fredag den 31. juli 2020

Lissa's Paint Party Friday

Lissa at Memory of Rain is having a fun spot the differences challenge today

This is her original picture - for better resolution and to know more, go to her own blog - do this anyway, she has lots of beautiful art. My solution is dovn below- I don't know if I got all the differences, but I hope so.





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Go and look for yourself at Lissa's place first


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Lissa has a solution too - I've not been peeping before making my circles. Try and se if you can do better than me here

As I missed at least three things, you can do better!

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onsdag den 29. juli 2020

Words for Wednesday -- The Key

  In July Cindi is providing the prompts, but has asked that they appear on Elephant's Child's blog. This week's prompt is:  
There is a door with a single keyhole - it will open regardless of what key you use to unlock it.  All keys will open this door.  What's on the other side, however, depends on the type of key.  What key will you use, and what is on the other side of the door.
  Thank you Cindi for this prompt. The earlier ones have quite honestly been more than a bit trying, but this last one is just right. 
  This door sounds to me a bit like the Room of Requirements at Hogwarts. Of course I had to place it somewhere at Unicorn Farm. 
  We go back to the day after the broom-racing. after the punitive lessons. It's late.

  The five apprentice wand-singers. Susan, My, Anna, Aamu and Rósa were very tired after the dinner had been eaten. They sat together with Thora near the lower end of the table.
  "Are you still sleeping in that small room in the attic?" Rósa asked My. " I envy you. The road home feels terribly long tonight. I'm so tired."
  "Why don't you all go up there and see if you can find a room?" Thora suggested, "but don't try to blame me for anything that might happen. We are at the Unicorn Farm after all."
 The five girls dragged themselves out of their chairs, and yawning broadly slipped out through the door to the yard, over it, in through the blue door and then they followed My up the narrow, worn stairs. My opened the door to her room with a small, silver key. Then she turned to the sunshine yellow door at the opposite side of the stairs. "There might be another guest room behind that door," My said. "Let's have a look."
  Susan tried the handle. "It's locked." she said, sounding very tired and disappointed.
  "Let me try." My said and put the small, silver key in the simple keyhole. It turned with a loud snick and the door opened. Inside was a lovely room, two bunk beds stood opposite them on each side of an open window with friendly blue curtains billowing slightly in the wind caused by their opening of the door. The all went in and looked around. At the right end wall a single poster bed with gossamer thin hangings in silver and white greeted them. All the bunk beds had different covers and trappings. And at the left hand wall stood five small cupboards with matching trappings, a water pitcher and a soap dish. They drew a collective sigh.
   "Oh, look!" My said, "I always dreamt of sleeping in a poster bed, and it looks so like it's made out of snow and cob webs. Just right for me!"
  Susan smiled: "And that green upper bunk to the right looks like it was made for me! It even has small trees and branches cut out on the headpiece. It's beyond lovely."
  And "Oh!" Aamu exclaimed, "look at the bunk below. It's made out of willows, even the covers have willow patterns. It's for me!"
  Rósa went and sat on the lower bunk bed to the left. The golden sheen of the covers shone as she sat slightly bouncing up and down. "It's so soft!" Rósa whispered. "It feels more like an evening cloud than a bed."
  "And that last one is obviously for me," Anna said. "Red was always my colour, and the bed looks so inviting."
  "This room is so made for us, that I get suspicious," My said.
  "Oh, bosh," Anna said. "It was Thora, that suggested we go here. She would not let something bad happen to us."
  "No, nothing bad," Susan said slowly, "but she might put us to a test. Aamu, you're one of those strange red divination ones. Could you somehow check the room's disposition ... or something," she added hesitantly.
  "I see what you mean," Aamu said. "And yes I can." She drew her wand and spoke a sentence in Finnish, very quickly. Two silver-green sparks left her wand, soared upwards and chased one another out through the open window. "This room is filled with magic, big, big magic," Aamu said, "But as far as I can tell, it 's nothing malevolent, only strange. And now, I want to sleep." She pulled off her red tunic and striped skirt and discovered a night gown with red wands and stars in the tiny cupboard.
  For each of the girls there was a nightdress to their liking in the cupboard - and a toothbrush. Susan found a green pyjamas in her cupboard. "Just what I always wanted," she thought, "cotton, and not a long night dress that crawls up an bundle under my arms."
They all dressed in the wondrous nightwear, brushed their teeth and crept under the covers. After good night wishes were exchanged, it lasted  all of five minutes until everybody slept well and long.

***

In the morning they arose refreshed and hungry. They dressed, left the beds to air and went down to get some breakfast in the small dining room below.
  "Ugh," Aamu said. "I forgot my pencil case up there. I'll go get it immediately." She got up and left before any of the others could say something.
  "She did not get my key," My said. "You did not lock the door, did you?"
  Nobody remembered locking the door. Aamu came running down the stairs even faster than she had left. "Hey, come and help me. I think I'm going crazy or something. It's not there!"
  "What's not there?" Anna asked. "Your pencil case? Are you sure you had it with you?"
  "No, not the pencil case. The room! It's gone!"
  "Nonsense!" Rósa said. "A room can't just disappear."
  "Come and see," Aamu said. "True, the room is there," she said heading up the stairs once again, "and yet it is not."
  She unlocked the door, using her own key and opened the door. They all looked surprised. An ordinary school room was behind the yellow door, where they had slept.
  "And we are in the right place?" Susan asked, rather stupidly, but she could not seem to grasp what has happened.
  "Yes we are." My said. "My room is right there," and she pointed to the green door across the corridor.
  A draught slammed the door to the strange room. My grasped the handle. "It's locked once again," she said and pulled out her small, silver key. As she opened the door, the room they had slept in, was back.
  "It's back!" Aamu said, "and there's my pencil case, at the nigthstand, where I left it!"
  "The key," Aamu said slowly. "It's the  key that decides what's inside. I have heard of such rooms, but I never ever dreamed of seeing one." She shook her head. "Now it's almost time for lessons, and we have to leave. But we've got to explore this further when we get a chance. Let's collect all the keys, we can get our hands on and meet up here sometimes later."
  They all agreed, as they went down to the classrooms one flight of stairs lower.

mandag den 27. juli 2020

Poetry Monday :: Leaves


  Leaves - the theme for this Poetry Monday from Diane of On the Border where she and  Jenny of Procrastinating Donkey are taking turns supplying us with a theme and crafty poems - reminded me of an old joke.
  Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings also writes a poem for us to enjoy.


  And here's another crazy haiku to go with the photo and the joke.

Yet another photo from the visit to the Zoo.

Punctuation can
pose great danger to our health.
Don't be ignorant!



  A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
    "Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
    "I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
    The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
    "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."


The clue for next Monday is: Masks 

søndag den 26. juli 2020

Sunday Selections #1

Elephant's Child tells about Sunday Selections and its story:
Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside, and Elephant's Child has accepted the mantle.

The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to Elephant's Child.
 This Thursday we went to the Zoo. Surprisingly many had had the same idea, social distancing was difficult, some things were closed, but the animals were fantastic!
  We watched the elephants for a long time. The old ones were walking slowly and gracefully around their enclosure, one of them was playing with a ball that drops a treat if handled right. In the end a treat dropped, and the elephant got it before the observant crow. Meanwhile two small elephants played in the water, splashing, swimming and trying to keep one another down - of course they breathed through their trunks, so no matter how long their bodies were under water, they were in no danger. One of them was very hairy and turned almost black when wet, so that its tiny tusks stood out in contrast to its black body.
  I don't know why I forgot to take photos of them. But many of the rest of the animals were dutifully photographed.

A live teddybear - he was smiling.

Rikki-tikki-tavi or one of his descendants.





New arrivals in Denmark - Pandas.

Reindeer with the biggest sets of antlers! 

Hedwig!

Sleepy parrots, being watched is just so hard.





And yes, we have kangaroos in Denmark too 🌝

torsdag den 23. juli 2020

New Blogger - Deadline and Labels

Now we have a date for when New Blogger will be the only one, and Legacy Blogger no more: August 24th.
 

But still the labelling system does not work. Look at these screenshots:


  In the top half of the screenies, I typed in el to find the label Elfje, I found it and ticked off the box. In the lover half I began deleting el to type in Po - to find Poetry Monday. But - Wait a second!  The tick off mark next to Elfje was deleted too. This is what I mean. It plain does not work as intended.
  No measure of me getting used to New Blogger can remedy this.

PS: This blog-post was written in New Blogger. Not very bad, apart from:
- Only one label allowed.
- Having to change to HTML to continue adding text below the picture.

PPS: Yes I know that I can add the labels from the post overview list. But the in-post labelling is supposed to work, and it does not!

onsdag den 22. juli 2020

WfW 22 july - No Story

  In July Cindi is providing the prompts, but has asked that they appear on Elephant's Child's blog. This week's prompt is:  
Write one sentence that can be genuinely happy and upbeat as the opening sentence to a story, but as the last sentence to the story it is now chilling, dark, and horrifying.
I just can't. I committed the mistake of reading Elephant's Child's ingenious story, and my head at  once became empty and awestruck.

tirsdag den 21. juli 2020

Preparing for New Blogger

  Now today, I sit myself down and pre make a lot of posts. I put in labels, date and time and a title.
  I make a bunch of Poetry Mondays. A batch of WfWs. A dribble of others.
  Like that I can avoid using New Bloggers tedious labelling and pre-posting system for yet a while.

mandag den 20. juli 2020

Poetry Monday :: Ants

  Diane of On the Border and Jenny of Procrastinating Donkey are taking turns hosting Poetry Monday, supplying us with a theme and crafty poems, they are open for suggestions.
  Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings also writes a poem for us to enjoy.

  This Monday Jenny Red has given us Ants.  

I made an oxymoron. A rhyming haiku. 
Disclaimer. This is not a true haiku, This  is a crazy haiku.

When the small green ants
get into your garden pants.
It's time to buy plants.


Next Monday's topic is Leaves, thank you Diane.

onsdag den 15. juli 2020

Words for Wednesday 15 July

  In July Cindi is providing the prompts, but has asked that they appear on Elephant's Child's blog. 
 This week's prompt is: The year is 2030. The first astronauts have landed on Mars. They find a cave with a single human skeleton in it and fifteen words written on the wall. What are those words? Have fun. 

  This was hard, not very fun, but I found a story. Not a bit of magic here, though. 

After a long day's work deciphering the ancient writing, the scientist finally found out what the old space man had written on the cave wall: "One does not simply escape to Mars. They will always find you in the end."

mandag den 13. juli 2020

Poetry Monday :: Our Favourite Teacher - Updated

  Diane of On the Border and Jenny of Procrastinating Donkey are taking turns hosting Poetry Monday, supplying us with a theme and crafty poems, they are open for suggestions.
  Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings also writes a poem for us to enjoy.

  This Monday Diane has given us Our Favourite Teacher

  I had a favourite teacher, she deserves an epos - a heroic poem. But my muse has up and left me - I hope to catch her later.

  And THANKS to all of your encouraging and kind comments, my muse returned. It's once again free form verse. As my favourite teacher did not fit into any boxes.

  Once she wrote in my end of term notes that she very well could not reprimand me for making what was demanded from the class and not a bit more.
  She made a class for the ones with reading and attention problems long before it was a thing to do - and had me "hired" to help. Not only to ease her job, I can see now in hindsigth, but to teach me, the - to all outer eyes - privileged, intelligent, haughty girl, that the world was not just fun and play.

-- -- -- 

She was kind, to the ones needing help, as the special needs class,
  which she made on her own.
She was furious, when a classmate was not allowed to go on a trip.
  went home to her parents and spewed out letters so big!
She was poor, served us homemade buns with margarine for a treat
  which I could not eat.
She was mad, when children had not enough to eat
  or showed up in slippers at school.
She had at least one boy sent off to an orphanage when the parents clearly
   were unable to cope.
She was sarcastic, but only when she knew you could take it,
  and you were alone.
She was gentle, with animals and the very small,
  and wasn't we all?
She was smart, she spoke Danish, and Flemish and French
  and a half dozen more.
She was generous, spent days with making up and stage things
  for the annual play.
She was sad, deep inside and we never repaid
  what we got.
She was lonely, and I sorely regret that I never got to tell her
  how much she meant to us.

 -- -- --

Another  memory: She had us all knitting chain mail - no not the real stuff, but string on very big needles - and she was reading a good book aloud to us while we knit; five rows each, three sets of needles to a class, and all had to knit, smart and stupid, boys and girls, clumsy and adept alike. We all learned how to knit.

fredag den 10. juli 2020

Springvand 😁 Fountain

    Ude ved HelsingeHallerne, hvor Uglemor går til fysioterapi, ligger der en række sten. De ligger bare og forhindrer bilerne i at køre ind på græsset. Men hvis man går tættere på, er der noget underligt ved nogle af stenene.
- - 
   At the sports centre, where MotherOwl goes once a week for PE, a row of stones keep the cars on their side of the lawn. But if you take a closer look, some of the stones look strange.

Der er huller i toppen af nogle af dem, og hvis man kigger endnu nærmere, står der, halvt skjult af mos og lav noget på de sten med fordybninger i toppen:  Valby - Tibirke - Maarum - Vejby - Anisse - Ramløse og den sidste, her manglende sten. Helsinge.
- - - - -
  There's a hole in the top of them, and if you remove moss, lichen and such, letters can be seen. They spell out: Valby - Tibirke - Maarum - Vejby - Anisse - Ramløse and a last, missing stone says Helsinge.

 -- ⛲ --

     Tilbage i tiden, i 1998 og før, var stenenen del af et springvand inde midt i Helsinge. Børnene legede og plaskede i det, forældrene sad på kanten og sludrede og kølede hænderne.
     Og på sidste skoledag var der altid et eller andet geni, der puttede opvaskemiddel i, så springvandet "sprang" med bobler i stedet for med vand.
- - - - - 
  Way back when, in 1998 and before, the stones were part of a fountain in Helsinge. The children played there, parents sat on the edge to relax or cool down, and on graduation day someone invariably poured dish washer in it, so that bubbles ensued - all over.

     De seneste par gange, Uglemor har været forbi, er der blevet bygget lige ved siden af hallerne.  Først var der er sekskantet hul, så blev det fyldt med armeringsjern, - stadig sekskantet - og i dag var der så to flinke fyre fra F. Madsen Entreprise, der fortalte, at de skam var ved at lave et springvand, hvor de 7 sten inde fra Helsinge skulle op og stå og være springvand igen. Stenene ville også blive renset for mos og lav.
     Uglemor glæder sig til at se sognestenene komme til deres ret igen.

The last couple of times there strange digging have been going on. First a big hexagonal hole, then next time it was filled up with rebars - still hexagonal in shape. And today two nice smiling workers told MotherOwl that yes, they were working on a new fountain, and yes the 7 stones from the 7 parts of the old Helsinge municipality would be brushed off and put back to their original function as Fountain stones.
  MotherOwl is looking forward to this.



onsdag den 8. juli 2020

Words for Wednesday - The Answer

  In July Cindi is giving the prompts for Words for Wednesday. They will be published at Elephant's Child's blog. This week's prompt is more to my liking: 
  You have the ability to mentally hear the honest answer to any question just by looking at the person and thinking the question.  It was all fun and games until you looked in the mirror and asked a question you shouldn't have. What was the answer?
  Susan perused the old Bestiary once again. The script was so hard to read, and the instructions so strange and requiring such diverse and exotic ingredients, that she almost did believe most of them to be only speculations, not real spells at all. Like this one, Truthreading: Know the true answer to a question, you think at a person, calling for blood from Robin's breast, dust from the left eye of a peacock, and twelve dew drops from a lady's mantle among other more easily obtainable things.
  To pass the waiting time, Susan looked through the encyclopedia, and discovered that Robin also was a bird, a Peacock a butterfly with eyes on the wings and Lady's mantle a common garden plant, growing in Susan's garden.
  "Maybe I could actually make this potion," Susan thought to herself. "I saw a dead robin in the garden only this morning, it might have some blood left in it still, and butterflies aplenty flock to the butterfly bush." Susan did not stop to think what use she would have for this potion, what Heidi or anybody else at the Unicorn Farm would say to this. She found a pot, the required stirring implements, water, knives and bits and sundry, then she went hunting for a Peacock and dewdrops and the dead bird. All of this went fast and easy, The bird was long dead, but due to the temperate daytime temperatures, a few drops of blood flowed from his chest as Susan made the proper incision. "And now, leave it until the next full moon." Susan consulted her calendar,  it was less than a week hence.
  School, family and friends kept her busy until late Sunday when she remembered the full moon and the potion. She filtered and prepared it. It was only a small mouthful, reddish golden and with a smell reminding her of strawberry flavoured candy straws.
  Next morning on awakening, Susan drank the potion. It also tasted like those candy straws.
  During breakfast she amused herself by thinking at her sister: "What would you really like for breakfast?" Linda's answer - in a tiny replica of her voice in Susan's mind - was unsurprising, toast with liverwurst and a big glass of really cold milk, and a white chocolate bar." Mom wished for the very best coffee with just the right amount of cream, piping hot toast with cold butter and strawberry jam like grandma used to make it. And  a cigarette in peace and quiet after the girls were off. Nothing strange there either.
 When it came to Maths Susan had an easy time being overheard, she just picked the right answers from her teacher's brain. And when Jens came up with some lame excuse for not handing in his homework, Susan 'asked' him the real reason and was 'told' that he had been to the movies, and then his father had found him with the lights still on later trying to catch up, spanked him and put out the lights. Susan felt sorry for him. Susan 'asked' several of her classmates about their favourite candy, least and most favourite school subjects and pets. She was amazed to learn that the quiet and timid Amy wanted to be the owner of a snake, a big one, but not poisonous. Susan remembered her own brush with a snake.
  Linda, her sister, was going to a showing of her guinea pigs, and Susan was told by their Mum to go with her. The showing had involved a parade from one end of the pedestrian street, where the pet shop was, to the other end, where the Town Hall was situated. Susan did not bring her own pet, she had none, and she was there only to keep an eye on Linda. The pet shop owner had called her over and unceremoniously draped a snake round Susan's neck. Susan's first reaction had been terror, but upon unfreezing, she found the snake smooth and warm to the touch, not slimy, cold or nasty. And its eyes were tiny jewels. Susan had tried petting the snake, and it had hissed gently at her, looking at her with its beady eyes wiggling its forked tongue at her and exuding a safe, cosy feeling. It made Susan relax, and she walked all the way to the Town Hall waited out the ceremony there and then walked back again with the snake draped decoratively around her neck, alert but at ease. Watching the world, moving its forked tongue, and for all the world looking smug. Susan had never again been afraid of snakes. 
  And then it was time for lunch. Susan went to the bathrooms to wash her hands. As she looked into the mirror she thought, "And what do I like?" Susan's own tiny voice replied in her ears: "I don't know! I know what I do not want, but never what I want."
  Susan left the bathroom, and went out into her secret place to cry.

tirsdag den 7. juli 2020

Efterårsdage om sommeren -- Autumn Summer Days

Opdateret med vejrgrafik - Updated with Weatjher Graphics

     I går var det efterår. Det blæste voldsomt - både telte og trampoliner fløj gennem luften - og det har regnet, meget og voldsomt. Det begyndte allerede i forgårs, med næsten 30 mm vand! og Uglemor, der er et ægte sommerdyr, gik ind i sin Uglehule og lukkede døren efter sig. Derinde syede hun alle de kulørte firkanter sammen, som sømvæven havde kastet af sig i de forgangne 14 dage, og det blev til en herlig varm pude til Skribenten, der havde slidt den gamle op.

  Yesterday was a true autumn day, stormy, blowing over tents and trampolines, and preventing MotherOwl's biking. It has been raining too like in pouring down - it began the day before yesterday with 25+ mm. of rain! And all day yesterday you could be sure of getting drenched by one of the violent, but mercifully short showers.
  MotherOwl, who is a creature of sunshine and summer has backed into her OwlCave and sewn together all the many coloured, woollen squares that have jumped off the pinloom during the latest two weeks. It turned into a warm cosy pillow for the Writer who had worn out the old one.

- - - 

Uglemor har trævlet de tre grønne fra første omgang op igen og i stedet vævet fire små - det rakte garnet lige præcis til. Og kanterne blev pæne.
     Der er også et forsøg med to farver garn - det kunne Uglemor ikke lige overskue - firkanten er fin, men kanterne ...

  MotherOwl un-wove, unravelled, frogged whatever undoing something woven might be called ... the first three green squares and re-wove them into four small squares where the edges were all nice.
  MotherOwl also tried her hand at two coloured squares. It was tough. The square is all right, but the edges!

- - -

     Her er et billede af de udvalgte, der blev en i overskud.    
  Well anyway here's a mug shot, one was left out.


     Og så er puden færdig. Var og blød. Perfekt til når det bliver efterår midt om sommeren.

And the pillow. Cosy and warm. Perfect for those autumn summer's days.

Kære venner. Vi er lige først i juli. Det er højsommer for pokker. Denne vejrmelding ligner noget fra sidst i september.
Dear friends. We're in July. It's supposed to be summer. This looks like late September to me!
Sommer!

Vejr fra Bedre Vejr med data fra DMI

mandag den 6. juli 2020

Poetry Monday :: Light - Samarkand

  Diane of On the Border and Jenny of Procrastinating Donkey are taking turns hosting Poetry Monday, supplying us with a theme and crafty poems, they are open for suggestions. 
  This Mondays theme is Light! Thanks to Jenny. 
  Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings also writes a poem for us to enjoy.

  Light. Nothing talks to me of light as Swedish or Danish songs from the long summer's days and short nights, where the sun barely sets and it is never totally dark. 
  In my Enigmatic  post about children not being enigmatic, but grown ups are, I cite a song called The Enigmatic People. In this song a boy finds a new Samarkand - which in my English translation was rendered Xanadu, because as far as I could see, Samarkand did not have any connotations in English. 
  Samarkand is a place of unfulfilled longings, of unobtainable dreams and maybe even wild goose hunts, after a song by Thorstein Bergman, sung by Lena Andersson (YouTube link - if you leave it playing the author and composer gives his version afterwards). I have translated mostly from the Danish version, which was the one I heard growing up. It does not rhyme as does the original, but you can still sing it to the tune.

Samarkand

I woke up with smells of summer all around me,
Through the window I could feel the gentle breeze
In the sunlit morning everything did greet me
And the pillow wore impressions of your cheek.

And I knew at once - for lies are never helpful -
It has happened, that of which we sometimes spoke,
And I hope that you will find all you're seeking
If you ever find your way to Samarkand.


All around me tunes of life were gently playing,
Though I never more will share them with my friend.
Though my heart called out for you, I kept my silence,
for I knew that you will never come back home.

And I cried a bit, the nights were long and lonely,
But I hope for you you'll find your promised land.
And that someone else can be what I could never,
If you ever find your way to Samarkand.


Where I walk the world around me speaks about you
All the sunshine, winds and summer are like you
Oh I miss you now, but I've got something from you
What you gave me no-one ever takes away.

If your common sense in stranger places tells you
that we parted, it is not the simple truth. 
For my thoughts, my hopes, my longings all escort you,
If you ever find your way to Samarkand.

If you ever find your way to Samarkand.

Text and music: Thorstein Bergman 1972
Translation Charlotte (MotherOwl), 2020. 

YouTube  Danish version. 
  I first wrote another poem, but it was no good, then in the sleepless hours of an early, rainfilled morning I translated Samarkand instead.  
  For next Monday's endeavours Diane has given us Our Favourite Teacher

fredag den 3. juli 2020

Bænken -- The Bench

     Da jeg fortalte om mine haveredskaber, fortalte jeg også om at have sort maling til overs fra et gammelt projekt. Projektet var renovering af vores havebænk. Det er efterhånden mange år siden, vi købte bænken på et flytteloppemarked. Siden havde vi også fået fremstillet nogle nye planker. Og så skete der ikke mere i et år eller mere.
  Men så fik Uglemor brug for et projekt, der kunne laves i småportioner. Det kunne bænken her. Brædderne kunne få olie et ad gangen, sidestykkerne kunne stålbørstes og siden males i mindre stykker. Og hvis man laver en lille smule hver dag eller bare mæsten hver dag, så er man pludselig en dag blevet færdig. Så nu kan vi sidde på denne bænk og kigge ud over haven.
  When telling about the new tools, I told that I  had some black paint left over from a project, I never got to tell about. Here it is. We had bought the bench form a clearing out sale from a moving neighbour long ago, we had had another neighbour make the planks. then the time passed.
  In April, I needed something which could be done bit by tiny bit. This bench fit the bill. I could oil one wooden plank a day, brush a little bit of the steel ends, and later paint it bit for bit, then drill one hole or even two at a time.
   And just as when you're eating an elephant a little bit a day - or every two days - will eventually get you outside the elephant. And thus I finished the bench in early May.

torsdag den 2. juli 2020

HURRA?

Uglemor er glad og taknemmelig!

My translation - I'm so so happy and thankful!

  It might be that Jenny_O is right when she says this: "looks a lot like the original message, and under 'Read more' the original message stated that 'By late July, creators will no longer be able to revert to the legacy Blogger interface.' This sentence appears at the bottom of the message."
  The message that states, that Legacy will not be accesible after the end of July has not been updated since May 20th.
  We are allowed to hope that Blogger has become wiser.

Skafter og blade -- Handles and blades


     Her er det Skribenten, der sidder med den just færdige spade. Skaftet er snittet til, hullerne boret - Uglemor ramte søreme hullet på den anden side begge gange - og nitterne banket i.
     Piraten hjalp Uglemor med at slå på nitterne, mens Skribentens stærke hænder holdt sammen på sagerne.

The Writer presents our first finished gardening tool, a spade. The shaft was pared down to the right diameter, holes drilled - I hit the holes on the other side - both times! - and rivets punched flat.
     The Pirate was allowed to help MotherOwl with the flattening of the rivets, while The Writer's  strong hands held the parts together.

-- 🔨 -- 🧹 -- 

Så, mens Skribenten svang den atter fungerende spade, kastede Uglemor sig over en rive. Der skulle slibes endnu mere af skaftet, og så skulle det udhules så der var plads til en tange. Der skulle bores et hul, der ramte fra hullet i den grønne beskyttelseskrave, hennem skaftet, ind gennem et lille hul i tangen og ud på den anden side til et tilsvarende hul, men også her ramte Uglemor søreme hullet inden i skaftet! Så skruede hun en skrue i, hun havde kun købt nitter til spaderne, det er ikke godt nok, skruer er OK til river og lugejern, men de er ikke solide nok til skovle, spader eller grebe. Der må købes lidt flere nitter.

While the Writer used the renewed spade, MotherOwl tackled a rake. The handle needed even more paring and sanding to fit inside the green metal cuff, and then the handle had to be hollowed out to allow the tang to fit inside it, and a hole had to be drilled through a hole in the green cuff, through the handle, hitting the hole in the steel tang, through more handle and out through the other hole in the cuff. I hit all three holes! Yes I'm proud of this, I have only a hand held drill. Then I put in a screw, as I had not bought rivets for anything but the spades. I got to buy some more rivets before I can finish the shovel and the garden fork. Screws are fine for rakes and hoes, but not strong enough for digging.

-- 🔨 -- 🧹 -- 

Ved siden af træet ses resultatet af Skribentens anstrengelser. En nyplantet fru minikiwi, der gerne skal blive stor og brede sig og få mange små frugter sammen med hr. minikiwi, der i adskillige år har levet en trist ungkarletilværelse i træet lige overfor.

-- 🔨 -- 🧹 -- 

Next to the tree you can see the result of the Writer's hard work with the spade. Here a female mini-kiwi now grows. It is supposed to grow big and spread all over the tree and make lots of little fruits together with mister mini-kiwi, who has been leading a solitary life in a nearby tree for many years.

onsdag den 1. juli 2020

Værktøj - Tools

     Men det er ikke brok alt sammen, trods alt. Nogle fornyelser er gode!
     Gennem årene med havearbejde har jeg slidt mange haveredskaber op. Nogle er blevet genindkøbt, koste uden hår, frostsprængte regnmålere, løvriver uden tænder og lignende håbløse tilfælde. Men mange af redskaberne var gode nok, skafterne var bare knækket.
     De blev sat hen i et hjørne, for måske en dag ... men den dag kom aldrig, indtil det blev min fødselsdag igen, og emsige Ugleunger spurgte, hvad jeg ønskede mig ... hmm! Skafter til haveredskaber, selvfølgelig!

- - - - -

  But it's not rants and stupid renewals all of it. Some renewals are good.
  During my gardening years I have broken many gardening tools, some of them have been replaced, like a toothless rake, balding brooms and rain gauges left ou in the frost. Some were  just placed in a corner because it was only the handles, that broke. Their steel parts were fine. I just never got around to buying / making new handles. Then my birthday came around, Owlets were asking me for present suggestions. I did not know until suddenly ... tool handles of course.

-- 🧹 --

     De seneste dage har jeg olieret nye skafter, fjernet gamle skafterester og savet nitter itu, slebet, stålbørstet og malet med rustbeskyttelse. I morgen - håber jeg - vil skafter og hoveder finde hinanden igen.

- - - - -

  The latest sunny days I've been oiling the new handles, de-handling old shovels, rakes and other tools, then brushing and painting with rust protection. Tomorrow - hopefully - handles and steel parts will unite again!
    Ja, grøn rustbeskytelse var det, jeg lige havde; der var også en lille bøtte sort, men jeg håber at komme til at bruge det til et andet projekt senere i år.

- - - - -

  Green rust protective paint was what I had. Well I also had some black left over from another project, but I hope to use this for another project later this summer. 

Rant - Brok

Dem, der har læst min blog for nyligt, er ikke i tvivl om Uglemors holdning til det nye Blogger.

Nobody reading my blog the last couple of weeks can harbour even the slightest doubt about my opinion on New Blogger.

-- 😠 --

Men Blogger er ikke de eneste, der synes, der skal foretages en nyindretning af deres hjemmesider/databaser og så videre.

But Blogger is not the only one renewing and modernizing their homepages etc.

-- 😠 --

Facebook er også med på bølgen, jeg havde "fornøjelsen" af at blive præsenteret for deres nye layout i dag.

Facebook is doing the same. I had the dubious pleasure of their new looks today.
Green letters say: Bling and empty space between lines makes it flickering.
                             No counter for new messages in groups
Yellow letters say: Narrower central column.
Red letters say: Flags, colours and giant letters.
Light blue letters say: Info-thingy opening pop-up on mouseover.

-- 😠 --

Også Danmarks Radio og mange andre nyhedsmedier er med på bølgen.
 
Even our news media, also the public service ones, are doing the same.

-- 😠 --

Og min elskede Naturbasen.

And last, but not least, my to-go place for info on all things nature: Naturbasen.

Engelsk tekst siger: Dette er bare en reklame, knapperne virker ikke!

Jeg behøver vist ikke at fortælle hvilken, der er ny -- No need to tell which one is the new, I think.

-- 😠 --

     Suk. Hvad sker der lige for verden?
     Tom plads i flimrende farver, billeder der bevæger sig, hvis man kommer til at føre musen over dem, Mere bling, mindre tekst, færre oplysninger, clickbait osv.
     Uglemor føler sig gammel og gnaven!

  What's happening to the digital world? More bling, more empty space, photos, that enlarge or move on mouseover, less information, less text, clickbait and so on.
  MotherOwl is feeling old and grumpy today.

Words for Wednesday - 1 July 2020 - No story

  Cindi is providing the July prompts. They are published at Elephant's Child 
  This Wednesday we're given: In 60 words or less, write the happiest scene you can. This made my brain go totally blank. It was teeming with ideas and loose ends momnts before. But they all hid away at the thought of being "the happiest".  I sure hope somehing will show off as I sleep or later tomorrow (my Wednesday).