JUMP IN!
by Angie Quantrell (46 words)
Jump in, jump in!
The water is warm.
Carrot
Tomato
Green Bean
Potato
More friends, more friends!
Dive in the pool.
Celery
Peas
Onions
Beans
Swim, swim!
Make a whirlpool.
Salt
Pepper
Corn
Butter
Soup’s on, soup’s on!
Time for a bowl.
Stir
Blow
Sip
Glow
horse king by Angie Quantrell
Blackout poems are challenging and fun. I love playing with words and this take-everything-away-except-the-words-you-want is an exercise in deleting the fluff. I thought I was done with this poem, but something did not flow. It originally had 17 words. Actually, the entire page had hundreds of words, but I didn’t count those. I kept reading and rereading. Aha! I figured out which 2 words needed to be blacked out. Ta-dah! Here is horse king, a 15-word blackout poem by yours truly.
From the 15-word poem, can anyone guess which book this page comes from? Don’t worry, the book is old, missing pages, and falling apart. Besides recycling, wrapping gifts, art projects, and decorating walls, there is not much else I can do with this book. Let me know your guess in the comments below.
Photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
Photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
People.
RV life in the winter, particularly in a four-season location (like the Pacific Northwest, east of the Cascades), is not a piece of cake. Nor is it for the faint of heart.
I should have opened with a question mark and let you guess first. How many fleece blankets do you think a person would need to adequately block window drafts against winter chills? In January. While living in an RV? And all-season RV. At least that’s what it says on the side.
Nine. We require an assortment of 9 lap throw-sized fleece blankets to tuck along the cracks of all window openings to block drafts. Is this a pain? Yes. Do I despair? Yes. Murmur? Unfortunately. Yes.
But we are warm! The draft-blockers do their job. So well, in fact, that on super chilly mornings, they block the heat to portions of the curtains and the curtains freeze to the windows. Don’t worry! It eventually melts and we wipe away the beaded rivers streaming down into the window tracks.
Extra tasks are required for RV life in the winter. There is a longer daily chore list. But we keep warm. Our tricks of the trade keep us nice and toasty, despite ice, fog, snow, sleet, wind, rain, and sub-freezing temps. How about you? Any winter RV tricks you’d like to share with a couple of RV popsicles?
A Haiku Moment for you:
fleeced
winter’s chills gobble
heat, invite mr. frost in
9-fleece kicks him out
fleeced by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
In my editorial job, I sometimes get clever in how I make sweeping changes. Case in point. I recently wanted to change “PA” in a large document to “Pennsylvania.” So, Miss Smarty Pants decided to use the Replace feature in Word. Took 5 seconds. Done. BAMM.
And then I continued with my revising. By the time I realized what had happened, there was no easy way to go back and undo it. Nope. None at all. (Unless you know of a way, for the next time…Please let me know!)
Every word in the 34-ish page document beginning with “p” became a brand new word. A new word with “Pennsylvania” inserted in the middle. With a capital P.
Par example:
All songs are from Sing to the Tune.** See Pennsylvaniage 2, Important Resources Information.
ART—Pennsylvaniack a Box Show Picture 11. Give each child a brown Pennsylvaniaper square.
Crumple some Pennsylvaniaper and throw it on the ground.
Pink, orange, yellow Pennsylvaniaint
Black strips of Pennsylvaniaper
In advance, prePennsylvaniare Kit Item 00.
Correcting my mistake has taken hours. Days. A very long time. I should have counted the number of corrected words. But after awhile, you just have to laugh at yourself.
They say you learn something new every day. I learned to think more carefully about what might happen when I make sweeping changes with the Replace feature.
Walks away from the computer, slowly shaking her head . . .
Yakima Valley
Don’t you love new beginnings? Be renewed.
Sending prayers and wishes for a 2022 filled with love, joy, hope, and peace.
winter freeze equals
locked in place, stuck in RV
special escape tool
stuck by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
Love, Laughter, and Life 