Words for Wednesday :: August 28, 2024 :: Onsdagsord

The Word for Wednesday challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.
The prompts for August  are provided by Mimi @ Messymimi's Meanderings.

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.

This week's prompts are:
Consider
Second
Sink
Instinct
Face
Flash
        and/or the following random sentence
My daughter always said she doesn't get mad, she gets even.

Real life story - ouch!

If I had taken a few seconds to consider that I had burned the oven mitt and thrown it into the sink to put our the sparks only minutes earlier, I would have realized that it would not any more protect my fingers from the very hot frying pan.
Instinct told me to Let go! even before the pain registered, and I hung my face in shame as I tried to soothe the burning flash on my finger with cold water.

Typing one-handed - with my left index finger still immersed in cold water is a bit hard!
Use your brains - and pristine oven mitts next time, MotherOwl!

Poetry Monday :: Instrument

Every Monday is Poetry Monday. Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health reasons.

  I have something to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others via the links, would you please leave a comment.
  Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.

Today's topic is Instrument.

My instrument of preference
is not one met with reverence.
It has no strings
no wires, springs
and not a button too.

My instrument of preference
takes training and some temperance;
it has no keys
and none of these
strange cranks or other screws.

My instrument of preference
needs study and perseverance.
You might have guessed
more than the rest
it's languages I choose.

- - - - -

Next Monday's topic is: Height (September 2)

And for the rest of September:
September 9: Family
September 16: Intention
September 23: Teaching
September 30: Feedback

Mere edderkop ~ More Spider

     Vi har, som de fleste andre husstande stor husedderkop i vores hjem - og den er stor, faktisk Danmarks største edderkop hvad benlængden  angår. Den kan nå et 'benspænd' på hele 10 cm. Den er ikke giftig, eller rettere, den er ikke giftig for mennesker - er du en flue eller et andet byttedyr, stiller sagen sig ganske anderledes.
     Normalt ser vi ikke meget til den, men hvis den falder ned i badekarret, kan den ikke komme op ved egen hjælp, og løber rundt dernede og spinder tråde for at komme op. Vi lader proppen hænge ned i karret, så den kan bruges som nødudgang, men af og til - temmelig ofte faktisk, er der en strandet edderkop i badekarret. Således også i dag.
     Og eftersom jeg var i gang med at snakke edderkopper, tog jeg et par billeder før jeg smed den ud af badekarret.
     Det regner (igen!) og er halvmørkt nede i vores badekar, så billederne er  ikke bedste kvalitet, jeg undskylder.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

As most Danish households, we have Giant house spiders in our home - it is big, but not giant. It is the largest Danish spider, and its leg from tip to tip can measure up to 10 cm. It is not poisonous venomous (thanks Mimi!) - or rather yes it is, but not harmful unless of course you are a fly or other animal of prey. 

Normally we do not run into them, but occasionally they fall into the bathtub and can not get out on their own. We let the stopper on a chain hang down. The spiders are not always smart enough to find this emergency exit, but run around and spin threads to get out. This happened today as well, and as I was in the spider-rut, I snapped some photos before letting it out of the tub.

Today is rainy and overcast (once again!) so the quality of photos from the bottom of our bathtub is not the best, bear with me.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

Dette her er nok det bedste billede -- This is probably the best photo

Og sammenlignet med min finger -- and compared to my finger

Words for Wednesday on a Thursday ~ Onsdagsord

The Word for Wednesday challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.
The prompts for August  are provided by Mimi @ Messymimi's Meanderings.

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.

This week's prompts are:
Convince
Education
Slice
Decide
Craft
Family
     and/or the following phrases
Beating a dead horse
On the ropes
Wake up call

All what the words made me think of was this moralistic rant - Quirky Owl at large.

I'm trying to convince my co-humans that education never stops. If we do not exercise your brawn and brain every day, and pick a new slice of matter frequently, it is the same as to decide to regress, to fall into disrepair and forgetfulness. Use it or lose it goes for all areas of our mind and body.

Craft is one of the good ways of keeping fit mentally and physically, having a big lively family is another.

Time and again I feel I am beating a dead horse, but nothing will stop me figuratively yelling at people. And some won't ever listen, some only when neglect have brought them on the ropes, some do not even heed this wake-up call, but stays in the sofa with Netflix and chips handy.


Onsdagsord på en torsdag

Vi fik de her ord:
Overbevise
Uddannelse
Skive
Beslutte
Kunsthåndværk
Familie
     og/eller følgende sætninger
At slå i en dyne
Ude i tovene
Wake-up call

Det eneste, der kom ud af det, var denne løftede pegefinger. Underlige Ugle på færde her.

Jeg prøver at overbevise mine medmennesker om, at uddannelse aldrig stopper. Hvis vi ikke træner både muskler og hjerne hver dag og vælger en ny skive af emnet med jævne mellemrum, er det det samme som at beslutte sig for at gå i forfald. Use it or lose it gælder for alle områder af vores sind og krop.
     Kunsthåndværk er en af de gode måder at holde sig i form mentalt og fysisk, at have en stor livlig familie er en anden.
     Gang på gang og igen føler jeg, at jeg slår i en dyne, men intet vil stoppe mig i billedligt talt at råbe ad folk. Og nogle vil aldrig lytte, andre kun når de er helt ude i tovene efter længere tids forsømmelse, nogle lytter ikke engang da, men bliver i sofaen med Netflix og chips ved hånden.

 ++ 🦉 ++

To show how my quirky brain works I found these two photos from the past week ... they reminded me of one another.

 ++ 🦉 ++

     For at vise, at min hjerne stadig finder på underlige krumspring, har jeg fundet to billeder fra den seneste uge, der mindede mig om hinanden.

A golden Pikachu-Oreo, banana/chocolate taste and ...

 ++ 🦉 ++

En gylden Pikachu-Oreo med chokolade/banansmag og ...

The blue super-moon ...Quirky owl indeed.

 ++ 🦉 ++

Den blå supermåne ... Underlige ugle på færde,

World Photography Day

And now, it's the day. The theme is a big unwieldy blob ... sorry to all the good folks behind this endeavour, but there's something about grandiose themes in the style of one day - one life, only more bloated that makes me recalcitrant and apt to poke fun at and eventually puncture your hot air balloon.

Read this (from here):

World Photography Day is the global celebration of all types of photography, but each year, we also have an optional theme to focus on. The World Photography Day 2024 theme is "AN ENTIRE DAY". It is an ongoing project which will officially launch on August 19, 2024 - visit An Entire Day website.

Over the course of an entire day, the population of Earth has more than a combined 20 MILLION years of human experience (almost 8 billion people, with 24 hours each). Everyone is living their own life, sharing one world. Our goal as a global community is to capture as many different aspects of what happens around the world in one day.

To do this - along with any other photos you're planning on sharing on World Photography Day this year, feel free to share a photo, a video or a time-lapse that you'll take on August 19, 2024 tagging #AnEntireDay on the social platform of your choice, and don't forget to tag #WorldPhotographyDay and #WorldPhotographyDay2024, too. Spread the word!

     Og nu er det endelig dagen. Årets tema er en stor, uhåndterlig mundfuld ... undskyld til alle de gode kræfter bag dette foretagende, men der er noget med temaer i stil med en dag - et liv, bare endnu mere oppustet, der i den grad giver mig lyst til at være på tværs, og tilbøjelig til at gøre grin med og til sidst punktere den store varmluftsballon. Og her på min blog kan jeg gøre som jeg lyster.
     Temabeskrivelsen er på engelsk, den kommer herfra og jeg har ikke haft ork til at oversætte den. Kan du ikke klare mosten, anbefaler jeg DeepL, som er meget bedre end Google Translate til den slags ;)

-- 🖼 --

And now my photo. My uncleaned window and an insect, which I call The Flying T -- it is a Plume moth, I suspect the Emmelina monodactyla also known as the Morning-Glory plume moth. I like that name! The Latin name actually means the one-fingered Emmelina, which is also fun.

-- T --

Og nu til billedet. Et upudset vindue med en natsværmer, som jeg kalder det flyvende T, men som nok hedder snerlefjermøl, Emmelina monodactyla, et fjermøl er det helt garanteret, og det latinske navn lyder også smukt - og lidt sjovt: Det betyder den en-fingrede Emmelina.

Poetry Monday :: Market

Every Monday is Poetry Monday. Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health reasons.

  I have something to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others via the links, would you please leave a comment.
  Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.

Today's topic is Market. Yesterday an internet search brought me from Getafix, the Druid in Asterix ➡ the secondary characters ➡ Cacophonix, which in Scots is called  Magonaglix ➡  to a hopeless poet, William McGonagall, whose only concern seems to have been that the poetry should rhyme - hence writing what The Writer and I have dubbed "Folk Song Army-Poetry" - think Tom Lehrer and his Folk Song Army 😀🎶

This rolled around in my head. And combined itself with today's topic: Market.
I pride myself of mostly being able to both rhyme and scan correctly ... but what if I tried not to - or only one at a time. I hope I'm not as bad as McGonagall (LINK, takes you to some examples in the Wikipedia article on him).

My Farmer's Market
I go to an old farmers market
every Saturday morning in town
I there sell my soap and my ointments,
Its a troublesome, funny event.
There are veggies and wine
There are coffee so fine
And knittings and handcrafts to boot.

Sometimes it is raining and dripping,
my soaps turn all mushy and soft
When the sun shines the soaps are all melting
and the ointments go liquid from heat,
And the storms blow to hell
all the things that I sell
even tables and all of my booth.

And the customers, they are a handful
some days not a soap I can sell
The next Saturday they all buy it,
and poor little me has to smell.
My booth do I close
And I just cannot cope
with cooking of yet a compound.

Oh, I suffer and shiver and swelter
I am pelted by sunshine and rain.
As I bike home I swear, I am cussing
And I say: No, nay, never again!
But the next Saturday you'll find me
at the old farmer's market in town.

- - - - -

Next Monday we'll tackle Instrument.

Sunday Selections :: World Photograpy Week :: Hot Air

Beklager, ikke alt er overssat til dansk i dag. World Photography Week synes at være et SoMe-fænomen, fuldt af varm luft, løfter og "Likes", men uden det helt store konkrete indhold - en tendens, jeg synes breder sig i den slags internet-udfordringer.

-- 🖼 --

Yesterday iHanna asked about the theme for World Photography Week. I did not remember what it was, so I went looking. I am still none the wiser, only now filled with hot air and SoMe.

Please read this and tell me what you think:

World Photography Week 2024 Theme

During World Photography Week 2024, from August 12th - 26th, share a number of photos on the social medium of your choice that you've taken that have meaning to you, along with the story behind them, using the hashtag: #WorldPhotographyWeek.

If you're a photographer, we highly recommend showcasing new photography and prints using the tag #WorldPhotographyWeek - we want to create a global community event to help highlight photographers, and their incredible work.

Then, search for posts using the tag #WorldPhotographyWeek from August 12th to 26th on the social medium of your choice, and "Like", comment and share the photos that resonate with you the most. If you discover a photographer whose work you appreciate, be sure to give them a follow on social media, as well!  (from HERE)

Am I the only one finding that internet challenges like this one have turned into generators of 'community' which seems to be synonymous with hot air and "Likes" on social media?

I see no theme mentioned here - despite the headline promising one.

Well, despite my intense dislike for this particular kind of baloney I am going to post photos today and tomorrow as well.

-- 🌹 --

Og nu til billederne.   And now the photos.

-- 🖼 --

    Dagen startede med at vi var i kirke, hvor vi fejrede Jomfru Maria optagelse i Himlen - egentlig var det i torsdags, men de helligdage, der ikke også er protestantiske, er oftest henlagt til søndag. Jeg tvivler på at vore klassekammerater, kolleger osv. ville se med milde øjne på at vi med jævne mellemrum blev væk for at gå i kirke, så smart nok.
    Efter kaffe og kager var jeg igen i dag i haven. Jeg arbejdede lidt på mit træ-projekt, så slog jeg græs og rev det afklippede græs sammen, Skribenten, der normalt slår græs, var ved at støvuge gæsteværelset, hvor der var lidt for meget støv til mine sarte luftveje. At slå græs og rive det sammen, lyder måske ikke så hårdt, men vi har en plæneklipper med rugbrødsmotor og græsset var langt.
     Bag plæneklipperen ses én af fire bunker græs. En lille smule af det er mine høvlspåner og lidt snittespåner fra en søns projekt, men langt, langt det meste er græs. Det var ikke engang den største af stakkene.

-- 🖼 --

The day started out with mass. We celebrated the assumption of Our Lady -- yes it was Thursday, but in Denmark all holidays, that are not celebrated in the protestant church (which is the majority denomination in Denmark) are celebrated to the nearest Sunday. Rather smart, as I doubt that classmates and colleagues would accept our absence to go to mass several times a year.

After coffee and cakes -- our Sunday treat -- I worked a bit on my woodworking project, I then realized that the grass was in sore need of a mowing, so I set to it - hubby, who normally mows,  was busy vacuuming our guest room, and it contained a bit much dust for my comfort ... I'm not allergic, but certainly sensitive to dust, and I'll take mowing over dust any day.

I mowed all the grass and then raked the grass together. It was hard work - no, our garden is not extraordinarily large, but we use a hand mower and the grass was long!

In the photo you can see it and one of four stacks of grass. A tiny bit of this stack is shavings from my wielding a plane as part of the woodworking, and chips from a son's wood carvings, but mostly it's grass -- and this is not even the biggest of the four stacks.

Efter aftensmaden gav jeg først Maria nogle nye blomster, så slog jeg kanterne af haven med en segl - jeps sådan en Miraculix-én. Den er genial, man løfter buskenes grene op med den ene hånd og slår under dem med seglen. Så smart. Så var jeg klar til et bad og aftenkaffen.

-- 🖼 --

After dinner I gave  fresh flowers to Our Lady, then I cut the borders of the lawn with a sickle -- yup just like the one Getafix the druid is using --- it is so smart. Raise up the branches with one hand and cut the weeds with the sickle! Easy-peasy. Then I was done and ready for a bath and a cup of coffee.

Igen i dag er ingen af billedene behandlet på nogen anden måde end beskæring.

-- 🖼 --

And again today none of the photos are edited in other ways than cropping.

Mere om edderkoppen & Sunday Selection & More about the spider

First a photo that has nothing to do with a spider for all who does not enjoy looking at our eight legged friends:

For alle, der ikke kan lide at higge på billeder af vore ottebenede venenr kommer der allerførst noget andet.

   Natlig rejnfan ~ Tansy by night
In the background grey thistles ~ I baggrunden grå tidsler         
Fitting the Colour of the month ~ der passer til månedens farve

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

And now to the spidery stuff 🕸 Så handler det om edderkoppen

So many asked the name of the spider, if it was dangerous and how big it was, that I found it easier to write a new blog post telling all I know about it - with more photos!

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

Der var flere, der skrev og spurgte hvor stor edderkommen var, om den var farlig og hvad det var for en.
Det blev bare nemmere at skrive et nyt opslag - med flere billeder.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

It is a Nuctenea umbratica, a walnut orb-weaver spider, possibly a female, as it is exceeds the 7-10 mm given as the maximum size of a male. It is not really that big, as the photo of her compared to my index finger will show.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

Det er en Nuctenea umbratica, en Flad hjulspinder, nok en hun, for den er over de 7-10 mm hannen skulle blive og nærmere maksimum for en hun, der opgives til 11-16 mm.

Hverken Peter eller lille, med stadig en flot edderkop.   🕸   It might not be itsy bitsy, but it is a spider.

Day 6 ~ World Photography Week ~ Dag 6

My health is steadily improving, daily chores are no longer insurmountable.
Today I went shopping, did some cleaning, scrubbing and vacuuming, I weeded and watered a bit, looked after the hens, edited and translated some texts, cleaned some more and even did some woodworking (more of this later, I hope), helped cooking dinner, then I brought in two loads of clothes from the clothes lines and all our stuff from the garden! Yay - HUGE thankful!

While cleaning I found today's subject for my photo.
If you suffer from arachnophobia, please stop here.

It is incredible how many of the nursery rhymes are international and how they are spreading. I'll never forget when I was in Turkey in 1979 and learned how to do Patty Cake in Turkish (spelled as I heard it, any readers knowing Turkish, please correct me!):
"Küçük ev. Lara Ingils, Lara Ingils, Karolin, Karolin, kaç, kaç, kaç? Kari, Mari, Kari, Mari, Bay Ingils!" Yes, it was inspired by the TV serials Little House on the Prairie ~ Little House, Laura Ingalls, Laura Ingalls, Caroline, Caroline, How Many, How Many, How Many? Carrie, Mary, Carrie, Mary, Mr. Ingalls!" I'm not at all surprised that also this rhyme is known in many countries as well.

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

Det går fremad med helbredet - hurra! I dag var jeg på indkøb, ryddede op, gjode rent og støvsugede; så oversatte og redigerede jeg lidt tekster, gjorde mere rent og noget træsløjd (mere om det forhåbentlig senere); så lavede jeg en del af aftensmaden, hentede to portioner vasketøj ind fra snoren og alle vores ting fra haven - Yay, jeg virker nogenlunde igen!

Mens jeg støvsugede, fandt jeg dagens fotomodel.
Hvis du lider af araknifobi, skal di ikke scrolle længere ned.

Det er utroligt hvor mange børnerim og -remser, der i virkeligheden er er internationale og forholdsvis nye, selv om de virker gamle og oprindelige.
     Jeg glemmer aldrig, da jeg var i Tyrkiet i 1979 og lærte en klapperemse på tyrkisk, den lød sådan her - undskyld for lydstavning til eventuelle tyrkiskkyndige læsere - rettelser ja tak:  "Küçük ev. Lara Ingils, Lara Ingils, Karolin, Karolin, kaç, kaç, kaç? Kari, Mari, Kari, Mari, Bay Ingils!"  Den er såmænd inspireret af TV-serien  Det lille hus på prærien ~ Lille hus, Laura Ingalls, Laura Ingalls, Caroline, Caroline, Hvor mange, hvor mange, hvor mange? Carrie, Mary, Carrie, Mary, hr. Ingalls!"
Derfor kan det vel heller ikke undre, at sangen ovenover findes på dansk ... det er såmænd Lille Peter edderkop.

Lille Peter Edderkop kravled op ad muren.
Så kom regnen og skylled Peter væk.
Så kom solen og tørred' Peters krop.
Lille Peter Edderkop kravled atter op.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

Og her er så et billede af Lille Peter.

Amd a photo of the Itsy, Bitsy Spider.

He was allowed to stay when I vacuumed today, while all the chaotic spiders -- my name for cellar spiders -- were removed.

--  🕸  🕷  🕸  --

Lille Peter fik lov at blive, mens alle "kaosedderkopperne", der retteligt hedder mejeredderkopper endte i støvsugeren.

Dag 5 ~ World Photography Week ~ Day 5

I dag regner det, så vi går en tur i domen og kigge på umoden peberfrugter og chilier

-- 🌶  🫑 --

Today it's raining. I went to the Dome and looked at unripe peppers and chilies

Only time will tell what the two leftmost turn into as I only planted bell peppers and jalapeños.

-- 🌶  🫑 --

Jeg er spændt på hvad de to til venstre er for nogen. Jeg plantede kun jalapeño og røde peberfrugter.

Day 4 ~ World Photography Week ~ Dag 4

I dag har jeg en lille film ud over dagens billeder - bare fordi jeg kan.

Today I have some photos and a short video - just because I can.

Billederne først ~ First the photos

Min kvan er blevet stor. Nu ligner den ikke længere en skvalderkål.
My angelica has grown. No mistaking it for a ground elder any more.

Min yndlingsblomst, blå kornblomst ~ My favourite flower, blue cornflower

Jeg ved ikke, hvad denne her hedder, men den en overlever, og så er den pæn.
I do not know the name of this one, it's a survivor - and pretty.

Hængeugle, nu med ekstra mos ~ Hanging owl with even more moss growing on it.

And one apple, all what grows on the tree this year.
Et enkelt æble er alt hvad der gror på træet i år.

Min hård prøvede laurbær. Omgivet af ukrudt, som jeg lader gro. Det er nemlig noget sjovt ukrudt som man kan se på videoen her - hvis den virker. Mine fingre er stadig misfarvede fra plantefarvningen.

My poor laurel, here surrounded by some weeds I'm loath to remove. They are fun, as the video will show - if it works. My fingers are still stained from dyeing with walnuts and cochineal.

Words for Wednesday & World Photography Week

The Word for Wednesday challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.
The prompts for August  are provided by Mimi @ Messymimi's Meanderings.

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.

This week's prompts are:

Fraud
Weak
Unaware
Wind
Cope
Morning
    and/or these not as common as they used to be words
Fusty
Prepence
Clement

Today I dyed with different plants. In the morning I picked tickseed and tansy and hollyhocks, I also picked up some walnuts that the strong wind had blown down. In my stash I found madder roots, some red leaves - the fusty smell took me unaware and I began coughing; carefully so as not to blow away the plant materials - and some cochineal; calling this a plant dye is a small scale fraud, as it is not a plant, but a  bug living on cacti. Even a weak solution of those bugs dyes a load of yarn. I was not clement in my treatment of said bugs, but mashed them with a glass mortar and pestle to wring every ounce of colour from them.

    ... and now I used all the words but prepence, which I could not really get the hang of. But I'm not done with the telling. 

I grated the walnut husks, broke up the red leaves, and picked the petals from the tickseed flowers. Then I distributed it all unevenly over two wet hanks of yarn, also adding a teeny tiny amount of the mashed up cochineal bugs. The hanks were then firmly rolled into a piece of an old sheet.

The rest of the bugs were dissolved in water and the water poured into a glass. A third hank of yarn was added to this glass. Hollyhocks, tansy, more tickseed and walnut was packed with a hank of thicker yarn into yet another glass and weighed down with pebbles.

Everything went into the wonderful pot for two hours. Then came the patience testing wait while it cooled off enough for me to touch.

-- 🌿 🌻 🌺 🍁  --

I dag har jeg farvet med forskellige planter. I morges plukkede jeg skønhedsøjer og rejnfan og stokroser, og jeg samlede også nogle valnødder op, som den stærke vind havde blæst ned. I mit lager fandt jeg kraprødder og røde hasselblade - den støvede lugt overraskede mig, og jeg begyndte at hoste; forsigtigt for ikke at blæse plantematerialerne væk - og noget cochenille. At kalde det en plantefarve er nok ikke helt korrekt, det er nemlig ikke en plante, men en lus, der lever på kaktusser. Selv en svag opløsning af disse lus kan farve en masse garn. 
     Jeg var ikke blid i min behandling af de små lus, men knuste dem med en glasmorter og en støder for at få hver eneste gram farve ud af dem.
     Jeg rev valnøddeskallerne på et rivejern, knuste de røde blade og plukkede kronbladene af skønhedsøjerne. Så fordelte jeg det hele ujævnt over to våde fed garn og tilføjede også en lillebitte smule af de knuste  cochenillelus. Garnet blev derefter rullet stramt ind i et stykke af et gammelt lagen.
     Resten af lusene blev opløst i vand, og vandet blev hældt i et glas. Et tredje fed garn blev puttet ned i glasset.
    Stokroser, rejnfan, mere skønhedsøje og valnød blev pakket med et fed tykkere garn i endnu et glas og tynget ned med grus og småsten.
     Alle glassene og rullen kom i den vidunderlige gryde i to timer. Så kom den tålmodighedsprøvende ventetid  mens det afkølede nok til, at jeg kunne røre ved det.

Pictures  --  Billeder

Høsten -- The harvest

Cocheniller -- Cochineal

Cochenillemagi, farven er nu på garnet -- Cochineal magic, the dye is on the yarn now.

Rullen efter dampning i gryden -- The roll after steaming in the pot

Unpacked -- rullet ud

Og her hænger de så til tørre -- and all hung out to dry.

Hør :: Flax & World Photography Week

Today I pulled my flax.

But first the Photo of the day. A glorious sunflower. Some time ago I gave away what I thought was the only sunflower to have germinated in my garden. Later I found that yet another one had survived the onslaughts of foes slimy and feathered. Yesterday it unfolded its sunshine yellow petals.I forgot to do anything about it, but luckily sunflowers bloom for more than one day.

-- 🌻 --

I dag ruskede jeg min hør.
     Men først dagens billede til World Photography Week. En flot solsikke.
For nogen tid siden forærede jeg min eneste solsikke bort, troede jeg. Det viste sig at der var spiret en til der havde overlevet angrebene fra både fjerede og slimede fjender. I går sprang den så ud. Det glemte jeg at gøre andet ved end at kigge, men heldigvis blomstrer solsikker i mere end én dag.

The year's square metre of flax, of the sort Avian from the Nordic 1 m² flax project.
It did not grow as well as the other years. The slugs do not like it, but the bindweed think that flax is planted for them to climb on. This year my beans had the same thoughts.

--- 💠 ---

Årets kvadratmeter hør af sorten Avian fra det nordiske 1 m² hør-projekt.
Den voksede ikke så godt som de andre år. Sneglene kan heldigvis ikke lide hør, men snerlerne, som der er mange af i år, tror, at jeg har plantet hør bare for at de skal have noget at klatre på. I år havde mine bønner fået samme idé.

It was a fiddly job, but I got the beans extricated -- I tried pulling, once, the flax wins hands down.

--- 💠 ---

Det var et værre pillearbejde, men jeg fik pillet bønneplanterne ud til sidst. Jeg prøvede bare at trække dem fra hinanden - men kun én gang - hør er meget mere solidt end bønner!

I also had some flax from a summer flower mix. Here you see why spinning flax is a good investment if you want to spin it.

Decorative flax below; it is much more branchy that the spinning flax on top.

--- 💠 ---

     Jeg havde også noget hør fra en pose blandede sommerblomster. Her kan man se, hvorfor det er en god idé at investere i spindehør hvis man vil lave fibre.
     Sommerblomsten nederst - den er meget mere forgrenet end spindehørren øverst.

And the bundles. They look very green, most of it is not flax leaves, but bindweed and other weeds.

--- 💠 ---

Årets høst. Det ser meget grønt ud, men det meste af det grønne er snerler og anden ukrudt.

Poetry Monday :: Cabinet & World Photograpy Week

For once I was not sure of the meaning of today's word: Cabinet, The dictionary tells me that it is either

a cupboard with shelves or drawers for storing or displaying articles or the committee of senior ministers responsible for controlling government policy.  I go with the first meaning, as politics is so not me.

Here in my cupboard are things on display
Driftwood and gemstones and eggs on a tray
Sea glass and marbles and crabs' claws and stones
Dice of all kinds, stamps, and feathers and bones.

Buttons and postcards and cups with a chip
Bracelets, mementoes and a tiny ship.
Candy bags even, and coins and a ring
A gold tessera from a graveyard in spring.

All is not costly and nothing for sale,
Many are worn and they all tell a tale,
Memories of places and people I've met
And from a tourney a winners' rosette.

Much of my life is encased in this show
but the best part is not mentioned above.
It's something that fits me as well as a glove:
My family that always surround me with love.

 - - - - -

Next Monday we rhyme about: Market


                               -- 🖼 --

Today is the first day in World Photography Week leading up to World Photography Day Monday 19th. I'll try and post a photo each day. As usual I'm not into SoMe and hashtags and "spreading the word" so I just make my own quiet Photography Week and Day here on my blog.

Today we celebrated one of our birthday season birthdays. One of the gifts was this d20-candle. I love it.
Only cropped, not edited:

Sunday Selecions & Colour24

Way back when, I sewed a Japanese knot bag for my camera
Here is picture and text from 2016:

And then a small one. Made from quilted Christmas fabric (Meh, it was the only quilted fabric in the stash bin). It's 25 cm from top of strap to bottom. It is for MotherOwl's camera, shock proof, protecting, and easy to find.

But with all the photos taken ever since, you won't be surprised to hear that it was worn out.Actually it outlasted the camera it was made to protect, but the new one fit in there as well. Now it is well and truly worn out. The 'stuffing' is worn flat, and more than shows, and I was afraid that the strap would soon break.

I knit a new one.
Here it is with the camera inside:

The colour of August,

is not a bad colour when others come along to brighten up things.

The Words for Wednesday & IWSG

Oops one day late again, and only bringing the prompts. Sigh. I promise a story - soon.

The Word for Wednesday challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words are provided by a number of people.
The prompts forAugust  are provided byMimi @ Messymimi's Meanderings.

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.

This week's prompts are:
protest
trap
analysis
confidence
gap
abnormal
     and/or
plaster
way
purse
neighbors
opener
record

- - - - - - -

Yesterday was also the first Wednesday of the month. Time for the monthly Question from the Insecure Writers' Support Group

August 7 question - Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio?

My answer - Nope, I do not use AI. After a few tries where I was politely lied to by the people-pleasing AI, I stopped using it and began disbelieving most of what AIs tell me.

Poetry Monday :: Honey

Every Monday is Poetry Monday. Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over the hosting duties, mostly the supplying of the prompts - only temporarily we hope - while Diane at On the Border is taking a break for health reasons.

  I have something to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others via the links, would you please leave a comment.
  Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.

     I am slowly returning, catching up and gathering the loose threads of everything up again. This last week we have all had an irritating virus, dry cough, headaches, runny nose, raw throat, genera malaise, but no temperature - strange one - we suspect some corona variant, but we did not test, only kept our distance until today
     As is my wont when busy or under the weather I resorted to writing one of the short, very regulated verse forms - either a Haiku or an Elfje.  For today again I wrote an Elfje:

Honey
Divine nectar
Food for gods
Sure its taste is
Heavenly!


Next Monday, August 12: Cabinet

Sunday Selections :: Obsessed by the Weather.

  I think I found out just WHY Danes (and other Nordic people) are so obsessed by the weather, constantly talking about it and so on.
  Because our summers are short but intense, we have to save up sunshine vitamins and good moods against the coming winter - like a squirrel hoarding nuts.

Yesterday was

                    finally a day of sunshine - I worked in the garden.

This morning

                    on our way to church the weather was back to its new normal - lots of

                                   around. We ran to the bus.

On our way home, the rain had abated, and my defiant tree was still growing at the train station in Hillerød.