As I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve made a goal to use photos from my own stash to post along with quotes I love. Well, I really like this photo of a rodeo clown, but as you can imagine, I haven’t come up with any good quotes to go along with it! 😮 !!! So, for today’s THURSDAY THOUGHT, I attempted a Haiku:
THE RODEO CLOWN
Warm Summer Evening
The Clown Elicits A Smile
Do Unto Others
Well, I’m definitely NOT a poet! In my family, that would be my Mother, and I’m not about to accroach that distinction! I believe I may have heard about the poetry style of Haiku before…but not being overly interested until recently, I haven’t known what exactly makes a poem a Haiku!
If you are like me and are unfamiliar with Haiku…..learn about it at Haiku – Wikipedia and/or Haiku – WikiHow. {Do it! Click the link and learn something NEW!} 😮
This Haiku by Brian P Cleary brought a smile to my face (as my son is, at this very moment, going through his grades online)!
REPORT CARD
Four days of the year,
One tiny piece of paper
Turns my stomach sour.
There’s even a program that will detect a Haiku in a transcript for you! {check it out here} Although, there’s a lot more to a Haiku than the mere counting of syllables, I thought that sounded like a very fun thing to do! One of these days, I’d like to write a Haiku for/about each family member and have people guess which poem is for each individual. Part of the beauty of writing poetry, is writing in a way that isn’t too transparent…but isn’t too terribly difficult to understand either. It’s a tricky balancing act I think!
Also, as I’ve been poking around poetry sites lately, I learned something else NEW! I did NOT know the United States had a Poet Laureate. Did you!?! Check her out here!
Yeah! My NEW pull-out ironing board project is finished! When I blogged about my NEWly organized laundry room, I mentioned the ironing board wasn’t quite finish, but now it is! It pulls out….it swivels….then when I’m done with it, it is OUT OF SIGHT! Love it!
I was ironing a section of a small quilt I made by trying a NEW item: a Jellyroll!
After burning out piecing together my last quilt, I decided I’d try these pre-cut coordinating fabric strips. Much easier!!! I’ll show you the finished product after I get it all quilted and bound.
So, what’s NEW with you? Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!….and hope you all learn or do something NEW today!
Yes, this is my NEW goal! :o) I need to learn to bite my tongue on certain occasions! My husband can tell you about the MANY occasions when I should have! Is there a class where I can learn this? Who is the expert in this field? Is there an online tutorial somewhere?
Let me tell you of the latest occasion…when I should have bit, and bit hard! 😮 I recently joined a friend at the airport to greet her son who had been out of the country for many months. While waiting, she was telling me of her husband’s views on a certain tradition some families have in this area. Although her husband finds fault with it, I happen to know it is simply how families show their love and support. So, I jokingly said to her, “I’m going to text Joe (her husband) and say Fine, let your son wonder if he’s loved or not”. I’m sure she thought this was the most illogical comment ever, (since she didn’t know my thought process)….and because OF COURSE their son knows he’s loved!
I think that comment (that should have been squelched behind my pearly whites digging into my pink taste buds) was also a defensive knee-jerk reactive comment. You see, one of my big pet peeves in life is people who are judgemental and stereotypical. I even remember writing a paper and doing an oral report in college about people who stereotype. Does that make me judgemental about people who are judgemental??? Ha! Anyway…adding to this mix, I’m sure, was previous comments I’ve heard from Joe about this state’s dominant religion and how he finds fault with its culture….which, of course, I found to be quite stereotypical.
So! I’m going to try to bite my tongue more! I realize it’s not the most concrete goal….but I’m going to work on it!
My OLD Clam Chowder recipe which I got from my Sister-In-Law many years ago has always been a favorite…and it ALWAYS gets compliments! My goal for the RECIPE section of this blog is to get the recipes as well as a photo of all my family’s favorite dishes (little by little). So…the photo is NEW, but the recipe is pretty old! It’s TRIED AND TRUE! If you try it, let me know what you think! It’s really easy….but delicious!
I recently posted about volunteering at the local tulip festival and I mentioned wanting to read Alexandre Dumas’ book THE BLACK TULIP. I did read it, and a few of you were wondering how I liked it, so I thought I’d give it a quick review:
First of all….I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED that this book was pretty short. I was kind of expecting it to be like Dumas’ other books (Count of Monte Cristo = 1276 pages; Three Musketeers 784 pages!!!)…but it was only in the 200’s, yeah!
I liked this book! Nice, fast and good read! It had somewhat of the same theme as Count of Monte Cristo in that the main character was incarcerated (but innocently, of course). I love books that have a little history and a little romance and this one did. There wasn’t any real surprises….I always knew exactly who the good guy was and who the bad guy was and, in the end, the good guy would win. So, no suspense, but that’s ok. I thought it was interesting that this book DID have the typical lover’s triangle, BUT one of those ‘lovers’ was an object (the black tulip) rather than another person.
I’d recommend this book! Especially since the time commitment wasn’t huge :o) I liked it, but didn’t LOVE it. (Those are reserved for a very few). If you read it, let me know what you think!
Also, according to eHOW.com:
In 1850, Alexandre Dumas published a novel called “The Black Tulip.” This publication brought attention to the idea of and the search for a truly black tulip.
No tulip, or any other flower or plant, can ever be purely black and lacking any color, according to the technical director of the International Flower Bulb Center in the Netherlands.
Have a great day everyone! Do or learn something NeW!
I love, loVE, LOVE coconut! YUM! So when I noticed this recipe for Almond Joy Bites at Will Cook For Smiles, I had to try it! I also had to share some of these delicious morsels with a neighbor…simply because it was just too dangerously fattening to have all these sitting on MY kitchen counter! Spread the JOY, right?!?
Have a terrific day everyone!!! Learn or DO something NEW today!
Hello! Aren’t tulips BEAUTIFUL!!!!???!!! I volunteered at a local tulip festival today and after my shift, I just had to go around and take some pics of these fabulous beauties! Did you know there are over 109 different species of tulips? Wowza! Check these out:
AND look at this interesting one…an upside-down tulip! I tried to search for the actual name and one website had a similar looking one (only in red) and said the locals in Turkey call it the Weeping Bride Tulip. But if any of you know the actual name of this specie, please leave me a comment and let me know!
Also, now I think I want to read Alexandre Dumas’ book ‘The Black Tulip’! I’ll let you know my review on that in a later post. I also need to enter a to-do item on my calendar for the fall: Plant more tulip bulbs!!!
Have a great day everyone! Go and do or learn something NEW!
A NEW Proverb: Spring has come when you can put your foot on three daisies.
Explore Newness 