Day: May 30, 2016

Lest we should forget

Though the sky glows gold
There’s something cold about it
A hint of silver.

Before midsummer
A hint of autumnal dark
Lest we should forget.

Now a wind blows up
The sky is deep pink-blue mauve
And the leaves are dark

A threat or warning.
Don’t miss those important days
When life slips away

Now the sun has gone
A moment before night falls
I send all my love.

But   out in Warsaw
The last train for Moscow leaves
Ghetto life begins

Time is a circle
Elena will not die yet
In the promised land

 

Why not boil the kettle?

 

Dotty cats 2

 

When Mary got home,she took off her coat and put the kettle on the fire!She got the tea caddy out and put some tea into the pot.Suddenly the door burst open and Annie her exuberant neighbour fell into the kitchen
Are you ok,Mary asked her gently.Those 4 inch heels are rather dangerous.
Annie was wearing a sky blue track suit,red stilettos and a big green pashmina. Her  make up had  melted all down her face as she was so warm with running.She had  some waterproof make up but had the feeling it might be dangerous to clog the pores.
Where have you been?She asked curiously.You were ages.
I forgot to get off the bus as I fell into a reverie.
That sounds like a black hole!
I was daydreaming so I ended up by the river and a policeman asked me for a date,sort of.
Did you have any dates with you?
No,I only had Stan in my bag,alas.
Where is he?Have you put him into the wardrobe?
It’s already full.He’s still in the bag at the moment.
The two women    fell into a sad  mutual silence realising Stan would never now teach Emile to swim in the bath nor return his overdue library books.
Am I liable for his fines,Mary wondered.
I can pay if you like,Annie,said generously.She got out some home made biscuits and gave one to Mary who was wearing a  long black dress from Lands End which resembled a nun’s habit.
Are you thinking of  retiring to the cloister soon ,she continued.
No,I don’t believe in Christianity any more.Christ.yes,Christianity ,no.
What about Xmas?Will you celebrate?
I shall pray and do out the kitchen cupboards.
Are they that bad,asked Annie curiously, twiddling a ringlet with her fingers.Possibly,Mary giggled!
They didn’t teach domestic science at Oxford!And Mother was always busy cooking and cleaning the grate after she got home from work.
Talking about grates,I’d better look at the kettle.She lifted it off the fire and held it up in the air.It was very black on one side,just like the one Mary’s mother had had so many years ago.
Why don’t I make some tea,she asked.
I don’t know,said Annie.Is this the Xmas quiz?
No,you don’t understand.It’s a rhetorical question.
Oh,do stop  showing off,Annie told her.I only went to Knittingham Polytechnic and we  never did Greek,just Aramaic.I have forgotten it now.
Mary poured out the tea into two pint sized mugs and the women sat silently warming their hands on the mugs and meditating on the  wilful backwardness of the local poly which now only taught Latin,Hebrew and chemical engineering.The latter was an error as the professors thought that was what Wittgenstein had studied before finding Bertrand Russell more attractive.
Russell’s paradox had taunted Annie ever since those happy student days.Whereas she being a lady with a very high libido would have preferred Russell to his paradox if she had been given the choice.

 

Mary oversleeps

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Photo by Mike Flemming

Annie went onto Mary’s patio at 10 am and  began  to water her many  tubs.The watering can was filled with rain water though the weather was now  a  little drier.Emile ran behind her admiring her  tight  black jeans from Calvin Klein and her red blouse from Bowlands of  Wrath.Suddenly the bedroom window opened and Mary leaned out.
Hi Annie,I have not gone away after all.I
Why not? asked her caring and dear  neighbour loutishly.
Well,I completely forgot because I was out last night meeting a man from Soul-mates and got home so late I slept right through the alarm.
A pity you didn’t bring him back,said Annie licking her lips.
I cant  bring any man here so soon,Mary   informed her.I rang the hotel and cancelled my booking.With the weather so  odd even Blackpool Illuminations would not cheer anyone up.I didn’t know which clothes to take either.
Isn’t it interesting that as we get better off we get problems like that,remarked Annie. When we were young we had so few clothes we had no trouble  packing.
Mary laughed.My first year after University I bought two cotton dresses  in Woolworth’s.I thought they were  ok but later discovered they were almost transparent.Anyway we wore them  and threw them away.But now few women wear dresses.Look at you in those jeans and you a pensioner!
Annie gazed up to Mary, revealing her  thick Revlon skin polish and L’Oreal cream  rich foundation in golden grey-beige.Her parted lips were coated in moisture rich coral lipstick by  Mussolini and Co. of Argentina and Vienna.
Mary was wearing a long nightgown made of pure nylon decorated with photos of cats of all breeds.Emile had given it her for her birthday.He had managed to type it into the google box on his laptop paying with Stan’s credit card from the Bank of Vichy and Nice,France.
I want some tea,Mary said.Soon she appeared in a  polyester house dress from Daxon of Paris and the Ruhr. lt was covered in   pictures of snakes.
Why,those snakes are rather horrible, Annie said.
I know snakes are in fashion but I shall avoid them.I saw some trousers in Marks but they might give a man the wrong impression.
That is sexist ,Mary told her shyly.They might give a lesbian the wrong impression too.
Oh,dear. Isn’t life hard now when we have to be so careful what we say.I wonder if it is because of social alienation and the rapid changes in demographics that we need rules when before we knew all our neighbours and they knew  us.With strangers we need more rules.
I agree, said Mary defiantly.And I just saw a book called “Compassionate Assertiveness Training”She laughed.
Shall we send one to Donald  Trump.Can you  believe what America is like if a man like that can be President?
Well,it’s a democracy so if Satan lived there he could stand if he had  the money..
The two  women suddenly fell silent.Emile was puzzled as they rarely paused like this once they got going
Is he the anti-Christ, purred the little cat.
Satan or Donald Trump? asked Annie.
Well …. we’ve never seen Satan as yet…But we must watch out in case he comes here to punish the weak and the sick.
Well that gave them all a moment of wonder before Mary grilled some bacon and cut some bread from a loaf she got   in  the Victoria Bakery.
Here you are,she said to Annie,handing her a sandwich.Better eat anyway,whatever happens.Give me some  hot tea,quick
And so pray all of us.
For he’s a Bally Woodfiller,
He’s a Wooly Sad Triller
And all day so are us.

I am filled with May

I thought that there were no good  rhymes for ebb
And so I could no sonnet write today.
But  then I thought of Adam’s stolen rib,
And how the Lord enjoys a  little play.

I thought there were no rhymes at all for flood
My competence was at its lowest ebb.
But then we saw  old trees ,astonished, bud
And I wrote this upon the world wide web.

I thought no word could ever rhyme with neap
And so I fell into a writer’s dock
The sight made all the singing blackbirds weep
And hence I raised my head from off the block.

I thought I’d write  no poetry today
But  now I have and I am filled with May.

The One You Stop is You by Michael Rosen

We met me in a shelter
waiting for a bus.
We said we didn’t like me
I was afraid of us.

We stood in my way,
to stop me getting on the bus,
but the driver would only drive
if I was on the bus.
So we all got on
as I was one of us.

A poem by Elizabeth 1st with “ebb” in it

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44219

For falsehood now doth flow, and subjects’ faith doth ebb,
Which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web

 

 

What does ebb mean?

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ebb
ɛb/
noun
noun: ebb
  1. 1.
    the movement of the tide out to sea.
    “the tide was on the ebb“
    synonyms: receding, going out, flowing back, retreat, retreating, drawing back,abating, subsiding;

    rare retrocession
    “the rocks were revealed by the ebb of the tide”
verb
verb: ebb; 3rd person present: ebbs; past tense: ebbed; past participle: ebbed; gerund or present participle: ebbing
  1. 1.
    (of tidewater) move away from the land; recede.
    “the tide began to ebb”
    synonyms: recede, go out, retreat, flow back, draw back, fall back, fall away,abate, subside;

    “the tide ebbed in the afternoon”
    antonyms: come in
  2. 2.
    (of an emotion or quality) gradually decrease.
    “my enthusiasm was ebbing away“
    synonyms: diminish, dwindle, wane, fade away, melt away, peter out, decline, die away, die down, die out, flag, let up, lessen, decrease, weaken,dissolve, disappear, come to an end; More
    antonyms: increase, intensify, intensification
Origin
Old English ebba (noun), ebbian (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch ebbe(noun), ebben (verb), and ultimately to of which had the primary sense ‘away from’.

Mike Flemming’s Butterflies

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http://home.btconnect.com/mike.flemming/butterfl.htm

If you  enjoy my brother Mike’s photos why not visit his butterfly blog? You will find an amazing collection.I think most of us love these small flying flowers.

Stan fell over the rug

Stan got out of bed and tripped over the cat ,Emile, who was lying on the orange fluffy Stan fell into a large armchair that he didn’t recall seeing in the bay window So he sat there gazing across the room waiting for his wife Mary to come out of the bathroom.Emile sauntered insolently to the door and disappeared.

With his peripheral vision, Stan saw Annie,his next door neighbour ,talking to the milkperson.No doubt she would be arguing about her bill as she frequently did on Saturdays.She was rich but greedy,not an unusual combination as Schopenhauer once might have said.He opened the lower window and waved.”The milkperson waved back  feebly.
What’s up with her?” thought Stan patiently.Suddenly the doorbell rang.There was  a Parcel force  engineer with a sackful of books from Amazon
“Where are you going to put these?” Mary smiled.
“I’ll find somewhere” he repled curiously”.Some are for Laura our talented daughter.”
“But her bedsit is full already”
“Don’t you think it’s time she bought a flat.She’ll be 47 next year.”
“I’ll lend her some money for a deposit.”Stan quoted eerily.
“And it’ll be your 82nd birthday next October” Mary paused momentously,
“What would you like?A gift voucher for Amazon.”she said sarcastically.
“Lovely,” Stan said absent–mindedly.”You’re always at home with a good book”
“I’ve just been recommended to try Cynthia Ozick.She’s from the USA  and is Jewish.In fact although she’d not been to Europe in early she wrote a book about the Holocaust so convincing that many people thought she’d lived through it in one of the Concentration Camps.”
“Well,I’ll make enquiries about that.Thank you my sweetheart.”
“By the way,Sophie and I are going to Brent Cross clothes shopping later.”
In Knittingham?” he queried.
“Yes,it’s odd.Someone went down town yesterday and there was the Brent Cross Shopping Centre right outside the Town Hall”
“You’d better go while you can, though the wardrobe won’t close even now.”He said with a twinkle in his eye.Although Mary was 78 she still loved to look charming and trendy with ear rings,make up, stiletto heels the lot.Her   favourite colour was purple,sometimes mixed with orange.She once tried to get a job with Missoni but the pay was too low.She was a great weaver too as well as making her own bread.Stan often longed for a taste but he had to buy his own. Since all their pension was from his earnings,  though of course her hard work in the home was a big contribution,Stan thought that was mean but he had never understood Mary,although she was his third  and most beautiful wife
.Somehow he had never quite got the hang of women….was he perhaps gay without knowing it?  Of course when he was a young  man ,it was  still illegal but that would not have stopped him.No,he had just never met the right woman and he was unwilling to have another divorce.He already had 34 children and two exes to maintain and on his school master’s pension it was tricky.
So he was staring out of the window at Annie their neighbour in her see through  nightie.Was she sending him a signal?The excitement was wonderful until he got a sharp pain in his chest
“.Oh no Angina” he thought “Mary can you ring 999 quickly, “I’ve had a bad pain for 54 minutes”
“Where’s your spray?”she said coldly,knowing full well she had hidden it under the rug.
“Why it’s here  in my pocket!” he cried.He opened his mouth and  leaning the bottle against his chin he opened his mouth and sprayed it under his tongue

“.Isn’t life exciting? I could be alive  again at any moment.” he whispered
With no cause or warning his armchair fell to pieces and he flew forward like a balloon onto the bed. He found it delightful.There was adulterous  Annie,his neighbour, beside him looking very suave and dishevelled
“Is this heaven?” He anxiously enquired of Rafael the Archangel who was passing through the room.
“No ,you’re in Casualty”.Your good wife Annie found you unconscious in a wheelie bin and sent for us at once.”
Annie smiled heroically and ate another icecream mars bar she found on the trolley.Maybe this was her chance at last
.”Will you marry me?” he murmured civilly.
“If you live,I’ll consider it,” she giggled.”I already have plenty of engagement rings .Will Emile be the best man?”
“Well that would be an economy as he already has a morning suit,” twittered Stan on his blackberry as he fell asleep.And he and Annie could cycle to the church with Emile in the bike basket…. an economy indeed!But what about Mary?Where was she?

Stan’s birthday

Roscoea_SnowyOwl2016

Tomorrow will be Stan’s birthday.
What does Mary have to say?
She’s cooking him a roast beef dinner
Despite the fact that he’s a sinner.
He has a mistress right next door
And they make love on  her floor.
But Mary’s mind is very broad.
In fact, in her way, she’s quite awed.
Don’t you feel glad and surprised
To see the spark in these old guys?
See them love a lady’s kiss,
Who,in these arms, will feel warm bliss!
See them walk around the park,
Taking photos of the larks!
See them lying in a hide,
Looking at birdwatchers’ guides.They love women’s natural charms.
So throw yourself into their arms.
We can play musical chairs.
and see which person will be ours!
Love the one you have near you.
Then she will be happy too.

Mary has a large iced cake,
Topped with words from William Blake.
“Kiss each passing butterfly,
Joy will then be your ally”
Well,Blake may have written more sweet than I.
Still,let’s live before we die.
Fear not life,for all is well.
I can see,so I can tell.
Happy Birthday ,Stan and friends,
Birthday greetings we all send.
May you have a lovely year.
All your friends and neighbours cheer

Debonair

Merriam-Webster LogoCeanothus_TrewithenBlue2016
SINCE 1828
Dictionary
 debonair
play
adjective deb·o·nair \ˌde-bə-ˈnair

Simple Definition of debonair

  • of a man : dressing and acting in an appealing and sophisticated way : fashionable, attractive, and confident

Source: Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary

Full Definition of debonair

  1. 1archaic :  gentle, courteous

  2. 2a :  suave, urbane <a debonair performer>b :  lighthearted, nonchalant

debonairly adverb
debonairness noun

See debonair defined for English-language learner

Examples of debonair in a sentence

  1. Their history, past and recent, may be scribbled with viciousness and deprivation, but thedebonair politeness, the good humor, of the Irish I met, who are still among the poorest people in the West, gave me to believe that calamity breeds character. —G. Y. Dryansky, Condé Nast Traveler, November 1994

  2. Cary Grant is the center of the action and, at this pivotal point in his career, he is suspended between the heroic and the debonair. —Andrew Sarris, Video Review, September 1990

  3. Wyndham Lewis arrived for a stay in Paris and he was a different man from the Lewis of London. He was free and easy and debonair. —Robert McAlmon et al., Being Geniuses Together, (1938) 1968

  4. a debonair man in a suit and top hat

  5. <his debonair dismissal of my inquiry concerning his financial situation led me to believe that nothing was wrong>

  6. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Did You Know?

In Anglo-French, someone who was genteel and well-brought-up was described as “deboneire” – literally “of good family or nature” (from three words: “de bon aire”). When the word was borrowed into English in the 13th century, it basically meant “courteous,” a narrow sense now pretty much obsolete. Today’s “debonair” incorporates charm, polish, and worldliness, often combined with a carefree attitude (think James Bond). And yes, we tend to use this sense mostly, though not exclusively, of men. In the 19th century, we took the “carefree” part and made it a sense all its own. “The crowd that throngs the wharf as the steamer draws alongside is gay and debonair; it is a noisy, cheerful, gesticulating crowd,” wrote Somerset Maugham in 1919 in his novel The Moon and Sixpence.

Origin of debonair

Middle English debonere, from Anglo-French deboneire, from de bon aire of good family or nature
First Known Use: 13th century

Related to debonair

Synonyms

blithe, carefree, devil-may-care, gay, happy-go-lucky, insouciant, lighthearted,lightsome, slaphappy, unconcerned

Antonyms

careworn

Related Words

blasé (also blase), breezy, cavalier,nonchalant; casual, easygoing, informal,laid-back, low-pressure, relaxed, unfussy

Near Antonyms

earnest, grave, serious, serious-minded,somber (or sombre); careful, cautious,heedful, wary; anxious, concerned, upset,worried; long-suffering, overburdened,sorrowful

My bacon

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I found some bacon in the fridge with today’s date so I thought

I know what to do,I’ll cook it and then keep it in the fridge and use  it for sandwiches…. so I put it in the frying pan  on a low heat and went to sit down for a new minutes… you can guess the rest…it might make one sandwich… possibly.How time flies when you are playing with a camera….

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