fredag den 30. april 2021

A-Z Xtra

     Næsten hver dag klokken 12 har der gennem hele april måned kommet et A-Z indlæg her på bloggen.
     Temaet har været ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Nu er det så slut for i år.
     Det har været anstrengende, men også sjovt at finde på noget at skrive hver dag.
     Her er så en lille ekstrapost om den anden fortsatte historie her på bloggen: Historien om Mary, Allan og verdens ende.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Almost every day all through April at noon a new A-Z post has gone live on my blog. The theme was Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. Now we've reached the finishing line for this year.
  It has been fun, I have written more than normally, and visited way more new blogs than I use to as well. But I'm glad that I now face 11 months without this pressure.
  As a small extra I have this post. It's about the other story taking up space at this blog: Mary, Allan and the End of the World.


-- ✈ --

Efter at jeg havde set, hvad Olga Godim kunne få ud af diverse biller og sammenklip til forsider, fik jeg lyst til at prøve selv. Det er ikke noget, jeg har prøvet før eller er god til. Men på Pexel by Louis fandt jeg et billede, der var perfekt til min historie om Mary og Allan. Jeg har kun tilsat bogstaver og en lille flyvemaskine.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ

After seeing what Olga Godim could do with those covers of hers, I wanted to try my hand at covermaking. I'm not good at it, but I found the perfect photo at Pexel by Louis for my story of Mary and Allan. I have only been playing around with the fonts and colours of the letters - and an airplane.



torsdag den 29. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ Danish Letters - Å - Åh anemoner

    Hver dag i april kommer der et A-Z indlæg klokken 12. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
     Og så bruger jeg lige som for to år siden Æ, Ø og Å i stedet for de halvumulige W, X Y og Z
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day in April a new A-Z post goes live at noon. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.
Just as two years ago I'm using the letters Æ, Ø and Å from the Danish alphabet.
  Today is Å the last letter of the Danish alphabet.


Å for  Åh, anemoner  =  Oh, Anemone (Arctypical Danish spring flower)

Hvert eneste forår overraskes i hvert fald Uglemor over hvor mange anemoner, der kan være i skoven. For tre år siden oversatte jeg Sebastians Anemonesang. Og den har jeg lyst til at bringe igen.   Oprindeligt anemoneindlæg.


-- 🌳 --

Each and every spring MotherOwl is amazed by the sheer amount of anemone flowers in our woods. Three years ago I translated a Song of Anemone (Listen on YouTube: earworm) by a Danish composer, Sebastian. Now it's once again echoing inside my head, and I want to share it with you.

Her er vi tæt på en lille klat anemoner  --  A close up of a tiny amount of all the pretty flowers.

Anemonesangen
Dagen er så fuld af anemoner 
fuglefløjt og farvespil i lyse kroner 
Natten fuld af farlige dæmoner
Spøgefugle, troldemænd og heksekoner.
    Åh anemoner dækker hele jorden lige som sne
    Åh anemoner, snart får jeg vel sommeren at se.

Dagen er så travl for de forfløjne
alle de forpjuskede og næsten nøgne .
Natten er så fuld af gule øjne
der i mørket, der på himlen, alle vegne .
    Åh  anemoner lad mig sove i den hvide seng.
    Åh, anemoner under stjerner i en blomstereng.

(Mellemspil)

Åh anemoner dækker hele jorden ligesom sne.
Åh anemoner Snart får vi vel sommeren at se.
Tekst & musik: Sebastian, 1991

-- Ⓐ - Ⓩ --

Song about Anemone
Daytime woods are filled with pretty flowers
Flimsy branches, rays of sunshine colour laden.
 Nighttime woods are filled with demon powers,
Mocking spirits, hinkypunks and elven maiden.
Oh pretty flowers! Covering the meadow just like snow
Oh pretty flowers! Summer, hurry up, we miss you now.

Busy is the daytime for the wayward
ruffled feathers flying; drifting slowly downwards.
In the night the watching eyes are glaring
In the darkness, in the sky. Oh they are staring!
Oh pretty flowers; sleeping in the meadow white as snow
Oh pretty flowers! Let me slumber in your starlit glow.

(Instrumental)
Oh pretty flowers! Covering the meadow just like snow
Oh pretty flowers! Summer, hurry up, we miss you now.
Translation: MotherOwl 20018


Her er blomstersengen  --  And here the meadow white as snow.

Words for Wednesday - April 28

This last Wednesday in April the words are over at WiseWebWoman's blog. We were given:

Congregate
Impulse
Market
Peasant

This painting to the right, called "Back from Market" painted by Jean Siméon Chardin in 1738.

Wine
Surging
Light
Hazard

Remember to go back, read other peoples' stories there or follow their links back. And please place a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction.



They all congregated in the large room by mutual impulse. The market was supposed to open at noon, and all the peasant were readying the stalls, hanging the awnings and pyramiding their wares. Wine was sold in a corner. You could taste it beforehand. It was a local produce, sour and unpalatable, but it was cheap, and the surging feeling gotten from drinking it, was the same as from the expensive, better tasting imported stuff.
He felt rather than saw the light as the doors to the big room was opened. Standing in the back was good, being up front always brought with it the hazard of being overrun once the doors opened. He only risked not having the choicest wares, but he found this alternative way better.

onsdag den 28. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ Danish Letters - Ø - Økologi

    Hver dag i april kommer der et A-Z indlæg klokken 12. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
     Og så bruger jeg lige som for to år siden Æ, Ø og Å i stedet for de halvumulige W, X Y og Z
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day in April a new A-Z post goes live at noon. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.
Just as two years ago I'm using the letters Æ, Ø and Å from the Danish alphabet. 
   Today we've made it to Ø.

Ø for Økologi  = Organic

Økologi betyder at man roligt kan bruge løs af planter, frugter, grøntsager og bær i Uglebo. Der er ikke fare for sjove stoffer, men måske en enkelt lille orm eller bladlus. Det er Uglemor glad for, når hun laver morgenfrueolie.
     For snart længe siden var der en post:  Morgenfrueolie del 1, men der kom aldrig nogen del to. Den kommer så her.
-- 🌸 --

Organic means that MotherOwl grows her garden following organic principles; this again means that you can eat berries, fruits, vegetables and anything else (well, not the poisonous plants of course) without fearing stranger substances than the occasional worm.
  MotherOwl is very happy for this when being in her soapy corner. Long time ago a blog post called  Marigold Oil - part 1, went live. Part 2 never appeared. Here it is:


Morgenfueolie del 1, de tørrede blomster   --   Marigold Oil part one, the dried flowers.


Part 2
De tørrede blomster og olivenolie  --  The dried flowers and Olive oil


Et glas fyldes med tørrede blomster. Det skal ikke presses sammen, kun fyldes næsten op  
--
   A glass is filled with the dried flowers. Do not pack them closely, just fill in almost to the top.


Fyld så glasset med olivenolie. Der kan være meget i, og nu skal der fyldes op.
Bagefter skal der låg på, og så skal det stå køligt og ikke for lyst og trække i 6 uger.
Så er den klar til at blive brugt i morgenfruesæbe og til salve.
--
Fill up with olive oil. All the way to the top. It takes more oil than you imagine.
Afterwards a lid is put on, and the glass put in a cool, darkish place for 6 weeks to infuse / steep.
Then its ready to be used for soaping and un-petroleum jelly.

tirsdag den 27. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ Danish letters - Æ - Æg

    Hver dag i april kommer der et A-Z indlæg klokken 12. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
     Og så bruger jeg lige som for to år siden Æ, Ø og Å i stedet for de halvumulige W, X Y og Z
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day in April a new A-Z post goes live at noon. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.

   Yesterday we did V, so today should be W, followed by X, Y and Z But those letters are not used very much in Danish, so just as two years ago I'm going to use the letters Æ, Ø and Å from the Danish alphabet instead.

Æ for Æg  =  Egg

Æg kommer fra høns, og Uglemor har lige investeret i seks nye høns. Hun er en smule bekymret for fugleinfluenzaen ...
     I februar 2017 hærgede fugleinfluenzaen i Danmark. Høns skulle lukkes inde, men ikke gæs og ænder. Vi var flere, der skrev oprørte breve, blogindlæg og så videre, men det hele løb bare ud i sandet og pludselig en dag -  den 10. april - måtte og kunne vi have høns igen.
   Det første indlæg fortæller om haveinstallationen "De løsslupne hønniker". Den fik jeg aldrig åbnet, men i mandags hentede jeg nye høns, der faktisk er de farver, den gamle installationsberetning beskriver. Måske bør jeg nu installere røde pinde og blå kugler også ... bare i tilfælde af at fugleinfluenzaen skulle komme igen.

-- 🐔 --

  Eggs come from hens. Last Monday MotherOwl had six new hens, but she's a bit disquieted. The avian flu is rearing its ugly head ...
  February 2017 the avian flu went wild in Denmark. All hens were to be kept indoors - or slaughtered. The same was not so for geese and ducks. They were only slaughtered as they became ill. We were many writing angry letters Facebook and blog posts and so on. Nothing really helped. We were left suspended in a vacuum for over two months until finally 10th of April chickens were once again set free.
 The first post describes the garden installation "The Roaming Pullets". For several reasons I never followed up on this idea. But this Monday I got some new pullets actually exactly the variation in colours described in the installation. Maybe I should put up some red branches and find a lot of blue balls so that I can just declare my pullets part of this work of art, should the avian flu return.

Hønnikerne og de røde buske  --  The pullets and the red bush.


Her følger en beskrivelse (kun let opdateret) af haveinstallationen: De løsslupne hønniker:
    Nu har vi så indkøbe nogle nye hønniker, det er to grønlæggere der med tiden vil lægge turkisgrønne æg, de er efterkommere af sydamerikanske araucanaer; to maran-krydsninger, der vil lægge chokoladebrune æg og så to Isa, der i fremtiden vil lægge næsten et æg hver om dagen, i normal brun æggefarve.
     Selve hønsene er røde, sorte, vildtfarvede og brogede. Det er da lige til en udstilling, og når det nu er hønniker, så lægger de jo slet ikke æg.
    Senere vil der blive opsat røde grene og lagt blå bolde rundt omkring hønsene. Således skabes et altid skiftende, kalejdoskopisk mønster, der veksler med belysningen og tidspunktet på dagen og som er perfekt tilpasset til at berolige tilskuerne sind og mindske deres bekymringer.
  Sådan! Det lyder da godt, ikke?  
  Ergo er Ugleboets høns da også ren udstilling til fornøjelse for mig, ægtemanden og vores 4 børn – eventuelle naboer og forbipasserende må også gerne nyde synet!
   Jeg erklærer hermed haveinstallationen “De løsslupne hønniker” for åbnet.

-- 🐔 --
 
Old wording (only slightly updated) of the description of the garden installation The Roaming Pullets:
Today MotherOwl has decided that her new chicken will be for decorative and educational purposes only. As we buy pullets they'll not be laying. And we have no intention of eating them (We tried once, but laying hens are not made to be eaten, old and stringy they were).

Today MotherOwl declares the garden installation The roaming pullets for open. It's not yet perfect, the pullets - greenlayers (laying turquoise eggs when they grow up, and being diverse of colour - decendants of the South American Araucanas)  will be joined by the red bushes and blue balls in the garden. Thus creating an always shifting, kaleidoscopic pattern, changing with the time of day, and perfectly adapted to soothe the spectators' mind and allay their troubles.

There. That sounds good, doesn't it? I'm going to admit spectators if any want to come, but the primary audience is the inhabitants of the Owlery and their neighbours.
Dette er hvordan, jeg forventer æggene kommer til at se ud - også et ekko fra en A-Z post, denne gang om cykelhjelme.
--
This is how I expect the eggs to look later on. And this photo is an echo from the AZ post on Biking helmets.

mandag den 26. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ V -Vejen hjem

Hver dag i april kommer der et A-Z indlæg klokken 12. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day in April a new A-Z post goes live at noon. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.

V for Vejen hjem  =  On my Way Home

I 2015 skrev jeg hver tirsdag en Vejen hjem-post. For at være et ordentligt ekko, skal det naturligvis passe bare nogenlunde med datoen. Det tætteste, jeg kommer på i dag er den 29. april 2015. På den dato i 2015 så det sådan ud.

-- 🌳 --

In 2015 I posted an On my Way home-post every Tuesday. To be an echo of one of these posts the date has to fit, at least almost. The closest I can get to today is April 29, 2015. On that day in 2015 it looked like this.


     I år er foråret lidt langsommere. Men solen skinner lige så intenst. de små træer og buske i grøftekanten er vokset selvom de er blevet slået ind i mellem.
     Slåenbuskene er endnu ikke sprunget ud, men det kan ikke vare længe!

-- 🌳 --
 
  Spring this year is a bit slower, but the Sun is shining just as much. The shrubbery in between the trees has grown in spite of several tries to stunt them.
  The sloes have not yet unfolded a single flower, but it won't be long!


Slåenknopper, snart blomster   --    Sloe buds, soon to be flowers.


Vi havde fornemme gæster til morgen  --   We had some royal visitors in the morning.


Solopgang/solnedgang: 5.41/20.37, dagens længde 14.56, tiltaget: 8.05 timer
Sunrise/sunset: 5.41/20.37, day length: 14:56, grown longer by: 8.05 hours.

Poetry Monday :: The Ocean or The Beach

If you want to read some more poetry,  Diane and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings  write wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read.

  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month - may  we hope for more!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments, and helps out at topic supplying.

  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is taking a break due to her husband's recent passing from this world. Let's continue to send war
m thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way.

I have something more to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others, would you please leave a comment. Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.

It is not yet time for going to the beach. It is cold frost is promised for tonigth.
But we live near the beach, and when / if the summers are warm, we love it there. I'm not sure this verse is very meaningful. But it's what I could do.


On our beach are loads of sand.
And icecean if so we demand.
And water, wawes and lots of stones
And egss of sharks and fishes' bones.
We splish and splash.
We hack and slash
At seaweeds in the shallows.

On our beach are sun and rain
These days will never come again
With sunlit waves and lots of fun.
The days pass not, for sure they run.
And to the shore
We go once more.
Today I saw a swallow!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Topics coming up:
The best thing about spring (From Mimi) (May 3)
Lost Sock Memorial Day. (May 10)
The anniversary of the patent of the rubber band. (May 17)
Favourite breakfast (May 24)
Memorial Day (May 31)
Best Friends Day (from June 8) (June 7)
Monkey Around Day (June 14)
Fathers (June 21)
Bubbles (June 28)

søndag den 25. april 2021

Not Pink -- Sunday Selections

Life in Colour hosts a colour challenge. The colour for April is pink. It is so not my colour.

Even when I begin with a pink model, it turns out non-pink, as can be seen in this photo.
And yes I bought a new Women's weekly to get this pattern. I could not figure out how it was done.

The other pink thing I went looking for, had not yet burst its buds.
A Japanese Cherry tree - Sakura. I'm afraid it won't make it within the month of April.

These are also not pink, only almost.
Corydalis cava.

lørdag den 24. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ U - Ugler

Hver dag klokken 12 kommer der et A-Z indlæg. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day at noon a new A-Z post goes live. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.

U for Ugler  =  Owls

     At der er mange ugler i Uglebo, kommer nok ikke som nogen overraskelse for nogen. Ude i haven er der mange. Her kommer et gensyn med en del af dem.
     I 2019's A-Z var U også UGLE.

-- 🦉 --

  In the Owlery there's loads of owls, this surely comes as no surprise for anyone. Also in the garden we have many owls. Here's some owls revisited.
   In the A-Z of 2019 U was also UGLE = OWL.

  I maj 2018 var denne blå ugle fin og ny.   --  In May 2018 this blue owl was brand new.

Det er den ikke mere  --  It's not that pretty any longer.


-- 🦉 --

Og så til en vagtugle med lang og tro tjeneste bag sig.
--
Now to a long time guardian.
August 2010 min vidunderlige trappe er færdig, og uglen her holder vagt.
--
August 2010. My wonderful stairs are finally finished, and the owl-guardian put in place.

A-Z 2019



Og i dag. Måske bør vi se os om efter en ny vagt-ugle.
  -- 
And today. It might be time to be looking for a replacement to take over the guardian duties.

 -- 🦉--

Og til Uglebos nok ældste udendørs ugle. Den hængende haveugle. Den havde allerede mere end 15 år på bagen i februar 2016, hvor den var Ugens ugle.
--
And the probably oldest of the garden owls. It was at least 15 years old, when it was featured as Owl of the Week back in February 2016

Og i dag. En smule mere mosbegroet, men stadig i fin form. 
--
  And today. A bit more mossy, but still in fine shape.

fredag den 23. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ T - Temperatur

Hver dag klokken 12 kommer der et A-Z indlæg. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day at noon a new A-Z post goes live. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.

T for Temperatur

I januar startede jeg på at følge dagens temperatur hver dat, og søreme om jeg ikke er blevet ved med det. Her er et billede, taget i søndags. Temperaturen er altid fra i går. Man kan jo ikke vide gennemsnitstemperaturen før døgnet ER gået.


-- ❄ 🌤 --

In January, I began charting the temperature and mirabile dictu, I'm still at it. Here's a photo from Sunday, where I filled out the first page. Yes temperature drawing is always a day behind. The mean temperature for a day is not known before the day has ended.


Mary and Allan - Goslar 2

The people left at Rammelsberg did not just sit down and wait. They had everybody moving, potting, watering and transplanting seedlings from the cockpit to every free space on the floating village, and then the shelves "Hanging gardens" someone remarked, were filled up with new earth and seeds, this time selecting the plants that needed longer days and more heat.
Inside the plane Sarah was readying pallets and medical things with the help of Granny T and the older children. The two timid Polish girls came over. They were both nurses in training, best friends and eager to help and learn. They repeated all the names of things in English, and Janet and the four children from Castle Kronborg had the wonderful experience of being able to teach someone knowing less than themselves and eager to learn.
When the first aid quarter was almost done, one of the young girls slowly and hesitantly spoke up: "We need move beds. They be ill, maybe. Isolating?"
"Hanna, you're a genius!" Sarah said. "Yes we move. Move to a hut in the village. Let's do!" And Janet, Lil'George, the four from Kronborg, and even Gregor and his best friends, the twins Adam and Benny helped carry pallets, glasses and water bottles and medical things to the plane door where Hanna and Zofia handed them down to Sarah, standing in the boat.
Mary, helped by Astrid and Bengt the Swedish couple, evacuated one of the smaller floating huts and moved some plants so that it would be convenient to carry people aboard on stretchers. "How many do you think they will be bringing back, if any at all" Mary asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Sarah answered, "I hope they find some alive, but I fear no more than 20. Those caves are normally not just walk in-places, you go in in groups, led by guides. Most of those groups are 20, like in Wieliczka" Hanna and Zofia nodded. "We did 20," Zofia said smiling. "And they have to be deep inside to survive. Maybe two lucky groups. By now the old, and the weak will have died. Half left is a good guess."

Some time before sunset Mary, who were keeping watch at the top of Rammelsberg building a small fire, binoculars at the ready, spied the returning boats. She started waving the flag and calling out. Bengt came running over, bringing the megaphone and a fire brand.
"No need for fire," Mary said, "but please call them, they seem to be a bit off course."
Two of the boats could be seen splitting off from the group and turning towards Rammeslberg, the other three continued towards the east.
"They are going to Herrmannscave," Mary guessed. "I fear to hear what they found in the Iberg caves."

Mary's fear was justified. They walked back to the plane in time to show the two boats to the readied hospital hut.
In the boat lay eleven human forms, swaddled in blankets and every piece of clothing that could be expended from the rowers. They were thin, weak, unable to even sit, with big, shining eyes.
"Don't even try to speak," Sarah said. "We'll take care of you." They were carefully carried to the cots in the hospital hut and Sarah, Zofia and Hanna stayed with them. Granny T filled the thermos with new, hot soup and everybody carried blankets and spare clothes to the boats. "We're leaving again immediately," Tom said. "Every minute counts for people as hungry as these."
Mona, Matthew, Lisa and Cordelia was asked to take over in the rowing team and John, James, Pete and Sally gave up their spots to the fresh rowers.

The people left in Rammeslberg gathered in the plane. Pete spoke slowly, softly: "It was terrible. They just lay there, in the opening of the cave in the sparse sunshine. Dead and living among one another. Holding hands. Not reacting, not speaking. I think they thought we were hallucinations. We had to check all of them for signs of life, and some even died as we touched them. Some of the bodies had missing parts, But we found no fires, and it seems that the raw meat had not agreed with them." He shook his head. "I think this is all I need to tell of that cave. If we go there, we'll have to send a clean up squad ahead. We decided to split up with the strongest hurrying on to Hermanns and Baumanns caves. And the other two boats getting those people here and then stocking up on everything they could think of and have young fresh people rowing to catch up. They will be rowing as fast as humanly possible, and we should expect to see them again tomorrow. Keep a lookout and have the fire burning at all time. I'll take the first turn up there," Pete ended.
"Not until you've eaten, you won't!" Granny T said, and led Pete into the kitchen nook.
"I go," Bengt said simply, and patted Pete's shoulder awkwardly. The square, reliable Swede was on his way before Pete even reacted.
Mary found some stones stowed in the sides as ballast and heated theme and swaddled them in soft rags. She filled a basket of these and rowed to the sick hut. Hannah received her with thanks. "Those poor people. They have used up all their energy just staying alive. Keeping them warm and feed them soup and sweet tea by the spoonful is all we can do. And then hope and pray of course. And, Mary, could you ask for someone speaking German, I have to tell them so that they understand ... deep inside that they are safe now."

Mary hung a big hunk of her best soap on a rope outside the sick hut. "And you use it!" she said to Hannah and her team. "We'll need no viruses or whatever going around!" Then she rowed back and repeated Hanna's request. One of the young men called Adam from Wieliczka arose and said that he spoke German. "Even if my English is not very good, my German is," he said.
"As long as you understand English well enough to repeat what Hannah tells you," Mary said with relief.
"I'll go there as well," father Paul said. "My German may not be much, but I can pray!" Father Paul rowed the boat for the short distance, then they disappeared into the hut.

"We have to make another hut ready for reception of possible people from those two other mines," Mary said simply.
"We prepared 20 cots. Eleven are now occupied, How many more do we need?" Ulla said.
"I don't know," Mary said. "But I'd rather have 100 too many than one too few when they return."
They agreed upon evacuating and readying two more huts, making room for 60 people in all.
"I can't make up my mind whether I hope to fill those beds up or not," Granny T said. "We're running low of foods too fast for my liking, and those ones too will need high fat and protein foodstuff. We need a cow! This all was never thought for so many, so hungry people."
Pete came to her aid. "I saw a big bag of chickpeas in the store room the other day. We can make some sort of nut-mash with those. It won't be tasty, but if we add oil, sugar and ground up vitamin supplements it will pump them back up in next to no time. As soon as they can eat, they should be given 6 spoonfuls a day. I'll prepare some, and then go to the huts with it."
Minna looked lovingly at her husband: "Do you remember what I said about him being a health freak," he said to Mary. "This is so much him."

Hannah, Zofia and Sarah set a schedule for the care of the famished people from Iber. Always one of the three at attendance, and Hannah sleeping in the small hut next to the sick hut. Father Paul sat on a chair in the sick hut, praying or softly singing until he almost fell from the chair and Hannah ordered him to lie down on one of the empty pallets. "You're no help to anybody if you fall over from sheer lack of sleep!" she said in a half mocking tone.
Father Paul meekly obeyed, sleeping with one eye open and always ready for a comforting word or a short prayer.
In the morning all eleven were still alive. Ten of them seeming to grow stronger, but one very fragile looking man with a moustache kept getting weaker and more translucent with each passing hour.
Father Paul walked over to him and took his hand. "I know you're told not to speak," he said in faltering German. "But listen, you can do!" The man nodded once. "I am a priest. And I am telling you that we all need you here. Not in Heaven! You are not alone any more. You will not be left alone. I sit here. I stay!" Father Paul knew the Lord's prayer in a multitude of languages, his only hobby, he once told Allan was collecting prayers in foreign languages. And now he prayed this prayer over and over again, dozing and praying all day. The man with the moustache still lived as the sun set. Father Paul heard the commotion as the other boats returned, but he stayed at the man's side, fed him soup and tea with a drop of whiskey and prayed and sung. All through the night father Paul held his hand, eating and drinking one-handedly, even peeing in a bucket with a blanket round him for privacy. Next morning the man looked better, his skin had lost its paper white translucency and he slept peacefully.
"Father, you worked a miracle there," Hannah said. "The other boat have brought 13 living dead back. They are a bit better off. Tom says Allison is livid. They seem to have slaughtered and eaten all the colourless olms in that cave in order to to survive."
"No problem!" the man with the moustache whispered.
"Don't speak," Hannah said automatically, but father Paul asked: "Why is it not a problem that they ate the probably last animals on earth?" The man tried to swallow, and father Paul fed him more lukewarm tea. He got several teaspoons inside before whispering: "All males."
"The olms in that cave were all males?" father Paul said and the man nodded and fell asleep. "Hannah, will you please go and tell Allison that those strange creatures might have saved the life of 13 people, and that they were not destined for survival anyhow. What a story!" father Paul said with a soft but hearty laughter.

torsdag den 22. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ S - Susan

Hver dag klokken 12 kommer der et A-Z indlæg. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day at noon a new A-Z post goes live. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be me if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.

S for Susan

     En af de ting, der fylder rigtig meget her på Uglemors blog er Susan og hendes meritter både på Enhjørningegården og i den virkelige verden.

     Olga Godim, der deltager i årets  A-Z Challenge skriver charmerende og spændende historier om magi, sværd og fantastiske mennesker på sin blog. Som tema for årets A-Z har hun valgt fiktive bogforsider.
     Jeg tog mod til mig og foreslog hende Susans historie - Enhjørningegården, og søreme om ikke hun har lavet en forside til min bog. Det er da fantastisk.
     Man kan se en masse af hendes andre flotte og spændende forsider på Deviantart: HER.

Det her er da ret fortryllende!
Bemærk at det er Susan, der står som forfatter - Uglemor foretrækker anonymitet indtil videre.





One of the things that really take up space and words on MotherOwl's blog is Susan and her adventures at Unicorn Farm and in the real world.

One of the participants in the A-Z Challenge this year is Olga Godim, who writes really well written fantasy and speculative fiction on her blog. As she says herself, she writes about "magic, swords, and the wonderful folks of her imagination."
For the challenge she is making up covers for books. I pulled together all my daring and suggested Unicorn Farm as a possibility for a cover. As Olga Godim had already covered "U" she kindly made a cover just for me - how lucky can you be!
Look up her collection of fabulous covers at Deviantart: HERE

Isn't this just fantastic!
Please notice that the author is Susan, MotherOwl prefers to remain anonymous for some time yet.

Mary and Allan - Goslar 1

This Wednesday the words are over at WiseWebWoman's blog. This Wednesday we were given:

Colourless
Slaughter
Moustache
Jockey
Eliminate
Whiskey
Thermometer
Wickedness

  And ... I made another OOPSIE. Yesterday's WfW should not just have been posted without preamble, without words etc. But I accidentally clicked Publish after having set the date. And that's why it autopublished in the wee hours of my Wednesday morning, even before the prompts from WWW - living in a time-zone where midnight comes 4½ hours later than my place - was published.
  I did not want to take the chapter back down again, trying to weave in the words -- which did not even fit in at all. Instead I wrote another chapter of Mary and Allan's story. The one connecting Wielicka and Father Paul's Quandary.
 I just realized that this chapter became awfully long. I have to split it up in two parts.


 Remember to go back, read other peoples' stories there or follow their links back. And please place a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction.
 Tom spoke to everybody the next morning: "We are set on the right course to the mine-museum in Goslar. It was, and still is situated at the foot of the Harzer mountains. The Rammelsberg, under which the mine was situated, is with its 635 metres tall enough to push up through the waters even now at their highest, but it would be rather an isolated top. We'll start looking there of course, but if there's nobody there then what?"
Allison and Allan rose simultaneously. "Yes?" Tom said. "Allison, I think you were first, go on, speak."
"There's caves nearby, what more is large cave complexes with entrances above water even now, and some of those caves were ... I hope the right word is "ARE" inhabited by fabulous creatures, the olms!"
Allan said: "The nearest cave is surely the dripstone caves in Iberg. I would think that the People from Goslar would go there. As far as I remember, you should be able to walk there, at least if you set out some time ago. Now the lower parts of the path will probably be inundated. I think we could do much worse than going there. The climate will be mild, and caves, both Iberg and Herrmanscave - the one with the olms and its neighbouring Baumann, I think it's called, would give us somewhere to live until trees can grow and we again can build houses.
"I protest!" Allison said. "Nobody should be allowed to live in Herrmanscave. Those olms are strange creatures, if they still live. They are very sensitive to pollution and loud noises. We should leave them alone ... after ascertaining that they still are there and put eventual flooded specimens back in. Also it's cold. It's really not fit for human beings in there, the thermometer staying at around 8 degrees Celcius at any time."
"We have a job, I see" Tom said. Lets see, Allan and Allison, come here, help me find those places on the map and show everyone.
"It looks good," Tom said. "The distance to the cave from Rammelsberg, which we will reach around noon, is not more than 15 kilometres. The two other caves are to the east," he pointed to the map, which Allan and Allison held up. "Here, maybe 45 kilometres east and a bit south. But the big mountains, among these the well known Brocken lies in between, going there by sailing around would be the obvious choice."

"Actually," Allan said, "those mountains are riddled with caves and hollows. I would not be surprised if we were able to find more people if we looked around."
Mona rose: "But finding all these people will do us no good if we do not land somewhere soon and get to growing plants for all to eat. I'd like us to go to Iberg and start a farm on the slopes and flat parts to the west."
"We are pressed for time on both accounts," Mostly in the people's department, Mary said. Today is, believe it or not, only the 15th of April. Time enough for growing. But if those places were just somewhat like Wielicka with above ground cafeteria and so on, people will be starving, if not dead from hunger already. It would be pure wickedness not to go searching as fast as possible."
"I had forgotten, Mona said. " The Wave made the temperature rise, we have experienced a lot in those short weeks since. It feels like years instead of months. But it does not eliminate the need to transplant the plants in the cockpit."
We can convert most of the village huts to plants, at least all outside spaces. And we can do this while still sailing. Boats and hands we do not lack!" Mary said emphatically.
"But first, let's hurry on to Goslar," Tom said.

The big boats in front of the village, and the medium ones in front of the plane were again manned with the smaller boats trailing form the plane. Ropes connected all huts, and the plane, criss-crossing so that even the timid ones dared brave the open water in between.
Soon islands were seen in the water and once again line throwers were placed in all boats. The going got slower.
"This is dumb." Jan, the big man from Wieliczka said, and continued in Polish. "He suggests we split up, anchoring village and plane here, and then rowing all but the two small boats there with strong people, and dare I suggest Eva and that bow?"
"It's the need for haste versus the need for security," Allan summed up. But then again, If we run aground here, there's no telling how long it'll take us to get seaworthy again."
"We had good luck with sending out small groups," Mary said simply. "We had torches and flagpoles, Pete and George made it to Elsinore, over the Sund to Helsingborg and back to us again with the boats and Astrid and Bengt. That's double the distance or more, I think, than the distance from Goslar to Iberg. And we have boats now."
"Yes, well, should we vote?" Allan asked.
Everybody was asked aboard the plane, carefully, distributing the weight as per Tom and Hank's commands. Then first Tom, then Allan, Jan - translated by Danuta, Mona and Mary repeated their arguments and embellished upon them for all to hear. Then Allan suggested a vote again. "All in favour of splitting up raise your hands!"
Almost everybody did so. "And those against!" Only 6 people were against. Five of those were wieliczkans. One of them, a lady spoke and Danuta translated: "They say to not go alone. Be afraid of ambushes like the one they staged."
"I think," Mary said, "that we need be more afraid of people dying than ambushing us. How would you have looked today?" she asked, looking at the woman who had objected. After Danuta's translation of the question, she slowly nodded.
"For how long can a person survive without food?" Mary asked.
Fred answered. "Approximately 40 days, depending on how fat you are and other variables. Not walking and keeping warm would be essential. I'd say that if we find survivors in caves around here, they will pose not threat to us."

The floating village and the plane anchored at the Rammelsberg. At least Tom said that the north south coordinates were absolutely correct for Rammelsberg, ergo he concluded that this was where they were. They could see mountains rising to the south and east, and not so tall hills south and west; totally in accordance with what would be expected.
The boats were manned with rowers, reserves and what Allan called soldiers. Eva with bow and arrows, Robert with that bat of his, Jacek, the big knifethrower with selected knives, and so on. Also in the boats were lots of food, blankets, first aid things and hot soup in the thermos. Two small boats trailed in ropes after the bigger ones.
"We can manage with only three boats here," Mary said. "Just hurry up. The sun will set at 7 tonight. We'll keep a small fire going from before sunset and until after dawn," she added. "But I sure hope to see yo before then."
"Almost seven hours," Tom said. "We should be back before nightfall."

***

onsdag den 21. april 2021

Birch Manor - Summer - Part 6

They rang the bell next to Annas name, she still was Anna Berggren. but they knew this from their searchings.
"Anna speaking. What do you want?" her voice sounded on the comm device
"We're old schoolmates of yours," Susan said - she had cast the language spell on them earlier. "We've come to invite you to a reunion."
"Well," Anna said. "Tell me your names and the school."
"Knud and Susan from the 4H summer school," Susan said. "We're having our 50eth anniversary coming up this summer."
"Just a sec." Anna's disembodied voice said. "I'll be right down.
After somewhat more than a second, the door opened and Anna joined them. The blonde, archetypical Swedish girl had grown into a just as archetypical Swedish woman. Her hair was still blond. She was dressed in a shirt and a blouse neat, not quite a lady, but respectable.
"Let's go for a walk while we talk," Susan said "I'd like a soft ice. I have a soft spot for pear soft ice."
"There's an excellent soft ice stand in the park over there," Anna said pointing.
"Let's go then. It's a great day for a walk in the park." Knud said.
"We are Susan ans Knud," Knud continued. "Do you remember us from the Farm?"
"I'm not sure," Anna said. "I mostly remember being afraid of the horses there, and not being allowed in the big girls' group for that reason. It was not a very happy time."
"I think most of us have some bad memories from those summers," Knud said. That's why we organised this reunion. To get rid of all the bad feelings."

They bought an ice, Susan of course ordered a big pear ice cream in two colours. "Ohh, they look exactly like I remember them. I hope they taste as good too. We're living in Denmark, she said at Annas quizzical looks, "They don't sell pear soft ice there." She bit into the ice and voiced her satisfaction.
"And now, Susan said.  we want to show you something. We're still looking for more children from the Farm. You might be able to help."
"I think not, Anna sad. The only one I really remember is my brother and he died many years ago. Cancer took him."
"I'm sorry to hear," Susan and Knud said.
"But show me, I'll see what I can do, even if I'm not keen on this reunion thing," Anna said sitting down on one of the intricate green painted benches in the park.
"This old skirt," Susan said. "Do you remember who it belonged to?"
"Can I have it!" she asked. "I have a feeling, I've seen it before."
"Please," Susan said.
The skirt did its usual magic. Anna gave a start, and said: "Ohh. You fooled me. No, you freed me, my memories. It all comes back now. It was so not a 4H Farm after all. "Oh I'm so happy. My life seems to suddenly have expanded, found it's place. I don't know how to express it. But I see from your faces. You know!" Susan and Knud nodded in unison. "I'll be happy to come to the reunion," Anna continued. "When and where?"
"At our place, Birch Manor in Denmark. When is still to be decided," Susan said.
"Is there something I can do to help?" Anna asked.
"Most certainly yes," Knud said. "Can you help us find Helge?"
"I sure can. Easily," Anna said. "As a social worker I have access to the data base of all Swedes. But there were more than Helge. Many more. I remember The Eklund children and that older girl ... Ingrid. Have you found them already?"
Susan bowed her head, and Knud hawed and hemmed before finally speaking: "We found them, sort of. We found their obituaries."
"They died. All of them? How terrible." Anna said.
Susan decided not to withhold anything: "All the Eklund children, Harald, Bo, Lukas and Britta died from carbon monoxide poisoning in their summer house the first summer after the magic was lost. Ingrid died in a traffic accident only a year or so later. And that's not a unique thing. It's the same in Denmark, Norway, everywhere. Only a few left. Fortunately all us wandsingers."
"Wandsinger? Oh yes. I'm remembering more and more every minute. I think I've got a lot of catching up and work to do. Can I sing my own wand as well? Yes you did, I see, can do it too." Anna sat for a bit just looking at the trees and everything around her. Then she spoke again: "My holidays start Friday. I'll surely be able to look up Helge before then. And I could go and look for him during my holidays. Would that be acceptable?"
"It sure would be great and spare us a lot of work," Susan said smiling. "Here, you take this. It is one leg of Helge's old trousers, as a way of restoring his magic. Only fair to use it. I had them for mending. I often did, I was a quick seamstress back then."
Knud laughed an turned serious again: "By the way, Martine is the only teacher still alive, she lives at our place until further notice."
They exchanged addresses, phone numbers and other information, and Susan promised to keep her up to date with any and all news they had. Whereupon Anna promised the same. "One last question, I dare hardly ask. ... David, Torben and Tristan ... They are not still around? Are they?"
"As I said, all teachers except Martine are dead," Knud said. "That answers for Torben as well. He died at Tristan's place together with him. They were trying to make it big in aqua-places." Anna smiled sickly, and Knud continued: "And David is dead too. He died as the last as I still think of them as "post loss of magic deaths", 8 years after. Only your brother has died since."
"You knew?"
"Yes, we did. I stalked your Facebook profile and found the anniversary notice." Susan explained. "But I did not look much further. Only to find your address. We were not out to pry, only to find."
"Oh yes, I see," Anna said, "That notice pops up once a year, and as I'm not very active on Social Media any more, it's bound to be almost on the top."
They walked back to the station, Susan considering and deciding against telling of Tristan's sister. That could wait, and she was long dead after all.
"Hope to see you soon," Anna said as they boarded the ferry. Susan and Knud had remade their travel plans to visit Susan's home town and look for magic traces there.
"You're always welcome at Birch Manor," Susan called.

tirsdag den 20. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ R - Rejser

Hver dag klokken 12 kommer der et A-Z indlæg. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
     Denne gang en dag for tidligt. Der er ikke noget Q og i morgen er det onsdag.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day at noon a new A-Z post goes live. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.
This post comes a day early. There's no Q coming up and tomorrow is Wednesday.


R for Rejse  =  Travel

Tilbage i 2013 sluttede jeg et indlæg sådan her
     I København tog vi afsked med resten af gruppen, afleverede ministrantdragterne og begyndte vores hjemtur. Denne smukke springvandsmælkebøtte tog Minimax et billede af, før alt kaosset startede, og fik vores hjemrejse til at vare lige så længe som turen Firenze-København. Men mere derom i blogposten Et kaotisk døgn, der kommer senere.
Det må være på tide at bringe slutningen.

 - -   ✈  🚌  🚆  - -

We haven't been travelling this year, but back in 2013 this is how a post ended:
In Copenhagen we said goodbye to the rest of the group, handed in the mass servers' vestments and began our journey home. It was to become as long as the trip Florence-Copenhagen, and deserves its own blogpost - Our chaotic day - coming later.
The tale of our chaotic day is long overdue:

Vi begynder hvor vi slap: Københavns lufthavn med den smukke mælkebøttespringvand.
- - - - -
We continue where we left off, at Copenhagen airport by the dandelion fountain.


     Vi skulle jo bare hen i bilen og køre en times tid, så ville vi være hjemme, så vi skyndte os ikke. Vi var landet lidt over 12 om natten. Så inden vi havde sagt farvel til alle, fundet vore kufferter og fundet ud af lufthavnen i den rigtige retning, var klokken næsten 1. Vi satte os ind i bilen, de da også startede fint, men så ... håndbremsen der havde stået trukket en uge, ville ikke slippe. Vi rystede bilen, sparkede til hjulene, prøvede at køre, kort sagt alt det der plejer at virke. Det virkede bare ikke. Så der vat til sidst ikke andet at gøre end at tage bagagen og lade Zeppelineren stå.
     Metroen var forsinket, så vi vandrede ned igen og tog kystbanen. Da vi nåede Københavns Hovedbanegård, mødtes vi af lukkede trapper. Hovedbanegården var lukket! Det sidste S-tog hjem var kørt for et stykke tid siden. Så stod vi dér.
     Uglemor fik den geniale idé at så måtte vi jo kunne tage en natbus. Men inden vi havde fundet ud af, hvor den holdt henne, kørte den. Vi så den køre - Øv! Den venlige chauffør i en anden natbus fortalte os, at det smarteste ville være at tage med ham til en anden station, og derfra en taxa hjem. Så vi bumlede en tre kvarters tid gennem natten i en næsten tom natbus, og stod så af på en ukendt, temmelig forblæst station på kystbanen. Der ventede ikke én, men to taxaer, de havde nemlig ikke en der var stor nok til alle os. Suk. Vi blev så kørt det sidste stykke vej hjem medens det stadig blæste mere og mere. Taxachaufføren fortalte at de havde lovet en ondskabsfuld storm for det kommende døgn.
     Endelig klokken halv fem om morgenen stod vi foran vores hoveddør. Det havde taget lige så lang tid som bus og fly tilsammen. Så gik vi hurtigst muligt i seng og sov indtil vækkeuret ringede næste morgen klokken kvart i otte.
     Skribenten skulle nemlig til København og holde et foredrag.

 - -   ✈  🚌  🚆  - -

     We just had to go to the car and drive for an hour, then we would be home, so we didn't rush.
We arrived a little past midnight. Before we had said goodbye to everyone, found our suitcases and found our way out of the airport in the right direction, it was almost 1 o'clock. We sat down in the car, it started alrigth, but then ... the handbrake that had been used for week wouldn't let go. We shook the car, kicked the wheels, tryed drive, in short everything that usually works. It just didn't work. There was nothing else to do than to take our luggage and leave the zeppelin behind.
     The subway was delayed, so we walked down again and took a train. When we reached Copenhagen Central Station, we met by closed stairs. The main train station was closed! The last S-train home had left a while ago. There we stood. We got the brilliant idea to catch a night bus. But before we had found out where it departed, it had left. We saw it leave - Bugger! The friendly driver in another night bus told us that the smartest would be to go with him to another station, and from there take a taxi home. So we abled for three quarters of an hour through the night in an almost empty night bus, and then debarked on an unknown, windblown coastal station. Not one, but two taxis waited for us, as they did not have one big enough for all of us. Sigh.
While we were on the last lap home it became more and more windy. The taxi driver told us that a mean storm (his words) was promised for the upcoming day.
     Finally at half past five in the morning we stood in front of our house. We went to bed as soon as possible and slept until the alarm clock called us next morning at a quarter to eight. The Writer was going to teach in Copenhagen.

Her er Zeppelineren på en bedre dag.
 - - - - -
The Zeppelin from a happyer day.

Uglemor og Ugleungerne tog det roligt. Ingen af Ugleungerne gik i skole, men Trolden passede dog sine klavertimer, og kom gennemblødt hjem.
     Uglemor tog på indkøb, da Trolden var kommet hjem. Og ih, hvor det dog blæste. Så meget at Uglemor begyndte at frygte for at der skulle ske noget med Ugleboet. Men heldigvis havde de fornuftige Ugleunder lukket alle vinduer og lagt de farlige ting ned. Vi ryddede Ugleboets have for haveborde og stole, vandkander, stiger, drivbænke og hvad der ellers kunne tænkes at flyve væk.
     Skribenten var stadigvæk i København, og inden han nåede hjem, stod tog og busser stille. Han ringede rundt og fandt en ledig sofa hoes en ven i byen. Så Uglemor og Ugleungerne var helt alene hjemme i den værste storm i lang tid.
     Medens vi forberedte aftensmaden, hørte vi over stormens hylen en sær, rumlende lyd. Vi er vant til at naboens heste larmer temmelig meget, så vi tog os ikke særligt af det. Så skulle Uglemor hente lidt krydderurter. Udenfor mødte der et farligt syn. Et stort asketræ var væltet og dets grene lå hen over taget på udhuset, hvor farfar bor (Han var heldigvis ikke hjemme).
     Uglemor gik videre og hørte en sær, raslende lyd bagved. Hun sprang ind under buen, og hørte en tagsten ramme lige bag sig. Urgh. Nu var passagen lige bag hende fyldt af grene og tagsten. Heldigvis er der også en havedør, så Uglemor gik ind ad den, låste den, og trak gardinerne for alle vinduerne.
      Der skete ikke mere, selv om stormen tog til i styrke og det var meget uhyggeligt.
      I vores landsby var der adskillige væltede træer, flere tagsten blæste af kirken, og ting fløjet rundt over det hele.
 - -   ✈  🚌  🚆  - -

MotherOwl and the Owlets took it easy. The Owlets did not go to school, but Trolli attended piano lessons, and when he arrived home - drenched! - MotherOwl went shopping.
  In town she was almost blown away and hurried home with the next bus, afraid to find the Owlery hit by disaster as we have several old trees near the house. But the wise little Owlets had closed all windows and doors and everything was fine. We spent the next hour or so tying down and putting away.
  The Writer was still at work in Copenhagen, and before he was able to return, all traffic was stopped, and he had to phone friends in town until he found a place to stay overnight. MotherOwl and the Owlets were alone in the worst storm ever.

Darkness fell, and we started cooking. We heard some strange sounds, but ascribed them to the horses at the neighbours'.
  Then MotherOwl foolhardily left the house to pick herbs for the meal. Outside a part of a giant tree had fallen and the branches lay on top of  Granddad's house (he was not at home).
   As she continued, MotherOwl heard a scraping, rushing sound and jumped under the arch connecting the two houses. A wise move as branches and roof tiles fell from the small house. One tile just missing MotherOwl. As the way back was unsafe, MotherOwl entered the house via the garden door, made sure that all windows were closed and pulled all curtains tight.
  Nothing more happened, but it was very noisy and scaring.
   In our small village several trees had fallen, tiles were blown down from the church, and in general things had been blown around.
Og resultatet af den ondskabsfulde storm
Lidt af dette er en gentagelse fra Efter stormen.
 - - - - -
And the result of the mean storm.
A bit of this is a repetition from After the Storm.

mandag den 19. april 2021

Ⓐ - Ⓩ P - Påskekaktus

Hver dag klokken 12 kommer der et A-Z indlæg. Temaet er ekkoer, de løse ender, halve projekter, nye begyndelser, gyldne løfter og lokkende udsigter. Men jeg ville ikke være Uglemor, hvis ikke der sneg sig nye projekter og ideer ind i denne omgang A-Z også.
Ⓐ - Ⓩ
Every day at noon a new A-Z post goes live. The theme is Echoes, finishing touches, half done projects and endings. But I would not be MotherOwl if these posts would not contain more than a fair share of new beginnings and plans.

P for Påskekaktus, der slet ikke er en kaktus  =  Easter cactus, which is not a cactus at all

     For længe, længe siden viste Uglemor et billede af en overdådigt blomstrende julekaktus/novemberkaktus. Ingen i Uglebo kan huske, hvad der skete med den, men den findes ikke længere. Til gengæld er der en lille én, som stod ved siden af, uden for billedet, og kiggede misundeligt på den store med de mange flotte, hvide blomster. Den er ikke blevet meget større siden dengang, men lige nu blomstrer den med en eneste rød blomst!

-- 💞 🌵 🌸 --

A long, long time ago MotherOwl posted an abundantly flowering November/Christmas cactus. It is not alive any more, but nobody is able to remember what happened to it. Then, outside of the photo, a small cactus of the same variety was looking at the abundantly flowering one in envy. This small one is still alive, and today it flowered with one single red flower.

I morgen er det Q der står for tur. Det er ikke sikkert, at der kommer en post.
Tomorrow is Q. It's far from certain I can find a word.

Poetry Monday :: National Garlic Day

If you want to read some more poetry,  Diane and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings  write wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read.

  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month - may  we hope for more!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments, and helps out at topic supplying.

  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is taking a break due to her husband's recent passing from this world. Let's continue to send war
m thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way.

I have something more to ask of you: If you read this and the poetry of others, would you please leave a comment. Half - if not more - the fun of these challenges is receiving the responses of others.


I can find no rhyme for Garlic
It almost rhymes with warlock.
But vampires just hate it
and shun you if you ate it.
The morale of this verse?
Garlic makes nothing worse.


And this awful photo makes a
lie of the last line of my verse.
Garlic is filled with FODMAPs
and makes my stomach hurt!




Topics coming up:

The ocean or beach (From Mimi) (April 26)
The best thing about spring (From Mimi) (May 3)
Lost Sock Memorial Day. (May 10)
The anniversary of the patent of the rubber band. (May 17)
Favourite breakfast (May 24)
Memorial Day (May 31)
Best Friends Day (from June 8) (June 7)
Monkey Around Day (June 14)
Fathers (June 21)
Bubbles (June 28)

søndag den 18. april 2021

Sunday Selections - Hunting for Pink

En dag om ugen til at vise alle de billeder, man ellers ikke får set eller vist frem. Sjovt, alvorligt, trist, irriterende, men ikke noget sjofelt. tak.
     Ideen kom oprindeligt fra Kim at  Frogpondsrock, men nu er det Elephant's Child, der er vært.
     Dagens tema: pink og Enhjørningegården!

- - 🖼 - -

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.
Now Elephant's Child is hosting it.

The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to her blog.

Linking up with Life in Colour. The colour of this month being pink.
As pink is a very unusual colour in the Owlery. I had to searc my photos all the way bach to January to find something pink.

Pink Legos The Unicorn Farm edition:


The Alchemy corner

The greenhouse and the old gardener

A late-comers breakfast

Wandsinging - not overmuch pink