The Mag - 177

Bring on the potatoes.


"I bought a big bag of potatoes and it's growing eyes like crazy.  Other foods rot.  Potatoes want to see." - Bill Callahan, Letters to Emma Bowlcut


"In truth, I owe most of my nourishment during my first years of marriage to potatoes, straight from the garden.  One learns rather quickly, the 1001 ways to prepare potatoes, when they're your main food source."  Karen S.




THE MAG

Tess Kincaid from Magpie Tales, offers this photo below, to inspire our writing this week.

Photo by Agustin Berrocal

 

 

 

 

The Year of the Potato

 

 

Straight away,
behind a mask of mingling
sweat and smoke

 from the burning hearth

of his bounty.

 

To the urgent scrape of his shovel

fused by a balm of bitter tang and harmony

to be

clutched between his fingers. 

 

Such a strange, bedazzling stirring

in still air from earth

to throbbing chest

he grasps his

banqueting haul
with stupendous pleasure. 

 

 

 

 For other Magpie Tales go here

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/2013/07/mag-177.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Look at that moon.  Potato weather for sure."

By Thornton Wilder, Out Town

Saturday Centus - 13 - July 2013

On the sunny side of life, as I see it...... my Saturday Centus begins.



Jenny, From "Off on my tangent" gave us this photo to write about.





Up to 110 words- any style- any photos.


On a swing by myself, I close my eyes and let my dreams take me for a ride.

One Hundred and Ten words

on the meaning of

SWING.

There once was a rat residing in our neighborhood with a gigantic reputation for being rather crude.


See Mr. Rat below.

For having a reputation of a rat, he's really kind of cute.





Speaking of neighbors, you'll never believe what this daddy came up with.

Ready?

Oh Mommy, do you know where your truck is?




"Excuse me, but it's not polite to stare."

Gosh darn it.  Don't you hate it when your neighbor dreams up a most clever device before you?!

Sometimes, it's amazing what you'll catch swinging at the playground.

Ever see folks that throw swinging into their dancing?

I believe the best swingers of all are featured below.

For other Saturday Centus posts go here

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2013/07/saturday-centus-week-169.html

The Mag - 176

 

 

SuperMoon
Arrives just above the sleeping machinery.

 

 

Splayed across

mazy paths

dwindling from-

a cloudless, lazy sky

like pink

cotton candy fluff

arousing

watered mouths

and

tear-streaked passions

until

becoming one

with the night

stuck like a

 beached barge.

 

 

Some people saw it from hay fields

while others gathered in open parks. 

Even famous landmarks couldn't steal

the eyes of thirsty onlookers struck by

the magic of the SuperMoon.  

Naturally, fireflies ignored the passing of the SuperMoon

and contined their flight amongst the stars.

 

It was, after all, just another night in the neighborhood of life.
 

I have written this for:

THE MAG





Supermoon 2013, Julio Cortez, AP

"Neruda was right about all mysterious women,

the moon lives within the lining of their skin."

 - John Geddes, A familiar Rain

 

For other Magpie Tales, at The Mag

with Tess Kincaid go here

 

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/2013/07/mag-176.html

Thematic Photographic - Grown

"Youth is wasted on the young."  -  Oscar Wilde


THEMATIC PHOTOGRAPHIC

Carmi, has given us one of those themes that one could weave so many directions.  Grown, he says, and mine for this post anyway, will be right from my own yard, almost. 



Ah yes, the magical growths springing to life, within this body of water, always speak to us of summer heat and how the algae has grown.

Algae are the base of the food chain and essential to the life in a lake.

 

If one were stuck on a desert island as such

in a place where all four seasons exist

you could determine the season by the water.

 

Once the cooler temperatures of fall arrive this lake will be clearer again.
As another season fades away and the next season grows,
before our eyes.

Preparing to be frozen over again.

 

Then, while I had my back turned with festivities over the 4th of July holiday, a few of my plants have suddenly
 "grown out of their box" and need to be brought to my garden.

Yes, they love to come to life inside my greenhouse.

They seriously went from tiny little hopefuls
to this like overnight!

Then from a flower bed, more growth.

Finally one blossom has come to life!  A few more buds are bursting with promise, but this is the first for this season.

It's quite proud of itself, can't you tell?

Ah yes, the growth and life of tiger lillies.  They live everywhere around here.  Most of them come from a long ancestral lineage, given to me directly from gardens of friends.  This special one dates back to a dear gardening woman (now tending to her garden above for many years now.)  Who knows how long she had her first garden in Minneapolis. 

 

It's just another way for her to be remembered as they grow around my yard.

 

 

For other Thematic Photographic posts go here

 

http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2013/07/thematic-photographic-251-grown.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FkIoA+%28Written+Inc.%29

Saturday Centus - 6 July 2013 Mr. Packman

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science." -  Albert Einstein


SATURDAY CENTUS




The prompt this week:   Write 100 words about the picture above

Number of words:  No more than 100 total

Style of writing: Any

Additional Pictures: Any


Mr. Packman

Some people call him a hard-boiled-egghead
a most severe classification.
I call him
my neighbor.

Jenny asked about this photo
So I followed Mr. Packman
for answers.


 

 

 

 

He closed his business before taking the stony path.

 

 

Something inside me gnawed, begging not to follow him.  No way would I be shaken by a spider.  No reluctance here, you won't catch me in a spider-tangle of inexplicable impulses. 

 

I took his picture.

Please, don't laugh, at Mr. Packman.

Some primeval instinct made Mr. Packman turn around and spot me.

 

"Hey you in the eyeball bikini, are you following me?"

 

 

So it goes, beware of stony paths

you might get caught.

 

 

 

For more exciting stories about this photo posted by Jenny at "off on my tangent"  go here

 

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2013/07/saturday-centus-week-168.html

Sepia Saturday - 184 - 6 July 2013 Pretty Much Why I Love Dogs

"Dogs never bite.  Just humans."  -  Marilyn Monroe



"A bone to the dog is not charity.  Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog." -  Jack London

 

Jack London and Rollo

Rollo, a medium-sized mix-breed, was Jack London's playful childhood companion and taught him that dogs feel, instinct, sensation and emotion and are capable of simple reasoning.



My Sepia Saturday today is actually about dogs that don't bite.  Although our theme photo announces the medical science, regarding dogs that do bite, and explains one of our greatest discoveries of all time. 

"Don't let the same dog bite you twice." - Chuck Berry

Bring on the dogs please!

 

Yes doggie! I'd bite him too, if he pushed me off the plane.

 

Really?  Seriously, and this is teaching me what again?

 

 

 

 

 

Now this is more like it.  But please, don't squeeze me so hard okay?

There, that's better.  Sniff, sniff, cats?  Sniff, sniff.... do I smell a cat?

Your dinner is served sir!

 

 

Me, afraid of dogs?  Never.

 

 

 

 

Yes, as a matter of fact dogs are my best friends in my life.

 

 

 

Rest your weary body

 

and nap, while we guard the premises.

(While watching television of course.)

 

 

 

Never forget, there are all kinds of things one must be aware of like,

 

 

Influenza!  For one.

 

That's why we get vaccinations in our care of handling things.

 

 

Sometimes, they really do hurt, but they protect us in the long run.

Also, why certain signs are posted and the importance of following those instructions for our protection.

 

 ...and so, we must give thanks also to

 

 

 

Little Nell for posting this theme photo

On this day, July 6th, 1885 Louis Pasteur successfully treated a boy with rabies vaccine. This plaque in Arbois is one side of a pillar dedicated to Pasteur and his achievements.
 

 For other Sepia Saturday posts go here

 

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2013/07/sepia-saturday-184-6-july-2013.html

Stop! Don't you dare take,

Ah yes, what's mine is mine, and with this mere little bit of space I do claim, for the bottoms of a few family members and friends to sit, and gaze upon yet another 4th of July Parade.


Yes, I do, and protect it I will until I am relieved at about 1:00 PM and our lovely spot will be free from harm of the mighty old hungry garbage truck!


So what shall I do for about almost two hours of waiting for the safe zone?


Read!


"On Looking- Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes! - By Alexandra Horowitz.

By way of a poet's voice, I shall discover in eleven exquisite, clever and tenderly recounted mini adventures......a new way to see the world.  Or so it promises.


I wonder what other mysterious and exciting adventures might possibly pop up during my squatting right shift?

Thematic Photographic - In rough shape

"By seeking and blundering we learn." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Carmi, at Written Inc. blog has offered, "In rough shape" as our Thematic Photographic theme for the week. 

The old Oak Treasures didn't look the same

 

As I stepped out of my car,

there to meet me

growing up through the cracks

were wildflowers after wildflowers.

Sadly, sometimes

All good things come to an end.

 

Yet, beauty still lurks in this abandoned state.

 

 

This was once a family owned, landmark furniture store in Farmington, Minnesota.   Not long before the bitter end the owners transformed much of the outside area into a wildlife education center, along with a unique gift shop and restaurant.

 

 

 

They had pulsating dreams.

Always a lure, was their array of finely crafted wooden designs and country furniture along with other accessories.   Everything was displayed within a sprawling timber building years before the big real estate boom.

 

Hammer and nails anyone?

 

"There is a destiny that shapes our ends rough,

 hew them as we will."  - Frank Harris

 

 

Not every corner of this charming old treasure trove needs repair.

Just a bit over grown in places.

Their welcoming sign was proud to announce what they had in store.

 

 

Where, oh where, are all the delightful things now?

 

 

Note: Thematic Photographic posts is a weekly posting, but anyone can join, and at any time post, and never feel obligated to post every week.  I know some themes have caught the attention of some of my followers..... so yes, please drop in any time!  The more the merrier!

For more Thematic Photographic posts go here

 

http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2013/07/thematic-photographic-250-in-rough-shape.html

 

Sepia Saturday - 29 June 2013

Caves is it?  Well, when all else falls, why not take a vacation and locate a cave?  It sure may help to cool ourselves off in an underground cave.

SEPIA SATURDAY


I'm thinking Little Nell's theme for this week is begging for a road trip.  Besides, summer is a perfect time to getaway.  So, why not follow along in with my mini-vacation.

 

 

Of course, for many of you just now joining my mini vacation you'll need to reach Minnesota first.  So, here are a few options.

 

 

 

Northwest Airlines, always an excellent choice.

 

Here's an oldie but always a smooth ride.

 

 

 

 

 

OR,

 

 

Surely, booking a cruise is a most enjoyable choice.

 

 

Biking isn't a bad idea.

 

 

It's a healthy choice.

 

 

 

 

I know some of you may decide to drive.

 

If I owned a 1956 Oldsmobile Golden Rocket, I'd drive here too!

(But, I might never leave the Oceanside.)

 

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to bring you family dog along too.  Just remember their leash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few of you may have to travel a bit to board transportation to America.

 

 

Like one of these.

 

 

 

 

 

Please though, whatever you decide upon, once you arrive in Minnesota pay close attention to any farm land you may care to romp about.  Very often, especially here in Minnesota we take great joy in having random animals running about free.

 

 

You just never know which animal you may surprise!

 

 

Some are known to silently slip out of the water and take cover on shore.

 

 

They aren't looking to frighten tourists, but they can be alarmed.  Trust me, it's never a good idea to startle a moose.

 

 

 

 

Also, it's,

Very important to book your hotel, motel or cabin accommodations as things tend to get filled rather quickly during the summer months.

 

 

 

 

Or you'll be driving to Minneapolis for a good night's rest.

 

 

 

 

Or some other suburb of Minneapolis, like Anoka, Minnesota.

 

 

 

VACATION TIME

 

What you all came here for.

 

Inside the Mystery Cave 

 

Explore the underground world of Mystery Cave with its stalactites, stalagmites, and underground pools.

 

 

 

So worth it right?

 

 

Once you've had your fill of underground caves, you can bike or hike around the many trails, or take a trip to town.

Here's a good example from back in the day along the streets of one neighboring town around The Mystery Caves.



Not to worry for those of you that crave a delicious (non-greasy) burger when you're hungry.

Or you can dine inside as well.

Oh yes, and plenty of friendly churches to visit as well.

There's an endless supply of other tourist accommodations too.  Or just put up your tent.

 

 

 

Then you can meet your new neighbors.

Share a few laughs, pass a few beers, roast marshmallows and create friends for life.

 

 

 

 

So the choice of transportation is really up to you.

 

Just be sure to pack plenty of clothes, as the evenings can get a bit chilly, when they're not extremely humid.  You must understand Minnesota weather.  It can go from high 70's to a snow storm in the blink of an eye!

 

So are you going to just

stay seated around your television sets sipping Root Beer and pretend to be reading the paper, or come along with me? 

It's your choice.


For more Sepia Saturday posts
go here

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2013/06/sepia-saturday-183-29-june-2013.html