Words for Wednesday May 29 ~ Gylfi & Thora 4

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. This merry month of May they are by David M. Gascoigne.

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.

 - - - - -

Words for Wednesday May 29:
Coveted
Single
Lunch
Chance
Wallet  
     and/or
Earned
Sense
School
Pester
Owner

I only used the first batch of words -- in the order they were given of course -- for this continuing story of Thora, Gylfi, Tähti and Taavi discovering the rules of magic long ago.

Soon all were armed with the coveted wands and they had all four learned the words to the wand song. Tähti was exhausted and they went to bed.
Thora woke early next morning, in the dark, there was just one single thing she wanted to try out. Could she cast spells in Icelandic with the new wand, or would it respond only to Tähti's Finnish?
She sneaked out of the house, into the garden and under the old hawthorn which had given her the wand. She mulled over the Finnish words of the language spell and composed the Icelandic formula: "Mál sameinast!" she said, swishing the wand just so. And then she laughed. She would be able to understand what she said to herself, no matter what language, she spoke, she needed a testing object. The old magazine in Polish! Now it would help. She went back to her own house, careful, so as not to wake up Tähti, still soundly sleeping after her expenditure of magic the evening before. She crept up the stairs, and took the magazine into the room farthest from Tähti's chamber. Then she read, and as if by magic, the strange, Polish syllable with their hard to pronounce consonant clusters turned into musical Icelandic inside her head as she read them aloud. Yes it worked! Satisfied, she walked to Gylfi's house where the two men were already up and about. "It works!" she told them triumphantly.
"What does?" Gilvi said, and Taavi's "Mikä toimii?" at once turned into 'What works?'.
"The language spell works in Icelandic as well!"
"Of course it does," Taavi said. "How do you say it in Icelandic?"
"Mál sameinast," Thora answered, and Taavi slowly repeated. When he said it right, he swished his wand while saying the words. And to Gylfi his next sentence sounded as Icelandic.
"It sure works," Gylfi said. "This is nice to know. We can use our old spells, even with a Finnish wand."
The three of them had breakfast in Gylfi's cottage, and then they began working. They perused all the books on magic from the attic room. Taavi was able to read them as well after a crash course in Icelandic pronunciation rules.
Tähti woke up for lunch. And after eating they told her about their readings in the old books on magic.
"The contents are at the same time very different from and almost the same as our Finnish tradition. It seems that in Iceland magic was more or less split into branches, while we speak of people's penchant in Finland. I think the similarities are vastly more than the differences."
"Dearest brother," Täthi interrupted him, "you do not by any chance have a copy of that old spell, we did not understand?"
"But yes," Taavi answered slightly confused, "I have one  right here, in my wallet."

... to be continued -- soon, I hope

Sidste dag i maj :: Last Day of May

Jeg laver jo det der Månedens farve-noget, og det har jeg ikke været så god til i maj, hvor Månedens farve har været: Klar orange.

This has been the Colour of the month for May. I have not been very good at using it.

 - - - 🎨 - - -

Så i dag gik jeg en tur i haven og tog billeder. Der var ikke så meget orange, men dog noget.

So today I went for a walk in my garden with my camera. Not so much orange, but some.

Gule iris ~ Yellow Iris

Mit krydderurtebed ~ My herbs

Hør ~ Flax

Ikke kigge på skvalderkål, men på Baldrian ~ Do not look at the ground elder but at the Valerian.

Og nej, IKKE skvalderkål, men kvan ~ And no, this is NOT Ground elder, it's Angelica.

Jeg har prøvet at dyrke dem i årevis, og dette viser nok hvorfor det ikke er lykkedes. Jeg har luget dem væk, fordi jeg troede, det var skvalderkål.

For years now I have sown Angelica, but they never grew. This photo explains why. I have pulled them up as ground elders every single one of them.

Bønner, ukrudtskartofler og ditto hindbær ~ Beans, weed potatoes and raspberries

Den her er orangere i virkeligheden ~ These flowers are oranger in real life.

Marietidsel ~ Milk thistle

Mine squash har vænnet sig til solen, og de syrengrene, der har beskyttet dem mod strålerne, er nu visnet. Jeg fjerner dem snart.

My zucchini are getting used to the sun. The lilac branches that have been protecting them so far, have withered, and will soon be removed.

Pomeranshøgeurt - tror jeg nok. I hvert fald orange  ~ Probably orange hawkweed - Orange it is in any case.

Haveuglen, blå blomster med mere ~ GardenOwl, blue flowers and more.

Spansk kørvel, lakridsfrø ~ Sweet cicely, liquorice seeds.

Bronzefennikel ~ Fennel

Honningurt ~ Lacy phacelia.


Fra i morgen skal vi lede efter denne her farve, det bliver ikke svært.

From tomorrow this is the colour to be looking for. It won't be hard.

Colour24 ~ June

The colour of June is

Poetry Monday :: Politics

Politics ... who on Earth choose such a stupid topic for a Poetry Monday?
Well, seems I did.
I do not understand why I chose that topic! I do not care much for politics, and rigth now we're in the run up for the election to the EU parliament and posters everywhere is making me sick and tired of politics.
A blah! poem is in place:

All the whys
all their lies
All the hows
all their vows
All the whats
fly like gnats
All the whos
thick as glue
Election day
is far away
as all their minds
are money lined
and filled with power
at any hour.

 - - - - -

Next Monday the topic is Egg - thank you Mimi!

Words for Wednesday ~ May 22nd ~ Gylfi & Thora 3

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. This merry month of May they are by David M. Gascoigne.

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.

 - - - - -

Words for Wednesday May 22:
Solar
Polls
True
People
Indication
     and/or
 Celestial
Temperature
Concern
Obvious
Surreal

I only used the striked out words for this continuing story of Thora, Gylfi, Tähti and Taavi discovering the rules of magic long ago.

The solar flares made for spectacular Northern lights while Taavi and Tähti helped Gylfi and Thora prepare dinner. They ate together in Gylfi's living room, not only was it the biggest, it also had a large window facing north and thus giving a view to the celestial spectacle while they ate in the darkness.
Over the coffee, which Taavi and Tähti insisted on preparing after their experience with Icelandic coffee, they finally felt comfortable enough with one another to touch on the subject of magic once again.
Tähti opened by trying to teach Thora and Gylfi the language spell. She slowly swished her wand and spoke the words; "Kieli on sama". The words in Finnish were not hard for the two Icelanders to learn, but the magic of it seemed to elude them.
"Our wands are very worn," Thora admitted, "We found a stash in an attic room, but it seems they are losing power each time we use them. We're already on our second pair of wands."
"This is a serious concern,"  Täthi said. "Obviously, if we only have the wands we inherited, or what we can find in old attic rooms. No offence intended", she quickly added.
Gylfi replied: "And none taken; if our predicament is any indication, each wand will only take so much use, and then deteriorate. This will fast become a problem."
"But where did those old wands come from," Taavi asked. "We have not used ours that much, and I too have noticed a ... sluggishness ... for lack of other expression, in my wand recently."
"This is surreal," Thora said. "Here we are, practitioners of magic, finally out in the open and ready to go. And then we are cut off by a lack of wands."
"I remember something," Gylfi said slowly, "the old people ... they used to Signa wands for children coming of age. But how?"
"Signa?" Thora said. "I remember some singing involved, no blessings."
"Singing ..." Tähti looked at Thora with a strange look. "My grandmother taught me a song when I was very small. She sang it to me every time we visited. And when I got old enough to sing, she asked me to sing it for her afterwards. She told me it was the most important song I would ever learn, and when I finally sung it perfectly she promised to tell me how to use in the summer. Only she died, fast and unexpected, from a seemingly harmless disease before summer came." Tähti pulled out a large, blue handkerchief, wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
"Can you sing it still?" Taavi asked. I vaguely remember your singing, but Grandpa kept me busy with his games of guess a flower or mixing up strange concoctions ... those were potions! But that'll have to wait. Sing!"
Tähti drew a deep breath and stood up, gently she sang a tune of  growing, of mending, of future and past, of flying and longing. She grasped Thora's hand and pulled her out of the door, out into the night under the still dancing aurora borealis. The skies seemed to dance to her tune, as she walked around the garden, pulling Thora along, touching this tree and that until finally she stopped by a big, old hawthorn. There she pulled Thora up to the tree, and placed their hands on the trunk. Thora felt the skies and the tree and her whole being resonate through her palms resting on the tree. When Thora sang the last line of the song, a shiver ran through the tree and a branch from high up fell from it, gently landing on Thora's arms.
"Take it!" Täthi said in a low voice, and Thora did as she was told. The branch felt alive in her hands, and a happiness stirred inside her, and she swished the wand through the air. Emerald green sparks flew from the end, and would have started a fire had the ground not been drenched still from the recently melted snow.
"Yes, wands most certainly are sung!" Taavi whispered.

... to be continued