On my mailbox

a silvery golden frog

lime striped

blue-lidded

barely blinked

amphibian face

smiling back

I suppose elections, even for class president

have always fundamentally appealed to the reptilian brain base

the simplest, reflex-based system

that never dreams

only lives to survive

at any cost

the little fight or flight button

that ramps up the adrenal glands

the most basic part of the brain

that lies beneath

the higher-thinking neocortex

that makes us human.

Certainly the Mad Men of the 50′s understood this human trait,

& their adventures with it helped to create Today.

By now we’re so acclimated to it

we might not even notice while it’s working us…..

I just wanted to send this thought out there:

PLEASE carefully evaluate some of the claims

& strategies popping up all over the place.

Consider the source.

Consider what it’s appealing to….

FEAR

or

HOPE

?

It’s up to us to understand ourselves

&

make the difference.

You probably won’t notice

but I’m on the trail

again

not expecting anything

but

Everything

PEACE

Everything About It Is a Love Song – Paul Simon

I love this!

Thank God for Digital Cameras.

Moving into March

Morose

Manipulative

Madness

Mother of Invention

Fold the warm

Fresh

Laundry

as snowflakes

Laze down

outside

Put on your high-heeled

sneakers

“Cause we’re goin’ out

TONIGHT

I went on a driving road trip to California

I’d planned it since February

before the gasoline prices soared

sizing up the route with Google maps

& Yahoo maps

& a spiral-bound atlas of North American roads

kept handy on the dashboard with my hats

Sometimes I was the only car for many miles

I drove at 8,000 feet elevation

even below sea level

twisted an ankle in my frenzy

of photo shots

slid around with my right foot

resting on a Swiffer mop

until we bought a tall cane

With my hair all wild

hollow-eyed yet cheerful

I observed the sinners in Las Vegas

on my way to the enormous abyss

the Grand Canyon peppered with tourists

from France

renewed my acquantiance with my firstborn

had an NDE when I was almost home

to find this Cardinal Lady

had established a household

in my absence

to my great appreciation

for all these events

I still say

EXCELSIOR

Just checking in

Life’s going along

Going, going, gone

but not just yet

if the curl of  a rose petal

still sends me

I’m not one for resolutions, except pixel count, perhaps,

but today it seems to me that the best thing to do

is get out there & get things done.

I am the sort of person who,

when faced with an insoluble problem,

all too often

finds the best thing to do

is to get a book about it.

So I’ll be reading, no book,

writing,

no book,

yet resolving

to get something done

even if

nobody knows about it

but me.

The rain arrives

a football game roars in the distance

somebody’s laughing

the air buzzes with information

flakes of snow laze down

your car turns in through the gate