positivity

poetry, TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful – September 4 2020

September 4, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

Happy Friday and TTOT time!! Let’s do this!

Thankful for outings and still the ability to social distance. We went to Shangri-La Little Stone Village here in NC. I found out about it from this article by Joel Haas on Walter. Here are some pics from our day hop.

2. My God Children finalized the sale of their townhouse, moved to a temporary space – which is super nice – and will be moving into their fresh built house in 2021. Yay!

3. I wrote an article for Love of Food and it was published this week. Here is the link: Make Salad with International Challenges

4. Daughter bought her first new sewing machine today. She had a machine before, but this is her brand spanking new one and it was so cool to sit while she learned from Lynn at the sewing machine store. I am picky about sewing machines and asked pertinent questions, but mainly daughter asked questions. In fact, I got up and walked around so they could get their lesson underway. Next project is to sew the masks which are ready to sew.

5. As a now online editor for a publication, I had an online meeting this week and it was so stimulating. A lot of new ideas are formulating.

6. My poem, which I worked so hard on and received awesome critique from the Living Poetry critique group, was published in Fine Lines for their Autumn 2020 publication.

7. Poet’s Connection is having a poetry reading on September 26. I am happy to see this get off the ground. Here is the link if you want to attend or know more: Meetup Link

8. I signed up for a podcast with Anchor and will start doing poetry podcasts soon. I need to find my quiet space, so that’s a goal. At least the podcast is free. I listen to podcasts on Spotify at night, when I can’t sleep. Maybe my own will help others sleep to the sound of poetry.

9. New Horizons of the good kind. We all get them and I am grateful for ours.

10. You! What’s your thankful? How about a share?

Here’s the link to join!!

TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful – Jan 31 2020

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

photo of body of water with boulders — Photo by Inge Wallumrød on Pexels.com

We’ve reached the end, folks. It’s January 31, making this the end of the first month of the new year. Not so new anymore. How’s it been for you? My month has been decent. I have made some good changes and pursued goals, meeting some and working on others. The important thing is to keep on working. So, without further introduction, here are the top 10 thankfuls for this week.

1. The Golden Girls and Betty White’s birthday! Who knew that Betty White really is older than sliced bread? That’s what the internet says 🙂 I love Betty White. She’s been in my life for years. I used to watch her on her husband’s show and they were so cute. It was called Password. Maybe some of the older ones on here remember that show. I turn on the Golden Girls in the background while I am working on projects. It’s like visiting old friends.

2. Daughter is coming! She is going to turn 44 soon and she will be coming this week to celebrate and do annual important things such as get her new ID. We are going to a special event and have some valuable time together.

3. Lucy Brummett has this Lovely Blog Go check it out. I have met her at the Raleigh NC Bloggers meetup and she is a true gem! She is an author, freelancer and archer!

photo of person taking out arrows from target board — Photo by Burst on Pexels.com

4. Paul Stryer has an awesome blog for helping people get blogs started. He’s a walking, talking resource who has helped our blog group members so much! Here is th elink to his blog: Bloggers Workspace

5. Test Results were AOK! I had a MRI of the brain this week and other than old age, I am AOK No news is good news!

6. PT is going well. I was able to perform the exercises and I am doing well.

7. The neck procedure on Monday worked out well. It was painful, but better than the prior time. Breathing helps. Otherwise, I might be dead. So always breathe!

air atmosphere blue blue sky — Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

Picture of the sky to remind us to breathe.

8. Art news! My niece is a wonderful artist and I referred her to someone who needed an illustrator and she’s on the job! I love it! Here is something she did a while back:
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My sister holding the Cardinal painting done by niece (her granddaughter) Kay Doiron

9. Attitude is Everything! I wrote this little Six Sentence Story about that topic: There’s Something to Be Said for Attitude

10. Here’s the best seat at the house. It’s the one where you get a chance to tell us your thankfuls! Please feel free to reply with your thankful for this week or create a blog post and join us. Just click on the link below to add.

clear glass bowl beside yellow flower — Photo by Mareefe on Pexels.com

Here’s to a great week!!

poetry, Uncategorized

No Negativity Here

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

photo of a sign and eyeglasses on table — Photo by Binti Malu on Pexels.com

No Negativity Here

Trying to find the worse in you
makes finding the best even better
It’s hard to find what is not there
so does it really matter?
Calamity even has it’s perks
so why bother trying to turn this?
Just live life as it offers up
and accept that it truly can be bliss

…..

This is response to the Wednesday prompt from Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides

For today’s prompt, write a negative poem. In this poem, maybe everything goes wrong. Or maybe everything could go wrong. Perhaps, this is a poem about subtraction. And remember, positive poets: a double negative makes a positive!

poetry

Treasures of Life

April 8, 2019April 17, 2019 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

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Art Work by Kayla

Treasures of Life

Folklore and such regard the number 13 as cursed but I say it’s not.
Have you ever found anything justify this to be true?
We had to write an essay about Friday the 13th and this was a mystery.
My baby brother was born five years after me; Mom bought him a t-shirt with the number 13, so there you go.
He was never less than anybody.
He was my heartbeat and each day with him was a treasure.

May I tell you about this boy I treasure?
When he was born, they gave me a choice to go to kindergarten or not.
I made the best choice of anybody.
The thought of having my little baby brother all to myself brought me such joy.
Nowhere was where I wanted to go.
Why anybody would not want such pleasure would be a mystery.

Something happened after my baby brother was born and it is a mystery.
While it was one of those unknowns of nature, it only made us realize that life is a treasure.
He had to have an operation to survive and give life a go.
There never was a negative, doubt or belief in the word of: not.
We all celebrated this precious boy, brought to this world to bring us such joy.
We would have loved if he didn’t have challenges, not to be wished on anybody.

All I knew is that I was as fortunate as anybody.
Although it would remain for us to solve the mystery.
It was important to celebrate each joy.
You learn just how much to treasure.
And deny those things which mean not.
For all the things that give you the go, go, go.

Mother had limits on how she could go.
She did not want to trouble anybody.
Complain, never one time did she, not.
Somehow it all worked like a mystery.
She taught us to care for children was a treasure.
She sang when she cleaned house, keeping time with her flip flops, such joy.

They taught us that life and children brought joy.
We learned that if we wanted to be somewhere, we had to find a way to go.
To have a soul in our hands was a treasure.
We were role modeled not to complain or brag about our lives to anybody.
To live is to accept that life has many a mystery.
And to give up on life is a great big not.

To treasure your life is to know perfect joy.
To never hear not is to know it’s all a great go.
If you ask me now if I could ever love anybody I can tell you that love is a mystery.

—–

Today’s National Poetry Month prompt is from Robert Lee Brewer’s Poetic Asides: for today’s prompt, write a lucky number poem. Some people have lucky numbers, some don’t. Wherever you fall on the lucky number spectrum, you can still write a poem about the phenomenon of lucky numbers and/or luck in general.

Inspired by Aruna Murumurthy and her lovely book of Sestina Poetry: Puppet Dolls, having participated in her Sestina workshop, I am trying to pen my first Sestina. To learn about Sestina you can go to Poetry Foundation or to Poetic Asides Each site has a slightly different point of view about the Sestina.

Uncategorized

Ellie Has Positude – 6 Sentence Story

February 21, 2019 Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

Ellie
Artwork by my niece, whose work can be viewed on Instagram @ks_montgomeryartist

Unless she had a stubbed toe, Ellie always smiled, even with a stubbed toe, she didn’t take long to get past the grimace.

Ellie had only one complaint, easing into the fast lane was more difficult with her girth, but she proudly moved forward, knowing she had just as much right as any to do so.

When others teased her because of her size, Ellie just turned around, splashing her tail into whatever was in her way, doing a dance or perching a fence, all showing she was just as capable as anybody else.

Ellie found that her friends would betray her for someone else, once they assumed that she would not fit in with their plans, allowing no consideration for her sweetness, they chuckled on and went about their nasty business.

Ellie, despite the teasing and ignorance of others, came through with flying colors as she knew she was one fine lady, confident because she learned from her parents that obstacles were not blocks, but opportunities for growth.

There was no hall of fame for any of her efforts, no prizes for being who she was, there were no ribbons or parades, no celebration was needed for Ellie, as she was who she was, happy to be herself.

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Come back here on Thursday, LINK your post…
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers

PROMPT WORD: PERCH