Porthole

August 15 - August 21

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

"O Lord my God! Assist Thy loved ones to be firm in Thy Faith, to walk in Thy ways, to be steadfast in Thy Cause. Give them Thy grace to withstand the onslaught of self and passion, to follow the light of divine guidance. Thou art the Powerful, the Gracious, the Self-Subsisting, the Bestower, the Compassionate, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful." -Abdu’l-Baha

MY THOUGHTS

August 15: My blood pressure was low. I laid down. I have no energy.
August 16: All periods have tribulations. This is ours/mine to overcome.
August 17: I just want to sleep. 'Depression napping' isn't a good idea in the heat.
August 18: Lavinia's death is on my mind. Knew it was coming but I'm a bit rattled.
August 19: nothing
August 20: Going through each pile is tedious, but I found some things.
August 21: Still not sure why I have barely spoken to people at WdC or IRL this week.

WEATHER

August 15: 32° hazy going down to 12; 31/27° all week in Dakar, Senegal.
August 16: 32° 36/17, dry; 19° in Warsaw, Poland. 31/14 this week, and rain.
August 17: 35° and a warm night to follow; 16° in Arusha, Tanzania. 27/15 all week.
August 18: 28° and languid; 3° Katse Dam, Lesotho. Cold and very windy. 21/-7 this week.
August 19: 32° and sticky, gloomy; 12° Saint Regis Mountain, NY, going down to 2.
August 20: 26° and cloudy; 26° in Honolulu, 31/24 all week.
August 21: 33° hot; 24° at midnight in Trondheim, Norway, det er ganske varmt.

IMAGES

August 15: Vegetables and fruits, the orange glow of my 'Sinful' melon. Haze in an empty sky.
August 16: Quiet. Peaceful. Gentle breeze. Banana-vanilla pudding.
August 17: Doe with fawn. Heat. Glorious sunset of orange streaks in the north-west.
August 18: Languid day. pictures of sunset. Mushroom pizza and harp music.
August 19: Quiet walk.
August 20: nothing
August 21: blackened prairie where Mt. Sentinel burned. Smoky haze from other fires.

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. CLOSED "Invalid Item" 
"Invalid Item"  4 prompt ss 500-5000
"Invalid Item"  ss >4 font. AUG 15th "Letter to María Celeste [176] (coffee) [431 words]" 
"Invalid Item"  Weekly horror <1500 ss: 1-8 Romance; 8-15 Supernatural; 22-29

POETRY:
"Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest"  "Summer's storm [177]"  By 8/8. "From the grave, a voice [237] (10 lines)"  By 9/9
"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 "Smoke" 
"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. "Quepos in June [186]" 
2 "Invalid Item"  Round 77: landay. "Sunset of 2020 [189] (landay)" 
"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: "WFTH Poetry Contest - ON HIATUS "  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: 17th 19th 21th

"Summer's storm [177]" 

* "At Tussaud's [179] 24σ" 

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

"MLK coming down the tracks 1963 [182] 24σ" 

"de Sade lives! [184] 24σ" 

"Quepos in June [186]" 

"In the year 2010 [190b] Chores [190a] 24σ" 

"Draft Notice 1969 [192b] 24σ" 

"Old enemies 24σ [194]" 

Boiling:

"this our fairy tale [175] a song" 

"From the grave, a voice [237] (10 lines)" 

"Sunset of 2020 [189] (landay)" 

Cracked:

"Ombra mai fu" 

Not yet laid:

PORK

DAILY: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 

STATIC

Highway KK (299 words) [190]  (18+) < 300 words flash on a hot day (drive, cup, brown) in Nevada, Missouri. Part 1 of 3. #2229699 by Kåre เลียม Enga

STATIC

Jenny [191] (298 words)   (18+) < 300 words: "this is boring" and heat, lots of heat. Part 2 of 3. #2229797 by Kåre เลียม Enga

"Turn, turn, turn ... on me [181] (698 words)" 

Baking:

"Yokai 8/15" 

"Hemorrhoids "  only-dialogue-July

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: 6KAMP , 6KAMP , 5E(67) , 6MP(g) .

EDITING PHOTOS

15: 2/14-17-fin, 16: 2/18 (Jiufen-fin), 17: 2/19, 18: 2/19-fin, 19: 2/20 (Jiufen), 20: , 21: 2/20 (Ruifang).

CHORES

15: , 16: 20 min, 17: , 18: 30min, 19: 30 min+, 20: 30 min, 21: 15 min.

OUT/WALK

15: walk, 16: out, 17: out, 18: out, 19: walk, 20: , 21: out.

MARKET SENIOR CENTER COFFEEHOUSE

August 15th: got card from Mary in TX; chocolate-irish-cream milkshake At Butterfly Herbs; bought a small melon 'Sinful' $1.25.
August 17th: sat with Laxmi, Dalton, and Bill. Pork and stuffing.
August 19th: very late, very quiet walk for groceries. Ice cream on sale.
August 21th: sat with Dalton, spoke with Willie. Beef something.

MY FORMER LIFE

August, 1963: Floods!
August 2018: Italy, Switzerland, Norway.

WATT'S GNUS

Bernie Sanders says Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting a ‘crisis for US democracy’ (Guardian) I concur.

WATT'S GNUS INTERNATIONAL

Polish nationalists and LGBT activists face off in Warsaw (Reuters) Erosion of human rights ... a backlash from traditionalists and nationalists.
Mali’s President Resigns After Detention by Mutinous Soldiers (Bloomberg) Change comes without bloodshed.

OPINIONS

"Homeless shit ... again and again. "  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 (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 15 SB: "4517 62 SC hears a story... "Smitten with a kitten" [260]" 
August 15 30dbcof: "Misr (Garbage City [187])"  picture of statue in Torino.
August 16 30dbcof: "Ethiopia: Lelibela [188]" 
August 16 Real: "Reality! Chapter 1"  closed
August 17 30dbcof: "Blood and Urine (Arusha among the Maasai)" 
August 17 SB: "What's a vacation. (4157: exact stardate unknown)" 
August 18 30dbcof: "Lesotho" 
August 18 SB?: "logic and emotion"  closed
August 19 30dcof: "Ho joang? Lesotho - day 2" 
August 19 SB: "preachers and politicians"  closed
August 20 30dcof: "lesotho day 3 durban"  closed
August 20 SB: "Good friends stardate ?"  closed
August 21 30dcof: "Kaapstad, Suid Afrika" 
August 21 SB: "Brightness and color of stars"  closed

Visited this week so far and commented:


Elisa, Stik of Clubs An insightful and funny entry: "Coronavirus Magazine" 
Beholden Can we avoid cliches? I mentioned Taboo Word Contest.
Robert Waltz Can blue-eyed folks hold their liquor better?
Chris Breva Do you trust preachers or politicians, both or neither.
QueenNormaJean now the melt Lots of tomatoes, grasshoppers, a cat, a fawn? And heat. Lots of heat.
Apondia Having fun in a virtual hot air balloon? And ghost ships?
Charity Marie - <3 Missing her loving husband.
SandraLynn Is having a real good time with the virtual tour.
Joy do we over-react?
bobturn two misfits Roy and Elvis and their monster-mom Gail.
Grateful Jess The gray rock approach: do not act emotionally, narcissists are attracted to drama and they feed on that drama.
Charlie ~ Really needs support from each and every one of us.
Veritas How can one work with no direction nor support?
🌻 pwheeler ~ love joy peace has advice on sleeping. "Sleep Notes from Prevention Magazine " 

Trying to keep up on blogs. Not a great week, 15-20 is better.

Postcards:

Received card from Mary in TX and postcard from Anne in WA.

Statue in Museo Egizio in Torino, Italy, August 10, 2018.

                                                                                                                                           

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