This year at age fifteen, Margaret Cat developed a new endearing habit of putting her paws into my Haflinger classic slippers of boiled wool. I love those slippers. She too appears to luxuriate in the warm, cozy comfort therein. This perhaps includes the cat pleasure of keeping me out of them. Like other indulgent pet owners, I wanted a photograph of this but she eluded my attempts for months. Then yesterday, when I took a break from a miserable marathon of writing and eFiling motions for my late father’s nursing home personal injury lawsuit, there in the living room was Margaret Cat with her paws in my slippers. She was determined to possess them even when I snuck up with a camera, so

Some things do not have particular MEANING, sometimes it is pleasant to simply exist and experience beautiful colors. Enjoy! Caption: Abstract Blocks Of Chalky Hunter Green, Melon, Peach, Taupe, Blue, Olive, And Mint framed in blue mesh, by Annmarie Throckmorton, 2017.

One of the sweetest creatures I ever saw outdoors, was on a winter’s walk in a farmer’s woodlot just down the road. A blanket of warm snow had fallen during the night. It was melting underneath but was still piled up ankle-deep. I had slept soundly, woke early, and decided to start my day with a winter wonderland walk. The woods creatures were just beginning to wake up and move about. The ground was warm, the air was cool. As I walked along, I heard small rustlings, and I saw fresh little tracks here and there. I followed a dished deer path as I made my way between the trees. As I passed a snowy old stump I happened to glance down, and there tucked into the fortuitous hideaway of a b

For reasons known only to others, many people have tried to tart me up over the years. I remember when I was young I worked at State Farm Insurance (compiling a historical paper library, and other odds and ends sorts of tasks). One day the girls teased me saying that a male middle manager wanted to see me in makeup. I retorted with what I thought was humor, “If he wants to see how makeup looks, he should wear it.” They were aghast at my audacity, and I knew I was lucky not to be fired that day. There was sexual innuendo in that request, and I was having none of it at work. Later in life, I remember a boyfriend who asked me to meet his parents, then bought me a slinky, low-cut dress to

My website comment to President Donald J. Trump: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. Today I read about your personnel appointment(s) for correcting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s direction, it sounds like a power pivot point. The reason I am writing to you today is to express my hope that you are also working to sort out the alphabet soup of governmental agencies which are mandated to provide oversight of American commercial goods and services, that being the FDA, CPSC, etcetera. For the past half century of my life, I have been writing complaint letters whenever I encountered bad business practices and/or shoddy products to various companies, in all sections of commerce. I

Caption: Screen capture of Earthquake 3D global activity by Dutchsinse, November 25 2017. Several times a week I enjoy watching an hour or so of Dutchsinse on my Kindle Fire HD8. Dutchsinse has an “earthquake 3D live seismic stream of 48 hours of global activity ░▒▓█”. The spinning global imagery is beautiful, the webmaster is a self-proclaimed earthquake “enthusiast” who enjoys prognosticating, I learn new and exciting things, and it is a pleasure to review the world in a geoseismic way. The website says, “Dutchsinse is one person, Michael Janitch, from St. Louis, Missouri, an independent scientist who has been researching/teaching topics related to geophysics. His studies are known to

Portals Of My Soul This is something I never thought I would see at all. The inside back wall of my eyeballs. Are these bloody orbs truly the portals through which my soul must peek? To find my way to form my mind to learn to act, to learn to speak? ... ... ... ... ... LASIK eye surgery assaults. In 2001 I was working in San Diego, California, USA as a technical writer/photo illustrator of mechanical and electrical processes, which required a lot of prolonged bending over to take close photographs of equipment and circuitry in development for Phogenix. Other than the pain of age which was beginning to creep up on me, and my breathing difficulties which were something new that I was

Driving An Elephant. This is the story of how I drove an elephant, albeit for a few steps. One day, long ago somewhere in the American Midwest, the carnival came to town. It was a small town and it was a small carnival, but this carnival had ELEPHANTS! Not just one elephant for display, but a small herd of them, probably the owner’s cherished pets as they seemed contented if a little bored. I paid my fare for an elephant ride, and climbed the mounting platform which was much, much higher than that for horses. The mahout packed four of us into the dingy red and yellow ride box that was strapped up on the beast’s back. I noticed that it had only a tattered saddle pad to cushion the box,

Like most women, I have shopped, cooked, sewed, kept house, given intimate care, and sought spheres of influence among kith and kin, friend and foe, to make my place in the world. My life has not flowed smoothly like pink cake frosting out of a piping bag, nor has it unfolded like shimmering cloth off of a bolt with only minor thumps and flaps, my reality has been a quilting of spheres in the world, patched together with ends that never quite met, from hard tasks here, difficult words there, and fragile bonds in the right places, or not. The memory of how I created my quilt of spheres is bittersweet, but the work I put into it keeps me warm in the winter of my final age. Caption: Quilted

I wrote this poem twenty years ago, and even then my years of romantic love were probably numbered, but I remember the discomfort of feeling willy-nilly in love. Willy-nilly When you spoke to me of love sublime, i told you all the fears of mine. i started silly . . . willy-nilly*, but what i fear the most, is when you will not love me. _________________________________ * willy-nilly. Whether one likes it or not · in no apparent order without direction or planning; haphazardly. Caption: Willy-nilly Surf—photograph by Annmarie Throckmorton, 1999. San Juan, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, United States of America.

Caption: Collage of Gemstones For When You Are Blue by Annmarie Throckmorton, 2017.

I think of myself as a happy person, easily contented and finding pleasure readily. But apparently sometimes I am not. Prolonged pain has a lot to do with my mood. And, I do worry about dying before I am done. Today, I made some beautiful colors and textures to play with, thinking that I would create an abstract, but ended up expressing fear. Art can be like that, some say that it reveals the inner self, which today seems to be doom and gloom. Am I seeing death on the balcony? Well, no chores for me today, just soup, computer games, and napping. I feel better already. Just wish I had more than a tiny vial of Nitrostat to hold my chest pains at bay. Caption: Is It On The Balcony? by

I thought, “I smell snow, but that is not possible, snow has no particular odor.” This must be a new twist on the ocular migraine that I have been suffering this morning, an olfactory hallucination, a harbinger of senility. I looked out of my study window to be sure. There was the snow, blowing in the wind, first of the year. Exhilaration! Wonder why I love the first snow so much? It makes me feel so very cozy in my home. Then again, the first snow promises more snow, which is fun to play in...if I were still young and playing outside. The end-of-year holidays will soon be here! That I celebrate wholeheartedly. Caption: First Snow This Year From My Study Window by Annmarie Throckm

I created this image, but God created me and everything else, so why is the creator creating? I, and everyone else, would like to know. What is the purpose, the raison d'etre? Caption: Galaxies On An Alternative Brane Of The Hypothetical Multiverse by Annmarie Throckmorton, 2017.

I was thrilled when I bought my 2000 Ford Focus SE, it was a cute, zippy little car. Today when I got the promise of a $25 gift card to do a test drive, I thought I should check out the newer models. It has been a while. The 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT that I test-drove had an instrumentation panel to rival an airplane pilot’s: How steep is the learning curve on that? Do other people find it a distraction? It would be for me. The 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT comes with a “Anti-Perforation Warranty”, which begs the question: Why not make it out of something that does not rust? The Elantra GT is upholstered in the same polyester they have been using for half a century, fabric which is not comf

Caption: Change At The Edges by Annmarie Throckmorton, 2017.

If I were an automobile, and pain were high octane gasoline, last night I could have won the Phoenix 500 of torment. Pain grabs you by the engine, revs your nerves up, and drives you crazy tossing and turning. I was up all night trying to sleep, so I spent some time with my memories. One day, maybe forty years ago, I decided to check out the Phoenix International Raceway, of NASCAR and IndyCar Series fame, which was located about half an hour out of Phoenix, Arizona. I knew nothing about auto racing, but I wanted to give the roar and fumes a chance, even if it would be an extremely remote chance. When I got to the raceway they were practicing for the Phoenix 500. It was closed to the pub

My most vivid memory of beauty from childhood is from the early 1950’s, when I was three or four years old, walking through the vast and beautiful Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota with family. I was almost overwhelmed by the heady fragrance of greenery, the surprising colors of the flowers, the tinkling of little waterfalls built into the displays, pitying the trapped birds chirping overhead. I was given a coin, told to make a wish, and to toss it into the water well of a little grotto. I did so with all my heart, “I wish that everyone everywhere would be happy.” I have not changed. But, even then I knew that wishing would not make it so, and I wondered how the world worked

Twenty years ago when I signed up to swim with manta rays, I had not even heard of manta rays before. Per various 21st century internet sites, manta rays have the biggest body-brain ratio of the sharks, rays, and skates. They are found off the coast of Australia and Hawaii. Manta rays can grow a wingspan of 20 or more feet and weigh up to 3000 pounds, they are the largest rays in the ocean. (Oooh!) Adults are easily recognized by their large triangular pectoral "wings" and distinctive cremoriol fins on either side of its broad head that are rolled like spirals when swimming and flattened when eating. Manta rays eat tiny marine organisms including microscopic plankton, small fish and cr

The only memento that I have of my late paternal Grandmother Carla Margaret Throckmorton is an old Native American beaded coin purse. I remember seeing it among her possessions when I was very young so she probably bought it in the 1950’s, at a Wisconsin Dell's Native American trading post. Our family used to vacation every year in that area, and in northern Minnesota. This little treasure of a coin purse is in very fine condition, 7” x 4”, covered in tiny glass beads, with an aged rawhide leather lining and tassel. My grandmother kept antique silver dollars wrapped in a handkerchief in it. The zipper still opens and closes smoothly, so the coin purse is probably worth more or less a hu