Dear Birdy77

Spot on 👌

-C

Dear All and Quirky~

It would be a pity to give up on the pastels at this stage, they do more than produce a finished masterpiece to hang next to Blue Poles. They provide a time when the body and mind is occupied and concentrated on the task, and if it does not turn out to your liking simply turn the page

The great masters of the past were not above cheating (so you can too:). If you take Johannes Vermeer - famous for "Girl with pearl earring" - he used a camera obscura to trace the outlines of his subjects. True there was more to it than that, however it was an integral part of it.

Michael Leunig has different skills, and I'm not sure what is art and what philosophy, he has a unique style, maybe you have too.

I'd suggest don't aim at all, explore instead.

Croix (who has limited art opportunities on his iceberg)

Dear All and Grandy~

Being able to use mindfulness is a great advantage, and Beyonld Blue mentions it a lot, for example:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/personal-best/pillar/wellbeing/what-is-mindfulness
and
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/personal-best/pillar/wellbeing/yes-mindfulness-is-really-a-thing

as well as Blondguy's thread:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/mindfulness-what-is-it-(even-if-you-dont-know-please-post-so-we-can-help-grow-the-forums-accordingly)

(Please note some links may not be live here in this post and will need to be pasted into your browser)

I've got hte attention span of a gnat and was not able ot concentrate for long enough by myself, however using the free smartphone app Smiling Mind

https://www.smilingmind.com.au

There are sufficient audio reminders to keep even me on track.

A very useful skill for all of one's life, whatever tension and stress rear up (as they will) a dose of mindfulness can calm the seas and refresh.

Good luck with your course Grandy.

and now:

--------------------------------

... leaving the singer, elephant,walrus, cross princess and puppy for just a moment (oh, I forgot, we are leaving the waggon wheel too, now with a walrus bite out of it) the frypan landed upright and floated downstream, bobbing on the water till it came to rest on its side on a sandbank.

It was no ordinary sandbank and if you looked inside the frypan you would see ...

--------------------------------

Croix

Hi everyone,

I'm glad to see this thread so busy. Thinking of options we CAN do and sharing them helps me. Reading other people's ideas helps even more.

Thanks Birdy for sharing your answer and Croix for the clue. I thought I had guessed rouble correctly but was too worried to share. Cryptic clues are new to me.

Today I had to collect workbooks for the kids and passed an open nursery. There was no way I could pass up the option of plants and I haven't gone to a shop in a month. Plus I figured the owners needed local support. So the kids and I came home with a Mulberry tree, two grape vines, lemon tree, two pear trees, native tubestock seedlings, a white fig, an Almond tree and some petunias and strawberries the kids chose.

The owner gave my kids headbands with bunny ears and hats and they were so happy.

Hubby wasn't as thrilled at the bank balance... But then he laughed and admitted he had stopped on his way home from work too and had a fig tree, grapes and a passionfruit in the car. I think I fell in love all over again at that moment.

We have another family project and our orchard is growing bigger every year. Gardening with family is my idea of a good weekend. More so the long term plan makes me feel secure.

As for the frying pan on the sandbank...

If you looked inside the frying pan you would see...

The faintest of golden sparkles. Tiny nuggets of gold peeking out from grains of sand.

On the edge of the sandbank, an old man knelt in the shallows with a different sort of pan entirely. He frowned noticing the frying pan and...

Dear All and Quercus~

I love the way you said "I think I fell in love all over again at that moment", it's something not everyone is lucky enough to feel, wonderful.

Yes an orchard is something you can reap benefit from even now, with the selection, positioning and planting, together hopefully the the kids, and then nurture until well established. You certainly went for variety. We have mainly apples, nectarines and nashi fruit.

Do you bottle/preserve fruit?

Now you have left me an a fix the that "different sort of pan", I think I know what you hoped I'd go with, something to do with beds, however ...

------------------------------------------

....He frowned noticing the frying pan and... took another drink from the glass holding his PAN-galatic gargleblaster.

In case you are wondering this is an an alcoholic beverage invented by Douglas Adams in his book "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It is said to be imprudent to have more than one. As the old man was working on his third he simply fell down flat and started snoring.

The noise of course guided the singer, elephant, walrus, cross princess and puppy plus wagon wheel with a walrus bite out of it to the spot where they saw the frypan and the gleam of gold.

"Ah, all this gold is as nothing to the gleam of your golden hair" said the singer to which the princess replied ...
------------------------------------------

Croix (who wanted to talk about Haiku but ran out of room:(

.... "Why Thankyou so very much kind sir" She then smiled. The now happy princess noticed the old man sleeping and reached up high and grapped the blanket right off the elephants back. She then placed it over the man.

Then they all looked inside the frying pan as it was actually a magnifying glass. That's why one could see all the pretty specks of glittering gold in the sand. Beautiful. They were all looking except one.

A crunching sound was heard as they were staring at all that glitter. The now starving walrus saw his opportunity to gobble up and enjoy his tasty morsel of the chocolate wagon wheel. He ate the whole lot of it.

The puppy whose name just happened to be.....

Hello lovely people

Croix you asked me if I preserve foods in those glass jars. No I don't.

Pamala you asked me about the creamy lime ice blocks. Well I did end up making some... I wanted to have a go at some healthier type ones. These ones had soy milk and avocado to make them creamy. Yeah I know avocado? Sounds unusual in an ice cream. But made them very creamy. Then it of course had fresh lime juice. Real maple syrup and baby spinach to make them a pretty green. Blend that all up and there you go. A good way to eat more green leafy vegetables..

Congratulations Birdy on answering that word puzzle. I looked and looked at it. But nope I could not work it out.

Good on you CMF. I wish I had the energy to do a course.

Shell, does avocado work in homemade icecream? I've got some to use up. I'm guessing it gets blended at the end or does it go in with the eggs, sugar and cream over the heat?

Croix, I'm envious of your Nashi. That's a tree we're missing. One Day.

Right well speaking of taking advantage of isolation I've done something I've never been brave enough to do. Decided to clipper cut my hair and let the natural colour grow out. I've been every colour, tried a perm even and generally ruined it. So I figured stuff it. I'm at home and I'll never do it otherwise. It feels amazingly light and cool even if it doesn't suit me at all. No wonder so many people keep super short hair.

Downside is hubby took the kids out for a picnic to give me a break. He's going to be absolutely furious. Ah well. I'm excited to see what my true hair colour is!

Hi all,

Sounds pretty adventurous doing that do you hair Quercus. Perhaps a good adventureous. Anywat courageous of you.

The ice cream that I made is not a traditional one. So you don't heat it up or anything. It just had Soymilk, avocado, maple syrup, lime juice, spinach and vanilla. Just blend it all up in a blender.

I am impressed by all the trees you will plant.

I can relate to your hair decision. I think by the time isolation is over my hair will be wild and long and may shades of grey and old colour!!

CMF well done for completing your online course.

I keep looking up free online courses and the when I click on them they are not free.

Shell do you freeze that mixture for or do you eat it as a smoothie?

Dear All, (plus of course Quercus, CMF and Shelll)~

Quercus~ I wonder how your family reacted when they saw you with a clipper-cut, almost a different person, but maybe htat's why you did it. I guess you will have to war lots of hats from now on to stop sunburn.

sorry - the post posted itself unfinished!

The Nashi Tree has it's own quiet corner of the garden and is maybe 5m tall - but with an umbrella of spreading branches. It must like the cooler climate as it produces far more fruit than we or the neighbors can eat. Fruit have to be picked just as the stem is weakening before the it drops to the ground.

CMF~ I'm impressed, you have obviosly enhanced your career and are able to deal with on-line modules, something I really have trouble concentrating on. I also dislike the questions, as it is often hard to understand exactly what is being asked.

Do you have a secret on how to maintain concentration?

Shelll~ I think you must have an adventurous side too at least in culinary matters , spinach! -umm. Can you taste it in the finished ice-cream?

Quirky~ the website:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2019/05/29/free-online-education/#54397533342b

has lots, and is in addition to

https://www.edx.org/

I mentioned before. You sometimes have to dig a bit to find something that matches your interest.

As I mentioned Mrs Croix did one on genealogy, was quite intensive and did not cost anything.

OK, I'd like to talk abut Haiku for a moment. This thread (mostly:) is about making something sort of permanent that you can look back on later in life and remember being isolated - but productive

Haiku is a deceptively simple three line verse, it conforms to some rules and is designed to make the reader think - often by something ambiguous or unexpected in the last line. If you can think of something you want to say then you can start

There are websites to help, this one is so easy and clear:

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Haiku-Poem

The following is well known after 300 years (pretty permanent huh?)

"An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again."
- Matsuo Bashō

and one by a younger person

"Easter bunny hides
Easter eggs are out of sight
Kids look everywhere"
- Kaitlyn Guenther

All this does not leave me much space to write about the princess...

----------------------------------

...The puppy whose name just happened to be..... Reginald Von Ravenhorst, after his hero, Inspector Rex.The walrus sadly did not have a name (or not one you could pronounce correctly anyway) , but was full of wagon wheel and quite content to lie on the sand and bask.

The singer handed ...

-----------------------------------

Croix

haikus get under my skin so. so easily like its meant to be there. they're hard to write because shocker shocker! english words don't conform to japanese syllables easily! bashō's frog one gets away but there's even translated japanese haikus dont obey 5-7-5 because you'd have to radically alter it to make it fit and lose its meaning. transplanting a poetry form to a wildly different language and structure doesn't work well. knew i hated them from when i was 7 and my teacher tore up this autumn haiku because it didnt work and i am very vindicated now having words n reasoning to talk about why its a struggle

Greetings Birdy 😄. I’ve been looking out for you since I came back on BB because of Covid19. I have often wondered how you are and how you and your partner and your choosy friends got on during the fires in your part of the country. I know it was really bad for you. I valued your support when we were in touch quite a while ago (2 years?) and hope to be in touch with you again. I’m having a bad day today but seeing you are about has given me a lift in spirits so thank you for being here. Big hugs to you 🤗😘

Hi everyone👋

Hey Croix, no you cannot taste it. Baby spinach is extremely mild tasting in smoothies and stuff like that.

Quirky yes you can just make a smoothie bowl or a smoothie out of those ingredients I mentioned. You just need to adjust the portion of liquid. If its a smoothie bowl, you can decorate it with all sorts of things. Like flaked coconut, small pieces of fruit etc. Very yummy and beautiful to look at and eat.

Hi everyone

WOW..if anyone says that they are bored during isolation they need to jump on this thread, from princesses to frypans and walrus', to making ice cream and writing Japanese poems....there is no time to be bored.

I have been painting too many mediocre paintings from hummingbirds to Easter Bunny's and even doing a really large Easter egg to put in the lounge window for others to see...It is a new found love and I am enjoying it so much. However, reading Croix's Haiku tutorial I really want to have a go, I so very vaguely remember doing it at school...

Self absorbed with life

Covirus 20/20

Looking out love for others

Well this came to mind

...

The singer handed the princess back the frying pan, and the gold glimmer started to change the face of the pan into a mirror...the princess stared into the mirror.. Mirror Mirror in my hand, tell me why is this a pan, and why I cannot know the name, of the walrus and why he came...and while your here so gold and glam, who is the fairest in the land?

The mirror started to answer back..the name of the walrus can only be learnt, that being the fairest is of no benefit, that what is important in life's book, is what we give not how we look..

The princess was furious and so she.....

Dear All and Speak your Truth~

A dog, OK, as reported by Angie Baily a dog wrote this haiku:

Swallowed by regret
For I forgot to smell the
Third bush on the left

Croix

This is a haiku I had on tshirts I sold in my shop.

Haikus are easy.
But sometimes they don't make sense.
Refrigerator.

Dear All and Eight~
I started off thinking I agreed with you, and that translation does dilute the meaning, and sometimes even the format of a work, particularly one as stylized as Haiku.

Now while I suspect you are partly right I think there some other factors to consider. The first being that a translation could possibly be exact (if the languages are similar enough) or can enhance or modify the original to good or better effect.

I’d cite the works “Asterix the Gaul” by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo which have been translated into many tongues, here the meaning of the names in particular are vital. The English versions translated by Derek Hockridge and Anthea Bell verge on genius when put alongside the French

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix

The other is that having to create within tight constraints can sometimes lead to further thought and resultant benefits, take for instance Fabergé eggs or even a limerick on predestination:

There was a young man who said "Damn!
I perceive with regret that I am
But a creature that moves
In predestinate grooves
I'm not even a bus, I'm a tram."
-M E Hare

I would have liked to have seen your effort before it was torn up (provided it was suitable for this place of course:)
Croix

Dear All and Aaronsis~

It's nice to see you again, I'm not exactly sure your Haiku will stand the test of time any more that Quirky's, though who am I to judge, I'm more a fish connoisseur sort of walrus.

I love your episode of the princess, I'm not sure I'm in your class.

NOW, before I get carried away the purpose of this thread (apart from having fun of course ) is to try to come up with things of permanence that last well beyond isolation.

Audiobooks have been around for a while, just as well as my bookcases are overflowing. Some are expensive, but have you ever though of reading aloud books that are then put out as audiobooks? There is a site that is made up completely of volunteers and each reads one or more books that are in the public domain or donated by prominent authors.

It is amazing the breath and quantity of books, from science fiction to romance and even Sherlock Holmes. Anyone can try it and one can really surprise oneself with the result.

Have a look:

https://librivox.org/

Croix

Dear All and Monkey_magic~

Your name of course takes me back to the kids' show of the same name from the late '70's, which we all had to watch for the offspring's sake. I do remember the opening phrase "Monkey is irrepressible" which is sort of appropriate.

Having an 'enhanced' video hook up with friends and relations is a pretty good thing. It keeps us together, not quite as isolated of course but may in fact be the way of the future. It could well be as technology advances emphasis could become part of communication by video, maybe a frown deepened, a smile widened or ...

Anyway your session sounded like a lot of fun.

And now:
------------------------------
... princess was furious and so she..... threw that rather philosophical fry pan away, just tossing it the air. The elephant, which had come from the circus where he was used to catching clowns, reached out his trunk and neatly caught it, unfortunately dropping the princess's hair in the process.

The hair, which if you remember was very heavy, fell on the basking walrus who, startled out of a snooze, headed for the water as fast as a walrus could go. Unfortunately her hair caught on a tusk and before you could say "A la peanut butter sandwiches" the princess was back in the water, with the little dog jumping up and ...
------------------------------

Croix (my apologies if I've missed someone - next time)

mean, i wrote the thing when i was 7 i probably couldnt remember it now

i've read one of the asterix volumes before i think uh. asterix the gaul thats the first one. i don't remember much from it except that line about loquacing. i know they're all pseudogaul and lmao asterisk obelisk but also realising the druid being getafix like. get a fix. like a fix of the potion makes me think i'm not too smart. whats even worse is when you see characters who have names that. stick out yknow. and "hm this might be important to the plot but i'm playing 4d chess with myself and maybe the writer is throwing us off" and i was too busy complicating it for myself to realise the plot twist in my face. those ones. very specific but

i would probably concur with the translation thing croix - i love tearing apart localisation and how they can be seen across languages. i'd bring splatoon up as a case study even if its a little dumb using a squid shooter game. because they had two translations from japanese of the first game, a british and american one. brit's much closer to the jpn version except american was embracing its cheesy 8-90s teen culture aes. and especially, how in the single player campaign the final boss is cited a lot bc his dialogue is wildly different. again british is closer and more generic villain but nobody remembers it because american localisation embraced writing puns and puns about seafood and music where you'd get lines like "DROP THE SEA BASS" and "I'LL DUBSTOMP YOU INTO OBLIVION".

not entirely related to the localisation thing but wanted to mention our buddy bashō also manages to come back because in splatoon 2 there was a single player campaign focusing on a race called the octarians and starts with the octo protagonist waking up to another character who thinks they're an enemy. protag's sort of a poet throughout campaign and in the japanese version it opens with a bashō haiku; "an octopus pot [fishing trap] -- / inside, a short-lived dream / under a summer moon." in english its changed to "pale summer moonlight shimmers on the ocean floor / an octopus, unaware that dawn will bring capture / rests within a trap, dreaming fleeting dreams..." every line in the eng poem is eight syllables and also every poem in octo expansion is three lines and eight syllables for that matter.

tl;dr: localisation is cool and i like being overly analytical and passionate with nintendo squid shooters dont ever let me talk about them ever again. haikus still shit tho

"No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening."

-C

Where you going for a walk there in your poem Crox?

And I tried to understand the dog one. Not a very nice question to ask, but was the dog going to the toilet? Sorry just want to know....

Here is my attempt at one:

Bought these from the local shop

Pulls off stem to munch

Green crunchy sweet and juicy