Barbara J. Hamby

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New Toys

Today was health and errand day. I had a chiropractor visit and a doctor visit. Then I shopped for some computer toys. I bought a short printer cable and a travel mouse for my notebook computer. The travel mouse is about the size of a house mouse and very cute. It has a retractable cable and a little black carrying bag. As soon as I finish here, I get to play with it.

Yesterday I spent several hours rearranging files on the notebook computer and transferring files from my desktop via the flash drive. I found the built-in mouse to be a real drag that slowed me down considerably. I didn’t mind it when I wasn’t using the notebook much, but continued use was the pits.

I received a tiny “attagirl” from a magazine poetry contest today. I was awarded an honorable mention for a rhyming poem. I’ve had several honorable mentions for non-rhyming poems, but this is the first recognition for a rhyming verse in several years.

The poem follows:

Old Recipes

She kept the tattered cookbook
and sometimes wondered why.
There wasn’t a single recipe
she hadn’t meant to try.

When Joy of Cooking came to her,
clean, unopened and new, she
a virgin bride, looked inside
for culinary wonders to do

But the years of daily use
left pages torn and spattered.
Learning to be a gourmet cook
wasn’t what really mattered.

Her kids loved sugar cookies,
lemon pie and chocolate cake,
until the day she lost her way
and decided not to bake.

Goodies gave her tummy aches
and also made her fatter.
To husbands with other lusts
tasty food didn’t matter.

Today the dusty blue book,
alone on her kitchen shelf,
wears an air of early hope
when she was another self.