Wordless Wednesday

Two Books Tuesday

'On board the search engine things are moving fast .....'

Book sales may well leap in bounds of hundreds and thousands .... but I have sold two more books .... and move in a different number sphere.

I am sharing this as you are my Blog Friends and will understand that I am grinning from ear to ear to think that two more children are reading 'Violet Jelly'.

¡Hasta mañana!

Sunday Poem

Where White Foxgloves .....

I had seen the bright
auburn coat of the fox
lit by an opalescent moon
and the wild grass quiver.

I had seen white foxgloves
mark as pebbles of pearl
the lie of the lair
in the glare of the mid day sun.

I had seen, for a brief moment,
the jay soar to roost
in early evening, and gasped
at the marvel of sunset plumage.


Colour was the clue, so clear,
so periwinkle blue,
amidst a puff of down,
with sharp black bar lines
marking the plummet of the jay
where white foxgloves grow.

AS

Sky Watch Friday

Frigate bird and sky move as one, each intent on its own purpose.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Snippet

'And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins'

Joseph Kirkpatrick

'A thousand flowers - each seeming one
That learnt by gazing at the sun'

Noel Smith



Snippets from 'A Victorian Posy' edited by Sheila Pickles

Fallas

Today is Fallas Day in Valencia, also St. Joseph's Day and therefore Fathers' Day. It also marks the arrival of Spring.

We walked around Oliva town to look at the Fallas creations.

This one is the winner of the 'Grand Premi' (Valenciano)





It will be burned, the last of the six, being the winner, at around 3am Sunday morning. The surrounding buildings will be hosed by the fire brigade as this happens, so that they do not catch fire. The children will cry when the small children's Falla, situated alongside the main Falla, burns.

The Fallas themes are usually politically motivated, making fun of politicians and public figures - and often rather naughty. All ages, from babies to grandparents ... and great gradnparents ... attend the burnings. It is the most important festival of the year as it originated out of repression and supression of free speech, which is why the figures (tiny at first - cloths draped over old candle holders by carpenters clearing out their workshops at the end of winter) were used to speak out and give vent to feelings. There is always humour attached ... as is the Spanish way.





The surrounding figurines are called 'ninots' (silliness). Each year, someone manages to steal away one and save it from burning.

Sky Watch Friday

Those scudding March clouds sweep winter into the past,
billow and blow fresh life;
herald spring.

St Patrick's Day

Sonas! Happiness!




And to celebrate .... here is my new Bodhran with which I can make much noise!! I love it and the range of sounds it makes - courtesy of Brendan White, Irish bodhran maker extraordinaire.

Have a Wonderful Day!

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Snippet

Sunday comes around once more. I am back home and here is a snippet from 'Miss Mary Pask', one of the stories in 'The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton' - just to keep you a little on edge ........

'I ought to have shut the window when the first gust came. I might have known there would soon be another, fiercer one. It came now, slamming back the loose-hinged lattice, filling the room with the noise of the sea and with wet swirls of fog, and dashing the other candle to the floor. The light went out ........'

p137

Sunday Snippet

The Crop

'It was a relief to crumb the table. Crumbing the table gave one time to think, and if Miss Willerton were going to write a story, she had to think about it first. She could usually think best sitting in front of her typewriter, but this would do for the time being. First, she had to think of a subject to write a story about. There were so many subjects to write stories about that Miss Willerton never could think of one. That was the hardest part of writing a story, she always said.' p33

From 'Complete Stories' by Flannery O'Connor

¡Hasta domingo proximo!