Service Announcement ~ Train Accident

If any of you have read about a train accident in Northern Zealand and wonder whether it touches me, the answer is that it does.

Fortunately neither me, nor any of my family members were in these exact trains.

One of the Owlets should have taken the next one, and had to take a replacement bus.

Because yes, this is our train, the one we travel with several time a week.


I feel sorry for the wounded train drivers, passengers and their family.

A-Z Challenge ~ T for Towel

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I plan to post the A-Z post around noon every day of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Towel.
The average today is 3,8 or moderately easy - I am below average today.

Wordle 1.769 3/6
🟩⬜🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Towel - The connection between towel and travel is of course Always remember your towel. One of the best advices from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

A Towel is about the most useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth ... you can lie on it ... you can sleep under it ... and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost."

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ S for Shots ~ Updated

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I plan to post the A-Z post around noon every day of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Shots.
The average today is 5 or very challenging - I am below average today - with some luck.

Wordle 1.768 3/6
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Shots - I cannot believe I never told this story, but search as I may, I find no trace of it. I hinted at this too in my Bucket list part two - the have done-list:

Seen forest fires and deserts grand.
I've been to many a foreign land.
How many? Well, I cannot count,
As many are no more around.
I've been shot at in Damascus once.
I've candied quince,
Dined with a prince,
And also stayed for days with nuns, 

... "I've been shot at in Damascus once." is the line here. 
As I vividly remember having told this tale in writing once before, I'm going to search some more.

I found it - maybe I posted it as a comment to a long ago post on shootings, anyway here it is:

I have been shot at in Damascus once ... Me and one other girl from the travelling school with buses were on our way to the harbour, walking down a street, talking, fooling around, trying to find our way, and totally only mending our own business. Then suddenly we heard some loud cracking noices. Firewroks, we thought, but then we heard a zing-like noise close to us, and saw a hole appear in a wall in front of us. They were shooting!
We looked back, a group of men stood there, guns (rifles I think) at the ready.We looked ahead, more men, more guns. Loud yells from one group was answered by yells, waving of guns and a single shot from the other end of the street. They were angry. Not at us, but at one another. We were just in the wrong place, and we wanted noting but out! The street was fairly broad, but the rows of houses went on unbroken on both sides, no byways, no door opnings to shelter us. But a telephone booth stood near by. Old, worn, some windows broken, but for us it was golden! The lower "windows" all the way round were made of metal. We dived in. Lay down half inclined on our backs. And then we waited, smoking cigarette after cigarette. We heard more shouting, more shots, some whizzing close by, one even hitting the top of "our" booth. When silence finally fell, we barely dared move. But looking out, we saw a clear street, no black clad, shouting men, no dead bodies, nobody in short. We walked off, hastily, but not running. And we never told of what happened, as we had been in the wrong.

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ R for River

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I plan to post the A-Z post around noon every day of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is River.
The average today is 4,5 or moderately challenging - I am well above average today even with a lucky guess.

Wordle 1.767 6/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Under B for Beach, I promised more of me, tides, and not learning from experience. I also hinted at it in my Bucket list part two - the have done-list:

I've worked at an assembly line,
And nearly drowned in tidal brine.
I drove a bus down hairpin bends,
so sharp that sparks flew from both ends.
I've swam at night into the sea
Been baked in sunshine, drenched in rain.
I've baked a bread from newcut grain
And pilfered mango from a tree. 

... "And nearly drowned in tidal brine" is the clue here.  Some days before the beach incident, we wanted to visit the desert across the river. We could of course have gone the long way around, up to the road, down the road to the "forbidden village", where the smugglers lived, and then further on along the coast to the desert, but this was a giant detour, as the desert lay just across the river from where we stayed. We decided to wade across. We stripped apart from underwear, and bundled our clothes in a nice bundle which could be held in one arm.
    The river was broad here, hip deep in the deepest spots, this we knew from earlier swims here.  There was a nasty spot in the middle, where it was at its deepest, and where the current was fast. We put our bundles up on our heads, and held onto one another with our free hand while crossing this stretch. But just as we all were there, in the deepest spot, the tide turned and all the water from up the river came tearing down, making the waters reach our chins and the current even more violent, We held onto one another and mashed our toes down into the stony bottom of the river bed, holding on for dear life and just hoping that we would be able to hold out until the worst was over. The river mouth was beset with jagged cliffs and boulders, so a slip would most certainly mean death.
     Just as we felt we were unable to hold on any more, and me and one of the boys were about to give up, we felt a lessening in the current, and we began carefully, only one person moving a any one time, to inch back to the bank we had left. The waters reached to our chin almost all the way to the bank, but soon we were out of the middle, and out of the current. We threw ourselves upon the grassy bank and just lay for a long time before moving again.

And now for today's Wordle:

Poetry Monday :: Superheroes

Hello! If you're here for my A-Z post for Q, please go back one post.

Poetry Monday is a blogging game invented long ago. Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings and I are keeping it alive until Diane @ On the Border returns home from her break of health and relaxation, travelling the world with her husband as far as we can tell.

We just hope she's going to take back over once she returns home.

The prompts now come from 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group. This is a Facebook group with a prompt for each day of the year, but no worries, the prompts will still be here and at Mimi's blog.

Today's prompt is: Superheroes

I have written before of my dreamt-up negative Superheroes. Here, here, here, and here.

It is not that they themselves are negative, far from, they're really good superheroes. But their superpower is that everything not belonging toi the place it is in now, lights up in negative colours. This is quite a superpower if you think of it.

But they are a sad bunch in these modern times. I give you

The Superheroes' Lament:
We are the Superheroes, we
We see much more than you do see
And everything that should not be
Light up in colours gaudily

A beer can glows in neon pink
A lost receipt in magic ink
A waste of powers you'll agree
Now think of all that cannot be:

We'd find the keys you lost today
We'd find the kittens gone astray.
But our powers locked stay
on all the crap you throw away.



- - - - - - - - - - Coming Themes  - - - - - -

taken from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and other Arts group.

Apr 27 Plaid
May 4 Back pack
May 11 Futuristic Landscape
May 18 Balcony
May 25 Scooter
June 1 Blue
June 8 2 minute Sketch
June 15 Cobweb with Dewdrops

A-Z Challenge ~ Q for Queue

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I plan to post the A-Z post around noon every day of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Queue.
The average today is 4,8 or moderately challenging - I am average today.

Wordle 1.766 5/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Queue ... During my travels in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, I have seen my share of queues.
The first few times we saw a queue, we simply queued up as did everybody around, because we supposed something valuable was to be had at the end of the queue. But after standing in line for a long time in inclement autumn weather for umbrellas and fake wool suits, we learnt to send a person up to the the head of the line to espy what exactly we were queueing for.

We had been told that that there was no unemployment behind the Iron Curtain, that people ate well and that children and young ones were well educated and everybody worked for a brighter future.
    I had a hard time reconciling this to what I saw and heard. When we went shopping for instance, we saw shops that were more often than not half empty and it was a time consuming endeavour to go shopping. Once inside the store, we queued up more times. First we stood in one line to place our order, often asking for several things not in stock until we hit on a compromise item. We got a note with the price, then waited in another line to pay and get a receipt to go with the note, and then in a final one where we handed in the note and got the now carefully wrapped item. Guaranteed full employment, sure, but what a glorious waste of time.

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ P for Palms

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day until the end of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Palms.
The average today is 4,3 or moderately challenging - I am well below average today with a lucky guess.

Wordle 1.764 3/6
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Palms ... We saw lots of palm trees on our journey through Egypt and Sudan. I'd like to re-tell a bit from earlier, as it contains palm leaves. We - seven of us - were staying in a small village some hours' walk from Loa - which is fairly close to Nimule on the Uganda border:

  The women in the village amused themselves by putting us to all sorts of jobs we couldn't manage, like washing clothes and grindin sesame seeds. Then when we were messing around with a tub and a washboard, the women, laughing and teasing, pushed us away and, gesticulating and talking loudly, showed how to do it. The boys experienced the same thing, being set to weave cages from palm leaf stems. It looked easy when one of the men did it. With a knife, he split the stem into four, drilled a few holes here and there, split another stem, folded and bent, and poof, he had made a small box with a lid that could be opened able hold 3-4 kg of tomatoes. The boys' first attempt was not good, to put it mildly, and there was much laughter.

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ O for Ocean

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day until the end of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Ocean.
The average today is 4,5 or moderately challenging - I am still at or just above average.

Wordle 1.763 5/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩


Ocean ... Have I ever actually sailed an ocean?

I do not think so. It depends largely on your definition of an ocean. I sailed the Mediterranean sea - which according to some sources is a part of the Atlantic ocean, but I think it's not. Anyhow this trip was quite dramatic. We're still back in time, travelling to Aftica in old buses. We left the buses behind in Latakia, Syria and went to Egypt and Sudan.
 
We boarded a Russian passenger ship in Latakia bound for Alexandria, Egypt late one Thursday evening in September ... but the ship did not set sail until next morning.

We had a storm, a humongous one. The trip, that should have taken us only one day, took three. One morning the sun rose, at the starboard side of the ship, and later set in the very same spot. After the first morning we had our meals handed to us in vomit bags - and nothing to drink. The crew on the Russian ship was of the conviction that drinking made you sick. Of course we raided the bar for Russian Pepsi-cola, and drank it down. When we could get any, that is, because the sales persons were sea sick, and the bar was closed most of the time. One of the boys was big and brawny, and not afraid of anything. He went and spoke to the captain, and from then on one of the ship's crew manned the bar, and we bought and drank until the bar ran out. It was well stocked with drinkables for a one-day trip, but this one lasted three.
I do not remember what we did then, but I had one of those Russian Pepsi bottles with me on the whole journey and for long after - until it broke, actually. It was closed with a flip-top. Don't ask me why I brought one along for the journey, but I did.

Even if a lot of us strangely did not become sea-sick (we slept out in the open on the deck instead of down below in the stuffy cabins, I do not know if this helped) it was tiring to be thrown around all the time. And the noises were incredible. The propeller of the ship often went above sea and turned round with a whining sound, shaking the ship,  until it again submerged. Me and a few others went to look at it, and were chased away by the crew, the big waves washed over the deck and it was dangerous.

When finally we made it to port, we were not in Alexandria at all, but in Port Said. Still Egypt, but far off the mark.

And now for today's Wordle:

Knowing now what I answered Mimi: Wordle has 12,966 valid five-letter words. Out of which, 2,309 words are official answers. 10,657 are available to use as guess-only words. I think that there's quite a lot obscure words among the solutions.

A-Z Challenge ~ N for Nomad

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every dayuntil the end of April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Nomad.
The average today is 5,5, or very challenging -- I am still at or just below average, and I could have done better, guess number four was not smart, as I knew this could not be the solution. But even after getting it, I was not sure of the meaning of today's solution and had to look it up after.

Wordle 1.762 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟨🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Nomad ... Yes we met nomads while travelling.

In Egypt, we took a train from Cairo to the Aswan dam - more I hope later.
As we rode the train through the desert, where we experienced a sandstorm, the train stopped in small towns or near villages. Once the train stopped in the middle of the desert. There was a building next to the track - more like a glorified bus stop, open to one side with an overhanging roof. I guess it was for shelter against sun and rain for waiting passengers. Three men, dressed in flowing robes got off here and started walking purposefully away over the endless sand. As far as we were able to see - and we looked at the men for a long time - there was nothing but sand and the ruler straight line of the train tracks with the stop, dwindling in the distance.
Our guess was that those were nomads, due for the nearest oasis.

And now for today's Wordle:

Words for Wednesday :: April 15 :: Only the Words

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
    When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
    Now, after Sue's demise, River has taken the mantle of coordinator upon her shoulders.

No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.

This month the words are to be found at Mimi's blog: Messymimi's Meanderings.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging words.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

And for today we were given:
Shell
Deck
Chest
Proof
Dawn
Effective
    and/or the following words which are seldom used any longer
Brabble — a loud, dumb argument
Izzard — the letter z
Picaroon — a scoundrel


Sorry, I got lost in Unicorn Farm, trying to nail down and correct an elusive error.

Writing might happen later.

A-Z Challenge ~ M for Mango

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day all through April.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Mango.
The average today is 5,6 very challenging -- I am still well below average:

Wordle 1.761 4/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Mango fits nicely with travelling in Africa.

On our way through Sudan we once waited for a bus. We were told that the bus would leave at six in the morning from the market. We were at the market a bit early, because having a seat was a free for all. Only there was no bus. We asked as well we could, the people at the market for a bus to Loa. They pointed at the giant mango tree growing next to the river close to the road, And on our question of 'When' they held up six fingers and said Seta which means six in Arabic as well. So we sat ourselves under the giant mango tree and waited, and waited.
We took turns going to the market for food - more triangular breads with beans, ripe fruits and bottled water.
We even pilfered some mangos from the big tree after seeing some local children doing so - one for each.
Slowly more people arrived, all bound for Loa on the six am. bus - which finally arrived a quarter to eleven and left close to noon ;)

And now for today's Wordle:

Anyone comparing will see that my solution to share - those small coloured squares - and this one does not tally. It's because I mistakenly solved it using yesterday's spare word, Latte. Discovering my mistake, I opened Wordle in my other browser - which is not really compatible with NYT's page and "solved" it there. On purpose using the same number of guesses, and the same words except for the starter word.
As the overlay, where you can click on "Share" and have those coloured squares, is an 'underlay' in the other browser, the share-button is hidden by the Privacy policy link.
Here's my original, using Latte:

And how the other browser looks with 'underlay':

I can - sometimes - make the underlay go away by refreshing the page - the X in the corner does not work. But the 'Share'-button is never accessible.

A-Z Challenge ~ L for Lands

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day except Sundays.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Lands.
The average today is 6 or very challenging -- I am absolutely below average today, which is a good thing to be when playing Wordle ;)

Wordle 1.760 4/6
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Lands as in dry lands describe the opposite of oceans, but it's also a synonym for country, as in foreign lands. And when travelling, this is what you do; visit foreign lands.

Today I'll bring a boring list of the foreign lands I have already visited. This was my first choice for this years A-Z, but as I have not visited countries for all the letters, I had to find a new theme.

A
Andorra
Austria

B
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria

C
Croatia
Czechoslovakia- now split into: Czech Republic and Slovakia
Czech Republic

D
Denmark

E
Egypt

F
Finland
France

G 
Germany
German Democratic Republic - now united with Germany.
Greece

H 
Hungary

I 
Italy

J 
None

K
Kosovo - a bit of a cheat, as not all recognize this a s a country.

L 
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg

M 
Monaco
Montenegro

N 
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway

O 
None

P
Poland
Portugal

Q 
None

R 
None

S 
San Marino - A cheat, see below.
Saudi-Arabia - A cheat, see below.
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sudan
South Sudan - A cheat, see below.
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria

T 
Turkey

U 
United Kingdom - Only England

V 
Vatican

Y 
Yugoslavia - now split into: Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia

Z 
None

This makes for three continents:
Europa, where I visited 33 out of the 43 now existing countries.
Asia, where I visited only three countries.
Africa, two (now three) countries visited.


Cheaters:
San Marino: We sat on the wall surrounding this small state, and hearing that we actually sat on the border, I stretched out my right arm, and leaned as far as possible without taking a tumble, so at least a part of me has been in San Marino.
Saudi Arabia:  I was in transit in the airport of Medina for four hours ;)
South Sudan: Sudan and South Sudan was still one country when I visited. But I went to Khartoum and to Juba - both of the capitals.

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ K for Kiosk

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day except Sundays.

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Kiosk.
The average today is 5,3 or very challenging.  I am a bit above - or is it below? - average:

Wordle 1.759 6/6
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Kiosk is a Turkish word, but they now exist all over, and I'm once again going to Africa.

When travelling to Africa I belonged to a group of people in a bus, a Danish travelling school. In our buses we drove all the way there - meaning that we went through DDR (German Democratic Republic), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Syria, where we left the buses.
We arrived to Egypt by boat, and travelled by train, bus, boat and whatnot all the way to Khartoum in Sudan and back again.

Over Christmas we spent some time waiting in Khartoum ... I no longer recall for what or for whom we were waiting, but it was a much needed break. We spent the waiting time in a hostel of some kind. Lots of small rooms in a three winged, low building, with all the doors from the 6-bed rooms leading out to a porch surrounding a green yard. The third side was taken up by trees, a wall, some buildings and a kiosk. This kiosk delivered all kinds of to us exotic foods. We were frequent customers, we enjoyed the food, we washed us and our clothes, we wrote letters, drew, sung and relaxed.
    On Christmas eve I recited the gospel from memory, and next day we had presents from home. A big bag of mixed candy, mostly liquorice, which most Danes love, and which is not to be had south of the liquorice-line, placed somewhere in central Germany - Netherlands.

And now for today's Wordle:

And I think today's Wordle deserves an advertisement for the Pen & Paper solving method! At least it saved me from a Fail today.

Sunday Selections :: Digger ~ Colour26 Søndagsbilleder :: Gravemaskine

I do not know why this digger fascinated me so much. Something about the contrasting colours and the "King of the Hill" way it was parked.

Jeg ved ikke lige hvorfor denne her gravemaskine fascinerede mig. Det var noget med farverne, og så noget med at den stod parkeret deroppe på toppen af jordbunken.

Next day it was doing the digger's version of sawing off the branch you're sitting at.

Næste dag var den i gang med gravemaskinens ækvivalent til at save den gren over man selv sidder på.

And then I saw no more, because the bus, I was waiting for was arriving - it can be seen over the top of the hill to the left.

Og så kom bussen - som man kan se over toppen af højen til venstre - og jeg nåede ikke at se mere.

And I misremembered the colour of April. It is not blue at all, but green. Well the fields at least are green.

  --  💚  -- 

Og månedens farve for april er altså grøn, ikke spor blå! Så må markerne bare tælle i stedet.

A-Z Challenge ~ J for Jails ~ Updated

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day at noon my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!).

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Jails.
The average today is 4 or modertely challenging -- I am above average, but want to blame my starter word:

Wordle 1.757 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟩🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Jails and travelling do not have much in common, unless we include some time travelling in this - but this story'll have to wait, I'm busy and just jumped in to post a bit delayed.

Jails are not normally mentioned in the same breath as travels. But let's travel first just a bit and then far back in time.

The frst Jail
- For many years I lived in Elsinore. Late one night I visited the pub, where I drank chocolate milk and played pool. Just before closing time I had a pineapple soft drink. I took the half filled bottle with me when the pub closed and began walking home. I did not make it far, walking in the pedestrian inner city, before a police car pulled up next to me and an officer told me I was under arrest. I asked why, and he told me that I very well knew. I did not know of any crime, and raked my brain ... what did I do? I only felt guilty of the very minor crime of stealing the soft drink bottle from the pub (they were, and still are, subject of a deposit of like 0.20 €).
At the police station, I was sat on a stool, asked to take off my outer garments, empty all pockets and hand over all this and my bag - containing a diary/poetry/drawing book, some pencils, a scarf, cigarettes, a lighter, a bike lamp, and some paper towels - as far as I remember. I was allowed to keep and drink the soft drink after the officer sniffed at it.
I sat on the stool for a long time, now and then the officer, that sat typing away at the desk looked up at me, and I looked back at him. I tried asking him why I was detained, but he only replied that I was under arrest, and he was not allowed to answer any questions. I asked to use the toilet, but no, I could not.
After a couple of hours -- it was now nearing four o'clock in the morning, the cathedral almost next door marked the passing time with bell strokes every quarter hour -- the two original officers from the car returned and said that they were very sorry, it was a case of mistaken identity, I was free to leave.

Elsinore is famous for Castle Kronborg, the castle where Hamlet plays. We only visited when we had visitors form far away, strange thing that you never visit the sights of your home-town.
    Deep down in the dungeons there's a small, very disgusting jail reserved back then for tough criminals, and the king's enemies. It is triangular, the bars making out one of the sides of the for a start equilateral triangle. But the bars were movable, and were moved steadily closer to the back walls, so that the prisoner in the end was not able to lie down, and if he did not break down from this, water from the moat could be led into the underground cells. The prisoners here did not survive for very long.

This was today's rambling time travels.

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ I for Inlet

 ⚠ Warning! This post contains the answer to today's Wordle ⚠
⚠ Proceed at your own risk ⚠

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day at noon my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!).

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Inlet. This was the solution Wednesday -- Strangely the same thing happened last year with Hazel. But unlike then I did not make a fake 'solve in one' for today. That I solved it today at all was sheer luck. I did not even know the word!
The average today is 5,3 very challenging -- I am still average:

Wordle 1.756 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟨⬜🟨
🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Inlet and travelling fits nicely together.

When travelling to Africa we drove all the way there - meaning that we went through DDR (GDR), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Syria - I was there with a group of people in a bus, we belonged to a Danish travelling school.

I remember one beautiful morning ... we had been driving through the night, and now it was early morning, somewhere in Czechoslovakia. The dawn broke, and it was like in the song, Morning has broken ... I had to stop the bus and admire the view over the mountains, down to a lake with trees all around and a small, sea green boat just leaving an inlet, bright and clear in the sunrise.
We all went out of the buses and just stood there looking. It was as if the world was created all anew just for us.

And now for today's Wordle:

A-Z Challenge ~ H is for Hamam

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day at noon my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!).

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word was to have been Hamam. But unlike in Danish and Turkish, Hammam in English has two m's in the middle and thus did not fit. I solved today's Wordle using another travel-related H-word, but I'm going to stick with hammam for my short story.
The average today is 4,3 -- I am still average:

Wordle 1.755 4/6
⬜⬜⬜🟩🟨
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Gnome and travelling - how does this fit together?

When travelling to Africa we drove all the way there - meaning that we went through DDR (GDR), Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Syria. We spent a long time in Turkey, driving almost all the way to the Turkish-Iranian border. This was because the original plan was to go to India, but we reached there mid-November 1979. Remember the Iran hostage crisis? So we turned around, bound for Africa instead.

Driving through Turkey in November was tough, it snowed, it rained, mud and snow made for lots of vehicle pushing, the vehicles broke down and needed repairs. In short, we were often in need of a bath. And luckily even the smallest of hamlets normally had a hammam. Beautiful buildings, with vaults and water, lots of water, hot water, and soap, and towels. Heaven for the frozen and dirty traveller. In the smallest hammams boys and girls were separated in time, in the larger we had separate wings, but anywhere, big, beefy women or men - according to your sex - stood ready to scrub you clean with big chunks of soap and dry you off with big, coarse towels. The hammams were not always impeccable, but the towels were pristine, and all of one's body tingled afterwards. A glass of hot and sweet tea tea at the nearest tea parlour finished off the treatment.

And now for today's Wordle:

Words for Wednesday ~ April 8

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
    When Delores closed her blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over the role of coordinator.
    Now, after Sue's demise, River has taken the mantle of coordinator upon her shoulders.

No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.

This month the words are to be found at Mimi's blog: Messymimi's Meanderings.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on Mimi's or River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging words.

It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

And for today we were given
Elegant
Limited
Spontaneous
Bother
List
Pin
    and/or the following phrases:
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch (meaning do not rely on something you are not sure of)
Par for the course (meaning what you would expect to happen)
A piece of cake (meaning a task which is easy to accomplish)

After digging up Susan's trip to Sweden, I felt like returning to Unicorn Farm. I also took up my old challenge, to use the words in the order they were given. The story ran away with me, and ended up quite somewhere else than I imagined. I hope you enjoy it anyway. I did not use the phrases, this might or might not happen later on.

Thora entered the classroom, elegant as ever, Susan envied her, she always felt clumsy, not dressed for the occasion or somehow sticking out. On the other hand Susan did not care enough, she could easily find more interesting use for her limited free time than ironing shirts or skirts or doing her hair. Also she had a propensity for spontaneous trips to the woods, the beach or to a farm, and she did not like her clothes to hamper or bother her in these endeavours. She ended her line of thoughts with more points to her own casual style as Thora swished her wand, and a long list of strange ingredients appeared on the blackboard in Thora's usual flourishing golden letters.

Susan read along, as did many of the others, Kalle and Anna were in the middle of one of their sibling rivalries and sat quietly pinching one another, while Marja and Paula, the Birch sisters were demonstratively inattentive.

Thora did not acknowledge the disturbances with as much as a raised eyebrow.

When the stylus stopped writing, Thora asked the apprentices on the green team to pinpoint the odd man out on the list.
Small papers flew through the air, and Susan looked at hers. It read:
- Which ingredient:
- Why:
- Bonus. What should it have been:

Susan read through the list once more and decided that stinkbug wings did not belong. Now she had to find out why. Very soon it came to her. All the other ingredients were inanimate or plant matters, this was the only animal part. She wrote this down too. And what should Thora have listed? Hmm, the stink-part seemed correct, but she did not know any stink plant. She looked through the window, thinking. She did not hear Anna and Kalle moaning when pinched by animated lobster claws, of course conjured by Thora, neither did she notice the creeper vines that not so slowly wound around the birch sisters, tying them to their chairs.
Of course! A stinkhorn! that was what was missing, Now it was clear to her, this was the ingredient list for the stinking cloud-potion. She wrote this and the stinkhorn on her paper and looked up.

Then the began having second thoughts. It had been too easy. Where was the trap? She started re-reading the ingredients list on the blackboard, but then she noticed the tied up sisters and the claws snipping at Anna and Kalle. She knew the possible cause for their being punished -- their eternal sibling bickering - but what had the Birch sisters been up to? Anna was beginning to tire, and the big claw came nearer and nearer to getting a good grip on her thigh. Before Susan could get to her wand, Kalle noticed his sister's plight, and turned his wand and his warding spells at Anna's claw, which promptly disappeared in thin air. Anna was a fast learner, so when Kalle's claw dived in for a nip at his nose, Anna gathered the last of her powers and made it go away.

"And now," Thora said to the Swedish siblings, "now I'd like you to use your brains on today's problem instead."
Red-faced and shameful they both began reading the list. Susan also returned her attention to her paper, only to realize that it had been  magically prepared to return to Thora when filled out. Now she could do nothing more than hope that her first intuition had been right.

A-Z Challenge ~ G for Gnome

This year again I choose an easy way out. Each day I'm going to solve the Wordle of the day, using as starter a word beginning with the letter of the day. I hope to post every day at noon my time (GMT +2. Dang you DST!).

As the alternative badges, as supplied by Lissa suggest travel I'll prefer travel-related words as starter words, and if at all possible, I'll avoid words containing the same letter more than once.

I'll maybe add a few words about my chosen starter word if fancy takes me and I have time and energy for it, else I'll just post the solution - or not in the case that I did not solve it.

Today my starting word is Gnome. It was not that bad, and as the average today is 4,8 I am average once again:

Wordle 1.754 5/6
⬜🟩⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Gnome and travelling - how does this fit together?

When traveling to Salzburg with my family , long time ago now, only the two biggest Owlets were brot back then, we visited the Gnome-garden (Link in German, but with pictures). Some of the gardengnomes carry baskets, and e put the Owlets into them and took pictires - oldfashioned paper ones, they can't be shown here.

Salzburg has a special meaning for me, because just like Maria von Trapp - yes the one from the Sound of Music, I have sat on the green benches at Rezidenzplatz, wondering if my future lay up in Nonnberg with the nuns, or in a family. You can read my old post in this here.

And now for today's Wordle