Holiday remembered......

The wreaths on the doors
The school bell,  green garland'd
snow blown inside the barn
red berries amongst the balsam & pine
frozen apples in the tree
the wooden shingles dusted in white
the holiday, remembered.

.......LOUDmeow

Big Trouble.....

It's cold, but not that cold.
There's ice on the lake,
but it's not that thick yet.
And these are not duckfrogs.
They're real ducks. They float
and fly as well as walk.
And you should know better
than to follow 'quacks' in the ice.

.....LOUDmeow

Pie in the sky

It really hurts when a frozen apple hits you
squarely on the head. It's so dangerous
in the woods these days. Not just lions
and tigers and bears (oh my!) but unexpected
things falling from above. And a frozen
apple doesn't even taste that good.

.....LOUDmeow

Bear Market

No shoes, no service, no bail-out for you.
Scrounging for any available sustinence.
It's ofter un-bear-able,
Yet you still bear down, with bear hands,
Surviving, just bear-ly.

.....LOUDmeow

LEAF IT ....!!!

Nature's best way of getting out a good message.
Time to procrastinate!!!
It takes little effort. And is easily mastered.
Even a caveman can do it.
Cats are grand masters.

.....LOUDmeow

End of Fall....VT

Too soon, the tree colors fade
and the camera turns to porch steps,
plant containers, garden borders, and all the
places now touched by falling leaves.
And it's 10 minutes after Twelve.

.........LOUDmeow

More Fall Color.....

Quilts of color in every direction.
More leaves on the ground too.
Fun to kick thru the leaf piles.
Fall Color everywhere.
Still magic.

.....LOUDmeow

Fall Color........

Once the leaves started to change color,
it quickly became a cascade of transformation.
Almost too rapidly, every tree was awash in
new color tones. And, just as fast,
the leaves started to fall. A few at first,
then in the breeze, numerous flakes in the wind.
Soon the ground would be covered
and the tree limbs bare. And snow ....
well, just for now, it was color, everywhere.
Magic.

.....LOUDmeow

Marginal(ly) (a)way......

The caravan stopped briefly at Ogunquit, ME.
Not as crowded this time of year.
And plenty of room for the modest east coast surfing.
And grand strolling on the Marginal Way
The late season garden bloomers
were an enjoyable surprise, too.
Just talk to the paw.

....LOUDmeow

Deja Moo......

Meeting cows in the woods. A real surprise!
Not what we were expecting to encounter.
And not exactly a bear. Ursine's aren't the same family.
Still, almost a trilogy.
Lions and tigers and cows. Oh my!!!
Recall Lions in the grass from last May?
And Tigers in the brush last month?
Now cows in the woods!!!. Our own yellow brick road.

.....LOUDmeow

Tigers in the brush......

Lily orange surprises. In hard to reach places.
Wild, blooming, and never easy to catch.
Now the trilogy is almost complete.
Remember 'Lions in the grass' from last May?
Now all we need are bears.
Then we'll have our yellow brick road.

.....LOUDmeow

Rosebud.....

She asked, "If you could have found out
what Rosebud meant, I bet that would have
explained everything"
Thompson replied, "No, I don't think so; no.
Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he
wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was
something he couldn't get, or something he lost.
Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything...
I don't think any word can explain a man's life.
No, I guess Rosebud is just a...
piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece.

.....LOUDmeow

The view from (just north of) Bayonne.....

Lower Manhattan, from just north of Bayonne, NJ.
Mid-summer, 2008.
A little hazy & hot but comfortable.
Almost to Battery Park
Liberty in the far distance.
People everywhere.
Lots of cats, too

Bayonne.........

Yes, she's really in New Jersey
Sometimes that's overlooked
Visible, always there.
One can see a lot from Bayonne.
Not exactly this view.
One can go north'ish,
beyond north, north-east Bayonne.
and then take Artistic Liberty
(see more from the City of Bayonne here)

.....LOUDmeow

Summer flowers......

The colors of summer. Hot colors in the sunlight.
Awash in the green back-ground cover, and
still rising tall, reaching to stand out, to almost shout.
To some, just weeds in the grass.
To another bug, their favorite flower.

....LOUDmeow

Finding the Black Pearl...

Arrrgh!!!! We searched high & low,
but carefully, knowing she was cursed.
At least the stories said she was cursed.
Yet we were not afraid when we found her, dockside.
We stood still, gathering up the strength to board.
And couldn't help but think, she should have been much larger.
But this has to be the 'Black Pearl', it says so, right there
in plain sight.......and where are those raucous buccaneers hiding???
(don't get to use words like 'raucous' that often)

.....LOUDmeow

June blooms

The sweet scent of the last of the lilacs still fills
the evening air. Butterflies work the blossoms.
And rose petals fall quickly along the path,
like foot-steps to follow; someone's left a trail.
Hiding amongst the lupine,
the cats are waiting to pounce.

....LOUDmeow

Early Summer Blooming....

New buds have started now
And a light rain begins to fall
Mosquitoes everywhere
Summer near the woods....

....LOUDmeow

Spring Blooming....

Blue sky, new blossoms, birds singing....
All the usual pleasant spring things
Even the bugs.....
Flowers with bugs....everywhere

.......LOUDmeow

Lions in the grass....

Looking for a good reason not to mow the lawn,
she remembered the endangered "-lions".
These you cannot step on, let alone cut down.
It was some environmental law, and certainly enforcers
were monitoring with hidden cameras and other spy-things.
And "-lions" had their own support groups, with T-shirts
and fund raisers and a radical arm that spread dissension.
OK, maybe not a arm, more like a paw.
Danger, "-lions" everywhere. It's magic.

.....LOUDmeow

Confidence....

Last season's harvest had left only corn stalk stumps.
The winter's snowfall had battered them into less than stumps.
As that snow melted, puddles formed in the field.
The spring rain turned them into small ponds.
Only then did the geese arrive.
A little too early for the new season's plantings,
but not too late. They exuded confidence it'll happen soon.
Geese do that well, ....exude.

.....LOUDmeow

BRIGHT!!!!!

Spring has barely sprung and we're inundated with
questions about breakfast soap.
It'll take some time to explain.
Too much time, in fact.
This is quicker, "hold still so Bubba can hammer you.."
Time to be bright and brighter.
Sunlight flowers.

.....LOUDmeow

Holy Toledo

As she slowly reached for the breakfast soap,
sunlight gently broke thru the kitchen window.
Time for clean hands. No time for cold cereal.
A proper warm breakfast to cut the chill in the air.
And that special water, from Ohio......

.....LOUDmeow

Perseverance....

Bobcat in the backyard on the lawn chair.
Paws big enough to easily run atop the deep snow.
Surely if she stares at it long enough, it will move.
Just don't call her Shirley.
Missed our bobcat video? Click here.

.....LOUDmeow

End of Winter......

The snow came early this season. And continued to fall for months.
Three, almost four, feet of snow still at the forest's edge as Spring begins.
Too much to melt fast. Too much to stay long.
Time to make tracks.

...........LOUDmeow

Happiness.....

Never can get too much snow.
Working past three feet and a few inches
still on the ground around the offices.
Need more time for fun.
The snow-ball's just a carriage ride away....

.....LOUDmeow

Integrity.......

A virtue, perhaps the most puzzling.
Philosophically speaking.....ohhhh we like to use
that word in at least one of these sentences.....
It has so many syllables, it just adds integrity.
That was too simple. What will the other cats think?

.....LOUDmeow

Cold Duck.......

Sun barely up, ice closing over the river.
A quack here, a quack there.
But not quacks everywhere.
And the fish....yes, laughing.

.....LOUDmeow

Retire now.....

Maybe staff cuts, maybe no job tomorrow!
Looking for security now...hmmmm...just retire?
Oh, wait......actually need a real job first.
Tough darts again.

.....LOUDmeow

GUANXI.......

Not easy to define.
Drawing on interpersonal relationships.
Business success often rests on its
establishment and maintenance.

.....LOUDmeow

Winter in the Forest

Almost lost in the woods in the snow.
Once off the road, it seems the same white, green
and tree in every direction. With snow hidden
streams & brooks iced over but not always frozen supportive.
Fun and peril, on an enjoyable scale today.

Snow Day

Declare it a snow day?
You still have to log-in at the office.
It's like root beer --
a cruel, cruel hoax.

.....LOUDmeow