A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

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What is Youth

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It’s been a lovely weekend filled with conversation, gardening, selling rabbits, and a time driving with my fellow.  We did our best to avoid construction but…. some was unavoidable but not too bad.  Hopefully it will be winding down soon.  I’ve realized my time is drawing short to do some of the things I want to do before the bad weather hits….  Makes me feel pressured in my head you know?   So taking time to think through a word prompt helps with that.  Draws me out of myself.  This poem What is Youth is the result of pondering Miss Kate’s word prompt Youth this week. 

what is youth text with image of grandpa with granddaughter

What is Youth

What is youth?
The question is begged
by older ladies toddling around
a store, searching determinedly for
what is needed, falling within budgets.

Like a toddler with limits imposed
by a mother, learning that for all
his determination, somethings, just
aren’t going to happen.

Bumps and bruises cover his body,
reaching for something, a tad bit
out of reach and leaning, a fall
happened with a gentleman trying
hard to be helpful.

Bumps and bruises cover her body,
this determined little wildcat,
setting off to catch the world on fire,
and learning that some fires should
be slowly built and nurtured so
they don’t burn out in pain.

The crack of a bat in the
oldtimer’s league,
the squeal of delight
in the middle school
lacrosse game winning score.

The stupid decisions of
an 90 year colliding with
the idiotic decisions of a
25 year old, both ending up
shaking their heads at the silliness
of their ways.

So just what is youth?
Pride in accomplishment,
learning from decisions made,
unsteadiness in mobility?

Is it just a number
or a mindset?

Some are “old before their time”
and others seem to just
“never grow up”.

The bible says in 1 Timothy
Let no one despise you for your youth,
but set the believers an example in speech,
in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

and in Proverbs 20 we read
The glory of the young is their strength; 
the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

Regardless of age, respect is due 1 Timothy
Do not rebuke an older man harshly,
but exhort him as if he were your father. 
Treat younger men as brothers.

Does it Matter?

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I finally have a moment.  My goal had been to write this all out on Friday.  I had a different post in mind but through a series of events, the weekend is almost over before I had a chance to sit down.  The word prompt we are playing with is matter.  Matter is stuff in some ways and in others is feeling/thought.   Does it matter? leans more to the latter than the former.

 It’s been a hard weekend of physical work and some mental work as well.  We’ve been working on bodywork on my car, I’ve been trying to move a garden around… and it’s mental game of moving things around and seeing how it all fits.  It’s not all fitting as I had planned so it gives me opportunity to talk with my 19 year old and say .. What do you think?  And he’s given me some fantastic ideas!   I love that I can just talk with him and have helpful conversations with him.  🙂  

but anyways, onwards to working out the poetry for this week’s prompt!

Does it matter? text over image of body work on silver car

Does it Matter?

Tentative plans made
a friend to visit on a
cloudy Sunday afternoon.

but then life intervened
with the serious threat of rain
and a car needing some body work.
and a hubby who
expected quietly, my help.

So I sanded,
I asked tons of questions,
because body-work specialist
is the farthest thing from my purview.

then I watched hubby
apply stinky stuff that
stops the rust from growing.

I learned to apply
whatever that stuff is you put
over the sanded metal.

Then I learned you need to sand
that stuff smooth before you
can apply a primer coat with
smooth strokes going in
one direction only. Calm,
light strokes, done smoothly.

forget I almost did!
All the masking I did.
We don’t need paint overspray
on windows and door-jams!

and so, does it matter
that I skipped a date
with a friend, tentative
though those plans were?

I think so.
I had a tired man smile
at me tonight and tell me
for being newbies at this,
we did a bit of a hack job
but it will do! 🙂

and you know what
it does matter!
It matters that family smiles
and my friend
another day we’ll do tea.
We’ll laugh and share stories
and that too will matter.

This Word Usually

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This word usually came to life at the end of a long day.  Started early, filled with conversation and good work, and a plan to remove a threat.  I almost forgot too!   But fortunately a low growl hiss reminded me of this threat’s presence. It wasn’t a bad day and I’m glad it happened. It gave me a chance to reach a response to Kate’s prompt. 

this word usually, text with image of possum in tree

This Word Usually

How does one do it,
define a word like
usually, weaving words to
bring to life a common place expression.

So often word prompts
given, spark an immediate response
or at least some threads of
thought that take some mulling over
to properly produce themselves into
poetry or prose.

But exceptions to the “so often’s”
happen, so with this word
usually, struggles abound!

Usually my day is very routine
Arising at 615, caring for bunnies
and other critters, going to my job,
caring for critters again, supper,
conversation with hubby, son and
occasionally son’s gal, then bed.

Atypically though, variations in
routine happen, like tonight
taking a possum for a long
car ride to a forest teeming
with possibilities.

This, too, is part
of a routine, when wild ones
threaten the safety of
bunnies, piggies, and mice.
A trap, a trip, and then release.

Tonight though, when releasing,
I thought, perhaps I should have
had my neighbour provide a final
end. This possum, as I fought to
release her, I saw had a LOT of
noticeable physical damage to her.

Mind, I couldn’t assess her
lack of clear ability to walk while
she huddled in a trap,
but the lump on her jaw, the
mostly missing tail, and
various missing bits (that truly
had healed over).

My heart is still disquieted.
Wishing I had seen before she
was gone, thinking a wildlife
refuge may have been an answer
as well.

But possums, I don’t know, that
they are rescue-able.

I need to console myself with the
thought that she has a better chance
out in a forest on the end of a cornfield
then she does navigating the
streets of small town Ontario
with large dogs surrounding that
see possums as munchable invaders of
their turf.

So Defeat Wasn’t

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So Defeat Wasn’t was inspired by one little furball named Ivy.  She’s a fun, interesting cat.  VERY much my hubby’s cat though I provide all the necessaries for her. Today was flea treatment day and she’s VERY unhappy with me.  First I caught her, then I confined her, then I had the AUDACITY to put wet stuff on her!   She’s been mad at me all night.  Would hardly even come for supper. The funny part was… hubby wasn’t involved this time  (normally he helps) and she wouldn’t go anywhere near him and kept giving him the stink eye.  She’s a handful and challenge and helps me to be inventive!  🙂 

so defeat wasn't

So Defeat Wasn’t

It sat there,
staring at me.
Written all over it’s face
I have beaten you!

One three pound cat
determination roiling in her
tiny, lithe body.
You won’t get me in
that tub! YOU WON’T.

It sat there,
staring at me.
Written all over it’s face
I have beaten you!

That book I want to write
it keeps playing tricks
with my brain, but I can’t
get it figured, so it ends.

It sat there,
staring at me.
Written all over it’s face
I have beaten you!

Black and white body
twisting to squirt a
foul smelling scent
caught up in a trap.

Little did they know that
defeat isn’t always what you think it is.
Sometimes seeming defeat
turns it’s head upon you.

A towel and gloves are wonderful
things against a determined mite.
Perhaps another book presents
itself, in the form of poetry not stories.
One black and white being
finds itself confronted with a tarp
wrapped around a live trap so no harm, no foul.

This makes me think of one who
thought they had won!
Jesus died, on the cross,
Evil was victor!
but then tables turned
death was beaten.
So defeat… wasn’t!

Making A Scene

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Oh, it’s late at night after a busy day doing stuff.  I’m becoming more convinced that I’m dealing with some arthritis in my right knee.  So I’m considering bringing a kneeling pad along to work for when I have to get down on the floor to shelve or move something.  I’d rather not be making a scene at work when a knee decides to flair up in pain so mitigating the “scene” aspect of growing older appeals to me.  🙂   

Anyways, that whole aspect of making a scene led my brain down some other paths which of course led to this poem.   You can find other people reacting to this word prompt at Miss Kate’s. 

making a scene

Making A Scene

Making a scene it
happened this way.

I plunked down some nano’s
on my cart, a rather loud thump.
Accompanied by a look of
dismay and a mild bit of vexation
evident in voice and actions.

My manager, standing opposite,
said “no words, no words needed!”
And then continued
“I haven’t had time to speak to
said stock boy in question”, the one
I KNOW fails to rotate product properly.

Making a scene it
happened this way.

Son, talking in living room
with his dad and suddenly he
bolts into the back yard, leaving
dad hanging, wondering what happened.

A cottontail screamed as the oldest
household cat, carried it into the
middle of the backyard.
The lad leapt to the rescue
capturing said cat and allowing
one, looked about six weeks old,
cottontail to bolt off.

Making a scene it
happened this way.

Death on three trees,
on a hill.
Celebrated/remembered yearly
in churches across the world.
Predicated by one snake
conversing with one lady
confusing her mind, and she in response,
turned the mind of her mate.

It’s hard some years to know this fact
that this scene, this death,
and yes, eventual life raised.
Was predicated by action that
“I” would have taken. Her confusion
would be my confusion. Her turning
of her mate would have been mine.

And so knowing this
at times
is difficult. Knowing that
strong internalization of
that willingness to be confused
by the whispering of the
not true God.

It’s Coming this Rewind

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Okay, so I’m finishing this in the wee hours of the morning as I fell asleep.  We’ve been packing to go camping in the morning.  I’ll need to be up in five hours gasp!   Anyways, rewind it’s a hard word to come up with something you know?  BUT I think I got it figured out with “It’s coming this rewind”.     To rewind is to take a step back and try again.  Or possibly to put something back into it’s original positioning?   

Anyways, let me know what your thoughts are eh?

It's Coming this Rewind

It’s Coming this Rewind

A co-worker is having fun
he’s cleaning out the basement at work
slowly and surely
moving out the old
tidying up the relatively current
and making the off-season into groups
for ease of finding it.

Yesterday, we laughed!
He brought up a bunch of glasses
back from the 80’s and
a whack of 8-tracks.
the young men at work had
too much fun trying on glasses
and pulling off different stances.

Oh, but we laughed
and it was like a temporary
rewind on life sharing humour
with each other.

The glasses made their way
to the local thrift store that minds
the needs of the poor in the community.

The 8-tracks found their
way into a co-workers collection
(I think) or perhaps a potential
money-making venture.

But the laughter made it’s
way into our hearts
and made the rest of the workday
lighter and easier.

Isn’t it funny how a moment
out of the ordinary can reset
an entire day?

Consider then how the world
has been slowly failing.
Yet in a twinkling of an eye
the Lord will return and
the world will be made new.

It will experience a total rewind
in essence.
Everything will be made brand new.
I can’t even conceive of what that
might mean since I live in a world
steeped in sin.

What will happen when all the effects of
sin are removed?
Will carnivores develop the teeth of
grass eaters?
What will mosquitos feast upon?
The scream that plants give out when
cut or pulled will that cease?
Fair wages for hard work? Or perhaps
no work at all for pay cause utopia?

So it’s coming this rewind
of heaven and earth.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy
those moments of rewind that
are presented eh? 🙂

God Speaks

1 Corinthians 15:50-53

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 

Make It Work

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So that’s the question you know… begging to be asked from this weeks word prompt.  How can we make it work?   Can we buy it?  Heavens NO!!!  (unless honestly we must)   Rather we prefer to repurpose and remodel what we can.  It’s more cost effective don’t’cha know?

You can a glimpse of our Benji sitting in his favourite spot on top of a homemade guinea pig habitat. 

cat sitting on homemade guinea pig cage

Make it rather than buy it
the motto around here.
Can you create what you need
from the multiple stuff about the place?

Can you make do with what you have
Will thrifting see you through?
What can you repurpose by
changing a thing or two?

Can old lumber be used to
make a guinea pig work?
Rather than buying new
for $300 a dip?

Old shelving, new screws
(admittedly some repurposed)
and some pallet wood along
with old 2 x 4’s it was a thrifty trick!

The lad will make a fume hood
for his chemical reactions
needing plastic to guard the wood
he’s repurposing from a bin.

The hubby makes a bike rack
HEY HUN YOU HAVE THAT STEEL?
from an old carport I’ve had them
’round for years!

We save a bit of everything
because we want to make it work
and every time we toss it,
we find a use, it’s a shame.

But you can’t keep everything
you know, because a storage
house I ain’t, but keeping what
you can, means more often

that you
Can Make it work!

make it work, text over a smiling cartoon lightbulb