The one I didn't submit to the lilac photo contest

But I do still love this one. Such papery, feather fineness. So much lavender love.

~Ally

Poems for Today

When You Come

by Maya Angelou

When you come to me, unbidden,
Beckoning me
To long-ago rooms,
Where memories lie.

Offering me, as to a child, an attic,
Gatherings of days too few.
Baubles of stolen kisses.
Trinkets of borrowed loves.
Trunks of secret words,

I CRY.



The Cat's Song
by Marge Piercy

Mine, says the cat, putting out his paw of darkness.
My lover, my friend, my slave, my toy, says
the cat making on your chest his gesture of drawing
milk from his mother's forgotten breasts.

Let us walk in the woods, says the cat.
I'll teach you to read the tabloid of scents,
to fade into shadow, wait like a trap, to hunt.
Now I lay this plump warm mouse on your mat.

You feed me, I try to feed you, we are friends,
says the cat, although I am more equal than you.
Can you leap twenty times the height of your body?
Can you run up and down trees? Jump between roofs?

Let us rub our bodies together and talk of touch.
My emotions are pure as salt crystals and as hard.
My lusts glow like my eyes. I sing to you in the mornings
walking round and round your bed and into your face.

Come I will teach you to dance as naturally
as falling asleep and waking and stretching long, long.
I speak greed with my paws and fear with my whiskers.
Envy lashes my tail. Love speaks me entire, a word

of fur. I will teach you to be still as an egg
and to slip like the ghost of wind through the grass.



One Year
by Sharon Olds

When I got to his marker, I sat on it,
like sitting on the edge of someone's bed
and I rubbed the smooth, speckled granite.
I took some tears from my jaw and neck
and started to wash a corner of his stone.
Then a black and amber ant
ran out onto the granite, and off it,
and another ant hauled a dead
ant onto the stone, leaving it, and not coming back.
Ants ran down into the grooves of his name
and dates, down into the oval track of the
first name's O, middle name's O,
the short O of his last name,
and down into the hyphen between
his birth and death--little trough of his life.
Soft bugs appeared on my shoes,
like grains of pollen, I let them move on me,
I rinsed a dark fleck of mica,
and down inside the engraved letters
the first dots of lichen were appearing
like stars in early evening.
I saw the speedwell on the ground with its horns,
the coiled ferns, copper-beech blossoms, each
petal like that disc of matter which
swayed, on the last day, on his tongue.
Tamarack, Western hemlock,
manzanita, water birch
with its scored bark,
I put my arms around a trunk and squeezed it,
then I lay down on my father's grave.
The sun shone down on me, the powerful
ants walked on me. When I woke,
my cheek was crumbly, yellowish
with a mustard plaster of earth. Only
at the last minute did I think of his body
actually under me, the can of
bone, ash, soft as a goosedown
pillow that bursts in bed with the lovers.
When I kissed his stone it was not enough,
when I licked it my tongue went dry a moment, I
ate his dust, I tasted my dirt host.
Anonymous submission.



Distressed Haiku
by Donald Hall

In a week or ten days
the snow and ice
will melt from Cemetery Road.

I'm coming! Don't move!

Once again it is April.
Today is the day
we would have been married
twenty-six years.

I finished with April
halfway through March.

You think that their
dying is the worst
thing that could happen.

Then they stay dead.

Will Hall ever write
lines that do anything
but whine and complain?

In April the blue
mountain revises
from white to green.

The Boston Red Sox win
a hundred straight games.
The mouse rips
the throat of the lion

and the dead return.

Our Little Darlings (framed with flowers)

These are the two special kitties who found us last September when we needed them most. They were living in the woods, and appeared to be starving. Here, the day we got them, they are quickly settling in to the luxe life. Judy is in front, O'Reilly curled up behind.
O'Reilly on the left, the son of Judy on the right - they enjoy this two meals a day thing.
We loved watching their ears bob up and down as they wolfed down their kibbles. At the time, Tip was with us, and he loved eating cat food. Reilly in turn liked eating the dog's kibble.
Here O'Reilly has relaxed nicely into his new life. This picture was taken later in the fall.
And just a few days ago, I came home to one of my favorite sights - my kitties asleep together (which doesn't always happen), one showing his length as he likes to stretch out, and mama showing her curled in a ball, roly poly look. She's no starving kitty any more!
We love them so. Hours of entertainment.

~Ally

I'll Have a Cheezits, a Pepsi, and a Raccoon...What?

Just when you thought you'd seen it all...

Young Raccoons Saved from Pepsi Machine @ Yahoo! Video

Love this crazy wild World Wide Web!

Loving Tascha's videos!

Watch and enjoy...the artist at work.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=timewithtascha

Stylin'

OK, here are some totally bizarre Tees to keep you in style. Check out the website: http://store.cottonfactory.com/oldschooltees.html.




(That last one is my personal fav. Heh heh.)

~Ally

Great WW2 Posters

Two great pics I swiped from the most interesting post about a WW2-themed ladies' event, written by my dear friend Marie at A Year From Oak Cottage.

I love these.

And that's just divine. May become my new motto.

Check out Marie's hysterical chicken picture, and her beautiful quiche with recipe attached. Yumm.

Thanks, Marie!

~Ally

Thanks and Dreams

Tip: Check out the great new painting "Woofstock" at Time with Tascha.

Hello friends~

Thought I'd do a brief gratefulness list:

1. Scott's daughter Hillary and her husband Dustie are doing well with the kids. But say a prayer for them, as they are grieving the loss of Dustie's brother who passed unexpectedly.

2. My friendship with the little old man is coming together nicely, and I think of the time spent as "volunteer work." Doing nice things for him is helping me as much as it helps him.

3. Mom and I plowed through two weeks of old moldy boxes - remnants of several previous cross country moves - and pitched about 80% of all of that stuff. Don't worry, Lauren, we kept all the memorabilia and great children's books. We cleaned and repacked everything to keep and we will be mold free very soon!

4. No hives from the mold. Yeehaw!

5. Despite uncovering MAJOR political and idealistic differences between me and my old friends reclaimed on Facebook, I have rekindled some old friendships. Bringing Past Allison and Present Allison together must be good for self-development. Right?

And a few dreams:

1. I would love to have a little curly-haired daughter with big green eyes someday; we will walk hand in hand through Autumn leaves in the park, chasing the dogs and kicking leaves wherever we go. We will tell secrets at night and sing every song we know in the dark, with a candle burning (just like Lauren and I did with our mom). She will probably be too smart for her own good and emotional like me (and Scott), but she will be irresistible because of those qualities.

2. We hope to find a big farm house with a mother-in-law cottage, on a few acres in NH or Vermont. Mom will live with us part of the year, and have enough money to go back and forth to Mexico and stay with Lauren and Co. We will have some dogs and maybe a llama or three, a few rascally goats, and a brown-eyed cow.

3. I want to have a burial plot for Dad at the Blossom Hill Cemetery (also called Calvary Cemetery) in Concord. I want to be able to stop there on the way home from work and say a few words to him, tend the flowers, and rest.

What's on your heart these days?

~Ally

Relaxxxxxxx

Looking for some good old R & R...

A cat relaxes in the morning sun on a terrace near Kiel, northern Germany, as temperatures reach 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 Fahrenheit) on Monday morning, June 1, 2009.

 (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper)

June

i am . . .

i am: loving the name Juniper right now.
i think: about all the people we loved in Brattleboro and I long for their company.
i want: to be sexy again.
i wish: i didn't have fibromyalgia.
i miss: Lauren and her fam so much.
i feel: like I can't explain to people how different things are now that Dad is gone.
i hear: birds singing outside my window.
i smell: coffee and I have to have it!
i crave: for needing less money and keeping my time to myself.
i search: for a job, and it's been almost a year now.
i wonder: if we will be able to keep the house.

i regret: letting so much time pass without seeing and talking to my faraway friends.
i love: Brattleboro. will we live there again someday? will Mom be with us then, and will she like it there?
i ache: for that baby girl - c'mon, honey blossom, we're ready for you.
i always: save letters people write to me.
i am not: going to take my marriage for granted.
i believe: love is an action verb and takes lots of work and self-sacrifice.
i [want to] dance: in Amy's new dance class - she says it's like yoga and dance together. 
i sing: at the top of my lungs when i'm in the car...always have.
i write: in my Yahoo journal again - it's time.
i win [won]: the best Mom.
i lose [lost]: the best Dad.
i confuse: thoughts, still, from the darned grief. will the sharpness and clarity ever return to my mind??
i listen: to old songs I used to love and they come to life again.
i can usually be found: drowning in a sea of papers. i hope there is NO PAPER in the afterlife.
i am scared: more for danger coming to those I love than me.
i need: money for travel.
i am happy about: Scott being such an honest and loving husband.
i hope: someday to be offered a column and I am not going to stress over it anymore.

i resolve: to wait, because don't good things come to those who wait?

Yes! A victory for loving couples everywhere. Victory for progress!

New Hampshire Becomes 6th State to Legalize Marriage for Gay and Lesbian Couples

Governor Lynch signs bill only hours after legislative approval

CONCORD — Governor John Lynch signed legislation that will give the legal protections of marriage to gay and lesbian couples in New Hampshire . Acting swiftly and decisively, Governor Lynch signed the legislation only hours after the legislature took the final vote on the issue.

“Today is a historic day for all Granite Staters,” said Mo Baxley, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition. “We applaud Governor Lynch, Speaker Norelli and President Larsen and the leadership of the General Court for making sure that all loving, committed couples have the freedom to marry. Today, our shared values of individual liberty, freedom, and fairness have been upheld.”

New Hampshire is now the 6th state in the United States that extends the freedom to marry to gay and lesbian couples. This new law will go into effect on January 1, 2010.

--------------
written by:
Statewide LGBT education and advocacy organization. http://nhftm.org/

Finally, my garden begins

Tonight, at long last, I planted my gardens. Well, some of them. Here is a very promising flower garden. (And behind it, a small sunflower plant from Ben and Jerry's!)

In my flower garden, I hope, you will begin to see these: Strawflowers, Marigolds, and Zinnias.
In pots, I planted Hens and Chicks (I loooooove them) and Lemon Symphony.
Scott and O'Reilly look on.
We got a beautiful hanging basket from a WONDERFUL greenhouse in nearby Penacook, Murray Farms. And that beautiful blue macrame (yes, macrame!) plant hanger is from my favorite, Concord's Osbornes Agway.
I am also working on a forest project in the shady section of the patio. A few ferns - uprooted from the forest at Riley's Trails, and maybe some kind of fir tree. Hmm, we'll see if they survive. I hope so! I put some moss on the topsoil to make them feel at home, and I am keeping them moist.
This little darling was one of my pre-vacation purchases, and I can't for the life of me remember what it is. So I didn't plant it in the flower or the herb garden* tonight. Whatever blooms it had before we went to AL/TN have fallen off, and your guess is as good as mine. 
These were the mini yellow daffodils. I took Mom's expert advice and waited all the way until their strands were dried out, then cut them back, and now wait for next Spring. I hope the bulbs revive themselves. They were delightful in their prime.
Next up, a pot of green beans and another pot of lettuce. A pot, you say? Yes, a pot. This is my first garden and I don't want to overdo it. Mom says it is perfectly respectable to grow one head of lettuce in a pot. A ha ha. Well, we'll see who's laughing when Ally's enjoying her homegrown salad. All one of them. Hmpfh. :)
Soon to come, with help from my new friend Sarge, I will be digging a small flower bed by the patio post, to host Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) and Mexican Sunflowers, in honor of Lauren and Co. A few sprightly little marigolds will hold the spot while we wait for these beauties to come up. Stay tuned!
*Photos of the herb garden I planted tonight will follow. Ooh, it smells so good!

~Ally

Things I love about summer