Month: April 2016

Inscribed #Haiku

heart hard as granite
inscribed by diamond tip
great pearls of wisdom

Inspired by Scripture and linked to Ronovan’s weekly challenge. 

Zechariah 7:12  They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

Matthew 7:6  “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Hot Dog, Cooling Off #haiku

Petey is almost the perfect dog – almost. Good with people, kids, other animals. Minds well (most of the time), doesn’t chew on or tear stuff up. He is lovable, loyal, and fun. But he can’t resist the temptation to escape from our fenced yard; no matter many how places we fix, he finds or makes new escape routes. 

He is also very averse to the heat. But has no inhibitions on cooling himself in the most convenient – if not dirty – place he can find. He demonstrated that, which brings him down to almost perfect, this afternoon after a run around the yard – outside the fence of course – and then taking a nice “dip” to cool himself before coming back inside. 

Yeah, he earned himself a bath post-dip. 


little dog not made
to take the heat of summer
run to mud puddle

Murphy’s Law … Or Painfull Irony

I was torn between the two possible titles for this post – either Murphy’s Law or Painfull Irony – so I used them both; you can decide which fits best.

You may (or may not) have noticed that I’ve made very few posts of late. I had been doing some studying and other things that cut back on both my reading and blogging. But that’s not the reason for the decline in reading/ blogging. Or in commenting/replying the last couple weeks. I wish it were that simple!

Many of you know I have several health issues, several arthritic joints being a big one. A few years back I injured my left-wrist and “Old Arthur” has set up (another) home in there now. Some days I barely notice it. Others It is a real problem. (Yes, this is leading somwhere.) The worst part is this tendency my wrist has developed to get a very sharp pain in the center, palm-side of it. “Katie bar the door“, as the old saying goes, if I happen to be holding something when that occurs because it’s going to drop – and fast!

A couple of weeks ago. I was helping my grandson with a homework project: we were looking up and printing information on our state, West Virginia, using my laptop. When it was time for a snack break my son made him a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water. Knowing that maybe 30% of the time my grandson will still manage a spill – we won’t even go into the mess of the sandwich! – I figured it would be prudent to move my laptop away from any potential spill-zones to avoid any accidents.

I picked up the computer with my right hand and transferred it to my left to put safely away until later. Just as I was about to put the laptop down, you guessed it: the trick-wrist did its thing. The computer only took about a 24 inch fall but it just happened to hit my metal leg-brace right on the edge on its way down. At the very least the LCD screen is broken and I can’t tell if there is any other damage until I can see the display.

I am certain there is some irony in this; I still can’t see it though. I suppose I should have left it alone and taken my chances with spillage, which, by the way, there ended up being absolutely none of!

I re-learned today that trying to type on a touchscreen tablet is not real successful, or comfortable, with my big fingers. My son got me a Bluetooth keyboard to use with it, which is better but still not as good as the laptop for comfort, ease of use, versatility or – oh you get the idea! And for longer posts the WordPress app in’t that great, not mention it seems to have limited functionality compared to the web-based PC version. But I reckon I’ll learn as I go and make due for a “season”.

Now, on to the point for my readers: My mobile devices have had their notifications (and emails) turned off. I have no idea how or when I did that. So I have had comments unanswered for over a week; I apologize for that. Hopefully I have the notification-issue fixed now. And, in time, I hope I will adjust to reading via the app on my tablet; the phone is just too small for my aging eyes! LOL Again, I am sorry if I missed you on WP or Twitter (getting that turned back on ought to be a joy) but I wasn’t being rude, just a little disconnected and dense. 🙂

Can You Live a Life of No Regrets? #BeWoW #WritersQuoteWednesday #WQWWC

It’s been quite a while since I’ve made the time to contribute to the BeWoW/Writers Quote Wednesday effort – too long. But life seems to get in the way often these days and I just haven’t.  But a thought has been nagging me for a while so here we go …

George Burns

Curtesy of Wikkimedia (click image to see more).

 Back in the 1980s I recall seeing George Burns on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson being his usual, unpredictable, hilarious self during an interview. Mr. Burns answered a question from Carson which I can’t recall , but will never forget his answer:

“Don’t believe everything they tell you. I use salt. I smoke 15 cigars a day. I have three or four martinis a day. If I don’t like the food, I send for ketchup. I’m almost 90 and I have no regrets.”

Being young and naive I was inspired; this was how I was going to live my life: with no regrets! And I managed do that for a while – until I got older and wiser and realize just how badly I’d failed my attempt to do this. (For those interested, you can find similar quotes like this one on the web.)

The other night as I was putting my grandson to sleep I sang an old hymn to him, one that I’ve sung him to sleep with for years. But on this night he asked about its meaning, which I explained to him. I was happy he remembered the song and was interested in it,but it reminded me of how much better I could have done with my own children if I had spent less time at work and more time with them: one of my a biggest regrets I have.

I’m glad that I have had the opportunity to make up for some of that time, though it was with a high cost. And I look forward to being a bigger presence in my grandsons (the one here now and the one coming in July) in a positive, godly way. 

Regrets are, in my opinion, inevitable; we are human and we falter and make mistakes. The most important things are how we recognize, respond, and recover when we do fail. Whatever it is that needs done, do it in humility, love, and with great urgency. And learn from them! Don’t waste precious time on regrets; recognize, respond, and recover from them and move on. Life is too short to live in the past.