April 29 - Chinese Buffet Lunch With My Brash Young Friend Who Says Out Loud What The Rest Of Us Just Think

Oh, my crazy friend
Your loud comments make me blush
But you're never dull

April 28 - If Only My Neck Problems Weren't So Tightly Connected To My Ability To Make Money

Doing my taxes
Hurts. But this time the pain's real
Nerves, please get well soon

April 27 - In Which I Make The Error Of Thinking That These Two Chubby Cats Have Self-Control

Double helpings gone
They eye me like I've starved them
Fat from two days' food

April 26 - PJ Party To Memorialize A Man From Long Ago

1989:
He's charming and young. Old friend,
I know you loved him

April 25 - On My Healing Beach Walk, I Get To Wondering Why People Build Unbelievably Grand Beach-Front Homes And Then Don't Live In Them

Empty mansions face
the sea with blank eyes. No one
is ever at home

April 24 - Interviewing For A Possible Gig In Panama City, Although I Sense My Kids Are Rooting For Us To Return To Nicaragua

Panama calling
I strive for 'good' but not 'great'
Unsure what I want

April 23 - A 10-Hour Day Takes Me To Mayfair Mall, Dallas Road For A Blustery Stroll, And Onion Rings

Cracked, shopped, walked and fed
I pay the price later, true
Long days hurt my bones

April 22 - Boat Watching At The Sidney Marina, Where The Snappy Little Seaside Commercial Centre Has Gone Dead

Million-dollar yachts
And empty store fronts. The wealth
doesn't leave the dock

April 21 - Rachelle And I Walk West Songhees On The Edge Of A Rain Storm

Sea winds rush our pace
One broken, one pregnant, blown
toward something new

April 20 - Stuck In The Uncomfortable Business Of Recovery. Again

Typing hurts my arm
I work for small bits, then hang,
to hear my neck crack

April 19 - In Which I Discover That If I Scrunch Down Just Right In This Funny Chaise Lounge, I Can Read For Hours

Cycling has to wait
I turn my face to the sun
My neck is brown stripes

April 18 - Somehow I Manage To Pass Many Hours Browsing Stores In This Tiny Downtown

Retail therapy
Has its limits in Sidney
I max consignments

April 17 - Island View Beach On A Beautiful 8 p.m. Stroll With Oh-So-Pregnant Rachelle

Early evening sun
Tints the ocean air deep pink
Bean, can you see it?

April 16 - I Come Back From The Chiropractor With Bits Of Foam And A Chin-Hanger, Buoyed By The Arrival Of Spring

Hey, I'm spine-molding!
Although lying in the sun
Heals my spirit more

April 15 - In Which I Line Up Seven Social Visits In A Single Day, Which Leaves So Little Time To Stretch

Back-to-back visits
Seemed like a good idea
Alas, it wasn't

April 14 - The Misery Continues Of Pinched Things And Tight Bits

Seeking some relief
I do yin yoga all day
Prepped for the neck cracks

April 13 - In Which The Pinched Nerve Leads Me To Take A Lot Of Yoga Breaks And Lament My Inability To Respond To Opiates

Type a bit, then bend

To the floor, shaking my neck

Drugs, you have failed me

April 12 - Mom Hosts A Baby Shower For Rachelle And I Am Struck By What It All Means

Even pregnant, she's
a beautiful girl. She will
be a good mother

April 11 - I Stand In For Aaron And Join Rachelle On A Hospital Tour

The hospital smell
Hasn't changed in all these years
Get me out of here

April 10 - Off To The Esquimalt PMQs to check out a used Buick Cavalier

Never thought I'd be
shopping for my grandson's car
Can we trust you, Wade?

April 9 - I Sleep The Day Away, Wishing I Could Just Skip The Stage Where It Hurts

The crack of my neck
Isn't quite an instant fix
But it makes me sleep

April 8 - Some Twist In The Wrong Direction Lays Me Up And Forces Me To Get Past My Adversity to Flexeril

Only the Child's Pose
Brings relief from the aching
Damn this neck of mine

April 7 - A Very Pregnant Rachelle And I Go On A Used-Furniture Crawl And End Up With A Good Find

The slide rocker waits
As if knowing we would come
For you, Little Bean

April 6 - The Boys And I Head Up-Island, Them To Nanaimo And Me To Regan's Rhubarb Wine

North to Cumberland
Where Maggie is in trouble
We walk a long beach

April 5 - Easter Sunday Is Sunny And Active

Triathlon day
Basketball, mini golf, swim
Then 10 for turkey

April 4 - Now That The Boys Are Teenagers We Can All Go Shopping, Although I Do Miss The Days When Cheap Plastic Toys Made Them Happy

Five months is so long
Without grandsons. Parks don't work
But Old Navy does

April 3 - The Car Battery Is Dead, My Hair's Fuzzy From The Dry Air, I Can't Remember Where My Warm Vest Is. But We Are Home

I wake up muddled
Where am I? Why am I cold?
Ah, yes - Canada

April 2 - The Things I Bought As We Made Our Way From South To North

Houston: Chinese food
San Francisco: Clam chowder
Chocolates, lip balm

April 1 - Up Early For The Jam-Packed Shuttle From Leon To The Hotel Across From The Airport

I get the high seat
I don't like it, but two pools
wait just down the road