Wreath

Longwood Gardens, PA

December 30, 2007

Photograph copyright Vanessa V. Kilmer

I Love Wild Onions

Tom from the wonderful Tom & Icy duo at Icy's Playground makes video's that parody things he finds on friends' blogs. He tickles my funny bone. He recently made a video of my story Divine Death (I think as a way to get me back to working on it, lazy bum that I am.) Please go take a look at his rendition of Nessa's Story. You will laugh out loud. I promise.

Gone Fishing

Jethro, he was a bounder.
Candy, he sniffed around her.
A two legged dish,
she was his great wish,
even though she smelled of flounder.

Tattoo

I swore I would never get a tattoo. I lied...again. Never says never. A tattoo just seemed like something I really needed for my fiftieth birthday. I drew the design. I knew what I wanted. It had to be a butterfly, of course.
I went to Luck of the Draw in Millville, NJ, where my SIL got all of his tattoos. He has many. Here are the pictures of mine.





It is on the inside of my left arm near the crook of the elbow.

My daughter received her first tattoo, also. Her's is my logo and her birth date as my copyright because she is my greatest creation.

Warm Memory

On a hot, humid day in August, all of the children in a generic Levittown neighborhood ran up and down the street playing kickball. The ball escaped the macadam playing field and rolled into the yard of the angry old man in the brown house.

A caucus ensued to determine if the ball should be retrieved in a hit and run maneuver, complete with distractions and decoys or if a sacrificial lamb should be chosen to ask for the return of the ball.

Before a plan could be agreed upon, grouchy faced grandpa tramped out his front door dressed in his yellowed boxers, black knee high socks and tennis shoes. His shirtless belly hung over the loose elastic waistband of his underpants. His combed over hair lay across his scalp in dark, greasy furrows. He scooped up the ball, yelled something obscene in a drunken slur and weaved back to his house, his butt crack waving good-bye.

The kids sat in a line on the round curb like birds resting on a phone wire. Indignity, outrage and plans for revenge increased the ambient temperature. No one went home. Outside meant freedom from prying parental eyes and tedious chores. They decided to play hide and seek until the nice lady came home and returned their ball.

The hiders hid and the counter counted. Right around fifty-nine, the truck rounded the corner. Squeals and laughter, excited calls and feet pounded pavement energized the air. The diesel pickup shot clouds of thick mosquito killing spray from the tank mounted in its bed. The children ran down the street enveloped in the enchanted brume: fumes breathed deep into lungs, eyes burned, nose hairs singed and skin irritated. They frolicked in the foggy fairyland between Avalon and Glastonbury.

Cold Morning

Harsh wind blows branches,
first snow falls from breaking boughs;
rock-a-bye baby.

Sanguine Sunset

Woo Hoo - 50,048

* * * Update * * *
Thanks for your congratulations and for continuing to visit despite the weeds, dust bunnies and cobwebs.

I will post this year's rough draft by this weekend, hopefully.