.. 
..
last day
for ice fishing
buckets half-full
– photo by dagosan (Feb. 24, 2009, Mohawk River, Schenectady, Riverside Park)
How does one say goodbye to a weblog and its readers after almost six years and 2500 posts? I’m not sure, but happily won’t have to decide until the next and final posting here at f/k/a later today. For now, I put up one last sunset photo from the end of my block, and then sorted through my previously-published haiga (pictures with a linked haiku or senryu), and found some that match my mood(s). My brother, Buffalo lawyer Arthur J. Giacalone took each of the haiga photos in today’s post, except for the first and last one.
snowmelt
sunset
comes too soon
. . .
curtain time:
the stage crew as silent
as the props
… from Simply Haiku Journal, Modern Haiga, Vol. 5 no. 1 (Spring 2007)
– at The Gates, NYC (2004) – click to see the original haiga: “curtain time:” – “snow melt”
alone at dusk
footsteps approach
from behind– from Magnapoets Japanese Form (May 1, 2007); orig. in color at World Haiku Association 44th Haiga Contest (April 2007)
.
catnap onshore –
a wake sinks
the dream flotilla
….. in HaigaOnline Spring/Summer 2007 Vol. 8-1
– click to see the original haiga –
.. 
..
mourners
in sunglasses –
no one casts a shadow
equinox
the insomniac
waits for dawn
……. Simply Haiku (Modern Haiga Section, Vol. 6 no. 3, Fall 2008)
“equinox” – click for orig. haiga ; “mourners” – orig. haiga
first date
a stroll
in a fog
…. orig. pub. 61st WHA Haiga Contest (Nov. 2008)
David:
What a lovely, sadness-tinged collection of your own work. As someone who has only followed over the last one year plus, I have to say what a wonderful service you have provided to your readers.
I always loved that I would occasionally be “forced” into not immediately skipping to the delightful and insightful haiku and would read about a legal issue I would never have encountered. I will always remember your fight for the library – as a librarian, that was near and dear to my heart.
I won’t say the poetry “goes without saying” because it doesn’t. Your excellent eye and resourceful presentation of work from high and low was cherished by me and will be missed.
Your closing up shop has taken me by surprise. However, there are no endings, just new beginnings.
Somehow, there is joy and laughter and a hint of something ne,w to go along with the sadness, of the following.
geese and ducks
sing! sing!
stop the year from ending
Issa
translated by David Lanoue
I do hope you will stay in touch and I get to see more of your work via Lilliput Review. Wishing you the very best.
Sincere regards,
Don Wentworth
Lilliput Review / Issa’s Untidy Hut
Comment by Don Wentworth — February 28, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
You’ve earned a brief rest before you turn your attention elsewhere. See you soon.
Comment by shg — February 28, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
Thank you, Don (and you, too, Scott, but we email often, so I’m going to concentrate on Don). You’ve been our most consistent Commentor the past year, and I’m most grateful for your many kind words, and gratified that you wanted to keep coming back.
We originally wedded law-talk and haiku in the hope that lawyers would discover the joys of haiku. It has been a wonderful bonus that my haijin friends have found some punditry worth perusing, too. Talk about cross-cultural pollination.
Thanks again for taking the time so often to hand us a gold star or two. As my journey takes me to new beginnings yet unknown, I intend to stop by Lilliput and Issa’s Hut to enjoy your hospitality.
Comment by David Giacalone — February 28, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
Hi, David,
moonless night
the darkness deepest
where the snowy owl was
a fan,
Yu
Comment by Yu Chang — February 28, 2009 @ 9:09 pm
Thanks, Yu. Being compared to a snowy owl sure beats being called an old turkey. Thanks for joining my very exclusive fan club.
Comment by David Giacalone — March 1, 2009 @ 6:28 pm