Food

September 5

I am thankful for food. Food not only sustains life but for we humans, provides a pleasurable experience and is the focus of much of our personal interactions with other people. Too much of it or too much of the wrong kind of food can lead to health problems but if we eat right we can enhance health and still enjoy ourselves.

This is a photo taken at the Baton Rouge Zoo. This is a goat in the petting section of the zoo who is chomping on some hay. I thought it fit the food theme fairly well, even if it's not food you might be interested in. It is high in fiber though!

food

food food

i am a fan of food

i like to pile it high on my plate

make little mountains and valleys

my own little cities and state

excuse me am i hearing something

what is it that you did say

i’m supposed to eat it

rather than with my food play?

© rt tulley

Advancing Age

September 4

I am thankful for advancing age. It beats the alternative, as they say. But rather than make this a double negative, I prefer to think of the advantages that come with age, such as: 1) you get senior discounts; 2) you can slow down and everybody expects it; 3) you don't have to be as worried about things that used to seem so important but now are trivial; 4) you forget what it was you had to do five minutes ago, which gets you out of doing it; and 5) I don't remember this one.

The birthday before last, my daughter, Beth, got me real good. She put tape across my office door with a 'Do Not Enter" sign. She filled the office with string and balloons so it was diffiuclt to enter. And then she did this to my car: she covered every inch of it with post it notes and wrote messages on the windows such as the one shown in the photo. It took me about three hours to remove the post-its from the car. But now I still have a stack of them on hand when I need them.

aging  

all things get better with age

at least that’s the opinion of this sage

fine wine and aged beef

are much better, good grief

than those freshly made

and plans freshly laid

but what about soured milk

and rotten apples you say

well, i prefer to ignore those

and continue with the games i play

so with age comes wisdom and pride

and thin skin and wrinkles to hide.

© rt tulley

Tropical Fish

September 3

I am thankful for tropical fish. They are so colorful and beautiful and are such fun to watch. I do not have an aquarium but enjoy going to places where they have them. I like the huge aquariums that let you watch large salt water fish and the smaller brightly colored ones swim in front and around you. New Orleans has a very nice aquarium and I've also seen many other places with fantastic ones. I can imagine why scuba divers love to dive around coral reefs and where they can observe these fish.

This photo was taken last year at Pleasure Island in Orlando Florida at the Rainforest Cafe. This is their salt water aquarium.

aquarium

i am a fish brightly colored

swimming around my coral sea

i can go up down and around

circling around for all to see

my home is surrounded by glass

so everything i do is seen

there is no hiding from without

so i must certainly stay clean

i cannot say that i am perfect

i cannot say that i succeed

but i give it the best effort i can

for this fish fortunately freed

but the final line and truth

is that it is not being observed

that causes me to toe the line

but rather inner pride better served.

© rt tulley