12/31/23
End of Year Waltz
One two three, One two three—
won’t you come dance with me?
Out of the old year and into the new,
I’d like to spend the time waltzing with you.
When the clock chimes, we’ll be on the floor,
welcoming in two zero two four.
A friend has pointed out that today’s date, seen without slashes, is 123123—the realization of which gave birth to this poem.
This is a grand coincidence, for I really did roll six threes in one roll in a game of Ten Thousand two days ago! This is a first in years of playing this game. My friend I was playing with insisted that when one rolled six of a kind in the game that it was an automatic win, but I insisted on playing through, taking only the 2400 points that the roll would garner. And can you believe it, she got to 10,000 before me! So much for nobility in dice-rolling! At any rate, it gave me the perfect photo for this challenge. And yes, I really did take a photo of my roll. This is not a staged photo.
My Shoes
My shoes go out without me. They do it all the time,
and do the things I never do. They jog. They hike. They climb.
But when my shoes get home at night, they’ll be completely clueless
that I’ve left them out as well by venturing out shoeless!
Auld slang syne this week: Your interpretations please!
1. Sling your hook: What the doctor said he was going to do to Mohammed Ali when he was taken to the emergency ward with a broken left arm after his last fight.
2. Here’s mud in your eye: What the female mud wrestler said to her opponent just before she trashed her eye makeup.
3. Bun in the oven: Describing Jennifer Lopez as she stuck her head into the oven to test the temperature.
4. Twinkle Toes: Anyone going barefoot in the Mardgras parade.
5. Moolah: Money spent on enlarging one’s cattle herd.
6. Brazillian: A new term above million and trillion that described Playtex’s total income.
7. Airhead: What they call the bathroom on a jet.
8. Goof off: The challenge is not punctuated correctly. It is what Goofy said to Pluto when he was ready for him to abandon his lap. It should read,
Goof: “Off!”
9. Mickey Mouse: Request made by Cinderella, arriving home exhausted from the ball. Also a bit tipsy, thus her stutter as well as her need to request help in opening the door from one of her tiny rodent companions. “Mi-c-key, Mouse!”
10. Razz: Really good with Red Beans.
For Pensivity’s Fibbing Friday. Dec 29, 2023 Image by Lawrence Makoonah on Unsplash
The Share Your World questions for today are:
What will you be eating today? I cooked a spiral-cut ham and made sangria. I also bought a pecan pie. My friend Brad brought a Caesar salad and cheesy potatoes made in his crockpot. Larry and Elizabeth and Kathy brought a green bean casserole and buñuelos and Dianne brought a mocha flan cake and tres leches cake.
What was your favorite gift? Elizabeth brought us all tea towels from her line of Indian-created clothing and house goods. She also gave me a wonderful book bag and cosmetic case but my very favorite was an incredible large hand-embroidered silk scarf that is simply stunning. It is large enough to make a blouse out of, but the problem is which side to present on the outside as both sides are incredible and each is a different color. Perhaps I’ll have to have it made reversible. I’ll show a photo of it tomorrow.
Do your pets get to join in with the fun? My dogs are very very naughty when it comes to guests. They just go a bit crazy, so I put them in the lower garden. (Not the lot below, as they can easily escape from it.). This they did not like, and voiced their protests. Then my friend brought her very large German Shepherd and after a few warning barks and growls, we let her in with my banshees and they seemed to get along all right, but during the day, especially when it was feeding time, it got complicated. I must take them for obedience training or have them take me for obedience trining. I actually gave them all doggie tranquilizers given to me by their vet, but I didn’t see that it made much of a difference.
Gratitude: For my friend Brad who usually furnishes the solution to my problems and who brought a wall mount for the echo he brought me for the bedroom a month or more ago (which we still haven’t gotten installed) and a scraper to replace what he considers to be my substandard one. (Forgetting that he had already replaced it earlier, but no problem, because who doesn’t need two good kitchen scrapers?)
Also, gratitude for the good conversation and the contribution to the meal by my friends.
What is the worst bit, if any, about celebrating? The dishes, but luckily everyone listened when I said I would rather spend our time talking and would not let them help. When they left, I put away the food, cleared off the table and rinsed off all the dishes and piled them in the sink and on the counter. An hour or so later, I emptied the dishwasher of yesterday’s clean dishes and filled it with our comida dishes, then washed the rest by hand. I used my wooden-handled good flatware, so washed all of it by hand, as well as the fragile wine goblets and my favorite square sangria glasses. Actually, in the end it was very satisfying to end up with the job finished. I have a sneaking suspicion that Yolanda will show up tomorrow since I wouldn’t let her come either Xmas Eve or today…and it will be fun to see her reaction when she sees I did it all.
After the Celebration!
(You can enlarge photos by clicking on them.)
And now, at 2 AM and 8 hours after the main event—to all a good night!!!
(I know. Very strange to show everything after cleanup rather than during the event, but it wasn’t until afterwards that I actually had time to take photos!)
This sunset from Oct. 13 of this year just popped up on my computer. I think it wants to be noticed! Click it and it will fill your screen!!!
This was something I wrote to a prompt many years ago. The prompt was to write your own fortune cookie fortunes:
13 Unfortunate Fortune Cookie Fortunes (by me)
–Your ingrained habits are not gluten free.
–You will be the life of your friend’s party this weekend when you mistakenly consume gluten and start making rye comments.
–Your mother-in-law will join a motorcycle gang and become your mother-out-law.
–The roots of your problems are showing.
–You will be asked to sing “Hello Jung Lovers” at the next synchronicity symposium you attend.
–Your children are engaged in a conspiracy to turn you into your parents.
–Seventy-six trombones are seventy-five too many.
–Cadets are advised that participating in naval maneuvers will not make your outie an innie.
–The reason why your cat is always trying to trip you is because he does not like your shoos.
–Taking time to smell the roses does not necessarily guarantee that there will be roses to smell.
–At your next poetry reading, you will drop a page of your manuscript on the way to the stage and be requested to remove your feet from the aisle.
–Just because you know how to read a meter does not mean you know how to maintain one.
— At your awards ceremony for being a prolific sperm donor, expect your recipients to give you a standing ovulation.
And One Fortunate One:
–You will outgrow your ingrown toenail.
Image by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Thanks to my friend Gunars for sending this amazing performance of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
A Bah Humbug Primer
If a White Christmas isn’t your “thing,”
If popcorn is something you eat but don’t string
into chains for the tree, and if twinkling lights
and tinsel and candy canes are dreaded sights,
if you are weary of seasonal cheer,
lest a stray chorus should fall on your ear
of “White Christmas” or “Jingle Bells,” close tight your door,
seal up your window, or you’ll hear more
joyous renditions you feel you’ve heard
over and over until they’re absurd.
If you grow feverish thinking of shopping,
then break out in chills—back and forth, without stopping,
then put on the skids or else you might pop.
Don’t make me send over the Bah Humbug Cop!
With unwavering calm, put dreams into action,
lest you commit a Yuletide infraction.
There’s no law that says that you have to do
holidays that you happen to rue.
Hop a bus, then a plane. Find a tropical isle.
Take off to Arabia. Sail up the Nile.
There are plenty of spots without holly and snow—
places where Santa Claus dares not to go.
Just because some of us love our tradition,
doesn’t mean you will be tried for sedition
if you neglect to put up a tree.
So perk up your ears and listen to me.
There is a truth that everyone knows.
The best gifts of all don’t come tied up in bows.
Friends we can trust and friends we hold dear
We celebrate every day of the year!!!
The Sundaywhirl prompt words today are: dream white joyous twinkle waver chains stray chorus might chill feverish sight
Click on photos to enlarge.
