Christmas Swan front and center, Conservatory Auditorium – Dec 2014
Dear Readers,
We enjoyed a fabulous late afternoon and evening at Longwood yesterday. It was cold and a bit breezy, but oh so beautiful! The theme throughout the Conservatory was birds, birds, birds!
Here’s a cutie on one of many decorated trees: Read the rest of this entry »
holly berries ooze
unclaimed rotting red orange
juice beneath my boots
* * *
Where have all the robins gone?
Does anybody know?
Please tell them their annual fall feast hangs ready
on twigs with prickly leaves,
though not for long.
Ripe berries succumb daily
to squirrels and gravity.
Please tell them
I miss their sweet greedy scolding voices
outside my window.
I miss watching them gorge with gusto on ripe red berries,
as they get drunk on red orange juice,
and drop ejected pits
everywhere
beneath my boots.
* * *
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 8 December 2014
Photo credit: DAFraser, December 2014
Is there anything ‘normal’ about ALS? If so, I haven’t yet discovered it. That’s ironic, since life itself is fraught with unexpected events, twists and turns. Yet we call it ‘normal.’ Why not ALS, too?
I learned early how to answer the inevitable question of my heart: Why me? Why my family? Read the rest of this entry »
noisy commotion
young coopers hawk loses prey
aggressive squirrels score
* * *
Mid-fall games are on
Outside my kitchen window
Hunger games
Power games
Survival games
(Not my backyard, not my vultures, not a fall scene–but it will do in a pinch!)
Outdoor tomcat–also not mine–takes victory strut around back yard
Proudly displays doomed sparrow clutched in mighty jaws
Enforcer squirrels rush into the fray,
Intimidate giant predators with much ado about everything–
Unexpected heroes in a bloodless war to the death
Seasoned hawk swoops to snatch juicy rodent
Young coopers hawk goes hungry for now
Are we having fun?
Not really
Too many victims
Too few heroes
* * *
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 10 November 2014
Photos from open stock on internet
This jack-o’-lantern, as I understand it, was designed and executed by Diane
for all the kiddies who come trick or treating.
Are you a kiddie?
Don’t you love this?
Have fun looking, but Don’t Touch It!
(Yes, Smudge, that includes YOU.)
Diane would have a hissy fit if anyone messed with her art work.
If you think this is gruesome, take a look at
the turnip jack-o’-lanterns right here!
By the way, when you read this I’ll be up and away in the air–
on the way to my 50th college reunion!
I’ve got posts ready to go Thursday and Friday–
a 2-part sermon I don’t want you to miss: “Herr K, Jesus, Diane and Us.”
I’ll be checking in from time to time,
so I’ll know if you’re all playing hooky!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Elouise
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 26 October 2014
Photo credit: Diane, aka Sister #3
no common gull he–
strutting his stuff on the strand
for the hoi polloi
* * *
Brief update:
Uncommon gull last seen two years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
she peeks through bamboo
sparkling eyes smiling coyly –
golden locks waving
* * * * *
She’s calling to me!
I can’t resist!
I’ve been too long Read the rest of this entry »
Prince Oliver Smudge the Second, August 2014
while Queen Elouise
is away Prince Smudge will play
be-bop-a-lula!
*****
I’m her baby
And I don’t mean maybe!
***
How’s that for my very first haiku + poem?
I think it’s way past time for you to hear about ME–
straight from the cat’s mouth!
*
My Short Long Tail Tale of Being Lost and Found
Someone abandoned me in a state park!
Lost, lonely, scared, hungry and soaked with rain,
No one seemed to care about me.
I cried a lot.
One day I looked up and saw two very large, long-hair animals
standing on two legs each.
They smiled a lot, talked sweet and held their arms out to me,
but I knew better.
I wasn’t about to let them get their big paws on me!
After a long time they left without me.
I didn’t know whether to be relieved or sorrowful.
Then they came back,
thanks to their kind, patient chauffeur mother.
They waited around until they saw me again,
but guess what?
I was already watching them.
They were being very cagey.
They opened a little can of kitty food and held it out
so I could smell it.
I almost died, it smelled so yummy!
But I KNEW they were just trying to trick me!
So they kept consulting with each other,
conspiring about what to do next.
Suddenly they nodded their heads in twinly agreement.
I knew right then I was in double do-do.
Two against one is never fair!
They looked at me and started backing up very slowly,
leaving little crumbs of yummy chicken-flavored cat food
on the ground, sort of like Hansel and Gretel
in the deep dark scary woods.
Even though I knew it was dangerous,
I followed the trail.
The path of cat food bits led to a parking lot
with a car that had a big cage in it.
And guess what?
The rest of the food was sitting in the can,
right inside the cage!
I KNEW it was a trick.
Didn’t I just tell you they were very cagey?
But what’s a hungry kitty to do?
Smudge on Rescue Day, 9 Aug 2013
So they shut me up in the big cage and took me somewhere.
I found out later it was a barn.
They took me to a room of my very own
so the other animals wouldn’t bother me.
Then they made a charming kitty hotel with food, water, a litter box
and clean, dry, soft blankets just for me!
I was so happy that I wanted to cry.
But instead I purred and decided I must be in cat heaven.
Next they told Queen Elouise
they had a kitty she might like to meet and maybe keep!
They also told her
they already made an appointment with the cat doctor
who would give me a full checkup and shots.
I think Queen Elouise was a little nervous, because it was so sudden.
But she came to meet me and, of course, decided to take me to her house.
I’ve been living there now for one year!
It’s hard work training QE to think like a cat,
but she has a kind heart and loves me silly
even though she sometimes gets all exasperated with me.
Every now and then she laughs at me so hard
that tears stream down her face,
and she can barely catch her breath.
Sometimes I think she might pass out right on the spot!
Below is one of my long-hair rescuers.
She’s holding me the day I met Queen Elouise,
just two days after I got rescued.
You can see why I’m called Smudge.
QE named me Smudge.
Then everybody added on other bits to create my formal title:
Prince Oliver Smudge the Second!
Do you like before and after pictures?
I do!
Especially if they’re about me.
Smudge on 11 August 2013
Smudge on 29 Sept 2013
Out of time!
I hear Queen Elouise coming in the front door right now!
Maybe we can do this again sometime.
Yours very truly,
Smudge
***
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 1 September 2014
Photo credits: MNFraser (11 Aug 2013 photos), DAFraser (all others)
songs whistles chirps hoots
Nature Open for Business–
Visitors Welcome!
*****
I love my blog
I really do
The likes, the follows
All the views Read the rest of this entry »
triumphs and trophies
artfully spaced on his plate–
Smudge the Conqueror!
* * *
poetry in motion
he positions each precious treasure Read the rest of this entry »
Telling the Truth 