On this first day of school (in Miami, at least), I present the results to date of the latest Artists at Heart challenge:

Challenge #2:  “Summer’s End”
Revised Posting period:  8/1/06 – 8/15/06

jaime_melissa‘s photo post
moniet‘s song lyric/photo post
SonDancer‘s photo post
wildcane‘s poetry post
RoseRiver‘s photo post

Other Members:

BlackCat5
clothedinjoy
Proverbs_31

I’d consider it a huge wild-favor if you’d take time to visit a couple of these fine Xangans.  So far, I like jaime_melissa’s post best, though striking photos are to be found elsewhere as well.  Feel free to make your choice(s) known here in my comments after you’ve been around to visit others, but I hope you’ll at least let them know you stopped by to check out their creativity.

AAH Post…(Challenge #2)

SUMMER’S END

The boy in me remembers when
the nights turned hot and sticky,
and all-night a.m. radio
became a little tricky,
when clothing sales provoked my mom
in ways I thought were icky
And “Back to School” signs everywhere
Could fell my joy tree quickly.

But now that school years long have passed
with family and friends
to other places I can’t see
or even comprehend
The season change is subtler than
a willow in the wind,
and somehow I find comfort in
embracing summer’s end. 

The cycles of the seasons are,
as all of us must learn,
a rudimentary rhythm
to which every soul must turn.
Not what’s behind but what’s ahead
must be for which we yearn–
released in peace accelerates
what’s best in its return. 

© Steve the wildcane

Please check out all the Artists at Heart blogring members this week (listed alphabetically) to see their take on the end of summer:

BlackCat5, clothedinjoy, jaime_melissa, moniet, Proverbs_31,
RoseRiver, SonDancer, wildcane

I went to a housewarming for friends after work tonight and didn’t get my AAH post up.  Tomorrow is another day.  Instead, I played True Colors–the board game, not the song.  It’s an odd experience that I likely wouldn’t repeat with strangers, but I did enjoy being with my friends.  Anyone else played this game?  Maybe I will feel differently after sleep…

Haven’t had many random commenters in a while, but Prisonerofthemoon just sent me to my CD collection with a smile…

Thanks a bunch!   

And yes, both the wildcane on duty and his condo again have power.  Time to get that latest AAH blogring post together.  I feel creative…

I just got home from work within the hour.  It’s been a grind lately.  The weekend was good but overflowing with activity.  What I remember…

*rushing out Sat. evening to borrow a mower
*praying that rain would not wash out the last hour or two of daylight
*cutting grass at the new home of honymooning newlyweds
*trying to think (unsuccessfully) of a rougher yard I’ve mowed
*returning the truck and mower
*ordering Chinese food then watching The Fog and Aeon Flux
*getting home way too late
*waking up Sun. (late) without an alarm (no power)
*wondering how I’d get ready for the 10 to 12 people I invited for dinner
*calling everywhere trying to find out when power might be restored
*debating whether to cancel/move dinner
*finally getting power on around 3 p.m.
*racing to the store to buy all the perishables I’d been delaying buying
*racing home hoping no one would beat me there
*scurrying to finish cleaning, prepping, etc.
*struggling to stop being host long enough to gather food and eat
*enjoying a good discussion about how to walk in the spirit
*singing an old song I wrote while playing a feisty 11-string guitar
*3 games of Euchre that my partner and I lost badly
*getting to bed way too late for the 2nd night in a row
*finding my car window down this morning after a rainy night
*struggling through a 12-hour day (work and commute)
*thinking I should post something not photographic tonight

Ok, so it’s a Sat.-Mon. “weekend.”  Call me a maverick.  Or just deduce that I can’t remember Friday night to Sat. afternoon.

Hope you all had more balanced weekends.  My eyes are protesting, so I won’t be reading online tonight.  Later…

WHERE IS WALDO  IN THE WORLD WAS WILDCANE?

Can you guess the town pictured below?  I’ll add cheesy hints in a timely manner until someone guesses right.  Plus, I narrow it down by replying to guesses in the comments. 

PHOTO CREDIT:  Steve the wildcane

PHOTO CREDIT:  Steve the wildcane

PHOTO CREDIT:  Steve the wildcane

HINT #1:  James Joyce wrote “Ulysses” here.
HINT #2:  World’s fourth-largest stock market.
HINT #3:  A refuge for dissidents in WWI.

ANSWER:  Zurich, Switzerland

WiW 7   WiW 6   WiW 5   WiW 4   WiW 3   WiW 2   WiW 1

If you did not know that any part of the earth would ever be discussed in terms of a temperature of -189 degrees F., go here.

Goodnight.

A quick four words I never thought I’d use together:

That’s me in Slovakia (profile picture).  Ain’t life grand?!

Meanwhile, I found some pictures of big ships at the famous Key West sunset pier, mentioned yesterday…

^ The back half up to restaurant row…^

…and the front half on the other side.

Truthfully, it doesn’t look like the same ship in both pictures, does it?    I’ll try to plan better next time.  You get the idea, though.  BIG ships, small pier.  Lots of vendors.  I should have taken fewer pictures of ships and found some Heminway cats…

Since I didn’t, below is the second ship from a different angle, showing the flags and a rare flower that blossoms an occasional tourist head (look closer!):

Here’s a glimpse of historical Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West, Florida, home of the southernmost U.S. beach, with views from the fort (captions below pics)…

^ The inside is pretty small. ^

The outside.  Two people walked into this shot,
providing scale for the wall/moat/windows.

Looking “right” at the famous sunset pier
(in the upper left–west?) behind the tree.

This view shows two big ships at the pier.
(That pier is barely big enough for one.)

The view “straight out” (south?)
Stonehenge engineers “ran out of gas” here.

View “left” (east?) over the wall and moat.

Same view with a big ship for scale.
(Your call which provides scale for the other.)

How many Key West boats/ships do you see?

A) 2  B) 3  C)4

ANSWER:  B (3) (I explained in comments)