Poems From My Travels

Ruminations on A Storm
By C.K.Armistead
Oct. 2014


Rumbledy thumps
Bumps and crackles
Mutter, moans, and
Ghostly cackles
The storm is getting
Some practice in
Before Halloween
Comes again.




Cloud music
Static crackling
Low grumbling
On it goes
A symphony of
Noise and light
Lasting all night.






Grumbling thunder
Flashes of light
An Oklahoma melody
On an Alabama night.
So it kept you awake,
and anxious perhaps:
But I slept just fine
Though the sky was alive
The song that it sang
An Oklahoma Lullaby.






How I Felt After I Read Your Book
(For Ron Perlman, on his book, Easy Street (the Hard Way)


C.K. Armistead Oct. 2014


Searching now for ways
To share the love,
The care I've received
From others
Back into the world
To help the world
Be a little better, kinder,
Easier for others.


Because that's what you do
You give back more than you know.
Have made days brighter
Hearts lighter
Just by doing what you always do
Making fictional people come alive
And making us care about them
Giving back the love
Your fans give you.
Cause love just grows
The more you give it away!






Inspiration
By C.K. Armistead
October, 2014


And so sleep once again
Proves an elusive beast.
Just when I think my brain will give in,
Words come in a poetic feast.


The loud clamoring words
Demanding to be put down
Saying rest is for cowards
Writing the way to win the crown.

Mom's House and Other Adventures

I am spending a week at my  mother's house helping my sister with various chores that Mom can't get to.

It was quite an adventure to get there, and quite an adventure while we were there, and an adventure to get back.  Not as bad as it could be, but for me, any venture away from my familiar place and routine is fraught with danger.

Biggest danger was to my wallet while I was waiting for three hours in Houston for the next flight, and for my sister to get in so we could catch that flight together.  There are many little shops in the Houston airport.   All with high prices.  I managed to find one with reasonable post cards, and a small bagel shop that was also more reasonable, and I sat myself down and did postcards for awhile.  There was no good place to sit and read in anything resembling comfort.  That is one of the noisiest airports I've ever been in, and it has a distinct lack of seating in the area of B terminal near B1-11.

My sister and I usually stop to eat before we leave the last airport near our destination and drive to Mom's. This time, we didn't.  We drove on in the town where Mom lives, got  the house opened and took inventory, then went to eat something.  We stopped to see Mom, added to our shopping list, and made the first of MANY trips to WalMart.  Seems we can't do stuff at Mom's house without having to go get more stuff from WalMart.  Or Winn-Dixie.  Those are the two places we seem to find ourselves when we really just came to do yard work and visit with Mom.  There's always something we thought we had at the house that we don't have, something Mom needs at the assisted living place, just always something!

So, we survived the yardwork, and a week in a SMALL town.  The trip home was uneventful, even though we both had to RUN to catch our connecting flights home from Houston.  Soon as I got on that plane to OKC, I felt so good, even though I still had the vestiges of a sinus headache.  I do believe I'm allergic to Alabama.  First time I ever visited there, I got a headache, and it's happened ever single visit since.  I just make sure I have Excedrin Tension Headache and decongestant on hand when I get there.

This trip was so much more pleasant.  My sister seemed to feel better.  Mom is doing well at the assisted living, and there's just a lot less stress all around.  Mom looks better than she has in a while, she's eating right, she takes her medicine right, and actually interacts with other humans besides Aunt Margaret!  It's amazing.  She's just SO much better.  This facility is absolutely wonderful, and the people who work there obviously care about the folks they are responsible for.

On our trip back to the Pensacola airport to come home,  C-130 flew overhead, obviously associated with one of the military bases in the area.  That was a good omen to me.  C-130s are always a good omen to me.  Scrappy little cargo haulers that Matt used to fly on.  Love the sound they make.

Got home in one piece, had plenty of time between flights, even though I was afraid it was going to be too close.  Spent some time with good friends after I got home, got the laundry done, and made margaritas!  Yes, #KatieMargarita rides again!  (As the #Perlgirls will tell you.)

This week has flown much faster than last week did.  I have tomorrow off to prepare for another trip, this one to Austin, TX.  I've never been there before, so it will be fun to see a new place, and I get to meet a few more online friends in person, plus see a couple I've already met again!  Good times, and good friends.  It's going to be a great weekend.

More on that experience later, perhaps.

A Few Words...

 Leavin' On A Jet Plane

Before I leave and probably won't have a chance to access this blog for more than a week, I'd just like to check in and say thanks for reading! 
My review of Easy Street (the Hard Way) by Ron Perlman has been one of my most popular posts.  Right up there with the pieces written in the aftermath of the tornadoes and for some reason, my music lists. 

I do hope Easy Street makes some noise in the publishing world. It's a great read, a very honest book, and well, the author is someone I've admired for a long time. It would be great to see "best selling author" added to his numerous credits. 

Perhaps I will have a chance to make some notes in order to do a little post on travel.  I don't particularly like to travel, I have a problem with not being able to bring all the "stuff" I'd like to have around me.  I also don't like being in the midst of big groups of people. 

At any rate, I must try to shut the brain down for a little sleep now.  Not easy, since I am by nature a night owl.  I fear greatly that I may bite someone's head off in the morning.  I DON'T do mornings before 9:30 or 10, really. (Plane leaves at 7:20, which means I gotta be at the airport by about 6:20 at the latest. It ain't gonna be pretty.)

As they say in Germany,
 Tschuess!

Saturday Summations

Things I discovered today:

1.  Tiny pieces of onion skins are really a sentient life form.  They are tenacious, resourceful, and have the ability to reproduce.  Obviously, because they are ubiquitous, and  they evade every standard cleaning measure except being picked up individually, by hand.
 

2.  When God really needs you to be somewhere, you will be there.  Happened to be in the right place at the right time to help someone today.  Nice to know that we can all be instruments used to make someone's day!

3.  The beer worth drinking is usually expensive. 

4. Few things are as precious as good friends you can have fun with.

5. Apple pies can retain heat for a LONG time.

6. If OU has a week off between football games, they will forget how to play before the next game.

7. Coffee is like beer.  You can't buy it, you can only rent it. (Original quote from Archie Bunker : "Yez can't buy beer, yez can only rent it.")

8. Laundry never sleeps.

9.  Two people can get a house messier than a family with 2 kids and a dog and a cat.  At least the two of us can.  (It's called having too many hobbies...)

10.  I find myself loving music now that I would have been mortified to be caught listening to when I was a teen.  Shows how much influence peer pressure had at one point.  Now, I love the songs that my Mom listened to.  (Well, maybe not Tammy Wynette) The big band tunes, Sinatra, Dean Martin, even early Elvis.  Nothing can get your feet moving quite like "Sing, Sing, Sing."  The music of the Big Band Era just sounds like it was fun to play.  Hard to not have a great time and be in a great mood when that music plays.  My parents' "song" was "Mares Eat Oats"  because the jukebox was broken at Camp (now Fort) Rucker where they met.  That was the only song it would play.
I don't know whose version they heard, because the earliest recording I could find is dated 1944. They met in '43, I think.
Here's a link


Just my little insights gleaned this Saturday. 

Friday Fussings

My FitBit looks like this one.

Well, maybe not all fussing.  Just observations.

I am glad that my little FitBit Fitness Tracker gives me little greetings when I first pick it up.  Sometimes, they are a bit odd, though.  It seems a bit needy as it has asked for a hug several times lately.  Given where I usually wear it (clipped to the center of my brassiere) this is a bit disturbing. It has also told me several times that it "luvs" me.  Nice to know, but I wasn't aware that a small motion detecting and recording device was capable of higher emotions. Again, perhaps it is just programmed to be needy.  It's had to keep up today.  I put in 90 minutes on the elliptical trainer, and that's a LOT of steps.  Also sorted out a lot of transit items and put away several hold items at work today.  The way I do it, it involves a bit of walking back and forth!  (I got used to not having a spare cart to put the transits on, so I just walk them over in batches, carrying them in my arms. I am always amazed at how many books, cds, and dvds I can carry at once.)

It was actually cool outdoors today.  I had to wear a sweater to work, and I had to wear a light jacket when I took my evening walk.  Autumn is definitely moving in.  It is a pleasant change from very hot, humid days we've been having.  Need a bit more moisture, but you can't have everything.  No leaves really turning yet, though a few trees are already dropping leaves. 

Got some appreciation from a coworker for one of my "extra" jobs that I do at work.  Nice that people notice and care. 

Have to do battle with technology for work.  I am going to have to do some learning about this technology at home so that I stand a better chance of not screwing up at work.  This is a big adventure and a real foray out of my comfort zone for me.  Pushing myself.  Stretching.  I keep telling myself it's a good thing...

So, now that I've written this much, the brain is going awol.  It would appear that it is after midnight, and for some reason, I'm sleepy.  Go figure. 

Once upon a midnight creepy,

I sat trying to type and feeling sleepy.

Attempting to write inspired verse,

I ended up with something more like a curse.

And all the while there was a tapping,

As of fingers gently typing,

Tapping on my computer's keys.

 

Descriptions

Just a few word paintings that have been hanging around in my head today.  Thought I'd get them out on "paper" while they were still around.  Don't know if I'll ever use them for anything, but I think they're kinda cute.  See if you feel what I mean in each case.  Did I do a good job?
None is related to any of the others, really.

 1.

It was a shock to come out of the dry coolness of the library into the early Autumn afternoon.  The sun was bright, the air scented vaguely like someone's dryer vent who uses fabric softener sheets.  It was as moist and hot as the air from that dryer vent, too.  One of those times when you dread the first few minutes in the car that probably feels more like the inside of an Easy-Bake oven. Weather that makes one very glad to have velour upholstery instead of vinyl.

2.

The night air, so cold and bright and brittle that you feel you could almost shatter it, numbs your nose and fingers and toes so suddenly that it leaves you breathless for a moment.  Yet you stand dumbfounded, staring up at the clear, jeweled sky, suddenly caring nothing for the sharp cold, feasting tired eyes on the sparkling glory of the stars.

3.

And you draw the air into your lungs, set yourself just so, wait for the music to get to the right spot, and then - ah, then - you open your mouth and let the music flow through you.  It comes up from your toes, it rings in your head like a bell, it vibrates out from your very soul.  And it is sweet, so very sweet, to soar along with the music, to fly, for just a moment, to be lost in another world entirely.

4.

A strange sense of detachment, accompanied by abject terror trying to make me shake.  And this is something I've looked FORWARD to for a long time!  Yikes!  I'm going to open my mouth and nothing sensible will come out. Or, I will stand there and stare like an idiot.  So very nervous, but
when the moment comes, a smile so disarming, someone so genuinely glad to see us, all the nerves flee, replaced by giddy happiness.  And I probably did sound like an idiot, but a happy idiot!

5.

For what felt like hours, we stood, waiting.  The wind was blustery, but the weather held.  Suddenly, just when we were fearing we'd have to come back tomorrow, we hear it, a low hum, getting louder, a very welcome vibration that resonates in our very souls.  Then the cry goes up, "There they are!"  and the first of the C-130s we've been waiting for flies over the field, turning to come back in for landing. Our guys and gals are home!  At last!  The ones deployed from our wing have been gone more than 7 months. Not long by some standards, but a long time for military airlift crews to be away from home station.  It seemed to take forever, hearing more and more of those planes we missed the sight of come in and land, and wave after wave of people come in, greeting friends, pointing them to their loved ones if they hadn't seen them yet. And then, there you were.  My knight in smelly flightsuit, my ginger man, my only love.  I never wanted to let you go ever again.

There.  Now, I sit here, in my somewhat noisy office, hearing the refrigerator running on the other side of the wall, my husband puttering with something in the kitchen, the TV left on in the living room, and I hear the clicking of my fingers on this keyboard.  It is a very satisfactory feeling, to have the words spilling out, and my fingers for once keeping pace.  (Most of the time my brain goes far too fast for my hands to keep up.  Piano practice goes this way as well.  I read too far ahead, my hands get confused and tangled up.)  Now, I hear opera coming from the living room. I'm off.....