I’m joining in Susanna Leonard Hill’s Halloweensie Writing Contest as this looked a bit of fun, what with my blog theme this month being Halloween stuff and nonsense!! The word limit is just 100 words, excluding the title, so given that I decided to write a poem, which is a bit of a challenge for me as apart from writing haikus I don’t normally write poetry.
The Contest: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words costume, dark, and haunt. Your story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, but it will only count for the contest if it includes those 3 words and is 100 words (you can go under, but not over!) Get it? Halloweensie – because it’s not very long and it’s for little people 🙂 (And yes, I know 100 words is short but that’s part of the fun and the challenge! We got over 130 fantastic entries last year so I know you can do it!) Also, you may use the words in any form – e.g. haunt, haunts, haunted, darkness, darkening, costumed, whathaveyou 🙂
My friend Hugh invited me to join in on his Breakfast photography challenge, a recent idea after he and I joined Instagram. I usually have a bowl of cereal, a cup of bog standard tea and bite into an overripe banana, but today to make it a bit more special, I chopped up the overripe banana, and arranged it nicely. Then I decided to go French, and have a croissant and jam. It looked nice on a flowery plate but I reckoned it needed a few finishing touches, so I added a bit of pot pourri, a few leaves of my begonia plant, a fun Halloween apple with a bug in it, my favourite mug, which also happened to have apples on it, and not just any old tea but red bush vanilla! But, it still didn’t quite look right so I rummaged in my fridge to get the strawberry jam out, and I put a huge dollop on top of the warmed croissant, crowning it with a single slice of banana. I love bananas so that seemed appropriate, the crowning glory in my leisurely Sunday Breakfast!
Result: Oh La La!!
It was very tasty, though I didn’t eat the begonia leaves, pot pourri or the bug, no I had to draw the line somewhere.
Everyone else is still fast asleep, the house is silent. No snoring, rumbling, nothing. This is unusual. I keep on waking up so early, my mind is too active! I reckon it’s all those scary books!! In fact this morning I had that annoying dream, you may have had it? The dream in which the door bell rings in the early hours of the morning and wakes you up. Ugh, how inconsiderate, especially on a Sunday. Nasty dream, never mind, I had a lovely breakfast and now I can write. So that’s a plus!! When my hubby and daughter wake up it will be croissants all round!! I shall have to do an Instagram virtual croissant for my eldest who is at University in Brighton. She will be gutted.
Do you have a favourite breakfast? I know that I had mine many years ago when I was in Malaysia, I couldn’t quite reproduce it today, sorry Hugh. If I could I would! It was a large chapatti style pancake with a spicy sauce for dipping, loved it!!
I’m thrilled to be taking part again, this is only my second week! Bit of catching up to do. Hurrah!! What am I up to? Julia at My Red Page’s Camera Lucida Photo Challenge.
an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.
a gesture or action used to convey information or an instruction.
a notice on public display that gives information or instructions in a written or symbolic form.
For this week’s prompt I wanted to focus on doing a light-hearted post about funny signs rather than a serious photography post.
PART 1 : THE MYSTERY OF THE PARKING LOLLIPOP LIFEBUOY
My photos didn’t come out too great so with that in mind I thought I’d challenge myself to do this funny post. How can I make fairly boring photos interesting? Apply a sprinkling of humour, a bit of an adventure, a dollop of Tintin and Snowy mystery… Me hopes.. to spice up these photos.
My first photo to the left of the trio of mediocre-ness is odd, the yellow out of focused sign says: Have you paid for parking? Don’t worry it didn’t speak to me personally I just read it while I was waiting at the bus stop. Also that yellow STOP sign painted on the ground on that far right photo caught my eye. I think the other folks at the bus stop probably thought I’m a bit loopy taking photos of it and its neighbour a round circular object that isn’t a lollipop. The yellow parking sign is placed right beside a sharp incline with wild grasses and plants growing, no car park immediately behind or near it. Of course it makes sense if you know that you can park and ride at this site. So no real mystery after all or is there? Of course there is a mystery there has to be or else this post would be oh so dull. Here’s a clue: wonder of wonders there is a red lifebuoy next to it. That one’s specially for Julia, I know she likes the colour red. There is no lake or river here, and never has been as long as I’ve been in residence in Cambridge so why would I park my yacht, or possibly my rubber dinghy nearby, and then get a bus? More importantly why would I need saving? The Tintin and Snowy plot thickens. Don’t disappear meet them in PART 2 BELOW.
PART 2 Tintin and The Stone Wall To Nowhere.
Then I found the answer, I walked through the park to the other side of town looking for more strange signs and I came across this beauty for you dog walkers out there, apparently when your dog poos, fire comes out of its a**. That’s a revelation to me!! What have you been feeding your dog? Chillis, curry sauce, hot paprika? So that’s my answer to this peculiar mystery, I need saving from doggie poops that combust by themselves! Who needs fire lighters for BBQ’s, oops that’s getting a bit too much. Moving swiftly on. Let’s get serious now, be good citizens, don’t let your dog off its lead just in case it tries to sneak through a stone wall.
Back to the parking issue, and to my friends Tintin and Snowy my final photo’s caption is NO PARKING GOODS ENTRANCE. What? There is nowhere here to park your car, yacht, or dinghy either, just in case you’re wondering. There is just a solid brick wall, this does not count as an entrance for your goods. They’d have to be invisible goods to get in there. Ah magic and wizardry, perhaps this is a stone wall to nowhere. I’m so curious – what is behind those bars on that window? I hope there isn’t a prisoner in there …… Really there’s no way in, and no way out either. I’m not kidding, it’s kind of getting a bit Dr. Who ish…. Snowy would be relieved to know that even a little spider couldn’t get through those crevices, believe me, let alone you and your trusty dog on its lead. Maybe there is scotch whisky in there, now that would get Snowy on the trail, he like a little tipple. If Dr. Who is busy with his tardis lets get Tintin, and Snowy on the trail, this sounds like an adventure for a man and his dog. I loved those books as a kid, The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. I must re-read! We could call this Tintin adventure The Stone Wall To Nowhere, or just simply The Stone Wall, that sounds very Tintinesque.
Anyway, getting back to reality, (a bit,) I suppose you could smash a window and get in that way, but your dog and Snowy might not approve, he or she might think it is a very bad idea. Let’s face it he or she just wants to go to the park. To do a you know what…. Sensible dog… Fire extinguisher at the ready. Call the fire brigade!!!
Hope you enjoyed my wacky contribution to Camera Lucida, I enjoyed writing this so much!
It’s a bit of daftness to keep you entertained at the start of the week. Happy Humorous Monday, Folks….
Oh if you fancy writing a piece of flash fiction, or a short story about this theme do have a go, I think it would make for fun reading…… I might write one too….
Bye for now. I’ve got to get my shades on and play poker with my imaginary dog, see you later!
This guys waving at you and that’s ok, he’s quite beautiful from afar but you sure don’t want to get up close and personal and you definitely don’t want to stand on him. He’s a sea urchin, also archaically known as a sea hedgehog.
You can see the resemblance. But this guy’s kind of cute.
This hedgehog really is a bit of a sneaky fellow, hiding away, a bit like his cousin the Sea Urchin.
Don’t mess with Sea Urchins, guys, I’m talking from experience, well second hand experience. My youngest daughter stood on a Sea Urchin whilst on holiday in Greece. The Sea Urchin may have great senses but it had no idea she was about to make this mistake, as they don’t have eyes. Shame, they can move with their adhesive tube feet but how was the urchin to know? It was a terrible experience. She ended up with thirty spines on her foot, and each one of these little darlings had to be removed individually by hand with the sharp point of a needle. No anaesthetic. My husband had some job holding her down. She looks slim and delicate but don’t let that fool you she’s wily and strong. She screamed the resort down. The resort doctor didn’t seem at all sympathetic, maybe this happens so often she’d just anaesthetised herself to any emotional response, too many unprepared tourists standing on sea urchins. But, my poor daughter was so disturbed by this unfortunate event that she developed a bit of a phobia for needles. Well, a massive phobia and this fear of needles continued for some time.
After all that, you’d think that she would have hated the holiday but no, she loved it. It was a wonderful opportunity for her to join in the watersports, hang out with new found friends, but it was one of those holidays when every possible accident that could happen did happen, and they all happened to her. In the space of two weeks she stood on a Sea Urchin, cut her foot on glass, banged her head on the pool, had an asthma attack whilst out swimming (in the middle of the ocean, as she tried to swim back to the boat we were on.) She managed to get a tick in the ear, and even got stung by a fairly innocuous jelly fish. Yes, it was such a memorable holiday, a veritable catalogue of accidents! Amazingly she still had fun, and kept on smiling, kids are so resilient aren’t they? But I have to say it wasn’t one of my favourite holidays.
So it’s no surprise that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with these creatures. I love them with their spines removed, but I hate them with their spines intact.
These spineless cute darlings.
Having said that there’s no doubt about it Sea Urchins are beautiful in their own way, even with their spines. But don’t forget to view them from a safe distance!
Maybe You Might Like To Plant a Sea Urchin Cactus?
Or Create Pretty Sea Bed Mats
Interspersed with colourful sea urchins
How about a Sea Urchin Snowman?
Sea Urchin snowman
Or a Sea Urchin Lamp?
And light up your way!
Bored? Grab some pencils and make a Sea Urchin.
Hungry? Some people even like to eat them, in the West Indies, slate pencil urchins, are eaten. Sea Urchins are commonly eaten by the Alaska Native population around Kodiak island. It is commonly exported, mostly to Japan. So I could get my own back by eating an unsuspecting Urchin but somehow that doesn’t appeal.
Here’s some pictures of other places in the world where you can eat Sea Urchins if the fancy takes you!
Barbeque anyone?
Camiguin Islands
I’ve no idea how you’d eat these?
Phu Quoc Vietnam
At least you get some slices of lemon and lime
and chilli sauce to wash these down with!
Coronado Island
Anyway don’t knock what you’ve never tried, apparently eating Sea Urchin is good for you, and their roes are considered to be an aphrodisiac in some parts of the world – Japan.
So remember the next time you dip your feet into the ocean if you expect that there might be Sea Urchins lurking in the seabed, waiting to stick their spines into your poor, unsuspecting feet, please buy a pair of these, they’re don’t cost much and they’re well worth the money!
So have a wonderful Friday, watch out what you do, and where you might step. See you again soon!
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This litte poetic ditty was inspired by this wonderful sculpture which I had the pleasure of seeing in all its splendour at Juniper Artland, Wilkieston, Scotland. You may remember that I mentioned this wonderful inspiring Artland before in a much earlier blog post, on the 15th of June 2014.
The Puzzle of Unforgiving Turf
Black space, a jigsaw of blue, confusing skies.
A giant piece of white mystifying lies,
Still we twist, baffle, and turn,
While blackened steel pieces confuse and burn.
My fingers decipher thoughts, raw and aching,
Questioning layers of paint work mercilessly flaking,
I turn to discern the last bewildering step,
I piece the puzzle, too late, the enigma lies cold and wet.
I trip, and fall, unravel, flip an ankle,
In scattered pieces I confusingly entangle,
But there’s no bewildering cuddle,
Just a gap, no cushion, in air’s baffling puzzle.
A pocket of relentless sky and bemused clouds,
Blankets the confused sounds,
As I fall in pieces, scattering, to the perplexed earth,
Triumph hitting the newly solved, but, oh so, unforgiving turf!
That was such fun!!!! Love poetry, just wish I was better at writing poems. Still, it’s nice to try. Please, if there any poets out there reading this, do give me feedback, I’m looking to improve 🙂
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I found this table of Puns on Facebook today. So, thought I’d share it with you.
Here’s a little gem that I discovered. When you’re feeling a bit indecisive take a bit of advice from the Passive Aggressive Raven, Nevermind.
He’s got all the answers but still confused?
It’s ok to be not sure. You’ll find your way, I’m sure.
THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it to appear on this site, please e-mail me with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.
A yellow leaf sitting on a bed of sparkling snow. Sometimes the most beautiful images are just so simple. It’s the Fifth of December who could possibly believe it, where does time go? I’m sure Father Christmas leaps into the year earlier every winter and steals a bit of time so that he can get on with his job. Cheeky fellow!
I decided that on this first Friday in December that I would post some lovely images of winter for you and myself to enjoy. Thought it would be therapeutic! I’m not a winter person, as soon as the clock goes back a tiny switch inside me goes click, and I become lethargic and grumpy, Seasonal Affective Disorder, no doubt. I love warm weather, blue skies, and the seaside. I live in Cambridge, a beautiful University city but the sea is a bit of a car drive away, and it isn’t warm enough, not for me. Maybe one day I’ll live abroad again, somewhere sunny who knows?
With the change in the clocks I turn into a miserable so and so, with each tick of the clock I become more Scrooge-like. This winter I am battling against the hands of time to boot out the Scrooge in me and launch myself into the spirit of Christmas. Christmas is a double celebration in our house as it is also my eldest daughter’s birthday, so I have to be extra enthusiastic! She was born two weeks early nineteen years ago on the 25th of December. An unexpected but very welcome Xmas present. I ended up eating my Christmas dinner in the delivery ward! My youngest was born exactly on her due date. Two sisters with very different personalities, what can I say? Anyway, I’m digressing a bit, so without further ado here are some wonderful winter images to enjoy.
Let’s start off in a playful mode with this fellow who looks just like Kermit and see where he takes us! He suggested reading a book to escape, what a wonderful idea, always one of my favourite things to do. At the moment I’m reading David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks, so I’m leaping in and out of a multitude of bodies, travelling through centuries of time. Kermit decided to follow suite and leapt out of the confines of his stone body to go out and play in the snow!
Kermit, I heart you.
Kermit on his bum in the snow
After playing in the snow Kermit began to get restless and he remembered some of the wonderful adventures he had experienced while reading. Books take you to incredible places so Kermit wanted to make this journey a really memorable one. An adventure…..
Reading adventures
Kermit reckoned that you might like to see an Ice Sculpture? So off we go to…………………….
Ice sculpture Lake Louise Alberta
Just one of many amazing ice sculptures in Lake Louise. Great suggestion Kermit.
We’ve all heard of Cinderella but what about an ice slipper anyone?
A trip to Bryce Canyon?
Bryce Canyon, Utah
How about some winter shadows now?
Wonderful winter shadowsHay Tedders, Hoar Frost
Or spectacular blue skies?
Colle-di-fuori France
Twinkling lights in a winter cabin?
Winter cabin
Amazing Artic skies…………..
Artic ocean
A sleigh ride anyone?
Sleigh ride
Or a trip to Canim falls?
Canim Falls, British Columbia, Canada
A touch of frost, and a glimpse of the moon?
Frost and the moon
Some falling snow?
More falling snow!
What about some winter berries?
Don’t forget the snowman, otherwise his nose might get out of joint.
Snowmen
And our chirpy little friend the robin:
A sleepy doggie too:
Rudolph he’s invited.
And of course Father Christmas too:
Whatever you do this Winter holiday, have fun, and don’t be a grumpy Scrooge!
I found this fun idea via Skye Turner author on Facebook today. Basically type your first name into Google images followed by the word meme and choose the very first image to post. I laughed when I saw Marjorie Dawes! Trust me!
We Marjorie’s are a strange lot.
Have a go and see who you get. Please share in the fun by commenting below.
Contrary to popular belief the White Peacock is my Friday Favourite image from http://www.pixabay.com. I’m standing up for the understated proud bearing of the White Peacock. Very unique. The guy below is doing his best to make him feel a bit like a delicate bundle of suspended cotton wool, appealing in a fluffy sort of way, but is the iridescent peacock stealing all of the attention? Mr Colourful. Come on, white’s cool too. Huh Mr Show Off!
![halloween-ghost-979239_640[1]](https://i0.wp.com/mjmallon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/halloween-ghost-979239_6401.jpg?ssl=1)
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