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Showing posts with the label Penelope Puddle

A Roaming Stone

The leaves pictured above have yet to drop off as I hunker down at times feeling less like a wispy leaf about to gently fall and more like a stoic stone on a mission to update my kid's picture e-book told in rhyme. Turning it into a print-on-demand option, too, years after its initial publication, remains an ongoing process. But even stones roam and are side-tracked, as I was recently, visiting Vancouver and enjoying a lovely walk that took me across the Burrard Street Bridge. My photos below are of sights along the way while my poem for Poets and Storytellers United reflects on life's flow so often propelled by forces beyond our own as we search for stability, direction and meaning.
The bridge I walked on was originally completed in 1932. I love its art deco style.
After much hesitation, stops and starts in the 90's, final bicycle/walkway lanes were added with upgrades in the two-thousands. Sounds a bit like the evolving of my book.
The design and pumpkin orange touches are pleasing to my eye but there was/is controversy over the highrise rental apartments being built by the indigenous people who own the land the project sits on by the bridge. You can learn more about it HERE.
There are many pretty shoreline views to see when crossing over False Creek.
On a sidewalk nearby there is a mosaic by Bruce Walther who had depicted the bridge in anticipation of the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics.
There have been glitches in getting the current version of my kid's e-book formatted correctly for various platforms and making it available everywhere. Bridging old and new technology can be frustrating and has me loving and loathing the process. Human assistants are rare and I feel like a very tiny stone tossed into a sea of digital codes. 

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


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

Early Birds & Raindrops

The Poets and Storytellers United prompt invites us to write about "the time of day we like best and why", inspiring my poem below. Four in the morning is often when my undistracted and best creative ideas take shape and reshape into new art forms. I also love the early hours beyond then, when alert birds position themselves as sentinels at the beach. In my world, there's been a cleansing rain amid the wintry chill, revealing the potholes I side-step along the way. It's been a long while since I've jumped full-force into a puddle, unconcerned about how big or muddy that splash might get. It isn't that I mind getting wet, I just have so much fun letting Penelope do it.
   
Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United, SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters.


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.

"May your cares be light as a raindrop." - Penelope Puddle

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.
   
HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

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


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.

HOLD ONTO THE LIGHT

Explore more at Saturday's Critters and SKYWATCH. 


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.

October's List

Halloween is fast approaching. The seasons do fly by, don't they? It was time to refresh Penelope with a spookier look. As always, she is bewitched by the journey. This, along with a glowing moon peeking in my window and a prompt from Poets and Storytellers United to "write from the point of view of October" inspired my few words below.

Now I am the master of the moon
I will grant its face a solemn phase
Sweep the sky with a witch's broom
Paint the leaves so they will amaze.
Spreading spells of chill and gloom,
I will let some fall, stray into decay
Weave into this mix, cozy cocoons
Midst the sobering kiss of October

October's moon beamed through the glaze of the glass like a mystic orb. 
   
Leaves huddled. In keeping with the season, a shop window in White Rock got scary ...
    
thanks to the artistic renderings and great work of a friendly not-so-spooky painter.
   
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. 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

Artistic Impressions & The Buzz Around Broligarchy

The beach artist reminded me of my Penelope Puddle character, maybe because of her cute hat and the creative carefree vibes she was giving out. Artists do love to come to Crescent Beach for inspiration, especially when weather is warm and people-friendly.
Most were busy sailing, swimming or playing in the sand, drawn to the water on a day when even flowers exuded sunshine. My mind, however, was buzzing around the word broligarchy,  combining "bro" and "oligarchy" to define a small group of mostly men in the tech industry who seek to rule the world. This prompt by Poets and Storytellers United inspired my few lines below:

Their wealth builds like webs upon strands
Broligarchy's grip entwining all of mankind
Eyes on the stars, nouveau rulers of masses
Storm roars in and the sticky weave crashes

At the canvas of our planet sailing the cosmic sea and surrounded by unpredictability, the beach I visited is a lovely work of art that could do with some rain clouds painted into the sky by Mother Nature. Yet the hottest temperature in Canada this summer has not been near me but rather in Lytton, B.C. at 41.3 Celsius. In 2021, Lytton broke a record at 49.6 Celsius, an unlivable 121 Degrees Fahrenheit. Powerful as some are, life, along with its human inventions, is a fragile gift no matter what our status.


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. 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

1001 Steps Upgraded

I've never counted them but the decades-old stairs named 1001 Steps in the Ocean Park area were recently upgraded from wooden to metal.
   
Over the years I've walked down and back up, many times puffing for breath.
At the bottom there is a narrow path alongside a railway that leads to a small graffiti laden tunnel beneath the track to the rocky beach.
The stones make walking along the shore a bit unstable and it's more fun to just sit on one of the larger rocks and soak in the seaside atmosphere and muse about life.
The original signage and steps inspired a Penelope art card that says, "You can if you think you can." Whether challenged by steps or stones, a belief in one's own capabilities helps achieve success.  
The photo of me (below) was taken several years ago at the same location. Like the stairs, I could probably use an upgrade.
Wish I could say I am as agile as I was then ... but I guess I am, if I think I am?
Explore more at SKYWATCH and 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.