mandag den 24. juni 2024

Poetry Monday :: Muse

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.

This Monday's prompt is
Muse.

My muse has gone missing
Oh where is she now
I miss her and wish her
right back at my side

My muse has gone missing,
she wanders and roams
I  miss her and wish that
she stayed here at home

But muses are fickle
and will not be bound
I miss her and wish her
good luck on her jaunt.

 - - - - -

Next Monday: Canada Day or if this does not fit, you have Free Choice

søndag den 23. juni 2024

Sunday Selestions :: Søndagsbilleder

Maltreatment of Plants ~ Plantemishandling
I do not know what these nice sansevieria have done to be treated this way - or why. I only know that this is a clear-cut case of plant maltreatment.
And according to the label (STOLT = PROUD) the perpetrators are even proud of their misdeed.

     Jeg ved ikke, hvad de her Svigermors skarpe tunger havde gjort for at skulle dyppes i maling, men det er helt klart plantemishandling.
    Og så lader det til at gerningsmændene oven i købet er stolte af deres værk.

Og nu til noget helt andet ~ And now for something completely different
Blomstrende lindetræ. Hvis man står  under sådan ét kan man høre hundredvis af insekter der suger til sig af den rigelige nektar.

Linden tree in full bloom. If you stand near such a tree, you can hear hundreds of insects drinking up the nectar.



Og i begge de her billeder finder vi månedens farve:
And in both photos, we find the colour of the month.

fredag den 21. juni 2024

Words for Wednesday :: June 19 :: Gylfi & Thora 9

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 June 19:
Discourteous
Flicker
Martini
Whips
Belly
     And/or
Waving
Frogs
Moderation
Smile
Louring

But I still had the last batch of words left over from last Wednesday, and they fit my story. As usual I used them in the order they were given, and continued my tale from where I left off.

The words were:
Flour
Buttercups
Light
Train
Mullion

Back in Hella Thora decided to check out the families living around there for wizards and witches. Gylfi backed her up and suggested she used the ruse with borrowing a cup of flour from the houses.

In a house surrounded by buttercups Thora talked for a long time with Hildur, the housewife and mother of eight children in all ages from toddler to young adults. Thora was almost blown away by the magic in the air, even the baby in its pen seemed to exude magic like a strong light. During her visit she took great care not to talk of anything to do with magic. But she noticed the harness used to train the small ones broomstick flying  and the wands hidden in a vase of paper flowers. With her new knowledge of wands, she could feel that the wands were quite old, and not very efficient any more. She was more determined than ever for them to open that school of magic. The husband, Starri, returned home just as Thora was taking her leave, and she caught a whiff of magic from him as well.

Gylfi and Thora discussed late into the night how and where to find a place for a school. Thora did not think Iceland would be a great place for it.
"We would be overrun," she said, "people here are still keeping to the old ways, albeit erratically and faultily. My visits to neighbours - and yours as well show us that that magic in Iceland had not died out. We need to build a school in a place where only the students can go, where we teachers can live, and where we can have a shelter for magic animals, some place near the sea would be nice - and not too cold either. I'm sure something will show up."
Gylfi went to the window and grasped the mullion firmly, shaking it gently he spoke: "I had imagined that this place would be our school of magic, but I see the wisdom in your words. When the Finnish twins return, we should travel through Sweden, Norway and Denmark to see if we can find a fitting place. You're right about the climate as well, It's too cold here, same as Greenland and the Faroes."
On this downcast note they called it a day and Thora left for her small cabin. Brúnleit awaited her hooted sharply and offered her a juicy rat. "No thanks, my dear," Thora said gently, ruffling the feathers between her small horns.  "I have already eaten tonight." Brúnleit hooted once, softly, swallowed the rat in one gulp and flew of to the tall tree where she normally slept.

mandag den 17. juni 2024

Sunday Selections ~
How I spent my Birthday ~ Thankful edition

Søndagsbilleder ~ Haveglæder på min fødselsdag

My birthday this year was sunny and nice. I longed for work in the garden, some fresh strawberries maybe or other garden delicacies after weeding a bit.

  -- 🪲 --  

But ... first I realized that my old nemesis - the wax scales - had once again returned with a vengeance on my bay laurel bush.
I am thankful that I quickly found out that when you have a major infestation like this one, the wax scales also live on the topside of the leaves ...
... and on the stems. My pink toothbrush from earlier seasons had disappeared, but I found a new, old toothbrush, this time a blue one.

  -- 🪲 --  

Inside the dome more pests had been living the sweet life. Some of the poppies were totally wrapped in webs from some smallish mites - they were thrown to the hens to eat or not - they did.
They look strange, don't they? Almost like wrapped in cling wrap.

  -- 🪲 --  

I was given a common spindle in exchange for some walnut husks last autumn. It survived first the transplanting, then the winter, then the wet spring. But ... someone has been eating it, and wrapping it in webs too. I read up on it, found that it was Spindle ermine, a common moth, and that it would not kill the plant, only cause a setback.

Here are the sad remains.
A closer look revealed that the stem - or is it a trunk? - was almost broken. An Owlet admitted to the deed, an accident, and "isn't this just a weed, MotherOwl?".
"No it is SO not a weed, dear Owlet," MotherOwl answered and grabbed the Gaffer tape, remembering the old adage 'If you can't fix it with gaffer tape, you did not use enough!"
Fixed spindle tree.

And on a closer inspection, it did indeed survive the attack of the Spindle ermines.


  -- 🪲 --  

Farm engineering works in the Owlery too I hope.


Then I continued the the strawberries, I found ONE ripe strawberry, the blackbirds had eaten the rest, just as they - and the doves - are eating all my redcurrants - Stupid birds!

But the elder was full of flowers, so I made us half a bucketful of elder cordial
Like this!

And I picked rhubarbs, around a kilo and froze in two bags for rhubarb pies in the months to come, where we celebrate a lot of birthdays.

Huge thankful for the gifts of the garden - and for one of my birthday presents; a "bouquet" of steel posts to hold up the nets that keeps the blackbirds away.

Poetry Monday :: Bread

Mandagsdigt :: Brød

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.

This Monday's prompt is
Bread. This word fits me. I like bread, I like to bake a bread, So an ode to bread it is.

Flour, salt and water
A little yeast
And then I potter
along as I knead

Patience and raising
A little time
Soon I'll be praising
The Lord for the bread.

Hmm ... this turned in an unexpected direction. Later today I will post my Sunday Selections. I was too busy yesterday.

- - - - -

Next Monday: Muse