Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Now! Today! Do!

 


keeping with my desire to write of daily habits 

today i write verses what i’m not doing 

today i am doing it.


not a doer of

mowing the lawn but 

I like to do it 

it will get me outdoors

rain came 

the grass grew lush 

the John Deere awaits


not one to demand but

the rv surge protector 

went through the flood

there is a lifetime guarantee 

i must call them


not one to follow up but

i will call Steinway and ask 

did the Kwai placed on consignment sell?

how to arrange my free tuning?


not one to figure out why

the loom rivet seems too short

to hold the brake on my partially 

assembled Saori loom


not one to procrastinate 

all the above should have

been done days months ago

i hold myself responsible

for procrastination

no one else

is going to do 

what i am not doing


i was waiting for the grass to grow.


joanconnor 04.08.2026


Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Junior Master Gardeners' Rap


I became a Master Gardener and am currently volunteering at the Hill Country Youth Ranch. Teaching is my background so working with the children is comfortable and rewarding for me.  From the Junior Master Gardener Handbook I found a simple "rap" that would be fun to do with the boys and girls.

A verse from the guide:

Tomato sat on the railroad track

Thought he was the boss

Along came the choo-choo train (clap)

Tomato sauce.

I created several more verses:

Carrot sat on the railroad track

She’s really in a fix

Toot! Toot! Along it comes

Making carrot sticks.


Radishes are my delight

Straight from the garden soil

Wash them bite them yum yum yum

They are worth the toil.


What have you planted

In your garden space?

What else can we rhyme

In our greenhouse place?


Basil sat on the railroad track
Smelling oh so good
Along came the choo choo train

Pesto on our food.


And as our rap does end today

I hope you take the time 

Clap it out or sing it strong

And try to make it rhyme.



As time allows perhaps the students can create a verse about something they have planted.

In the meantime the above fits with today's NaPoWriMo prompt!πŸ˜€


Monday, April 6, 2026

Ava

 

Ava

hundreds of dollars


today our dog Ava visits a New Vet

but then we never saw the same vet at the old vet

where prices were outrageous

hundreds of dollars for shots

hundreds of dollars for medicine

hundreds of dollars to tell me my dog is healthy

which I happily paid hundreds of dollars to hear.


the New Vet is recommended

from the online trustworthy nextdoor neighbor site where

I know no one yet everyone from the noones to the someones

has an opinion.


I learn from the someones that

New Vet is a young lady with a new practice

on the other side of town.

I will pass hundreds of vets to go to her

like I pass hundred of churches to go

to the one I haven’t been attending

that is sunday’s story


today’s story is Ava

she went to her spa last week the groomer

told me her anal glands had a thick excretion

I know: TMI, but that is the reason 

I will pay hundreds of dollars 

with the New Vet.


everyday is different yet some seem the same

when retired old willing to spend

hundreds of dollars on my dog.


Sunday, April 5, 2026

My Prayer for You

 


Happy Easter Happy Passover and More!
I have been studying "Passionately Christian, Compassionately Interreligious" on beadisciple.com
these past ten weeks. 
Today, Easter Sunday for Christians, I would like to recognize the other faiths we studied. 
I shall follow this post with my mission statement and my Christian theology within the next two weeks.

new-coexist

Easter is a sacred season of Christianity. At the time of Easter, there are 

religious festivals in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Judaism, to name 

a few. Jains observe the birthday of Mahavir; East Asian Buddhists observe 

the birthday of Quan Yin. There is the Passover of the Jewish Faith and 

the Sikhs recall the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev, who compiled the 

Guru Granth Sahib. These are among the religious festivals celebrated 

at this time. 

The above paragraph is from:

https://sheppartoninterfaith.org.au/?p=3283


Today's short poem celebrates His Resurrection and My Salvation.

Saturday, April 4, 2026

freely given

 


freely given



overcast, sprinkles drop with

expectations on the weeds

the grass the blacktop

the budding limbs of trees


saturday’s sunshine absent 

cancelled farmer’s market

feels like a free day 


bookmobile 

in the front yard

to be washed

didn’t happen


to travel downtown

didn’t happen


to meet children

with free books

didn’t happen


we relax

     write a rhyme

             wait for sunshine 

to happen.

            
             *                *                 *                 *                  *                *                * 

(Our napowrimo prompt today was a weather phenomenon. I forgot to rhyme! I love to rhyme.
I am going to take the above poem and create a rhyme or two within it.)

04.04.2026








heddles pedals and shuttles



My poem has nothing to do with flowers in a Mason jar.
It's about weaving!
However, when I think of weaving I immediately am focused on colors and textures,
all of which are bursting from the above container.


yesterday I was a weaver


heddles pedals and shuttles

the rhythm of weaving words

I return to my loom again

and listen to the clickety clack


of heddles pedals and shuttles


the warp is complete 

a job not favored by most

but lost in the repetition

of warp is the weft

the best collective of whatever 

I choose


for my heddles pedals and shuttles


the bobbins are wound

the loom speaks its sounds 

I begin my journey of threads

in out skipping missing

the freestyle weaving I flaunt


with my heddles pedals and shuttles


the project took hours

the traveling was miles 

I brought it home yesterday

from Her Studio

where spools line the walls

and fill the drawers waiting


for heddles pedals and shuttles





joanconnor

04.3.2026


Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Tanka Treats







5-7-5-7-7-syllabic tanka


celebrating Dave

birthday boy turns ninety-nine

today we eat out

“The party will be next year

when I turn one hundred.”


(munch that last word to = five syllables :)




cacti obsession

my current plant collection

one happy greenhouse

where the music plays daily 

uplifting spirits and spines





joanπŸ’ 04.01.26


Monday, March 30, 2026

Yeah! for Snoopy!


Doesn't this cartoon say it all? I have had a few days this month just like Snoopy!

With a hot cup of coffee and a sleeping pet by his side, in his fuzzy bathrobe - 

it couldn't get much better now could it?

We (being Hubby and Self and Four-Paws) have been hunkered down the past week or so, meandering out only to pick up milk and a few extras and the prescription which made the trip mandatory.

We're better but it has felt so good not going and doing and busying that I am adopting this lifestyle for the foreseeable future. 

However, today I am going to wash the Casita trailer and truck, still hooked up for the camping trip we cancelled due to illness. 

Tomorrow we take the truck/trailer for the distribution bar installation that we totally paid for ($500+) and forgot that we had ordered them. I am anticipating that they will be a challenge to hook up, but learning independence is my mantra in my octogenarian decade.

Have a wonderful day and finish "doing nothing!" πŸ˜€
 

Saturday, March 28, 2026

Blessing for You




In our Creative O2 class with Jill Badonsky we wrote blessings that were responses to prompts. 
It was a pleasant experience and I share below my blessing with the prompts. 
The class ends this coming Wednesday. It has been twelve weeks of sharing and mindfulness within the concept of creativity.

Blessing:


What I like about nature:

May you find God’s spirit among the rustling trees, inhaling moving air on a slightly windy day as you sit in solitude in a small quiet space.


What my creativity does for me:

May you be provided an outlet for your personal creative journey as you seek to express delight and disarray within the textures of life, the colors of emotions, the flow of experience and the finality of completion.


What two wishes do you have for the world:

May you live in this moment working with others as you would have them interact with you.


What would you like to be surrounded by:

May you be surrounded by simplicity, meaningful relationships, vibrant activity - all interrupted with doses of serenity.


What would you like to hear from somebody else:

May you know that you are created in His image and you are complete just as you are.

                                               *                       *                         *                        * 

Give your definition of creative bliss:

Creative bliss is unadulterated contentment from the creation of mud pies to styling paper doll clothes to the published book to the gallery-hung art piece to the woven textures hung over your bathroom door. It all emits satisfaction. Creativeness is the movement to blissfulness within each artist’s soul as she begins again.



Joan Connor

03.28.2026


Now! Today! Do!

  keeping with my desire  to write of daily habits  today i write verses  what i’m not doing  today i am doing it. not a doer of mowing the ...