Category Archives: Essays

February 18, 2016

As Smooth as a Milk Maid’s Skin – Haiku

By Kat Myrman

jenner462_best

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: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Poetry

February 14, 2016

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse ~ 14 February 2016

By Kat Myrman

 

creeper2

Photo Credit: Kat Myrman 2014

 

Happy Valentine’s Day Sunday! If I may wax poetic, this week’s ReVerse is rather poetic…poetic in its melancholic musings, sentimental walks down lanes of memories wrapped in chocolate and flowers. Did I plan this? Most certainly not! It is a game the Muse plays with me. How very clever of her, don’t you think?

Not to worry, the week wasn’t all sappy and sweet. There were hints of poetic justice as well. Enter the scoundrels…the handsome blind date (or was he just a rude stalker!), politicians (no comment…), time…if time was a scoundrel (I have no doubt that our modern electronic clocks have an evil plan to drive us all crazy!), scary nature (requiring a safety net of creature comforts for those brave souls who venture off the grid), the corporate scoundrel…jerk! creep! *#%%%*#!!!!! (forgive me…too soon), and finally Jack Frost (well, he was certainly implied. Soon to sweep the blush from the daffodils.) As exciting as all this has been…what do I do? I take photographs!

I’m going to digress for a bit…but I promise to bring it home…trust me.

The greatest technology of the 21st Century for me is the phone camera! A few decades ago, I did labor in the bowels of my amber-lit basement, elbow deep in smelly chemicals developing my own photographs. Editing required cutting and pasting (really!…cutting with scissors and pasting with glue), re-photographing and developing. All things being digital has opened up a whole new world to us all.

But here’s the thing…yes, there is a thing…

My last story this week reminded me of a lost art that needs a revisit…letter writing. Lovely handwritten notes on pretty paper penned by one’s favorite pen (for me it is a fountain pen loaded with cerulean blue ink). I even read last week that schools are considering dropping cursive writing lessons from their curriculum! A very sad turn of events indeed!

And so as I look forward to next week, I’m planning to pen a few letters to those friends who do not frequent social media…and maybe even a few who are digitally savvy. I have become woefully out of touch with them. What better day for inspiration than today, Valentine’s Day!  Join me if you’d like. If there is one thing I’ve learned in life it is this, those who love you don’t want your chocolates or flowers…they want your words…<3

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse ~ 14 February 2016

A treasured timepiece,
here or hereafter.
sweet dreams to all you dreamers.
They are forever etched on my heart
She always reserved room for chocolate.
He knew she was lying.
fair blooms in waiting.
you certainly cannot win
abstaining from all pleasure
take a moment to breathe
proving their own lack.
She had the last laugh.
to appear able
a luddite’s nightmare!
But not without a backpack of creature comforts.
He took credit for her work.
So I took a photograph for you.

~ kat

If you’re new to this blog, a bit of background to explain the verse above. It is a line from each poem or prose from the previous week. Lifted and placed in the order written. A snapshot review of the week. It helps me to prepare for the upcoming week with a clean slate.

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Humor, Life Lessons, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Week in Review

February 8, 2016

The Snow Maiden & Father Frost

By Kat Myrman

Okay…so sometimes I see things. Things like shapes in the clouds, tree people, heart-shaped rocks.  So imagine my excitement when I my way home from work I saw “her”. A beautiful tree lady covered in ivy. She may have always been there but with winter waning and spring coming she stepped out from behind the drive-by landscape and said hello.

Now before you think I’m totally bonkers I’ll save you the trouble of thinking it. I am. Bonkers that is. But life is so much more interesting when you allow your imagination to have its way with you.

With that I give you my initial encounter with the tree lady… 

Do you see her? Now you can understand why I got so excited when I discovered her there, leaning into the tree.  Of course I always like to play with photos, adding some digital filters to see what other secrets are hidden there. To my surprise my tree lady transformed into the Snow Maiden! And there to her lower right, Father Frost!

As one legend tells it he allowed her to become a human girl to live with a childless couple but warned her that she must never give in to love or consider having a romantic relationship. Despite his warning she couldn’t resist.  When she felt true love for the first time her heart could not bear its warmth. It caused her to melt away. But that was not the end of the poor Snow Maiden. It is said that on the first day of the year (today is Chinese New Year after all and it is also the new moon!) Father Frost whisks her away to the North in advance of Mother Spring’s return, where she becomes beautiful once again and plays all summer on the frozen seas.

Well…I know this all sounds pretty fantastical. However did my imagination have such a flight of fancy you might say?  It is this enhanced photo with a simple digital filter that opened the gate of my imagination. See if you can them for yourself. And sweet dreams to all you dreamers. ❤️

22 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Random Thoughts and Musings

February 6, 2016

Sunday’s Week in Re-Verse – 6 February 2016

By Kat Myrman
DSC_0227

Photo by Kat Myrman – Summer 2013

 

Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?

Alice: I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.

…from Alice in Wonderland

Welcome to the beginning of the long days of winter. No holidays to speak of. Spring is coming, but it will be a bit more of a wait for most of us. It’s still entirely too dark too soon in the evening. And several loony poems and a few dark stories later, except for my girls the bovine fashionistas, can’t forget them, or the whistle pig for that matter…oh and I think it all started with the ducklings. But then what do I know. I am just the words on this page plunked from the keyboard by the fingers connected to some silly brain full of more words. It’s like bingo balls spinning round and round until one falls out the shoot. B-16. Don’t ask me how I came up with that number. It plopped out.

And this my friends is how the week that was went. Thank goodness I do these weekly summaries so I can spill them out for one more look and then tuck them away! One of our friends here, Kathryn (from Another Foodie Blogger) asked me after a few stories…”do you think Sunday’s review will be a dark one this week?” I winked and replied (she didn’t see me wink, but I assure you I did), “it’s all in the editing.” And to another friend, Lynn (from Lynz Real Cooking) I replied at one point, “I can pull happy out of just about anything”…or something to that effect. Have a look at this week’s “re-verse” and see for yourself. Once again I am amazed and delighted.

There were a number of dark prompt photos and prompt words, but hidden in each verse or prose, some of my favorite lines always happened to possess a bit of light.

That, I have come to realize after many years, is no accident. No matter how dark things may appear, there is light somewhere waiting to spill out. And that includes from the very center of my heart and soul as well. That happy spark does make me feel a bit mad sometimes when I am beset with drama, but it is that touch of madness that keeps me sane! 🙂

And so, my dearies, another week has come and gone. The dread of the blank page that I feel as each week begins has been overcome again and then some. And I will overcome, come Monday, because there is no lack of words swirling around in my brain. Someone give the bingo balls a whirl. Here we go! 🙂

Oh…I’m posting Sunday’s Re-View early because I got a new mattress today and I plan to sleep in a bit.  And…because I can. Isn’t that a lovely thought? You can do whatever you want to do…be you…because…you…can! 🙂

Sunday’s Week in Re-Verse – 6 February 2016

Sometimes being late isn’t the worst thing that can happen
the darkest nights are fading now
moving on was her ultimate aim
but it’s a fuzzy science at best
stars taunt us with hope

“Exactly! Just what I was thinking!”

You’ll likely arrive too soon
the mem’ry of that autumn night
but a girl can dream!
That night I became acquainted with death and the fragility of life.
nobody listened
scorned like the dodo.
it’s nugatory
striking a pose, dazzling in gold!
to cover more ground…

“Well, you’re here just in time you know.”

~ kat

If you’re new to this blog, a bit of background to explain the verse above. It is a line from each poem or prose from the previous week. Lifted and placed in the order written. A snapshot review of the week. It helps me to prepare for the upcoming week with a clean slate.

13 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Essays, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Week in Review

February 5, 2016

Nugatory – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

Happy Friday to you! Today’s Word of the Day from dictionary.com is another one of those dinosaur words. It is a word that appeared in the early 17th century and had a fairly good run of it until the 20th century. One might even say that “Nugatory” is a nugatory word.

So why am I spending an entire post on this nugatory word? Why do I spend any Friday, for that matter, on a nugatory quest in pursuit of interesting anecdotes for nugatory words? (I’m not sure I like this word…it doesn’t roll off the tongue like some words do…perhaps this is why it has gone the way of the dodo!)

And yet here we are. One might say, I pursue these words on a dare. And this is true. I am determined to see it through, this challenge I set for myself to write a haiku based on dictionary.com’s word of the day. Or you might say it is because I have a haiku to write. But I certainly don’t need the added aggravation of trying to fit a long-in-syllable, obsolete word into a haiku when there are plenty of reasonable prompts available to me.

The thing is, when Thursday evening comes, my excitement grows in anticipation of Friday’s word drop. Sometimes I even wait up until midnight to have a look. (Note: the Word of the Day doesn’t post at 00:00:01…just an FYI if you’re interested. Sometimes it doesn’t post for HOURS after midnight.) But it is the surprise of it and the challenge of it that gives me joy! It matters not to me how nugatory a word may be…even if the nugatory word is in fact “nugatory”!

Because words…beautiful words in all their forms, quirks and origins have value in the role that they have played in defining how we have evolved over time. If you don’t believe me, consult the Urban Dictionary to be enlightened.

I admit, I do love reading dictionaries for FUN! And I also love writing Haiku. So what’s not to love about this nugatory weekly practice?! I can’t think of anything! 🙂

Have a great weekend! And if you dare, snuggle up with a good book, like um…a dictionary or an encyclopedia if you’re really looking for something deep! 🙂

From a simple Google Search I found this definition:

nu·ga·to·ry ˈn(y)o͞oɡəˌtôrē/adjective

adjective: nugatory
1-of no value or importance. “a nugatory and pointless observation”
synonyms: worthless, unimportant, inconsequential, valueless, trifling, trivial,
insignificant, meaningless “a nugatory observation”

2-useless; futile.”the teacher shortages will render nugatory the hopes of
implementing the new curriculum” synonyms: futile, useless, vain, unavailing,
null, invalid “the shortages will render our hopes nugatory”

Origin
early 17th century: from Latin nugatorius, from nugari ‘to trifle,’ from nugae ‘jests.’

Nugatory Haiku

nobody listened
her thoughts were nugatory
they assumed…what fools!

we dismiss cursive
as a nugatory form
scorned like the dodo.

it’s nugatory
the way some candidates stump
as if they will win.

kat ~ 5 February 2016

9 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Essays, Haiku, Humor, Random Thoughts and Musings, Word of the Day Haiku