Most times, when we walk through the dark toward the light,
we find something uplifting.





Trap me! (Yes, I dare you)
in deceptive woven lace
woo me with your splendor
inside that dark, confining space
Sing me love songs, buy me jewels
rubies, silver, gold
make your smile seem bona fide
and all the truth? Withhold!
Just when you thought you’ve caught me
in luring ropes, beware!
look closer in your tangled web
You’ll find it’s empty there
(Photo and poetry by C. Dennis-Willingham)

If told to cast the first stone
do you think that I’d obey?
Scar another person
just to please the crowd’s melee?
Those who dress in daily judgement
long in tongue, they criticize
and peel the souls of others,
while cloaked in self-disguise.
Is there any single person
who has never romped astray?
No, I did not think so.
And no, I won’t obey.
A creek with flowing water,
harmonic overtones
a place to sit beneath the Oaks
A better use of stones.



Author’s note: Photos taken and words written while waiting for my husband to come out of eye surgery. (He’s fine) 🙂
daily prompt:Â Disobey
top photo credit

Will you row beside me on a lake layered blue
To glide past the mountains in calm solitude
Through ripples of water, a quiet bouquet
just thoughts, without words in a silent buffet
Where worry dissolves with each stroke of the oar
And Nature brings peace, and the soul it restores
— by C. Dennis-Willingham
Weekly Photo Prompt: Waiting to park. Image taken from the car’s rear-view camera.

Funny how, when a friend comes to town, you experience your home city with new eyes. So, when my friend Derick came to town, I broke my routine and did something I hadn’t done in a long while.
We hiked up Mount Bonnell, and viewed the Austin skyline.

Then off to Contemporary Austin Laguna Gloria to visit nature and sculptures. And nature through sculptures.

We followed the paths …


And discovered a beautiful mermaid …


solitude,

and a renewed passion for nature.

Oh, and as a friend once told me in Florence, NEVER FORGET TO LOOK UP!



The same photo from a different perspective
The same “fact” with opposing views
It is rumored that Native Americans never “saw” the “invisible” European ships coming toward them, that it was too “alien” to their experiences for their minds to grasp the concept.
However:
There’s a more obvious answer for the odd times when Cook’s ship didn’t spur a reaction from people on the shore. While we can’t disprove the extraordinary notion that the ships were indeed invisible, I think the more prosaic solution is that the natives were living on the edge of survival, and that anything that wasn’t a threat or didn’t contribute to their well-being could be safely ignored.
And as panhandlers and wheelchair users can tell you, just because you’re ignored doesn’t mean you’re invisible.

photo taken in Cabo San Lucus, Mexico by C. Dennis-Willingham
She is an old, old woman
full of grace but wisdom more
She rocks within her sinewed arms
a child from long before.
She serves as a reminder
(Through an image made of stone)
those passed are not forgotten, thus
we never are alone.
Houston, Texas (photos) is about three hours south of here (Austin). Those poor souls are struggling for survival.
While some people are receiving the help they need, others are still stranded in their homes waiting for rescue.

Meanwhile in Austin: Last week this creek near my house was cracked and bone dry. This is what it looked like today:


Let’s hope Hurricane Harvey dries up for the folks in Houston and surrounding areas.