NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 1

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Mary Beth Frezon

What a day! I got up and got assaulted by the news. You’re a grown up, you go read the news yourself and you’ll be outraged too. I had told mom I had a book in at the bookstore and we’d hop over and pick it up, so we did that. Except I also left with two poetry books and a tiny art book too.

Then of course we lunched. I came home and fiddled around briefly putting up a different kind of bird feeder. Had some dinner. Listened to some smarter people about the state of things. Listened to Cory Booker filibustering the Senate.

Wondered what kind of poem I could possibly write today. Looked out the window to see:

Photo: white-tail deer scarfs up seeds under a birdfeeder

I wrote out a lot of haiku but I’ll send you the last few:

I used a phone call
to my US senator
spewing my anger

then stepping outside
the trees were full of spring birds
under a blue sky

don’t know the future
only know that I have to
do the right thing

Posted in Do the Work, haiku, In the neighborhood, life around us, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, RESIST, Ripped from the headlines, the creative process | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Eve of April

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Mary Beth Frezon

March hurried by in its own way. Today I made a second round of bread, this time sourdough which turned out pretty well for a first go in a long time!

Two round loaves of bread. they each have circular marks from the basket they sat in during final rise and they have a square slash cut in the top. They sit on a wire rack.

One round loaf of bread sitting on a wooden cutting board. The loaf has had a first slice cut from it which reveals an interior with lots of air pockets throughout. The cut off heel of bread sits to the right, ready to eat.

Tonight after some soup and a slice of that bread, I went for a walk around the yard. It was much warmer and less windy than it had be when I’d gone out to try and paint a few minutes.

watercolor painting: long skinny dark red low barn projects in from right edge , foreground is yellow and green of early spring lawn. Beyond the bard, many grays and browns surround an opening showing hill of green grass in distance with some trees forming horizon with some blue sky and clouds above.

Sky view - evening sky with a line of treetops at the bottom. Mid view is a horizontal cloud with a few circular blobs that seems to hang from it. The horizon is cloudy with a pale pink cast above.

But now the real reason for the seasonal notation — It’s the eve of April aka NaPoWriMo Eve! Yes, it’s time again for a month of daily poems, written about who knows what, sometimes from a prompt, sometimes not, often with a bit of painting thrown in. So buckle up – let the poetry begin!

the eve of april
before dark I walk the yard
peepers singing loud

the air is balmy
such an old-fashioned word
for welcome warmth

the birds chorus now
welcomes back old familiars
robins, song sparrows

silhouetted now
way up in the treetops they’re
finding tonight’s roost

The peepers shrill call
are there thousands of them
each looking for love

Posted in birds and chickens, clouds, food, haiku, In the neighborhood, landscape, NaPoWriMo, Poetry and Lyrics, sunsets, taking time to look, watercolor, weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Superb Owl Sunday

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Mary Beth Frezon

I was just sitting watching some folks online talk about the state of the world when I heard… SOMETHING. I paused the video to verify it wasn’t coming from the computer and no! I RAN out of the house, grabbing a sweater, went out the garage-side door and stood listening and looking in the general direction the sound had come from and saw this. (click photo for video). Eventually the owl flew off to join its mate in a tree near the next house and then they flew off together.

A barred owl sits in a group of trees, center top third of the image.

After that, what else could happen? Not much. So I fiddled around having a little dinner while the four young deer stopped by to scarf up birdseed.

Photo: Two deer stand side by side with their heads toward the camera, noses together, eating sunflower seeds from the snow. A slender pole is at left, which holds bird feeders above the deer

I read some more news stuff and then I sat down and painted this:

Watercolor painting: winter landscape scene of gentle pink and yellow sunset with dark gray clouds and light horizon. In foreground a plowed path cuts diagonally past some shrugs to a group of dark red buildings at left. Beyond the buildings, a dark hill with scattered bits of sky and snow popping through. The buildings have snow on the roofs and the snow looks new and blue-ish color in the fading light.

Posted in 418 Petersburg, birds and chickens, Bucket List, clouds, Do the Work, In the neighborhood, landscape, Miscellany, OneGoodThing, sunsets, the creative process, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Grinder Roosts At Last

Posted on February 4, 2025 by Mary Beth Frezon

This was yesterday’s job. My antique coffee grinder had been waiting around for me to commit and this was the only reasonable place it could go. It should be level from all the measuring and level checking but who knows. (And who knows what’s really behind that 3/4″ wood molding) It relies on shoulders/arms strength rather than hands/fingers. And the first pot today was spot on – just as it’s always been. For grins I checked the weight and it was dead on to what I’d been measuring out to grind, lol. Not sure how that’s possible but there ya go.

Photo: An antique coffee grinder attached to a horizontal wood molding. The grinder has a glass jar with black cap above a black cast iron body with curved arm and wooden handle. Below, there is a pint mason jar to catch the grinds. To the right sitting on the ledge is a black cat inspecting the job, looking at the camera, crouched above his front paws. Behind, there is a bright window.

Posted in 418 Petersburg, badass-ness, cats helpful cats, coffee and tea, Do the Work | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

I didn’t have a single *&^% left… until I did!

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Mary Beth Frezon

This is totally off the wall advice but I give it based on my own experience. You know how we laugh with a friend or groups that we’re “just outta fucks to give”?

A couple years ago I gifted a friend with a ziplock baggie of the word fuck written on some colored cardstock I had and cut into tiny slips, one word to a slip.

I sat over several nights writing sheets full of the same word with a little sharpie pen. Nothing fancy.

My friend laughed when she got the new supply of fucks to give but here’s the thing: I felt great while I was writing and after. I wasn’t shouting FFF with each scribble, but at some level it was a great purge of my psyche.

So whether it’s you or your friends who need a new supply, give it a try. Let me know if it works for you like it did for me.

Posted in badass-ness, Do the Work, family and friends, fountain pens, note to self, RESIST, Ripped from the headlines, words | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments