August Postcard Poetry Fest 2021

Posted on August 14, 2021 by Mary Beth Frezon

It’s definitely August (I’m melting!) and so it’s also Postcard Poetry Festival time!

This year I’m in two groups of 32 folks. The plan is to write a poem a day and send it via postcard to each successive person after you on the list. There is a lovely dailiness to this and it’s a good stretch of the “get-it-done-no-matter-what” muscle. Some days a poem comes easily, other days not so much.

I usually go into august armed with a short list of possible fall-back topics and sometimes a plan of what the poems will be – sonnets or whatever. I have quite a collection of postcards to use so I’m set for a long time. I make sure I have stamps. I have my sharpie pens at the ready.

Over the past year, during the pandemic, I began cutting up all my cardboard boxes: crackers, cereal, tissue, into postcard sized pieces. This may have started when I found a stack of old phone books that had nice or interesting covers and I ripped off the covers before recycling the rest. Who knows? Anyway, with a few donations from Mom, I ended up with more than enough postcard-sized hunks of boxes to use for August. I put self-adhesive postcard backs onto them and so far, so good.

I did have a short list of emergency ideas but I haven’t dipped into it yet. Also during the pandemic, I started responding to a friend’s facebook practice of posting a photo and asking us to show our daily “one good thing”. Early on in the pandemic I really looked forward to getting out in the yard and finding something good. Taking photos is another way of looking at things and dailiness is a good practice. When he stopped posting those for awhile, I picked it up and kept it going with my friends. Now that he’s back I send him a different version of my one good thing.

So it seems that in the first couple weeks of PoPoFest 2021 my cards are going out with a short poem about something simple but noticed. Something heard and pondered. After the first couple days, a format I like – three haikus on a theme – seemed to be the plan.

And that can be my good thing for the month!

Here’s a little view of all the cards received so far from the two groups. I also got a card (not shown) snuck in from the World Peace Poetry session in February – very welcome after some list rummaging! And turns out two bonus cards which I’d only registered one.

Posted in deadline, Do the Work, life on the web, Poetry and Lyrics, postcard poetry fest, stash, taking time to look, the creative process, World Peace Poetry Postcards | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Let the squirrel-times roll… or not

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Mary Beth Frezon

Thanks Morebirds for giving me a way to replace the tube of my old Droll Yankee tube feeder that got eaten by a bear in the spring. Ten bucks, good as new, with just a philips screwdriver and a large nail (this later part I came up with as a way to hold the small nut way inside the feed hold while I screwed in the other side). I took a moment to clean up the metal bottom before reassembling and it really looks like new. I also ordered a small-birds-friendly feeder with collapsing perches to fill in the package and that looks nice too. Holds quite a bit of seed and I already saw some birds checking it out.

I moved the feeder Mom gave me the other day to where the screen tube was but added a top baffle. If that seems to keep the squirrels busy I will probably move the whole thing higher and go back to the screen tube since the larger birds prefer it.

After that arrived but before all the assembly stuff I headed out to get bird seed and managed to blank out on everything else on my list. So I got a few art supplies instead because it was almost not raining. Now it’s raining again. The Kinderhook is raging.

New feeder with collapsible perches, a demonstration movie.

Posted in birds and chickens, Do the Work, gardens and flowers, In the neighborhood, life around us | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

For the Quote Box

Posted on July 10, 2021 by Mary Beth Frezon

Tip of the hat to Robert LaFond:

Painters of marines do not represent the sea well, in general. The same approach may be applied to them as to the painters of landscape. They want to show too much science, make portraits of waves, as the landscapists make portraits of trees, of the earth, of mountains, etc. They do not concern themselves enough with the effect on the imagination; the multiplicity of petty details–even true details–turns the mind away from the principal spectacle, which is the immensity or the depth to be rendered by any given art. — Delacroix

Posted in From the Quote Box, landscape, taking time to look, the creative process, watercolor | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Poetry Postcard Fest 2021 – Register Soon!

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Mary Beth Frezon

Just a reminder that a great way to stretch your poetry muscles is to get some daily practice and it’s that time again for August’s Poetry Postcard Fest. Registration ends on July 18, so time is short to sign up but you can do it!

You’ll get a list of 31 other folks and starting just before or on August 1, you’ll write a poem a day, sending it off to each successive person after you on the list. I usually have a short list of possible prompts in case I get stuck but generally once going it’s easier to keep going. Last year as you may recall my biggest problem was a sudden burst of double-sonnets which led to cards with writing on both sides of the postcard. THhere’s no theme or form requirements (there’s talk on the page about composing directly on the card but I don’t do that (although I don’t edit what I write each day in notebook or computer). You do what works for you and what gets the postcards in the mail every day.

The daily commitment is important to both you and your own writing as well as to the folks in your group. Who doesn’t love to get real mail in the mailbox?

Be bold! You can do it! Read more about it and you can sign up here. Small fee supports the Seattle Poetry Lab.

Here’s Harry practicing watching for the mailman. (ok he might be watching chipmunks… but he does watch the mailbox too)

Posted in cats helpful cats, deadline, Do the Work, good causes, Poetry and Lyrics, postcard poetry fest | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Staying Local

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Mary Beth Frezon

As I tour around looking at things and for places to paint, I see lots of things. Some don’t register much, some get a ‘oh interesting’ sort of reaction and some get filed away in the ‘you should find out more about that’ file.

Recently I’ve seen mentions of a local place, Hilltown Pork, probably on social media and while they are mostly a place for butchering, they also offered on their website some retail options for pick up. I got a notice of a memorial day set of offerings (even with instructions on how to provision your pig roast!) and decided to give it a try. Local and locally produced has a lot of appeal.

Well pretty local. I thought I had a recollection of where it was. And if I hadn’t used GPS I probably would have gone straight to the place! But that’s ok – I’m good at turning around on narrow roads and trying again. It was a little further down Rt 22 than I recalled but seriously I’m not sure how I missed it, going by.

Pulled in and a helpful lad asked my name and got the fellow in charge who took my money and handed over my order/receipt. Then he went into an outdoor freezer and found what the receipt noted as “a small box”. In minutes I was on my way to Mom’s to share the wealth. I’d gotten some breakfast sausage, bacon, and ground beef. It was all frozen and all looked great. (ok I was sorry I hadn’t gotten a lot more when I looked inside the box!). Peeking into that freezer it was clear that people get bigger orders and local restaurants get from them too.

The sausage were like the best kind you get from good diners big and plump. The bacon had about equal meat and fat, just as I like it. Gave mom some sausage to try and brought the rest home. Couldn’t resist opening up my own packet of sausage and cooked up a few. Oh my – lots of sage, finely ground interior – perfect. Rest went into the freezer for another day. Turns out mom did the same thing after I said how good they were.

So there you have it. And if you’re looking for them, make a note not to use GPS – the place really is on Rt 22 just above the truck stop/rest area by I-90.

Posted in food, In the neighborhood, life around us, taking time to look | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment