Aroma

the aroma of

brewing coffee makes mornings

almost bearable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcXiXDQAqak

Daily Haiku Prompt: aroma

Calendar

a calendar page

noting my father's birthday

and the earth rotates

he took two-year-old me to

High Park to see the duckies

no ducks!

"duckies don't work

on Sunday"

he knew the exact wall

where Humpty Dumpty sat

(HD took lots of, um, breaks)

and the earth rotates

but memories remain

Daily Haiku Prompt: calendar

How AI Use Might Be Ruining Good Newspapers

I suspect The Toronto Star, an award-winning newspaper, is highly dependent upon AI for proofreading, copy editing, and fact checking.

Lately I've noticed a lot more spelling errors. Sometimes they're even in big bold type: headlines. 

Also I've seen homonyms misused. These are real words that sound the same as what should be there, but spelled incorrectly in that context.

Sometimes words are missing in a sentence.

 All of these errors cause me to slow down, reread, and fill in the blanks correctly.

But worst of all is the lack of fact checking, which I only noticed in a recent travel article which referenced the movie, Roman Holiday. The article was delightfully written, but contained a mistake about the stars of the movie. Gregory Peck, not Robert Mitchum, starred with Audrey Hepburn. 

A correctly spelled but wrong actor's name was printed. 

And that means that no human was proofreading or fact checking! 

It seems likely that the newspaper has replaced its copy editors and fact checkers with some equivalent of spell check. That is unacceptable for a good newspaper. 

Because it's not very serious to misremember an actor in a film. But what about the facts that I don't notice because I don't know the subject?

Another First

Another First

first anniversary

without him makes me

pine for what is gone

years of happy memories

sunlight dispels sadness

(Daily Haiku Prompt: pine)

Stream-of-Consciousness Saturday Prompt: "May your..."

Trying this Stream-of-Consciousness Prompt

Begin to write without editing, using the prompt, "May your..."

https://lindaghill.com/2026/05/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-23-2026/

Like Debbie D., from whom I borrowed this prompt (which originated with Linda G. Hill), I find it hard not to edit as I go along. Maybe doing this will encourage the freewheelin' side of the brain. (Yes, I'm tempted to Google whether that is the right or the left side, but that's a no-no. Ha!)

What I came up with is

May your long-term memory store lots of good stuff, so if you get dementia sometime in the future, all the bad stuff will disappear and be replaced by the good stuff.

Which makes me think about the various people I've known with Alzheimer's and dementia.

Especially my mother-in-law, Deborah, who got Alzheimer's after a bout of flu with a high fever, during which she spoke a lot of nonsense. That went away after a day, but eventually bad signs started to appear: poor judgment, moodiness, forgetfulness about grooming, inability to do buttons and to cut meat. 

Eventually, we thought it best to have her doctor tell her it was time to stop driving. She didn't take it well. She had been a doctor herself and was brilliant and very independent. She also had a phenomenal memory. She did all the right things they tell you to do: read a lot, do crossword puzzles, exercise (she walked to work in the good weather).  But none of that prevented her from getting the unlucky number.

But getting back to the prompt. Deborah had always been a super-serious person. She just didn't get jokes. Which was quite difficult for M and me, who loved joking. Also Deborah's great memory meant she could indulge her grudge-keeping habit. 

Well, once she got Alzheimer's two good things happened: 

She got a sense of humour. 

And she forgot who she was supposed to be mad at.

Alzheimer's was a tragedy in many ways for her and for those who knew her. But it actually improved her personality!

Happy birthday to

 Stevie Wonder!

Original digital painting, "Apple of My Eye,"  (c) by Kevin Slattery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbenaOqv4yQ

Mother's Day and My Two Mothers

Here's a double haiku for my mother.

although we sometimes

saw her optimism as

unrealistic

a glimpse of light

when no one else can see it

brings hope, not deception

Besides remembering my own mother, I want to honour my unofficial second mom, Frances C., a good friend of my mother. When I needed dating advice or a good easy recipe, I knew I could call her. She was a Virgo, and had common sense and objectivity. She also had the cooking and baking skills that my mother and I lacked. What a great lady!

 

Wardrobe Warning

trudging through puddles:

long camel hair winter coat

is sprayed with mud dots

Daily Haiku Prompts:  winter, coat, spray

August Moon

you bask with delight

in the August moon's glow and

I get drunk on the sight

Daily Haiku Prompts: summer, moon, imbibe

Moving Day

when the movers bring

new people and furniture

the sad  house ghost leaves

Daily Haiku Prompts: new, ghost, leaves

April 23 double haiku

plans for today changed

so I savoured golden joys

spring, coffee, friends

on Shakespeare's birthday

golden forsythia blooms

I wait for tulips

Daily Haiku Prompt: gold

Writing with Tarot Card Prompts

Talking with my critique partner about Tarot cards reminded me that some writers use Tarot cards for plotting and characterization.

My muse has been sleeping on the job.

Can I reawaken her by using Tarot cards?

Tarot Cards for Creative Writing is a blog post by Whitney Hill, which gives examples of using Tarot cards for writing prompts.

https://whitneyhillwrites.com/writing-updates/tarot-cards-for-creative-writing/

Of course, that made me look for an owl Tarot deck!            

TAROT OF THE OWLS 

written by Pamela Chen, art by Elisabeth Alba

contains an easy to understand guidebook for beginners and a deck with delightful, imaginative owl art. 

I glanced at the guidebook last night and haven't even tried the deck yet. 

But, much to my surprise, this morning writing ideas came flying in. 

My moose muse has returned!

After Another Funeral

Letters of Transit

Daisy's green light

a black bird made of lead

motive for murder

or hopeless infidelity

wasting time

chasing distractions and detours

as the green light recedes

there is only

this moment

the journey

not the destination

#vss365 prompt: letters

Fly Me to the Moon

For the first time ever, humans have seen the dark side of the moon.

Here is a link to NASA's lunar flyby gallery.

 https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/lunar-flyby/

A musical accompaniment, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOth-BuCNY

Passover Recipe Haiku

 

a carp should be chopped

mixed with whitefish: gefilte

not crunchy sushi

Daily Haiku Prompts: carp, crunch

Another Day, Another Orchid Haiku

orchid losing blooms

but look closely and marvel:

new buds appearing

Daily Haiku Prompts: orchid, buds

Your smile for today, brought to you by Coco the Cat

Here's your moment of zen: A "holy" cat named Coco stands at the entrance of a church in Mexico, seemingly blessing everyone who walks in 🐱

https://bsky.app/profile/miblogestublog.bsky.social/post/3mhqbducyqk2y

Tanka for Echo: March 20, 2001

four days old when we

met you and your eyes were closed:

it was puppy love

I found your puppy album

golden treasures from the past

joyful memories

your exuberance, Echo,

echoes in my heart

Not Peachy

a peach could learn from

a nectarine: hair on fruit

ruins my enjoyment

#Daily Haiku Prompt

#fruit  #hare

Full Moon

full moon hides behind

clouds and I wait for words

but words retreat too

Daily Haiku Prompts: Full, Moon

Orchid

 

purple orchid plant

I forgot to water  you--

sorry, my old friend

Daily Haiku Prompt: orchid

Ending A Blog Break

My life has been busy in many ways so I took a prolonged blog break. 

Some were traumatic and life-changing. (Don't want to go into details.) Some meant spending time doing things I'd rather not do, but needed to do. Taxes are included in this group, and I'm still working on it. Ugh.

Enough of that... 

"I'm baaaaack," as Arnie would say. 

Got a writing prompt from Debbie D., "Dance."

Three delightful memories come to mind.

My mother and father never went to the Palais Royale in the forties to dance to Duke Ellington's music, despite my mother's desire to do so. This was probably because my father was a very basic dancer and couldn't keep up with my mother's jitterbugging. 

(edited to add this old LJ link)      https://boreal-owl.livejournal.com/127526.html

When we attended our friends' son's wedding reception I finally saw the stunning art deco locale overlooking Lake Ontario. I felt as if I were at one of Gatsby's parties. (M and I did not dance, maybe keeping up the family tradition, and for similar reasons.)

https://www.palaisroyale.ca/

Despite his reluctance to dance, M did take disco dancing lessons with me in March 1978. During one of these lessons, it snowed unexpectedly. Unfortunately I was wearing sandals. To get back to the car, we had to climb over the snow piled on the roadside. 

Much to my surprise and delight, M lifted me over the snow bank! I called him Sir Walter Raleigh. Romantic gestures and humour: an irresistible combination. 

And the best example of dancing in our family is this.

https://owlsquill.blogspot.com/2012/05/echos-leash-dance-video.html