Arcadian valley

bright yellow stone peeking out of dusty green –
the fading thunder of hoofs –
remote laughter of the gods

– Leonard Blumfeld

contributing to laughter at One Single Impression.

Overheard at breakfast

Said the egg to the spoon:
I’ll promise you the moon.

Even though I’ve been decapitated
I’m not entirely captivated –

I simply hate to confess
that my shell’s in a mess

while your condition is mint.
But I’ll drop you a hint:

Sugar would be very nice
instead of salt as a spice.

Taking me to a mouth
is the deed of a louth.

Our love could be torrid
if you weren’t so horrid.

– Leonard “Silly Mood” Blumfeld

Written because of the word 'torrid' at Writers Island.

Two in communication

Two podpeds in communication –
an insinuation of slight unreliability
Ink on paper, 2008

Posted for Inspire Me Thursday's "2" theme.

Novels ...

Oh to go back to the days when I'd read novels!
I'd be propped up in bed in the morning to read novels,
reclining on my grandma's sofa to read novels,
pretend to be working in my work chair but reading novels

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written in response to Totally Optional Prompts.


Fact & fiction
All true ... and gone, unfortunately. I would devour books, including lengthy ones like War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina, historical novels by Mika Waltari and tons of mysteries by the likes of Edgar Wallace, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Or anything by James M. Cain – good and bad. And I'd always wait for and get the latest by Anne Tyler once If Morning Ever Comes had me hooked.
And now? I barely manage a few every year. Get started on some that I put aside after a few pages.
Too much work. I've gotten older and choosier, read a lot more non-fiction. And sometimes when I'm not working I'd rather be creative than immerse myself in somebody else's work.
That is the plain truth.

Cross act

The crossbow acted
as intended
and split the apple
on Walter’s head

– Leonard Blumfeld

A somewhat martial take on the two words proposed by Two for Tuesday – cross and act. Also inspired by Friedrich Schiller's play about William Tell.

Blogging without obligation

Some quotes about blogging from tartx / down the rabbit hole that make a lot of sense to me:

After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on someone's blog starting with "I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile," I decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one should utter those words again ... and with that thought I give you Blogging Without Obligation.

I release all the logos, thoughts and words mentioned here about this concept into the public domain. Take the idea and run with it ... or walk away. It is all good.

• Because you shouldn't have to look at your blog as a treadmill.
• Because it's okay to just say what you have to say. If that makes for a long post, fine. Short post, fine. Frequent post, fine. Infrequent post, fine.
• Because it's okay to not always be enthralled with the sound of your own typing.
• Because sometimes less is more.
• Because only blogging when you feel truly inspired keeps up the integrity of your blog.
• Because they are probably not going to inscribe your stat, link and comment numbers on your tombstone.
• Because for most of us blogging is just a hobby. A way to express yourself and connect with others. You should not have to apologize for lapses in posts. Just take a step back and enjoy life, not everything you do has to be "bloggable."
• Because if you blog without obligation you will naturally keep your blog around longer, because it won't be a chore. Plus, just think you will be doing your part to eradicate post pollution. One post at a time...

Rosy spring come on in

Inspire Me Thursday is asking for wallpapers this time around; here is a section of a larger painting (acrylic on crinkled up paper) that I could possibly imagine as a motif for a bright sitting room with large windows into a garden.

Also, I intend it as an invitation for spring (not only at One Single Impression), which so far has come in flowers but not in temperatures:

Easter has come
with daffodils
in snow

– Leonard Blumfeld

She’s been misunderstood

“You’re telling me that you lost the money because your undies got tangled up?”
“In the drier, as I told you before!”
“And you expect me to believe that you carry your money in your undies and put them in the drier with the money? The bus fare you owe this company, to be exact.”
“Not me! My mother did.”
“This is getting more mysterious all the time.”
“You don’t understand. See, the undies didn’t get quite dry because they were tangled up, but I put them on anyway.”
“Uhuh.”
“Then, after a while, I realized they were wet, and that my pants had also gotten wet.”
“I see.”
“So then I had to put on the other pair of pants.”
“Which didn’t have the money in them?”
“Yes. – And then I had to run to make it to the bus to go to school.”
“Without undies, without money, but with the new pair of pants.”
“Yes, except they’re not new. You’re getting this all wrong!”
“I give up in desperation. Scoot!”
“You’re letting me go?”
“Yes, and you better get lost before I insist on verifying the undy situation.”

– Leonard Blumfeld
weaving the words money, tangled and understood into an incredible dialog for 3WW #78.

Constant & Split

Constant & Split
were lovers

Difficulties
they did have a bit:

Whenever Constant
got too close,

his beloved Split
wanted to quit

– Leonard Blumfeld

having his way with two words from Two for Tuesdays.

Acrylic blot mutation

Believe it or not – this started out as a blot according to the instructions at Inspire Me Thursday. Not in ink, but in acrylic. I then enhanced it with a black ink pen. It looked like a dog's face with gigantic fuzzy ears. I did not find it esthetically pleasing but scanned it anyway and then tried out various effects, eventually settling for the kaleidoscope one shown here. The dog is gone; what's left looks like some Swedish folklore motif perhaps. And is easy on my eyes.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Clean

That reminds me of Geneva in ca. 1974

A bunch of us were waiting for the youth hostel doors to open

An Italian youth (but I was a youth myself then) tried to explain to me in English why he loved the music of Jimi Hendrix so much

Sometimes he threw in French words when English failed him (because I’d told him I spoke some French)

With a mounting degree of desperation he kept telling dense me that Jimi’s guitar playing was the opposite of "sale" (he didn’t exactly pronounce it the French way)

That is "dirty" in French

So Jimi’s music was "clean"

It has stayed that way for me ever since ca. 1974 when that Italian youth told me in front of the Geneva youth hostel in summer

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written on inspiration from Blog Friday.

Morning & Three Wishes

It’s a grey morning out there,
and my wish is: lighten up!

It’s going to be another
high-pressure day at work,
and my wish is: lighten up!

There are some troubled
souls at work, and my
wish is again: lighten up!

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written in response to Sunday Scribblings #102: Smorgasbord. I helped myself to a serving of "Morning" and to another of "Three Wishes."

A story of numbness

The numbness began with the apartment.
It turned into numbness between us within a few months.
Now she has become so numb she never leaves anymore.
And I’m hardly ever there.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written for 3WW using today's 3 words: apartment – began – numb.

Ruby Tuesday Meme Invitation

Introductory question:

Does the blog world need another meme?

Multiple choice answers permitted:

A. Like the plague, there are enough of those useless things.
B. Why not, count me in.

If your answer is A., then please proceed with whatever you wanted to do in the first place.
If your answer is B., then please be invited to participate in Ruby Tuesday.

What are the rules?

A. Create a post that has the word or color RUBY or something else RUBY-related or TUESDAY-related in it.
B. In your post, create a link to this Ruby Tuesday meme invitation.
C. Leave a comment here.
D. That's all!

How'd I come up with the idea for this meme? That's simple:

A. Today is Tuesday.
B. I was thinking of participating in some meme – preferably a Tuesday one since today is Tuesday.
C. Somehow, in my always musical head, the Rolling Stones song Ruby Tuesday started playing:

Ruby Tuesday

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter because it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows, she comes and then she goes

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Don't ask her why she needs to be so free
She's gonna tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost, but such a cost

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

"There's no time to lose", I heard her say
You gotta catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you may lose your mind
Is life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday

– Written in 1966 by Keith Richards (and possibly Brian Jones)

For added inspiration, here's a clip of Melanie performing the song:

Experiment involving ladies, leopards and a juniper tree

Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day
– T. S. Eliot

And now four Blumfeld variations, to be accompanied by lute and shawm:

Leopard: three white ladies sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day
Juniper: three white days sat under a leopard tree in the cool of the ladies
Cool tree: three juniper trees sat under a leopard in the white of the day
Cool ladies: a juniper tree sat under the leopard in three whites of the day

Posted in honor of Sunday Scribblings #101 - The Experiment as an experiment in/with/on modernist poetry.

T. S. Eliot, when asked the meaning of the line 'Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day...' from Ash Wednesday (1927), said "It means 'Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day...'".

Questions as to the meaning of the Blumfeld variations are welcome.

Photo courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust, an organization that has been helping to save the Asian snow leopard for 25 years.

Perfect playmates ...

... and yet so different.

For Wordless Wednesday.

"We’re wordless every day, and we’re like potato chips — you can’t just have one day!!"

My kitchen, right now

It's all about kitchens in Inspire Me Thursday this time around. My contribution is a razor-edge-of-time snapshot of my kitchen's current but no so unusual state (messy).

What you see are primarily the yet unwashed containers of last night's and today's foods and drinks and some utentils. The pièce de résistance, however, is my grandma's flowered coffee pot in the background.

And yes, it was takeout last night. My daughter came over, and we ooled* Chinese while watching a rental DVD - Because I said so with Diane Keaton as the high-strung and meddling mother of three girls. The movie has its moments but isn't the greatest ever made.

* To "ool" - family speak ever since we watched Ringo Starr's Caveman way back when the kids were little. Even our dog knows what the word means. One of our all-time family cult movies.

The I should not be writing fib

I
should
not be
writing this,
I should be working.
That is the message of this fib.
In fact, you should prob-
ably not
be read-
ing
this.

– Leonard “Reluctant Workhorse” Blumfeld

Nothing terribly new or revolutionary, I'm afraid. More along the lines of same old.

For those relatively few of you who've read this before and are surprised that it has changed shape: I added the lower half of the diamond just now, feeling that something was missing.

How tasty was my cereal this morning

Wordless Wednesday