What if it were you ?

I find it real hard not to think about the homeless people today. With storms raging across the nation, no end in sight, it seems like many will succumb to the weather. I fear for them, remembering how hard it was for me when I was living in my van. I was a lucky one, I had a job and really didn't mind that I only had the van to live in,  because I had great friends who allowed me to shower and that was the world to me then.

Now I have to wonder what I would have done without that help, like many out there who live under conditions that are so extreme it boggles my mind. What if it were you ? What if all of the sudden you found yourself without enough food to feed yourself, let alone you children? What if you had to beg to make enough money to not have to sleep in a hobo camp? What if you were the one with the sign on the side of the road and everyone drives by looking at you like you need to get a job, a life? Seeing the disgrace you feel daily in the eyes of the people as they look away, wishing that you had what they have, Hoping that you will get someone to see that you are down not out, Longing not to have to be there... What if it were you ?

So , now that I have all I need, I scrounge through our blankets and put the extras in our car. I open our cabinets and pull out the cans of food that have been in there way to long, placing them in a box and those too in the car. I go to the ninety-nine cent store, with the extra twenty dollars I have and find a few things that I remember are a luxury, hair brushes, combs, shampoo... more food. In the car it goes... and off I go. I know where they are, those asking for the hand-up, and I seek them out. 
The feelings I got were indescribable, I was thanked over and over, able only to give a few 'extras' away, but the image of thankfulness will  be implanted in my heart forever. I hope there are many out there like me, who see the need, open their hearts and allow someone a gift of caring... we are all on the planet together, lets help out the ones we usually avoid, they need us now more than ever.

Ask yourself... What if it were you ??

Today's Prompt is Cinqku
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B

One of those days

You all know how it goes, work all day, tired as hell ! I have no reason for my being so tired though, and I keep wondering if it has to do with my medication for my thyroid. The Doctor just upped the dose again and I am not too sure it is correct for me. But that is still not it, I did a lot of flower bed cleaning today, (not in my own yard) and it seemed like it took me forever to get it done. Like I said it is just one of those days.

I'm guessing that is why I'm not much into writing today, that and I don't really have much to say... so we will just go right to the prompt tease today....

MIRROR CINQUAIN

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 http://dodgewrites.blogspot.com/
ENJOY
JL&B

Can you say ... DAMN !!!

Man, I really worked my butt off yesterday...  I woke up around 5am, had my coffee, breakfast, did the morning routine.  I had a few thing to do in the trailer before I started my 'outside' chores and got them all done in record time.

My chores for the day were to use up a pile of bark chips (that were free for the taking here in the park,) Finish off the step project, (that so far has taken two days to complete)  and at noon I had a weed whacking job for an elderly lady in the village.

I started with the bark chips. I love the look of fresh bark mulch, so I try to revamp all of our 15 garden beds at least once a year. This entails cleaning out the old before bringing in the new. So,  I cleaned out last years mulch from the beds in Iris Alley and the lower patio, (That took me three hours), While I was taking out the old, I was replacing it with the new, so I actually got three jobs done at once. 
For the step project all I really had to do was fill in a bit of dirt and replace one more of the seven steps, ( it wouldn't have taken as long if I didn't have tree roots to deal with), and blow it all off to finish it. WAY BETTER !!!  It really looks great.

I got all of this done in plenty of time to have lunch before going to the weed whacking  job, which was done in three hours. My day was going so well !

EXCEPT when I went back to my truck to put the blower away, my 440 dollar  STHIL  weed whacker was missing !! Someone came along when I was finishing up and took it out of the back of my truck !!! Who does that???  DO DO DO... OH LOOK SOMEONES LIVELIHOOD... UMMM I THINK I'LL TAKE IT....  SEE YA!!! THANKS FOR THE STHIL !!!  You know the first thing I thought was I left it in the yard somewhere, so after looking for it for ten minutes or so, I remember that I took it apart and cleaned it, as I normally do, so WTF ??? Where did it go???  THEN it hit me... CRAP !! I have to tell Wayne !! OMG is he ever going to be pissed at me, we do not have the money to replace it, but we have to have it in order to do our work... SO now I'm in tears, wishing I didn't have to tell him.

All is well though, he just gave me a hug, told me things like this happen even when you are as careful as can be, asked me to be more aware of the tools, TOLD ME NOT TO CRY ANYMORE, and he is picking up another for us after he gets off working today. What a great man I have... I love him so much !

So I made eighty dollars for the day, minus the 440 for the Sthil, UMMM, in the hole 360 dollars.... dang that sucks !!! I hope the rest of the month goes better !

Time for the Prompt tease...REVERSE CINQUAIN
Hope to see you joining in too !
ENJOY
JL&B

TRUE BEAUTY

I am not like most girls, I really like to play in the dirt, so manicures are out ! I rarely see anyone when I HAVE make up on, so I don't have much use for it. My going out clothes are one of  the two nicer pair of light jean-like pants I own, I always wear hiking-type shoes, tank top, tee-shirt and if its cold I wear a Craftsman jacket. I usually have my shoulder length hair up in a pony tail, like Pebbles Flintstone, and when I giggle at times I sound like Betty Rubble.  Am I making you cringe or do you see the beauty ?

I don't dream of having wealth, fame or fortune. I feel I am fortunate to have a wealth of love and that my husband and a few of my friends think I should be famous. I won't lie and say that it isn't a great dream, but just to be paid for a write... Now that is a dream... Any beauty there ?

When we first moved here, I was given the nick-name Mother Nature because I love the earth, Wayne calls me Moonbeam, he is my Sunshine man, close friends call me Lynne, most of these people have known me since my twenties (this year I turn 48), my family calls me Judy and because they are my family I allow it, I like to be called JLynne, Lynne or JL, my pen name is JL&B...  If you are paying attention, what does the B stand for? There is the beauty !! LOL

So by no means do I think I am a beauty, but I have beauty all around me, and I absorb it as if it were water to thirst.  I take very close up pictures, keepsakes of the wondrous beauty that moves me. I have a beautiful life, it is all I have ever wanted. How's that for beauty?



Today's Prompt tease is RONDEL poem
See the rules and play along on our poetry blog
http://dodgewrites.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B

VOLUNTEER WORK

Today is one of those day's where I let my mind wander where it will go... so hang in here with me.

I've been doing a lot of volunteering for the park, you know, cleaning the out-skirts, trimming bushes, keeping up the empties. It keeps me busy while Wayne is away working. However today  I was doing something I like to do, making steps and re-structuring a few rock walls. The major problem with this peticular job was the massive tree roots preventing me from digging down deep enough to place the up-side-down scallops.

Yes I said scallops, they make great facing for steps. The hight is perfect for elderly people, half the block buried and they don't move either.  For a bit of extra, strenght two re-bar per scallop does the trick.

The wall was falling apart, you could just touch the rock beds there and they fell, so I moved it out a bit to give the tree roots some dirt to cover them. It worked out really well if I say so myself. Much to Waynes dismay, I didn't photograph the before...but I have found the pictures don't do it justice. Especially when rocks are involved. When I finish it tomorrow I will put up some after pictures. I think the afters will speak for themselves.

Well I think I wandered enough for today... Time for your Prompt tease... ROUNDEL Poetry
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B

When I met Wayne/our garden ties us

I enjoy that I can see the growth in the love my husband and I share. It's the tender moments we share that mean so much. It may not seem all that romantic to some, but our garden is a place that I see it a lot.

Wayne didn't know much about plants when we first got together, but through the years he has learned more than just what I know. He has that guy knowledge too, I swear guys were born with tools for bones. So not only does he do his part by keeping all of our tools up and running, he also is learning more about the plants than I can teach him.

It is so fun each day to go out to our garden and see him looking to find what has bloomed or is just about to. Wayne now has the knowledge of what plants are coming up as they break ground, not so much three years ago. Today we noticed two types of tupils, hiacinths and crocus just starting to break the ground, we also noticed that the daffodills are ready to open, a wonderful early surprise. We had a hard frost a few weeks ago and it burnt some of our reblooming Iris', the few buds that made it are now open and showing their beauty. We also have prime rose in blue, red and orange blossoming, along with the white with pink center cyclamen giving us a show. The anemone bed has been giving us an array of color for the past few weeks, way earlier than the past two years.
We tried to plant the yard so we would have something blooming all year long and so far this past year has shown that we did pretty-not-bad at it. We are just wondering why everything is two months early this year.Maybe it all has to do with the new astrology sign...LOL... NAH ! That wouldn't make any sense !

Todays Prompt tease is USE THESE WORDS
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http://dodgewrites.blogspot.com/
ENJOY
JL&B

Orange you glad

Someone following my poetry blog asked me the other day why I chose a line that ended with window, 'how do I rhyme window?' my reply of course was not every kind of poem rhymes. I have learned a lot researching and trying different forms of poetry, now weather I am doing them correctly... well lets just say I still have a lot to learn.

Many forms find it to be poor form, in fact if you rhyme they consider it incorrect.  I however have lived with rhyme in my brain, everything for me is a rhyme, in fact it is really hard NOT to rhyme in my poems. So I do my best to go out of my comfort zone and learn.

Now the next time we do a free verse I challenge you all to write it without a rhyme and give it a good feel on your lips, bite it hard, give it a long taste, It's pretty-not-bad !

Just a ponder !
But... aren't ya glad it wasn't orange??
TeeHeeHee
Today's prompt is a TERZA RIMA
Hope to see you joining in too
ENJOY
JL&B