Thursday Thirteen - 133 - 13 Random Shots From 2009

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Wordless Wednesday - 126

Through the Opera Glasses - 37 - The Silver Chair

Today on my bus ride home from work, I found myself dreaming of The Silver Chair.

After The Horse and His Boy, it's my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia. And if all goes well, it will be the fourth of the film adaptations of that series.


Of course, in my dreams Prince Rilian and his enchanted persona, the Black Knight would be played by Richard Armitage.








What say you?

Poetry Train Monday - 127 - Letter to Mother

I'm deep in the midst of the writing marathon known as NaNoWriMo. I can't possibly write any poetry for the remainder of this month, not even found poetry, because that too requires a calm, clear focus to hear what the found words are saying to me.

So I'll share with you some lyrics I really like from mad genius Eugene Hutz, the songwriter for Gogol Bordello.

Yesterday I tappity-tapped a record-breaking (for me) 4000 words into my NaNo first draft novel. So Eugene, give me a hand here.














Photo by Pavla Fleischer


Letter to Mother


The noise in this joint is unearthly
And soon I awkwardly say,
'Oh look, there it is, my whole life in the ashtray
I can go back to her that way.'

Cause in blue darkness of the night
She keeps imagining one thing:
Someone stuck his Finnish knife
Under my heart

I know that even though she doesn't show it
She grieves sorely for her son
And often walks out to the road
In her old fashioned coat

And in blue darkness of the night
She keeps imagining one thing:
Someone stuck his Finnish knife
Under my heart

I know she's there grieving sorely for me
I know she's there turning grey for me
When I come back she'll forgive me
So motherly, motherly, motherly

- Eugene Hutz, 1999



For more poetry, Ride the Poetry Train!

I'm blogging at Popculturedivas today

Drop by Popculturedivas today and judge for yourself:

If you're Gerry Butler, does a walk down the red carpet = running the gauntlet?

Thursday Thirteen - 132 - 13 Ways to Say Happy 40th Birthday to Gerard Butler

As many of you know, I'm rather partial to Scottish actor Gerard Butler.

On Nov. 13th he turns the big 4 - 0. Here are 13 wishes for him on this milestone birthday. He's the inspiration for a fictional character that I'm currently writing about during NaNoWriMo, a month-long writing marathon.

Thanks, Gerry.


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"If you count all your assets, you always show a profit."

- Robert Quillen










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"Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned."

- P. T. Barnum


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"It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players."

- Larry Bird


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"A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself."

- Jessamyn West


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"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again."

- James Cook


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"The lion is most handsome when looking for food."

- Jalal ad-Din Rumi

Photo by Patrick Fraser


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"The higher the hill, the stronger the wind."

- John Wycliffe

Photo by Debra Hurford Brown


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"When you reach the top, that's when the climb begins."

- Michael Caine

Photo by Dagblat (Norway)


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"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."

- Erich Fromm

Photo by Amanda De Cadenet


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"Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other."

- Carlos Castaneda

Photo by Martin Pope


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"Twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion."

- Scottish Proverb

Photo by Fotogramas.es


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"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Genius will not. Education will not. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

Calvin Coolidge


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"The face you have at age 25 is the face God gave you, but the face you have after 50 is the face you earned."

- Cindy Crawford

Almost Wordless Wednesday - 125

This photo was taken by the daughter of my good friend at work. When I saw it, I knew I had to post it for my Remembrance Day Wordless Wednesday. And she graciously said yes.

"My husband and I were living in England through the Canadian Forces," my friend's daughter writes. "We took a trip with my husband's parents to France & Belgium to tour around Canadian WWI & WWII sites, specifically Normandy D-Day beaches, Vimy Ridge and Ypres. While visiting the Vimy Ridge memorial we also visited several of the landmark's cemeteries. You'll see that I caught a picture of a wild bunny on the grave of a Royal Marine, just two down from an Unknown Canadian Solider."

- Brenda Fancey