Portrait Poem

Only a few more days to go before the Chef and I renew our vows and pledge our love and commitment to each other for the next ten years! I am not able to talk about any of this at home because I have not really told him that a priest is coming to the house to bless our little home and growing family. I have always been more of a ' i'd rather beg for forgiveness than ask permission' kinda gal and truth be told, I know that my handsome Chef will be the first one to say 'I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat'.  That is why I am surprising him - that, and I also want to throw off any scent there might be lingering around regarding our trip to Paris next week!

With all this silencing going on, I have found out that keeping my mouth shut kind of stifles my writing efforts. It seems if I cannot blather on endlessly about nothing, then something substantial never materializes. Maybe not a huge problem if it were back in the hazy days of summer when I had no pressure to produce proper pieces, but HELLO!! I am in the middle of a 'Poetry Semester' and have to deliver some fine lines on a weekly basis.

Thankfully, my classmates are all feeling a little pressured so our very cool Poet/teacher (Mr. Gerry Hanberry) gave us a cool little exercise to get the creative juices flowing. 

Why not have a go yourself?

Portrait Poem

I am..........(a teacher, a mother? a few different things)

I wonder..........(curious about)

I hear..............(an imaginary sound)

I see.............(an imaginary sight)

I want.........(an actual desire)

I am..........(repeat first line)

I pretend...........(some fantasy)

I feel............... (something imaginary)

I touch.............(an imaginary touch - like the moon)

I worry.............(something that really bothers you)

I cry................(something real and honest)

I am................(first line of poem repeated)

I understand..............(something you know is true)

I say......................(something you believe)

I dream.................(a fantasy desire)

I try......................(something you make an effort about)

I hope.................(something real that you hope for)

I am..................(repeat first line of the poem)

So now that you get the jist of the exercise, here is my early morning attempt!

WISE Portrait

I am a writer

I wonder if I am a good writer

I hear voices in my head every day telling me what to write

I see the opportunity to write, everywhere I go

I want to do my PhD

I, am a writer.

I pretend that I am organized

I feel like I am drowning in a bog of brown and murky thick water

I touch the tip of my pen to paper and draw pictures when I am supposed to be ‘writing’

I worry that if I do not work hard at everything I do, I will fail

I cry when I loose my marbles

I, am a writer.

I understand that everyone has to die

I say ‘I love you’ to my partner every day

I dream that someday someone important will want to make a film out of ‘My Story’ 

I try not to get mad at my children every morning

I hope that they forget all the times I am cross and relish the memories of the good days.

I, am a writer.

Those are all the WiseWords I have for this very rainy 

(and even a little cold) morning here in Galway.

WiseMóna

I've got a secret

We all have those moments where all we can do is sit back and ponder where all the time has gone. I am feeling that way alot lately. Mostly because the kids are just slipping away from my grasp more and more. Instead of popping into my bed for a snuggle or a quick snooze in the mornings they are bolting down the stairs and hooking up their iPods to the speakers to 'rock the house' into awakeness.

Also, I have been with my handsome Chef for the best part of FOURTEEN years this month and to be honest, it feels like only yesterday when I caught a glimpse of him for the first time. Speaking softly with his smiling eyes, at the other end of the bar in his denim overalls and long ponytailed hair tucked under a navy blue beret, ' hubba hubba - I'm gonn marry that guy'  I said to myself and so I did!

He wanted nothing to do with me of course. It took me several weeks of coercing and a lot of Irish Coffees to convince him that I was the one for him and I am pretty sure he has finally resigned himself to that idea.

Having spent a lot of our time (and money) traveling before the kids came along, then pouring our life and love into the restaurant before finally ' upping shticks' to move back home to Galway, I can tell you that when I stowed away those suitcases in the attic I became one of those people that really 'loves' home. OK, I still like to get away for a day or two, but the wanderlust has been cured.

So when he decided that we 'had to go somewhere'  to celbrate or ten year wedding anniversary (looming on September 30th for all of you who remember sharing all that food and wine) I had a few mild panic attacks. I tried several great excuses like:

1). We can;t leave ALL THOSE Kids with Mum for a weekend, it is just too much for her to cope with (forgetting that my Mother would do anything for my Husband).

2). We have more than 15 feathery members of our WiseFlock and at least one or two dogs that need caring for too. (Again, Granny offers to stay at our place.....)

3). My passport has expired. (There is an instant 'walk-in-pick-up-a-new-one-office' not too far from home).

By mid-summer he gave up begging and pleading with me and we let sleeping dogs lie. I hate that I have turned into that person considering we never ever as much as made hotel reservations when we traveled as young lovers, we just packed our bags and 'went'.

So what is this big secret then?

Well, I love Paris in the Autumn. Due to the fact that we both love Italy and have spent more time holidaying there than anywhere else (by choice), we have family living in very cool cities accross Europe like Zurich, Switzerland and Alsace, France (slap-bang in the middle of the wine country), the Chef has never made it to Paris.

So armed with my class schedule, my mother's blessing and the hopes that I can convince a few of my BFF's to help relieve my Mum when needed, I took the plunge and have stolen some time the first week of October to take my honey to Paris for some second-honeymooning!

Considering it is just about a month away I am taking a huge risk that he will actually see this on the blog and the surprise will be secret-no-more. Wait, who am I kidding, he does not READ THIS BLOG (or anything on a computer!) so I reckon he will not have a clue about the trip until I drive him to the airport and whisk him away.

I know he is working on his own little secret himself, searching for something I 'want and need' and can't wait to report back to y'all just how much fun a girl can have surprising her hubby and heading of the the city of lovers for a few days in Autumn. 

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

(who is estatic to be back in college and have time to WRITE!)

Letting go of Bunny-Love n' summer

My lovely white duck Grace delivers me 

a beautiful blue duck egg every morning.

Well, it is finally here. I have come to the end of a four month long hiatus from University life and 'Móna-Mom and Móna-Wife' have officially left the homestead and 'Móna-Student' (aka mean raving bitch) has returned to roost in the Wise Homestead for the next eight months.

Try as I might I just could not get all four kids 'clothed and booked' for back-to-school blissfully. I had to get all worked up in a dither, run around at the last minute looking for books they will not use until November and buy a few extra shirts and ties for their uniforms just in-case they lost one. I am a martyr. I needed to put myself through all of this and make it seem like I was dying from stress so my Mother (hi Mum) and hubby (ha ha - like he will ever read something on the internet) would feel a little empathy towards me before I leave them to care for my children for what seems like an eternity.

I know I am not LEAVING per-se, but on September 6th when I return to the books I do step away from being the primary caregiver of everyone here at the homestead. The Chef has already stressed the *dislike* button a few times over the last few weeks because, quite frankly, he likes having a wife at home doing all the wifey jobs. And whilst we are all being frank, I LIKE being the wifey at home doing all the jobs.

He also knows that I live and die for my college classes.  I am entering into second year of a four year degree course, with hopes to continue and get my Masters in Writing write after that, so it might seem a little endless this schedule of mine. 

He is ready, with the helping hands and heart of my Mum, to take on the kids. He is waiting in the wings as we speak to get stuck in with drop off's and pick ups and school bags and lunch boxes and most importantly (for me anyway) dinner and grocery shopping. I have done most of the cooking for the summer and although I do not hate cooking at all, I will be glad that I do not have to do anything but the dishes for the next several months. 

On a sadder note (and I am trying to not let this get the better of me) we lost our little Bunny Bob last night. When I say 'lost' I do not mean he went missing, I mean he is dead.

He is a bit of an escape artist and being a dwarf bunny with seemingly very few bones he was able to dig and squeeze through unbelievably small openings. He also chewed like a trooper to get through whatever he wanted. After reinforcing (and reinforcing) his little home area several times over the last few months we lost the battle last night. When I awoke this morning I found his cold little body out back near the polytunnel. He was unmarked, so no foul play is suspected.

Of course breaking news like this to veterinarian-girl-in-waiting was not easy as she is rather attached to all our animals, and I hated that this was the news I had to give her a few days before school. However, she handled it as well as can be expected. Remains will be buried along side his brother Leo (who passed away the day we brought him home) later today. Donations of hugs can be delivered to Rory-Belle if you can figure out a way to do that via the internet.

Those are all the WiseWords I have for this morning as we brace ourselves for the back-to-school mayhem that awaits us on Monday!

WiseMóna