Day 26 ~ “Rictameter Poem” for “30 Poems in 30 Days” for #NationalPoetryMonth

Today, let’s try another poem that focuses on the number of syllables per line. It doesn't matter if they rhyme of not. Here is the pattern for a RICTAMETER POEM ~

A rictameter is a nine line poetry form. The 1st and last lines are the same with the syllable count as follows:

*       line 1 – 2 syllables (same as line 9)

*       line 2 – 4 syllables

*       line 3 – 6 syllables

*       line 4 – 8 syllables

*       line 5 – 10 syllables

*       line 6 – 8 syllables

*       line 7 – 6 syllables

*       line 8 – 4 syllables

*       line 9 – 2 syllables (same as line 1)

Here are a couple of examples ~ the first one I wrote earlier this year when I was in China teaching English – It was written directly to the Chinese students. I shared it with them as an example of a rictameter poem.

China

My first time here

I came to teach English

You students were eager to learn

Our team taught you many wonderful things

And you taught us things in return

I hope I can come back

To my new love

China

© 2016 Stephanie Abney

This second one is a poem I wrote a few years ago about my youngest son who passed away at age 16 ~

On Missing My Son

Happy

Joy in each day

What great times we all had

Getting through the good and the bad

And then, my happiness was gone, like you

Your body too weak for this world

Until we meet again

Never to part

Happy

© 2011 Stephanie Abney

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright for to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Also, if you choose to post your poems on your own blog ~ that’s awesome. But PLEASE don’t just copy and paste my daily instructions, but rather post your poem on your blog or you FB wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO THIS BLOG POST for others to come here to read the instructions. I’ve spent considerable time researching the poetry forms and writing them up to share with you. Thanks for respecting my work.

Through the Years ~ Celebrating 44 Years of Marriage!

So, I'm slow to get this out there but I wanted to share how Jim and I celebrated 44 years of marriage. It's really hard to imagine. That's a VERY long time. It has been full of some unexpected and some unwanted lessons, to say the least. But also full of love and despite some pretty rough spots I would do it all again.

We were married on Aug. 5, 1970 in the LDS Los Angeles Temple for "Time and All Eternity."

 << This is what we looked like THEN

So, 44 years later we set out to celebrate: 

Our first stop was the Mesa Arts Center, featuring 4 exhibits ~ One was Betsy Douglas’ metal work; sleek, modern silver designs & computer circuit board jewelry (no pics). 

The next was Paper Art from several artists - most of it was intricately cut & assembled paper, 3-D structures & some wall hangings. To the right, the pink-looking work of art is by Erik & Martin Demaine - cut out of watercolor paper and painted.

 
This may look like lace or something but it's cut out paper. 
By Reni Gower - acrylic on hand cut paper. 




 There was also a very intriguing display called, "In/Visible," featured 3-D free-standing translucent figures that are layered with embroidery, silk screen & video projection. Very cool but a tad creepy. No pics.

The last exhibit I have mixed emotions on. Fascinating & disturbing (to me) because it was book art. The thought of altering or damaging books in any way really gets to me. But it was amazing - only front/back pics of one item.


OK, this is the back view - you can see the books stacked up on each other to create the "statue" the artist, Long-Bin Chen, of New York, made using books. He calls the piece, "Renaissance Man." 





And this is the front of "Renaissance Man." By Long-Bin Chen. The previous pic shows the books he used to create this by carving it and then painting it. The info card said Chen is actually making a statement about human consumption & waste. It also mourns the pre-digital ear of bound books.

After we went to the Mesa Arts Center, we had dinner at the Blue Adobe Grille. It was the first time we had ever been there. I looked up the top ten restaurants in Mesa. It was on the list - we loved it. Jim had a chimichunga, rice & beans while I had - wait for it - SALMON - of course. Ancho Chile Rubbed Salmon, to be precise. You can't tell from the pic because it is smothered in Chipotle Tomato Relish. It was fabulous!! And the Green Chile Potato (yeah, that ORANGE potato) & sautéed veggies were delectable!! (Jim doesn't like "hot" food but mine was perfection). When they found out it was our 44th Wedding Anniversary - they gave us a FREE Crème Brûlée to share. It was the 1st time either one of us had tried it. Yummy!! Yeah, we'll be back.

 

And I thought the sink in the ladies room was so cute that I took a pic of it too!!

 The last part of our 44th Anniversary Date was to go to the movies where we watched, "Guardians of the Galaxy." TONZ' of FUN!!!

Forty-three years and COUNTING!! Happy Anniversary to US!!

Today is Aug. 5th ~ 

43 years ago, at the tender age of 19 (I know, I look about 14 in my wedding pictures), with only a year and half of college under my belt, I made the most important decision of my life – I married James Alex Abney on August 5, 1970 in the Los Angeles LDS Temple for “Time and All Eternity.” The rest . . . as they say . . .  is history!

We met in a college (BYU) snowball fight in November of 1969, started dating the end of January, 1970, got engaged, April 20^th and married August 5^th (all accomplished in less than a year). Were we crazy or what? Luckily, things have turned out well. Not that it’s been all sugar and spice. It’s been darn hard, but for where we are today, so worth it.

Thought I would share the story of the bright flowered bridesmaid dresses; a story I don’t think many of my family members have heard over and over, if at all. 

Back in 1970 the style was for bridesmaids to all wear the same pastel color, floor-length empire style dress, usually made with flowing sheer rayon voile fabric. Nope. That would never work for me. I LOVE color – I mean I REALLY love lots of BRIGHT vibrant colors – just go to my Pinterest Board (Color Splash – I LOVE Color) and see what I mean.

My mom and I decided to go to the fabric district in L.A. so we could have a large selection. Holy Cow! Too many stores with rows and rows of fabric. It was dizzying. I told my mom that I at least wanted to find a floral voile fabric. She had her doubts but we began to search the shelves of material.

And then, it happened. My mom didn’t MEAN for it to happen. She was trying to make a joke. She saw a bolt of the brightest yellow fabric with crazy colored daisies (one of my favorite flowers) on it. Mom picked up the bolt, showed it to me and said, “Here you go. This one has flowers on it.”

My eyes lit up and I reached for the flowered material as my mother tried to snatch it back out of my grasp. “This is perfect, Mom! I LOVE it!!”

“Yes, but I was only kidding.”

“I’m not. Let’s buy the bolt.”

And THAT is how we got my very BRIGHT bridesmaid dresses. I think my sister was always secretly glad that she was the maid of honor, and as such, her dress was solid yellow (her favorite color) with only a band of the floral print. (And the band for the bridesmaids was solid yellow).

People went through our receiving line with their eyes WIDE open!! It was such fun!! I LOVE these dresses.

Fun dresses at the wedding are no guarantee, that’s for sure. We’ve had plenty of struggles, financially and otherwise. We buried our youngest son nearly 13 years ago when he was just 16. We’ve each buried both of our parents. In fact, for Jim – his dad, Kenneth Abney, died in a plane crash when he was only 9. Then his step-dad who had been part of his family since Jim was 11 died in 2000; same year as my dad, his mom and our son (my mom passed away at Christmas time in 1998). Those were all some challenging times. And there have been other things that might surprise someone looking in from their vantage point, but that’s just life. We’ve weathered lots of things but where we are today, is a very wonderful place to be. Many wonderful experiences as well to round out the edges of our life together. So, here’s to many more years with Jim. Cheers!!

Time Out for Women Comes Full Circle

Early in November I attended the Phoenix "Time Out for Women" hosted by Deseret Book. I was also there on assignment and wrote an article about it for the Deseret News, which AP (Associated Press) picked up and from there KTAR (a local Phoenix station) picked it up and posted it on their website because it was a local event. Pretty cool!!!

Here are the links to my article: Time Out for Women comes full circle ending its 2012 tour in Phoenix where it began 10 years-ago ~ Deseret News, posted Tuesday, Nov. 6th and also in their print edition of the paper on Thursday, Nov 8th, 2012, Section C, Page 5 

And here is KTAR's website link to my article ~ I had a blast!! Fun assignment. Here are some of the pics - there are 11 photos on the Deseret News site, mostly of presenters (and I'm in a few).

    Friday evening Heidi Swinton spoke on "Seeking the Savior." 
     She is an author and screenwriter whose works include the PBS
  documentaries "American Prophet," "Sacred Stone," 
"Sweetwater Rescue,"Trail of Hope" and "America’s Choir." 
          She wrote President Thomas S. Monson's biography, "To the Rescue."

Chris Williams spoke on the power of
forgiveness. He is the author of  "Let it Go." 

While I was there I reconnected with friends I had not seen in awhile. In this case, Linda de Azevedo is someone I had not seen since I left my home ward, Studio City Ward, Burbank Stake (now the North Hollywood California Stake), to go to BYU. She is from Salt Lake City and came to watch her daughter, Julie de Azevedo Hanks, give one of the presentations.

         It's always fun to run into people you 
         know at Time Out for Women - 
         here are two ward member friends, 
         Kelly Merrill and Heather Roche

They brought all of the presenters out on stage the first evening to give a little "blurb" about what they would be speaking and/or singing about. 
        
               (Didn't get a very good pic of it).

Anthony Sweat. Sweat is an author and Church Educational System presenter/educator.

It was a lot of fun and even this ol' brain that's been around for quite awhile got some great ideas to help improve my life. Next year - let's all go... who has a BUS????