Porthole

August 1 - August 7

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: AUGUST 2020

"At all times do I speak of you and call you to mind. I pray unto the Lord, and with tears I implore Him
to rain down all these blessings upon you, and gladden your hearts, and make blissful your souls,
and grant you exceeding joy and heavenly delights..."
- Abdu'l-Baha

Recorded in Brisbane, Australia.

MY THOUGHTS

August 1: Totally listless this afternoon. No poetry prompts due and the heat is opressive.
August 2: Naked all day? Heat and me have 'issues'. I need to go out for milk... but not naked.
August 3: My blogs are better when I'm inspired to write about what I WANT to write about.
August 4: Time to get back to work. I've been slacking. Keep dreaming I speak Chinese.
August 5: I'm not doing well. Physically okay but depressed, out-of-sorts, sluggish.
August 6: It's not wrong to splurge once in awhile.
August 7: I don't do groups. It's apparent here at WDC and IRL.

WEATHER

August 1: 31° under a grey pall, only going down to 17; 25° in Fayetteville, NC 32/22 this week.
August 2: 29° clear but uncomfortable; 29° and stormy in Daytona Beach, Florida.
August 3: 29° and dry, pleasant; 27° windy, rain moving into Myrtle Beach, SC.
August 4: 27° and sunny; 22° windy, heavy rain due to Isias in Albany, NY.
August 5: Up to 36° today; 47° forecast in Baghdad this week.
August 6: 29° but fine; 29° in Dakar, Senegal. Rain possible later. 30/26 all week.
August 7: 16° warming to 24; 26° and rain this afternoon in Greenville, SC.

IMAGES

August 1: Grey. Taste of cherry-chocolate milkshake, fresh cherries, a gooey bun.
August 2: Fizzy cola tablet in water.
August 3: Fly fisherman (from Sacramento), bridal wreath clematis, alpenglow
August 4: Geese on Silvers Lagoon. Fragrant pink lily.
August 5: Young people at Mobash gathering! Calm sunset along the river.
August 6: Lavender, roses, peanut butter pie.
August 7: Gentle pleasant breezes. Much nicer after the oppressive heat.

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. B/E (no August yet)
"Invalid Item"  FF < 300 Flash Fiction Romance/Erotica by 7/14(Freedom) B/E "Before the showing (300 words) [139] (13.July.2020)"  July 15-July 29: Non-Fiction (Food)
"The Dialogue 500"  SS <500. Covid-19in progress "the certainty of water" 
"The Science Fiction Short Story Contest"  SS <2000. August: heat {bitem:}
"WEIRD TALES CONTEST "  SS <1000, August: The phantom hand.in progress "Invalid Item" 
"Distorted Minds Contest"  4 prompt ss 500-5000
"Invalid Item"  ss >4 font. AUG 15th "Letter to María Celeste [176] (coffee) [431 words]"  in progress
"Invalid Item"  Weekly horror <1500 ss: 1-8 Romance; 8-15; 15-22; 22-29

POETRY:
"Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest"  "Summer's storm [177]"  By Aug 8.
"Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest "  <50. Old or new not awarded. Limited to 20.
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Round 86 to August 14th. Old or new. Free verse <40
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Round 87 August 15th to September 14th.Old or new. Free verse <40 lines.
1 "Invalid Item"  Round 76: triveni.
2 "Invalid Item"  Round 77:
"Invalid Item"  August New or old <50 lines
"Invalid Item"  <60. It's a dark month... State Fair

Whenever: "The Random Poetry Contest" 
September: "Verdant Poetry Contest"  Nature. Autumn. Form and words by Sept. 30.
September: "The Humorous Poetry Contest"  <15 Humor. Round 33. B/E
Closed: "Write from the Heart Poetry Contest"  Romance. 12-20 lines

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 August - Cookout In progress: "What is this? [202]" 

"Kittiara's Writing Contest"  1 ss, 1 poem. Theme: renewal
"Second Time Around ~ Birthday Special"  Old non-winners! Got lots of those. Round 17: Aug 15th-Sept 14

EITHER/OR:

"Invalid Item"  Erotica! <500 words, <15. August?
"Invalid Item"  <1000 or poem August?
"The PET NEWS CONTEST"  SS <2500, P <40. August?

NEITHER:
"The 4 Controversies Contest"  Opinionated non-fiction essay >1200. Round IX?

VARIES:
"The Contest Challenge"  A contest of contests... every month.
"The Bard's Hall Contest"  SS <1000 GC+ August 31 Pet/human. "PET/HUMAN DIALOGUE"  Needs to be s/s

"Share Your Faith" 
"Journey Through Genres: Official Contest" 

POULTRY

THREE DAYS A WEEK: "Invalid Item"  by midnight WDC by: 3rd 5th 7th

"Broken neck [172] (24 σ)" 

"Dinner conversation [174] (24σ) " 

"Age does not become you [178] 24σ " 

"Summer's storm [177]" 

Boiling:

"this our fairy tale [175] a song" 

"Wind, where do you take me? [133]" 

Cracked:

"Ombra mai fu" 

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

PORK

DAILY: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 

STATIC

Pool bot [172] (237 one syllable words)  (18+) < 300 words prompt: wind, three, grass #2228387 by Kåre เลียม Enga

Baking:

"Hemorrhoids " 

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: G 7-10 4K 4KA 4MP 4KAMP

EDITING PHOTOS

1: 2/13 (Lukang - finished), 2: 2/14 (Lukang-600s), 3: 2/14 (Lukang-500s), 4: 2/14 (Lukang-500s-fin), 5: 2/14 (Lukang-400s-fin), 6: 2/14 (Lukang-200-300s-fin), 7: 2/15 (Kaohsiung)

CHORES

1: , 2: 30 min., 3: , 4: 10 min., 5: , 6: 30 min., 7:

OUT/WALK

1: walk, 2: out, 3: walk, 4: walk, 5: walk, 6: walk, 7: out.

MARKET SENIOR CENTER COFFEEHOUSE

August 1st: Saw Irina, bought sticky bun; cherry-chocolate milkshake at Butterfly Herbs.
August 3rd: Sat with Bill and Kathi. Chat about peaches and strawberries.
August 7th: Laxmi, Dalton, Bill, Kathi.

MY FORMER LIFE

August 2018: Ljubljana, Slovenia. Remember eating froglegs and polenta.
August 2: Romeria in Cartago, Costa Rica. Went one year. Cancelled this year.

WATT'S GNUS

Thousands to evacuate as Apple Fire grows in Southern California (USA Today) No Fire Season yet in Montana.
Trump claims right to issue executive order on vote-by-mail (Politico) Definitely Nazi Gemany and then some.
WATT'S GNUS INTERNATIONAL

Hundreds join protests in Portugal after murder of Black man (Al Jeezera) You can't call it racism if the country can't see it.
Kosovo prime minister tests positive for coronavirus (The Hill) Lots of leaders everywhere are testing positive. Gambia is especially hurting.
England's first wild beavers for 400 years can stay (AFP) In Devonshire

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
"A bit of drama from the traumatized blogger"  closed

SPACEBOOK quotes (you can guess context):

TybeeTime: I’ll have to cite this for my thesis defense, “Earth’s Atmo: Biggerer Than Mars, But It’s No Venus.”

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 August Prompts "REALITIES ... prompts and ideas" 
SB: "Space Blog" 

For August: 30dbcof is a combo of 30DBC and BCOF in my Tlog (travel blog): "On The Write Path" 


August 1 BCoF: "The way of summer snow" 
August 2 SB: "White on white Day 2"  closed
August 2 30dbcof: "Antarctica Day 2. Starry, starry night. " 
August 3 SB: "SB chase the clouds away"  closed
August 3 30dbcof: "Day 3 Sydney " 
August 4 BCoF: "A... choo... choo" 
August 4 SB: "Rain... SB"  closed
August 5 30dbcof: "Opals..."  closed
August 5 SB: "this our fairy tale [175] a song"  closed
August 6 30dbcof: "Katherine"  closed
August 6 SB: "SB a melody aug 6"  closed
August 7 SB: "Stardate 4157 54: When you fall, you get up." 
August 7 30dbcof: "Darwin ... we left too soon ... " 

Visited this week so far and commented:Wordsmitty ✍️ Elle - on hiatus Robert Waltz innerlight NaNoNette Purple Holiday Givings WakeUpAndLive~doingNaNo'24 Mighty Eric Wharton Sum1's Home Prosperous Snow celebrating QueenNormaJean maybesnow?! Future Mrs. Boo Charlie ~ Richard ~ Thankful!! Kit_Carmelite tah2o Apondia 💙 Carly-wrimo 2024 hullabaloo22 IceSkatingSugarCube ⭐Princette♥PengthuluWrites Emily

Trying to keep up on blogs. Over 30 last week but 15-20 is a better goal.

Postcards:

Aug 1: Andra in ND.
Aug 1: Mary in TX.

Sunset coming down the old railroad tracks, August 3, 2010 at 21:00.

                                                                                                                                           

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