Porthole

July 18 - July 25

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           ███████

SUMMER: JULY 2020

""Arise in His name, put your trust wholly in Him, and be assured of ultimate victory."
- The Bab

MY THOUGHTS

July 18: Ready to give up on poetry but won both contests. Still not convinced...
July 19: It doesn't take much to cheer me up for a moment. Friend appeared in a dream.
July 20: We are entering into the second stage of totlitarianism. I hope people are happy.
July 21: I will get done what I get done ... and no more. Very low BP; high pulse.
July 22: My nerves are shot and my anxiety is high. I was supposed to be at a h.s. reunion.
July 23: Forgiveness and lessoning the burdens of anger and guilt.
July 24: Didn't sleep well. No clue why except room didn't cool down much.

WEATHER

July 18: 27° sunny; 22° in Cartago, Costa Rica, rainy every day.
July 19: 26° sunny going up to 30; 22° in Port Townsand, WA, pleasant all week.
July 20: 24° tranquil going up to 32; 26° and breezy in Buffalo, NY.
July 21: 24° sunny going up to 33; 32° and sweltering in New York City.
July 22: 26° going up to 34 no cooling over night; 27° in Crete, Nebraska.
July 23: 24° and cooler today; 12° and clear at 4 a.m. in Yamadera, Japan. Stormy week ahead.
July 24: 18° going up to 29; 28° in Novi Pazar, Serbia.

IMAGES


July 18: The river is lower and the green algae or grass is showing. Very lovely.
July 19: Cloudlets. Prairie dog. Harebells. Burrs. Looking up: blue, white, sun in the pines.
July 20: Blue heat ... draining. Hollyhocks don't seem to care.
July 21: Wilting hollyhocks... guess they do care. Taste of apple crisp.
July 22: The river flows under the bridge; I carefully walk over it. Cloudy day.
July 23: Golden crescent moon. Evening primrose, soft thistle, quiet bench.
July 24: Yellow yarrow, purple venus-looking-glass, spectacular orange sunset.

CONTESTS

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!

FICTION:
"No Dialogue Contest-CLOSED"  SS <700. No dialogue. HEAT by 7/31.CLOSED "A River of Thirst (Jarom)"  B/E
"Invalid Item"  FF < 300 Flash Fiction Romance/Erotica by 7/14(Freedom) B/E "Before the showing (300 words) [139] (13.July.2020)" 
"The Dialogue 500"  SS <500. July: A Dialogue with your Doctor at the Sanitarium.CLOSED "Hemorrhoids " 
"The Science Fiction Short Story Contest"  SS <2000. July: {bitem:}
"WEIRD TALES CONTEST "  SS <1000, July: invaders from outside. CLOSED "Invalid Item" 

POETRY:
"Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest "  <50. Old or new not awarded. Limited to 20. "First drum set" 
"Write from the Heart Poetry Contest"  Romance. 12-20 lines CLOSED "Mayfly [169]" 
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Round 85 to 14th Old or new. Free verse <40 lines. "One ... Mississippi ... Two" 
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Round 86 15th to July 31st. Old or new. Free verse <40 lines.
1 "Invalid Item"  Round 74: mondo. "White rosebuds [123]" 
2 "Invalid Item"  Round 75: syair. "2020 unmasked [159] "  closed
"Invalid Item"  New or old <50 lines

Whenever: "The Random Poetry Contest" 
August: "Invalid Item"  <60. It's a dark month...
September: "Verdant Poetry Contest"  Nature. Autumn. Form and words by Sept. 30.
September: "The Humorous Poetry Contest"  <15 Humor. Round 33. B/E

BOTH:
"The Writer's Cramp"  Daily noon-noon WDC = 10 a.m. MTT. Must be item.
"The Taboo Words Contest ~ On Hiatus"  Monthly. <750 <40 July: FIREWORKS In progress: "Comforting Sophie (taboo) [113]" 
"Kittiara's Writing Contest"  1 ss, 1 poem. Theme: renewal
"Second Time Around ~ Birthday Special"  Old non-winners! Got lots of those (poem/ss) June 15th-July 14th"Thunder" 

EITHER/OR:
"Invalid Item"  Erotica! 500 words or 15 lines. July: DEVOTIONNot posted yet"Unhappy without you (12 lines)" 
"Invalid Item"  July theme: RESOLVE <500 or poem 15 line max.
"The PET NEWS CONTEST"  SS <2500, P <40. July: A REAL WILD PET

NEITHER:
"The 4 Controversies Contest"  Opinionated non-fiction essay >1200. By July 17: COVID-19Ran out of steam

VARIES:
"Share Your Faith"  until June 30. Story or poem. Prompt: dealing with anger. "Opening the garden ... of the heart [109] (36 lines)" 
"The Contest Challenge"  A contest of contests... every month.
"The Bard's Hall Contest"  SS <1000 GC+ Sizzle! July 31. CLOSED "Invalid Item" 

"Journey Through Genres: Official Contest" 

POULTRY

DAILY for JULY: "The Daily Poem"  by 4 p.m. WDC by: 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th
THREE DAYS A WEEK: "Invalid Item"  by midnight WDC by: 20th 22nd 24th

"Våren [143]" 

"Fabrications [141] " 

"I like my friends to come with warnings [145] " 

"Clair de lune [146]" 

"Monday night out [144] (24 σ)" 

"Five minutes till [147]" 

"Dealing with it [150]" 

"Illiberal, Kansas [149] (July22) (24 σ)" 

HM "Bashō, Busan, Issa [151]" 

"A Typo Life [153] " 

"How all journeys end [152] (24σ) " 

Boiling:

"Le monde gris [154]" 

"Wind, where do you take me? [133]" 

Cracked:

"Ombra mai fu" 

"But in the end, a passing thing [183.zm]" 

Not yet laid:

PORK

DAILY: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 

STATIC

What it's worth [148] (239 words)  (18+) < 300 word flash fiction. Write a story that includes the words: time, pearl, light. #2227485 by Kåre เลียม Enga

STATIC

Trading [155] (298 words)  (18+) < 300 words flash fiction. Prompts: monkey, floor, closet #2227727 by Kåre เลียม Enga

Baking:

READING

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.

LEARNING NORWEGIAN

NoW: 3K 3A 3KA 3MAK 3KAMP 3MP(GV) 3MP+

EDITING PHOTOS

18: 2/12 (Changhua), 19: 2/12 (Lukang), 20: 2/12 (Lukang), 21: 2/12 (Lukang), 22: 2/12 (Lukang), 23: 2/12 (Lukang-finished), 24: 2/12 (Changhua)

CHORES

18: 30+min, 19: 30 min, 20: 30 min, 21: (wash), 22: (bank,p.o.,grocery), 23: 30 min, 24: 15 min.

OUT/WALK

18: out, 19: walk, 20: out, 21: out, 22: out twice, 23: walk, 24: out, walk.

MARKET SENIOR CENTER COFFEEHOUSE

July 18th: Nothing at market. Went to Butterfly Herbs for an apricot-caramel milkshake (apricot wasn't strong enough). Saw Gary, Dirk. Wrote postcards. Ment to p.o.
July 20th: Saw Ben, Laxmi, Kathy, Al, Bill... chatted for awhile in the shade. Chicken-something today and apple-crisp. Told them about my new routines.
July 21st: Talked to Kathy, Jaffri, Randall. Washed my clothes.
July 22nd: Since I took care of chores I treated myself to a chocolate-hazelnut milkshake at Butterfly Herbs. Saw Cathy Mae, and briefly Nan and Rick. Bought three more postcards.
July 24th: Saw Kathy and others,including cyclers, spoke mostly with Phil.

MY FORMER LIFE

July, 1973: Hot KU summer in dorm with roommate from Tehran.
July, 1974: Wandering around Arequipa and Cusco, Peru
July, 2018: Istanbul Turkey (hint: go spring or autumn, not july)
July, 2052: Dead.

WATT'S GNUS

Pooled Testing Okayed in U.S. as Way of Boosting Covid Detection (Bloomberg) Wish they would do this building ... and everyone who visits.
House Democrats demand investigation into use of force at Portland protests (Reuters) And Trumps digs in ... very dangerous.
Trump suggests he'll send federal agents to other major US cities, saying they've done a 'fantastic job' in Portland "Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.These are not the actions of a democratic republic," Pelosi said. That sums it up for me.
A Faraway Solar System Is an Uncanny Reflection of Our Own (Atlantic) My first reaction ... could we see a reflection of our own?
It’s Harder To Get A COVID-19 Test If You’re Black Or Hispanic (FiveThirtyEight) Mostly systemic.

WATT'S GNUS INTERNATIONAL

Floods in India, Nepal displace nearly four million people, at least 189 dead (Reuters) We tend to ignore what is going on elsewhere.
Egypt's parliament approves troop deployment to Libya (Al Jezeera) Possible war between Turkey and Egypt brewing.

OPINIONS

"Gen Z good and bad "  closed
"why do i write"  closed
"Follow the money, the morals (or lack thereof) [re disease]"  closed

SPACEBOOK quotes (you can guess context):

Rosemary Sinniger: "When I am QUEEN OF THE WORLD, there will be only ONE TYPE of battery!"

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)
JAFBG: "JAFBG"  (open rants)
JI: "Journalistic Intentions"  using my Blog "Enga mellom fjella"  (8 blogs from 16 prompts) "June post. I'm finished. "  
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" 

July 18 SB: "Do I boycott? " 
July 19 SB: "The putting off SB"  closed
July 19 30DBC: "Hobby lobby I'm not. " 
July 20 SB&30DBC: "Endless cycle, stardate 4148 04" 
July 21 SB: ""Alone" (in memory of mKoda), Stardate 4148 05" 
July 22 30DBC: "Zooming with Zombies? No, vamps only LOOK dead." 
July 23 30DBC: "We need diverse voices" 
July 24 30dBC: "Just stay me" 

Visited this week so far and commented:Bernie QPdoll is Grateful SB Musing Lostwordsmith BlueMoon Apondia Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008 Charity Marie - <3 Beholden Sumojo Mighty jabberwocky Prosperous Snow celebrating tah2o Future Mrs. Boo Alexi ridinghhood-p.boutilier ♥noVember tHiNg♥ Charlie ~ WakeUpAndLive~doingNaNo'24 Elle - on hiatus Sorji is Novelling! Joy Sum1's Home 💙 Carly-wrimo 2024 Kate - Writing & Reading innerlight Cheddah IceSkatingSugarCube SandraLynn bobturn Cappucine Eric Wharton Robert Waltz Lyn's a Witchy Woman
Trying to keep up on blogs. Over 40 last week but 15-20 is a better goal.

Postcards:

July 18: Annabel in CA.
July 18: Gare in NY.
July 22: Karen in NY.

I moved to Missoula July 2008 and the mountain burned:

                                                                                                                                           

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