A is for Angels

Inspired by a friend and a fellow blipper kaitlynbrooke, I am doing a mini-blip challenge. For the next eight days I will focus on things that I am grateful for.

I will spell with my posts "thank you". :-) This is a third post in the series.

A is for Angels. I never set out to collect whimsical Angel Christmas ornaments. I received two or three as a gift many years ago. I hung them on our tree near one another. Friends and family saw them, and figured I needed more. Every year since then I can count on some unusual Angels coming my way from near and far.

Sometimes I get them from people that have no idea I have this collection going, and that's fun. What really touches me, though, is when people proudly remember to get me one, year after year, for my collection to grow. That's really heartwarming!

A is for Andrzej, my dad. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be here - both metaphorically, and literally. Both in this world, and in America to which he emigrated a number of years ago. Hi, Dad!

A is for my amazing girl pals: Amanda in Maine, Amber in Ann Arbor, and Amy in Portland. You make the world go round!

A is for apples, my favorite fruit under the sun. When I was growing up in Poland, apples were the only fruit available in the winter. What we lacked in diversity of fruit, we gained in a huge number of apple varieties. I miss the many textures and colors that are out there. And the magic one can cook with them! Apple compote, baked apples, apple charlotte, apple sauce, stewed apples... Winter fruit dessert menu was not boring by any means!

A is for ATLANTIS by Wislawa Szymborska

They were or they weren't.
On an island or not.
An ocean or not an ocean
swallowed them up or it did not.

Was there anyone to love anyone?
Did anybody have someone to fight?
Everything happened or it didn't
there or someplace else.

Seven cities stood there.
Is it certain?
They were meant to stand forever.
Where is the proof?

They weren't up to much, no.
They were up to something, yes.

Hypothetical. Dubious.
Uncommemorated.
Never extracted from air,
fire, water, or earth.

Not contained within a stone
or drop of rain.
Not suitable for straightfaced use
as a story's moral.

A meteor fell.
Not a meteor.
A volcano exploded.
Not a volcano.
Someone summoned something.
Nothing was called.

On this plus or minus Atlantis.

(Note: I don't know who did the original translation; my apologies for not giving them the credit. I have also revised a few lines to reflect what I believe they should be)