This week's P-O-Y: Below you will find 10 words chosen at random. With each word you will respond with the first thing that comes to mind... But let's take it another step further, shall we...? Of the 10 words, choose one with the corresponding response and expand on it. Perhaps your response to that word was drawn from a memory that word posed or maybe it tickled your funny bone or inspired other creative ideas. The possibilities are endless.

1) Peanut Butter
2) Insatiable
3) Daisies
4) Chewed Gum
5) Gang
6) Thunder
7) Monster
8) Soda Pop
9) Insecure
10) Forest

I love this game. Once in a while I'll play it just to see what comes from it, but then I feel silly for talking to myself and I'll quit, embarrassed that anyone might overhear. But I've done this a few times before in writing; I've just never done it as an entry before.

Peanut Butter:
Creamy, crunchy, brown, smooth, sweet, sticky.

Insatiable:
Hungry, passionate, inquenchable(sp?) thirst for knowledge, never enough.

Daisies:
White, yellow, Spring, friendly, Lambda Delta Sigma--my sorority, fresh.

Chewed Gum:
Yuck! "ABC" gum. *pulls a face*

Gang:
West Side Story, guns, dark streets, wars, knife fights, inner city life. Scooby Doo and "the gang."

Thunder:
Lightning, electrity, storm, excitement, mini high, mighty, raw power.

Monster:
Gargoyle, evil, scary nightmare, murderer, psychopath.

Soda Pop:
Pepsi, Coca~Cola, Dr. Pepper, fountain drink, sugar, pop-pop, fizz-fizz.

Insecure:
Scared, unsure, in a corner...

Forest:
Green, trees, dark, meadows, birds, deer, bears, wolves, pine scent, stark beauty, awesome majesty.

I know I ran with these more than probably was asked, but these were my first and honest associations. Once the words start flowing I cannot stop them.

Forest is the one sticking in my mind right now, so I'll run with it. When I think of "forest," I think of LadyHawke. I think of the forest or glade at the back of Nan and Paw Paw's old house in Hampton(?) when they lived in Spring, Texas. I think of the national forests around Yellowstone and northern Idaho.

They are so pretty--strike that--they are magnificent, beautiful and unbelievable. They smell heavenly, mostly because of the evergreens that make up parts of the forests and they are awe-inspiring. Trees, towering above many feet into the bright azure sky like so many tall sentinels standing at attention in their designated spots. Great boughs, high off the ground and laden with fragrant needles, extend and reach toward one another, forming a deep green canopy. Hot, golden sunshine manages to filter through the boughs, leaving dappled patterns upon the needle-and-twig-strewn forest floor. Bird song can be heard all around in the spring and summer months, yet the makers of nature's music remain artfully hidden. But if one is lucky enough one can spy the musician high on his or her branch in an unguarded moment. The same goes for the other inhabitants of nature's majesty.

I'm reminded of the trip Kjerstina, Aubree, Natashja (Kjerstie's sister) and I took last June to Yellowstone. It was so beautiful and exciting to see the animals we did. It soon became a race or game to see who could spot different types of animals (other than what was already counted). We saw eagles, we saw moose, we saw elk, we saw buffalo, but what stands out in my mind right now--nearly clear as a bell--is the doe we saw on the edge of the road with the forest to her right. She was clearly listening to something somewhere in the forest, and Aubree had to take a picture for our scrapbooks. 'Course, we all encouraged her *grins* and Kjerstina slowed her car so Aubree could sprawl across Natashja's lap to lean out the open window with the camera. She took the picture and we moved on, back to the city and back home. I remember wondering what the deer thought of the crazy chica hanging half out of the strange, moving contraption as we drove by, leaving her to whatever fate lay in wait for her.

The pictures Aubree took may be the only tangible things left of that trip--besides my white buffalo stuffed toy animal--but I will always have that bright memory of the deer--and of the buffalo standing just inches from my side of the car. If he'd stepped closer (like taken one or two steps) we woulda nose to big nose and he coulda pushed his head in, horns and all. Although...that woulda made for a quite crowded, noisy and panicked car. *smiles nostalgically*

moon phase