On this day, my cousins, Penny & Dave, took me to a local Maple Bay pub for lunch to meet their friends, Joan and Darcy.
After lunch, we went for a scenic tour around the Maple Bay and Genoa Cove area.
The Lion Rampant Scottish Pub. Lunch with Dave, Penny, Joan, and Darcy
The Balcony
The picturesque views from the pub’s balcony
Maple Bay Marina
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Today’s Throwback Friday Poem is another poem from my book “Tullawalla”, which I originally wrote in September 2019
A Chalice of Champagne (Tullawalla, page 103)
Once upon a time
In the days of rhyme
When learning to climb
I saw my neon sign
Slowly die by design
An angel’s teardrop fell
Ringing the church bell
And missing my empty well
From the tower of song, I wanted to yell
But life does not let you dwell
Despite the annual September rain
I trekked over flooded plains
Avoiding delta swamps of pain
Scaling the same old mountain again
Searching for our chalice of champagne
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Featured Image Above: Kalanchoe delagoensis, commonly known as Mother of Thousands, Chandelier Plant.
Ring the Bells
The paternal magpies are singing
The garden bells are ringing
Spring is playfully emerging
The wattle trees are flowering
The meadow grasses are growing
But, Theo the tomatoe is struggling
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Genoa Cove and Dave, Penny, and Ivor, after walking the ‘planks’ between the Floating Homes
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Standing on Familiar Ground
Here
Standing on the land of old
Overlooking a meadow of green and gold
Where
Familiar magpies fly around
Above their native ground
Now
Feeling my travel, weary bones unfold
Upon my home’s welcoming threshold
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Circadian Dysrhythmia
Lying under a dreamworld of clover
Feeling like I have been run over
By yesterday’s supersonic jet
But I am not dead yet
Even though my eyes are firmly shut
Inside my head lives a snoring walnut
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
White Roof
Travelling through the Rocky’s towers
I witnessed living proof
Of Nature’s palatial power
Her white-draped congregation stood
Silent beneath the glacial hood,
Bedazzled by the alpine’s might
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Home sweet home for Frankie
Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Today, Twenty-Five Years Ago (a Tanka)
Once upon a time
In a land of ice and rhyme
Darkness was my crime
When a rift of hollow mime
Ravaged my body and mind
“The Throwback poem that began the great Rowback”
Who’s Left to Row the Boat
The storms are too many to count
Emotional lows had weathered me out
Her journey with MS was a struggle
How much lower could our lives sink
After fourteen years of our battles, I suffered a Stroke
An ambulance came, my brain was in a boat
Floating out to sea, overboard and panic-stricken
I wasn’t swimming, barely awake, and drifting
I had fallen, nothing was working, and not talking
She’s crying, I’m sobbing, my heart is dying
And who’s left to row the boat, I’m thinking
I was jabbed with a needle and silently sleeping
I awoke a day later, in hospital, feeling wasted
My face was limp, mouth parched, was that death I tasted
My mind was active, I thought, where is she
I knew I was bad; the room was all blurry to me
Strong anxieties had set in, I needed to know
Nurses came to me, I pleaded, I wanted to go
“Help me to see her, just give my bed a tow
Please let me go, before I’m covered in snow”
Ivor Steven (c) September 20th, 2025
Cousin Lynn and Robin with Mungo and Kelly
Cousin Maureen and doggies Z-Z and Co-Co
Cousin Penny, and then Dave, Penny, and Ivor
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Here I am on a Jet Plane, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Therefore today’s Throwback Friday poem is a very appropriate finale piece, to coincide with my amazing adventures in Canada over the past 21 days.
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It Was Time To Leave (Revised)
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It’s time to tidy up my mess
Clean up the room and get dressed
It’s time to pack my suitcase
Fill the travel bag and vacate this place
It’s time to put on my famous rocker shoes
And walk away from this dream come true
It’s time to say heartfelt goodbyes
To these wonderful Canadian guys
It’s time for final hugs and kisses
Sad farewells and best wishes
It’s time for my usual emotional tears
Separate myself from these every day cheers
It’s time to flyaway from a land of berries and fairies
Leave this magical world of faraway families
It’s time to say a million thank you’s
For making my stay a Really Real great do
It’s time for me to travel back home
With glorious memories of this magical Astrodome
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Ivor Steven (c) September 2025
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 