Serendipity & Plantefarver / Plant Dye

Til valnøddefarverdagen havde en af de andre deltagere taget en gryde godt kogte hestekastanjeskaller med. De kan under gunstige omstændigheder give rødt, men resultatet blev ret kedeligt, nærmest som den farve, der hed hudfarve i æskerne med farvekridt i gamle dage. Da jeg havde bundet knuder på garnet, var det meste af det hvidt. Jeg har ikke noget billede, så det må I tænke jer til.

Så ville jeg overfarve det med gult fra en masse farveplanter, som voksede rundet om i haven (de der bi- og insektblandinger indeholder alt muligt ;) ). For at bevare noget af kastanjefarven, bandt jeg rundt om garnet med noget tykt spaghettigarn, jeg havde. Og her har vi så balladen; Spaghettigarnet var grønt! og det smittede af. Garnet endte med at se ud som på billedet. Det mørkegrønne bindegarn er med på det indsatte lille billede.

-- 🟢 --

At the walnut colouring day, one of the other participants brought a pot of well-boiled chestnut shells. Under favourable circumstances, they can produce red, but the result was rather dull, almost like the colour called skin colour in the boxes of crayons in the old days. As I had tied small knots all over the yarn, most of it was white. I don't have a photo, so you'll have to imagine that.

Then I wanted to over-dye it with yellow from a bunch of colourful flowers growing in the garden (those bee and insect mixtures contain all sorts of things ;) ). To preserve some of the chestnut colour, I tied around the yarn with some thick spaghetti yarn I had. And here's the problem: The spaghetti yarn was green! and it bled, quite a lot. The yarn ended up looking like in this the picture. The dark green yarn is included in the small inset picture.

Min tanke er: Gad vide om man kan udnytte det? Hvis man nu rev et gammelt bomuldslagen i strimler og så farvede dem, og så viklede, snoede osv. rundt om et bejdset fed uldgarn. Ville det så mon give noget af den samme melerede effekt?

-- 🟢 --

Now I wonder if this can be done with plant dyes too. If I tore some old cotton sheet into strips and then dyed them, and later wrapped, twisted, etc. those strips around a mordanted skein of wool yarn. Could this possibly give the same mottled effect?

Poetry Monday :: Mischief :: Writers' Block

This time around I'm stealing.

I DID NOT WRITE THIS. But it's so to the point!

 I wonder if there's some kind of doc
For a bad case of writer's block
You make an appointment
He gets you some ointment
And you can get back on the clock.

This witty limerick was written by Dave of Leap of Dave.

I asked then if I could use it. ... He never answered.
It's more than a year ago. So now I just post  it.

- - - - -

Next Mondays topic: Watermelon

Månedens farve - NOVEMBER - Colour of the Month

Månedens farve for november 2023 er --  The colour of the month for November 2023 is

m

Poetry Monday :: Talk Show

Poetry Monday's theme today is talk shows. I do not own a TV set, nor have for many years. But when rarely, I have the chance of watching, I do not like what I hear and see. It's all about being vulgar, offensive and debasing your talk partner if any.

That's not how I remember talk shows from my youth.

Maybe I was just young, easily duped, and innocent. But I miss wit and elegance like his in today's productions.

I go back to the 70es. He was Irish, but his shows aired in Denmark in the years 1974-1978. 


Talk Show

When once I was tiny, one channel on TV
Was all that we had if we wanted to see
I remember a talk show, a man on a stool
He made fun with every thing, was not a fool
Religion, politics, education and race,
Just nothing was spared, no person, no place.
He held nothing sacred, yet never was mean.
An as he stood down and the evening's show through.
I still remember his smile and his mien:
"Goodnight, thank you, and may your God go with you."


He is also known for the following quote. Specifically about swear words on TV but I think it is more appropriate today than ever before:
"Language is there to be used. If you sanitise it, you take everything out of it,"

Is there any person 60 or older who has not recognized him from this?

Plant Dyeing at The Owlery - Plantefarvning i Uglebo

Månedens farve for oktober 2023 er --  The colour of the month for October 2023 is

And I have not done much yet, but I have dyed with plants from my garden. And Dahlia yellow is to be found here

 - - - - - - - - -

Jeg har ikke gjort så skrækkeligt meget. Men nu har jeg plantefarvet med planter fra min have; og jeg er sikker på at månedens farve kan findes her.

First off I dyed with Tansy (Clear yellow), Cow parsley (dusty yellow) and Tickseed flowers (almost red) and leaves (orange).

It is colourful, but a bit boring.

- - - - - - - - - -

Til start farvede jeg med rejnfan (klart gult), vild kørvel (støvet gul), skønhedsøje-blomster (næsten rød), og -blade (orange).

Det er meget farverigt, men en smule kedeligt.

Then I tied a LOT of small knots and put it back in the red and orange vats.

Now it looks like this.

- - - - - - - - - -

Så bandt jeg MANGE små knuder og kom garnet tilbage i de to skønhedsøje-farvebade.

Nu ser det sådan her ud.

Words for Wednesday :: Tanka :: Using the Words

Now I became curious, what is a tanka? Wikipedia came to my aid as so often before. It seems to be an extra large Haiku, so I tried my hand. If there's any Tanka experts out there, please do not judge my first try too harshly.

-- 🍁  --  🌕 -- ⛩ -- 

The Words were given by Sean Jeating and published at Elephant's Child's blog:

Art
Awe
Dreamscape
Face
Moonlit
    and/or
Breathless
Me
Oxygen
Tanka
You

Tanka
The moonlit dreamscape
Leaves me breathless, in awe
You and me will share
Oxygen face to face
Making art forevermore.

The Words for Wednesday ~ No Story ~ 18 October

Today is Wednesday, and this means Words for Wednesday!

-- 🇦 -- ⒔ -- 🇧 -- 🪔 -- 🇨 -- 

This challenge started a long time ago, and now it has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

-- 🌕 --  🎎 -- 🎐 -- ⛩ -- 

In October Sean Jeating is supplying the prompts for Words for Wednesday shown at Elephant's Child's blog.

For today we had these words:
Art
Awe
Dreamscape
Face
Moonlit
    and/or 
Breathless
Me
Oxygen
Tanka
You

I do not know why, but these Words just do not inspire me. Now I have posted them here, and hope for my muse to wake up.

Poetry Monday :: Dictionary

   Poetry Monday er en udfordring, hvor Diane fra On the Border er vores vært.
     Nok engang ikke noget på dansk, beklager meget.

-- 📗 -- 🔖  --  📘 --

Poetry Monday is a challenge, hosted by Diane at On the Border.

Today's prompt is Dictionary. I have a faible for dictionaries, and whenever we sat a test on any language in school, I sat reading the dictionary from when I was done with the test until it had to be handed in. We were not allowed to leave before the time was up.

I got the crazy idea to write this poem in the wee hours of the morning. It was funnier then - and I forgot some of the lines when I fell asleep again. I hope you'll find it just a little bit fun.

I love me dictionary have done so since my youth
He tells me lots of things and never not the truth

When ever theres a testing its him I look upon
I look up many words, he is never far from hand.

And when Im true with testing I sit meself and read
Of all the funny words, of their family and breed.

I read of the linguistics, and than the time is up
And I hand in my paper, and gather him all up.

And if you think this poem is not so very fine,
I probably should of used him for this poem-ing of mine.

- - 😁 - -

Next Monday: Talk Shows

Words for Wednesday ~ October 11

Today is Wednesday, and this means Words for Wednesday!

-- 🇦 -- ⒔ -- 🇧 -- 🪔 -- 🇨 -- 

This challenge started a long time ago, and now it has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

-- 🇦 -- ⒔ -- 🇧 -- 🪔 -- 🇨 -- 

In October Sean Jeating is supplying the prompts for Words for Wednesday shown at Elephant's Child's blog.

For today we had these words:
Consider
Rather
Superstitious
Paraskevidekatriaphobia (yes, I knew this one !)
Table
     And/Or
Bigots
Different
Gender
Hyperbolise
Teeth

Now I feel a little better, and writing is not an arduous endeavour. I used all of the Words except Gender in no particular order. Continuing and ending the story of Susan and the Ghost House -- only parts of which, if any at all, will make it into my book.

Susan did not have to wait long for Percy's return.
While Susan was still admiring the string of glass beads when Percy returned. Susan's hand suddenly felt like dipped in mists, and she looked up and saw the vaguely girl like form of Percy. "Well," she asked. "What did you find out?"
"It was a case of paraskevidekatriaphobia," Percy said, becoming almost translucent.
"A case of para...what!" Susan exclaimed.
"You know, or maybe not, that ghosts are rather superstitious. And yesterday was Friday 13th of February. Paraskevidekatriaphobia means simply fear of Friday 13th. The ghosts in that house gathered round a table, and shook. They shook so much that they turned over the table, which knocked over an old lantern and the shards worked as a magnifying glass, igniting the kerosene, and then the table started burning.  Of course the ghosts were long gone when the shed caught fire."
"I never considered ghosts to be susceptible to superstition," Susan said. "How come?"
"Ghosts are a strange bunch." Percy said slowly. "They are staying on for so many different reasons. Revenge, greed, curiosity. Ghosts are mostly bigots. They tend to hyperbolize the evil or the good that happened to them during their lifetime. And small details take on meaning and significance when mulled over again and again. Yes ghosts are very superstitious."
"I see," Susan said, not quite truthfully, but her head was spinning with strange words and concepts. Nothing in Percy's ramblings was really factual, something you could put your teeth into and hold onto. She would have to think it over, more times. leisurely before it would be somewhat meaningful to her. Ghosts were just strange.

Poetry Monday :: Family

   Poetry Monday er en udfordring, hvor Diane fra On the Border er vores vært.
     Nok engang spænder mit helbred ben for mig, nu jeg har det lidt bedre,, er jeg gået i gang med at rydde op i Susans historie.
     Det kom der så følgende lille, korte digt ud af.

-- 🖋 -- 😔 -- ✍ --

Poetry Monday is a challenge, hosted by Diane at On the Border. And once again stupid health issues makes me stumble. Now that I feel a little better, I have begun re-writing Susan's story. I then made the following, very short almost-rhyme. 


Susan's family.
Mom, dad, and Linda
Granny with magic
And Grandma without
Uncles so mundane
And Aunties so not.
Secrets are hidden
In books and in words
How can I ever
Tell you all I heard?

 - - - - -

And the Prompts for the coming Mondays:
Dictionary . . . . . October 16
Talk Shows . . . . . October 23
Mischief . . . . . October 30
Watermelon . . . . . November 6
Grandma's Kitchen . . . . . November 13
The Bus . . . . . November 20
A Pet's Life . . . . . November 27

Words for Wednesday ~ October 4

Wednesday means Words for Wednesday! I  did not feel like writing - or like most anything this Wednesday. Now I feel a little better, and writing is not an arduous endeavour. So ... I now used the Words. Not in the order they were given, but all of them.

-- 🇦 -- 🩰 -- 🇧 -- 💭 -- 🇨 -- 

This challenge started a long time ago, and now it has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

-- 🇦 -- 🩰 -- 🇧 -- 💭 -- 🇨 -- 

In October Sean Jeating is supplying the prompts for Words for Wednesday shown at Elephant's Child's blog.

For this Wednesday we were given:
Daily
Friendly 
Human
Nodding
Wife 
     and/or
Bags
Gentlemen
Infinity 
Steps 
Veil

I continue the story of Susan and the Ghost House.

Susan left the newspaper office behind. Retracing her steps she found Mom still entangled in conversation with that other lady.
"I'll go home now, Mom," Susan said.
Mom smiled at her, nodding towards the grocery bags: "Please take the bags home," and continued listening to the talkative lady.

At home Susan had to put down the bags and go for the spare key in the niche to unlock the door. On the kitchen table was a note from Dad: The friendly farmer, who promised Linda a ride on his horses last winter, phoned shortly after you left. We went there. Be home for dinner.
Susan put the groceries where they belonged and walked up the stairs to the attic. She had to talk to Persephone, the girl ghost living there. She sat down by the small table in the guest room, looking at all the bottles, necklaces, seashells, and beads decorating the room. Mom had declared it a bit over the top, and had told Susan that the decorations would have to be pulled down whenever Granny came visiting. Percy the ghost loved everything shiny, and it was Susan's daily duty to dust or bring fresh flowers or new items to the small room. The newest addition was a glass bubble string. Each bead mirrored the rest, so the the string of glass beads seemed to stretch into infinity when you gazed into it, It mirrored and broke the sunlight making tiny rainbow coloured patters on the white table cloth. She sat lost in the mesmerizing patterns. Suddenly a vaguely human form sat in the chair opposite her.
"Good day, Percy," Susan spoke softly, not wanting to scare the ghost.
"Hello," Percy replied. "Why are you here?"
"Well, to talk with you for a while, and to admire those glass beads."
"They are truly amazing," Percy admitted.
 " Yesterday," Susan began, and then she told the story of them skating, passing quickly to the fire in the Ghost house and Percy's envy of their fun began boiling. She ended up by asking Percy: "Do you know anything of other ghosts, more specifically the ghosts from that house?"
"You want to look behind the veil, now?" Percy asked. "Well let me see. I once heard a story of some gentlemen in a house, and then the wife of one of them ... she did something bad to one of the other gentlemen, and then the husband of that wife did something badder, and they all ended up dead. I could go and see if you tell me where the house is. I do not know the whole story ..."
Susan explained where the house was relative to the skating place and the girl scouts' hut, both places known to Percy as they were also there when she lived. Susan had tried to find out when Percy ad died, but so far only gotten vague answers. Time as a ghost seemed not to be the same as time as a living.
Percy broke her reveries: "I know the house, it is the one I think of. I'll go there soon and tell you what I found out when I return. Do not go there. Those are mostly bad ghosts."
"I promise," Susan said. "Bad ghosts? Are they the ones that killed others?"
"Yup!" Percy said, "And those that go BOOOH! and try to scare you off. Not nice ones like me!"
"No, not like you at all," Susan said trying to keep a straight face. Percy was morose, given to crying bouts, which made things around her shake, fall over or tumble down. Rather scary actually. Susan did not fancy meeting bad ghosts.

Dansk nyhedsdækning -- Today in the news (Updated)

MotherOwl agonizing that the news about the weather extremes are given lowest priority in the Danish News media.
It is hidden further down than Sports, weepy stories and creepy stories
The petite news item at the bottom tells us: "Global heat records for the fourth month running."

- - - - -  🌍 ☂ 🌎 ☀ 🌏  - - - - -

Ugens fredagsfrustration.
Snagen, sport, tårepersere, personvinklede historier om politikerne -- er det virkelig det, danske seere skal have?

Prøv at læse videre og næsten nederst finder vi: "Global varmerekord for fjerde måned i træk".

Var det mig, der bestemte, fyldte det hele forsiden.

Det her er altså TV2, den mere populariserende af vore to store nyhedskanaler.
Lad os tjekke DR, vores public service-kanal.

- - - -  🔥  - - - -

And now to pour public service channel.

Helt hernede. Tak for kaffe.

It's almost all the way down. Going to hell in a handbasket!
The Public service one also hides it away at the bottom: "'It is over the top', expert says about the hottest September ever!"

IWSG ~ October 4, 2023

I wrote this IWSG post as the reminder arrived in my inbox. Words for Wdnesday will hopefully be written later today.  🎈

And a reason to 🎈 celebrate. 🎊 💙 This 🎉 is my post number 2222.  🎈 🎈

🎈   🎈                   
    🎈                  
                🎈                   

October 4 question: The topic of AI writing has been heavily debated across the world. According to various sources, generative AI will assist writers, not replace them. What are your thoughts?

🎈 🎈 🎈

My answer: I think the italicised statement is perfectly true. My experience with AI tells me that AI / ChatBots can tell you how to organize your text, but not write it for you - at least not producing anything I would sign my name to.
 🎈
Pulp fiction, romantic drivel, magazine whodunnits, now that's another issue altogether, because these are generic entertainment. This I fully see taken over by AIs

🎈

As an example, let's take translation - we all grasp at what we know best, I suppose 😏
AIs - even the best - do not understand enough about languages, style and connotations to make decent translations from one Germanic languages into one another. And if you mix in other language groups, you're sure to have lots of entertainment and errors as a result.

🎈          

I try this regularly, and they have become better and better. But there's an undefined aura of wrong about those texts - apart for the glaring mistranslations where homographs are translated using the wrong word (something a human being captures immediately).

🎈

My mother-tongue is Danish - I pride myself on writhing a solid, not too sophisticated English without too many odd expressions and stumble stones for the native reader. 

🎈                                                                  🎈                                              🎈

Let's see how an AI does this job. 
My second blog post ever was just for fun -- I translated my very first blog post using Google translate. The link takes you to the blog post containing the original, the 2012 Google translate version, and my translation.
At regular interval I run it through to check.
Here it is courtesy of Google translate September 2023:

Usually I convene Mini-Max to make bread. It gets better than if I do it myself, but today he was in school and there was no bread for lunch, so I had to get started myself.
    3 deciliters spelled kernels are measured by in my indispensable deciliter dimensions that can accommodate 3 deciliters, and then they are painted to flour together with a few fennel seeds. It takes place with my German Melmølle. So it becomes much more when it is painted, about 5 dl.
 
Then there will be water in. Again, my indispensable 3-deciliter dimensions come into use: 2 dl. hot water and 4 dl. cold, then the water has the right temperature. Then I add salt and a teaspoon of white jersey and a teaspoon of hips, both first painted for powder. The acid in the rose powder makes the yeast work better. I also sometimes put strange things in from the closet, today a sprinkle of fiber food that the boys do not bother to eat anyway. In the end, I should not forget the yeast. ½ pack of yeast, preferably organic, and then it is all stirring with a dough hook, it is another of my indispensable aids in the kitchen.
    Then the dough raises, without the help of me only with the assistance of a minute, otherwise time will run from me and the breads become strange. If the writer is at home, he will be called to knead.
    For the most part, I remember throwing a quarter of deciliter of water into the oven when the loaves are inserted and before the oven closes. Then they raise a little better and get crispier.

When the breads are baked, they come up and stand and cool on the stove. Nam-nam.

Clear as ink, as we say in Danish.

I took a better translating device (DeepL). Now we have almost no errors (the only big mistranslation is italicised and explained in a note), but I would not publish this on my blog without a throughout revision - would you?

Normally, I call Mini-Max to make bread. It turns out better than if I do it myself, but today he was at school and there was no bread for lunch, so I had to do it myself.
   3 decilitres of spelt grains are measured in my indispensable 3 decilitre measure, and then ground into flour along with a few fennel seeds. This is done with my German flour mill. It turns into a lot more when it's ground, about 5 dl.
 
Then water is added. Again, my indispensable 3 decilitre measure comes into play: 2 dl. hot water and 4 dl. cold, so the water is at the right temperature. Then I add salt and a teaspoon of hawthorn tea and a teaspoon of rosehips, both first ground into powder. The acid in the rosehip powder makes the yeast work better. I also sometimes add weird things from the cupboard, today a sprinkle of fibre food that the boys don't want to eat anyway. Finally, don't forget the yeast. I use ½ packet of yeast, preferably organic, and then mix it all together with a dough hook, which is another of my indispensable kitchen tools.
   Then the dough rises, without any help from me, only with the assistance of a timer, otherwise I run out of time* and the loaves get weird. If the Writer is home, he is called in to knead.
   I usually remember to throw a quarter of a decilitre of water into the oven when the loaves are inserted and before the oven is closed. This helps them rise a little better and makes them crispier.

When the loaves are done baking, they are placed on the hob to cool. Yummy.

*Nopey-dopey ... I do not run out of time It's the time running from me. Aka. me forgetting that I have a bread either raising or baking.                   🎈

🎈          

🎈           🎈       🎈
🎈    🎈      🎈           🎈     🎈     🎈
🎈   🎈      🎈      🎈

Poetry Monday :: No poetry

Sorry everybody, MotherOwl is still not feeling her best.

No poetry today.

A month ago I took this glorius photo. It fits the Colour of the Month.