Drops of Inspira

 Hello! It's been raining in my corner of the world. A lot. Normally, the small mountain town where I live gets rain only a few times a year. In the past week, the weather has been saying that we've had as much rain as we normally have in three months. And the storm is not done yet. Next week, we get more rain. All week long. Right now, it's crisp and very cold. Thirty-five degrees with an actual feel of twenty-nine degrees.  Despite the cold, and the wet, it's actually very beautiful. There's something to be said about rain-washed peaks, fog and crows in the early morning. The buildings' colors stand out in stark contrast to their bleak surroundings, looking for all the world like a water-color painting.  As the rain was coming down, I paid special attention to the way the drops hit puddles, popping and splashing in cheerful, chuckling laughter the way only raindrops could laugh.  Water rushed down the street, catching bits of oil from parked cars that gave it ...

  Hello! It's been a month since I last posted, but there has been a reason for that. (Actually, a lot of reasons, but let's not get too off topic.) The main reason why I didn't post at the beginning of this month was because I was facing some scary health issues which have mostly resolved at this point. With that being said, a hiatus is probably way overdue, but I'll save that for another month. Today's poetry prompt is: I've been thinking a lot about exploration. It's always been a sort of regret of mine that I was born in an age where most of the world has already been explored. I love reading books about explorers, real or fictional. The unknown both terrifies and fascinates me.  As always, feel free to use the above prompt to generate your own creativity. Here is my response to the prompt: I'll be back later this month with an end-of-summer post sharing my top five summer reads. I'm doing it a bit early even if summer officially ends in Septembe...

  Hello! I have a question for you. When you think of February, what colors come to mind? Red? White? Pink? Maybe gray? What about blue?   For me, the color blue, has always represented friendship and going deeper. Since this month is International Friendship Month , I chose my favorite color for this month's prompt. (Well, technically, my favorite color is cerulean, but that is a shade of blue.) Here is the prompt: As always, please feel free to use the prompt to generate your own creativity. It doesn't have to be a poem. The prompt is mainly to get your creative juices flowing again. Here is my response: This is it for this month, but I'll be back, Lord willing, next month for some posts about Spring. Until then... -Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry

  Okay. Seriously.  Who stole the first half of the month? It's hard for me to believe that January is halfway gone already. Didn't it just start? Just me? Alright. Moving on.  This month's prompt is a little different. Here it is: Pink might be an odd color to associate with January. I know it's associated with February and Valentine's Day, but to me, I've always associated pink with beginnings and with hope. I'm not entirely sure why. I'll have to think more on it, but that's why "pink" is the prompt for this month. In case you were wondering. Here is my response: Feel free to use the prompt to generate your own creativity, whatever that may be: a poem, a song, a piece of art, a sculpture... Go wild!  Unless something occurs, this will be the last post for the month. I'll be back next month for International Friendship Month. Until then... -Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry

  Hello Everyone! This month has flown by. I can hardly believe we are about halfway through the month already. It seems like we just started. I've been thinking about this month and the colors I associate with December and I realized that golds, reds, greens, blues and silvers are special to this month.  So here is my poetry prompt: I love giving gifts to my family. I like the wrapping process almost as much as the giving of the actual gifts. Usually, I will select a pretty blue-and-silver-style wrapping paper. When I was little, I would listen to songs like "Silver Bells" by the Judds and "Pretty Paper" by Randy Travis. So you see where the "silver" comes in. Where does the blue come in? Well in "Pretty Paper", Randy Travis sings, "Pretty paper, pretty ribbons are blue." My six-year-old mind thought blue wrapping paper must be the prettiest (and blue is my favorite, the shinier the better), so I try and wrap all of my presents in ...

 Hello!  Happy October and welcome to the month of cooler temperatures and changing leaves.   The leaves haven't quite changed color in my neighborhood, but I'm celebrating in anticipation of that time.  I'm doing another Fall-themed prompt this month, this time based not only on a word, but on a particular color. Red is a warm color, not quite the temperature I associate with this season, but the color is one I associate with autumnal things like cranberry sauce and falling leaves. Here is my response. I'm so very excited to see Autumn's face again! Temperatures are supposed to drop this week, so maybe the leaves will follow suit.  I might be poking my head in later this month with some novel-ish stuff, so keep watch for that. Until next time... All the best, Julia Garcia/ Arysta Henry

  Hello and happy Autumn! I know that it's been a new season for a bit now, but last month was busy. Anyway, I had originally planned on celebrating Autumn this month. I'm going to get right down to it. Here are five things I love about Autumn. 1. The Colors Where I live, the leaves change colors. At the peak of the season, the mountains are covered in orange, red and gold. It's spectacular!  There's a piece of road right around where I live, where the tree branches arch overhead. Walking through there is like walking through a cathedral. It's glorious, especially in the late afternoon when the sun is going down. The light catches the leaves and turns everything to a reddish gold.   It's lovely taking a walk during this season. At the far end of a five-mile stretch, there's a tree with heart-shaped leaves that turns into a beautiful conflagration of red.  2. The Weather The temperatures dip to the low seventies and sixties this time of year in my part of the...

It's been a very rainy, foggy April. About every other day it rains from sunup until sundown.  One thing I love about the rain and fog is that they intensify the surrounding colors. The fog drifts through the tall pines, wrap its fingers around the red barn on the hill and floats over the pond.  However, I am glad for days like today where the blue sky spans the horizon, the beautiful flowers are seen clearly and the wind blows through the trees carrying with it the scent of growing things.  Even during the rain, hope is tangible. It's just around the corner. This brings me to the poetry prompt for this month, which is hope. In a world that seems to get darker and darker, I'm clinging to the hope that this is only temporary. One day the night will end and morning will be here. Please feel free to use this prompt to do your own creative thing. Here is my response taken from my poetry archives. I wrote this poem several years ago and thought it was fi...

Hello everyone!  I know it's been rather quiet on here of late, but I promise you, another post is on the way. I've been wrestling with words lately, (they're not behaving themselves), and so I'm almost done with the next post. In the meantime, it is:  With Summer on the wane and Autumn on the way,  things are changing. The leaves are changing, hopefully the weather is getting cooler (not hotter), and I get to change things from Summer decor to Fall decor. Which leads me into this month's theme:  You can use this as a poetry prompt, a journal prompt or a jumpstart to kick you out of Writer's Block.  If you post your result in the comment section, please be mindful that this is a PG environment. (Please, no language or sexual content.) Here's my result:               If you liked the poem or just want to say hi, please let me know in the comment section below. Happy writing!       ...