormous flashlight wielded
by God’s security guard, creating

cold shadows over the dancing ducks,
and the one I took for mister, lost
his footing, stumbled into miss.

Did you see the look he threw me
before he ran across the grass
to plop into the pond, leaving

his date suddenly alone,
of course she squawked about it,
but she followed his lead, taking

her time, tail-feathers flouncing
in her best “I’m not afraid of you” walk,
wading gently into the water,

paddling away from him, and he,
forced to follow instead of lead,
dipped his beak beneath the water

tipping ass-end-up, a fowl gesture
we soon forgot in the yellow wash
of dawn’s early light