A walk before the storm, the icy brook so peaceful and playful as I slid around exploring, looking for images of surprise and delight, like this fanciful one – a woman being blown with an umbrella turned upside in the wind.

Soon after my walk, I head to my Wednesday morning writing group, prepared with a writing prompt inspired by Valentine's Day. One of the poems I bring to read is one of my own: Mystery Shopper in Memory Care, which I wrote in 2014 and recently recorded as an audio file here.

I wrote this short poem in my father's voice as a kind of Valentine I wanted to receive and knew it was one he was trying to communicate every time I visited him in memory care. The assignment I gave the writers as big fat flakes of snow began to fall from the white sky over our view of Farm Pond: write a Valentine in someone else's voice that's being sent to you.

All photos and text copyright Kelly DuMar 2018