Some of the Best of Times, and some of the Worst
05/11/2006 08:14 p.m.

A cheering and exciting afternoon reunion of our kado ottawa group at the Japanese Embassy last Saturday lifted some of my recent down feelings. I’m struggling with gruesome side effects from a bad cold, and thought I’d have to miss the meeting but was very determined to go and not contagious by now. On top of that, some sad experiences. For a few days my daughter and I shared sick bay here, soon after mourning bay for our cat’s loss. But the Embassy meeting was terrific, as they are every spring. Kado ottawa, our chapter of Haiku Canada, launched our first-ever chapbook (up til now we’ve produced lovely broadsheets over the five years we’ve been working together, the core group, with some turn-over of course since it originated. And the loss of our co-leader Marianne Bluger, who I believe was instigator of the concept of having this group, along with Terry Ann Carter who we fortunately still have mentoring, guiding, giving to us in so many ways that make us want to give back, either in our work, in Japanese forms of poetry, or white elephant sales, publicity, etc.

The beauty of it all is that as we share each other’s progress with these demanding but meditative, exquisite (to me) and calming forms, we have developed such respect, closeness, warmth - for each other. The people are among the gentlest, kindest, highest-minded I’ve known, anywhere in my life, and not at all condescending or pretentious, even though many of the more experienced have high accolades internationally.

The literary week continued to be a happy one, with a launch to attend of Terry Ann’s for her own new book of poems, Transplanted, inspired by her husband’s kidney transplant from his sister many years ago, but the poems deal with many different spin-off ideas from the term.

I learned yesterday that my submission of a haibun (my first ever, written last summer) to Haiku Canada is accepted and will appear in the future with them.. I’m just starting to submit to this incredible organization more, and also have a haiku accepted for the members’ upcoming anthology. I’m very excited about these two developments.

Gusts literary journal of tanka also published another of my tanka recently, and I received my copy of the magazine, plus my copies of Bywords Quarterly Journal by University of Ottawa English Department, with two of my shorter poems appearing there. So it’s been a productive and satisfying period in the creativity department of my life. I really enjoy the visual aspects of the covers of these issues, which feature fantastic nature scenes. All of the minimalist Japanese form poetry and the world it has welcomed me into so graciously seem to offer me peace, relaxation, love of life, and of course, high challenges mentally, and are especially treasured at down times in my other experiences.

There are several projects on-going, plus my easel is waiting for my new painting to begin tonight.
It will be a landscape scene again, this time of Bon Echo shoreline with a small boat in the foreground. My others were of a waterfall scene with stone steps, and trees, and the other was actually a waterfall setting too.

Maybe I’m thinking of the reported cataracts in my eyes, that haven’t been acting up again lately but could suddenly present me with drastic clouding and need attention fast.

I thought up a haiku draft on this once.

cataracts diagnosed
in the writer’s eyes
already the water falls

Family-wise, our son and his wife have settled into their first brand-new home of their own. That was a busy weekend, and the same one in which we had to put our beloved Penny Lane down.
I was torn in two different directions at once that day, helping at their place and rushing home to our daughter and the cat suddenly. It was almost biblical. Before I left Penny in the hands of her sad fate, I made the sign of the cross on her and myself and told her “God Bless,” even though I’m not Catholic. It was all I could utter of goodbye but I’m sure we’ll meet again in a more peaceable kingdom, all of us, one day. There are often times in my life when I fall back on Catholic ritual, having learned it when raising the children in the Catholic church. When I came by surprise upon a grotto in a neighbourhood I'm not familiar with, a bit of a rough, poorer section of town, I found it so beautiful and I lit a candle there, at the outdoor sanctuary, for my mom-in-law fighting cancer. She is Catholic, and would appreciate it, I know. I enjoy that positive and beautiful offering, as I do many from the faith. But I also enjoy my own and don't find the differences so huge (which is the theme of an upcoming poem also).

I’m also drafting a short poem that may become tanka or haiku, about our son’s and his wife’s move. When they were trying for the purchase on the house, he told me on the phone about the little maple in the backyard, and with a few goosebumps, I said “you’re going to get it, there was a little twig of a silver maple in our yard when we bought our place, when you were in my tummy.”


baby maple
in the yard of his first house
like the one here
when our son was born

Other good news is the success of our daughter in her studies, graduating with her first degree in Classical Studies, with top marks, this June and being offered a scholarship for her Master's. And my sister Marilyn's much happier lately, particularly with the acquisition of her devoted and lovely dog, Digger, a mixed Golden Retriever and German Shepherd. They have oodles of fun playing ball, etc, together. My brother Don and my mom-in-law are improving from their ailments, steadily though with hard work and patience. And our prayers of course. Dave, my older brother, and his wife took a well-deserved and long-awaited trip to Belgium to stay with friends, and toured much of Europe as well. So life gives, life takes away...as always...it's the shocks I don't need, but I guess we can't prevent them.
I am currently Creative