Dreamflower's Mathom-house

I almost always have an earworm going. There is not a time when I don't have a song or jingle or something repeating itself over and over in my head. Today it was a poem that I once knew by heart. It was triggered by seeing not one, but three different turtles trying to get to the other side of the road.

Anyway, here it is, so other people can get it stuck in their heads. Share the joy! *evil grin*

The Little Turtle

By Vachel Lindsay

There was a little turtle.
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.

I'm going to put this behind a cut, in case anyone is planning to watch tonight's DWTS later. But even if you have not been watching the show this season, you should see this dance.

Niall Demarco, who is partnered with pro Peta Murgatroyd, is a well-known male model. He is also totally deaf from birth, and so is his whole family. His freestyle dance tonight was utterly incredible.

( Read more... )

I got this from lindahoyland. Fun questions!

Feel free to ask me; just give me a letter(s).

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

C: What character do you identify with most?

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?

E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?

F: Care to share a favorite hurt/comfort fic?

G: Care to share a favorite crack fic?

H: How would you describe your style?

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].

K: What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

L: What's the weirdest AU you've ever come up with?

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

O: How do you begin a story--with the plot, or the characters?

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

S: Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

T: Any fandom tropes you can't stand?

U: A pairing you might like to write for, but haven't tried yet.

V: A secondary (or underrated) character you want to see more of in fic?

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Y: A character you want to protect.

Today both the DH and I went to the early service for church, and got our son to go with us.

I normally prefer the 11 o' clock service, which is traditional, with the usual liturgy and also the traditional hymnal hymns. The early service is a "song-and-praise" service with a band, rather than a choir and piano-and-organ. The sermon remains the same for both; today's sermon was on Matthew-the-tax-collector.

Today's service was quite a nice change. The chosen songs had a bit more substance than they usually do, and it was communion Sunday, which always makes the service more meaningful.

I felt quite uplifted and joyful when we left.

Here is one of the songs we had this morning:

(Crossposted from monthlydiaryday)

Just finished typing in my notes. Yesterday was rather quiet and uneventful:

7:15AM--Woke up. Made breakfast (sausage, toast and eggs for the DH, a strawberry/banana smoothie for me), watched "Good Morning America" and petted the cat.

Rest of the day behind the cut: ( Read more... )

Last month our planned Tolkien night for International Tolkien Reading Day at the library had to be postponed, due to the head librarian having pneumonia. Tonight was the rescheduled event, and it was lots of fun.

I wanted to dress up in my hobbit lass garb, but was unable to find it, though I scoured the house. I have a feeling it may have been put away in the garage with my SCA garb. So instead I wore my "Bilbo's Adventure" T-shirt. I had promised the head librarian to bring some scones for part of the refreshments, and made a couple of dozen.

Everyone had the chance to draw a Middle-earth name for the evening, so tonight I was Camellia Underhill. I met a very nice woman who was dressed as an Elf. She was "Niniel" for the evening. An interesting fact about her was that she'd had her last name legally changed to "Arwen" several years ago. We talked about our Tolkien experiences, and since she is a big Aragorn/Arwen fan, I pulled out my iPad and showed her some of rs9's artwork. She loved it!

There were several cute kids there with their mom/aunt (some were her kids and some were cousins). We had some fun games: riddles, guess the Dwarves' names, find the invisible Ring on Bilbo (kind of the opposite of pin the tail on the donkey)--a black silhouette of Bilbo was taped to the wall, the player was blindfolded, and a small "Ring" was taped to the silhouette. The player had two minutes to find the Ring. I found it in 18 seconds! There were some life sized cut-outs of some of the movie characters for photo ops. I only took a couple of pics, but there will be lots of pictures on the library website next week.

There were refreshments: bread and cheese, "lembas", my scones, cheese, and beverages.

The highlight of the evening was the Periscope reading of a section of "An Unexpected Party (you have to have Safari, Firefox or Chrome to view it):
https://www.periscope.tv/Cushing_Library/1lDxLwoNwQmJm

I gave a little introductory synopsis of Bilbo and Gandalf, and then turns were taken, reading the arrival of the Dwarves. We did not quite have enough volunteers to read the entire section, but I think it came out pretty well.

There had also been a silent auction. All three of my donations were purchased, and the event raised almost $300 for the library!

He is Risen!

To my fellow Christians, I hope you have a joyful and blessed Easter Day!
((((hugs)))) to all my friends! And I thank you for following my journey through Lent, whether you are a fellow believer or not!

Here is one last thing I found to share with you all:

About a week ago, I asked for nominations for a Presidential race between FICTIONAL presidents.

There are LOTS of fictional Presidents! So far I have six nominations:

1. Andrew Shepherd (The American President, movie) played by Michael Douglas
2. Josiah "Jed" Bartlett (The West Wing, TV) played by Martin Sheen
3. Frank Underwood (House of Cards, TV) played by Kevin Spacey
4. President Beck (Deep Impact, movie) played by Morgan Freeman
5. Lisa Simpson (The Simpsons, TV)
6. Matthew Santos (The West Wing, TV) played by Jimmy Smitts

The nominations are still open at the original post; just read the rules for nominating! You can make more than one, but each should be as a separate comment.

And in THIS post, those of you who already made nominations can campaign for your candidate if you want to!

For Maundy Thursday:

This poem is a prayer I should make on a regular basis.

Restore my soul Lord,
each and every day
establish my paths
along the way.

Rebuild my life Lord,
every morning anew
determine my course
so as I may follow you.

Repair my heart Lord,
at dawns early light
prove its intent is true
pleasing in Your sight.

Renew my mind Lord,
upon the rise of the sun
strengthen my awareness
so Your will may be done.

Refresh my spirit Lord,
as the stars slowly fade
as this is a new day
for me ~ You have made!

~~~~~~~~~

Psalm 143:8
King James Version

“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning;
for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way
wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”

Copyright 2013
Deborah Ann Belka


More of this poet's work may be found here: https://poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com/