We want to thank these local businesses for providing our winners the following fabulous prizes. For the Aptos Times, Dinner at Seacliff Inn, Severino’s – for our TPG Winner for Celebrating Over 30 Years of Marriage, Dinner at Seascape Resort’s Sanderlings – for the Capitola Soquel Times, Dinner at Café Cruz – and for the Scotts Valley Times, Dinner at the Paradox Hotel Restaurant.
And the Winners are…
- Roy Verley of Aptos for Celebrating Over 30 Years of Marriage –Roy’s prize is a $100 Gift Certificate for Sanderlings, Seascape Resort in Aptos.
- Paula Hill of Santa Cruz for the Capitola Soquel Times. Paula’s Prize is a $100 Gift Certificate for Café Cruz in Soquel.
- Mary Marasco of Scotts Valley for the Scotts Valley Times – Mary’s prize is a $100 Gift Certificate for the Hotel Paradox in Santa Cruz.
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2016 Poetry Contest Winner for the Aptos Times
Robert Kincheloe
Sweetie did ya know …
I’ve traveled, loved and lost
Been lucky, also paid the cost
I’m grateful, I’ve been blessed
God chose you not the rest
Answered prayers from bended knee
God knows best, you for me
Loving and humble, spirit so bright
Considerate and kind, a special delight
Full of life, she’ll bust a dance
I smile to watch her prance
She’s known to sing a tune or four
Just open some music and shower door
Met in flight, thirty thousand high
Thought she’s cute, HOT – Oh My!
Single mom, a daughter to boot
I’ve two boys, perfect five card suit
Married seventeen now, years of fun and bliss
Raised em up – Melina, Kyle and Chris
Country living, our house a doublewide
Chores, dust and heat, you never cried
Lovin so dear even in sleep
Can’t do without our love so deep
Love that’s matured, giving and blind
It’s God’s gift, Oh what a find
I thank you, my whole heart
You’ve never wavered or come apart
We’ve moved, come long way
In retirement, Aptos to stay
We’re at home next to Nicene Marks
Plenty of trees, critters and parks
Monterey Bay, walking its shore
Holding hands, we’re blessed galore
Twenty four/seven – you fill me up
Can’t go a day minus this cup
Heaven help me, I’d be torn
Wandering empty, my days in morn
You’re my friend, my comfort and mate
Livin without you, this I’d hate
My Valentine, Sweetie did ya know
We’ve just started, this love wants to grow
God please grant me plenty more life
To spend with this amazing, wonderful wife
Thanks for hearing, listening from start
From Robert, Husband – speaking from heart
•••
2016 Poetry Contest Winner for Over 30 Years of Marriage
Roy Verley of Aptos
When you said “yes” (I must confess)
I didn’t have a clue
What path we’d take, what life we’d make –
But I knew I loved you.
Your easy smile, your gentle style,
The kindness in your voice,
Your loving grace, your warm embrace
Just made my heart rejoice!
So off we went without a hint
Of worry or regret,
We took a chance on our romance
And haven’t looked back yet.
Through joys and tears of 36 years
We’ve both held up our parts;
We’ve learned to trust, be fair and just,
And listen to our hearts.
Oh, sure, there’ve been some moments when
We’d seem to lose our way;
But in the end we’d make amends
And soon we’d be okay.
What lies ahead cannot be said
But this I know is true:
You’ll always be the one for me –
I’m still in love with you!
For my wife of 36 years, Colette Verley
•••
2016 Poetry Contest Winner for the Capitola Soquel Times
Paula Hill
ELIXIR
I navigated through your words
as easily as a sailboat traversing a calm lake
graced by a steady breeze…
I listened to your music
where an angel surely sang
through the rustling of forested trees…
I caught the scent of you
as my head drew towards your shoulder
on a bed made of cleavers and oatstraw…
…tasted your soul drifting on the river’s current,
tumbling over pebbles and algae
kissed by the sun’s glow…
and…forgave the loss of myself
into the tender elixir
of two…
Written for the love of my life of 21 years…
•••
2016 Poetry Contest Winner for the Scotts Valley Times
Mary Marasco
To My Valentine
Across the room I felt you before I looked up
To see you looking back with the same wonder
Like a bolt of lightning so intense
It shook through me like thunder
The light in your eyes
The ease in your laugh
The scent of your skin
The finding my better half
We overcame the obstacles
As only fortunate lovers do
We believed in our feelings
Knew our love was true
The light in your eyes
The ease in your laugh
The scent of your skin
The finding my better half
The miracle I found in us
Becoming man and wife
Knowing with all certainty
You are the Love of my life
For my husband