My favorite poetic form, waking to sleep, going gentle, and loving thunderbirds.  Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

i thought i'd write a little villanelle 

I thought I'd write a little villanelle

To tell the world just what I thought I'd see

When past the bea… Read full post »

Guinness sign in the window, Grace O'Malley's Pub, on south Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  (photo: Kathy Riordan)

If I reach back into the far recesses of my memory, I still can't pull out the first time I ever had a Guinness.  I can, however, generally, and without much… Read full post »

It's enough to completely stop a heart.  The being told.

I heard again today, soldiers lost.

My heart stopped.

Not at war, they said.

Not off an ocean away, in the face of known dangers, presumed risks.

Home.

I thought of soldiers and soldiers.  My husband as he left… Read full post »

You didn't have to do more than a Google search Wednesday to be reminded it's a special occasion. . .Big Bird's birthday, the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, which premiered November 10, 1969.

Google did a special tribute to the BB on its search page. 

 … Read full post »

Actually, it was a pretty short line.

Last year, the first thing we did upon arriving in Florida after a summer in Wisconsin and long drive south was head for the polling booths, anticipating long waits for the US presidential election.  And there were waits, of about three hours, but… Read full post »

She sang beyond the genius of the sea.- Wallace Stevens

Seashells, Captiva Island 

Some things can't be helped.  I suppose that need to do laundry in the middle of the night, to write lists, to clean closets, to pack and unpack, to settle, and not s… Read full post »

The command of a Russell Crowe in Master and Commander.

The sexy maturity of a Sean Connery. 

The sensitivity of a Liam Neeson. 

The je ne sais quois of a Thomas Crown. 

The savoir faire of a James Bond. 

The vu… Read full post »

If you ever find yourself south of Nashville with time to kill, antiquing in Murfreesboro is just the ticket.

For dreaming of circus ponies. 

The timely collectible. (See Off the Wall, below.) 

Howdy Doody to you, too. 

&… Read full post »

This is a poem I wrote for my oldest niece, Megan, when she was born, recalling a visit to Bruges.

at the beguinage 

for megan

The little canals in the city of lace

all lead to one place, and gratefully plead

not for pity, but peace

at the… Read full post »

It was a scary, scary night.  Dark and scary.  Dark as dark.  Scary.  

The bonfire at the camp was long gone, flickering low on simmering embers, children tucked in their sleeping bags in the back of a station wagon.

Three little girls, maybe ten, maybe eleven… Read full post »

24-year-old Orianthi Panagaris, the lead guitarist for Michael Jackson's "This Is It. "

If you found yourself in a theater watching  the much hyped Michael Jackson concert rehearsal film, This Is It, as I did last night in Nashville, you likely found a happy surprise tucked inside… Read full post »

So is this the show now or is this a rerun?

Rerun.

When is the real show gonna come on?

Twenty minutes.

Oh.

Wow glad I ate first.

Yeah.

What did I miss?

They're making dinners based on TV shows.

Oh.

This one's doing Flintstones.  Pebbles and Bam-Bam.

Oh.… Read full post »

Hot off the presses, Hot Mormon Muffins: A Taste of Motherhood, just in time for Foodie Tuesday:

The calendar, featuring twelve Mormon women in vintage poses, comes complete with muffin recipes. . .in case the vintage poses don't do it for you.

On the Web:   &n… Read full post »

Where's Tom DeLay when you need him? 

Monday night all of the remaining couples on ABC's Dancing With the Stars faced off in a traditional ballroom style competition, doing a four-minute mambo marathon with couples being tapped out in succession until only one couple remained on the dance floor.… Read full post »

For Patricia/cartouche, because you can always use some traveling music. Thanks for the words:

Forty years ago, the wedding of a wealthy New York socialite to the daughter of a wealthy New York businessman at her father's golf club in New Jersey would have been viewed as just another society wedding, the bride wore white, champagne all around, wasn't she lovely?

Attention would b… Read full post »

Some things are just as they seem.  So when a blank canvas stretches across the imagination painted by the image of turquoise heavens blanching down on ribbons of lilacs, adobe and sagebrush, it is just what it is.

Heaven.

Canyon Road in the springtime.  Taos in Decemb… Read full post »

I've been trying to post some different things on the weekends when everything is more relaxed--the Muffin story, photos of the northwoods. Here's the first time you'll see me post poetry on Open Salon, something I wrote many years ago for my father after he died.

Have a great weekend,… Read full post »

If you checked the White House's Flickr site early this morning, you found out why famed Vanity Fair photographer Annie Leibovitz has been spending so much time at the White House lately.

President Barack Obama, Sasha Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Malia Obama, in the Green Room… Read full post »

From her most recent entry:

"The sun's still shining and the water is an even more ama… Read full post »

Ever since the call went out to find Miss Freaky Troll Super Fab some dishy new digs, I've searched high and low in all my favorite haunts for just the right thing.

Since Freaky is known to be a surfer, and has been seen occasionally lurking behind umbrella drinks, I pulled out… Read full post »

 A western shepherd, and his flock.  (vintage postcard) 

If you've ever wondered who the 'little old lady from Dubuque' was, wonder no more.  

At that particular junction… Read full post »