Poetry Monday :: Lemon Meringue Pie Day

It is Monday - Poetry Monday!
 Diane - who has taken over the hosting of  this challenge - and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings - who supplies us with many of the topics - are also writing wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read them!
  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments.
  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is slowly returning to blogging after her husband's passing from this world. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way, now that her mum's health is in need of a prayer too. But still we dare hope that she will join Poetry Monday again.

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The theme for today is: Lemon Meringue Pie Day. I never heard of this special pie until today, and did not really know what to do or say. So instead of big versed in praise of said pie, two humble haiku must suffice. 


Lemon meringue pie?
Meringue is crunchy and sweet
lemons are tasty

Mix them together
how will it taste? I wonder
I like pies - Let's try!

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Next Monday: Be an Angel Day

Fredagsfrustration - Nethandel

Friday Frustration Internet Shopping.

For English see below the picture.

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Nej, jeg er hverken blevet snydt eller udplyndret, eller har fået noget andet eller ringere end det jeg ønskede mig. Jeg er bare frustreret!
I går aftes fandt jeg nogle fine sylteglas frem,. Jeg havde købt dem meget billigt i et supermarked for et års tid siden, da syltesæsonen var slut og sat dem op til de andre glas. Da jeg hev dem frem, manglede gummiringe og lukkedimser! Det var altså derfor de var så billige! nogen havde hugget det fra pakken. Øv, Jeg tog selvfølgelig ned i mit lokale isenkræmmer og spurgte efter sådan nogle - det var nemlig hvad jeg gjorde sidst. Men nej, den slags småting sælger en velassorteret isenkræmmer ikke i vore dage. Hjemme igen ville jeg lige finde ud af, om man overhovedet kunne få sådan nogle. Det kunne man sagtens - i en netbutik. Jeg skal bruge to poser gummiringe til mine 12 glas.

I butik 1 koster en pose gummiringe 14 kr, to koster så 28 kroner, og dertil kommer porto: 49 kr. I alt at betale 77 kr. Og så tager det 1-2 hverdage, så de ville nok ankomme på tirsdag.

I butik 2 er ringene billigere, 12 kr pakken, jeg har stadig brug for to = 24 kr. Men så er der et håndteringsgebyr, når jeg nu køber for under 100 kr. på 39 kr. og fragt. 95  kr. I alt 158 kr. Og de ankommer nok også først på tirsdag.
Butik 2 tilbyder gratis afhentning ca. 5 timers togtur fra Ugleboet, nej tak, det koster nok væsentlig mere end 134 kr.

Butik 1 tilbyder fri fragt, hvis jeg melder mig ind i deres klub, hvis man groft sagt giver dem lov til at kontakte én på alle mulige måder, telefon, email og sociale medier, og til at bruge alle de informationer, de finder der til markedsføringsformål - med andre ord, sælg din sjæl for 49 kroner ... også nej tak til det tilbud.

Det værste ved historien er nok, at det er de her netbutikker, der er skyld i at den lokale isenkræmmer ikke længere fører den slags småting. Og jeg fatter stadig ikke hvorfor nethandel er vokset så meget. Den fragt er dyr jo, og så tager det tid ... og man kan ikke prøve, klemme, mærke, lugte osv.

No, I have been neither cheated nor robbed, nor have I received anything different or inferior to what I ordered. I'm just frustrated!
Last night I found some nice jars of jam. I bought them very cheap in a supermarket a year ago when the jam season was over and placed them with the other jars. When I pulled them out, they were missing rubber rings and metal seals! That was why they were so cheap! Someone had nicked those pieces from the crate. Bummer, Of course I went down to my local hardware store and asked for some - because that's what I did last time. But no, a well-stocked hardware store doesn't carry that kind of small stuff any more. Back home, I wanted to find out if you could even get some. I could - in an online shop. I need two bags of rubber rings for my 12 glasses.

In shop 1 one bag costs 14 kr, two are 28 kroner, plus postage; 49 kr. In total 77 kr. And with delivery within 1-2 business days they would probably arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.

In shop 2 the rings are cheaper, 12 kr per package, I still need two = 24 kr. But then there's a handling fee, because I buy for less than 100 kr. that's 39 kr. extra. Then postage: 95 kr no less. In total 158 kr. And they probably won't arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday either.
Shop 2 offers free pickup about 5 hours train ride from the Owlery. No thanks, as this will cost me significantly more than 134 kr (not to speak of 11 hours spent in trains and buses).

Shop 1 offers free shipping if I join their club, where you roughly allow them to contact you in all possible ways, phone, email and social media, and to use all the information they find there for marketing purposes - in other words, sell your soul for 49 kroner. No thanks to that offer as well.

The bugger is that the reason my local hardware store does not carry these any longer is probably because of the online stores. I still fail to see why online shopping has become so big.

Spelling Bee - Word Games - Bragging

Among the Word games I like to play, Spelling Bee, Wordle, and the Danish Wordle-look-alike called Wørdle, are my favourites. I solve those three almost daily. And I have spoken earlier of Wordle and Wordle literature in this blog.

Spelling Bee is both easy and hard: find as many words as possible using the 7 letters in the bee pattern, always including the central letter in the yellow hexagon - letters can be reused. There's always at least one word called Pangram using all 7 letters and giving max points (14) Four-letter words, the shortest accepted gives 1 point each.
  You can always find some words and get mildly irritated that your clever words are not accepted by the game. Midden, Kale and Bunyon for instance are obviously not words!

  One thing buggers me though; that unlike Wordle and a lot of other games, you cannot finish this one without a subscription. You are limited to the rank Solid which is, I guess, around half the way done and preceded by: Beginner, Good Start, Moving Up, and Good.

  For long I have been speculating that it should be possible to reach the next rank after Solid by guessing the Pangram at the right time. This Tuesday I succeeded:

The next rank is called Nice!

Words for Wednesday -- Aunt Jemima's Garden 2

The words appear on Elephant's  Child's blog every Wednesday in July, put together by herself.

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This meme was started by Delores a long time ago.  Troubles led her to bow out, but the meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator.

  Essentially the aim of this meme is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given some prompts. These prompts can be words, phrases, music or images.
  What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...
  We can use some or all of the prompts, and mixing and matching is encouraged.

  Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. This fun meme includes cheering on the other participants.
  And the more the merrier goes here as well, so if you are posting on your own blog then please tell us in the comments, so that all other participants, can come along and applaud.

The Words are:

Cold
Rugmaker
Guiding
Thursday
Forever
Both
     And/or
Farm
Lights
Club
End
Moth
Away

I am - once again -  continuing the story of  Susan and her friends. And so far I used the first set only - in the order they were given of course 😉

It was cold in the attic, and Heidi stood in front of the fire for some time before reading the address, it was far away and they were disappointed. Heidi looked up the address in an old telephone directory: "Aunt Jemima's husband was a rugmaker," Heidi said in a disbelieving voice. "I always thought he was a politician of sorts."
"Couldn't he be both?" Susan asked, "politicians are chosen, no 'elected' is the right word, I think, every second year ..."
Lis raised her head from her book: "No, every fourth year, only they disagree so much that we have elections more often than that."
"Thanks," Susan said, shaking her head over Lis' ability to read a book and listen in at the same time. "Election every fourth year as a guiding line and oftener if they disagree too much. Anyhow Aunt Jemima's husband could very well be a carpetmaker when he was not elected."
"Sounds right," Heidi said, He could not even be sure to have a job for more than two years as a politician, not so good."
"I love elections," Susan said smiling broadly, "we have that day off school, and they use the gym for the election, so no PE for at least a week, two if we're lucky. And then you go voting with mom and dad and are given sweets."
"Oh, we do this too!" Heidi said. "But why are elections always  on a Tuesday, never Monday or Friday that would be so nice?"
"It's not 'always'," Lis raised her head from her book once more: "last time it was actually on a Thursday. You better be happy it's always a school day, in many countries elections are always on a Sunday."
"Ohh!" Heidi said, "I won't complain. Sunday, terrible!"

It took forever before Heidi and Susan had a day off school and everything else at the same time, but finally they were on their way by trains and buses, as they were still not allowed to teleport anywhere, and there were no portals leading near their destination. They had brought along a humongous picnick basket, a blanket, mosquito oil, spare clothes and all the many, many thing both girls' parents deemed necessary for such an outing.

Poetry Monday :: Zucchini-sneaking

Poetry Monday - that's today!  Diane - who has taken over the hosting of  this challenge - and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings - who supplies us with many of the topics - are also writing wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read them!
  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments.
  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is slowly returning to blogging after her husband's passing from this world. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way, now that her mum's health is in need of a prayer too. But still we dare hope that she will join Poetry Monday again.

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The theme for today is: Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbour's Porch Night. Poeming happened in my head in the early hours of the morning, unfortunately in Danish. A half-rhymed translation is given, sorry.

Når nattens mørke falder
i lillebyen X,
da ser man lyssky herrer
bag hver en havehæk.

Når nabo A har høstet
sin høst af dagens squash
han sniger sig med byttet
til nabo Bs altan.

Mens nabo B i ly af natten,
snigende og tyst som katten
lægger sin last hos nabo C.

Og C han lister stille
i mørkt og gråligt tøj
med squash til nabo A
der bor på samme vej.

Når nattemørket viger
og dagen bryder frem,
de vågner alle glade
hver i sit eget hjem

Men glæden varer ikke længe
når de står ud af deres senge,
de møder nattens værk.

 - - - - -  

With the descending darkness
in the small town of X,
you see shadowy figures
behind most every hedge.

When neighbour A has harvested
his harvest of day's squash
he sneaks in with the loot
to neighbour B's porch.

While neighbour B under the cover of night,
stealthy and quiet as a cat
drops his cargo at neighbour C's.

And C is quietly sneaking
in dark, lacklustre clothes
with squash for neighbour A
who lives on the same road.

When the darkness gives way
to early break of day,
they wake up free and happy
each in their little home

Alas the joy is short-lived, and turning into fright
as they rise from their beds to meet
the labours of the night.

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Next Mondays topic: Lemon Meringue  Pie Day.