Succinctly Yours: Glisten

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Brow glistening with sweaty anticipation,

Klaus zoomed by the pedestrian,

snatched her purse in one deft move

and rode off grinning.

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 Thus began his long life of crime.

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(140 characters)

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I've posted this for Succinctly Yours, a meme graciously hosted by Grandma's Goulash

Each week, Grandma offer us a photo prompt and a suggested word we might incorporate into a written piece of either 140 characters or 140 words. You might enjoy checking out the humourous entries at the link below. Today's word is "glisten"...

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http://grandmas-goulash.info/category/succinctly-yours/  

A Preponderance of Posteriors

This is not actually a post about behinds as the title suggests, although it’s true that a few are featured. As I just shared photos of Colorado’s Mesa Verde, I thought I’d follow up with shots of the many tight spots, steep ladders and narrow stairways one must navigate to explore these ancient cliff dwellings. It is definitely not a place for those with claustrophobia or a fear of heights!

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Our Park Ranger had an amusing tale from the previous week about a woman freezing in panic halfway up this ladder, too afraid to go higher or to climb back down. As it is a sheer cliff with no easy access, heavy equipment had to be brought onto the mesa top to lower her to the ground far below.

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Needless to say, visitors are more carefully screened than ever to avoid such incidents!

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While stairways were carved into the rock for tourists in the 1930s,

the Anasazi scampered up and down the cliff face with ease, winter or summer. 

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At left are the original handholds carved out by the ancient people to aid in their climb.

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Often, access to the dwellings was gained only through a single narrow opening, a clever idea that lent ease to guarding the fortress against enemy infiltraton. It does, however, make a tight fit for today's overfed tourists!

The photo above shows a typical entrance to the cozy kivas. Once inside with a warm fire, family groups could comfortably settle in to weather the cold, dark winter months, bolstered by the knowledge that their store rooms were well stocked with grain.
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To walk in the footsteps of the ancients is worth any effort to get there.  

To stand where they stood...to look out on the world they saw is a rare and extraordinary chance to experience history on a uniquely personal level...

Mesa Verde Windows and Doors ...and Signs, Signs

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A U.S. National Park and Unesco World Heritage Site, Colorado's

Mesa Verde National Park was created at the turn of the twentieth century to safeguard the ancient cliff dwellings found in the park.

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Cliff Palace.

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The ruined homes and villages are all that remain of a thriving community built late in the 12th century by the Anasazi, and inexplicably abandoned a relatively short time later.

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These Ancestral Pueblo people were subsistence farmers, growing corn crops on the mesa tops to fill their many storerooms and supplement the meat that hunting provided. 

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Anasazi women were famous for their intricate basket weaving, and Anasazi pottery is still highly prized. As no written record were left, these artifacts and ruins provide the only clues we have to the history of this civilization whose descendants still inhabit this part of the world.

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Kivas at Balcony House

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The largest of these dwelling,

Cliff Palace, became known in
1888, when two cowboys spotted
the ruins from the top of the
mesa, while searching
for stray cattle. 

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In these years before
archaeology took it's place in 
the world of science, they
marshalled family and
friends,and began exploration
of the site, indiscriminately

 knocking down walls and
roofs in search of the
countless artifacts which
they swiftly
removed and sold.

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More vandalism followed as word of the discovery got out, and curio seekers flocked to plunder what they could. Floors were dug up, and kivas were destroyed. While camping on the site to facilitate the removal of souvenirs, looters used roof posts as firewood to such an extent that not a single roof remains intact.

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Add to this misuse the

considerable

erosion caused by weather

 and time, and it is

apparent that the cliff

dwellings are visibly and

irreparably compromised. 

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Mesa Verde occupies 52,000 acres of the Colorado Plateau. The climate is semi-arid, and the park has unfortunaelty experienced a number of wildfires in recent years. Juniper seedlings are returning, and oak trees have begun to resprout, but it will take decades for the forest to regenerate itself.

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 A recent post made clear my delight in the storm that thundered into the park on the day we visited.  If you missed them, check out the stormy skies that entranced me...

http://imaginationlane.blogspot.com/2011/05/mesa-verde-skies.html

 

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I'm linking these photos to Mary t's meme,'WindowViews and Doors Too'. To see more views from around the world, click on the link below...

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http://windowviews2.blogspot.com/

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I'm also linking to Lesley's 'Signs, Signs', always a fun meme to visit...

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http://signs2.blogspot.com/

Succintly yours: By The Sea

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For today's 'Succintly Yours' prompt, I've written two pieces...one semi-serious, one simply silly!

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She watched him watch the world; she always the onlooker, he seeing only what his lens allowed. Enough.

“Picture this, then!” she said, walking out of his life for good.

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(140 characters)
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and

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Myopic, mad and mildly morose, Morris missed by miles the many

moves Marcy made to merge more merriment into the meagerly

mundane. Magic made no mark on this man’s mind!

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(140 characters)

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For more microfiction in 140 characters or words, pop by Grandma's Goulash and enjoy the feast!

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http://grandmas-goulash.info/category/succinctly-yours/

Mesa Verde Skies

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I had posted some of these shots previously on a now-defunct sky meme, but thought to share more of them for this week’s Skywatch Friday.

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On a road trip through Utah last year, my husband and I crossed briefly into southern Colorado to visit the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. The day began sunny and dry, affording us relative ease with which to climb tall ladders and maneuver our way through the compact ruins.
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It was not to last…as the afternoon progressed, dark clouds gathered overhead and before long a raging storm had engulfed us.

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Undeterred, we spent a soggy two hours exploring the rest of this amazing park. How clever the ancient Anasazi were to build under overhanging cliffs that sheltered them from the weather and offered protection from enemy attacks. 

As evening came on and we began to make out way out of the park, the dark sky at last showed signs of lightening up.

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 Driving the high, twisting road was amazing with the endless plain stretching out below us and the sun moving ever lower into the cloudbanks that rimmed the horizon.
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I have never seen such magnificent clouds, and am not sure that I ever will again. My heart still beats wildly when remembering that spectacular evening. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I do…..

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To view more skies from around the world, do check out Skywatch Friday…

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http://skyley.blogspot.com/
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Watery Wednesday: Wild Irish Seas

I have been a long-time lover of the sea, drawn back repeatedly by the lure of its blue-green depths and the endless cycles of its tides. And I am a lover of wind...from the softest of summer breezes to gales that wildly toss about everything they touch.

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Combine wind and sea, and you will find me, and my husband, transfixed with wonder.

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A trip home to Ireland in May of 2007 became especially memorable to me for the vibrant play of wind and water we encountered at every turn.

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As we drove the coastline, misty spring skies would grow broody and dark, and even if out of sight, waves could be heard crashing into shore with joyful abandon.

From the seas caves of Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast, to the Cliffs of Moher in west Ireland and the Skellig Islands in the south, water races ceaselessly in to throw itself time and time again against the rugged Irish shoreline.  

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It is timeless magnificence to behold, and is but one of many reasons why this small island’s magic will always keep time with the rhythm of my life's blood… 

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I am linking this post to sweetnsaxy's Watery Wednesday meme...do check out her wonderful link for more watery pics...

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http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Succintly Yours: Look Here

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Wilson went nowhere without his spare head. He thought himself prepared for all scenarios, and it’s understood that any worthwhile endeavour requires the support of a back-up plan.

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His second head was not quite as clever as his first, nor nearly as handsome…yet it could leap in and improvise when the first head was invaded with sensory overload and finally exploded. Second Head could supervise the clean-up, get First Head to the repair shop for a quick fix and do a reasonable job of being Wilson for a day or two, though it was admittedly a version of Wilson slightly befuddled and hampered by a disturbing lurch that he stumbled through.

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No matter…in the busyness of his day, and the isolation of his cubicle, people paid little attention to either of Wilson’s heads and – sadly - never noticed the difference.

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(This is a warped piece of silliness written in response to the photo prompt at Succintly Yours, yet as I came to the end, I realized I could empathize with Wilson’s sense of isolation, and could definitely use a spare for when my head seems ready to explode with craziness…:)

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Grandma’s Goulash asks us to respond to a photo prompt in 140 syllables or 140 words. An additional challenge is to insert a chosen word into the piece, last week's word being ‘invade’, (yes, I'm a week behind!) Do stop by her link to read some interesting tales.

http://grandmas-goulash.info/category/succinctly-yours/

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Mothers and Madness

I recently unearthed some pieces written twenty-five years ago and left to neglect. I decided this one was amusing enough to share with other mothers who have found themselves suffused with frustration, exhaustion and a love that's stronger than anything else in the world!

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Mothers and Madness

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I’m not saying that children cause brain damage, but in my case there is indisputable evidence that brainpower has been seriously diminished since the onset of motherhood.

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Before the birth of my first child, I was a sharp productive woman who could make decisions and follow them through with resolution. Thirteen years later, I need a solid hour to decide between fresh and frozen peas for dinner; and resolution is only a word I’m unable to spell when one of my children asks me.

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Once a woman who moved with flair and delivered speeches with aplomb, I now stumble about with all the grace of an alcoholic moose, and seem incapable of stringing together a sentence any toddler could master.

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I suppose it’s not surprising. What brain could really be expected to hold out against the baby blues and the terrible twos? One mind-numbing childhood phase leads invariably into another; the cycle has been set in motion!

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On reflection, I can see that the change from superwoman to idiot took place so insidiously that there was no way it could have been avoided. I went from interviewing applicants for the job I was vacating, to hours spent babbling nursery rhymes to a wide-eyed creature who never seemed to tire of my attention.
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Suits gave way to jeans; trade journals to baby magazines. Executive lunches were replaced by creamed spinach, and weary midnight mutterings pushed aside witty repartee as if it had never existed.

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Today, the transformation is complete. While the children have developed and grown, there has been no indication that my brain will return to its previous level of functioning. Indeed, judging by the snickers and outright guffaws that result each time I open my mouth, I have reason to believe that further deterioration has been noted.

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In spite of it all, some small flicker of hope remains alive in me. I do have days when everything comes together, and I allow myself to trust that the brain damage might be reversible.

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But that will be the same day one son brings home his lunch bag and smugly pulls out the mustard jar I packed instead of a sandwich; and the other one responds with hysterical laughter when I suggest that I might have something to contribute at his school’s career day.
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It’s daunting how quickly one’s hopes can be dashed. Yet, I need only keep in mind one of life’s certainties; children do leave home in the end.

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The brain damage may be more extensive than I’d imagined. I’m almost sure I’m going to miss them…

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My darling Jules, Nik and J.J....always remember that I love the three of you dearly...the joy you have brought to my life is beyond all measure.

Julian loves parties

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J.J. with our girl Meeghan

My baby sister Nikki is just another one of my kids