Poetry ~ Waka
sweet perfume
mingles with the sound of rain –
a dog barks
© Chèvrefeuille
© Tournesol ’15
Haiku is a image of a moment in time, put on pause… examined, dissected and most important, felt. This was my moment in time when I got up this morning. My first day off for the weekend, like most people, a well needed rest in our long winters here.
I set that haiku aside for two hours and wrote another post and came back to edit it until I thought it “felt” like my moment. It did. Afterwards I decided to do a Troiku with this haiku which I learned at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
© Tournesol ’15
They stumbled on rocks along the shore.
.
“Come along now, Bonnie, you’re holding us all up.”
.
Six year old Bonnie was stopping to collect a stone here, a stone there along the way on their family venture along the shores of Ballybunion.
.
“Stop being such a slow poke! stupid!!!” shouted her teenage brother, Sean. He was already agitated he had to tag along on this “dumb trip” when his girlfriend was back home in Dublin. “But NO!!, Mum had to visit the old homestead” he mimicked his mother’s voice, “’tis where your great-great-great-grand-dad O’Donnell was born and left for Canada during the famine” As if Sean cared about that trip that lasted one hundred years and they all moved back and lived happily ever after in Dublin, he thought. Big effin deal!!
~
“I’m not stupid! I’m smart, Miss O’Connell said so, so there,” she shouted back sticking out her tongue for good measure.
.
“Come along, Bonnie, we’re all tired and hungry. And stop picking up all those stones,now, luv. When we get to Monroe’s up ahead, we can stop for the day and eat a nice plate of fish and chips. How does that sound?” Bonnie scrunched up her nose just thinking of the smell she remembered the last time she had fish at Uncle Gerald’s. “They’re not stones, Mum, they’re precious pebbles and each one has a story to tell. Miss Con…” Her mother yanked her by the hand with a grunt and a sigh and Bonnie knew she meant business. She stuffed her pocket with three more pebbles and ran along side her mum and brother.
.
They saw the cabin near the pier and Sean rushed to Monroe’s to order his meal…he’d had enough being stuck with females for the past forty-eight hours.
~
They started walking up from the shore, high grass and spots of heather blowing in the wind made a pretty picture for any artist. Suddenly, Bonnie stopped and noticed something in the heather. “Mummy, come quick!” Her mother came by her side and they both approached slowly in case there was an animal hidden in the bush. Mae O’Donnell’s eyes widened and she put her hand to her mouth in shock. “This can’t be! It looks like it but is just can’t be! Jesus, Mary, Joseph…it is!”
~
Bonnie tugged at her mother’s cardigan, “What, Mummy, what is it.” Tears poured down her mother’s cheeks as she lifted the porcelain doll from the purple heather. “It’s me Gram’s doll. I used to play with it in the attic when I came to visit when I was your age, luv.”
© Tournesol ’15
Once upon a time on l’isle des Papillons, there lived a royal family and their minions. It was a small island. The king and queen had only one son and they hoped to find a suitable princess for their Fabien. But Fabien did not like the confines of the castle. It was boring, no children to play with and now that he would soon be sixteen, he had more and more thoughts of escaping this royal prison.
He was permitted to go fishing with Jean Lessard, the cooks brother. He rarely caught anything but he learned to swim, diving into the ocean and swimming with the fish made him feel a part of nature. He got to know Jean’s son Philippe. They were the same age, same height and actually looked a lot alike…it was uncanny. Lately, Jean and Philippe Lessard were taking a longer route to the beach. They found a beautiful wild garden a few kilometres into the woods. They would stop for a few hours there and eat their packed lunch Jean’s brother had prepared for the prince. Of course there was too much for one person and the three enjoyed the royal picnic.
One day Fabien was lying down on the grass admiring the daisies and wild lilies in the garden. Butterflies were resting calmly as if on cue it was their temps de sieste. Fabien had an idea…he switched clothes with Philippe and decided they would reverse their roles for one month. Fabien was hoping it would give him the opportunity to enjoy his freedom and get to know some of the other peasants on the island. Philippe was delighted to have this chance to eat all the delicacies he had never tasted but heard of from his uncle.
And so three weeks went by and Fabien was enjoying his freedom. He had even met a beautiful girl by the name of Tanya. They would spend hours at the end of their work day in the fields, in that special garden he had introduced to his new love.
One day Fabien rose early to go for a walk in his favourite garden. He tripped along the way on a gnarled root bulging on the path and fell to the ground unconscious having hit his head on a rock. He was there all day still out cold surrounded by fluttering butterflies, hopefully a princess might wake the sleeping beauty.
© Tournesol ’15
Haibun Thinking January 20th 2015
I know I wrote too long a narrative but got carried away with the photo.
On my way home last night I walked from work very slowly. Cutting across the bushes in back of our office was actually nice with the leaves all gone, it was just wide open snowy space. It was snowing again but it was very mild compared to the day before. So I took my time relishing the fact that I didn’t have to walk briskly to stay warm.
When I got on the street it was really nice to see the cars covered with snow, and quiet…it was late…so all I heard was the soft crunch crunch underfoot and the snow…you can hear it falling if you pay attention.
I thought the street lamps looked so pretty and took a few photos hoping to catch the falling snow…but alas, my smart phone is not a professional camera.
As I approached the lamp at the corner of an alley, I noticed a dark blob…not sure what kind of animal until I realized it was a cat sitting stoic; he looked like a statue and we stared at each other for a a good two minutes. I didn’t budge safe for my thumb on my smart phone. I was relieved I had turned off the clicking so that would have scared him off. Sneaky, huh? I did that last year so I could take shots of sunsets from the office window like the one above taken last week.
(troiku)
twilight walk
stops in snowy tracks
alley cat
stops in her tracks
staring down at each other
winner takes all
alley cat
show off in the night
photo shoot
Well, monsieur le chat did not stick around too long and ran by me and just took off. I realized he may have just been waiting to get around me all that time. When I didn’t budge, I suppose he thought, silly old woman has a few loose screws, I’m outta here! and off he went. Or perhaps he was late for a rendezvous…the little matou!! (matou also means a player, have called buys matou many a times as a teen)
silly old woman
few loose screws
scardey cat
félin d’ruelle
poursuit une trôlée
chattes en chaleur
le gros matou
rendez-vous de minuit
chez minette Latour
© Tournesol’15
Reading Karuna’s post on the use of plastic straws, at Living Learning and Letting Go made me think about how I behave in regards to recycling; if I am at home I will actually put a straw in the dishwasher even though I have tons in the pantry for company especially my grandson. And yet, old habit die hard I suppose since they are plastic and not paper, my grandmother never EVER wasted anything. So some habits from way back when have not died. Now that does not mean I am a model for recycling…oh no, I am not but I do try.
straws
adding to clutter
mindboggling
adding to clutter
plastic cups, stereo foam plates
fundraiser cocktail
mindboggling
non-profits host a show
Mother Nature weeps
© Tournesol ’15
We still have a long way to go. Last week we had a cocktail for a major corporate sponsor. The food was delicious but OMG, but the use of these fancy plastic miniature containers was mindboggling…at least we put them in the recycling bin…but still.
Inspired by Protecting Mother Nature from Straws
I remember accompanying my friend on a business trip to New York City in 2001. I had not been to Manhattan since I was a child. I was amazed how it had changed and it was so clean. During the morning Jake was at his convention and we would meet later mid afternoon. One afternoon we went to The Plaza for high tea in the Palm Court. It was truly an experience, he said, I just had to see. The waiters were elegantly dressed and walked like they were actually floating slightly above the floor; there was a musician playing the violin in the middle of the court. It was quite impressive. It was like walking into a 1950’s movie…well, for me anyway.
We sat on the elegant chairs and waited to be served. We had arrived a bit late however and no one was in a mad rush to serve us. I enjoyed listening to the music and observing people who seemed accustomed to this kind of attention. I wonder if my wide eyes and open mouth threw them off…the waiters, I mean. Oh well, at $25 a person for a slice of cake and a cuppa we decided since it was almost five o’clock, we would go up to The Rose Club for happy hour and I had the best Manhattan I had ever had. The patrons were certainly more sociable. And that was my experience with High Tea at The Plaza.
© Tournesol’15
The small tree outside my front window is no longer bare this lovely winter. It has gems dangling like crystals and diamonds. I had not noticed that before…the ice storm a few weeks ago had coated it completely with crystals but many had thawed, some had fallen but some have hung on for dear life…
life of a gem
survived darkness forever
life outside the mines
survived darkness
gives sparkle and life
northern winters
life outside darkness
hanging on those twiggy arms
crystal jewels
© Tournesol ’15
Walking to do some errands today was challenging but with the studs under my boots, my wool socks in my lamb wool lined boots (Saute Mouton), my warm Gortex mitts, cagoule and wool hat, long wool coat I was almost perfect…my cheeks and nose were so cold…my eyes cried…the wind so cold…brrrr at -20C. Fortunately, my son tells me it will go up to -2C tomorrow…yay!! It will be a lovely day to walk to work. I think I will take the longer route if it is this mild and maybe get some shots of winter scenes.
Mister Winter
stay a spell, drink a cuppa
warm up your innards
twenty below
bitter winds burned my cheeks
drink some hot tea
exhale that warm breath of yours
make me smile up at the sky
© Tournesol ’15
At Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars, our inspirational haiku by Shiki:
when I looked back,
the man who passed
was lost in the mist © Masaoka Shiki
wakeful moments
just mistaken reveries
rolling into days
day after day
lost in a sea of fog
life is messy
old woman
chips away at what was home
lost in whiteout
© Tournesol `15
Tournesol dans un Jardin 