I’ve taken to taking my camera with me into the pool during dragonfly season. I love watching these beautiful creatures and sometimes leave ugly bare branches poking out from above my planters just to attract them.
Grafted Blooms
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Category Archives: Humor
New Car: Daily Funny, Sept 6, 2020
Missed Shot
Missed Shot
He was not noted for his charm, much less for his amenity.
Although he had been praised a bit for success at serenity.
He found spectator sports to be relaxing and most riveting
those times when he was not intent on shooting hoops or divoting.
His interests were not widespread, his hobbies not eclectic.
He simply spent his time at hoops and golf—both actual and electric.
But because a dance or movie caused him great travail,
his attempts to woo fair maidens were to no avail.
And so he forfeited a life of conjugal felicity
for a single life of what was unrelieved simplicity.
And though he thought that chances for love had passed him by,
it wasn’t just a stroke of fate, but more a lapse of eye,
As he shot hoops with brothers on a public knoll,
a lady he’d admired before out on an aimless stroll,
paused to watch their antics, and especially to watch him
as he lofted up the ball and put it through the rim.
But when the lady winked, he traded one pass for the other
by simply pivoting to throw the ball on to his brother!
He thought that chance had passed him by. He had no luck at all,
when in fact the problem was he only watched the ball!
Photo by Noah Silliman on Unsplash. Used with permission. Prompt words for the day are serenity, riveting, eclectic, travail and simplicity.
Delusions of Athleticism
Delusions of Athleticism
Since I’m loyal by habit, it’s hard to explain
my quick burst of laughter in spite of the pain
you must have experienced in your hard fall
as you reached your foot out to kick back the ball
that had escaped the children at play,
rolling out of the street and into your way.
but my dear, you aren’t known for athletic ability—
your speed or your aim or your grace or stability.
Yet again, please excuse my unrestrained snicker
making light of your dreams of being a kicker.
Word prompts today are again, excuse, laughter, loyal and habit. Image by Afa Ah Loo on Unspash, used with permission.
Bird Bath
Bird Bath
You bask in the sun as you crane to inspect
that bird in the water, demanding respect.
How odd that he has not one thing to say
and as you caw your challenge, doesn’t fly away.
When you bob your head at him, he bobs at you.
He’s an image of everything you choose to do.
Then, Mr. Raven, as you fly away,
So too does the other decide not to stay.
Just as you stage your sudden defection,
flying away with you is your reflection.
Share Your World, Aug 31, 2020
- Many local regions, especially rural areas where I live, have haunted houses. Have you ever spent the night in a house that was supposedly haunted? Anything ‘strange” happen? I have spent a night in “the haunted bedroom” of a 12th century abbey in Scotland and HERE is the story. Yes, something did happen. (The top story room overlooking the graveyard in the photo above is the one we stayed in.)
- The Quidditch Cup (riding broomsticks while chasing a small ball) was a huge sporting event in the land of Hogwarts. What is the largest sporting event (or concert, etc.) that you have ever attended? A Leo Kottke concert at the Hollywood Bowl. I remember Ruth Gordon was in the audience and entered in style attired in an evening gown, but on a stretcher carried by four young men in tuxedos. I think she had broken her leg and wanted a more exotic entrance than on crutches.
- When you go for a swim, do you prefer an ocean, the seaside lakes, or a pool? I grew up swimming in stock dams and the White River in South Dakota. The closest pool was 40 miles away in a town that had scary kids in it. When at the ocean, I like going in every day, but I do exercises in lieu of swimming and it can be tricky with the waves rolling in. One minute you are chest-high in water and the next over your head. So, I guess I prefer going into my own pool at home where the level is consistent and the water is very warm because it is piped in from hot mineral springs that are heated by Colima Volcano. Ahhhhh.
- Ron Weasley received a horrid robe to wear as formal wear to the Christmas dance at Hogwarts. Tell about the most ‘ghastly’ fashion statement that you have ever made. This is a secret that has never been told before. The year that Osama Bin Laden was caught and killed, I went to a masquerade party in a Muammar Gaddafi mask and clothed like him, with gloves on so no one saw my hands. I had a toy pistol and I kept running around, hiding behind chairs every time people came in, ducking behind doors and madly rushing around the garden. Everyone was pretty spooked out. I had made up flash cards with things I wanted to say on them so no one heard my voice. When the party got busy, I went out and changed into my own clothes and came back. No one ever figured out who it was. Some thought it was someone crashing the party. Others thought it was someone else who came to the party right after I left. To this day, Those of you reading this post are the only ones who know, except for my friend Harriet who was with me when I bought the mask but who wasn’t at the party.
Well-dined
Well-Dined
Your settings are fantabulous–the china and the cutlery
a window to an earlier time of serving maids and butlery.
Your butter knives and bread plates, shrimp forks and the rest
might lead to intense nervousness as we’re put to the test
to know which fork we should use next. The difference between
the cake fork or the salad fork is not so easily seen.
You’re such an avid hunter through antique stores and bazaars,
searching for ornate candlesticks and antique canning jars,
that you must have been ecstatic when you found this antique set
of twelve place settings, all intact. How lucky could you get?
Eleven serving pieces, plus eleven for each setting—
to hint at all the courses that each diner would be getting.
Spoons for every purpose from ice tea to demitasse.
So many forks that Martha Stewart would be at a loss.
Cheese knives, cake knives, butter knives. Knives for steak and fish.
A different knife or spoon or fork for every single dish!
As we sit down, it’s quite befuddling perusing them,
let alone imagining that we will all be using them.
Our sideways glances indicate we’re all of the same mind.
No matter how confusing, we are bound to be well-dined!
These particular prompt words somehow led me to a memory of a brass-with-teakwood- handles set of cutlery that I bought in a bazaar in India. It was comprised of 144 pieces–eleven pieces in each of the twelve place settings and eleven serving pieces. I was so impressed with it in it’s lovely red felt-lined teakwood case that I bought two of them—one for me and one for my sister. They were, however, a pain to wash and keep shiny as you couldn’t put them in the dishwasher, and when I moved to Mexico, I sold mine. My sister’s had been consigned to her basement storage long before that, but I did once throw a dinner party where I invited eleven people and served a course for each implement. This meant: salad fork, shrimp fork, dinner fork, cake fork, demitasse spoon, ice tea spoon, soup spoon, teaspoon, steak knife, butter knife, regular knife.
Everything went fine until one friend showed up half an hour late from the bar, drunk and with three friends! Needless to say, I was not happy as my service didn’t stretch to fifteen. I had to set up another card table with my regular cutlery and they had to eat their shrimp cocktail and salad with the same fork. After that, my own set was consigned to basement storage as well, but at least it led to this poem.
Prompt words for today are fantabulous, hunter, ecstatic, intense and window. Photo by Dilyara Garifullina on Unsplash. Used with permission.
Lonely Artist Covid Art Challenge #6: Cake and Gingerbread House by Roberta Cheadle
You’ll need to enlarge the photos to see the stories told by this cake and gingerbread house constructed by Roberta Cheadle. for the Lonely Artist Covid-19 Challenge.
Here are Robbie’s explanations of her Lonely Artist Covid-19 contribution:
I have attached two pictures of my Covid-19 twisted nursery rhyme cake—The young woman who lived in a shoe.
I’ve also attached a picture of my Covid-19 twisted fairy tale gingerbread house—The witch hides from Hansel and Gretel who are both vectors for Covid-19.
I love Robbie’s originality. What alternative art form can you find to express your Covid experience? Music? Poetry? A story? An original Mask? A costume? A video? A recipe? A painting or sculpture? I think one friend is going to make a piece of jewelry. Use your imagination.
Breach of Conduct
Breach of Conduct
There’s a glitch in my spelling—a flub in my speech.
I spelled the word breech when it should have been breach.
There’s a stupendous difference from word to word,
thus my conveyed meaning was rather absurd.
Forgive me for saying that your breech was ample.
and sending the notice out to get a sample
of whether the world at large shared my opinions,
and that is how my formidable minions
came to demonstrate actions unseemly and rude.
Their remarks about size were incredibly crude.
And so though I am sure that your actions were dumb,
I have no opinion re/ the size of your bum!
Prompt words today are glitch, speech, stupenous, demonstrate and sample. Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 