The Rose is but a Name.

 

Switzerland is amazing.

Duke Berthold V, Duke of Zahringen, wanted to establish a township along the river Aure on a level ground, allowing for transportation and commerce.

Duke Berthold V declared during a hunt that the city would be named after the first animal he shot (with an arrow, of course).  Drew the string, let fly the arrow, and hit a rabbit.  His fellow huntsmen retrieved it, Duke told them to get rid of it. 

He drew his bow again, let fly the arrow, and he hit a bear.  Much better, so the town was named “Bern or Berne” which means something like bear.

Let's expand the story with much more elaboration and some plot changes:

What about this version? 

 

  Duke Jim was married to a lovely woman, Adele, whom Jim’s brother Bob dearly adored.  Duke Jim and fellows of ruling class ventured out on a hunt, ready to kill just about anything.  Jim’s brother Bob attended, apparently with great reluctance since he really wanted to attend to Adele’s needs.

Duke Jim had also declared that first animal killed would be the name of the new city.

Through the rustling shrubs charged a huge boar, and, alas, Duke Jim was gored horribly, dying on the spot. 

Bob became so excited that he also declared the animal thing, and actually happened to kill a rabbit, but new-Duke Bob declared they should wait a while, before the naming the town Tote kaninchen or Dead rabbit.

Bob became new Duke Bob and married Jim's sobbing widow, Adele, and became step-father to her son, Tom.

What if we expanded some more with a whole lot of elaboration and plot changes:

2) Before heading out to kill animals with Duke Bob, his brother Kevin swore to his now lover Adele that he would take care of this any problems Adele had with Duke Bob, who turned out to be a lousy person all around. 

Jim’s son Tom was spying on them both, and realized bad things were going to happen.

Which they did, bad things did happen to Duke Bob, 

something perhaps involving poisoning or

 maybe a big falling cornice from the castle. 

Tom, being a minor, was passed over, and Kevin became Duke Kevin.

This and that happened, a few years passed, and Duke Kevin led his troupe of hunters ventured out into the woods to hunt, Tom joining them. 

Kevin pronounced that the first animal he hit would be the name of his new town.  Unfortunately, Kevin felt a bit wheezy and fell to the ground dead, stone dead.

All wept, the death declared to be a heart attack. All were ready to go home.  

BUT Tom strode to his uncle’s body.  “We must honor my uncle Duke Kevin's final desire!  And, I, as the new Duke, will do so.”

Tom was never good at archery, but he drew back the arrow, and zip-zap, off it went, getting lost in woodland.  While all were searching for the arrow, Tom's squire, Richard, picked up the bow and followed after.  

Richard heard growling in the shrubs, took aim, and hit something.

Richard ran to the sound, finding a bear, dead as dead could be.  “Here, my Lord!  Here is your arrow!”

Thus, a new city was founded and named Bern (or bear).

                                   

Expanding this anymore could grow beyond anyone’s attention span.

My apologies for length of this post.  

 

Winter has arrived.

 

Winter Winds, Chopin, Pentatonix

 

Last rays of sunset

Lace through bare trees.

As light fades, a chill wind

Swirls fallen crumbled leaves,

Once so bright and drifting

With a dancer’s flourish.

In darkness, the clouds roll back

As a scroll of gray and black. 

The reigns of summer and autumn

No longer tower and burn.

Midnight reveals

A treasure chest of winter:

Ice and snow prepared

To lay a frozen ruin to the land.

 

  https://youtu.be/pHlqEvAwdVc

 

Wednesday Words, from 2012. We bloggers are blessed. to be surrounded by so much talent.  The Wednesday Words were a writing challenge for bloggers to make a change with a different something.  

 

Winter song

 

 

Words rumble to tell

Of a Nation, a song sung and then

Whispered down a dark highway of history.

Like black keys on a piano,

Their role fades with age.

Keys are owners of music,

Silence is their warning.

 

. 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  and other blogger volunteers, such as Mother Owl's, we will find the challenges. Underlined words are some of the words available.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind. My difficulty is using words that were just released. Grant me some forgiveness, greatness cannot be hurried.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words. Head on over to play with words

 

 

 

 

The things you can make with clay

 

 Claymation became a huge success in late 90s, finally hitting the market with "Chicken Run" in 2000. It seems it is a child movie, but no. Themes and characters are complicated  to grab parents this time. Children will still enjoy, but will miss the stuff that makes us giggle.

Claymation came about in the 1837, why or how I don't know. In 1937 when Disney was experimenting with it, Snow White. Then, the creator was Sir Nicholas Park with a long string of successful creations. Sir Park and his talented crew made some crazy good stuff.

One of Ray Harryhausen's early works, 1950s?

                                                        Chicken Run, 2000   about 3 minutes

                   Wallace and Grommet, Cheese on the Moon, about 3 minutes

Christmas movies got a big boost by the technology that was part of this. Frosty? Rudolph? Yes, those were the early years.

Get out some play-doh or whatever clay, see what you can do.  Make a few to improve.  You can do this.

I recommend that you watch bits as each adds up to 3 minutes. I would personally watch them all, from frame to frame, because the art and talent are incredible. 

 

Playdates? What is a playdate?

What does eating a sandwich tell about you?

 

Anxiety vibrated in the air as Samuel’s mother knocked on a red door.  The door was opened by an equally anxious, smiling nervously mother.   Ah.  So this is the ‘play-date’.  Interesting…

Two more mothers called out, and Samuel was dragged into the tv room where three other bewildered children sat.  Legos and action figures lay scattered around them.  An offering of some sort, obviously.

“Now, let’s have lunch!”  Someone announced, and the four children were plopped down at a child’s table in their colorful chairs.  IKEA…

Plates of sandwiches and potato chips were slid in front of each, and juice boxes (straws inserted) were set down.

Silence, long and drawn out, echoed as each child sized the other up for reference.    

So much can be learned by the way one holds a juice box, how one sucks on the deadly straw.  How the sandwich is held speaks a world of information.  Blue iced cupcakes are not meant for just eating.

By lunch’s end, it was clear:  Samuel was the Alpha, Charlie the Omega.  Clarisse—sassy deceptive girl—was a she-devil.  Buddy was easily manipulated.  The game is afoot, friends.

 

And then....

When the front door closed amid tears and apologies after the play-date concluded, much had happened.  The leather sofa had been stabbed to death with the plastic juice box straws.  The blood red juice stained the carpet in big drops.  The dog cowered beneath the sofa, shivering in his blue icing stripes.

 

A good time was had by all.... 

 

 

 

This is from 2012 from Samuel Chronicles.  

 

 

People and houses are gone.

 

The few years has been hard for my family few the past few decades. Over that time, we lost two brothers, our father, and now our mother. The rural area that had been ‘home’ for generations dating back to the 1820s, now has no ties for us. The house (built in late 1800s) is now gone, with a double wide in its place. When our mother died in April 2011, there went the last reason to return to the farmlands and small towns. Most probably, we would never again drive down those country roads we once knew so very well.

All this made me realize how truly wonderful life is in general, and my life in particular. The things and events that have made me stop and reflect have been small in the large scale of life, but significant. This list may not make sense to anyone but me, but here goes:

1. The smell of angel food cake baking.

2. The sound of a violin solo and getting goose bumps

 

3. The jasmine blooms winding over the front door

 4. Holding hands with my husband in a dark movie theater

 

5. Churning homemade ice cream under a maple tree on a hot summer day

6. That first cup of coffee (or tea) in the morning

7. Holding a baby

 

8. Walking on the beach with the tide washing over my feet

9. Watching a smiling young couple pushing a baby stroller

 

10. Writing anything

11. Singing the “Hallelujah Chorus”

12. Reading poetry aloud in an empty house

This is my list.

Do you have a list? What would be on that list? 

Oh, Santa. You devil, you!

 

The year 1959 was a year of change for my family.  We moved onto a farm where we would live until 1995.  So many adventures and so many memories arise from that time.

Santa and Satan

But, here is one memory that we were fortunate to miss.  I never knew that side of Santa Claus’ life, which apparently originated from Mexico. “Santa Claus”, produced in 1959, and translated into English.  

 

Synopsis:

Santa is preparing for his yearly journey at his Toy Land Castle in space.  While children helpers from all over the world sing a variety of each country's carols, precious.

           

Santa plays the organ while leering at the screen collinwatchesmovies.

Merlin the Wizard does a little hop-dance to check stuff out at his magical telescope, fitted with a creepy blue eye.

Santa and Merlin the Wizard

 

 

 

 

YouTube trailer

YouTube in its entirety. 1 hour and 34 min. 

The movie is thoroughly ridiculous, Santa Claus is totally creepy, to the level that it feels like someone should report him. You may watch the film in its entirety on YouTube if you are a glutton for punishment. Fast-forward would be essential here. Lots of creepy stuff is here for you to catch, creepy I tell you.

So why did I post this?

We saw this at the theater in RiffTrax presentation. Movies of this lack of quality are narrated by the three guys from Mystery Space Science 3000. They bring a level of satire to this movie. This is why I pulled this one out of my vault of Christmas movies.

 

Plus, Alex Cavanaugh recommended the RiffTrax movies generally because they are ludicrous.  I trust his judgment implicitly. 

P.S. On-screen text is narrated immediately before "The End": A sonorous voice speaks these meaningful words. Somehow it was disturbing.

Blessed are those who believe

For they shall see God...

PEACE ON EARTH...

GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Go figure.

I hope the joy of this story will delight you?

 

This is a re-post from 2019.  We laughed at this, which is what we need to do more often.

 

 I hope you recognize the humor (or not) of this treat from Mexico.

Church Potluck Outreach

 

A moratorium was now placed on church potlucks. The last one caused a flash fire when the Barbecue Pit exploded, sending miscellaneous pork bits and ribs, along with Bob’s Secret Ingredient (lots of whiskey) flaming sauce, flying over to Old Miz Guthrie’s tiny old house.

Old Miz Guthrie heard screaming coming her way, and then smelled the barbeque fire on her roof.  “Oh, Lordy, Lordy!  My house ‘s afire!”  As fast as a squirrel on a live wire, she scampered out the door, wringing her hands while the fire department extinguished the barbecue flickers of flame.

No damage done, Old Miz Guthrie thanked everyone, shushing them away, and hurried back inside.  Looking around at her immaculate, nicely decorated home, she raced down the steps to her basement, which was packed with fire-proof chests of gold coins, jewelry (oh, how she love nice jewelry), and packs of one-hundred bills. 

Unbeknownst to the community, Old Miz Guthrie was quite a spendthrift made possible by her late husband’s last bank robbery in 1955 in Chicago.  I better get outta this town.

The next day her brother Raffert showed up at night with a big van and they moved everything from the basement during the big school dance.  Just before she closed the front door, Old Miz Guthrie turned the cooker on high, with bright flames crawling to a dishtowel.

The town mourned for her. Damned BBQ sauce.

This is a Wed. Words from 2015, and it was different.  I hope you can enjoy. It was created by Delores, who has given up computers, River has taken up the slack, but might like to have someone else to share this. Are that person??

Scent of Sage

 

 

Pine Ridge  

Dove Whitehead stood over the body, peering around with telescope eyes, focusing on what was there, and more importantly, what wasn’t there.

Where was the blood spray?  The pooling blood beneath the body?  The splatters of blood drops on the wooden floor?  There were none.

Dove turned her eyes to search the room, not moving from the spot where she stood.  The man had lived here on the reservation for eighty years, nearly all his life.  Where were the accumulations of a lifetime?  The room was spartan, with the simplest of belongings. 

Closing her eyes, Dr. Dove Whitehead tilted her head and shut out all sounds.  Lifting her hands over the body, Dove inhaled.  It was there, the evil was there.

The scent of salt.  The scent of blood.  The scent of sage.

Word count: 200 for  "Scent of Sage" possible post 

I have an outline of this story.  Hmmm.

The fruitcake is the thing.

 

The question is (please be truthful) "Do you really like or do you really hate fruitcake?"

memes monkey

                                                                    Memes monkey

cartoon stock

popular once again

Last year I made the traditional Irish Christmas pudding, and it was really good. So this year, I will make a modified fruit cake. With God's help and if the sky doesn't fall, I might have an equal success. 

Will keep you updated, but probably won't come to pass. Maybe next year.