Math, history, geography: 55 words

Over at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, my friend Hedgewitch has insisted that the Flash 55 challenge produce exactly, precisely 55 words, no more, no less: a challenge within a challenge, for me. Last time, I believe I managed 54 words, but I tried to do better this time. Count carefully, Kay, I muttered, et voilá, it's 55 words. Some even rhyme.

Uh-oh, I just noticed Hedge says it is Flash Fiction 55, but mine isn't exactly fictitious. O well, can't win 'em all, and all that.
Sigh.
Next month, Flash 55 will be hosted by one of Hedge's cohorts, either Mama Zen or Fireblossom, whoever comes first.

Mule Deer

when I was fifty-five,

finding myself still alive,

I thought I might strive

for something new.

what did I do?

I left all I knew:

(having packed up everything

that was worth taking)

then made my way

across the Rockies

to the place where the deer

and the antelope play.

(written today,

by Kay)

Pronghorn Antelope

Photos by
Richard Schear

Blue sky changes to white

My intrepid photographer just got back from a short business trip to Toronto. He was thrilled to be able to get a ticket to the Friday evening Blue Jays game, and even if the Jays didn't win, he had a great time. He was surrounded by young fans who were fascinated by his years of baseball wisdom, always a good thing for someone who taught school as long as he did.

Toronto's CN Tower as seen from the Rogers Centre.
Photos by Richard Schear

Batting practice. The sky doesn't look as blue when contrasted with the seats.

Posted for Skywatch Friday

hosted by Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy

Isadora's Out of Standard curse

Above logo snaffled gratefully but without permission from Curse Inc. (which) is an online game portal and network of sites founded by Hubert Thieblot. Thanks, Hubert, and Curse Inc., it's a great logo, and I hope I'm not defying your copyright, lest a curse worse than writer's block descend upon me.

Magic Circle by

John William Waterhouse,

1886

Today at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, we have Isadora's Out of Standard challenge for the month of May. She says, "The poem is a curse" and I agree, so I have used her words to jumpstart my out-of-standard offering. Thanks, Izy!

the poem is a curse

from the universe

it haunts the back of my mind

no poem is worse

than a word or a verse

that can’t find a rhyme

or a line

it sits in my brain

where it wiggles

and jiggles

and refuses

for weeks to be written

and yet I know

for certain it's so—

when it’s done

I’m sure to be smitten

with love for the look of it

love for its finishedness

love for its very existence

torn from my heart

through my fingers

although in my heart

it yet lingers

and smiles

like a newborn

babe

in my arms

Kay L. Davies, May 28, 2014                                                                     

Lindy swallows pride in favor of food

Posted for Pet Pride
hosted by Lindy's friend Bozo and his family at their Pets Forever blog in Mumbai, India.
Lindy says, "I can understand you needing a cool spot when the weather gets hot, Bozo. This is a very cool spot, where I like to sleep. One side of the grey thing is a refrigerator and the other side is a freezer, and my mom and dad sometimes open the doors and let cold air out. Of course, they usually take out some food when they open them, too, and I like food."

This side is the refrigerator part.

Photos by Kay Davies

And this side is the freezer part.





"And now my mom is going to visit you and all our other friends on your blog! A little bit late, but I'm sure you know how people are."

Assorted Budapest Shadows

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday 2

From the public market to foreign offices, a synagogue, and everywhere in between, my husband found plenty of shadows as he strolled with his camera around Budapest earlier this month.
Photos by Richard Schear, May, 2014

Music with Marian at the Imaginary Garden

Apparently this didn't appear when I posted it yesterday. Thanks to Jim for the heads up. Trying again now and will link again to Real Toads.

Over at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads,

Kay Davies photo, May, 2014

Marian posted a video of the duo of Jonatha Brooke and Jennifer Kimball, who were known as The Story. The song is called So Much Mine and is written as from a mother to her daughter.

I have used some of the words from the fifth stanza of the song in my poem today, my first poem since we left for our European travels earlier this month.
It's good to be back in the Imaginary Garden, with friends such as Marian. I love to travel but I find it more and more exhausting. The Imaginary Garden is soothing to me, and good for my soul.

Accompanying my poem is a photo of what would be my front garden if I were a gardener at all, but I'm not. Our ornamental crabapple blooms faithfully every May, however, and brings me great joy.

I’m the someone who loved you so

when bluebirds sang "There's no place like home."

I’m the someone who loved you so

when bees began to haunt the blossoms

but you began to taunt me so.

What happened, love, where did you go,

taking the heart that loved me so?

Kay Davies, May, 2014

Pausing to reflect

Yes, I'm posting twice to Weekend Reflections this week, because my husband caught several reflections in this shot of the final stages of cleaning a building in Budapest, Hungary.
What a difference soap and water make! Now, if I can get these fellows to come to our house, they can work without the rigging and the safety harnesses to restore our little hobbit house to...well, not its former glory, as it never had much glory, but perhaps to respectability.

Photo by Richard Schear, May, 2014

Reflecting on Lufthansa

We were treated well by the staff and crew of Lufthansa during our European vacation this month. The airline even provided photo opportunities for Weekend Reflections, the meme hosted by James of Something Sighted.
Thanks, James, and thanks, Lufthansa.

Look who's in Budapest

First two photos by Richard Schear, May, 2014






"Hmm, there seems to be a little boy on my dog."










"Hey, what happened? I thought I saw a little boy on my dog, but he's not there now. I must have imagined it. Now, what was I doing here?"

I've always been a Peter Falk fan, ever since his performance in Pocketful of Miracles, the story based on characters from Damon Runyon's stories.
My siblings and I thought Falk was a lot like our dad, smart, funny, absentminded, and looking like his clothes had been put together from spare parts.

Wikipedia photo, below

An Academy Award nominee and Emmy-winning actor, Falk may or may not have a star in Hollywood, I don't know, but I know there's a statue of Columbo and his dog in Budapest, Hungary. 
Falk was born in New York in 1927, but his mother had Hungarian roots.
In addition to his ancestry, Falk was known in Hungary and, indeed, around the world for his inimitable performance in the long-running TV movie series
Columbo.

Spring was blooming in Budapest

It wasn't only the flowers that told us Spring was a reality in Budapest earlier this month, but also the greenery in every direction. My husband and his camera can attest to this fact as well. We enjoyed the sunshine, trees and flowers very much, because Spring hadn't yet arrived here in southeastern Alberta. (Although I'm happy to say it was here to greet us upon our return.)

Photos by Richard Schear, May, 2014

Posted for the letter S at ABC Wednesday.

My intrepid photographer in Budapest

While I found myself sniffling and snuffling from an allergic reaction to the "fluff" floating down from the hundreds of linden trees in Budapest, (it's always something with this Unfittie, isn't it?) my energetic husband was out and about, touring and taking photographs.

Photos by Richard Schear, May, 2014

The angel atop the column at Heroes' Square in Budapest.

My hero, at Heroes' Square.

There so are many beautiful buildings in Budapest,
even my athletic husband didn't see them all.

A funicular car awaits its complement of passengers before heading downhill.

One of the three-stage funicular cars heads downhill.

In a city of bridges, it seems appropriate
that pedestrian bridges cross above the tracks.

Bridges and Budapest

Without its bridges, there would be no Budapest. There might still be two cities, one (Buda) and the other (Pest) on either side of the River Danube, but the beautiful united city we visited earlier this month would not be the same.

Photos by Richard Schear, May, 2014

It's May 20, and today it is...

...time for me to wish a very happy adversity to my intrepid photographer (who, as you can see, only carried a small camera at our elopement).

The 7-up (for her) and beer (for him) toast. Photo by Richard Pitt.

And, on the cake, a similar couple.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY DEAR RICHARD SCHEAR

Yes, we were there, now we're home

The River Danube at Budapest, Hungary, May, 2014

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday 2,
Weekend Reflections,
and Skywatch Friday

Kay Davies photo, May, 2014

A challenge limits me...

...to 55 words, no more, no less. Fireblossom (this week) and Mama Zen (soon) have taken over the reins from the G Man on the word-limited prompt, Flash 55, in the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads.
And what else could I write about this weekend? So, including the title, the following little ditty fits within the parameters precisely.

Flash Fiction Changes

flash fiction with MZ and Shay

will surely make somebody’s day

while G Man sits back

allowed, now, some slack

as these women both come out to play

Fireblossom says it’s easy,

not difficult at all, but breezy

just write fifty-five

and not sixty-five

or fifty-four or otherwise cheesy

Steaming skywatch

Icelandic skies can be full of surprises,

but sometimes they don't last long.

Watch for it...it's coming...

It's coming soon...

Here it is!

And away it goes...

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear, 2014

Posted for Skywatch Friday