Shirts

My first choice of shirt did not make the grade

So I hurried to my closet to negotiate a trade

Second time around I actually succeeded

A determined fashionista just can’t be defeated.

The Twilight Of Easter

T’was the evening of Easter and in the backyard

We watched all those golfers not working too hard

No clouds in the sky were there to be spotted.

We saw going by the deer as they trotted

Near our side of the woods they’re headed for home

‘round us neither antelope nor buffalo roam.

Seeing all this wildlife, you might think it funny  

That despite all this watching, we’ve seen not one bunny.

But we’re thankful it’s springtime in South Carolina

And to be here at Easter, not much could be finer.

We somehow wound up here, the causes aren’t clear 

But complaints out of us, you surely won’t hear. 

We set aside part of almost every spring day 

To give thanks to the forces that came into play.

Our kids and our grands are both quite nearby,

And that’s one more reason that we never cry--

“We wish that we lived in northern Illinois!”

But we’ll soon come to visit, cold air to enjoy.

Meanwhile, we’re sending “Happy Easter,” wishes

ta-ta for now, I must do the dishes. 

Number 44--I Can’t Find This Message In Any Hallmark Card

I stood there in the store aisle

Reading cards all the while

It was just really hard 

To find the right card.

One card’s message to convey

All of the things I had to say

Giving up, I composed this rhyme

To save us both some time

And avoid driving on to yet another store

To read cards, it would seem, just forever more.

I wanted you to know I still feel about you

The way that I did when I first said, “I do.”

After forty-four years, I’d guess you’re shocked I remember old feelings like these

When yesterday you watched, as I spent a half hour in search of my keys. 

Of this one thing you can always be certain,

Our wedding day I’ll remember ‘til the final curtain.

And I will love you all the days of my life,

Since that day you consented to become my wife.

One Toasty Mornin'

The lady of the house put out some fine Irish bread

Sayin’—“Sure, if you’d like to try some, go ahead.”

Thus I found a whole loaf set out in the kitchen.

And though I thought the loaf would need no enrichin’

She said the taste might improve with a wee bit of toastin’

I tried it out and she was surely not boastin’

Oats, The Weather and I

Maybe I’m a bit too traditional in some instances, but here it is-I don’t eat oatmeal when the temperature is above forty degrees.  I live in South Carolina, as a consequence, I still have a small canister (18 ounces) of oatmeal in the pantry that I bought in 2016 (don’t worry, it says “best if used before September 22^nd of 2018.”).  

So far this winter, I’ve eaten about four times as much as I did last winter, and it’s starting to look like I’ll be able to use all of it.  That would mean consuming more than 13 servings! In less than two years!  I can see by the forecast for the rest of this month that I will have at least five opportunities to eat oatmeal. (Brrrrr!) Is this a great country, or what?

Retention

I’m not young enough to know everything.

                                                                                                                              -J. M. Barrie

It always seems to have been easiest to think you know everything when you are young.  You get an idea, you think about it a lot, then you come to the conclusion you know everything there is to know about it. This keeps happening again and again.  Soon, you will know it all.

The younger you are, the more likely it seems you have all the answers-you know all about all the “latest things” after all.  Maybe some start out humble, but find they cannot stay that way.   They feel compelled to drop the humble stuff when they learn a few more things.  Knowing more things, they realize they know more than almost everyone they know (especially if most of them happen to be older than they are).    

Is it just one’s youth that leads them to conclude things won’t change, and this day’s success will continue indefinitely?   I can''t answer that, I just don't know. I do know one thing for certain—my memory isn’t what it used to be.  So, if I ever did know many things (never “most things” and certainly not “everything”), it’s too late—I’ve forgotten most of it.   

 

Some Days He’ll Wax Poetic (continued)

Some Days He’ll Wax Poetic (continued)

Some days he’ll wax poetic,

On others, it's just pathetic

Perhaps it comes from too much hard work, he mused.

Unable to recall any work, that notion seemed confused.

Now suppose each day that he insisted

That his first act each day consisted

Of wordcraft and some exercise—

Though too much exertion seems unwise

Ah, but should a rhyme arrive,

He can take it for a drive.

And if he feels a spin,

He might just dive right in.

He won’t really wish to swim,

Such commitment bothers him.

That’s why he values the diving

It precludes all the striving,

It ‘s merely sink or swim

Which makes beginning simpler for him.

Now and then his muse will ignore him

And he finds there’s little help for him

Leaving him to struggle and grope

While he ‘s at the keyboard, one can hope