I was kinda taken with most of the images for this No Theme Thursday challenge but not enough by a single one to write anything deeply. So, I figured on some haiku form couplets for every picture instead.
Fourteen Postcards – 6th July 2025
Tag: haiku
Who Says? – 25th May 2025
the voice in my head
is trying to convince me
that I am crazy
Inspired by a line in L.E. Mullin’s Flight of the Condor comic
Pointing To Reality – 9th May 2025
A finger pointing
towards reality is
not reality.
Starting to believe
forms fundamentalism;
curious, no more.
A double haiku based on a quote from Adyashanti
Five Books Away – 6th May 2025
to be an expert
visit the library often
read and read some more
Blow Our Cover – 15th April 2025
Open-mindedness
tested by relationships,
are most valuable.
Those who irritate
have come to blow our cover,
show our defence.
So, we must practice,
face up to the challenges
to realise growth.
Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – haiku
Freefall Reply – 26th December 2024
This haiku was posted by Gary B. Dean at AllPoetry.com on 23rd July 2024.
Freefall
All leaves fall away
From the branches that lift them
For their only flight
I liked it and wanted to reply. So I did.
What is the meaning
Hidden in these words of yours?
How to understand?
The leaves fall away
Because the tree doesn’t need
Them in the winter
Once served their purpose
What use are they to the tree?
Good compost coming!
Today I’m feeling:
Dizzy though my brain was fairly active once I woke up.
I went to Utopia and sent work for my students to do, though I expect very few of them to bother.
I chatted with Bruno for an hour or so, but had to concentrate hard to stay focused. I talked more than I have in a long time and quickly got tired, so I came back home to rest again.
Health:
Physical: 6
Mental: 6
Today I’m grateful for:
Kru Jern again for following up on her class to send me the work I assigned them today. Only one student submitted my work during class time.
The best thing about today was:
Reading comics. I didn’t do much else!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I found that my order for cat food got cancelled, though I haven’t received any refund yet. It’s annoying as we have almost run out and it may take extra time to get more delivered.
Gift Return – 18th March 2024
I.
This time is a gift I give
Sharing these pictures on a page
The words a gift from the past
So that you remember the age
This love is a gift I give
To teach is to learn is to teach
Wisdom is the gift I offer
Put within your reach
II. (Rolling Haiku)
The gift keeps giving
To the wisdom of learning
Each generation
To the wisdom of learning
The gift keeps giving
Submitted to No Theme Thursday
Today I’m feeling:
Tired because I had slept too much over the last two days and so struggled to sleep last night along with Cap wanting to be let out and back in again three times. I hope to get home in the early afternoon and catch up on some sleep then. The air is still making me feel dizzy and sick too.
Today I’m grateful for:
The four staff at the post office who I communicated with Google Translate telling them that I didn’t want to pay customs tax on a parcel from Yukari in Japan. The shirt and CDs were already expensive and I don’t want to have to pay even more just to receive them.
Anyway, in my mind I’m already resigned to having to pay the tax but I thought that I would try my best to not and the four guys were all a little stuck as it is just their job to collect the money and send it to the customs people.
I explained that the things in the parcel were just some stuff that I left in Japan when I was visiting there and it was just being sent back to me. The value on the customs declaration is just for insurance claims if it gets lost. They were sympathetic but said they just collected the money.
This would be different in Australia where you have a good chance of not paying import duty if you can argue a good case as I have done in the past on several occasions.
Well, as it was up to the customs people I asked them to call them and explain the situation. They tried but said there was no answer, maybe because it was lunchtime. OK, when you’ve talked to them you can call me and I gave them my phone number and left.
I doubt that they will call as none of them speak English so I will go back in a day or two and see what the situation is.
The best thing about today was:
Getting my grading files all done and dusted by 9.30am, allowing me time to enjoy coffee before a little bit of shopping, where, finally, Big C has the Strawberry Granola in stock again.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
I suppose the situation above that I describe about the customs tax is out of my control and I dealt with it calmly and softly. There was no point in getting upset with the staff at the post office – they were just doing their job.
How do I deal with uncertainty?
I remind myself that everything is uncertain. When you consider that everything is uncertain and that you have been dealing with this reality for 56 years already, you might not be exactly sure how you deal with it but like my mum always said you ‘just get on with it.’
I have become more flexible and accepting of change over time, something I know that Hayden often struggles with. I have also reduced my expectations around things being a certain way – Thailand has taught me this quite well.
Broken Mind – 12th March 2023
Giving in to the
Broken mind
You got me down here
Pinned to the floorboards
Can’t stand up
Falling down again
Every time I rise
With the sun
Comes the clouds and rain
Giving in to the
Medicine
What is normal now?
Today I’m feeling:
Some aching bones but relaxed and positive.
Today I’m grateful for:
My blow-up neck stretcher. I don’t know if it really helps my neck but it does feel like it helps keep it stable and forces me to sit up rather than lie down to read or watch TV. I go through phases of using it and it has felt necessary for the last few days.
The best thing about today was:
Forcing myself out and enjoying sitting at Daytripper and putting together more lessons with Quizizz. It’s making me look a bit more at my lessons to see how to improve them. I don’t like to do work at the weekend but I’m spoiled with actually doing so little work whilst I’m at school during the week!
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
In my ongoing attempts to counter the smell of cat pee in my mattress, I pulled off all my bedding, shoved it into the washing machine and headed off for my morning caffeine injection.
Waiting for that first cup I checked my phone and found a heavy rain warning for the whole day. Everyone is hoping for rain to crush the poisonous smoke in the air. But will it rain?
It was forecast yesterday too but with nothing eventuating. Just a smoky sky that even the power of the sun was unable to really penetrate.
Either way, today looks like more of the same. I’ll stick the bedding under cover and hope the humidity dries it out by bedtime.
(It’s 8 pm now and there’s been no rain and the hot humid air dried everything before lunchtime. Tomorrow’s forecast is a 90% chance of rain so let’s hope that that comes true!)
Something I learned today?
A piece brokered between Saudi Arabia and Iran by China. Could this be the start of lasting peace spreading around the world or will the USA inevitably stick its nose in to destabilise things for its own gain?
What is a simple delight I have been enjoying lately?
My two bottles of Curcumin C, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, activate my tastebuds in the best possible way.
Talking with Hayden has also been nice the last few times we’ve talked too. He seems a lot more open and not stuck in his head so much.
Yoghurt, muesli, strawberries and of course, coffee.
Our cats, despite the pee issue, make me smile every day somehow.
My students, despite frustrating me to no end, are all also delightful.
Life is pretty good.
Tough Haiku – 2nd February 2023
Life is not easy
It is not supposed to be
Build up your wisdom
Today I’m feeling:
Happy but getting a little fatigued, maybe from pushing myself too hard with my morning exercise. But I need to keep pushing if I’m going to lose some belly fat.
Today I’m grateful for:
My tennis racket bug zapper. It’s supremely satisfying to hear the crackle of frying mosquitoes in its mesh as I wave it through the air.
The best thing about today was:
The positive response from the 4 students I sent messages to last night, telling them how well they are doing in class and for a couple of them to try and focus their friends too. Today’s class was much smoother and everyone seemed a little happier.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
If anything was out of my control today it didn’t have any noticeable effect on me.
Something I learned today?
I decided to look at the Guardian to see if there was anything I might learn that was in the news. I found very little. If each article just included facts about events they would be one paragraph long. It’s one of the reasons people only read headlines because there is little of consequence within.
What do you do to be involved in the community?
In general, due to my poor language skills, I don’t do much but I do consider that being a teacher is bring involved in the community. I hope to encourage these students to be the best that they can?
Sometimes dreams and reality merge.
As I walked through the gate towards the regular morning coffee I’m thinking of cars, locking the door of my own with the key in my pocket. Imagine that, me from the 80s.
The remnants of sound of the podcast talking about used car salesmen and a ’68 Cadillac, friends driving around listening to old tapes.
And a vague, fleeting recollection of the dream last night of cars past, pieces falling apart and breaking down. Those pieces of shit – a nostalgia trip of loving memory.
The bad times were always the best.
So what was real in this fog of pre-caffeine confusion? And is that what dying is? Do dreams and reality blur slowly at the edges until we finally fall out of our existence and into the ever-long dream?
Visited Last Night – 3rd May 2022
You were in my dream
But I don’t know who you are
So perfect to hold
Your black and white top
Hugs tight to your chest and waist
Hold this forever
Composite angel
Of everything I wanted
Gone with eyes opened
Touched me deep inside
The girl with no face or name
Visit me again
Nobody ever figures out what life is about, and it doesn’t matter.
Richard Feynman
Gratitude Journal
I am so happy and grateful for the lady who made my salad last night. It was nice of her to prepare a second bowl for me.
1994ever 