A year late - or just a day. Today it amounts to the same. We had (still have) guests and grown kids visiting, but now in a quiet hour I suddenly felt like giving the Words a try.
The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually
taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
When Delores closed her
blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over
the role of coordinator.
Now, after Sue's demise it is still to be
discerned who will take over this role, River is doing it for the rest
of 2025, but maybe Lissa will eventually be our new coordinator.
No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.
This month the words are supplied byWiseWebWoman and can be found at River's blog.
If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on
River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging
words.
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.
We were given these words:
Larch
Trifle
Multiple
Poteen (Irish Moonshine I Think)
And/Or:
Surprise
Quiche
Flag
Crossword
Poteen ... I just could not fit this one in. This chapter ends - maybe - the story of the hoopoe bird, it stems from the second year at the Farm, summer holidays, where the Farm had grown enough in magic to accommodate those of the apprentices not living near by. Susan of course stayed with Heidi and her family, who by then was more family than friends.
Susan kept on watching the nest of the Oop-bird, which she by now knew was called a hoopoe, but she did not always see it. Occasionally she saw a woodpecker in the larch tree nearby, occasionally a blackbirds or some sparrows. She had never before noticed for how many birds the woods and grasslands around Unicorn Farm were home, but it was way more than she could have guessed. She did not always know the official names of the birds she met, but she did not let such trifle stand in her way and simply invented names for the ones she did not know.
The hoopoe had had ten eggs in the nest, and one sunny day, Susan saw lots of dirty blue eggshell shards near the foot of the tree. The stench left not a trace of doubt. The hoopoe's eggs had hatched. She pulled her wand and soared upwards, and was greeted by the sight of multiple small but very long beaks peeping out from underneath mama hoopoe. This looked very funny, but Susan did not laugh until he was well away from the nest.
The stench was overpowering now at close quarters, and she hoped that the small hoopoes would be left alone by any bird-eaters in the vicinity.
Bach at the Farm she was met with a surprise birthday party, they had asked the Nisser to bake her favourite quiche with chicken and mushrooms, a flag stood at her place at the table, and she was given small gifts, a birding book and a crossword magazine and some candy. Susan went to bed perfectly happy.
torsdag den 1. januar 2026
tirsdag den 30. december 2025
Thinking, Challenges, Keeping it up?
As usual, as I look back on my blogging year, I also look at the Challenges I have participated in or set myself
I can repeat much of what I said two years ago:
Like 2023 and 2024 12025 has been an ungentle year of the millipede variety. Deaths in real life and in in blogland, sad stories everywhere ... the less said the better. But as for the blog challenges this day at the close of the year is a fine day to reflect a bit. Which ones are keepers, which ones are not?
Keepers
Words for Wednesday - hosted by Elephant's Child until her demise in October, it's a perfectly enjoyable writing Challenge, which I so much hope will continue.
Poetry Monday - Normally hosted by Diane. Mimi and I have taken over while Diane enjoys some family time and travels the world. Link to Mimi - Poetic fun where for some time now the clues have been taken from from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.
IWSG (Insecure Writer's Support Group) - Link - A question to answer every first Wednesday - can do!
Sunday Selections - Link - good photo fun. I will continue participating in the coming year, but maybe not every Sunday - and I'd like to combine it with
Colour of the Month - Link - It did not work out as intended, but it has grown into something different. It's a keeper.
365 days of drawing prompts - Link - Yes the same one we use for Poetry Monday. It has a Facebook group, that's neither very supportive, nor very talkative, but on the other hand quite active. The prompts are different enough to be mostly inspiring, and not too woke. And it is not streak-oriented, which is a huge positive for me. You won' see much of this on this blog, but I draw almost every day and on my dedicated drawing blog, something happens sporadically.
Birthdays - of people known and not so known, mostly poets and writers. I like to cite and celebrate.
Sleepers
Fredagsfrustrationer / Friday Frustrations - A way to vent my grumpy so that it does not pervade the whole blog. This too has been suffering - and the grumpiness is spreading as a result - but it's going to stay.
Tirsdagstips / Tuesday Tips - Suffering, but not totally abandoned.
Duolingo* - Link - studying Japanese, Italian, and a couple of other languages this way is good fun. I'll return, as this has been suffering, and try to keep it up.
Wørdle* - the Danish edition of Wordle. I like this kind of games. They have also been suffering. Only recently I started again, now also regularly solving Minute Cryptic, a tough nut, and Lingule, where I almost never hit upon the exact language, but often enought the correct sub-family of languages to keep me interested.
Maybe-keepers
A to Z Challenge* - very stressing but also very fun. For the first year ever, I finished the challenge in 2924. I suppose. I might do a light version without signing up in 2025. I bit off a great deal more than intended with Susan's co-apprentices, but it was fun.
Not keepers
Wordle, Spelling Bee, Strands, Connections, and Tiles* - I have enjoyed solving these four for the past three and a half years, I even based this year's A-Z Challenge on Wordle, but now it's over. Tiles, The Mini Crossword and Letter Boxed are only for subscribers as of September 1st. I know that Wordle, Strands and Connections are still free to play, but for how long? For me making Tiles pay to play was the last straw.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* Many of these Challenges are centered around maintaining a streak (participating on a consecutive series of days) the longer, the better.
For such Challenges I regularly skip a day on purpose so as not to accumulate long streaks. I do this because keeping a streak in any streak-oriented activity is a big stress-factor for me. I know I'm strange this way and that this streak-business keeps many people focussed, but I really, really hate it and wish that I could opt out of it being counted.
I can repeat much of what I said two years ago:
The turning of the year as always have me thinking ~ Challenges? Why? How many? Which ones? And so on.
For the last many years, challenges have come and gone on this blog and in my life in general. Some I liked, some not so much. Some were fun, some were not.
For the last many years, challenges have come and gone on this blog and in my life in general. Some I liked, some not so much. Some were fun, some were not.
This
past year has been an ungentle year ... I once heard the saying
"waiting for the other shoe to drop", well for me 2023 was a centipede.
Much - among those my family, this blog, all kinds of fun challenges,
my garden, oh so many things - have been suffering from my
lack of energy and joy in anything ...
Like 2023 and 2024 12025 has been an ungentle year of the millipede variety. Deaths in real life and in in blogland, sad stories everywhere ... the less said the better. But as for the blog challenges this day at the close of the year is a fine day to reflect a bit. Which ones are keepers, which ones are not?
Keepers
Words for Wednesday - hosted by Elephant's Child until her demise in October, it's a perfectly enjoyable writing Challenge, which I so much hope will continue.
Poetry Monday - Normally hosted by Diane. Mimi and I have taken over while Diane enjoys some family time and travels the world. Link to Mimi - Poetic fun where for some time now the clues have been taken from from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.
IWSG (Insecure Writer's Support Group) - Link - A question to answer every first Wednesday - can do!
Sunday Selections - Link - good photo fun. I will continue participating in the coming year, but maybe not every Sunday - and I'd like to combine it with
Colour of the Month - Link - It did not work out as intended, but it has grown into something different. It's a keeper.
365 days of drawing prompts - Link - Yes the same one we use for Poetry Monday. It has a Facebook group, that's neither very supportive, nor very talkative, but on the other hand quite active. The prompts are different enough to be mostly inspiring, and not too woke. And it is not streak-oriented, which is a huge positive for me. You won' see much of this on this blog, but I draw almost every day and on my dedicated drawing blog, something happens sporadically.
Birthdays - of people known and not so known, mostly poets and writers. I like to cite and celebrate.
Sleepers
Fredagsfrustrationer / Friday Frustrations - A way to vent my grumpy so that it does not pervade the whole blog. This too has been suffering - and the grumpiness is spreading as a result - but it's going to stay.
Tirsdagstips / Tuesday Tips - Suffering, but not totally abandoned.
Duolingo* - Link - studying Japanese, Italian, and a couple of other languages this way is good fun. I'll return, as this has been suffering, and try to keep it up.
Wørdle* - the Danish edition of Wordle. I like this kind of games. They have also been suffering. Only recently I started again, now also regularly solving Minute Cryptic, a tough nut, and Lingule, where I almost never hit upon the exact language, but often enought the correct sub-family of languages to keep me interested.
Maybe-keepers
A to Z Challenge* - very stressing but also very fun. For the first year ever, I finished the challenge in 2924. I suppose. I might do a light version without signing up in 2025. I bit off a great deal more than intended with Susan's co-apprentices, but it was fun.
Not keepers
Wordle, Spelling Bee, Strands, Connections, and Tiles* - I have enjoyed solving these four for the past three and a half years, I even based this year's A-Z Challenge on Wordle, but now it's over. Tiles, The Mini Crossword and Letter Boxed are only for subscribers as of September 1st. I know that Wordle, Strands and Connections are still free to play, but for how long? For me making Tiles pay to play was the last straw.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* Many of these Challenges are centered around maintaining a streak (participating on a consecutive series of days) the longer, the better.
For such Challenges I regularly skip a day on purpose so as not to accumulate long streaks. I do this because keeping a streak in any streak-oriented activity is a big stress-factor for me. I know I'm strange this way and that this streak-business keeps many people focussed, but I really, really hate it and wish that I could opt out of it being counted.
All the Colours of 2025
I feel like it was only a month or so ago that I told of my new idea to find a photo from a blog, mine or yours and show these photos here with a coloured
square, colour code and name and the blog from where the colour was
taken.It was one of those ideas that seems smart when describing them, but in the long run it became a chore instead of fun.
I am not giving up on the monthly colour, but once again it will be a randomly generated colour.
What did I do in 2025?
The colours were:
And my use of them: 
And the colour of January 2026 - Random palettes courtesy of coolors.co
I am not giving up on the monthly colour, but once again it will be a randomly generated colour.
What did I do in 2025?
The colours were:
And the colour of January 2026 - Random palettes courtesy of coolors.co
mandag den 29. december 2025
Poetry Monday :: Sitting on old Chairs
Poetry Monday - what's that? It is a blogging game, that 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 and relaxation, travelling the world with
her husband as far as we can tell. We just hope she's going to take
back over once she returns home.
The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.
Sometimes, also today the prompts are better for arts/drawing, than for poeming, but we have to try.
Today's prompt: Sitting on old chairs
This poem contains a bit of synaesthesia, because for me - like for Susan - the names of the seasons have colours too. If you're curious, the chapters are here: Synaesthesia & After the visit to the minister..
Sitting on old chairs, that is what we do,
and at old tables we're sitting too.
Drinking tea and chatting all through Winter's day
'cause when Summer's coming we'll be on our way.
Sitting on old chairs in our garden too
And at old tables, that is what we do
Working in the garden all through Summer's day
Old chairs mark our seasons, green, white, blue or grey.
The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.
Sometimes, also today the prompts are better for arts/drawing, than for poeming, but we have to try.
Today's prompt: Sitting on old chairs
This poem contains a bit of synaesthesia, because for me - like for Susan - the names of the seasons have colours too. If you're curious, the chapters are here: Synaesthesia & After the visit to the minister..
Sitting on old chairs, that is what we do,
and at old tables we're sitting too.
Drinking tea and chatting all through Winter's day
'cause when Summer's coming we'll be on our way.
Sitting on old chairs in our garden too
And at old tables, that is what we do
Working in the garden all through Summer's day
Old chairs mark our seasons, green, white, blue or grey.
-- 🪑 --
Hvad er Mandagsdigtet? Det er en blogleg, som Mimi fra Messymimi's Meanderings og jeg har overtaget - midlertidigt! - fra Diane, der slapper af og rejser verden rundt med sin mand. Vi håber hun er parat til at tage over igen, når hun kommer hjem.
Stikordene kommer nu fra 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts. Det er en Facebook-gruppe, der udgiver et stikord til hver dag i året, men bare rolig, stikordene vil stadig være at finde både her og på Mimis blog.
Dagens stikord er: Siting on old Chairs - At sidde på gamle stole. Nogen gange er det næsten alt for tydeligt at det er stikortd til at tegne efter, også i dag. Men digtes, ja, det skal der!
De gamle stole her er let symbolske. Og for mig - som for Susan - er mange ting karakteriseret ved at deres navn også har en farve. Læs mere her: Synæstesi & Besøget hos præsten.
Sidder på gamle stole her ved vintertid,
og ved gamle borde, hygge-snakke-tid.
For når det blir sommer løber vi omkring
Ude, inde hjemme, laver mange timg.
Men vi sidder også ved et gammelt bord
når vi drikker kaffe på vor plet på jord.
Gamel stoe tæller hver en dag vi har
grønne, hvide, brune, hver en stol er rar.
- - - - - - - Coming Themes - - - - - - - -
taken from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group.
Jan 5 Favorite Animal
Jan 12 Glacier
Jan 19 Piece of clothing
Jan 26 That one time
Feb 2 Bamboo
Feb 9 Carousel
torsdag den 25. december 2025
Glædelig jul ~ Blessed Christmas
Med dette juletræ fra Helsinge - der nu igen er et ægte træ - ønsker jeg alle en glædelig jul
With this Christmas tree from Helsinge - once again a real tree - I wish all of you a blessed Christmas.
With this Christmas tree from Helsinge - once again a real tree - I wish all of you a blessed Christmas.
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