#34 " My Kansas Childhood Day in the 50's" By Susan Pearl

It is remarkable how important fish are in my childhood memeories of a day outside in Kansas,
With no rivers, no farm ponds or lakes in sight I had the summer delight of skipping to see nearby fish.
In the 1950's peaceful backyard goldfish ponds were the rage,
Across the alley was a beautiful goldfish pond in the backyard of the neighbors.
I merrily went across the alley and was transported into the fascinating world of watching gleaming goldfish swimming and entertaining me.
The neighbors on the North corner of our block had a minnow farm in their backyard,
So after viewing the mesmerizingly lovely glittering goldfish surrounded by cement and  decorative rock,
I would skip and walk down the trash barrel alley to the North end of the block.
There were at least nine oval stock tanks with tiny darting minnows swimming so rapidly about,
Another stock tank held a single huge catfish swiming back and forth as if looking for a way out.
This could have been a business tactic because when people saw the big catfish they may have bought more minnows in hopes to catch a big catfish, too.
Then back home to help hang clothes out to dry on the clotheslines.
The first and second lines closest to the street were made into screens by the hanging of our sheets.
No one from the sidewalk or street would dare see our underwear or worst of all our mother's bra.
Oh, the fear of seeing a brassiere from anywhere.
Underwear was hung on the third of the four lines with another screen behind of towels, wash clothes, dish towels and dish rags hung on the fourth line.
The colored clothes were hung under the shade tree away from direct sunshine that could cause them to fade, unlike the memories of a day like this made that don't ever fade away.
Then after the clothes were hung the fun begun as I would run in beween the corridors of clothes flapping and snapping after me.
It was like a real race because with the waving clothes I felt like I was being chased.
No one would burn their trash if they saw another person had clothes on the line.
It was something no one had to ask-people were thoughtful about that.
But occasionally the neighbor who raised chickens would kill a chicken by chopping off its' head.
The headless chicken would get away from him and come runing into our backyard.
I liked swinging on my rope swing that was hung onto a tree limb,
If I would swing too high I would get the butterflies,
But there was something about a headless chicken running into our backyard that was disruptive to a birthday party playing 'Red Rover'.

#33 "Self Dishonesty" By Susan Pearl

Our self dishonesties beome our dependencies.

#32 "Words Have Fluidity" By Susan Pearl

Whenever we "pour" ourselves into our words,
"Pour" our hearts and souls into what we say or write,
The words we give have a fluid quality that gives these words the ablility to go beyond pre set obstacles,
To wind and turn and reach many channels of different settings and individual circumstances.
The fluidity allows such words to travel through the most intricate of passageways into the hearts of others,
Words do have a fluid quality and can make their way into areas and regions of vastness,
Then becomig good thoughts for others and good words spoken as the fluidity continues through time .

#31 "The Fossil-Egg" By Susan Pearl

The fossil can represent something old,
The egg can represent something new,
Together they can represent something ongoing,
It's true.

Like this-

The fossil and the egg are not an unlikely pair,
Because one without the other will lead nowhere.

We need the life that has gone before us to be where we are today,
And we need the new life coming on so none will have been in vain.

The new can build on the old that has been found to be tried and true.

Thw fossil and egg are not an unlikely pair,
Because one without the other will lead nowhere.

#30 "My One Word Answer" By Susan Pearl

I have an one word answer to many questions asked of me such as:
"What was your childhood like?"
"What was your parent like?'
"What is your marriage like?'
"What was raising a famiy like?'
"What is your life like?"
My one word answer to all theses questions would be a "mixture".

Life is a mixture of joy and pain, of laughter and tears,
Life is a mixture of these over and over, over the years.

#29 "Three Kinds of Bridges" by Susan Pearl

In my life I've known three kinds of bridges,
One kind of bridge I gladly ran across so excited about my future,
Like beginning to drive a car, staying out late, traveling far,
And these were my bridges of adventure.

Another kind of bridge I would cross with someone by my side,
Like a mentor or guide,
And these were my bridges of learning about life's yearning,
Teaching me what I hadn't known to reveal the next new bridge of learning now being shown.

And there was a kind of bridge I had to be led or pushed across,
Because these were the bridges of loss,
And life as I knew it would not be the same,
There was no bargaining this change when it came,
This was the kind of bridge with no choice of loss,
I have to keep going to find what life is showing me with more bridges to see and cross.

In my life I've known three kinds of bridges.

#28 "Weighing Progress" by Susan Pearl

In my opinion when "creativity" outweighs "destructiveness" then the scales of progress will tilt towards a better future. This "leaning" towards progress, once in motion, can become a bettter future for an individual, a family, a community, and even for an entire country.