Monthly Archives: February 2016

February 18, 2016

As Smooth as a Milk Maid’s Skin – Haiku

Dr. Edward Jenner

Well…this is interesting!

The saying, “As smooth as a milk maid’s skin” has a very interesting history. At first blush one might imagine that it meant milk baths or sweet cream facials for milk maids who, because of their ready access to milk, had exceptionally smooth skin. It is true that certain milk maids did have smooth skin, but the truth is more sobering.

I found this snippet in Wikidpedia:
The expression “as smooth as a milk maid’s skin” means exceptionally smooth. This phrase came about as a result of exposure to cowpox, which causes no serious symptoms, but does convey a partial immunity to the disfiguring (and often fatal) disease smallpox. Thus, milkmaids lacked the “pockmarked” complexion common to smallpox survivors. This observation led to the development of the first vaccine.^[1]

The first vaccine, in fact, was performed in 1796 by Dr. Edward Jenner in Berkeley (Gloucestershire), England. He discovered that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox did not get smallpox. When his patient Sarah Nelmes presented symptoms of cowpox on her hand, Jenner “took the pus from a cowpox lesion and inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps, the son of Jenner’s gardener. After the boy got a slight case of cowpox, Jenner exposed him to smallpox. As he suspected and much to his relief, young James remained unaffected by the deadly disease. (Read more about Dr. Jenner HERE.)

The visions of milky white, soft, beautiful skin that I once imagined when I heard this saying are definitely not what those who initially coined the phrase intended! The truth is quite gruesome, what with cowpox pus scrapings and human experimentation. But I suppose it is the final result, discovery of a vaccination against a deadly disease, that matters most. Here’s the Haiku then…

She was one so fair
“As smooth as a milk maid’s skin”
implied survival.

~kat – 18 February 2016

This Haiku is in response to Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge with the Prompt Words: Milk & Smooth. If you would like to read other Haiku or enter your own, click HERE.

42 Comments | tags: history, milk, milkmaid, Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge, smooth | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry

February 17, 2016

Just Remember to Breathe

By Kat Myrman

PHOTO PROMPT – © Sandra Crook

It’s here to remind us of the day that time stopped. To remind us to breathe. As I recall, the sun grew dark and the earth shuddered and heaved stopping on its axis for 60 seconds.

In the silence everyone breathed in deeply…so deeply that the ground sunk from the weight of the air filling our lungs. As we exhaled, gravity gave way and we floated. And then the earth jolted, the clouds starting drifting again and the sun sparkled golden once more. Though nothing seemed changed we all knew the truth. In that moment we realized we are one.

~kat – 17 February 2016
(100 Words)

A flash of fiction for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneer Challenge based on the photo prompt above by Sandra Crook. Read more stories or enter your own HERE.

39 Comments | tags: breathe, connection, Friday Fictioneers, mindfulness, moment, oneness | posted in 100 and Under, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Flash Fiction, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality

February 17, 2016

Magnolia Dawn

By Kat Myrman

Photograph and Digital Enhancement by Kat Myrman 2016

but for the soft coo-cooing
wooing
of mourning dove cry
nigh
the earth is hushed
crushed
under a blanket of snow
glow
magnolia tree towers
flowers
roots burrowed deep
sleep
until spring’s first kiss
bliss.

kat ~ 17 January 2016

An “Echo Verse” for Jane Dougherty’s weekly poetry challenge. The following describes this poetry form:

Echo verse goes back centuries but it has a very modern feel about it. The concept is simple—after each line there is an echo, of the last syllable (or two), or a word that rhymes. In the instructions it doesn’t say what the poem has to be about, line length, or whether there has to be any other kind of rhyme pattern.

If you would like to read other Echo Verses or enter your own, click HERE.

30 Comments | tags: Challenge, dawn, Echo Verse, hush, Mourning Dove, Poetry, snow | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Poetry

February 17, 2016

Tattoo Folly

By Kat Myrman

tatt

Old Pete had a hankering for booze
Spending many a night quite confused
But he vowed he would quit
when his wife threw a fit
She was Joan, but his tattoo said Sue!

kat ~ 17 February 2016

A limerick for Rashmi’s of Mind and Life Matters weekly Limerick Challenge. The Prompt Word is “Apsire”. Today I am using the synonym “Hanker”. If you would like to read others Limericks or enter your own click HERE.

19 Comments | tags: Limerick Poetry Challenge, tattoo | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Humor, Limericks, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

February 16, 2016

Alien Oops

By Kat Myrman

(For the sake of the reader, the following account has been translated into English)

Photo Credit: Al Forbes

“Earth Fleet Andromeda…come in Ensign Gorp, we’ve received reports of a re-entry error.”

“Perhaps we should have delayed Ensign Gorp’s solo mission, Admiral. It’s critical that he corrects this error before the earth cows get eaten by African lions. We may already be too late!”

“Come in Gorp! This is Admiral Zing. Gorp?”

“Yes sir, Ensign Gorp sir, reporting.”

“Gorp, your mission was to return the African Rhinos to Africa and the cows to the farm on the American continent.”

“Yes sir! I recorded it in Andromeda’s flight log. Cows to Africa…oops!”

“Gorp it is imperative that you remedy this error immediately!

“Yes sir. I’m on it, sir!”

Gorp laser-lifted the Rhinos from the farm and zipped at light speed to Africa. With the rhinos returned, Gorp descended into hover mode.

As he approached a small village he spotted the cows. They were adorned with bells and flower garlands. Earthlings were dancing wildly around them. Gorp employed the atomic strobes, temporarily blinding the earthlings, and extracted the cows.

Back on the farm Joe Dudley was doing his morning walk-about when he saw them.

“Minnie,” he yelled back to the house, “you’re gonna want to see this.”

kat ~ 16 February 2016
(198 Words)

This recreation of a fictional event was penned in response to the photo prompt above by Al Forbes of Sunday Photo Fiction. Read other stories or enter your own by clicking HERE.

17 Comments | tags: aliens, Challenge, cow, rhino, Sunday Photo Fiction | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Flash Fiction, Humor, Under 300 Words