Autumn Melody

Autumn Melody
by Blue Dingman

I stand outside this October Eve,
Angel whispers touching all the trees,
Soft Rustle blends the music Choir,
Hushing Winter's insistent desire,
Soft lullabies singing life to sleep,
Garden memories crawling warm and deep,
Wrapped in colors of gold and red,
The Songs of Summer have gone to bed.


Every so often I just want to play with words.   then some kind of rhyming thing just jumps out.
it was Windy Saturday nite and I took the dogs out.  I stood listening to the trees.  Suddenly this popped into my head.
not too bad I think.

WINTER SLUG

it's a new beast that seems to take over my body in the depths of winter and doesn't let go.  Like slugs in my hostas it wants to eat and eat and eat grown plump and sticky. and somewhat grumpy.

doesn't help at all that I am just three months from a partial knee replacement so lack of movement in late fall added to the spreading girth.

then of course HOLIDAYS.   what's a holiday without good food and awesome drinks....Hot mocha with added Godiva Chocolate topped with whipped cream and shavings>>>>DROOL!

Lately the weather has gone beserk going up and down,  cold and colder.  snow and freezing rain. Me, having a form of Fibromyalgia for years, combined with spinal stenosis and dystonia, dealing with that mess and being sensitive to weather changes is a nitemare.  AND the perfect set up for the WINTER SLUG to grab on and take hold!  

I AM attempting to go back to an old tried and true method of  'I can do anything for 20 minutes.' It's not working.   try making my list.  but even then I feel like if I wrote it down I gotta do something and the WINTER SLUG doesn't want to.  If I don't write down,  then I don't have to feel guilty when I don't do it!

Luckily there is one thing that overcomes and overrides all  stop and delay messages of the WINTER SLUG...and that is pet ownership.  esp dogs.

Our Doodle, Zoe and our Wheaten Terrier, Holly, are high energy rescues who WILL NOT be denied.  they want to run,  play and walk.  sometimes simultaneously.

 So every day  no matter how bad I feel and how lousy the weather,  the girls are loaded up in the car and we go to a dog park or trail where they can get their exercise.  Sometimes I find this exhausting but I always find it satisfying.  it helps me defy the WINTER SLUG and get off my butt and moving.   there are days when I really love our dogs....and then there are other days, when I am totally miserable...that i love them even more.

My Portia

This is my Portia. She is the cat we say picked us. When we first saw her at the breeder's she was sitting on the floor with her "aunt" looking up and watching television. It was an adoreable picture. WE had come to take a look at a marble snow Bengal, we now also own. Mercee (Silver Mercedes) She was an awesome little bugger who was two weeks older than Portia but both having the same father. But I couldn't get Portia out of my mind. She went beyond cute for some reason, A Marble bengal of a different hueLater nearing time to leave I saw her laying flopped over her mother. Her back legs on one side and her front legs and drooping head with closed eyes on the other. The bear said to the breeder, we'll take this one, pointing to the female snow AND this one pointing to Portia. I was the one who wanted a snow, but Portia has been mine from that day onward. She is always in the room with me. Laying in, on or around me. Some days are just velcro days, I am never without this dark brown and gold furball with those olive green eyes. She developed a severe respiratory infection within days of bringing her home that had scared us. but the miracle of antibiotics worked well. The after affects seem to be that she cannot meow, she squeeks. Even at it's loudest it is barely audible. since she is going on three years of age, I don't think this will change. THe bear says she is my Familiar. I always wondered about that term. I think I understand it. I have had a number of cats and dogs of all kinds and sizes. I have never had the devotion nor the relationship that I have with Portia. oh...she was named for a Mushroom...lap fungus. but Portabello was way to much for the 1lb kitten and Porcini just didn't sound right. but oh


Funny I never finished this.  it was a long time ago. Mercee died and a few years later   Portia developed Liver cancer and died this past year of 2014.  
now...there is another almost PORTABELLA that we saw at the humane society.  renamed Penelope Portabella Tippytail. (NELLIE)  she is a blue tuxedo.  
we also obtained two boy cats named Georgio and Armani and Still have Mitzy who was rescued from under our deck.
and then there's the dogs...
I gotta get back into this big time.  there are so many things that i think about and don't put do anything about.
glad i recalled that this was here.