Meri's Musings

It's more easily said than done, but sometimes you've just got to  Bake some bread. Knit a scarf. Go to a movie you've been wanting to see. Have a cup of something wonderful with a friend. Make love. Get a massage. Browse your favorite store. Read a great book cover to cover. Give yourself a break. You deserve a break today.

to see other Haiku My Heart posts, click  HERE . Haiku: From Across the Canal tourists pause as night settles over Rialto reflections dazzle

Don't you just love those "verification" words, the key that opens the door for comment posts? The other day, I got a wonderful made-up word. INTIMID. I think that's what you are when you're wounded or inexperienced or worried about how you look, but you're easing your way toward intimacy with someone new ever so slowly.  .  . with eyes averted when the whole process gets a little too intense or the fear rises up like a bulimic episode. Gently sliding toward connection. So full of hope, but a bundle of nerves. Wanting to get close, but holding yourself back just a little. Intimid.

I'll give you a haiku-less post tomorrow but for today, another one. stone tears coalesce cling somehow to an eyelid sorrow   spilling out 

Forgive me. I'm perseverating. Stuck for now on haiku. Daylilies So ephemeral. Explode like vivid fireworks but gone the next day.

dear luna, you hang so close in the inky sky can I caress you?  (Sorry, the photo's a little grainy. I hadn't bought a tripod when I took this, so the ISO was set really high.)

her heavy head droops as she realizes she  is doomed to die cut off from the source she cannot worship the sun destiny foiled For  more Haiku My Heart participants, click HERE .

My bloglandia friend Kathleen "Kat" Mortensen of Kat's Invisible Keepsakes has published a new book of poems called I am honored to be able to help introduce Kat and her poetry to those of you who haven't made her acquaintance thus far. So you can get to know her, I posed some questions to her. Here's the resulting dialogue. M: What places sing loudest to your heart? KAT: That's actually a very easy question. Close to home, my backyard which is filled with daily visitors on foot and wing is a constant source of fulfillment and joy to me.  It has been the wellspring of creativity in many instances. Away from home, I am connected by an invisible thread to a few places in the world.  I am palpably moved by any image or film of the countries in the United Kingdom, most strongly by Ireland and Northern Ireland, the home of my father and his ancestors, with its vast green landscape, rolling hills and proximity to the sea. I have been to England, Scotland a

We all have them, even if we don't admit it. GUILTY PLEASURES. Here's my list. 1. watching the Bachelorette and fantasizing about having man choices (at my age, that is pure fantasy) 2. being so enthralled with a book that I read all night no matter how I'll feel the next day 3. taking photographs just because 4. having a drawer full of "Republic of Tea" flavored teas and a lovely thin porcelain mug from Harrod's  to hold my brew-of-the-day. 5. kissing little Logan in the crease of his neck  and making him giggle 6. the plum-colored lacy bra and panties  that nobody other than me will ever see 7. cashmere sweaters against my skin 8. going to movies in the middle of the afternoon  when  nobody's there and you feel as if  they're doing a special screening, just for you. 9. reading my favorite blogs 10. fresh, handmade caramels from a local store 11. golden raspberries eaten while standing at the vines 12. buying myself fresh cut

Ok.  I know this isn't traditional haiku in any way, shape or form (except for syllable count). But I'm stressed today with my organizer Amber here to work in the garage, wonderful efficient Amber who needed much more help than I had time to give what with company coming for a party on Sunday afternoon. So here it is. In your face.  Non-traditional haiku. If I were a song I'd be noisy rock n roll  18 til I Die. For more Haikus, Join Rebecca for Haiku My Heart Friday . The others will be more to your liking, I'm sure. And if you want to hear Bryan Adams sing the original 18 Til I Die, click HERE . And if by chance you're interested in photo memes, check out Favorite Photo Friday .

I'm in a place of quietude, appreciating the sacred in my ordinary day. So I'll let this slide show without words that I put together  do my talking for me. Hope you don't mind.

Photography is a form of expression  that reveals not only who were are,  but how the world appears through our eyes.  There is some risk to this, but more importantly,  there is that possibility that  our revelation will touch another,  heal some brokenness,  lead us back to our wholeness.   – Jan Phillips, God is at Eye Level "Gray Sky behind Santa Maria Maggiore" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian.

such surprise these words inspired, catching me off guard poem on a wall (as I told Bonnie, saw this "Wall Poem"  in English near the French school in Rome).

Oh my gosh! I found a use for really bad photos. You know what I mean. The ones that are out of focus or not well composed. The ones that you should have thrown out, but didn't. Turns out you can do this. . . . "Indigo, Sage and Mustard Mandala" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian with just a couple of clicks of a mouse using Corel Paint Shop Pro.  This lousy shot becomes this: "Egyptian Mandala" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian Who knew? (And on another note, far more brilliant, please don't miss Rebecca's post .  Her words will ripple out around you like rings in a pond after the stone has pierced the surface, just as her words will pierce your heart and nestle inside.)

I learned Sunday night that making great photographs during a fireworks show is much harder than it looks. I threw out WAY more than I kept and I probably kept too many. And some of the ones I kept are ones that Gavin took photo © 2010 Gavin Kremian after I turned the camera over to him for a little go round. photo © 2010 Gavin Kremian Do fireworks displays still hold for you all the magic they held in for you in childhood?

Rialto Evening © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian. All rights reserved evening comes bringing soft light, blue and amethyst tears fall unbidden Join Rebecca and friends at  Haiku My Heart Friday

I put together a little presentation to showcase some of my favorite photographs  from Venice. I wanted to post it just to my blog, but experienced technical difficulties. So I posted it to You-Tube. I hope you like it. It's put together using royalty-free music and Photodex's ProShop Producer.