BIRTHDAY

“Don't just count your years, make your years count.” - George Meredith

The New What’s Going On blog is prompting about birthdays this week. I’ve just had mine last week, so this is quite apt. Here is my poem to read and it’s accompanied by best wishes for all who are celebrating birthdays (and not necessarily the day of your birth!).

Birthday

There was no cake -
Too many carbs and empty calories;
Besides, sugar is evil we are told.
(Act your age, cake is for five-ear olds!)

There were no candles -
Definitely a fire hazard!
And they always melt and make a mess on the frosting
(Anyway, there is no cake, and you don’t like eating wax, do you?)

There were no presents -
You have everything you need.
What do you want at your age?
(You’re too difficult to shop for anyway…)

There was no party -
I’m sure the neighbours would complain,
Strangers popping in, noise, loud music all night
(Can you imagine yourself wearing a paper hat?)

There was no card -
Who sends cards nowadays?
You’re lucky to get an email:
(With “Belated Birthday Wishes” a month later.)

There was no alcohol -
In your condition? That’s a no-no,
Too many interactions with your medication.
(The doctor forbade it, you know it full well!)

So I went out alone to the pub,
And had a good counter meal with a nice wine.
There was a piece of cake with a candle on it afterwards;
And the barman sang “Happy Birthday”
And everyone joined in.
I felt quite merry, and the fellow patrons too.
There was music playing on the jukebox
And we all danced like there was no tomorrow,
With no complaints from anyone.

A touch of indigestion later,
A deep sleep (thank you, alcohol/medication interactions!),
A bit of molten wax on my coat sleeve,
A gift of a bottle of champagne in the fridge,
And in my pocket a little card,
Scribbled in neat, flowery script:
“Happy Birthday, from Julia!
That was great fun tonight.
Call me… 74530029
It's my birthday next week.”

A SMALL THING

“All relationships change the brain - but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self.” - Diane Ackerman

This week, Poets and Storytellers United has given the theme of “Stubborn About the Small Things”. My poem was triggered by the trifles we have kept as mementos in some unopened drawer or closed cupboard. We look at those as we one day come across them and they awaken memories. Here is a poem on that theme:

A Small Thing

I clutch it tightly in my hand

A small thing, a bagatelle, a trifle -

And yet for me it’s special, grand,

Worthy enough my breath to stifle.

I feel its smoothness, and its metal -

More precious than pure, fine gold,

More delicate than a flower’s petal,

More rare than something choice and old…

“Love me”, you’d said and gave it me,

Feeling your soul were given to me also.

I took it looking at the wide blue sea,

Capturing sun, sky, your face - all I saw.

“I love you”, I’d whispered to you softly

And I grasped your gift so very tightly;

The tiny trifle was for me dear, costly,

Its dullness sparkling, shining brightly…

I look at it again, so many years later

And I feel a pleasure so much greater,

Than what a rusty metal fairground token

Would give, or our words then spoken.

“I love you”, you had said so tenderly,

“I love you”, I had said so slenderly.

And then goodbyes were uttered

Our hearts were closed and shuttered

And now a token is all that’s left

Once our union’s bonds were cleft.

I clutch it tightly in my hand

A small thing, a bagatelle, a trifle -

And yet for me it’s special, grand,

Worthy enough my breath to stifle.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 501 - MT HOTHAM, AUSTRALIA

"We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt." - Walter Scott

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Mount Hotham is a mountain located in the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, in the Australian state of Victoria. The mountain is located approximately 357 kilometres north east of Melbourne, 746 kilometres from Sydney, and 997 kilometres from Adelaide by road. The nearest major road to the mountain is the Great Alpine Road.

The mountain is named after Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria from 1854 to 1855. Mount Hotham's summit rises to an altitude of 1,862 metres. Mount Hotham Alpine Resort, a commercial alpine resort, is located on the slopes of Mount Hotham summit and nearby mountains. Administratively, the mountain is within Mount Hotham Alpine Resort unincorporated area, land which is managed by Alpine Resorts Victoria. This unincorporated area is surrounded by Alpine Shire.

Snow occurs frequently and heavily, and sub-freezing maximum temperatures can be recorded throughout the year— even in high summer. However, due to frequent winter cloud and the mountain’s exposed position, a temperature below −10 °C has only once-occurred since records began in 1990. Mount Hotham receives an average of 66.1 snowy days annually. It is the coldest weather station on mainland Australia by maximum temperatures.

During the declared snow season (usually from the King's Birthday long weekend in June till the first weekend in October), the village and resort are busy with tourists. Visitors need to purchase an entry permit to enter the resort during winter. The resort entry fee contributes to essential services for guests around the mountain, including ski patrol, the free village buses, snow clearing of car parks in the village, waste management and environmental initiatives.

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BRIEF CANDLE

“Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.” - Victor Hugo

The New What’s Going On Blog  has as its theme in this week of writing the topic of “Contradictions”.  I thought about it and once again a line from Shakespeare was my inspiration. Death and life, youth and old age, togetherness and loneliness, Winter and Spring… Here is my offering:

Brief Candle

“Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player.”

My life is like a candle stump

Flame sputtering, in a formless lump.

Life’s now in the Winter of its course,

No energy, no strength, no force.

The years have flitted by so quick

Memories rapidly go past, flick.

I see their images as time goes by

Too fast to recognise, be seen by eye.

The coldness grows, the chill advances

No more reprieves, no second chances.

Winter with rain and snow that fall

Death nearing, having me in his thrall.

And yet, I’ve loved back in a distant Spring,

My heart was taught to fly and sing;

My soul with the beloved’s soul had merged

And up to heaven high we’d surged.

Love’s potions are as strong as death

Love’s spells are potent shibboleth.

My life’s a moth circling a flame

Diving into fire that its being will claim.

Life’s lived, and used, and spent

It came, lingered a little, and it went.

The hours, the minutes precious now,

It’s time great truths to utter, avow:

Life’s a brief candle, burning fast

Enjoy its light while it may last.

And yet, I’ve loved back in a distant Spring,

My heart was taught to fly and sing;

My soul with the beloved’s soul had merged

And up to heaven high we’d surged.

Love’s potion will preserve my essence,

Love’s spell is an eternal inflorescence.

And once again, here’s the poem set to music and you can find it in my “Otidorchestre” channel and listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 500 - KINDERDIJK, THE NETHERLANDS

“There isn't a single windmill owner in Holland who doesn't have a second job, for when there is no wind.” - Johnny Ball

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Kinderdijk is a town in the municipality of Molenlanden, in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located about 15 km east of Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is situated in the Alblasserwaard polder at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers.

Kinderdijk meaning “Child’s Dike”, first originated its name in 1421 from a legend where a wave in a flooded polder was said to have washed ashore a cradle that contained a sleeping baby, safe and sound and not harmed by the flood waters.

To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands. The windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The area is very touristic and visitors can explore the windmills, take boat rides, and learn about the history of water management in the area.

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Last time on My Sunday Best, James in Melbourne posted this photo, complemented by a great poem. Please visit his blog to read it!

AWAKENING

“Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.” -  Voltaire

This week, Poets and Storytellers United has as its theme: “Starting Over (Again and Again)”. It reminds me of a proverb I first heard from my grandfather, which said: “If you realise you’re on the wrong road, don’t mind how far down it you’ve gone, go back to the fork to find the right road and start walking on that again.” Here is my poem on that theme:

Awakening

Awaken, awaken,
Seize the day!

The long black night ends, at last
And I can banish all that’s past;
The new bright morning breaks gently
While my heart beats all the more intently…

Breaking free from chains of sorrow
I can look now at my tomorrow;
Awake, fly to heaven, oh my soul,
Escape from yesterday’s black hole.

Today, I have a chance at happiness again
My heart beats free, no longer in pain.
My arms are loosed from bonds and ties
Ready to stretch, to reach new highs.

Escaping from the prison dark,
I venture out, walking in the park;
The trees, the breeze, and golden sun
Are mine again, life’s just begun.

The sky’s fresh painted a happy blue;
I’m ready now to see the world anew,

My eyes wide open, bright and grateful,

Seeing nothing evil, bitter or hateful.

Today, I have a chance at happiness again
My heart beats free, no longer in pain.
My arms are loosed from bonds and ties
Ready to stretch, to reach new highs.

Awaken, awaken
Seize the day!

And once again, here’s the poem set to music and you can find all my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 499 - PREVELI BEACH, CRETE, GREECE

“There is a kind of flame in Crete - let us call it "soul" - something more powerful than either life or death. There is pride, obstinacy, valour, and together with these something else inexpressible and imponderable, something which makes you rejoice that you are a human being, and at the same time tremble.” ― Nikos Kazantzakis

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.
There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Preveli Beach (Greek: Φοινικόδασος της Πρέβελης, Finikodasos tis Prevelis) is a beach located on the south coast of the Greek Mediterranean island of Crete. It is located in the municipality of Agios Vasilios in the Rethymno regional unit, not far from the Moni Preveli monastery, whose name also identifies the beach.

According to local legend, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, remained in the wider area of Lake Preveli after the end of the Trojan War on his return to Ithaca from Troy. The area is a popular tourist destination due to the river, the forest with palm trees in the gorge along the banks of the river, and the sandy beach with clear  turquoise waters. On the beach, there is a rock in the shape of a heart, "The Lovers’ Stone" according to the locals. The area is accessible from the port of Plakias.

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Last week, Jill from Denmark, Western Australia posted some lovely photos of the regatta there. Please visit her blog for more great shots.

ACTIVATE!

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” – Ovid

The New What’s Going On Blog has given the challenge this week of writing about making a statement about asserting one’s rights, fighting for freedom, raising one’s voice and become active in bringing about change in a world that is unfair, unjust and steeped in inequality. It is a message of becoming united with fellow sufferers and making wrong things right. Here is my offering:

Activate

Get up, and mobilise, 

It’s time to verbalise

And voice your discontent!

We live in times that stress us

Have leaders that distress us,

And lifestyles that aggress us,

Depress, and downright regress us!

Get up, and mobilise, 

It’s time to verbalise

And voice your discontent!

Your silence means consent,

So, talk! Talk loud, talk clear

This is no time for fear!

Our time has come to shine,

Our strategy streamline,

To organise, combine,

Draw on the sand our line.

Get up, and organise, 

It’s time to verbalise

And voice your discontent!

Your silence means consent,

So, talk! Talk loud, talk clear

This is no time for fear!

Get up, and march together, 

In any place or weather,

It’s time to change for better,

To free and to unfetter.

And seeing that it was a song that was given as an example to be inspired by, I set the above poem to music and you can listen to it in my “Otidorchestre” channel on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

NOCTURNE

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” - Plato

Poets and Storytellers United this week asks us to “pick a picture and write about it”. What has inspired me is a painting by Henri Rousseau, the French naïf artist, called “The Snake Charmer”. It is done in his signature style and is a wonderful mysterious image, all about the power of music.

And since it’s all about music, you can hear this poem set to music in my “Otidorchestre” sites on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, etc.

Nocturne

In the stillness of the night

To the silvern moon’s delight

Sweetly does the flute resound

Spilling music all around.

Ebon skin and hair that shimmers

Shiny glance that softly glimmers,

Sinuous and sweet’s the air

Luring beasts from out their lair.

Music makes the jungle tame

Calms and yet ignites a flame.

Music soothes the savage beast

Rouses passions in the priest.

Neath the moon’s resplendent orb

Flowers music’s strains absorb.

Snakes start to slither, slide,

Right up to the flautist glide.

She charms serpent, beast and bird

With her music not her word;

Now the snakes around her creep

Up they climb, roused from sleep.

Music heals the deepest wound

Makes the air around perfumed.

Music calls to arms and strife,

Yet assassins drop their knife.

And each gentle leaf unfurls,

Flower twines and softly curls;

As the music upwards floats

Rhythm, melody, sweet notes.

In the stillness of the night

To the silvern moon’s delight

Sweetly does the flute resound

Spilling music all around.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 498 - ELIZABETH TOWER

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” - Samuel Johnson

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, It is also known as the 'heart of British politics'. The Palace lies on the northern bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London.

The Elizabeth Tower, in particular, which is often referred to by the name of its main bell, "Big Ben", is an iconic landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city and an emblem of parliamentary democracy. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 497 - ASOS, CEPHALONIA, GREECE

“The sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky burned like a heated opal through the air; we hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair for the blue lands that to the eastward lie.” - Oscar Wilde

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Asos (Greek: Άσος) is a village on the west coast of the island of Cephalonia, Greece and is located 36km north of Argostoli, the capital. It is part of the municipal unit Erisos. Asos was founded under Venetian rule and it served as the administrative capital of northern Cephalonia from 1593 onwards.

Marino Gentilini, an Italian army engineer, was commissioned by the Venetian Senate in 1593-1595 to build the Asos Castle, one of the largest in Greece. The castle was initially built with the view that it would protect local populations in case of an invading attack by passing Turks or pirates, but for various reasons, such as the lack of natural springs for water supply, it was never adopted as a fortress and gradually the grand plan was dropped

.

Nowadays, Asos is a picturesque fishing village that looks out onto the Ionian Sea and is full of colourful houses and narrow alleyways lined with bougainvilleas. Here, you can take a refreshing dip at Asos Beach, try local Greek cuisine at a waterfront cafe, and even hike up the Frourio Peninsula to see the remains of the  16th-century Venetian Castle. The lookout also offers stunning views of the turquoise waters and bluffs along Cephalonia’s north coast. The drive to Asos will take you down a steep and winding road. You can opt for a guided tour which often also includes stops at Drogarati Cave and Melissani Lake.

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