Poetry: 340 and Music

Three Four Oh


340



The code


Some one


Thought


Should describe what


I have and others have


And try to describe


By words


And symptoms


As varied


As the colors on a rainbow.






340


The international number


That doctors use


And insurance companies


Cringe at when they see


The number


That means expensive


Meds, treatments and tests


And a person who may not work


Long enough to pay it all back






340


I looked for wisdom in that number


And some sign


That the number meant something to me


Or those others with what I have


That quirky strange set of symptoms no one can see but me right now


Some day perhaps I could be identified


By wheels or a cane or a staggering gait.


For now I can keep others from knowing


What I have


Is


340


_____________________________________________________

notes: "340" is the International Coding Term for Multiple Sclerosis.
It is used for Doctors, Hospitals, billing, etc.
in numerolgy it is reduced to "7" which is a very unique number. Am I over googling???
Oh, who cares....mary
_____________________________________________________

Also I wanted to put a link to our favorite vinyl music station going through some hard times. Help support them if you can.



http://www.musicheads.us/

Have a great day werever you are!

Notes on Mom's pictures

I wanted to write a few notes about Mom's oil painting "period" in her life.
The dates started about 1967-and went on for a few years. She took a class and for awhile her art teacher was mine as well. I longed to be able to put what was in my head onto the canvas but alas I am not able to like Mom did.
I used to watch her create and was flattered she did my image.
When I asked her why she did not "sign" my picture, she said a good artist does not need to sign for you to know it is their art. I guess that is true about a lot of things.
I pitched a fit about the same art teacher. He said I did not do a project because he said it was too good.
I knew I did. So I imagine all my fits in the seventh grade might have distracted Mom. Or maybe she just lost interest as I have done many times in exploring a new genre.
She did submit "Mark Twain" in a contest. She submitted his painting as a historic figure.
She lost the contest because she had actually painted "Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain". It was a show that played about that time. So the judge felt she was painting a modern image of a person playing an historic figure.
I felt like it was splitting hairs and not really fair. It would not be the last time I felt humans would be unfair.
Ah, the pain of self expression.
Mary

More of Mom's pictures

More of Mom's pictures.
I can still smell the oils and I loved all the colors of paint.

Mark Twain

Mary (me)

My photo

a little better view of The Cat

We always called him "The Indian"

I hope you enjoy!

Mary

Mom's paintings

Mom's Art

Mom painted these
about the time I was in 10 to 12 or so.

I love the cat.

The Fish

The Zinnias.

I have a few more but have to get them photographed and downloaded.

I hope you enjoy Mom's paintings.

Mary

A Hard Frost

A Hard Frost swept over the the valley and nothing escaped damage this time.
Jack Frost he is called, a rascal for sure.
We picked all the peppers and medium artichokes (covered large ones for flowers).
and watermelon, broccoli and spaghetti squash.
At least the ragweed is dead too and the mold can settle a little clearing the air.
And today's rain means we can stay in and relax.
Good with the bad.
Have a great day wherever you are on the planet.
Mary

Happy Birthday Christopher Reeve (on Friday)

I have been wanting to post a link to Christopher Reeves website. It is posted below. What a marvelous person he was and his wife as well. Now his kids are picking up their parent's torch so that others may benefit from his famous name and his more importantly his work with spinal cord injury.
Before Christopher Reeve's accident, I was a hospital neuro nurse who cared for patients after spinal cord injuries and talked to them about "acceptance", "moving on from anger", in those days we would close the door and have a talk. I tried to teach new patients how to survive in the world from a chair with a body that could not move but still affected their health. I tried to teach them to see themselves in a new light.
Now after Christopher Reeve's courageous struggles and refusal to accept the status quo, we can see progress being made.
Thanks Christopher Reeve, Dana and now their children for supporting research and development of new ways and new treatments.

Stop by and give them a hand.

christopherreeve.org

The Autumnal Equinox

These pictures are from last year

but they show the range from  a late view

below  \|/

to peak in the maple woods

above /|\

We just have dabs of color today in the valley.

Nice mild weather after a near killing garden frost.

The garden looks pretty rugged but we did can saurkraut and stewed tomatoes last weekend

(tomatoes we got from Paul Mazza's wonderful farmstand.)

We steamed the artichokes and ripped their hearts out and froze in chicken broth for leek artichoke soup and appreciate why those little jars of marinated chokes cost so much.

I think I still have thorns. We left a few to flower fully and want to take pictures.

The plants are cold tolerant but the next frost will be a killer for sure.

So is the season of autumn.

Have a great day in your part of the planet.

Mary

Fall Rolls In

Fall rolls in

by Mary E. Gerdt 2009

all rights reserved

Fall rolls in with a fury

Like squalls on the oceans

Or when you can't open a can

Or you drop a nice thing.

Fall colors amazing

While the weather holds out

Lots of brown this year

The summer was hard.

Falls I remember were sad with my loss

Some were happy

relief

was tucked into bed

For the long winter is coming

The starlings they fly

In a great

Brilliant

Miraculously

Circuitously

Bizarrely

Together

pattern of aerial dance

for such a silly looking bird.

have a nice fall.

mary

Small things

Small Things
by Mary E. Gerdt 2009. all rights reserved.
("Paws off!" Tommy would say)

Small things
can mean a lot to humans.
No this is not philosophical.
This is practical. My cubicle neighbor suggested it for just about anything external to a person's or dog's body.
I guess I had been warned in nursing school 30 years ago, that it could be harmful and should be treated with caution.
Well, that is true to an extent. The percentage/concentration was higher then for our mother's remedy nicknamed "peroxide"
or "Proxide" for expediency since it usually meant a scrape, bump or sore.
In fact it works well for all those uses unless a very deep abscess and even then just keep it out of the inside of the body because it foams.
For athlete's foot, fungal stuff, I keep a dark colored (light degrades it) squirt bottle in the bathtub. Squirt areas prone to fungus after shower and towel off.
Then I spray the tub area and shower curtain.
It turns to water and oxygen. No residue.
I clean all bathroom and kitchen surfaces and the scrubbing bubbles help de-scum and makes things shine. I spray on my sponge to keep fresh.
I know there are more uses. We have found less reliance on lysol, etc products and anti fungal stuff and also feel better for it.
So I know that you too may appreciate one of the little things that make this a better stay on Earth.
Think about it, it is just water and oxygen.
Watch out for heavier strengths-may need to be diluted. I can hear my nursing instructor after all these years.
Mary
P.S. Pat Leahy and Peter Welch wrote back their standard form letters. Better than nothing but not as personal or passionate as I was when writing them. Same old expectations getting in the way. It was to me as if what I wrote had no meaning. That hurts an egotistical writer like myself.mg

The Sun Came Up

The Sun Came up
by Mary E. Gerdt
2009 all rights reserved

The Sun
Came up this morning,
In all its full glory,
A great friend I take for granted,
What if the Sun did not come up?

The Moon,
A companion on nights when
I cannot sleep and I wonder
If there is anything softer than moonlight?

The stars,
So often I ignore,
Or just cannot find the time,
To go out to see them,
Instead watching them through
The Hubble images I get
On the computer.

The Space,
In between this and that or this star and that star
Or me and you,
The space we never see
And think we know is there
Because someone told us there is space
Between this and that.

Molecules and atoms look different in my mind than in the minds of my grandchildren
Because science has changed and
I still see the electron orbiting the nucleus
And wonder how I would see things differently
If I were born today
Instead of 50 plus years ago.

The Earth I stand on feels so solid,
And stationary,
Could it really be just atoms and spaces,
More spaces than atoms,
Spinning in time,
While I am feeling totally still?

The time it takes to read this,
Will be gone before you know it,
And
Will you wonder as I do,
If the time really went anywhere,
Or is it still here,
Waiting for me to notice how time
Can be a ball,
Not a line,
Orbiting like our Earth home,
Waiting for us to come back
To where we began,
Looking at the Sun, from the Earth
For the first time.

Earthly Connections

Thanks to Herrad for the connection and award.
I will try to post it when I have more patience.
Check out Maia's blog

http://maiasintothemoonlight.blogspot.com/

I love traveling through this virtual web of humans.
Somehow it all makes our problems a little distant even for a moment or two.

Herrad follows so many of us and still manages to find and post the most amazing photos and imagery.
I treasure her Trinidad descriptions.
Earthly neighbors.
Best wishes.
Mary