Saturday September 23 2017  FOREVER FRIENDS

 

FOREVER FRIENDS

Kathleen Martens

September 23, 2017

http://www.visionsofpoetry.com

 

Sounds of life surround my space

A far distance from my home.

Friends of youth busy with life,

Though aging of time is shown.

 

Years are gone when we danced and played

Our children have children too.

But our memories of the past

Seems as if years are few.

 

Our hearts young, our spirts soar.

It’s as if time has stood still.

No matter how far apart we live

Love, our hearts fill.

 

And our love is forever sure

Though our bodies now grow old.

Memories that we hold dear

Forever our hearts do hold.

 

 

A bit melancholy thinking that we will leave our friends in the morning.  Who knows if and when we will ever cross paths again.  However, we are hatching up some future plans to do some traveling together in the future!  Only God knows, but it is a wonderful dream.  Somehow there are is nothing quite as comfortable and serene as the time we spend with long-time friends.   Time and distance separates our visits, but when we once again come together it is as if time has not separated us at all.

Becky and Eddie, we will leave behind, but the memories of yesteryear and now will live in our hearts regardless if our paths do not across again while on earth.  Someday we will be rejoicing together at the throne of our Savior.  I just wonder what we’ll remember about our relationship on earth.  Oh, well…no need to worry.  Today is today and I’ll live it to the fullest!

 

Thank You Father for bringing friends into our lives that stick closer than a brother.

Thank You that someday we will all be together!

 

HAVE A GREAT DAY!  GOD BLESS YOU!

Friday September 22 2017  NO PLACE LIKE HOME

 

Eight days is quite long enough to go between writing blogs.  Tonight is actually the first opportunity I have had to write since my last published date. 

This has been a trip of accomplishments! First, we accomplished arriving on time for the day of Dave’s nephew’s funeral.  It was a beautiful memorial celebrating his life.  He leaves a great void in the lives of those who knew him. 

We arrived in Northern California in enough time for my older sister to make needed appointments to accomplish some important business she has been trying to complete.  I will not go into detail about someone else’s business but it has been something she wanted to accomplish and needed our help to do so.  My sister is hearing impaired and it is difficult to make appointments by using the telephone.  There was more we might have done had we more time to stay but the most important business was accomplished.

Another awesome accomplishment (at least for me) was delivering the five completed photo albums to my younger sister.  That in itself is my own greatest personal accomplishment.  The part I enjoyed the most was sitting with her as she turned each page.  It was quite emotional for her to finally receive the photo albums.  She said there were times she cried because she feared I was never going to fulfill the promise I gave to her seven years ago.  When our mom died the photos were requested by my sister.  I told her I would put them in an alum (ended up being five albums) for her as soon as I could.  I had no way of knowing it would take so long for me to finally retire.  Once I arrived home from my travels over two years ago I began the album saga.  I had no idea there would be so many pictures nor that the journey would take such a long time.  But…I have fulfilled my promise and it feels so good!!!  I do hope Faith enjoys the albums for years to come!

We then headed for home with a few stops along the way.  Currently we are in Northern California as guests of friends who we have known since 1973, the year we married.  We have kept in touch off and on all these years and it is such a delight to have a few days respite in their home before we begin the last leg home.  We have many hours of driving between here and home!  And who knows, we may still take a couple of side-trips along the way.  We have our eyes on a couple of Presidential Libraries and a couple of state capitol buildings we have not yet seen.  It may not seem exciting to some but it is extremely interesting, and eye opening, to learn the history behind the buildings and those responsible for our country’s leadership in the past.  Dave and I both enjoy history, architecture, and the experience of viewing artifacts first hand.

Two years ago I visited Ronald Reagan’s Library and Museum in Simi, California.  This trip Dave and Rebecca also had the opportunity to enjoy the experience of seeing it for the first time along with viewing Nixon’s Library in Yorba Linda, California.  From this point on we have no idea what we will see.  We plan to take each day unplanned and see where we end up.

We have focused on having quality time with friends and relatives.  What we see along the way is just a side bonus.  I do believe our hearts are yearning to be home so we can enjoy autumn before winter makes her debut.  We both love and enjoy this time of year.  We so enjoy traveling but when we are absent from home we grieve a bit inside knowing we are missing part of whatever season we are absent.  After 31 years of living in Wisconsin we are truly Wisconsinites through and through.  There is truly no place like home!

 

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Kathleen Martens

September 22, 2017

www.visionsofpoetry.com

 

The heart of our souls still linger fair

Across the miles to Autumn’s lair.

Crisp and clear, blue skies reign,

As our hearts grieve, unable to feign.

 

Peaceful memories home windows speak

With deep longing to complete

The desires of home that live within

For our family and close knit friends.

 

A nomad life but for a while,

We now rejoice mile after mile.

We love to be wherever we are

But homeward bound our shining star.

 

Home sweet home; our lullaby of love.

Foxes and squirrels and mourning doves.

Wood smoke wafting from neighbor’s place

As we look forward to our favorite space.

 

So many miles we’ll leave behind

As our home once again we find.

This time so soon will be gone

While leaves fall obliterating the lawn.

 

HOME SWEET HOME we look ahead

No place like your own bed.

Until then I’ll enjoy each hour

But looking forward, my ongoing power.

 

We are ready to no longer roam

Because there is NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

 

Thank You God for all the protection You have provided on this journey.

Thank You God for the opportunity to be with my sisters and daughter.

Thank You God for the beautiful weather we have experienced.

Thank You for the friends we have been able to visit.

 

GOD BLESS YOU!

Thursday September 14 2017  FAR, FAR AWAY

 

FAR, FAR AWAY

 

Kathleen Martens

September 14, 2017

http://www.visionsofpoetry.com

 

There is something about Wisconsin that calls my name

As far, far away it seems I’ve roamed.

Lost are the quiet peaceful roads

And the graceful fields well-combed.

 

The glistening sunshine peeking through green

In the rustle of whispering wind

No longer lingers amidst the drone

Of traffic which drivers must fend.

 

Serenity of beast languishing in fields

Alongside blooming country roads

Are now but memories tucked in my heart

Amongst crowded city-street noise.

 

Gone is the solitude of quiet moments,

The serenity of books surrounding my view.

Where is the calm that visually feeds

My heart and makes it anew?

 

Where are the bird-calls I long to hear

As I drive through lush green fields;

And the chirping coming from giant trees,

City streets no longer yield?

 

Nor are there deer lingering alongside

Hills ripe with autumn’s bounty.

Instead there are buildings covering the scape

Driving from county to county.

 

No end of city is in sight

As towns blend into the next.

Fraught drivers rushing by

Often seem quite vexed.

 

Wall to wall lanes and slow moving lights

Crowd every sight in my view.

Oh how nice it will eventually be

When with Wisconsin my acquaintance renews.

 

But I have once again discovered

Wonderful people are found everywhere,

Offering time, home, and food to eat,

Willing of selves to share.

 

Need I say more about missing Wisconsin?  We have been traveling for two weeks now.  The contrast driving from state to state is so amazing.  We have come across deserts, mountains, rivers, canyons, petrified forests, little towns, huge sprawling cities, dry barren land, fire pocked hills, bolder mountains, sprawling forests of green, fields of golden brown, acres of flowers, dry flatlands, smoke from acres burning out of control, marshlands, and smog.  We have experienced unending skies so blue that the color is intoxicating.  We have observed cloud formations that have taken our breaths away due their magnitude and glorious shapes coming alive as the sunshine peeks through. 

Driving is relaxing to me.  I don’t fight the traffic and I rarely ever speed.  It is comfortable for me to pace myself with other drivers who too are obeying the law than constantly maneuvering myself to be in front of someone else.  When Dave is driving he always agrees to stop when I need to take a break and that makes being a passenger more enjoyable (and comfortable)!

I’ve often been accused of living “outside of time” and when I drive I do just that.  Time has no bearing.  In the moment is where I stay.  I enjoy my time behind the wheel because I realize there will come a time when I am no longer able to do what I can do now.  And I love my time as the passenger because I visually feast on sights afar which I can’t focus on while driving.  There is no past nor future, I simply live in the “now” of timelessness. 

As I sat down to write for a few moments my mind drifted back to home, I then realized that even though I miss Wisconsin for all that it offers to my soul, I am truly enjoying the now of where I am.  I am far, far away!  We are living one day at a time and have no plans in place, as of yet, as to where we will be next.  Hope to see all my friends again someday when we finally find our way back home!  In the meantime, far, far away suites me fine.

 

P.S.

We are currently in the vicinity of San Francisco.  And the only regret I have is that our friends who are babysitting our house are enjoying all my ripe tomatoes.  My report yesterday was that there are more than they can eat!

Tuesday September 5 2017  TIME CHANGES JUST DON’T MAKE SENSE

 

My computer just clicked to midnight.  My husband’s watch says it is 11:00 p.m. and our phones say it is 10:00 p.m.  We are in Arizona.  Arizona does not change to Daylight Savings Time.  So we go through New Mexico and when we cross over the Arizona state line we lose an hour because New Mexico abides by Daylight Savings Time.  And we already lost one hour when we went from central time to Mountain Standard Time.  So it is 11:00 p.m. where we were yesterday, 12:00 midnight from where we started from in Wisconsin, and 10:00 p.m. in actual time in regards to where we are right now.  Tomorrow when we cross over the California state border there will again be an hour’s difference as California is on Pacific Daylight Time verses during winter when they are on Pacific Standard Time.

If I haven’t confused you by now I’ll tell you the rest.  I plan to publish this evening September 5, 2017.  However, since I have decided to not reset any of my time pieces my computer will read that it is two hours later than it actually is and will thus publish what I write on the 5^th as if it is September 6^th.  I have too many time pieces to mess with the upheaval and figure that when I arrive back home all will be well once again.

I wrote a blog in the car a couple of days ago and it would not transmit from my iPhone to my computer so I lost it.  I suppose I lost the poem as well as I spoke everything into my phone and now it is gone.  I won’t even try to recall that which I wrote two days ago due to all the new adventures I have encountered since.

Though this trip is being made quickly, somehow we always seems to find time to meet new and interesting people along the way.  We met Andy yesterday at the Tucumcari, NM hotel in which we stayed.  He is collecting for the disaster relief for the victims of Harvey.  He will also be going down to work among those who lost everything the hurricane.  This is something he does through his church organization and it was quite interesting to listen to his inside stories.

Yesterday afternoon we met two men from Argentina visiting a friend who is now a resident in Florida.  The one living in Florida spoke English and it was amazing to hear all about their trip around the United States.  As of now they are following the old Route 66 Highway.  And that is where we are parked for the night, old Route 66.  I had forgotten that Interstate 40 follows part of the old 66 Highway.  Before he left he did an awesome selfie including Dave and I as well as his two buddies from Argentina.  We could have talked a lot longer but we promised ourselves that we would arrive before dark to our destination still several hours away. 

Today we met three additional people.  I thought they were all together but only the man and woman were traveling together, the third was a lady on the solo mission of moving herself from the east to Southern California.  We ended up exchanging stories and making connections so as to stay in touch via email. 

This afternoon we met two musicians who are traveling with a group.  Extremely interesting to hear about their lives, one was from Incline Village by Lake Tahoe and the other in the Tahoe area as well but on the California side of the lake.

What I found interesting in all these encounters was that when I was ready to leave at least one in the party held out their arms to me and asked for a hug.  And of course then all the others in the group wanted a hug as well.  You know what, it felt good to talk to “strangers” and walk away with a depth of comradery between us.  It mattered not that our colors, nations, languages, and histories were not the same, there was a connection; an inherent, inborn desire to be accepted by others and in return fulfill their same innate need.

When we arrived at our hotel this evening we met two young men from London who are also on an epic journey through the United States.  They actually spoke English but I could only decipher a bit of what they said.  Their English sounded like a foreign language to me.  They were the only ones that did not offer me a hug!

Dave is tucked into bed and my poem is not yet written.  I just thought you might enjoy hearing about our travels.  Oh yes, I now remember what I wrote on Monday which was lost in cyber space.  I will expound BRIEFLY.

We spent Sunday night in Oklahoma City, OK.  We wanted to see the state Capitol building even though it was not open for guided tours.  We had called ahead and knew the building would be open.   It was eerie because the downtown of a Capitol City was uncannily quiet due to the holiday.  We had no idea where we could park because they were all reserved for the House Members and the Senate members.  I spoke to a policeman and he told us to go right up to the door that was open and park in one of the closest parking places.  We parked within a few feet of the building.  We still had to empty our pockets as we went through security check.  There were more officers present than there were visitors.  We only saw two other parties touring, each with two people.  We met a father and his young son who were from the area and learned quite a bit about the Capitol from the father.  He even showed us how to get into the Legislative Room.  It was awesome!  It is a beautiful Capitol undergoing renovation.  It will take several years to complete.  It is amazing when we read the statistics of what would be replaced.  I took photos but they are on my real camera and I am unable to send them.

We left the building later than we had intended but still arrived in Tucumcari NM before Dark.

 

MY THANK YOU POEM

Kathleen Martens

September 5, 2017

http://www.visionsofpoetry.com

 

Lord, thank You for wonderful days

As we journey across the land.

Thank you for the people you bring,

So more of life I understand.

 

Thank You Father for Your protection

Through miles of highway roads.

And thank You for stamina and strength

And for a car to carry our load.

 

Thank You God the Creator

For the sights, sounds, and smells

Refreshing beauty fills my soul

And does a body well.

 

Let me never take for granted

That which You allow me to hear.

Open my heart to those who come

Whom You are drawing near.

 

GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS YOU!

 

 

 

 

NOTE TO READERS:  

Today is actually September 1, 2017 when I publish today.  I have not written a blog today but I am including the one I wrote on the road yesterday while Dave was driving.  I will write when I can and I will post when I can.  Have a great week!

 

Thursday August 31 2017  ALMOST IS NOT ENOUGH

Well I said I am on the road again and here I am.  I started driving at 7:00 a.m. and now it is 11:41 a.,.  I just read a sign in a gas station that listed several cities and how far away they are.  Just so you know, we are 1950 miles away from Los Angeles.  We plan to arrive in in Orange County sometime Thursday.  Rebecca flies into the LA Airport later that evening and Courtland flies in the next night.  Courtland will stay three nights and Rebecca will leave for home on September 19^th.

I suppose you have surmised by now that Dave is now driving.  We are 152 miles north of St. Louis, the “Gateway of the West”.  I will drive through the city when we arrive.  I like taking the short cut right through downtown so I can see the St. Louis Arch.  It is beautiful, both inside and out!

Once we get through the downtown area I always feel as if our destination is right around the corner.  In actuality we are barely half way to our final destination for this day.  We will be arriving at my Aunt’s house after dark.  She lives on the top of Crow Mountain, with twisting, winding roads and I hope our GPS will pick up a signal.  Once we arrive I hope to get my blog sent.  Oops!  I just remember, Vela (my aunt) doesn’t “do” computers.  There will be no signal.  Perhaps this evening when we stop for our big splurge, (SUBWAY) I will have access to a signal.

As long as we are on the road I should be able to compose a blog while Dave is driving.  When I am with people I may not have time to do so.  If we have the opportunity to do something exciting I’ll be sure and pass it on.

As I said above, we left the house at 7:00 a.m. sharp!  However, to accomplish that great feat was the fact that our alarm went off at 3:30 a.m.!  And the car was already packed…almost.  Take it from me, “almost” is not nearly being ready, but, at least we are on the road! 

We will be leaving my Aunt’s home Sunday after church.  She attends a small country church.  I wish I could bottle the atmosphere, singing, and beautiful simplicity of the congregants.  It is like walking back in time to the little church in a “LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE” episode.  The outside looks similar (to my best recollection) but the people are quite unique.  Remember, this is the Deep South.  Need I say more?  I so enjoy the flavor of life here.  It is back woods, quiet, remote, and slow paced.  My kind of living: even though my life is in direct contrast.

Every time I travel it seems my eyes see more clearly as my heart opens up to receive new knowledge and experience.  Experiential knowledge is the best teacher, at least for me.  And my experiential knowledge has reminded me that typing on a laptop computer at 72 miles per hour is not the easiest way to write a blog.  At least I’m not the driver.  And oh yes, now I know why “they” are called laptops!  It sounds better that leg tops!

 

WHAT I SEE MY HEART HEARS

Kathleen Martens

August 31,2017

http://www.visionsofpoetry.com

 

The sunny cast through white glare

Small puffy clouds shout to the sky.

Mr. Sunshine look at me!

Mr. Sunshine set me free.

 

Tassled corn in unending rows

At attention as they grow.

Dance and sing in golden song

Wafting colors all belong

 

Gold and yellow

Sheens of rust

Hues unnamed

Like sparkling dust.

 

Bright and subdued

And patches of green

And I hear

Sounds in between.

 

Since I am being lulled to sleep by the quiet and swaying of the car on the road  I shall say Good night.

 

Thank You God for your protection on this day.

 

HAVE A GREAT AFTERNOON AND GOD BLESS  YOU!