Truly....Man's Best Friend...

This is my constant companion and me on the beach, Christmas Eve 2005. He is the one constant in my life that does not change and the one soul, (Yes! I believe animals have souls!! If they don't, then there can't truly be a Heaven!), that loves me unconditionally.

I love this old "mutt"!

Happy New Year 2006 & Resolutions

Happy New Year!! 2006! Where did 2005 go? My personal resolutions (God help me.....)

*Stop smoking!
*Get off the SPLT Board of Directors
*Resign from Drama Coordinator job at church
*Clean out the closets
*Clean out filing cabinets
*Find a Tai Chi’ class
*Find good massage therapist
*Work on losing these “love handles”
*Continue writing. Don’t stop!
*Attempt performing Shakespeare
*Take a painting class or art history class
*Be content with solitude. It is the destiny fate has chosen
*Start a wine collection
*Focus on job as #1 priority above all things
*Learn more technical and presentation skills for work
*Be more serious and less of a comedian
*Make at least one trip to New York City this year with a friend
*Pay more attention to and care for Mason (my 14 1/2 year old dog) in his old age
*Save some money

Wish me luck!! Especially on the smoking!! :-)

Where's the orchestra?

The above title is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs and it seemed fitting today. Welcome to my brand new “Blog” for 2006. I’ve recently come off of a tumultuous year in 2005 and have decided to start fresh and new. I started writing poetry for the first time in my life in 2005 so for my first posting I offer you one of my favorites. This came to me while I was ironing a shirt and before I knew it, the words starting flowing incredibly easily. If anyone else would like to join the orchestra, I look forward to hearing from you. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Solitary Symphony

"Life’s concert stage is bare, the curtain has been drawn,
What’s left only empty chairs, all the orchestra gone.
Ensemble of family, friends, colleagues and lovers so dear,
Silently echo the music that once played here.

The percussion of friends absent with lives of their own,
Spending hours at vocations before retiring to home.
Nurturing their children, making memories ever clear,
Residing in dwellings much too far away, never near.

The sounding brass of ones family fading away,
Intermittent memories of their music never to stay.
Vague recollections, father’s voice blowing like a horn,
Mother’s lullaby still heard over the blasting throng.

The woodwinds of past loves, once held dear, now missing,
The absence of my lovely who seems heaven’s blessing.
All enter and exit from this world’s great auditorium,
Willowing flutes in the shadows, dying in memoriam.

The tinkling cymbals of the heels of man’s best friend,
Elder now, only sleeping, dreams of the shepherd within.
Soft bells of time, ravaging his frail aging body,
Until the notes of his soul pass through the main lobby.

Strings have mirrored all of these with violins and harps,
Some with pitch perfect, others flat, many sharp.
Clefs played while working and making a living,
The greedy producer taking and rarely giving.

The conductors hands lowered, the down beat withdrawn,
Pressed lapels and tucked tails, he returns to Avalon.
His maestro countenance, once needed by the troubadour,
God lives here no longer, he has abandoned the theatre.

Until in dark spotlights, one stands, strings torn in twain,
A cello, lone bass humming, where once treble reined.
The musicians have grown silent and what is left, only me,
Alone before a vanished audience, a silent, solitary symphony."

TAH