Sacré Bleu!

One word game at a time? child's play!

Several games with several different people? better!

And that's where we are today.

One of my absolute best friends and I have started a game in FRENCH.
The kicker?

Neither one of us speaks French!
Neither one of us took French in school!

This is just a completely random ATTEMPT to complete a board in a different language.

Luxe! Toile! Lac! Je! Moi! Oui! Pave! Mie! Soin!

I do not know exactly what I have spewed forth, but it's all over our board! I have an idea!

(Plus, who really knew BOB was universal?)

& notice how I have blanked out my letters...I didn't want my friend to see the ******* letter word in French I'm about to throw down. Okay. So, I don't know a seven letter French word.

& notice that I am currently losing...(I have won all our games in English, I guess I can let her win the French ones)...

This is what the cool people do in the middle of the night on Facebook!

~~J

Pumpkin Parcel!

For several years now, my dear friend MELISSA and I have been exchanging Halloween-inspired gift boxes. She lives in Indiana, I (of course) in Memphis.

Originally it was because we are "older" and felt a little silly being sooo IN LOVE with the season, but now we know that it's okay to celebrate & it is super fun getting goodies in the mail!

My BOOTY This Year:

1. the funniest presidential/political/Halloween card EVER!
2) fabulous WITCHY socks (how freakin' adorable?)
3) APPLE foot scrub....should feet smell THIS good?!?!
4) An adorable tin filled with candy...yum yum...and Italian pralines!
5) Does anyone ever get "tired" of Pumpkin candles? NO NO NO!
6) Mini Halloween equipage...I'll have to make bake goodies again for local friends...
7) DUNDER MIFFLIN post-its! THIS IS PAM!
8) ETC., ETC.,

I appreciate this tradition SO very much. I only hope she's half as satisfied with my parcel as I am with hers.

What do you do for Halloween?

~~J

a little Voting humor:

marriedtothesea.com

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

19th Amendment, Y'all! Use it!

~~J

Dear Karen Pulfer Focht:

I do not know you; but the photos you took of Sarabi and her baby girl at the Memphis Zoo last week move me to tears.

They are beautiful and warm.

Simply Put: they melt my heart.

Thank you for capturing such tender moments on film.

~~J

photo credit: Karen Pulfer Focht

Forms of Poetry (week 7):

Today we discussed Blank Verse: regular meter (usually iambic pentameter), but no rhyme.

First known use in the English language was Henry Howard (Earl of Arundel and Surrey) in his interpretation of the Aeneid, circa 1554.

Famously used by: Christopher Marlow, John Milton

"formal" blank verse contains 10 syllables and is in a natural speaking "voice".

Discovered Tri-Syllabic Feet:
amphibrach (short-long-short)
cretic (long-short-long)
bacchic (short-short-long)

Studied:
Rain by Edward Thomas
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Night in the Gardens of Port of Spain by Derek Walcott

~~J

Autumn Fallin'

Although this album was released LAST November, I wasn't introduced to Jaymay until this year.

You can hear some of her songs on her Myspace (follow the link above). The album is available via iTunes, Amazon, etc etc etc.

Track listing:
gray or blue
sycamore down
blue skies
sea green, see blue
autumn fallin'
you'd rather run
hard to say
big ben
ill willed person
you are the only one i love


I wish I could put into words the greatness of this album. It's folksy and poetic. It's emotional and raw. It is definitely one of my favorites and is in heavy rotation in my life!

All Hail Last.FM for introducing me to Jaymay!

Last.FM is quite an amazing website. I recommend checking it out...I dare you to create a profile--I bet you'll be blown away by all the new tunes and artists you'll discover!It has led me to several "new" artists (mostly independent)...and I must say this is a GOOD THING!

Jaymay is currently part of a list of rotating artists featured as part of The Hotel Cafe Tour 2008. If she drops by a venue by you, check her out. (I'll be completely jealous!)

And I'm winning you with words because I have no other way...

~~J

Forms of Poetry (week 6):

Today we studied the ballad/lyrical ballad...including this treasure by William Wordsworth:

A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seem'd a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Roll'd round in earth's diurnal course
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
(1800)

Even though it is only two quatrains long, it is jam-packed with a myriad of emotion and skill. It literally blows my mind.

Typical rhyme scheme(s) of the ballad stanza:
abab or abcb

Also studied:
"I heard a Fly buzz" (Dickinson)
"Ballad of Birmingham" (Randall)
"Bagpipe Music" (MacNeice)

~~J