Preparing!

What I did with a few minutes of my spare time today:

... making drafts for Poetry Monday and Words for Wednesday for the next 8 weeks or so. Every time I use one from now on, I'll make a new one, so that when New Blogger steamrolls me, I have at least 7 weeeks where I do not have to wrestle Labels and pre-posting (dates) in DNB.
   I hope this is a stitch in time, and I won't be forced to leave Blogger when the New Blogger hits. I'm still stubbornly changing back every time I'm given the new platform, but some day - soon I'm afraid  - that option won't be available any more.
  I just hope Blogger has ironed out all bugs and missing features till then.

Poetry Monday :: Kitchen

  Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings has supplied us with Kitchen for this Modays essays in rhyming and versification. 
   Diane of On the Border will surely once again overshadow us all with her equilibristic wordsmithery. 
   Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is taking a break due to her husband's ill health. Her news are dire, and not the least uplifting even though a name for the beast has been found. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy and lots of prayers their way. 
  And here are my own meandering verses: 

My kitchen is messy
More often than not
We cook and we bake there
The oven is hot!

My kitchen is smelly
From pickles and spice
from pots that are steaming,
and not always nice.

My kitchen is noisy
with clashes and clang
And often the door
is slammed with a bang.

My kitchen is lovely
We talk as we cook
We often try new things,
and go by the book.

My kitchen is quiet
when day's work is done.
We stand in the twilight
just watching the sun.

My kitchen is fragrant
From berries and jam
From thyme and from sage
that roast with a lamb.

My kitchen sure is
a contradictory spot
But though it is smallish
we love what we've got!


Next Mondays theme is Books!

WfW - Christmas at Unicorn Farm - part 2

River at Drifting through Life is supplying us with Words in September. From Wednesday 2nd. I stil l had some unused words:

patch - setback - dropout - espalier - trace

It seems I'm unable to write for very long, as my brain runs dry. Now I used two more words, and there's still more story left to tell. Let's hope for a continuation. Even though this peaceful day is not what I envisioned. Stories - even half autobiographical ones - have a life of their own.

When they reached the parking site they experienced a setback to their plans. A family in an old blue car was just arriving and the girls reached the patch of wild roses hiding their broomsticks. "Now what," Rósa asked Susan. Now we wait," Susan answered. "We'll say we're waiting for my dad to pick us up. If they ask. They won't stay for long, at least I think so. It's cold, they're not going to swim or something as if it was summer." Susan and Rósa sat down one the big boulders and placed the bags between their feet. As expected, the lady came over to them. She was wearing a baby on one arm, and a small girl held her other hand. The man stood at the water's edge with an older boy. From the smell he had been sick.
"Hello, and merry Christmas!" the lady said.
"Hello and Merry Christmas to you as well," Susan answered, while Rósa smiled at the baby, and began talking to the small girl.
"What are you doing here?" the lady asked, just as expected.
"Waiting for dad to pick us up," Susan answered. "We wanted some fresh air after what felt like hours in the car, and we volunteered to go shopping, while he and mum unpacked the car. He'll come for us soon."
"Fresh air, yes I can sympathize, and Brian there even more I suppose," the lady said with a smile to them and an anxious look to the pair at the water. "Are you also on holiday here."
"Yes," Susan answered, "I suspect we're not that many celebrating Christians on this island."
"We're having a small party one of the days," the lady answered, "it's kind of become a tradition." The man and the boy returned from the water.
"Are you OK. now Brian?" the lady asked.
"He'll be OK," the man said. "Let's drive on, then I can go shopping while he relaxes in the hammock and you take care of the two small scoundrels. Then when I return, we can unpack. If you can get the heat going, and put a kettle over for coffee, I would be a happy man," the man added smiling.
"I'll certainly try," the lady said, "Those two were smart," the lady said with a nod towards Susan and Rósa.  "They went shopping and got some fresh air, while mom and dad unpacked the car."
"Smart girls," Brian said. "I'll remember."
The small family said their good byes and drove off. The little girl kneeling on the back seat and waving until they could no longer see the car.
Then Susan and Rósa hurriedly got on their brooms and flew off direction Unicorn Farm.

... to be continued

Link in New Blogger

  Somewhat more than a year ago, I made a post on how to make a link in Blogger. It is one of my most read posts. Now the time has come to make one like it for New Blogger.
  MotherOwl proudly presents:

How to make a neat link in a comment New Blogger version:

1.
 Go to this page and make a new post. It should be easy, as you do this often ;)

 2.
Write a relevant word: I choose "Link":

3.
Mark the word, and choose Link (funny icon like a broken chain) from the menu bar (I have to first choose ••• and then Link, because I enlarged the size and the menu bar does not enlarge).

4.
Tick off open link in a new window (the one ticked off in grey), and click on "Insert link here" (or something like it - sorry my Blogger speaks Danish 😀) the letters turn small and blue.

4.
Copy the relevant link from somewhere (here from one of my WfW posts) and paste it on the red line. Select USE (or whatever - the orange word in Capitals) or hit Enter
I use "Ctrl + C" to copy and "Ctrl + V" to paste.

5.
Now your post looks like this. Press the pencil to the left, marked by a red circle:

6.
Press HTML - the ＜＞. Your post looks like this:
Mark the text from ＜a  to a＞ and copy it (Ctrl + C) you don't want a new line along with your link.

7. 

Press the ＜＞ and choose Compose again - at the pencil icon - to make your editing window look normal next time around.

8.
Go to the comment you were writing, or wherever you're writing something needing this link. Write your comment / post / whatever.
At the right place paste your link using "Ctrl + V".  It'll look like this:

 Choose "publish" and voila.

NOTES
- Take care to not inadvertently publish this post 😉 
- I keep a draft with links for copy/pasting. Then I just need to edit the link instead of starting over every time I need a link.

WfW 2 September - Christmas at Unicorn Farm

River at Drifting through Life is supplying us with Words in September. Today we were given:

1. pipes and drums band
2. patch
3. setbacks
4. garnish
5. rubble
6. costly

and/or:

1. dropout
2. espalier
3. sari
4. cloudless
5. trace
6. fabric


  I sat down, fully expecting to write a sombre piece of someone dropping out and reducing a part of Unicorn Farm to rubble, but the words would not collaborate, and instead this happened. 
  I did not use all the words, and there's more story to be told, I just ran out of steam for today. I hope to continue later with the missing words. 

This happens in the second Christmas holiday at Unicorn Farm. Wizards and witches from other schools and academies have come visiting, and the Lion Dancers from Germany among them.

As Christmas day dawned at Unicorn Farm, Susan crept over to the window in the key-room, where she had slept together with Knud, Anna, Kalle, Kirstin and Rósa. The room had grown to accommodate more of them, and with it the number of beds. Susan peeped through the curtains, it was a cloudless day, perfect for the party they had planned.
  They were served a wonderful breakfast in the Barn, the Nisser did their very best to cater for all the exotic guests, Susan saw a lady dressed in a sari made of a costly looking golden fabric, and Rósa almost choked on her hot cocoa, when she caught sight of some of the members of the pipes and drums band from Scotland wearing kilts. Kirstin pounded her on the back and tried to hush her at the same time. Some clansmen were very touchy in matters concerning their attire.
  After breakfast they were set to work. Susan was sent off to buy some radishes, as the Nisser insisted on those to garnish the dinner, and obviously somebody had eaten the ones already purchased during the night.
  "I did not eat them," Susan insisted, "why do I have to go shopping? I'd rather help Knud and Kalle level the rubble on the road."
  "You go shopping," Thora said. "You know the island and the shops, and you know how to look normal. We can't send someone dressed in outlandish dresses, who does not speak the language, and generally acts strangely. Being suspicious would be a major setback for this school."
  "Oh, yes I see," Susan said. "I'm sorry I was so recalcitrant. Do I have to walk all the way, or can I fly as far as the parking lot on the beach. Nobody's down there this time of year."
  "You see why you have to go shopping?" Thora asked. "Nobody else knows where people go and where not. Being unobtrusive is a good ting. Take Rósa along with you, and ask the Nisser if they need anything else; and yes, you can fly. But don't get caught doing it!"
  "We won't. Thank you!" Susan said and ran off to find Rósa.
  Together they ventured into the kitchen. Timidly they asked the the Icelandic nissewoman, as she and her husband were the youngest and less set in their ways and feelings of propriety. They were handed a long list of things to buy, and promised to return as fast as possible.
  As Susan had suggested, they followed the beach below the cliffs to the southernmost parking lot Nobody was down on the beach this early on a cold, clear winter morning. The cliffs grew lower and lower and as they reached the bushes on the nearer side of the parking lot, they dismounted and deactivated their brooms. The parking lot was a rather small space, hemmed in by wild rose bushes on two sides, road and beach making the other two, and ten or eleven cars was all it took to fill it up. They hid their brooms in the bushes and walked the rest of the way to the grocery. They were able to get most of the things in the shopping list, only not radishes. The shopkeeper suggested that they buy a humongous white root instead. He called it a daikon, and said it tasted almost like a radish.
  "We'll take it. Thank you." Susan said. "They need it for garnish. I'm sure they could dye it if it has to have red rims." Susan also paid, and together they succeeded in putting all the stuff  into the two bags they had brought along.

... to be continued.