FSO- Under Construction

Poetry, road Blocks
5 AM Morning run
Under Construction deadlines
Fueled by confusion
End of year decisions

Pesty Father Time, and baby son...

[My first thought- Gordon, they have started companies now?]

Don’t like the signs
As it may be
They are ties that bind
Eye to eye
Human reality
Snow filled pot holes

Blinding to those unkind...

Time heals on every turn
On that old track
So they say, we make
Oceans to my left

Cold winds on my back...

[Sorry guys, could not resist, and Laura thought it was funny! Creativity in unusual ways...]


Popcicle stick wax stains
Mile for mile
Painted Lady autumn toes
Fierce muslin rag pain
another half a year gone
Fire and ice, women pay the price...

Worth every smile...

Back on the road
Drove, and drove
Know what was found
Only beauty; no road blocks
Mingled with mindless construction

Underpaid workers rearranging mounds of water...

Forty nine next June
All will seem a blur
New Jersey roads
frozen Millstone Pond
Cat tail memory

Road side photos will stir...

Planes leaving Newark
Heard passing overhead
Maybe someones last flight
Mom and Dad are gone
Mesquite, tumble weed
Cactus, ground cover plunder

Once said their daughter was contrite...

Words, energy to burn
Time to make another pass
Round and round it goes
Snow fall stumbles
Scribbles, love attacks

Only reminiscing around the old track...

Thanks for coming over to my part of the world, and sharing in my 'Under Construction' and Friday Shoot Out... See you next week...

Dismantle

Dreams
So real
Fingers
Could
Never
Change
Strangers
Pass
Years
Matter
Time
Songs
Unsung
Hearts
Beat
Rhythm
Skips
Undone
Secrets
Dismantle
Dreams

© E Stelling, 2009

My last poem before the New Year...for my dream girl, Rena.

Photograph of my artwork...dismantled.

Muse Monday 4/FSO- Angels

Benevolent Celestial

Artist’s hands
Formed life
Indistinct shadows
Mutated divinity
Thrown collection
Portals of clay
Deceived by light
Face to face
Feeding off chaos
Fending this room
Empty eyes
Staring
Soulless
Hypnotized slave…

Mirrors of
Once was
Deaths scapegoat
Anchored alter
Affinity of fire
Demons
Or angels
Morally ambiguous
Move unclad
Organic battle ground
Company we keep
Hell abide
My pain
their treasure…

© E Stelling, 2009

Demons are believed to have been fallen angels, and they can change their form to suit their needs. In the case of death, they are always regarded as the spirits of those who have died; it is believed that their are good and bad demons. When I created these plaques in my 'throwing' class it was not clear what was manifesting, as I made them after Anelisa passed away. The light clearly cast a shadow of a one sided wing in my eyes...

I am using this as my FSO- Angels picked by Kim, post since I am still feeling under the weather with a flu/cold this past week. This is my living room wall in Princeton, and part of 'My Town'...

Funny how I was inspired to post this Monday, and had not even noticed it was our theme...

We wish you all a Happy Holidays, and a New Year!

The Stelling Household

FSO- My Town Dressed In Christmas

I might have a Princeton, NJ address, but I really live in the Plainsboro Township. To my surprise Plainsboro does not decorate, so I could not show you my real town, only the one that is more well known. Princeton University, and town center.

Once again my flash did not go off, because every inch of the streets are lined with lights.

I have not felt well the past few days due to stress and allergies, but I made an effort to walk around and take some photos. When I drove in two nights ago I felt like that one photo I posted of the 'National Lampoon Christmas Vacation house'...I was blinded by light...

Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night
Madman drummers bummers,
Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin' kinda older,
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin', sneezin' and wheezin... sorry that song just popped into my mind!

This alley way above does not do it justice, but it was cold, and I was shivering...

The photo above reminds me of a store front you would see in 'The Scrooge' one of my favorite movies to watch each year. I like the old buildings like this around town...

If you eat dinner in Princeton, you could do some window shopping and dream...they town is full of high end stores, restaurants, and hip Princeton college hang outs.

I love driving around seeing lights, and when I lived in Dallas the tradition was to go to a wealthy area that was known for its elaborate yard decor. The line would be for miles, but you just waited your turn and let your jaw hit the ground, well the floor board! My kids loved doing that every year...

We do not put up a tree or decor in the past nine years. Hubby travels so much, and honestly we live in a very small condo and there is no room. Plus I am allergic to evergreens... Okay excuses excuses, but one day I will have grandchildren and have a my own 'National Lampoon Christmas'... I am baking with my clients kids so there are aromas of Christmas in the air around my house and theirs...

Another Fight

Not the cat fight that men would like to see, but I have had this irritating puddle of mystery water in front of my stove for the past month.

I clean it up, and move on.

I spend a lot of time moving on.

My allergies are affecting my mood, and my eyesight.

My eyesight is getting worse.

The eye doctor could not give me an exact 'lights out' ETA.

I knew it was coming.

Being born blind can have its advantages.

Being born half blind sucks.

My mind however...is questionable.

Sometimes we only see part of a picture.

We step back,  and then we see more.

Today, this is what I see.


I told my landlord that a woman my age going through menopause could tear out the cabinet and linoleum quick in comparison to the plumber that is coming over.

I would save him money, so he could put money back into my kitchen.

He decided it was best for me to leave it to a less emotional and more professional demolition team member.

I cannot imagine a plumber not having a bottle of cheap whiskey stashed in his truck for those less than pleasant moments alone with back up sewage pipes.

Maybe being blind is not an issue for me after all.

My sense of humor remains intact.

Friday Shoot Out- Weather

Today's theme was chosen by Emma...

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been interested in the weather. I remember being in 5th grade and wanting to be a meteorologist. I would open up my parents' encyclopedias and read about any word I could think of that had to do with meteorology. When watching TV, I would actually sit for hours just watching The Weather Channel. My parents had a big screen TV and I would stand in front of it (and in front of the meteorologist) and give my parents the forecast.

Our weather lately is I think like most of the US. One minute its sunny, not too cold; the next minute its rainy and dreary; then last Saturday I left my poetry group and snow flurries were coming down. Where was my camera, YIKES, when I needed it. At home.

We had snow on the ground for a few days, but most of it melted.

Today in Princeton, New Jersey the weather report is...


Fair and Windy

40°F
Feels Like
30°F

UV Index:		2 Low
Wind:		From WNW at 20 mph gusting to 29 mph
Humidity:		43%
Pressure:		29.64 in.
Dew Point:		19°F
Visibility:		9.0 miles

The first photo I posted above was from Sunday evening. We were on our way home from a Christmas Party, and we noticed about a mile away these lights. The sky seemed to glow from a mile away. You might have thought an alien ship had landed. Actually we thought of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation when we stopped in front, and laughed so hard when my flash did not even go off!

Below I snagged this photo from an online weather camera. The turnpike is about two miles from our home...

Emma, I too shared a love for reading encyclopedias. My father got talked into buying a set from a door to door salesman. He and I enjoyed them for years. I loved reading about everything, but one thing in particular, I always remembered the giant Redwoods in California. I finally made a trip to San Fransisco and had my picture taken next to one. I also was threatened in elementary school, because I would bring them for 'show and tell', and read things. The kids told me if I kept bringing them, well, they would beat me up! So I stopped.

Now the internet is another 'encyclopedia' favorite of mine, as well as the many books we have on food history, and such!

My sweetie grew up in NYC, and his family would ski each year. I grew up on the lakes of Texas fishing, and we did not have 'real' snowy weather, mountains, money (I believed only the rich went winter skiing each year), nor did I have a passion for doing so. I looked down a black diamond skii hill once in New Mexico, near Albuquerque, and thought, you have got to be crazy to go down that steep thing! I did sketch it though. He keeps his skis handy in the front storage, or by the front door when we get enough snow to go cross country, well, a'cross our back common area.

Call me crazy, but after spending forty plus years in a state that is known for the heat, and shadows cast on the ground by passing clouds...I love the cold weather!

FSO- Favorite Things

....Aside from the fact that I can't quite remember the words to These are a few of my favorite things and so I'm loudly singing, "Rainbows on lollipops, birds of a feather; gingersnaps, sauerkraut don't go together, when I fly kites I hold tight to the strings, these are a few of my favorite things!" Well...it fits with the music. Go ahead sing it out loud and see! Mark

'Favorite thing' is the theme for this weeks FSO... My favorite thing is Creativity!


If you live,
                       and I mean truly live; recognize,
                                                     and I mean truly recognize your path.
    Sometimes we have two paths.                                                             Sometimes we have none, because we do not see even one.
                                                    Mixed with recognition, true heart, a persons strength will be seen in all he or she does full heartily;

                   does that not mean that you are whole heartily a true heart?
                                                                                                                 We can be who we are truly meant to be, if we can be true to ourselves.

                                                                           Be who we are meant to be?
By following the path set before us?                                                                    Sure we have obstacles,

but those are only part of the path that gives us strength to keep going...they are just hurdles.

                                                                                             We have to learn to jump...jump higher.             Jumping those hurdles isn't so hard!?                             
                                                         I might even have three paths, you may follow...

I have been told by my teachers, mentors, and anyone else I might care to hear, that I contemplate...think more than necessary...can't stop, won't stop, part of who I am... My voice, poetry, vision for my work...oh, and I like puzzles, love them! I adore my new Prada glasses I just purchased and am using as my muse here...

I also love discovering artwork as these butterfly benches in a local garden, that unfortunately was meant to be a butterfly garden, but they have yet to plant any flowers... Gosh I just keep thinking of more stuff I love, and am I crazy for forgetting that I love food; it is a passion I share with many...
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Go over and check out the other Friday Shoot Out Members, and their favorite things... We now have Mr Linky to help keep track of who posts, and mine is going up early because frankly I am swamped with work, and a trip into the city tomorrow...

PS. I will be starting an artistic group this coming week- Muse Monday. You will do a photograph along with a poem, a favorite quote, video, or just your feelings, link it (instructions Monday) through here and it will work like our FSO... Looking forward to moving on with my artistic endeavors...

Muse II- Photography/Poetry

I have been considering starting a blog group for this purpose- combining blog photography and a blog poets works with the title of this post. If you are interested then let me know; otherwise I will just continue on my own, and will begin Muse Monday...

Do you find yourself missing summer, as if a thief crept in the night removing it from under dreaming head...

Discovering a pebble in your pocket, hoping it could magically transport feet into a slowly sinking warm embrace...

Muse II by T-Maryland

Pebbles

Sand

Rest

Side

By side

Embraced

Pathways

Watery graves

Winding shores

Carry

Toss

Nature

Her fury

Polishes

Shapes

Saddens

Sensitive feet

Reminding

Life is shared

Walk with care…

© E Stelling, 2009

Check out Farmlady @ Over Good Ground she also post her photos with poetry...