Lafayette Forever

  

You stole my heart the moment I first saw your picture

I fostered you virtually in hopes of finding you a good home

Soon I knew I wanted your home to be with me.

You are forever my friend

I will always love you

Never forget you.

The scar on my broken heart

Bears the shape of you

Always.

A few people have told me my tattoo is cool.

I'd rather not have a reason to have it.

notes

Here's today's prompt.

https://experiencewriting.com/2023/10/30/oct-30-prompts-cats-are-so-familiar/

I wrote an ode to my little buddy Lafayette.

The first two photos are the property of Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl. I ask that you do not use the first photo. I am okay with you using the second photo as long as you do so in a respectful fashion. I really can't imagine what reason anyone would have for wanting to use it.

Any comments about how much you hate tattoos or think that women shouldn't have tattoos or about my body are immature, inappropriate, and will not be published. If you don't like tattoos, don't get one. If you don't like how my body looks, find something else to look at. Simple.

I was forty-nine years old when I got my first tattoo. I wasn't drunk or high and it wasn't an off-the-cuff decision. It was something I'd been considering for about a month. I have seven tattoos and all of them honor someone or something important to me. I would get more if I could afford to. 

Lafayette was very special to me. He had multiple system failure, and I had to make the horrible decision to have him put to sleep on his sixth birthday. Any time I write about him, I cry. He was a funny little guy who made me laugh, like when he photobombed the shoot I was doing with the dolls sent to me by a friend from back in my early blogging days.

I still have Lafayette's little half-sister or cousin Tara. I adopted them together. They both came from the same feral colony. They were both very inbred and had health problems and subtle physical abnormalities. Lafayette was small for a male cat and had remarkably long toes. 

Tara is unusually long. She has a condition called mast cell disease, which is more common in dogs than cats. She had to have a huge tumor removed from her brow near one eye. She looked like a juvenile Skeksis following the surgery. Fortunately, the tumor hasn't returned.

After the surgery

If you have multiple blogs, there will come a day when you create a post on the wrong blog. I figured it out when I was doing the tags and OctPoWriMo didn't come up. Fortunately, it was easy enough to move the post to the correct blog.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Instead of the usual Owl pic, I wanted to share this image of my two favorite Lafayettes, created for me by my friend Kamidiox. You can also find her on DeviantArt or check her out here.

https://kamidiox.carrd.co/

Nelsan Ellis was a great guy gone too soon. He wasn't Lafayette Reynolds, but nobody else could have brought Lafayette to life the way Nelsan did. Much love and respect to this talented actor always.

Inside Out

 

outside is a tree in which the birds hide

hide from cats and other such things outside

inside is a room where I can hide

hide from the outside world here inside

room like a womb and sometimes a tomb

tomb for lost dreams in my head and my room

notes

I don't have my tree up and it isn't snowing right now. The image is from December 2020. It's kind of blurry so I don't know why you'd want to use it, but if you do, please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl.

Here's today's prompt:

https://experiencewriting.com/2023/10/25/oct-25-prompts-superstitions/

Describe what you see out the window. Now, go outside and describe what you see looking in through that window. Write a poem about the similarities and differences. 

The Mirror Sestet might work well with this prompt.

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/mirrorsestet.html

The Mirror Sestet, created by Shelley A. Cephas, is a poem that can be written in one or more stanzas of 6 lines each. The specific guidelines for this form are as follows:

The first word of line 1 rhymes with the last word of line 1.

The first word of line 2 is the last word of line 1

and the last word of line 2 is the 1st word of line 1.

The first word of line 3 rhymes with the last word of line 3.

The first word of line 4 is the last word of line 3

and the last word of line 4 is the 1st word of line 3.

The first word of line 5 rhymes with the last word of line 5.

The first word of line 6 is the last word of line 5

and the last word of line 6 is the 1st word of line 5.

The Mirror Sestet can also be written in non-rhyme.

All rules must be followed except there is no 1st and last word rhyming.

I feel like I'm fighting off a cold. I'm betting my blood sugar will be a bit high when I do my morning fasting glucose reading. Nothing alarming, probably somewhere in the high 130s to 150s. It usually runs a little high when I'm fighting an infection. Also, I had snot dripping in my CPAP mask. Very lovely.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by koniciva2011 from Pixabay

Ornery Owl wishes she were better at sleeping.

Here's some soothing Halloween music. Don't say I never gave you nothing.

https://odysee.com/@Radioman:a/yt5s.com-Relaxing-Halloween-Music---Pumpkin-Jack-O%27-Lanterns-%F0%9F%8E%83-Dark%2C-Spooky-Sounds%2C-Halloween-Ambience:b?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

Safe Harbor

 

Base photo by the poet

home is safe harbor

though it's far from any shore

out on the prairie

notes

The photo was taken on September 26, 2020. Text art and effects were added in Pixlr on September 9, 2023. You are welcome to share either or both images, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl, and a link back to this blog would be appreciated.

The big yellow building is the house where my son and I live. The small yellow building is the post office. 

The house was built in 1910. It was originally a hotel. It later became a house of ill repute, a hospital, a church, a boarding house for teachers, and a bed and breakfast. Before my son's father bought the place, it was owned by a maniac who was hoping to fix and flip it and did some terrible things to it. The structure itself is sound. It would have to be to survive the harsh conditions on the Northeastern Colorado plains.

Many people will look at these images and see them as grim and depressing. Our town has a spot on the ghost town registry and is in the top ten poorest towns in the state. The residents congregate at the food bank once a month. Rural areas tend to attract people who can't afford housing in the city or the suburbs. 

People who live in rural towns often fall through the cracks. Nobody comes to ask us how we're doing or if there's anything we need. People who live in rural areas tend to be viewed as outcasts by the rest of society.

Still, if I were offered the opportunity to move out of this place and live in an upscale suburban patio home or urban penthouse, I wouldn't take it. I would stick out like a sore thumb. This place suits me, even if the other residents don't really get me either.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Image by Jorge Reynal from Pixabay

"You're all doing a splendid job out there in the fields. Graze on!"

Sharing with

http://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com

http://myjustsostory.blogspot.com

What Color is Hope?

 

Image by Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl

Taken 7 May 2017 at the Denver Aquarium

the moon shines silver

smokestack lightning like gold

what color is hope?

The photograph, words, and text art are mine. The Haiga was created using free design elements from Pixlr.com 

You are welcome to use either image, but please credit me. 

Cara Hartley

Ornery Owl

Poetry of the Netherworld

Any of these will do, and a link back to this blog is appreciated. 

My son and I were celebrating his 27th birthday and Mother's Day at the Denver Aquarium when the top picture was taken.

I used this prompt from the archives of Carpe Diem Haiku to inspire my Haiga.

https://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.com/2012/10/carpe-diem-5-moon.html

~Ornery Owl Has Waxed Poetic~

Image by G.C. from Pixabay

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

http://corazon.typepad.com

https://photosunday.net/

https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

http://myjustsostory.blogspot.com

https://odysee.com/@PeaceofMind:9/fantasy-dream-music-neapolitan-ice-cream:e?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

https://odysee.com/@PeaceofMind:9/spooky-forest-music-night-firefly-woods:2?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

Double Haiga: True Blue

Photo by Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl

Taken at the Denver Aquarium on May 7, 2017

Text art and design elements added by the photographer (me) using pixlr.com

You are welcome to use either image, but please credit me.

stick to your real friends

at your side on rough waters

riding out the storm

Free use image by Anita Austvika on Unsplash

https://unsplash.com/@anitaaustvika

Text art and design elements added to the original photo by me

(Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl)

You are welcome to use this image, but please credit both me and the photographer.

forget those who float away

in the slightest breeze

petals of dying flowers

Sharing with

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

https://earthweal.com/2023/02/24/earthweal-open-link-weekend-158/

https://thedailyspur.wordpress.com/2023/02/25/photo-prompt-1024/

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

Here's the link in case you can't see the player.

https://odysee.com/@nordicfrost:7/GRRPOD:5?r=GTwnGJ4fFBQfzuJgpHVpfKBKaC9b8B16

If you don't have enough death, doom, or sludge in your life, this mix should take care of that deficiency.

I recommend giving the comments a miss. They get pretty dudebro-y. There's one particular specimen who totally grinds my gears. He could be taking the piss and I might be missing it because it's become very difficult to tell the difference between parody and reality these days. However, as a female hard rock and metal fan who put up with plenty of crap from chauvinistic male metalheads over the years, I am not amused by his referring to women as sluts. 

To be clear, when I say fan, I do not mean groupie. I was all in for the music. I never attempted to hook up with any band members. Sure, some of them looked pretty good, but I've never been a fly-by-night kind of woman.

Anyway, these long mixes make formatting blog posts a lot less boring. Give it a try!

30 Days of Haiga 2022: Peaceful Aquarium

 

Photo taken 7 May 2017 at Denver Aquarium

Copyright Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl

text

stingray swims with fish

coexisting peacefully

we should be like them

notes

The greatest photographer the world has ever known captured the image at the top of the post, which inspired the creation of today's Haiga. 

;-) 

Tongue planted firmly in cheek. I am hardly the greatest anything the world has ever known, except for possibly the world's greatest mess. I do, however, like my own photographs.

I really made a shambles of this post. My son and I were going to visit my mother on Sunday, so I made the post halfway and then, for reasons unclear to anybody, just published it. I didn't even include the Haiga.

You're welcome to use both the original image in the Haiga, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

The fact that I find my gaffe with this post so disconcerting tells me that something else is going on in this ridiculous squirrel blender that I call a mind. I've been presenting as "okay" on the surface, even to me, but being this unsettled over a bit of a nothingburger of a mistake says I'm really not. There's nobody I can tell I'm really not okay, and that makes it feel even worse.

Moving along because who really gives a rat's.

This week's prompt from Poets and Storytellers United, the theme of which is war and peace was another source of inspiration.

https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2022/09/friday-writings-45-war-and-peace.html

I am also sharing the poem with the following blog hops.

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

https://earthweal.com/2022/09/23/earthweal-open-link-weekend-137/

https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/

https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/2022/09/sunday-selections-600.html

30 Days of Haiga 2022: Remembering When

 

Original photo

Taken 7 May 2017

Denver Aquarium 

Haiga created 18 September 2022

text

remembering when

like passing through a doorway

looking back on then

such a wonderful moment

treasured point in history

notes

You are welcome to use both the photo and the Haiga, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

The photo was taken on 7 May 2017 at the Denver Aquarium restaurant. My son and I were celebrating his 27th birthday (which actually falls on May 8) and Mother's Day. It's a wonderful day that I'll always remember.

The following prompt inspired me:

https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2022/09/15/reenas-xploration-challenge-248/

Prompt phrase:

passing through a doorway in history

I will also be sharing this post with:

http://myjustsostory.blogspot.com

30 Days of Haiga 2022: Blue Memories

 

The Aquarium Photo, Pre-Haiga

Image taken 7 May 2017

Copyright Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl

text

if I never stop

how can I appreciate

these blue memories

notes

You are welcome to use both the original image and the Haiga, but please credit Cara Hartley/Ornery Owl and provide a link back to this blog.

For the snippet-sharing blogs, you can consider the poem to be the snippet. It is part of a WIP, so there is no buy link yet. You can read the forthcoming blather if you wish, or not. Whatever.

I don't always explain my poetry. But when I do...well, I do.

I selected the image and wrote the Senryu at 1:30 in the morning. I had been going and going and going all day the day before. I posted the Haiga for yesterday and the day before. Yes, despite my assertion in the entry for the 2nd, I did that. 

After creating and posting the Haiga, I did a lot of writing on the story I will submit for the Reign of Fire anthology from Dragon Soul Press. 

Here, don't say I never gave you anything. If you have a story with dragons or you want to write a dragon story between 3000 and 15,000 words by September 30, you too can submit your story. The details are here.

https://dragonsoulpress.com/2022/01/01/upcoming-submission-calls-for-2022/

Along with those accomplishments, I also made meals and earned a $5 Amazon gift card by playing games on Just Play. If you want to know more about that, read this tawdry tweet.

https://twitter.com/readersroost/status/1565824798290165760

When I was younger, I used to get scolded for being "lazy" and "flaky" because I had trouble focusing. Now I have this terrible drive to always be doing, doing, doing. It is very hard for me to stop. Relaxation is a difficult concept. There is asleep and there is awake, and when awake, I must do. 

If something of the personality survives the death of the body, I will be an extremely restless spirit. Even in death, I will not stop. I will have places to go, and people to haunt. 

No, ProWritingAid, it would not enhance the previous sentence's readability to change it to "I will have places to people to haunt." That doesn't make any damn sense at all. 

As a child, I loved finding the beauty in the world. I loved to daydream. Both qualities were shamed out of me. I learned that being a daydreamer was a bad thing and that if I wasn't always doing; I was lazy. 

Grammarly, I'm not even going to go there with why "if I wasn't always doing it" sounds really bad.

Anyway, that is my Haiga for today plus a whole bunch of blather. I hope you enjoyed some or all of it. 

I have big plans for this year's Haiga collection. I am considering releasing the resulting book in print form and an e-book. I'm going to see how hard it would be to turn the images into coloring pages. My intention is to give teachers, including parents homeschooling their kids, permission to make as many copies as they need, however often they need. 

I'm not even sure it's possible to print from a Kindle e-book other than to take a screenshot. I scoured my Kindle for PC app's commands and couldn't find anything. Maybe someone out there knows more than I do. 

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

Sharing with

https://magicalmysticalteacher.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/401643826588474

http://myjustsostory.blogspot.com

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I designed this new Weekend Writing Warriors badge using Pixlr.com and a free-use image from Couleur on Pixabay.

https://pixabay.com/photos/monument-statue-greek-gods-figures-2011140/

You are welcome to use the badge if you like it. No credit is necessary.

A Bad Set of Wheels

 

It was the best of cars, it was the worst of cars...

Cancel that "best" bit. I can't lie. It was simply the worst of cars.

I signed it over to the mechanic who did massive amounts of work on it during the seven-ish miserable years I owned this abominable vehicle as payment for the water pump, which they probably removed to put in a car that might actually run more than a few blocks. 

The car was parked in the circle in front of the townhouses where my son and I used to live. I think I took pictures of the car because I was contemplating trying to make a few extra bucks doing independent deliveries since it was actually costing me money to work for Uber Eats. I'm not 100% sure, though. 

I wrote a Senryu or something in dishonor of this miserable automobile.

where would you strand me

on the east side or the west

it was even odds

So there's my story, it's sad but true

About a car that I once knew.

It stranded me once, it stranded me twice

It's on the scrap heap now

That makes me feel so nice.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~

Ornery Owl

Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors

https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/2022/08/sunday-selections-596.html

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2022/08/27/opposing-forces-saturday-mix-27-august-2022/