Porthole

July 25 - July 31

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/WINTER: JULY 2020

"O Thixo, ndikokele, Ndikusele, ndenze ndibe
Isibane, esi bengezelayo Enkwenkwezi eqaqanbileyo
Ungu somandla isobu gangamsha"1
- Abdu’l-Baha

MY THOUGHTS

July 25: Thoughts of 'home' in Sweden. One of many places I 'come from'.
July 26: Moment (restaurant) in Taichung was one of the most interesting places I've visited.
July 27: I'm pulling my weight with commenting. Not as good as two weeks ago though. I try.
July 28: I wrote a perfectly rational blog after ranting earlier ... it felt good.
July 29: I'm not really into robots. I use technology but I don't want to be used by it.
July 30: I really need to get a grip on myself. Just keep plugging away.
July 31: Wanting to be normal, or perceived as such in order to be accepted, creates problems.

WEATHER

July 25: 18° going up to 29; 21° in Mariannelund, Sweden, going down to 11.
July 26: 28° going up to 31; 26° and humid at 4 a.m. in Taichung, Taiwan. Rainy week.
July 27: 23° going up to 34; 2° in Dunedin, New Zealand, a high of 9 today.
July 28: 28° going up to 36; 29° in Saint Lucia in the Caribe, 31/25 all week.
July 29: 20° going up to 32; 26° and dry in Jamestown, NY, rain this afternoon.
July 30: 25° going up to 36; 9° damp and dreary in Puerto Montt, Chile.
July 31: 27° going up to 37; 17° and sunny in Tromso, Norway.

IMAGES


July 25: Flowers, vegetables, butterflies. Pine shade, breeze.
July 26: Crush of cosmos, waxing crescent moon, quiet except for traffic, peanut butter.
July 27: Orange jello with peaches, peach crisp.
July 28: Orange jello with peaches (finished!). Empty table-top (been months). Stayed in.
July 29: Dark glowering skies with huge thunderheads and 0% chance of rain? Puh-leeze.
July 30: A yearling in the middle of 4th Street. Love orange cloud sunset.
July 31: Sparse shade under the aging trees. Pulled pork. Cherries.

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:
"Invalid Item"  SS <700. No dialogue. HEAT by 7/31. "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 "  ran out of time
"The Science Fiction Short Story Contest"  SS <2000. July: {bitem:} ran out of time
"WEIRD TALES CONTEST "  SS <1000, July: invaders from outside. CLOSED "Invalid Item"  ran out of time

POETRY:
"Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest "  <50. Old or new not awarded. Limited to 20. "First drum set" 
"WFTH Poetry Contest - ON HIATUS "  Romance. 12-20 lines "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 or Aug 14th? 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] " 
"A Story-Poem Contest!!!"  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"Comforting Sophie (taboo) [113]" "Sophie's Lament [114] (255 words)" 
"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, <15. July: DEVOTION "Unhappy without you (12 lines)" 
"Invalid Item"  July theme: RESOLVE <1000 ""90210" (991 words) — Stardates 4157 23-26-28 " 
"The PET NEWS CONTEST"  SS <2500, P <40. July: A REAL WILD PET HM "Julie had an aardwolf [160]" 

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: 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st
THREE DAYS A WEEK: "Invalid Item"  by midnight WDC by: 27th 29th 31st

"Le monde gris [154]" 

"Little Virus goes on a trip [156] (silverseuss)" 

" The dying leaf [158] " 

"Priscilla's dog days recipe [157] (24 σ)" 

"Contestant [162]" 

"Saint Andrew's Parlor [164] (24 σ)" 

"From Dawn till Dust [163] " 

"Ingrid Fossensdatter [167]" 

"Book, wine and blinkers [166] (24 σ)" 

"We abide [168]" 

HM "Julie had an aardwolf [160]" 
Boiling:

"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

Ye are drops... [161] (296 words)  (18+) Flash fiction < 300 words: cloud, feet, bread. "Ye are drops of one ocean..." #2227882 by Kåre เลียม Enga

Doll-collar [165] (298 words)  (18+) < 300 card, collar, doll #2228081 by Kåre เลียม Enga

STATIC

Sophie's Lament [114] (255 words)  (13+) < 300 words Prompts: book, frown, safe. Not: fireworks sparklers crackles bangs bright. #2228303 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: 4K (G) 4K+ 4A (V) 4M+ 4P+ KAMP G (1-6)

EDITING PHOTOS

25: 2/12 (Changhua-finished), 26: 2/11 (Moment-Taichung), 27: 2/11 (Rainbow Village-Taichung) 28: 2/11 (Rainbow Village), 29: 2/11 (Taichung-finished), 30: 2/13 (Lukang), 31:2/13 (Lukang)

CHORES

25: , 26: 30 min, 27: , 28: 30+min, 29: 30 min, 30: 20 min+, 31: 10min.

OUT/WALK

25: walk, 26: walk, 27: out, 28: , 29: out, 30: out, 31: out

MARKET SENIOR CENTER COFFEEHOUSE

July 25th: Saw Nan and Rick and others. Got to chat to people on my walk. Cardamom and toffee milkshake. Posted two postcards.
July 27th: Sat in the shade with Laxmi, Kathy, Ben. I ended up with lasagna and peach crisp.
July 29th: Sat with Charles, Laxmi and Bill. In the shade until that sneaky Sun came around.
July 31st: Laxmi, Bill, pulled pork, beans, cherries.

MY FORMER LIFE

July, 1973: Meso-American Anthropology and Chemistry at Kansas U.
July 25, 2013: Saw Presidenta Chinchilla in Nicoya, Costa Rica.
July, 2018: Vienna and Graz in Austria.

WATT'S GNUS

Olivia de Havilland dies at 104 (NBC) Now gone with the wind ...

WATT'S GNUS INTERNATIONAL

Fresh killings in Darfur as Sudan prepares to send troops (AFP) Agricultural people versus nomads.
'Alarm' at Poland's plan to leave treaty protecting women (AFP) The traditional war-on-women returns.

OPINIONS

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

SPACEBOOK quotes (you can guess context):

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 (2025-2026)"  my Plog response to prompts as I missed the sign-up date.
Real: "Welcome To My Reality Forum"  75 prompts August Prompts "REALITIES ... prompts and ideas" 
SB: "Space Blog" 

July 25 SB&30DBC: "My life's a jigsaw puzzle that needs to be put together." 
July 26 30DBC: "PIE" 
July 27 30DBC: "Do you really want to hurt me?" 
July 28 30DBC: "I get to rant!" 
July 28 SB: "Racism: wash, rinse and repeat." 
July 29 30DBC: "Universal translator" 
July 30 30DBC: "It's over" 
July 31 BCoF:"Orange ... the color of my heart" 


Visited this week so far and commented:Princess Megan Snow Rose Chris Breva hullabaloo22 tah2o jabberwocky lizco252isback Bernie QPdoll Cadie Laine IceSkatingSugarCube Eric Wharton Jim Apondia Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008 bobturn Pumpkin Pie & Coffee Joy Turkey DrumStik Lostwordsmith Alexi Witchy Woman Cheddah Elle 🌻 pwheeler ~ love joy peace Charity Marie - <3 Robert Waltz 💙 Carly: Joan Watson ridinghhood-p.boutilier Prosperous Snow celebrating Cappucine WakeUpAndLive~NOV Word Monger Sumojo BlueMoon queenkissy NormaJean AKA MarilynMonroe Maid of the Mist Most Macabre Charlie ~ SB Musing
Trying to keep up on blogs. Over 30 last week but 15-20 is a better goal.

Postcards:

July 25: Denise and Charlotte in Texas

I moved to Missoula July 2008 and the mountain burned:

                                                                                                                                           

2.672 views as of July 25th.

Footnotes
1  In isiXhosa. In English: "O God, guide me, protect me, make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful."