HAIKU

THE DISCOMFORT of the MRIs and the biopsies are behind me, but my smashed fingers remind me that I had an experience. It could have been worse had I not signaled that something was terribly wrong. As it is I got by with minor bruises, some scrapes and a diagonal cut reminiscent of how you'd make a plain radish into something decorative.

Tears flowed at the pain

Silent agony expressed

I won't press charges.

Remember the Q&A Journal I bought myself last August on one of Tim's Sunday Parents' Days? There's a question each day and places to answer for the next five years. Some of the questions this past week have been:

• What's the most valuable thing you own? (my grandmother's Regina music box)
• What famous living person would you like to meet for drinks? (still considering an answer to that one)
• What was your last credit card purchase? (Books for the Manor library)
• Who do you count on? (Before chemo, Bob; now, the kids.)
• What new word have you learned? (Our new neighbor across the hall is French and has the most delightful accent, even after living  in Glendale for 35 years. She told me her favorite red wine which is "like velvet on the tongue" and now my new word is "Chateauneuf du Pape".)

Yesterday's directive was "write a haiku about your day.  5 syllables/7syllables/5 syllables". Mine is pathetic and has no graceful flow whatsoever but it sums up our Saturday:
           On Sundays Tim comes
           Painting in Pomona calls
           So today he's here.
                             
Certainly nothing to brag about. Tim's helping his friend paint the newly purchased condo this Sunday. He came with Tulip yesterday. and took my grocery lists, returning with every single item. Someone taught that boy how to shop! Could it have been his mother? While he was gone, Tulip missed him and most of the time sat against the door awaiting Tim's return.

The Master has gone

On a search for provisions

Why did he leave me?

    
            §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Company coming?

                 And your house is a big mess?

Just put on lipstick.

DOODLES

PER SOME of your requests, here are some more sketches from my travel journals.

Hard to believe I was messing about with pen and watercolor nearly ten years ago and now the inclination is gone.

We were on a jazz cruise on the Columbia River and were too ill to get off the ship. I made a very funny movie of the week, inserting Mr. Bob's cough throughout the film to signify how sick we were. The cough even fades away through the closing credits.

When on the Monterey Peninsula we like to stay at Asilomar Conference Grounds, a good base from which to explore.

We headed for Sequoia National Park and were caught in a surprise snowstorm with no warm clothes. 

Details in the lounge at Waksachi Lodge where we were snowbound.

A sketch of our house, drawn from a photo which I didn't usually do.

One of our Sunday visits to the jazz club. The stage held a whole band, but I chose just the banjo player ("What's the difference between a chain saw and a banjo?" " The chainsaw can be tuned")


"I became interested in photography when I found my own sketching was inadequate."                                                              Ben Shahn