Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Amateur Art: Dream Catcher


I promised a little while ago I’d show you some of my ‘crazy cabinet’ creations (one of my kitchen cabinets is filled with junk that comes in handy sometimes, when I’m in the crafty mood.)  This particular creation I’m actually quite happy with.  If you like dream catchers, or maybe know somebody who does, try making one.  If I was able to make it, anybody can.  The basic “web” is really not that difficult to master, and the process of spinning is very relaxing.  I watched a number of “how to” youtube videos on dream catchers, I’m posting a link to the one I picked and used.  It has all the instructions you need.  (A note: I didn’t use either sinew or leather, just different kinds of thread.  Worked fine.  Used 'memorable' champagne corks for decoration!)  Happy spinning, and sweet dreams!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVSXXeFF-Gw

Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Russian Roots: Marc Chagall


Here’s to a Russian-Jewish-French-universal artist I’m very fond of

 Marc Chagall 
(7 July 1887 – 28 March 1985)


He invited Paris to a small town wedding,

And taught New York a foreign word “Vitebsk.”

Accepted and praised he was, loved and spared

But the turbulent times that uprooted his genius

Kept his soul locked up in suspended limbo

Till he drew his last breath that finally freed him

Sent him riding the clouds all the way home.







Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Chagall
https://www.artsy.net/artist/marc-chagall

Monday, February 27, 2012

Poetic Perils: An ant-size achievement :-)

Hooray!  My '100 word ant story' was one of the semi finalists!

Here's my story with a link to Janet Reid's original post about the contest:

http://www.thehappyamateur.com/2012/02/almost-anything-no-regrets.html


Here's Janet's today's post with all the results:

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2012/02/yes-i-want-that-contest-results.html


I understand, Janet holds similar contests regularly, so stay tuned!


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Poetic Perils: "Golden Glows"

This was prompted by Margo's Tryouts last Tuesday.


~ Golden Glows ~

In the darkness a glowing ball of flames
Floats, pouring golden grace. Myriads
Of rays fall onto Earth, into
The dark soil that breaths them in,
Shoots them back up. They burst
Through, brighten my sky -
The yellow suns
Outside my
Window
Pane.



Live for the Love of It
The Happy Amateur

Poetic Perils: Ash Wednesday


Wrote this last week.


~Ash Wednesday~


Come,
Bow your
Head, for all

That
Brightly burns
Will be reduced

To
Ashes, but
For Love whose

Flame
Sustains itself,
And lives forever.



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Friday, February 24, 2012

Almost Anything: "No Regrets"



The following challenge comes from Janet Reid.  Write a story with 100 or fewer words, using:

choice
destroy
risk
sequel
allegiance

Here’s mine:

~No Regrets~

They had no choice.  They always walked in line.  They owed their allegiance to it.  Today was no different.  And yet…  They felt it in the air.  Their pace quickened.  And then they saw it.  A white temple with archways all around.  A gasp of amazement rolled like a wave down the line.  Entranced, they kept moving forward.  “Wait!” a feeble voice called out, “Don’t go in!  It’ll destroy you!”  The line leader hesitated for a brief moment, then replied with confidence, “I’ll take that risk, no matter the sequel.”  He smiled and walked into the ant trap.


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

This is actually a contest.  And it just started.  So, jump in!
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2012/02/yes-i-want-that-writing-contest.html

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Happy Hour: "Homo sapiens...?"


The other day our dog tried to get us to do something for quite a while (as we realized later.)  When we finally got it - threw his blanket on the couch, so he could curl next to us - he gave out an especially long sigh.  I wonder what he was thinking...

"It's not going to throw itself."



Homo sapiens, they say?... I don’t know… 

How sapiens can be so slow?

I’ll keep nudging the ball,

Like it’s nothing at all,

Till he gets through his head: he should throw.




Image credit:  Charles Barsotti


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur  

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Amateur Art: Sharks & Minnows


My daughter will be thrilled that I've posted this.  She has a 3-on-3 basketball tournament coming up.  One of the girls thought of a name for their team: "Sharks & Minnows."  The other one - who happens to be obsessed with "Jaws" and everything that has to do with sharks - is more than happy with it.  My daughter has been working hard on the T-shirt design (see the pic. :-) )  She's very proud of the results.

All three girls are pretty excited about the game, should be fun!  Go Sharks and Minnows!!!





We used TULIP Slick 3D Fashion Paint, worked very well on cotton T-shirts.

Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Russian Roots: 'Hedgehog in the Fog'


It was a very long time ago.  In middle school, maybe, 6th grade.  A new girl joined our class.  She was from a family of diplomats and had just arrived from abroad.  She had lots of cool stuff: ‘What Love Is…’ stickers, erasers of different shapes and colors, ‘BIC’ pens…  She showed us photographs of fun places, and taught us about life ‘over there,’ TV shows, movies…  We were all mesmerized and intrigued by her stories, but one day she said something that kind of brought me back to my senses.  She said, “I hope one day we’ll learn how to make animation like Disney, so we don’t have to watch ‘Hedgehog in the Fog’ any longer!”  I couldn’t believe my ears.  I thought ‘Hedgehog’ was great, and it was beyond my understanding how anybody could think differently.  I remember I tried to defend ‘Hedgehog,’ but my attempts were dismissed.  Disney ruled.  

I have a lot of respect for the original, old school Disney.  I love it.  And it’s wonderful that Russian kids can now enjoy Mickey Mouse and his pals, laugh at the seven dwarfs, and sing along with Snow White.  But with all the respect, ‘Hedgehog’ doesn’t have to strive to be like Disney.  It’s not Disney.  It’s different.  It’s a gem in its own right.  Don’t rob yourself of it.  It’s only about 10 minutes long.  Open your heart, and let “Hedgehog” in.  From Russia with love.








Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur       

Monday, February 20, 2012

Poetic Perils: 'Back, When Trees Were Tall'

A photo prompt from Poetic Bloomings:

 


~Back, When Trees Were Tall~


Come, take me back
To where the time stands still,
Or stretches tall,
Like pines without end

We used to marvel at -
With heads thrown back,
Trying not to fall -
They reached the sky at will,

And sent us flying - dizzy, laughing - down,
Onto the rug of prickles golden-brown.




Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur


Poetic Perils: 'Beware of the Sunset!"


The following was a response to a Valentine’s Day prompt from Margo Roby, Wordgathering: write a poem about love without mentioning the word, or using any other words of endearment. 

The prompt quite unexpectedly resulted in a somewhat frivolous sonnet about a naive night, and one sleek and sly sunset. :-)



~Beware of the Sunset~


The shadows turning long, the sunset nears,
And leads the frightened night, she holds his hand,
He lights the candle, takes away her fears,
And on her finger puts a wedding band.

The shadows dance awakened by the flicker,
The eyes of night are dark, her pupils large,
She hears the silence speak, her ears trick her,
The words that ring: ‘betrayal,’ ‘pricey charge.’

She will not listen, will not want to know,
All that she knows and wants is solely him,
The fire burns, the face of night aglow,
The stars emerge to sing their glorious hymn.

The sunset leaves, he does not say ‘adieu,’
She longs for him until the morning dew.



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Friday, February 17, 2012

Here's To Purcell!


Since I made a reference to Purcell in my yesterday's post, I want to give him credit today.  I don't know much about music - I'm just an amateur - I confess, I'd never heard "Music For A While" until about a month ago.  Whether you know it by heart, or don't know it at all, I hope you'll enjoy it.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur 

Thursday, February 16, 2012

'Merciful Pup'


You might remember my limerick about a merry chap Kyle and his not-so-happy dog that one day teaches him a lesson:

~Every Dog Has His Day~
There once lived a merry chap Kyle,
Had a doggy that never did smile.

There and back in the blink
Of an eye, “Where’s my drink?”

Kyle is sad, but his dog’s got a smile.
  

I remembered Kyle and his pup, too, and decided to pick up where we left off:

"Well, I think you're wonderful."


~Merciful Pup~

He, who once was a merry chap Kyle,
Has been sad for a very long while,

So, his pup shows him mercy:
Pours him gin, puts on Purcell,

Wails for him, “Shall your cares beguile!”


 
We'll see if we have an update on Kyle and his pup next Thursday :-)




Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur


Image credit: Charles Barsotti


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A Rose For You!







This is Amateur Art,
But it comes from the heart!

Just in case it’s difficult to tell what those are – those are roses!  The photograph doesn’t do them justice obviously :-), they look better in person, but that’s not the point really.  The cool part is the process of making them.

I used to throw out bases of celery without ever looking at them.  Thanks to Family Fun magazine I now know that there is a rose hiding in the base of each celery bunch.  Cut the base off, and what you get is a ready-to-go stamp for ‘painting’ as many rose blooms as you wish.  You can use celery hearts for leaves.  (I used diluted acrylic paints.)

I had fun making my rose Valentine cards.  It’s an easy, not-so-messy craft, with quick and pretty results – a nice project even young kids can handle with a little bit of supervision and guidance.  Hope you’ll consider planting your own rose garden!  


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

'Drunk with Love'






There’s a twist in my Russian Roots this Tuesday.  When I was a toddler, back in the 70-s of the 20th century, we had a flexi disc we used to play a lot.  I loved that record.  In fact I loved it so much, I…chewed it up one day.  The disc was ruined, and never got replaced.  Then years and years later on the infamous and glorious youtube I found that song from my childhood.  It’s a song in Turkish, performed by a singer from Georgia (back then part of the Soviet Union.)  And it’s a song loved by so many Russians.  It’s called “Drunk with Love.”  You really don’t have to know Turkish to understand it.  Cheers!

I'm posting two videos.  The first one I chose for the sound. I believe that's exactly what I heard on that flexi disc before I ate it... (The video itself is a virtual card  somebody sent to a Georgian friend.  It has views of a Georgian town, beautiful nature shots, and the Russian translation of the song's lyrics.)

The second one has a slightly different version of the song, I think, a later recording.  (It's still very good, but the first one is my favorite.)   This video though has a lot of photographs of Vakhtang Kikabidze  -  a.k.a. 'Buba' - the singer performing the song.  He started out in a Georgian band called 'Orera', and soon became well known and hugely popular, not just as a singer, but also an actor.   Nearly every Russian (at least my age or older) knows him.  And so many Russians love him.  


Happy Valentine’s Day!
Enjoy:   







For some unknown reason I cannot insert the second video, so I'm posting a link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydkKesmIUVc&feature=related




Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur










Monday, February 13, 2012

'Second'


Carry on Tuesday says, "The opening lines of Angel by Sarah McLachlan provide us with our prompt this week."
Spend all your time waiting for that second chance



That chance is awaiting,

Stop deliberating,

For all our time

Is a second sublime,

Don’t spend your time waiting.





Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

'Walking with my father...'


 A response to a writing prompt from Margo Roby.  Here's a link to her post:
http://margoroby.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/lying-in-a-hammock-for-tuesdays-tryout/



~Walking with my father along the Moskva river embankment a long time ago~


Dandelion wine spilled by some giant hand,         
Sticky stalks, bitter-sweet,                                          
The yellow suns everywhere you look.                      

The silent murmur of the close water,         
The flowing ribbon obscured by trees,          
Time runs steadily following our pathway.                                                                  
   
To my right    
The giant himself, walking in huge strides,                                     
 A headful of hair scrapes the sky,                              
 Scattering the sheepish clouds.                                    

He projects strength and wisdom, but I smell danger. 
He’s scared, he wants an answer, so I tell him.
“All of this won’t just end.”



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Cento


Walt and Marie of Poetic Bloomings challenged us to write a cento – a collage poem made up entirely of lines from poems by other poets.  Here’s my haiku:



My heart is not here,
Somewhere over the rainbow
It lies forgotten.



(I used the lines of Robert Burns, E.Y. Harburg, Gordon Lightfoot.)




Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

'Edison's Nightmare'


The following is a response to a writing prompt from Naming Constellations.  The challenge was to write a poem, as short as possible, using all the sounds of the English language.  Here’s a link to Joseph’s posting: http://namingconstellations.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/reverie-five-sound-and-fury/
I think I managed to use quite a bit of sounds.
February 11th was Edison’s birthday.  Here’s my (not so) happy birthday card for the famous inventor.


~Edison’s Nightmare~

A light bulb popped, died, he gasped, as if it
Was him who kicked the bucket, “Uh-oh,”
He thought, “I’m in big, fat trouble,
That was the very last one,
None left - Zap!  Shoot!  Not good,
Bad mood, darn, you’ve got
To be kidding!
The ugly
Wiggly
One?!
Oi!
Gotta
Give my mom
A ring, she’s sure
To have them in her
Treasure trove…extra bulbs.”
A good deed of which he was
Proud…say!  It’s against the law now!
What a blow.  Justice served?  Sing him a
Lullaby-requiem, chances are slim…

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Friday, February 10, 2012

Praha




Poetic Perils Monday
Russian Roots Tuesday
Amateur Art Wednesday
Happy Hour Thursday
Almost Anything Friday
                                                            
    ~To Praha~

My blog’s outline
Is a sweet Valentine
To a city
That captured my heart,
True love won’t fade,
Neither borders man-made,
Nor oceans deep 
Will us part!




Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur


Both images came from:  http://www.123rf.com/ 

Almost Anything Friday



Friday

As much as I need and love planning, I also need some ‘free time.’  In fact, I plan for it.  :-)  A special time for indulging in an unplanned activity.  If it’s Friday, it’s time for…

Almost Anything

That means anything I feel like posting.  Almost anything. …  Another thing I would just love is hearing from you.  Maybe, Friday can be the day we talk.  Maybe, you want to ask a question – go ahead, we can turn Friday posts into an Ask Amateur/Amateur Answers sort of thing.  Maybe, we can have a discussion.  Doesn’t have to be about poetry, or writing.  Can be almost anything.  I’m open to suggestions.  Have a great weekend, see you soon!


Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

Thursday, February 9, 2012

'An Old Dog'


Poetic Bloomings encouraged us to write a poem with a word 'old' in the title.

"We do all those old tricks electronically now."


~An Old Dog~

“Time for your lesson, Mama!”
(Oh, hear my silent cries!)
He won’t see the drama
I carefully disguise.

“Watch, Mama, how I do it,
It’s so easy, see?”
(Oh, help me suffer through it!
Oh, woe, woe to me…)

He’s only just discovered
His sister’s DSi*,
“Look, Mum, I got it covered.”
(Why me?  Oh, why, oh why?...)

He’ll probably think I’m slow,
My son, he’s only six,
He is too young to know
About old dogs and tricks…




* DSi is a handheld game system created by Nintendo.



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur


Image credit: Charles Barsotti