For St Pete

'first name'_'last name'@mac dot com

it's like a haiku poem :)

Waking to a Dream

I woke up one morning,
opened my eyes,
and blinked… and blinked again.

The sun peeked at me
through the same
east-facing window.

I blinked again,
and lay looking
at the same sun.

Everyday it greeted me,
never a change
in its warmth.

My heart kept me laying… blinking.
It was beating fine,
a steady beat, a familiar rhythm.

But it was heavy.
It was an anchor, it was lead.
And I was unable to move.

Then I realized…
I was nothing but a dream.
So I closed my eyes,
and woke up,
and ceased to be.

And now the east
has grown dark.
And I'm flying
looking for the sun.

Missing Summers

When summers seemed never-ending,
and ice cream was like little angel kisses
straight from heaven…

When shoes and shirts were optional,
and hours were spent crawling in a field of wildflowers
looking for four-leaf clovers and lady bugs.

Or just laying on my back watching the clouds
make animal shapes as they drifted
across the pale blue summer sky.

Holding tightly to a coil of string
legs crossed, breeze drying my sweat
and watching a kite dance for me.

When… when...
when did the summers go missing?

I still have that child wonder,
I still have that happiness,
that genuine glee and sparkle
that can be seen
in a child's eyes
when he's given a candy
or going for a cool swim.

What I don't have
are those summers that
seem never-ending.

The boy remains the same
but his world has changed.

Finished grocery shopping...

I just finished grocery shopping. Notice how considerate I am. I returned the empty shopping cart to the shopping cart parking area... Then the mosque man started. I got in my car and put in The Melvins and left... a simple video of contrast.

A Snake and some Mushrooms

A spitting black cobra... he didn't spit at me... got angry though...


Brown and white on a dead tree...


Rusty color shelf...


My favorite... orange cup mushrooms...


White on a dead black tree trunk...


A reef of mushrooms on a dead tree...


Perfect mushrooms...


Yellow orange mushroom garden

Pulau Lang Tengah

We left on Thursday afternoon from Kuala Lumpur and I drove east until we hit the coast and then north until we almost made it to Thailand. Our destination for the day was a small town north of Kuala Terengganu called Kampung Merang. It took nearly 8 hours with one stop for dinner.

I listened to the Zac Brown band. The others in the car slept, read, and slept. I woke them up when I couldn't read the signs. We didn't get lost but we also didn't go the way we expected. Still we made it there.

We slept in a hotel near the jetty that night and woke up to catch the 8:00am boat that arrived at 10:00am... Malaysian time is VERY flexible which is a problem when you're trying to catch up on sleep!

(Clicking on the pictures make them big)

For dinner Osama served us fish and Saadam Hussien provided the fruit.

We're just so darn excited... this is after driving about 7 hours and eating what the good men Osama and Saddam cooked up for us.

At the jetty there are boats. Little fishing boats and tall skinny coconut palms. There's also a boat to take us to the island... but it's not here.

Fishing boats. Where are the fishermen? Happy fish out there.

Two happy people waiting for the boat.

Approaching Pulau Lang Tengah... It is a small island... very small island. And it is a nice island... except for the evil spider colony.

Our little jetty on the island.

Welcome to Pulau Lang Tengah!

Our little beach front for the weekend.

Please leave your shoes here. I didn't have any to leave. didn't bring any to the island.

This is really sweet. There was a jungle behind this.

Have hammock. Will vegetate.

In the shade peeking out at the beach. I got a little darker this weekend. I slow baked in the sun.

My crash zone. Took a few naps here.

I wrote on the earth's surface. She giggled. She's ticklish.

Swing. My butt prints are all over that.

Water and sky and a line dividing the two.

Color. It's real.

Rocks, water, trees and sky... look NO people... look how happy it all appears.

Low tide.

Rock and root.

Flower on a rock or rocks under a flower... and some water swishing around.

I love rocks. They're so inert. I wouldn't mind being a rock... with a flower on top of me.

From my hammock. Too lazy to get up and attempt a proper composition.

The sun went away.

Tranquility captured and devoured.

The moon and strange little color lights. And I thought the color lights were all in my head. Ha! Told you I was just fine.

The moon coming up behind the little mountain and the beach all aglow.

The sea from the jungle... yes... I had to go into the jungle.

Pandanus seeds.

Big spider. Fierce spider. He wanted to eat my camera.

Life vests are for wimps. Where's the excitement in the possibility of drifting out to sea and drowning if you're wearing a life vest?

Fish!

Blue fish!

More fish.

And some more fish and rocks.

A school of fish.

You haven't lived until you've been kissed by a fish.

Sun underwater on rocks... and a fish.

Yellow blob attracted fish.

The coral tried so hard to survive.

Dead coral :(

Rock just dropped down and down...

There were so many places to explore underwater.

A girl who is fearless of the water. No vest and we both swam way out around the point of the island. She's pretty good at diving down too. Then we saw a big shark and we swam really fast to the shore. Sharks tend to make you swim fast.

I went too deep and my camera protested. Water got inside. But after drying it out for a day the pictures were saved... and maybe the camera too.

Leaving so soon! The only word that comes to mind is 'darn' or 'english peas' though the last is 2 words. But there are many type of peas and I need to be specific.

I have no words for this... what kind of caption could I possibly write? this was dinner. Well, at least I know I didn't eat chicken balls.

Fruit. Sweet juicy good fruit. And they were not castrated.