New Blog Site with Elece

Dear Friends and Followers,

I am changing the site of my blog to Wordpress and will still include Images of Home at my new address, which is elecehollis.com. ( Click here to go right to the new blog front page.) Come join the fun there with poetry, prose, photography, letters, home, farm, and family.

Hear about my two new books coming out and soon available on Amazon. They are:  What's Good About Home and Life With Mama and coming this November is another Prayers for Teachers.

Thanks for following me.
Elece Hollis

White Rose

White reflects all colors and keeps itself plain, 

white and pure.

White is a beautiful color, isn't it?

c. e. hollis

The Rose

 By Elece Hollis

A rose uncurled––unfurled

 Then without a word showed to me

Her inner self. 

Why can't I be so brave,

To greet the world 

To show first my face

And not hide my heart?

The Real Green

I'm glad the sky is painted blue

And the earth is painted green,

With such a lot of nice fresh air 

All sandwiched in between.

Author Unknown

The Real Green

By Elece Hollis

Pale green of first leaves in springtime,

Green of the forest cool and deep?

 Green with envy, green as grass?

I can't let the question pass.

What is the real––realest real––the really, realest green?

Could it be the green of money,

The yellow-green side of a sycamore leaf,

Or the rind of a lime or the juice between?
 A holly leaf or a coffee bean? 

What is the real––realest real––the really, realest green?

Is it the green of a iris stem,

The shade of a dragonfly's wing?

The green of fir tree––the pines

The green of olives––or muscadines?

What is the real––realest real––the really, realest green?

Could it be an apple, pear, or string bean

 Or the root of a majestic live oak–– unseen

Or the gray-green of  moss swaying in the breeze 
Is it the green of holly leaves?

What is real––realest real––the really, realest green?

Come to The Garden

Flowers are food for the soul. 

They fill more than bread. 

They satisfy more than money. 

C.E. Hollis

Come To 

By Elece Hollis

Come to the garden where warm breezes blow sweetly

Where bluebirds and butterflies play.

Come to the garden, sit down for the feast

Where blessings are served up each day.

Come to the garden; take food for your soul

Food much more filling than jelly on toast.

Come to the garden and take in the sweetness,

Come visit where God serves as eminent host.

Come to the garden; come on go with me now;

Don't wait till after the morning has passed.

Come again in the evening, when shadows are falling,

Come to the table at last.

Earth Song

I love to think of nature 

as an unlimited broadcasting station 

through which God speaks to us every hour 

if we will only

 tune in. 

George Washington Carver

Earth Song

By Elece Hollis

Every flower a trumpet,

Each blade of grass a quivering string;

Everywhere we turn we hear the earth

Raise instruments a song to bring.

There's music in the meadow,

There's rhythm beating in the trees;

Over all the wind elects to play

A melody upon the breeze. 

Summer Rose

A man who could make one rose…would be

 accounted most wonderful; 

yet God scatters countless such flowers around us!

 His gifts are so infinite that we do not see them. 

Martin Luther

Summer Rose

  by Elece Hollis

Late in the heat of July, 

Having feasted on spring eye candy

Flowers everywhere––daffodils, peonies,

Having our souls filled up with sunshine 

With bright festival zinnias and daisies,

Having been feted with fireworks

Having taken a stroll on the beach, 

Seen the seagulls wheeling in the bright sky,

Having filled our tummies with fresh tomatoes

With peaches warm from the trees

Dazed by the heat and full up 

With wonder we hurry past

The sweet little roses and never stop

To smell them.

Summer Is

Memory is the diary that we all carry with us. 

Oscar Wilde

Summer Is

By Elece Hollis

Summer is Crepe Myrtle pushing pink lace and sweet perfume,

Watermelon splitting open red with a luscious crack,

Corn ears––silk showing––waiting for eager hands to harvest,

Tomatoes ripening on the vine––juicy and sweet.

Summer is watching the wind make dancing leaf shadows,

Hummingbirds bickering at the feeders––cicadas thrumming,

Bumblebees hovering over honeysuckle vines,

Mailbox standing beside the dusty road––listing and thirsty.

Summer is children running splashing in the sprinkler,

Popsicles dripping on little fingers with wonderful stickiness,

Working in the hot sun and resting in the long evenings,

Chasing fireflies and capturing them in Mason jars.

Summer is sitting on the porch swing listening to hoot owls,

Bouquets of Queen Anne's Lace and Brown-eyed Susans,

Eating a late dinner at eight-thirty of fresh garden foods,

Sleeping on Grandma's screened in back porch.

Summer is forever.

Rosebud

Summer, summer, summer––it sweeps up 

over your soul like a slow wave.

c.e.hollis

Rosebud

By Elece Hollis

Struggle against the summer sun

And the Oklahoma wind,

Fight the evening thunderstorms.

Peek out into the dark night,

If you dare...

Come, little rosebud,

Open in spite of it all.

Uncurl your wings!

Unfurl to the morning light and find

A hummingbird waiting

To sip you good morning.

Queen of Weeds

With time and patience 

the mulberry leaf becomes satin. 

Chinese Proverb

Wildflower

by Elece Hollis

Like cream in a pink china cup

She is a considerable beauty for a weed.

Wreathed in green and soft as silk

She is a wonder indeed.

Feelin' Blue

O God from my youth you have taught me, 

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds,

 and even when I am old and gray, 

O God, do not forsake me, until I declare your strength

 to this generation, 

your power to all who are to come.

 Psalm 71:17-18

Feelin' Blue

By  Elece Hollis

Ever get to feelin' blue? 

Old and used and broken too?

Ever think your time has passed,

You've done your part, you've seen the last

Of being useful––being one who can

Serve his God and his fellow man?

This old window made me think

I know I'm old, but not extinct!

Though the frame is worn and paint has peeled

Look close––you'll see its worth revealed.

The sky is reflected in the pane

It manages still to keep out rain.

The whole is set in old red brick

That solid wall is strong and thick.

So when you get to feelin' blue

Think of what you still can do.

Remember of the colors too

What a lovely wonderful shade is blue!