This odd little place is in my neighborhood just a few blocks from my house.. I wrote about the St. Therese statue earlier this week Here are a few more photos…
This photo montage is in response to Jacqueline’s (a cooking pot and twisted tales) call for echoes of our neighborhoods.
My twins, Jennifer and Mindy. ❤
This poem is dedicated to my twin daughters who share a birthday today. I will never forget the 24+ hours of labor, their premature birth, where I was, how I felt. And I shall cherish every moment that time has given me with them since. There have been many little goodbyes…that moment they took their first breath, when they hopped happily onto the bus without looking back on their first day of school, when they learned to drive, and when they moved out to start a life of their own. A mother’s heart never forgets those moments.
The moment of that first goodbye
a mother’s heart never forgets
her heart remembers where and when
she heard her newborn baby’s cry
the first goodbye of many yet
a mother’s heart with each year grows
for mothers know that in the end
goodbyes are temporary woes.kat ~ 21 April 2016
For Jane Dougherty Writes Poetry Challenge…this week the San San. The repeating terms I chose are Mother, Goodbye and Heart. (See a description of the San San below.)
The san san has some things in common with the tritina, including repetition and rhyme. In particular, the san san repeats, three times, each of three terms or images. The eight lines rhyme in the pattern a-b-c-a-b-d-c-d.
I have a busy day tomorrow so I’m posting poetry month, day 20 a day early. The Minute Poem is a rhyming verse form consisting of 12 lines of 60 syllables written in strict iambic meter. The poem is formatted into 3 stanzas of 8,4,4,4; 8,4,4,4; 8,4,4,4 syllables. The rhyme scheme is as follows: aabb, ccdd, eeff.
While on my way to work this morning a strange storefront caught my eye, in particular the statue in the window. I knew I needed to stop by on my way home to explore it a bit more.
It is a strange, verging on creepy, little place. A small sign on a side window says it’s a Catholic museum. The statues and relics contained within share the space with lawn chairs, debris and dust.
I couldn’t help feeling a bit nostalgic, remembering the unfailing devotion of my grandmother who attended Novena Masses every morning and taught me to believe in the mystical and miraculous.
Odd as it all was, I felt blessed by those memories of my childhood and embraced in grace.
Even there behind a pane of glass, surrounded by piles of junk and buried under layers of dust…even there, miracles are possible.
Here then is my Minute Poem…
NOTE: I had mistaken the identity of this lovely “lady”. She is, in fact Saint Therese of Lisieux. So…to be accurate, I have tweaked the poem. It doesn’t change the meter or the mystical quality. A rose by another name is still sweet. ❤
Storefront Saint
Hail fair Lady full of woe
no votive’s glow
to warm your feet
here on Fifth Street.As weary travelers pass by
none catch your eye
lacking vision
for apparitions.Strange Storefront Saint Therese, you wait
bestowing grace
upon the few
who notice you.~kat – 20 April 2016
My daughter’s baby shower is next weekend and it is everything yellow. I thought some Lemon French Macaroons would be really pretty on the table, but I’m intimidated by anything French so I decided to give it a trial run today!
I found a recipe in Pinterest HERE. Just in case you want to give it a try.
The chef is confident that anyone can do it. (I hear you shaking your head and rolling your eyes right now…but I was determined!)
I assembled the ingredients and started with the merengue shells.
<img src=”https://katmyrman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/img_6753-1.jpg” alt=””
I’m feeling confident. Just look at those nice egg whites! So far so good!
This is likely where things went downhill. Everything seemed to be going according to the recipe…
The chef issued several warnings not to over fold the batter…I I freaked a bit. I’m thinking in retrospect I didn’t fold the batter enough….
Note to self…sandwich bags are definitely a messy alternative to pastry bags. If there is a next time, get pastry bags!
I let the batter rest the prescribed time.
Baked them the shortest time called for in the recipe, but I think they could have used less time.
While the shells were cooling I made the Lemon Buttercream Filling.
The Verdict: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! Just kidding! But clearly this takes a bit of practice. So do try it…several times before serving to your guests.
It’s a good thing I already planned a few tried and true recipes for the big day! This one will need to wait. 😊
On a bright note, Maxwell likes them! Haha! He gave it his drool of approval! So…..
How did you spend your Sunday? 😜
The Tetractys, is today’s poetry form. It’s an invented form by Ray Stebbing, consisting of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also bereversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1. Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1 Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and so on.
Ray Stebbing had this to say about his inspiration for the Tetractys: “Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own – Tetractys. The tetractys could be Britain’s answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables.”
It’s a simple form with no rhyme constraints; just follow the syllable rules. It’s the perfect poetry form for a restful Sunday morning. I came up with a few.
If there were spiritual advice columns…
“Soul
Seeking
Nirvana”
Find lasting peace
By refusing to entertain Ego.
yielding
Trees
Extend
To heaven
And burrow deep
Extremes of longing, that bend on a breeze.
Digital Wet Blanket
You
And me
This moment
Eternity….
Love is in bloom; we must take a selfie!
kat ~ 17 April 2016
