Funny, The Things You Remember

I just remembered I once had a red velvet blazer

I usually wore with a skyblue calico long ruffled skirt

and an off-white semi-fancy key-hole tee shirt.

Lord only knows what I had on my feet.

Actually, very smart leather sandals until it snowed.

I was 14, and the recent 4-H public-speaking champ

in my age division, snagging Provincials in Fredericton

for my spiel on how CB radios had transformed the world.

Next I leapt up to Maritime level where

I spent a whirlwind whole 4 days in Halifax,

a metropolis of then probably 100,000!!

(I lived 15 miles outside a town of 15,000.)

In Halifax I got to stay in a 3-story hotel!!!

with 50 other public-speaking teen hopefuls.

There I discovered the magic of a disco ball,

the bliss of  hard meringue and learned from

the bread-baking demonstration twins how to

properly eat soup, as taught to them by nuns.

Proud to say I’ve been holding and dipping my

spoon correctly for over 33 years now, thanks to

the bread twins so cute in matching kerchiefs!

The twins won in their demo division,

beating out my hometown Johnny Branch

with his blood-squirting first-aid dummy.

I remember each time a camera

flashed during the twins’ performance

they’d smile, as if possibly their grins

would appear retroactively on film.

Funny, the things you remember.

Anyway, back to my red velvet blazer.

It came from some hand-me-down grab-bag,

and I wore it at the competition in Halifax.

I remember other things from that trip too.

Like, Sheila from P.E.I. puking on the spider

and “Bat Out Of Hell” being THE album.

I could probably tell you more, like how on

the drive home I pretended I wasn’t really

hungry when we stopped for lunch, ordering

only a small fry and water because I was too

proud or too ashamed (or both) to admit I

only had $1.75 spending money left, but no.

I’ll divulge no more of this today, my friend.

I will say my “Breaker-breaker good buddy,

we got a skatin’ rink east of the hole in the wall…”

speech did not win the Maritime competition.

I came in 3rd of 3, losing to a boy who spoke

about the Sable Island ponies, and the grand

winner, who effused from her heart about how

she loved books. Wonder where she is and what

she remembers about Halifax, August 1978.

~~~ end of wanderment..

My niece this past summer in My Hometown…

And her brother, back the lane from Mom & Dad’s red barn and red-roofed house…

As I’ve mentioned, my Irish forepeeps were deeded that land around 1830.

And Nephew on the beach this summer at Mom and Dad’s cottage, about 7 miles from their farm house…

They are both SO cute, and precious. I was not able to get home this summer, but I WILL next.

(Snagged those 3 pix off my sis’ FB page.)

P.S. There are 3 Canadian Maritime provinces…

1. New Brunswick –  capital city Fredericton

2. Nova Scotia — capital city Halifax

3. Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) — capital city Charlottetown

End of post!!

Jannie

xoxooxxoxo

If There’s A Smell Of Pancakes In The House

If there’s a smell of pancakes in the house

and the chirp of some news commentator

in a room where kittens fandango,

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if there’s a sun just pounced over the trees

and twenty-nine bored dogs around the hood

longing for something, anything to happen,

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if there’s a lonely coffee pot eager to be

understood and bring another round of

pulsing power to a schoolbus morning,

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if there are poets scattered over the planet

rolling down their blog awnings for the day

and scraping the mold off their jpegs,

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if there are love letters sitting in mailboxes

for happy postmen and postladies to collect

and deliver to hearts that have sleepwalked,

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if there’s a smell of pancakes in the house

and lovers skinny-dipping somewhere,

all’s well in the world and always will be.

Got poetry? Love poetry? dVerse is the poetry place!

Open Link Tuesday goes live weekly at 3:00 EST.

xoxoxxoxooxo

gorgeous mailbox with spring blooms by Photos For Days.

The Girl Who Dreams Of Paris — in 55 words

The girl who dreams of Paris,

she with poems and the Eiffel Tower

shooting out the top of her head,

needs only bread, cheese

oranges, pencil and paper

to survivingly thrive.

Green trees and

cafe afternoons

feed her too.

But really, just a

white room with

words to lay her

heart on will do.

My European Tour 1999 – 11 penpals in 7 countries in 30 days. Me with Christine in Paris.

Remember my blonde “panpal” Jo in England? The one I love to BITS!!??

There she is with Andy in London during that same trip.

And speaking of “a Trip,” for more Flash Fiction 55s…

please visit G-Man in his  land of happy ass-kicking.

xoxoxooxox

Oh — and TODAY marks my 3-year blogging anniversary, whoooohoooo.

The Man With Sunset Eyes…

he who’s been shaking poems into the seaweed all day,

is oblivious to the splotch of professional photographers

rolling their expensive eyes at each other over the little

point-and-shoot he made from laughter and airplane wings.

The man hoists the ocean, clouds and pelicans into position,

fluffs up the sky’s pillows, billows his cape, and raises his wand

to pause the breath of heaven’s violins a moment for you.

~~~ end of poem

Our esteemed blogging buddy, the lovable, caring and fun-filled Dr. J. of Calorie Lab, snapped that through his Serengeti sunglasses on Florida’s Cedar Key one New Year’s Eve. And won a photo contest with it!

Dr. J. flies a Cherokee Arrow 200 for fun.

Got poetry? Love poetry? dVerse is da poetry castle!

Open Link Tuesday, live weekly at 3:00 EST.

Over and out.

Now… get on to some more blogs, you.

Excellent Peeps, Batch 6

I make them with pink…

I make them with blue…

I go for the green…

And floral ones too…

Music. Dancing. Laughter. Light.

25 new buttons, a cute little sight?

____________

I wonder if  this latest batch

Has  new peeps thinking “Hey, what’s the catch?”

____________

But verily Jannie says unto y’all.

Nope, really no catch at all.

____________

Making sidebar buttons is fun for me.

(I like things artsy, as you can see.)

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Do the “old” buttons then disappear?

Heck no! You’ll find those puppies here.

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If you’re new here, it’s just a matter of time

Til  YOU  get a button, bloggin’ buddy of mine.

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xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo