Using some of the Words for Wednesday ... June Second Book, Chapter One. June, anden bog, første kapitel

I'm back at using the Words for Wednesday from November 28th.

Death 
Forward 
Important 
Intend 
Left
    and/or:
Pleasure 
Step 
Touch 
Things 
Understand

I used them in the order they were given. Maybe the Words from October 21st and November 4th will follow soon ...Continuing my story of June, the solitary hero. 

After the smuggler had been caught and everything had died down, June was left in a sort of vacuum. She had her nice house, she had her peace and quiet, but somehow it was not working out well. On the surface everything was fine, she put the house in order, she made the garden ready for the coming winter, but inside her was death and turmoil.

She thought of her deceased children and husband while cutting down the raspberries. She wondered at her parent's silence while washing down the greasy kitchen doors. She was reminded of her late mother and father in-law while cleaning the garden path.

Tuesday she had to go shopping. She took her bike, all the way she pondered why her parents were like they were. They never once attended a birthday, or came over for Christmas or Easter. They had been absent even at their grandchildren's baptisms, and at her and Dennis's 12½ years wedding anniversary. They had never accepted Dennis, never even once tried to think the matter over. The fact that she and Dennis had stayed together, despite the predictions an general animosity had won over his parents quite fast. Why had her own parents been that hostile? They could be dead now too for all she knew. She was an only child as Dennis had been, one more reason they had deicide to have many children. They had been slow coming, and now ... She had looked forward to a big family, to grandchildren of her own. Nothing was to come of this.

The visit to town was dismal as well. She had never understood why it was important to dress up windows and streets for Christmas long before autumn was over. The golden leaves of the trees clashed with the gaudy red, green and silver garlands and opposite their intend they made her feel even more dejected. In the shops proper Christmas goods jumped at her right and left, she fastened her eyes on the floor and hurried to get the things on her list.
    This took the meagre pleasure out of shopping, making it even more of a chore. For every step she felt dreariness descend over her. Normally she liked to go shopping, to look at or ever touch the things before buying them. But not today. She did not understand why she felt so bad.  She paid and answered the cashier's "Have a nice day!" with an automatic "Thanks, and the same to you."

The cold wind outside met her like a blow. As she biked home, the fog rolled in from the sea, giving the surroundings an unrealistic look. She closed the door after she had placed the bike in the shed. She turned off al the lights but a small one in the kitchen and sat herself down with a cup of tea and the letters from last Wednesday.

* * * * * * * * *

På dansk


Efter at smuglerne var blevet fanget, og alt postyret havde lagt sig, befandt June sig i en slags tomrum. Hun havde sit dejlige hus, hun havde sin fred og ro, men på en eller anden måde fungerede det ikke rigtig. På overfladen var alt i orden; hun fik bragt huset i orden og gjort haven klar til den kommende vinter, men indeni var der tomhed og uro.

Hun tænkte på sine afdøde børn og mand, mens hun skar hindbærbuskene ned. Hun undrede sig over sine forældres tavshed, mens hun vaskede de fedtede køkkendøre. Hun blev mindet om sin afdøde svigerforældre og svigerfar, mens hun ryddede op på havestierne.

Tirsdag skulle hun ud at handle. Hun tog sin cykel, og hele vejen derhen grublede hun over, hvorfor hendes forældre var, som de var. De havde aldrig været med til en fødselsdag eller kommet forbi til jul eller påske. De havde været fraværende selv ved deres børnebørns dåb og ved hendes og Dennis’ kobberbryllup, der blev fejret med en herlig fest. De havde aldrig accepteret Dennis, aldrig en eneste gang forsøgt at tænke sagen igennem. Det faktum, at hun og Dennis var blevet sammen på trods af forudsigelserne, havde ret hurtigt overvundet hans forældres generelle modvilje. Hvorfor havde hendes egne forældre været så fjendtlige? De kunne lige så godt have været døde. Hun var enebarn, ligesom Dennis havde været, endnu en grund til, at de havde besluttet sig for at få mange børn. Børnene havde ladet vente på sig, og nu … Hun havde set frem til en stor familie, til sine egne børnebørn. Det ville der ikke blive noget ud af.

Besøget i byen var også trist. Hun havde aldrig forstået, hvorfor det var vigtigt at pynte vinduer og gader op til jul længe før efteråret var forbi. Træernes gyldne blade stod i skarp kontrast til de skærende røde, grønne og sølvfarvede guirlander, og stik mod hensigten fik det hende til at føle sig endnu mere nedtrykt. I butikkerne sprang de mange julevarer hende i øjnene til højre og venstre; hun fæstnede blikket på gulvet og skyndte sig at få fat i de ting, der stod på hendes liste.
    Det tog den sidste, sparsomme glæde ved at handle og gjorde det til endnu mere af en pligt. For hvert skridt følte hun tristheden sænke sig over hende. Normalt kunne hun godt lide at gå på indkøb, at se på eller røre ved tingene, før hun købte dem. Men ikke i dag. Hun forstod ikke, hvorfor hun var så trist lige i dag. Hun betalte og svarede på kassedamens: "Hav en god dag!" med et mekanisk "Tak, i lige måde."

Den kolde vind udenfor ramte hende som et fysisk slag. Mens hun cyklede hjem, rullede tågen ind fra havet og gav omgivelserne et uvirkeligt skær. Hun låste for en gangs skyld døren efter sig efter at hun havde stillet cyklen ind i skuret. Hun slukkede alle lysene undtagen et lille et i køkkenet og satte sig ned med en kop te og brevene fra sidste onsdag.

Only the Words for Wednesday & IWSG

Due to me being busy elsewhere I'm not participating in Words for Wednesday this week.

Here are the prompts if anybody else want to give it a try:
Conglomerate 
Thursday 
Catfish 
Blue 
Fantastic 
Atlantis

Supplied by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Published on River's blog. Please write a comment there if you use the Words for something.

- - A - - B - - C - -

November 4 question - As a writer, do you have favourite themes that you like to explore in your stories? If so, what are they??

My answer - Yes, I do have favourite themes I explore in my writing. Those are: magic, human kindness and human adaptability. There might be more. I'm sure my readers will know better than I do.

Poetry Monday :: Big Birds Mandagsdigt :: Store fugle

Poetry Monday is a blogging challenge started by Diane @ On the Border in February 2017; later it was picked up by Delores @ Mumblings and Jenny @ Procrastinating Donkey.
    Then Dolores took over the hosting duties; but when Dolores left the internet, Diane returned and took over hosting duty again with her and Jenny taking turns suggesting a topic.
    Now Mimi @ Messymimi's Meanderings and I have taken over, as Diane seems disinclined to take up Poetry Monday again.

The prompts are now taken from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a (drawing) prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog. And they mostly lend themselves perfectly for poeming as well. 

  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.

Big birds is the prompt for today ... I have lots of big birds where I live, cranes and herons, kites and buzzards, and a stork now and then. But the biggest bird I know, lives in the Commonwealth of Letters. In Danish it's called a Kraxelicrox. In its original French he's Cracoucass, and in English he's a Howlibird, called after his cry: Howlihowlihowli! I must say that I find the Danish and French names more poetic, but maybe that's just me?

The Smurfs and the Howlibird
Remember the Smurfs, small blue men?
Living in mushrooms, all of them
One day two disobedient friends
went out with a potion and then
It hit a small fowl
and then came the cry: Howlihowlihowli!

The Howlibird ruined the 'shrooms
Drove Smurfs from clotheslines and homes
And all that was heard, holy moly!
Was Howlihowlihowli!

Then old Papa Smurf had a plan
Made Howlibird small once again.
He lost all his feathers,
And then, even better
His Howlihowlihowli
Was just met with laughter and folly.


* * * * * * * * *

På dansk


Dagens stikord er Store fugle … Der er masser af store fugle, her hvor jeg bor: traner og hejrer, glenter og musvåger og en stork i ny og næ. Men den største fugl, jeg kender, lever i Bøgernes Rige. På dansk hedder den en Kraxelicrox. Dens oprindelige, farnske navn er Cracoucass, og på engelsk er den en Howlibird, opkaldt efter sit kald: Howlihowlihowli! Jeg må sige, at jeg synes, de danske og franske navne er mere poetiske, men måske er det bare mig?
Så er jeg heller ikke helt tilfreds med "Bøgernes rige" for "Commonwealth of Letters". Findes der en officiel fordanskning eller et parallelt udtryk? Jeg har ikke kunnet finde det.

Smølferne og Kraxelikroxen
To smølfer blev sendt afsted
en trylledrik at grave ned.
De undgik jo helst slid og slæb
Så de kastede den i en kløft.
Og tænkte der lander den blødt.
Men den endte så i et næb.

Om natten en kæmpefugl kom
og væltede svampene om.
Jog smølferne væk
halvdøde af skræk.
De gemte sig for en enorm
Kraxelikrox i et tårn.

Men Gammelsmølf han er jo smart,
han bryggede straks i en fart
en trylledrik der gjorde fuglen
så lille som musen hos uglen.

Kraxelikrox tog  afsted
Han tramped', han hakked' og stred.
Men nu var han lille,
vor's smølfer holdt gilde.
Og grined' af fuglen imens.
Og snart var den ulykke glemt.


- - - - - Coming Prompts // Kommende stikord - - - - -

November 9    Planes - Fly, høvle, plataner
November 16  Fairy tales - Eventyr
November 23 Earthquake - Jordskælv
November 30  Oasis - Oase/Oasis
December 7 Blue prints
December 14 Flounder
December 21 Yule
December 28 Erosion