Monthly Archives: August 2025

Lines, Colors and Patterns, for John’s Lens Artists Challenge #359

Click on photos to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

For John’s Lens Artists Challenge #359Lines, Colors, Patterns

Last on the Card for July 31, 2025

Both of these photos were taken on July 31, 2025 in the Phoenix, AZ area. Click on photos to enlarge and see captions.

For Bushboy’s Last on the Card

“Forest Sunset” for Friday SOCS

Version 2

Forest Sunset

In the forest, wild and lush,
hear the music of the thrush
break the stillness of the brush.
If else disturbs it, make it hush,
for we have fled the world’s mad crush
with all its craziness and rush
that grinds sensation into mush,
distilling it as mindless slush.
The world flares up, the clouds are plush
as we see all its bloodshed flush
into the sunset’s subtle blush.

The Friday SOCS prompt is “blush.”

“A Bone to Pick––Versed Versus VerSED” Prompt from Forgottenman, July 31, 2025

Yesterday, I phoned Forgottenman from my bed in the frigid prep room of the hospital I’d gone to in Phoenix for a bone marrow biopsy and told him that although I’d be conscious during this operation that two years ago I’d had done fully-sedated and unconscious, that this time I’d just be administered a weak dose of Versed and Fentanyl to relieve anxiety. He of course did his usual “thing” and researched both of the drugs thoroughly, and when I got back to my sister’s house after this 5-hour process–most of it spent in registration, waiting and preparation–I found the blog you will read below drafted in my blog, along with a challenge that I answer it.  The following section in italics is his. My response to him in bold print is below it:

Not sure you’ll recall my mention of this with all the twilight drugs you are/were on, but somehow, “Versed Versus VerSED” sounds like some first-year Latin student was trying to convert “Veni Vidi Vici” to a past participle (or some such grammar thingie) like “I will have come, I will have seen, I will have conquered.” I had to look it up, and in case you don’t know what it is either, here’s a definition from Wikipedia of the drug VerSED. 

And although I had texted him after the operation, describing it, I hadn’t seen his above draft in my blog, which he suggested I answer. Here is my response to Forgottenman’s above posting:

Versed in VerSED

Now that you’ve read
my text A to Zed,
of that place I’ve been led
by the reins of this med
that I have been fed
through a tubular thread
meant to remove a dread
that had long gone unsaid,
have you “got” what I said?

Fears have been put to bed
in my well-VerSED head!

In short, it was not at all as bad as I suspected.  After the initial insertion of the needle, the only way I can describe it was a sensation for a minute or two of someone sipping something with sharp edges up out of my bone through a soda straw. 

Sorry for this rather contrived poem. I simply cannot turn down a challenge and it was the best I could do, given my own nature. Too late to blame it on the drugs!

“It’s Mostly About Me!” For Fibbing Friday, Aug 1, 2025

These are funny phrases Pensitivity101 found on the internet and she admits to having no idea who said them, so who would you suggest as the speaker?

1. I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right.  “Some” wives––but of course not me!!!!
2. My bed is a magical place where I suddenly remember everything I forgot to do.  Who has been reading my mind?
3. My diet plan: make all of my friends cupcakes, the fatter they get, the thinner I look. Who has been reading my diary? 
4. My wallet is like an onion. When I open it, it makes me cry. Mike Tyson.
5. You never realize what you have until it’s gone. Toilet paper is a good example. Anyone, during the Covid-19 Epidemic. 
6. Chocolate doesn’t ask silly questions, chocolate understands. Wisdom taught to me by my mother, largely by example.
7. I don’t need a hair stylist, my pillow gives me a new hairstyle every morning. Albert Einstein.
8. My favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch… I call it lunch. Anyone on a diet/exercise program.
9. Whoever said nothing is impossible has never tried slamming a revolving door. Anyone who voted for Trump.
10. I don’t sweat, I sparkle. Sparkle Plenty, during menopause. (If you don’t know who Sparkle Plenty is, you are much younger than “ME”!