Flashback Friday – My Wabi Sabi Heart

Welcome to another Friday Flashback as Fandango invites us to dig through our archives and share an older post. This short quadrille was originally posted November 18, 2019 for dVerse Poets.

My Wabi Sabi* Heart

my wabi sabi heart
is filled with cracks and holes
letting in the light
that colors up my soul
cerulean blues, volcanic reds
and yellows
kaleidoscope colors of my years
and I am grateful for every shade
bright white laughter
and glistening black tears

word count 44

*Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese word with many meanings relating to observance of the impermanence and imperfections of life. The definition I have always found most enjoyable came to me from a street vendor in Osaka, Japan “it is a way of living that focuses on the beauty within the imperfections of life and peaceful acceptance of the natural cycle of decay.”

Til next time ~Stay Cracked ~JP

Flashback Friday – Aloha Kauai

Welcome to Flashback Friday, where Fandango invites us to take a look back at some of our older posts. This one goes way back to the dark recesses of pre WordPress days.

Travel Journal – Kapaa Hawaii. Departure day – today we bid Aloha to our Kauai paradise and head back to the mainland, back to real life. Insert big sigh here. I don’t cry every time I leave Kauai … oh wait yeah I do. But life goes on, I have work to do and heaven knows my back misses my mattress!

This post inspired by Fandango’s Friday Flashback and originally posted November 11, 2015.

A hui hou kākou (Until we meet again) ~JP

Flashback Friday – The Dragon’s Keep

Dragon’s Keep

Shining stars of diamonds
sparkles glint off walls of gold
water runs in wide rivulets
the sound like clinking coins
changing hands
The walls are slick with damp
dank smells burn the eyes
the shadows lengthen
dark and deep
here within the dragon’s keep

word count 44

This post inspired by Fandango’s Friday Flashback

and originally posted on 11/4/19 for dVerse Poets Quadrille

Til next time ~if you can’t take the heat, don’t poke the dragon ~JP

Flashback Friday – Three Witches

Welcome to the Halloween Edition of Fandango’s Friday Flashback, that master of the macabre invites us to reveal our ancient secrets in the form of an old post. Buahahaha ….

Three Witches

The bus pulled away in a cloud of dust and exhaust fumes. Mary didn’t even notice, she was still standing, suitcase in hand, staring. This couldn’t be right. The ad had requested a housekeeper for a large family estate. It had failed to mention the dilapidated condition. “Must be better on the inside,” Mary assured herself as she wound her way through the dry dead weeds to the front door.

The huge, ancient door creaked open all on it’s own when she approached. Mary stuck her head inside. “Hello,” she called quietly as she entered the house.

It was gloomy inside, she walked deeper into the house and saw three old women standing together. Suddenly, one let out a mephistophelian cackle. Mary stepped back. “Hello, I’m Mary. I answered your ad.”

“Yes dearie, come in. Forgive us, my sisters and I are quite blind,” the tallest answered.

“We wouldn’t be blind if Lachesis hadn’t lost the eye,” murmured another.

The smallest shouted, “That’s why we hired a housekeeper.”

Mary looked around at the accumulation of dust and clutter. “Excuse me, but why precisely did you need a housekeeper?”

All three sisters cried out “TO FIND THE EYE!”

Mary fainted.

Word count 199

This post originally posted October 28, 2018 in response to FFfPP #43 and the word of the day challenge Mephistophelian – because it’s such an awesome word.

Til next time ~Witching you a Happy Halloween ~JP

Friday Flashback – Cooking Up Witchy Goodness

Welcome to another Friday Flashback where Fandango invites us to share some of our older work. It’s October and all I can say is my little witchy heart sings. Now first off, I love all types of witchery but by far my favorite is Kitchen Witchery. Secondly, it’s flipping cold and windy in mid-October and soups and teas are just my thing right now.

Kitchen Witchery

When recipes drive you up a wall
and make you want to shout
here’s a little kitchen spell
you should never be without

Grab a pillow from the couch
and find some place to slam it
and as you whack it’s stuffing out
yell ‘DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!’

Works every time! 🙂

Witches Stew

1 box Troll Sweat (32 oz chicken broth)
1/2 chopped Cyclops eye (medium onion)
1 Tbs crumbled grasshopper legs (chicken bouillion granules (or 2 small cubes)
1 Griffin breast (large bone-in chicken breast)
2 large Gargoyle toes (carrots)
3 Mummy fingers (celery stalks)
1 Cup Newt Eyes (ditalini pasta or pearl couscous)
2 handfuls swamp weed (fresh baby spinach)
1 handful lizard bones (stick pretzels)
several drops wicked fairy blood (green food coloring)

1. Add chicken broth, onion, and bouillon to a large pot.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Add chicken breast, reduce to simmer.
4. Cook until chicken is cooked through, 30 to 60 minutes.
5. Remove chicken from broth and set aside to cool.
6. Add 4 cups of water to the broth and bring to boil
7. Add carrots, celery, and pasta.
8. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently.
9. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until pasta is fully cooked. Stirring frequently to
keep pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
10. The broth will soak into the pasta.
11. Add spinach and stir into soup.
12. Add green food coloring a few drops at a time until the desired coloring is reached.
13. Add back the cut up chicken and more water if a soupier soup is desired.
14. top each bowl with a few pretzels

Witches Brew tea (meditation tea)

6 tsp black tea (I like Irish Breakfast)
2 tsp chamomile buds
1 tsp rose hips
3 tsp lavender buds
2 tsp mint leaves

mix all herbs together and keep in air tight container. Use 1 tsp per cup of boiling water steep for 4-5 minutes

This post inspired by Fandangos Flashback Friday

and originally posted on 10.21.2019

Til next time ~Put pepper in your mashed potatoes ~JP

Friday Flashback – Ancient Rites

ANCIENT RITES

Hair unbound wild and free
she dances round the sacred tree
and sings her chant in rhymes of three
Fan the fire watch it grow
bring the creatures to the grove
where they come from no one knows
when at last the world between
signals planets align all unseen
Spirits rise on Halloween

This post inspired by Fandango’s Friday Flashback and was originally posted on October 14, 2019.

Til next time ~Eat, Drink and Be Scary ~JP

Friday Flashback – Ever Changing Sky

Ever Changing Sky

Across the umber hills
I watch the changing sky
waiting for the sunset
to bring the cooling night
colors constantly change
from darkness into light
Seasons come and go
set sure upon their path
as daylight swiftly flows
and years go by too fast

word count 44

This post inspired by Fandango’s Flashback Friday

and originally posted on 10/7/2019 for dVerse Poets Quadrille

Til next time ~Peace Peeps ~JP

Friday Flashback – Thoughts on Bridges

Welcome to another Friday Flashback where Fandango invites us to take our readers on a trip inside the ancient vaults of blogging history (aka old posts). In the words of Simon and Garfunkel “if you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind.”

Pedestrian bridge in Hot Springs, South Dakota

“Sometimes if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to know.” A.A. Milne

Bridge over troubled water – simon and garfunkel

This post inspired by Fandango’s Flashback Friday

originally posted for the Which Way Challenge hosted by sonofabeach96

Til next time ~Peace ~JP

Flashback Friday – Reality

Reality

There are times
when the walls close in
and there’s nowhere left to hide
from the awful realness of life

When nothing looks more appealing
than the deep amber relief
and the sweet oblivion that waits
at the bottom of the bottle

It is then that I seek solace
in the strength of your arms
and there find my reprieve
from the horrors of the world

Where once again
the monsters of reality are tamed
and I see all the promise
of happily ever after
reflected in your eyes

This post inspired by Fandango’s Flashback Friday
and originally written on 9/23/18 for FOWC – bottle

Til next time ~Peace Peeps I’m off to do mystical Autumn stuff ~JP

Friday Flashback – An Empty Glass

From September 16, 2018

When I was a young girl, my father loved to listen to Peggy Lee. I grew up on that glorious, sultry voice. Although my personal favorite will always be “Is that all there is?” I understood “when he left, I thought I’d die, but I didn’t. And I thought to myself ‘is that all there is … to love?” Oh yeah.

That being said, as I grew up, “An Empty Glass” became more and more significant. “Deep inside I knew, you were too good to be true.”

An Empty Glass – Peggy Lee

Close the door and pull the blinds
Fill your glass, but don’t fill mine
Here’s to you now for the last time
Here’s to me your sometime past time
Here’s to love, an empty glass

Feeling low, but it will pass
With some coffee, demitasse
Black and strong and very bitter
I can think of nothing fitter
For a lover, second class

Deep inside I guess I knew
You were too good to be true
Still it rocked me to discover
You would kiss and run for cover
When I started loving you

Nothing could have made it last
Say goodbye and say it fast
Here’s to you now for the last time
Here’s to me your sometime past time
Here’s to love, an empty glass

Lyrics courtesy of my memory (which is often faulty) any discrepancies should not be viewed as flaws but as all natural variations and proof that I lived through the sixties. 😉

This post inspired by Fandango’s Flashback Friday
originally written for Song Lyric Sunday prompt Glass
enjoyed on youtube An Empty Glass

til next time ~Peace Peeps ~JP