Poetry Friday: A Mixed Bag

Wow! The end of July and the beginning of August have been busy. We had lots of visitors in July. Two different couples came up for two different weekends mid-month and before that, our boys were here for the Fourth of July holiday.

Near the end of the month, we hopped in the car with not only our dog Molly but also our cat Callie (her first road trip) to go visit my Dad in New York. We stayed with him for a week and got in some hiking on the Erie Canal.

It was a hot, humid week but we were also able to do some gardening and lay down heavy layers of mulch for him to try and diminish the need for any more weeding until late fall.

Finally, by the time we left the heat had abated somewhat and he had a new frequency for one of his meds to help with his shortness of breath. He got a good once over by my husband, a retired physician, and saw his own PCP for recommendations. It was good to see he was doing somewhat better than he was during my June visit.

Since we’ve been home (Sunday we drove 14 hours back to Wisconsin), we’ve been trying to normalize our routine again. Today, we went to a book sale and then hiked four miles early this afternoon. We’re getting ready for a major hiking trip abroad next month. I’m sure I’ll write more about that when it happens.

Summer poetry swaps are underway. I only elected to do three this year (as opposed to five that I did last year). But, while I was gone, I received my swap from Margaret Simon. It’s the cutest handmade journal for haiku! I neglected to ask her permission to share the sweet poem she wrote for me so I won’t include it today – perhaps when I write about the next swap! Thanks, Margaret!

I wrote a haiku earlier this week and another today. You’ll find them below.

We did purchase a new color printer, so I plan to print my haiku and put them in my new book. I’ll think of Margaret every time I use it. I always start out with nice handwriting but as I get more hurried, I get more sloppy. I want this book to be neat and inspirational.

The first haiku is about a bird I found on one of our Adirondack chairs on our deck. I didn’t position him. It is how I found him after he flew into our windows.

The second haiku was inspired by Joan Rush MacCullogh who agreed with my Instagram posting about this vibrant fungi begging to be in my haiku book.

Both of the photos and haiku are my creations. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2024.

Oh, and finally, we had a “real” driveway put in on Wednesday! Our road is still gravel and will probably always be, but now our driveway is paved!

As you can tell, it’s been a mixed bag of a month.

You can find me on Medium.com every day. I try to write an article a day and post it there. Yesterday’s piece was on the crazy weather. I am providing a friend link here if you’d like to read the whole article but aren’t a Medium.com member.

I hope you are all enjoying the last days of summer and if you are back to work, that is going well for you as well.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

Today’s Poetry Friday host is the sweet Molly Hogan who writes about joy. Be sure you check out her page today. It will also take you to posts from other Poetry Friday participants if you desire.