Getting Away

After several hours of driving the family vehicle made the turn on to the narrow gravel road leading to the lake resort. Tall pine trees lined both sides offering brief glimpses into the forest depths between their trunks.

“Keep an eye out for deer.” Dad said to his daughters in the back seat.

“Where? Where?” Said two small voices as sisters Gabrielle and Kiara strained in their seat belts trying to see out the windows.

In the front seat, mom smiled. A week away from all the electronic noise of computers, cell phones and television was the perfect family vacation.  

Summer Evening

The black velvet sky overhead is festooned with sparkling points of light. The warm summer air is filled with the buzzes of nighttime insects. A flutter of wings heralds the arrival of winged denizens darting and swooping in their never ending quest of scooping up the tiny bloodthirsty pests. Amongst the thick foliage of shrubs lining the lawn an occasional florescent green light flashes on and off.

Shrieks of laughter are heard as the neighborhood children chase each other through the cooling grass, ducking behind shadowy trees to hide and wait before jumping out at unsuspecting playmates.

“Tag, you’re it.”

One More Trip

Tired, brown eyes peered up at the master of the house asking the question.

“Yep. Come on boy. One more trip outside before bed.”

Intense concentration crossed the weary face as muscles were collected preparing for the heave up onto unsteady feet. A soft grunt accompanied the effort. The old dog’s tail waved slowly as he looked longingly out the patio door.

“Sorry, boy. We need to go out the front. Can’t have you falling down the deck stairs. Now can we?”

A seeming sigh emanated from the graying muzzle as he made his deliberate way to the open door.

It's Friday!

It’s Friday! What a wonderful feeling knowing the work week is coming to an end, that for two glorious days the power to decide what to do and when to do it lies within my grasp.

Wait! What’s this? We are taking care of extra dogs for family going out of town and we are babysitting grandchildren and the lawn needs to be cut, and the laundry done and the bathroom cleaned and the grocery shopping done and…

I can’t wait for Monday when I return to the office. It’s muted focus on meeting deadlines a relaxing change of pace.

Gardening

The sun blazed down on her back as she squatted next to the flowerbed heating the air around her until she felt cocooned in an insolated blanket. The only relief was the baseball cap protecting the top of her head and shading her eyes.

She dug into the soil with a three-pronged hand tool breaking the steadfast grip of long neglected weeds proliferating rampantly among the flowers.

Too many demands on her time, too many emergencies needing her attention had left her exhausted and unmotivated to tend the garden until she said enough, shut off her phone, and went outside.

One of Those Days

Sometimes the creative juices just seem to flow, tumbling over and over through out the grey matter in infinite numbers. Sometimes there is nothing, nada, empty, blank state of naught.

From one state to the other and back again the artist travels in an endless cycle of productive, non-productive sequences.

What state of being drives one over the other? Is it external? Internal? Or is it simply a matter of choice, of focus and letting go all at the same time?

Sometimes it can be as simple as listening to music and dancing barefoot around the room until inspiration hits.