The Yard Bunny and Lilac Birds (Spring Poems)

The Yard Bunny

The yard bunny is lying lazily on the ground,

because he can, on a whim,

when there's no one around.

I like the way he lets his legs stretch out behind him.

I envy him there basking in the sun.

No demands on his time.

No work to be done.

Simplicity divine.  Peace so sublime.

New grass and violets poke amidst the gravel all around.

Soaking up the sun is where you'll find him.

*   *   *   *   *

Lilac Birds

Lilac birds perch in purple clumps

flocking together at the top of the bush.

Feathers or flowers?

Purple plumes? or purple blooms?

It's hard to say sometimes

when shove comes to push.

Catching Up

I haven't blogged for a few days.  I'm sharing a few random thoughts and photos from the end of the week to catch up.


I bought this bread to try.  It is a multi-grain variety and supposed to be a healthy choice. As you can see it is just 35 calories per slice.

Well, when I took a look at the bread inside, I figured out why it is reduced in calories.  Half of it is missing!!  Look at the holes!  HA!  I liked the way it tasted, though, so I'll probably buy it again.

*   *   *   *   *

My husband was gone most of last week to an out of town conference for his work, so he wasn't able to be here with me to celebrate my new position at the library.  He did send me flowers to congratulate me, though.  That was sweet of him, don't you think?

He also shared this picture with me from his trip.  He took it inside a restaurant where he ate during the conference.  It was one of those places that has things sitting all about and hanging on the walls above your head.  I don't care much for those places.  I always feel like something is going to come loose from the wall and come crashing down on my head.  Anyway, he thought this was a funny thing to have in a restaurant.  

I agree.  A dead, stuffed raccoon playing a violin (perhaps calling it a fiddle would be more appropriate?) doesn't seem like something I want to look at while I am eating.  If they use roadkill as a decorating touch, I'd be a little afraid to find out what they are serving on the menu! 

*   *   *   *   *

It rained here most of the day yesterday and is again so far today.  I guess that means mowing the grass, as I had planned this weekend, is going to have to wait a day or two.  Because of the rain, I didn't walk through the park yesterday, but I have really been enjoying all the flowers there this week.  Here are some photos from the park from Thursday and Friday.

In the springtime, I really love this particular stretch of the road in the park.  There are flowering trees planted all along this one side, and there are a few on the other side of the road, as well.

I don't know what these yellow flowers are, but they almost seemed to be glowing because of their color.

The lilacs are out now too.  I love the way their fragrance fills the air.

*   *   *   *   * 

Last night was the high school prom.  My son and his girlfriend went to it.  First they went with several other couples to the grandparents' house of one of the teens for a pizza party.  Then they got dressed up in all their finery to attend the dance.

After prom activities included tons of games to play in the school gym where a lot of nice prizes donated by businesses and individuals in the community were given away to the kids.  My son's girlfriend won a jump drive for her to use with her computer.  My son won a really nice Swiss Army backpack.  They both also won T-shirts, candy, and certificates for food from local restaurants. They had a great time.

*   *   *   *   *

I liked the way the half moon looked amongst the branches of this tree on one of my late night park walks last week.  I had a good week.  I hope you did too.

 

Happy Sunday to you all!

I'm Over The Moon!!

I am over the moon tonight.  I got a phone call today.  It was the director of the library where I work. He offered me the job.  You are now reading the blog of the soon to be new Marketing and PR Coordinator at the library here in my little town.  I haven't been able to stop grinning all day.


I feel a little like Navin Johnson from the movie The Jerk, starring Steve Martin, when he finds out his name is in the phone book.  I'm somebody now!   Pretty silly of me, I know, but I am still very excited.  


I will have my own office (right next to the director's office!!).  I'll have a computer and printer and copier and camera and video camera (Heaven help us!) and all sorts of other goodies at my disposal to create ads and flyers and press releases and newsletters and whatever else I fancy to promote the library and its programs.  


Thanks to all of you for your support and kind words and good wishes, thoughts, and prayers since my interview last week.  They are all very much appreciated.


You can bet I'm dancing tonight.  There's not enough room in the house for all the dancing I need to do tonight, so I'm taking it outside.  That's right.  I'm dancing in the street!!

Just a Little Reminder...

Have you ever left a little note or message for someone to find to remind them that you are thinking of them or care for them?  Or perhaps someone has left such a reminder for you.  It's a good idea, I think, to let people know that you love them.

I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It!!

I had a job interview yesterday.  The Marketing/Public Relations Coordinator at the library where I work is retiring in June, and I have applied for her job.  I feel like the interview went very well.  I won't hear back from the director until the end of next week whether or not I got the job, but I am very excited about the possibility.

The job sounds like one I would really like.  I would be getting paid to write press releases, newsletters, flyers, and other types of promotional materials.  I would be promoting the library and its programs.  This would give me the chance to exercise some creativity on my part.  I would be working full time instead of the part time hours I work now.  I would no longer have to be on my feet the entire time the way I do at the circulation desk now.  It would be a significant move up for me to get this job.  There is the possibility that I could set my own hours and work when it best fits my schedule including the possibility of being able to work from home at times!  I can not tell you how tremendously excited I am at this prospect.  

It hasn't happened yet, and it may not come about, so I'm trying not to count any chickens yet. (one, two, three, four)  

I'm holding my breath until the end of next week.  

But while I am holding my breath, there's something else I'm going to be doing.  Can you guess what that something is?  I bet you can.

I'M DANCING, DANCING, DANCING, DANCING!!!   (Ooops, sorry to shout.  I'm SO excited!)

"Come Saturday Morning..."

I went for a nice long walk in the park on Saturday.  The weather was beautiful, and there were lots of others out and about and enjoying the day too.  Many people were out for walks with their dogs or stopping to watch one of several baseball games that were being played on the ball fields.  Trees and flowers were in bloom everywhere.

Across the ground in the park, where just a short time ago there was nothing but mud and standing water, we now had carpets of flowers that made it look almost as if it had snowed.

Up close, the "snow" carpets looked like this---white and pink flowers sprinkled across the ground.

There were many white blossoms on the trees in the park and surrounding areas too.

This hyacinth is now out in full bloom, as you can see.

These pretty little blue flowers were dancing in and out of the sunlight in the light breeze that was blowing.

We now have most of the forsythia bushes out in full bloom.

The baseball diamonds were busy places with both players and spectators.

The canine population was well represented too.

I saw these pretty blue flowers growing in the shade under some pine trees.

Brightly colored daffodils and tulips are growing in my neighbor's yard now.

This tree all covered in white blooms is across the street from where I live.

My walk that day and the atmosphere in the park reminded me of  a song I remember from my childhood called "Come Saturday Morning" that was sung by the Sandpipers.  It was just an easygoing, mellow, sunny day that seemed to have been made for the express purpose of a stroll in the park.

I'm going to be away from blogging for a few days.  Hope you all keep on dancing while I'm gone.

Workin' For a Livin'

I have some great news!  My college son has found a job for this summer.  He is going to be working at a group home facility for troubled youth.  It will be a part time job, but he can choose the hours he would like to work and the hourly pay rate is pretty good.  


He is excited about having this job for several reasons.  With a double major in psychology and sociology and a career goal of being a youth counselor, he will be working in his chosen field.  It is quite possible that he will be able to get some independent study credit with his college in conjunction with having this job.  Also, because he is only twenty years old, he can work only part time at the facility this summer.  However, if things go well for him there, the man who interviewed him told him that it will almost certainly guarantee him a full time position there next summer when he will be twenty-one. There is the additional possibility of it being an internship position.  This will be good career experience and also be a plus for him when he applies at graduate schools to work on his Masters Degree.


Well, you can bet I am celebrating here, and if I'm celebrating, you know I'm dancing.  This seems like a good song to dance to today!

Looking Back for a Laugh

In some of the things from my parents' house, I found an April 1946 issue of Leatherneck Magazine: Magazine of the Marines.  I presume it is something that belonged to my Dad. Although, he served in the Air Force, not the Marines, and he served in the early fifties, not in the forties.  It was interesting to look through and see what kinds of things were written about and advertised and to notice how different a men's magazine from  sixty-four years ago is compared to men's magazines of today.

On the upper right-hand corner of the cover of the magazine, one of the first things I noticed was the price of the magazine---fifteen cents!!  I can't think of much of anything you can buy for fifteen cents these days.  I believe most magazines that you would buy at a news stand or drug store these days would probably cost somewhere between two and five dollars depending on what you are buying.


There were many articles about Marine life and interests, of course, because it was a magazine for Marines, but there were also other articles.  Contents in the magazine included articles about baseball, a Marine boogie woogie / swing band, a Broadway star, a football coach, a horse in the Kentucky Derby, and a fictional story about a boxer.  Sports, music, and entertainment are all still topics of interest in men's magazines today, of course.  Not surprisingly, pretty women, then, like today, were of interest to those reading the magazine too.  


This full page picture of a woman named Gwen Currier was labeled:  

"Gwen Currier    Of course, the typical caption here could be 'What a lovely hat,' but in Gwen's case, who notices a hat?"

There was also a pictorial article about what life was like for a female sergeant in the women's reserve when she was discharged from service and returned to her civilian life.  The way women were portrayed, stereotyped, objectified, and reported about in the article  was obviously a sign of the times before the women's liberation movement.  For example, the article showed her learning from her mother how to bake biscuits that would serve as "good husband-bait"

 and included pictures of her wrapped in a towel 

and wearing a bathing suit.

One article I found quite funny that was not intended to be funny was about an inventor who had come up with a gadget to help parents feed a newborn baby.  Supposedly, it was to "eliminate those early-morning feeding watches."  According to the inventor, "neither infant nor parents have to leave their sacks when chow is down."  Looking at this contraption just made me laugh.  I wondered just how the filled bottle was going to be warmed and put into it without someone getting out of bed to fix it.  

Also, as I recall from my days as a young mother, those early morning feedings almost always included a diaper change as well as a feeding.  That would have been pretty hard to accomplish while remaining in bed.  How many babies lie perfectly still on their back in one position while taking a bottle?  What about the all-important holding the baby over your shoulder and patting his back to produce a burp act?  You can't do that while you are lying in bed.  Anyone who has experienced the screams of a colicky baby suffering from gas pains in his belly will tell you that you won't get any sleep if baby hasn't been properly burped either.

Another part of the magazine I found interesting was the advertisements that were included.  Apparently, marines in the forties were quite concerned about keeping themselves clean and well groomed so that they would attract women.  There were also many references to women as "dames," "lasses," and "pigeons."  I don't think I'd like being called a "pigeon."

I can remember my Dad using a  hair product called Brylcreem.  Do you remember that stuff?  They called it a pomade, but I never cared much for that greasy product used to slick down men's hair.  "A little dab'll do ya!" was the slogan I remember them using.  


Anyway, there were a couple ads in the magazine warning men that they didn't want to get caught with dry hair.  This one was for Vaseline Hair Tonic.

I thought this next one for Vitalis was particularly amusing.  

A young woman, going for a ride in the tunnel of love with a gentleman, wants nothing to do with him because his dry, flyaway hair is sticking up in the air.  Luckily for the young gentleman, there is a cupid in the tunnel who comes to the rescue by providing him with a bottle of Vitalis so he can give his hair and scalp a "60-second workout."  The young woman is immediately enamored with him once his hair is properly slicked into place. 

Personally, the idea of a man with an oil slick in his hair would not appeal to me, but the times were different then.

Another thing that didn't surprise me much was that there were also ads for beer and cigarettes. 

The way cigarettes were portrayed was interesting to see compared to how they are viewed today.  This one promoted smoking as a calming agent when your kids are getting on your nerves.

This one doesn't promote smoking as a health benefit, although at first glance it would appear that way.  It claims that this brand was proved less irritating to the smokers' nose and throat according to "authoritative Medical Journals."

Seeing this old magazine makes me wonder what people of the future will think of the magazines and culture of our world today when they look back at them.  It is guaranteed that things will be different sixty four years from now and that they will find things that are amusing in today's publications.  With this being the age of the internet and electronic media, I wonder if magazines will even still be produced by then.  It seems likely that they may become things of the past altogether.