wolf whispers

on the train
heading home
lost in my own thoughts
my heart hurting
a sweet sound breaks through
that of a child howling
not crying, squalling, or fussing
howling
like a wolf at the moon
AH-OOO!
[but not too loudly]
it was a quieter, “ah-ooo”
made me smile
I peeked around my window seat and said aloud to the brown eyed boy behind me, “Is there a wolf back there?”
his eyes got bigger
as did his mother’s smile
I told him I like to howl like a wolf too
added that I have a big dog that looks like a wolf with a long nose and pointy ears and that he has a girlfriend that howled if he didn’t visit her fence fast enough when we went on walks
he has three dogs at home
one of them is named Luna
the same as Blue’s best girl
thankful for this brief moment
on the train taking me home
the day after a memorial service
for my grandfather
he was a moon howler too
great big, giant and loud, “AH-OOO!”
though for thoughtfulness of others
such as inside and on a train car
a quiet, nearly whispered, “ah-ooo”
I love you, Grandpa
Forever
your life’s work and legacy will live on
inside everyone who ever met and knew you and through your stories, music and poems
ah-ooo
ah-ooo
ah-ooo

April 12, 2015

Advertisement

smiles from the sidewalk
the line up at the bus stop
a glorious male cardinal
chirping from the treetops
that crazy fallen nest
is still resting on the sidewalk
I took another picture
I had to
it’s still there
Blue and Luna touching noses
then my big sweet boy
whispering in her pointed ear
chimes chime
I know not from where
not quite a gong
beautiful
melodic
wind chimes
that’s the sound of my drum
the one I march to
chimes chiming
a sound in the stillness
Blue tugs to cross the street
he sees a lucky dog
threefold lucky
a fenced yard
a frisbee
someone to throw it
and no restrictive leash
fourfold, I guess
back inside now
still smiling from the sidewalk
as I walk through my front door
the new one
with the bare tree
moulded in glass
a friend texts me
artwork from her classroom
snowmen and bare trees
I spy the crinkled snowman rug
Blue drags it around
I put it by the door
to catch snow slush
I reply with words
a smile
and end with
*happy sigh*
sharing my sidewalk smiles
with you

January 16, 2014

Blue dog had me laughing on the sidewalk this morning. First, he unearthed this ginormous stick from under the snow, then he turned around and proceeded to carry it home, with his tail wagging to and fro. Every so often he’d turning his head to the side and grin at me, careful to keep his prized giant stick clamped between his wolf-like teeth. This dog, he’s good for me in so many ways. There was no stopping for a photo op either, I took this photo on the move. I took several. This is the only one that shows the whole entire stick, end to end, as well as the end of my gray mittened hand. We’re inside now. Thawing out. Escapades from our second walk of the day. There will be more. Escapades and walks. For the record, I call this, “Blue’s Stick Relocation Program.” He picks them up here, drops them there, and circles back to pick them up again, days later. Funniest of all, was Blue looking over toward Luna’s fence as he walked by. Wanting to show off to his best girl just a l’il, like the hound dog that he is when it comes to pretty girl dogs, squirrels and rabbits. Dog. He’s a dog. Mine. Well, we belong to each other. Woof.

January 3, 2014

I’m sitting on the living room love seat, dressed half in pajamas, and half in clothes (jeans pulled on top of the long underwear pants I slept in).
Blue dog is wedged against my hip on the left, in his favorite living room love seat spot.
I’ve been playing on my phone.
Writing.
Tweeting.
Just picked A RAINBOW RIBBON up off the ground!
I kid you not!
I even thought of, “Over the Rainbow,” and sung a few bars, as Blue and I stepped on the sidewalk beside Luna’s fence.
Right after that musical moment we turned a corner and spied this bit o’color.
I took a picture.
I picked up the piece of rainbow ribbon.
A rainbow, in an unlikely place.
Found it looking down, not up.
Evidently today is A Writing Day.

January 1, 2014
(Excerpt from a New Year’s afternoon email reply to my sister. She knows the significance of my mentioning, “Over the Rainbow” too.)

freedom

I’m inside from the sidewalk now. Have a quick sec to write, before leaving home again. A coyote ran past where Blue and I stood by Luna’s fence. Streaking fast down the opposite sidewalk in front of my house. A freaking coyote! I have no doubt that’s what it was. Blue pulled on the leash and woofed. Luna woofed barely, unlike her, she usually bellows. I think it was out of respect as if to say, “Damn, Wild Thing, you can run FAST! Go! Run for us all!” I love the street where I live. ~Janean

December 13, 2013

These two canoodling canines sure would make some pretty puppies. Alas, twill never be, ‘cause my boy, Blue, was already “fixed” before Miss Luna moved in to the house on the corner with the fenced yard. He’s a l’il bit older, no comment on wiser, and even without a litter o’pups shared between them, these two purebred dogs are all kinds o’crazy in love with each other. Oh, how they make me smile and laugh with all their carrying on!

March 9, 2013

LUNA
Blue just KNOWS
when it’s time to head outdoors and see his best girl
oh how she dances and prances at seeing him
he tries to go into Stealth Mode
as if he is invisible and she can’t hear his tags jingle or my booted feet hitting concrete
he hunkers down and crosses the street
trying for slow motion
but he’s tugging, “Hurry up!”
as he beelines toward her fence with complete canine devotion
as soon as we hit her sidewalk she woofs and he drags me on ahead
I hustle as I hold his leash, and can’t help but laugh aloud
the musical sound rings out, in the quiet of the neighborhood at high noon
these two purebred pups
oh my, but they do make me smile
bigger than puppy love
so I call it Dog Romance
not to say I don’t call ‘em Romeo and Juliet sometimes too
or drag Blue away, saying, “Come on, Casanova, it’s time to get on home.”
*sigh*
Love
long nose, pointy eared, tail wagging kind

March 3, 2013 
written standing on the sidewalk at 12:04pm on Sunday afternoon, while Blue and Luna canoodle, the neighborhood Love Pups

cloud cover

stepped out the front door
Blue dog tuggin’ to the left
toward his best girl, Luna
she is aptly named
for high in the sky
above the house
where Luna lives
was a glowin’ 3/4 moon
in a lavender tinted sky
next thing I knew
clouds had covered
o’er her beauty
by the time we circled home
that big Blue dog and me
the mornin’ sky was bright
though clouds remain
a fittin’ metaphor
for my life

January 31, 2013