Porthole

June 13-19

A weekly blog that starts skinny on Saturday and fattens up by Tuesday and is ready for slaughter by Friday ... if not before.

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  ███████          PORTHOLE           ███████

SPRING: JUNE 2020
"Behold the candle, how it gives light.
It weeps its life away drop by drop in order to give forth its flame of light.”
- Abdu'l Bahá

MY THOUGHTS

June 13: I shouldn't stay up all night. It leaves me groggy.
June 14: Bed at 3-ish? Better than the night before.
June 15: I have a friend who is ill. I hope she can continue to be happy.
June 16: Yes, I'm Lava. I can either warm or burn. The proper distance is key.
June 17: We die twice: once when our body ceases to live, for good when we are forgotten.
June 18: Low temp and yo-yo-ing blood pressure. Nightmares.
June 19: I should be more grateful and complain less.

WEATHER

June 12: 23° and hazy sun at noonish; 28° in Roundup, MT and brilliant sunshine.
June 13: 22° windy, rain approaching; 29° sunny in Hotlanta.
June 14: 12° cloudy, breezy, dreary; 0° and sleet in Longyearbyen, Svalbard,
June 15: 12° trying to be sunny; 29° Hagåtña, Guam, always 27-32
June 16: 14° still trying to be sunny, rain later; 29° in Oslo ... heat wave.
June 17: 14° cloudy; 16° cooling and partly cloudy evening, Santiago de Compostela.
June 18: 19° sunny; 28° cloudy in Jaco, Costa Rica. Sun/rain 29/25 this week.
June 19: 21° mostly sunny; 22° and very humid in Tulsa, Oklahoma with possible storms.

IMAGES

June 13: Yellow roses. Surfers in the river. Humid. Windy. Chocolate raspberry malt.
June 14: Slash of rain streaking windows; hail in the mountains; kayakers in the river, oblivious to anything wet.
June 15: Chocolate cake. Grey skies. Milk in my coffee (I bought milk).
June 16: white Syringa reticulata in bloom.
June 17: fragrance of mock orange and iris. Picked rosebuds. Wisteria in bloom.
June 18: crushed mint, mystery meat and mushrooms, headache, bees.
June 19: Kathi's purple-yellow eye with 18 stitches. A dent in Merry's car.

CONTESTS

I've decided to enter "Musicology Anthology"  LATE! I only have 21 days to write 11 pieces. *sigh* I can do it.
I'll be putting them all in the folder: "Days of Future Past" 

[A] "The Day Begins" ""The Day Begins" [A]" 
[B] "Morning Glory" "Morning Glory [B]" 
[C] "Dawn: Dawn Is a Feeling" ""Dawn is a feeling" [C]" 
[D] "The Morning: Another Morning" "Another Morning [D] " 
[E] "Lunch Break: Peak Hour" "Lunch Break: Peak Hour [E]" 
[F] "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" "Tuesday Afternoon [F]" 
[G] "(Evening) Time to Get Away" "Evening, Time to Get Away [G]" 
[H] "The Sunset" "The Sunset [H]" 
[I] "Twilight Time" "Twilight Time [I]" 
[J] "Nights in White Satin" "Nights in White Satin [J]" 
[K] "Late Lament / Resolvement" "Late Lament [K] (Can be part of J)" 

It's increasingly obvious that I will NOT do all of these in any given month. Priorities are given to sporadic contest. Blink and I may have to wait 3 months!

"No Dialogue Contest-CLOSED"  Monthly prompt: DAD. No dialogue. Until June 30th.
"Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest "  Old or new not awarded. Limited to 20.
"The Writer's Cramp"  Daily noon to noon WDC = 10 a.m. MTT. Must be an item.
"The Taboo Words Contest ~ On Hiatus"  Monthly. Beach and avoid certain words? Good.
"Invalid Item"  June. It's a dark month...
"Journey Through Genres: Official Contest"  until June 30. Genre fan-fiction. Huge prizes!
"The Contest Challenge"  A contest of contests... every month.
"Second Time Around ~ Birthday Special"  Old non-winners! Got lots of those (poem/ss) 15th-14th
"Share Your Faith"  until June 30. Story or poem. Prompt: dealing with anger.
"Invalid Item"  until June 30. Theme: Resilience Flash <500 or poem 15 line max.
"Kittiara's Writing Contest"  until June 30. 1 short story, 1 poem. Theme: renewal
"The Random Poetry Contest"  through June 14. Prompts: spring, repair, threaten; 15-30 lines
"Invalid Item"  until June 25. Must be 13+, tell a story, new.
"Invalid Item"  Round 72 until June 14.
"The Humorous Poetry Contest"  Humor. I'm not funny so I doubt I'll enter this. Famous last words.
"Verdant Poetry Contest"  Nature. Summer. Form and words by June 30. in NyN
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Free verse 15th to 14th.
"Write from the Heart Poetry Contest"  Romance. Prompt an admirable couple. By June 30.
"Invalid Item"  Erotica! Prompt 'passion'. Until June 30. Isla and cake?

POULTRY

"Old Bob plants his garden"  revised, made an item for "Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest " 

"Missoula Limerick "  (closed)

"From Missoula with Love (15 lines linked limerick) [94]"  for "The Humorous Poetry Contest" , not linked yet.

"Sju dagar (Seven days) [96]"  for "Promptly Poetry Challenge (2024-2025)" 

"Once I waved to a neighbor... [98] 9 lines PP#2"  for "Promptly Poetry Challenge (2024-2025)" 

"You dreamed this path"  made an item for "Shadows and Light Poetry Contest" 

         Won Honorable Mention

Not laid:

PORK

STATIC

Laura by moonlight  (13+) "Look straight at the mirror and heed my words. They cannot know us: they never will ..." #1240746 by Kåre เลียม Enga

revised and entered into "Second Time Around ~ Birthday Special" 

STATIC

Admiral of the End-of-Days (297 words)  (18+) 300 word flash fiction prompt: I don’t have time for this. #2207604 by Kåre เลียม Enga

was nominated for a but did not win.


June 12 (won):

STATIC

Binky, the alabaster alligator (299w)   (18+) < 300 words, prompt: joke, last, name [177.89] #2224140 by Kåre เลียม Enga

June 13/14:

STATIC

As old as the hills (367 words) [91]  (18+) For The Writer's Cramp 6-14-20. A latter-day-vampire story from "Blood of the Garlic" #2224291 by Kåre เลียม Enga

June 14 (won):

STATIC

Jays [93] (300 words)  (18+) < 300 words flash fiction; prompts: birds, book, shoe [177.93] #2224312 by Kåre เลียม Enga

June 16 (won):

STATIC

How to dress a brick [95] (290 words)  (18+) < 300 words flash fiction. Write a story that includes the words: brick, dress, mouth. #2224525 by Kåre เลียม Enga

June 18:

STATIC

Bluegill [177.99] (323 words)  (18+) A fishing trip to the lake. Revised from 299 words; prompts: shell, hand, window, Dad. #2224702 by Kåre เลียม Enga

READING

Utopia, poesia de Costa Rica

MOVIETIME

I can't focus on audio-visual! I need to finish one movie and find one that works for me. I have 200 to choose from. May need to go on-line and watch some East Asian love story serials.

MARKET SENIOR CENTER COFFEEHOUSE

June 13th: Sad. Everyone is spitting in each other's faces in the casino, but the market is so over cautious they're killing business. Few of the vendors I know are even there. Saw Laxmi. Butterfly Herbs: chocolate-raspberry malt. Cost $5 but I can afford to splurge (twice this month!). Saw Landon, Nan.
June 15th: Spoke with Kathi and Laxmi, said hello to others. 'Beef' stroganoff and chocolate cake! The Wunderground thrift store is open. I should wander through there someday soon.
June 18th: Kathi fell, cut herself is badly bruised. I didn't see her though. Shortchat with Phil. Mystery meat and mushrooms.
June 19th: Spoke with Kathi, Bill and Phil. Hugged by Merry. Hotdogs with chili and cheese. Flowers in bloom. I don't wear a mask when I outside. I chat too much.

MY FORMER LIFE

June 2010: Bus trip across the north. Stopped at North Dakota badlands overlook.
June 2010: Bought moose poop at the Clark Fork Market.

WATT'S GNUS

Two Years After Trump-Kim Meeting, Little to Show for Personal Diplomacy (NY Times) And the North has further cut ties to the South.
Why the USA TODAY Network is capitalizing the B in Black (USA Today) B in Black like R in Respect.
Supreme Court rules existing civil rights law protects LGBTQ workers (NBC) People need to work. Major barrier falls.
Supreme Court blocks Trump’s bid to end DACA, a win for undocumented ‘dreamers’ (Wa Post) I know a former WdC member who must be thrilled.

WATT'S GNUS INTERNATIONAL

Desperation grows as fighters blockade key Burkina Faso town (Al Jezeera) Death and no food in the northern province of Soum.
Polish president calls LGBT 'ideology' worse than communism (AP) Intolerance has taken root in Europe and is spreading.
Too Close for Comfort, and the Virus, in Russia’s Communal Apartments (NY Times) My situation is not as bad. I have my own kitchenette. But... we have AirBnB guests who we don't know who arrive from who-knows-where.
India, China troops clash at Himalayan border, 'casualties on both sides' (Reuters) In Ladakh. Edging closer to war = not good for the world.
Iconic Amazon indigenous chief Paiakan dies of virus (AFP) Dead in 10 days. Great concern in Brasil and in the US how indigenous people are dying.
NZ police officer shot dead; first killed on duty in a decade (Al Jezeera) In Auckland. 3 in Montana since 2010, latest 2017.

OPINIONS

I've been keeping copies of my facebook rants. Truly I have. I need to look at them again and link it when rethought and edited. My non-rant insights I tend to post in my 'normal' blogs.

June 12th: "See me take your dis out of disABLED" 
June 12th: "Cops should be civilian peace keepers" 
June 14th: "A potpourri of complaints and observations" 

SPACEBOOK quotes (you can guess context):

Sue Clemenger: "He's the walking personification of why you should never trust a fart."
Meme seen at Flower Love: "If a plant is sad, do other plants photosympathize with it?"
Jacqui Odell: "ignoranus: an asshole with a keyboard."
Sue Clemenger "Pretty much every sock in my sock drawer is older than the Confederacy." [as in over 4 years old].

BLOGVILLE

Reference to challenges, contest and prompts (not all appearing on the same week):
BC: "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  (daily) (I'm not a member)
BCOF: "Blogging Circle of Friends "  using my Nlog (nature blog) "Nurture your Nature"  and "Hoarfrosts from Hell"  (daily)
BHC: "The Bard's Hall Contest"  using my Tlog (travel blog) "On The Write Path"  Theme: June is blog month.
JAFBG: "JAFBG"  (open rants)
JI: "Journalistic Intentions"  using my Blog "Enga mellom fjella"  (8 blogs from 16 prompts till 7/4)
30DBC: "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  (July)
MHA: "Invalid Item"  weekly prompts starting June 14th.
OP: "Invalid Item"  using my Plog "L'aura del Campo" 
PP: "Promptly Poetry Challenge (2024-2025)"  my Plog response to prompts as I missed the sign-up date.
Real: "Welcome To My Reality Forum"  75 prompts
SB: "Space Blog" 

June 12th BCOF: "Sandy's soft soles" 
June 13th: BC: ""Trees" and "34"" 
June 14th JI: "Seeing through the rain" 
June 14th MHA: "2020: copy, paste, repeat" 
June 15th SB: "Stardate 4157 01: Thumbs up, thumbs down" 
June 16th SB: "Stardate: 4157.15" 
June 16th JI: "To see unicorns you have to believe in them. [97]" 
June 17th BCOF: "Between the Stones and Cracks " 
June 17th SB: "Stardate 3822 452?" 
June 18th SB: "Stardate 4157 04 "Teal"" 
June 19th SB: "4157 05 "Muted: A deeper shade of teal"" 
June 19th JI: "So f-ing pissed off ... Let America Burn?"  (an angry rant)

Visited this week so far and commented: SandraLynn Turkey DrumStik Robert Waltz Sorji is Novelling! 💙 Carly-wrimo 2024 Chris Breva Pumpkin Harvest Jeff Joy ridinghhood-p.boutilier Veritas skeason Lilli 🧿 ☕ Lyn's a Witchy Woman lizco252isback Satuawany Richard ~ Thankful!! innerlight hullabaloo22 🌻 thankful pwheeler nano Princess Megan Snow Rose Elle - on hiatus Sharmelle'sThankfulExpressions L.A. Grawitch tah2o Charlie ~ queenkissy Prosperous Snow celebrating Jay O'Toole IceSkatingSugarCube WakeUpAndLive~doingNaNo'24 SB Musing QueenNormaJean maybesnow?! bobturn

Ned : I responded to "The Homeless"  about abandoned words: It makes me reflect about 20 years of writing, over 5,000 scraps ... long ago. Who knows now. I'm buried under them, standing on them, hiding behind them.
Charity Marie - <3 is having a heart-wrenching time. She could use support from anyone who knows her.

Trying to keep up on blogs. Over 30 last week but 10-15 is a better goal.

Postcards:

June 6: wrote one to Jamie in Maryland. (bobcats) Mailed the 13th. (received on the 16th!)
June 13: wrote and sent to Lisa in Mississippi. (mist on the Bitterroot river)

Snow in June (screen capture sent to me by Nada)

                                                                                                                                           

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