No Bones About It

My late mom once noticed a lone fly buzzing about. I told her to swat it, but she said it was her friend for the moment. That memory resurfaced when a moth landed on my screen door. It reminded me of how closely we’re tied to everything around us as we move through different stages of existence. We’re never alone, indoors or out, even when we don’t see the creatures that flitter, crawl, or scamper under our floors and amid the foliage. Some wander into our homes, as the moth might have wanted to before it flew off. The moth and mouse in my poem (at bottom) is about all sorts of flighty relationships hopeful for deeper meaning. Though the poem veers from the Poets and Storytellers United prompt "bones", I will note moths and flies have none, while mice, due to tiny vertebrae in their tails, have some 230, more than the 206 in humans. And oddly, horses, too, have about 206, their tails perfect for swatting flies.

Afterthought: In view of increasing wildfires worldwide, I wonder if we are equally a little bit moth, drawn to the light of our screens, and a little bit mouse, hiding from the damage we caused to the environment that we need to sustain us beyond the screens.

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters. 

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and watch environmental activist, 90-year-old David Suzuki, in an interview.

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Consumed By The Cloud

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” - C.S. Lewis

The Cloud is deceptively, brilliantly, named but humanity again finds that what starts as a manageable useful tool can become overbearing and destructive. The Lewis quote from Poets and Storytellers United reminds me that the dreams of some fulfilled can be our nightmares and in waking hours take us down rabbit holes. It sounds dramatic and far less romantic to admit that our data is not resting on a nebulous Cloud. Rather, data is stored ofttimes in huge buildings that drain masses of water and electrical resources, non-stop humming loudly to the despair of neighbours. Wish I had a solution for this monster we feed as reliance on the digital grows to "lock box" our keepsakes, personal and business dealings and even our identities. Below is my poem and recent pictures I took on walks, to be stored, of course, on the Cloud. Currently, Canada has some 300 data centres and Google says 4,000 to 5,400 operational data centers are in the U.S., representing nearly half of all facilities worldwide.

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters. 

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and watch environmental activist, 90-year-old David Suzuki, in an interview.

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Novel Journeys

April is National Poetry Month in Canada. Learn why poetry matters HERE.

The Poets and Storytellers United prompt "find inspiration on your bookshelf" inspired my poem and reminded me of when libraries visited my neighbourhood. As a child, I looked forward to when a large van pulled up to our street, the side door slid open and I entered a cozy room stuffed with adventures that swept me to distant shores of the imagination. These books felt like friends. Some I kept close for reading at bedtime as I drifted to sleep, rapt by fantasies. Now my travels are mostly outside the pages as I walk about my tiny place on a planet that is a footnote in a cosmic story yet to be told.

   

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters. 

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and watch environmental activist, 90-year-old David Suzuki, in an interview.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Fireworks & Fresh Sparks

The New Year is upon us and it's time to reflect. The usual seasonal pondering and a "fireworks" prompt from Poets and Storytellers United inspired my poem below. Noisy colourful displays in the night sky are pretty but excite me less nowadays. I am more attuned to the rustle of wind, the patter of rain and the luminescent waves that splash to shore. Hope you enjoy my poem and views when the old year waned at the bottom of 1001 Steps in Ocean Park. Wishing all who pause here a happy, calming New Year.

   

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Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters.

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Sometimes the sky is so wide I feel I could fly way up high (as the song goes) past the clouds with the ease of a bluebird. But such imaginings are only in my mind's eye.

Though my thoughts have wings, I am less a bird and more like a curious cat slinking amid the shrubbery to see what is afoot and lurking in the sun and shadows.

I pause at the wonders of the natural world of which I am an infinitesimal part.

Unlike the ornamental peacock more or less stuck to one place, I am for the most part content to simply wander about on this whirling dot while "out there" and "in here" cosmic marvels, both seen and invisible to me, are animated and soaring. 

I am excited to know that somewhere over the rainbow not just birds but all sorts of mercurial things, now even Penelope, CAN fly in this mysterious moment of existence.

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Explore more at Saturday's Critters and SKYWATCH. 

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. 

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

AI & Other Unconscious Pretenders

Humans rely more than ever on AI for information and help with a myriad of routine tasks. But it's a weird symbiotic relationship because AI gleans its data from human activity on the web, dipping even into the pool of casual bloggers. I've noticed an unusual uptick in my traffic and suspect it is more from AI bots scraping my data (and maybe yours, too) than random people searching the Internet. Bots have an insatiable appetite, aptly addressed in an article (hopefully written by a human) HERE. The fact that we incidentally feed a beast that learns from us was of no consequence to the squirrel, however, on a blue sky day when I met real and fake creatures along my way, inspiring my poem below. You might also enjoy reading AI's beautifully and instantly crafted response (bottom of post) when I asked it to compare itself to humans.

   

Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH, and Saturday's Critters. Also shared with dVerse Poets.

Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. You can link to my B.C. Fairies page HERE.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT