Making it Up As I Go Along #559 (writing)

The Lazy Chipmunk

The first Fall walk has come today
Gone the Mosquitos of summer days
The woods now free again
Free to trample browning leaves
A lone straggler lifts into the air
No longer buzzing with ravenous purpose
Now drifting upon the breeze as dandelion pollen

A chipmunk is surprised to see me
But rather than the frantic scatter of summer
He lets out his sonar squeak with effort
And ambles only a few inches
Into his wood debris fort
Playing a lazy game of hide and seek
Expecting my laziness to match his
And have me trudge by unknowing

Had I been a raucous boy of twelve
Perhaps I'd have waged war on the chipmunk
Prodded him out with a stick
And changed the story at emergency
Claiming to have been attacked unprovoked by the rabid beast

But the smile the chipmunk brought me sufficed
A do trudge by on my way
Leaving the chipmunk to basque
In his feelings of superiority
As he believes to know me so well

Further on a squirrel scavenges the underbrush
And his seeing me is met with more energy
He scurries along the opposite side of a nearby tree
Hidden from my sight as he climbs
I pause and wait quietly
Until I catch his cautious peeking
And hear him dart further up the back end bark
As he goes into squirrel red alert.

The frog pool sits still now
All the tiny fish are gone
And my hope is for the frogs to be buried
Deep down within the mud
But worry strikes for their safety
As one frog corpse lays white upon the bottom
Ghostly under the cold ripples

On into the woods again
Heading home without the summer floral perfume
It is now replaced by falls earthiness
The smell of leaves transforming into soil
Slowly becoming mulch
Fertilizing for next years growth

And back to my steps
Warm in my fleece
With hands emerging from the warmth of sleeves
I head back into my own
Greeted by the furnace cutting in
Smiling once again
At my encounter
With the lazy chipmunk

Making It Up As I Go Along #559 (weekly portion)

 Well I took the longest break I've had since writing my blog.  The trip to Newfoundland kept things busy enough where I just didn't feel too ready to write.  And with only one day between flying back to Ottawa and going back to work I could have posted then but decompression from the vacation took hold.

So tonight I'm posting the day to day activity of the past month.  And tomorrow I'll post something a bit more creative on its own.  Then it's back to normal once again.

FRIDAY (Aug 23)...

--- Day shift. I'm tired due to lack of a good sleep and work comes in spurts. Spurts is actually harder when tired. Steady flow or quiet works. Spurts just keeps nagging at you while you want to rest.

--- Some laundry and a movie before baseball on TV in the evening. Starts with Blue Jays but they stink so I switch to Vin Scully calling the Dodgers when that comes on and the evening is bliss.  Enjoyed the movie. The Intouchables is a French subtitled one that was pretty unique.

SATURDAY (Aug 24)...

--- Days again. Pretty quiet one.

SUNDAY/MONDAY (Aug 25/26)...

--- Nights alone both nights. Fairly quiet at work both nights too. The Monday afternoon nap was one of those disorienting ones where I wake up and look at the clock... See 3:30... And wonder if that's AM or PM. That's a sign that the nap was a success.

--- Miss playoff softball due to work. And the team loses. We are eliminated. After a good start to the year we lost the last four games. It just all sort of fell apart for some reason.

TUESDAY (Aug 27)...

--- Lay low around the house. Packing and eating and drinking the last things in the fridge that will go bad if left while I'm away.

--- Cab to the airport around 7:30 and fly home just after ten. Watch Jaws on the inflight entertainment and arrive around 2:30 in the morning. Some toast and tea for a snack before bed at around 4:00.

WEDNESDAY (Aug 28)...

--- Quiet day as jet lag and late nights to bed with shift work and the night flight have me worn down. We go to Bidgoods for some groceries and a lunch and have Wayne and Sylvia over for supper in the evening.

THURSDAY (Aug 29)...

--- Do some shopping downtown. Get a couple pairs of pants, three shirts and a jacket. All overdue purchases good for weddings or simply wearing to work.

--- Before the shopping get a visit from Del. sit around chatting for a while.

--- Good spaghetti supper and a bit of TV with the parents in the evening.

FRIDAY (Aug 30)...

--- Movie night with mom and dad. Supper at Fog City followed by the Butler. Good flick.

SATURDAY (Aug 31)...

--- Out to Jim and Kristann's for supper and a visit. A fine time catching up and with BBQ steak to boot.

SUNDAY (Sept 1)...

--- Long day on the road. Leave town just before 11:00. Stop for lunch in Clarenville... Having one of their fine burgers. Side trip to Twillingate to visit some family for a bit before continuing on, in the rain, to Botwood. In all, around 8 hours driving. But have a nice supper at Eric and Mini's before playing some cards.

MONDAY (Sept 2)...

--- Tour the museum that Eric has been working on. Then visit the grandparent's graves and go for a drive. Too cold to do much walking around. The wind makes it. Around 9 degrees. Big supper follows and cards once again ends the night.

TUESDAY (Sept 3)...

--- Leave in the morning and make the 11:15 ferry to Fogo Island. Get some lunch at Nicole's Cafe while waiting for our rooms to be ready and then hang around talking with Nadine for a while once we get settled away in our rooms.

--- Back to Nicole's for supper and some cards end the night.

WEDNESDAY (Sept 4)...

--- Half half weather day. Go over to Deep Bay with dad for a bit. Tour the Fogo Island Inn in the afternoon and return for supper at night. Quite the place. High quality and good food.

--- Back for cards at the end of the night again.

THURSDAY (Sept 5)...

--- Bit of a lazy morning. Drive to the town of Fogo. On the way back we come across two caribou.

--- Afternoon walk about with Nadine and her dog. Pick a few berries and head over to Wester' Shore to climb about the rocks underneath the big Inn.

--- Nadine's parents offer to take us out in the boat in the evening. Calm seas and sun make it a great trip out. Lots of pictures there.

--- Last supper at Nicole's right after that.

FRIDAY (Sept 6)...

--- Up early and gone. Drive to Lewisporte to meet up again with Eric and Mini. I had forgotten my sunglasses in Botwood and they meet us for lunch and to return the glasses to me.

--- On to the Anchor Inn in Twillingate after that. Settle in there before having supper at the restaurant there with Wince, Brenda and Shirley joining us. It's become largely a food dominant holiday.

SATURDAY (Sept 7)...

--- Up fairly early. Lack of soundproofing basically makes that a certainty.

--- Wedding day. First I do a bit of a hike around with Wince, Christine and Peter. Then clean up and go to Karens wedding. Perfect weather for it.

SUNDAY (Sept 8)...

--- Up early and we drive back to St. John's. rain for about half the drive and the drivers side windshield wiper isn't doing so well. But we make it ok and go have BBQ at Wayne's once we get back.

MONDAY (Sept 9)...

--- Not much today. Take it easy really. Mow the lawns.

TUESDAY (Sept 10)...

--- Meet Jim for lunch. Then out with Del and Dave for supper and a movie. Elysium was pretty solid.

WEDNESDAY (Sept 11)...

--- Fairly low key day. Mostly around the house. Do a walk around the neighbourhood.

THURSDAY (Sept 12)...

--- Do a short walk with dad and then out to supper with Craig. Downtown to the Ship for the meal and a few drinks then over to Fred's Records for a look around. I get a collection of fifteen 45s from Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fairly neat package of material.  

FRIDAY (Sept 13)...

--- Lunch with mom and dad at Chafes Landing. Good fish and chips.

--- Out to Jim's in the evening. A night outside by the fire. Chatting and watching kids play spotlight. Marshmallows roasted and eaten. A good last night.

SATURDAY (Sept 14)...

--- Hang about the house in the heat. Mostly basement time as the upstairs is cooking. Odd last day in Newfoundland.

--- Fly out in the late evening. Halifax airport has improved. I could hang out for my connection without complete boredom. Arrive back in Ottawa in the evening. Unpack and watch some tv.

SUNDAY (Sept 15)...

--- Groceries and some unwinding after a long vacation. Lay pretty low.

MONDAY (Sept 16)...

--- Back to dayshift. Lots of SICAR today (shoe impressions). And some dealings with the FBI that feel fairly eerie after reading the evening news after work.

TUESDAY (Sept 17)...

--- Quieter day at work. Lunch with Shannon for basically the first time this summer.

WEDNESDAY (Sept 18)...

--- Dentist. A few cavities will mean I return in two weeks. As long as the sensitivity in my top molars settles, that's fine with me.

--- Night shift is fairly straight forward.

THURSDAY (Sept 19)...

--- More like summer again today. Sun and pretty comfortable temp. Out watering the lawns. Got to keep them moist for two weeks after my grub treatment. The trials and tribulations of suburbanship.  

--- This is the longest I've gone not posting to my blog. I could have done it in Newfoundland. And could also have forced something right after I got back from there to Ottawa. But the break has been nice and the trip was fairly busy. While it's never easy to aim for writing during work.

FRIDAY (Sept 20)...

--- Up pretty early so I'm sluggish. Water the lawns and have a good walk.

--- Late movie with Phil. The sequel to Insidious 2 isn't up to the first but good for some frights.  The movie goers stink though. Loud and immature. It's getting to the point that you wish there were ushers in the isles.

SATURDAY (Sept 21)...

--- Quiet rainy day around the house. Go to Wild Wing in the evening with Phil and watch the UFC fights.

SUNDAY (Sept 22)...

--- Cool day with showers coming and going regularly enough that it makes a walk tough to plan.

--- Sort the pictures from my camera. Watch a ball game. Deal with the hockey pool.