Tag Archives: Challenge

July 29, 2016

Skylark – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku

By Kat Myrman

skylark

Today’s Dictionary.com word of the day is Skylark. I love, love, love today’s word. The Dictionary.com photo for today only shows the more recent definition of the word. The other definition refers to particular type of bird and I learned something wonderful and new today! I had no idea that skylarks are so named because of their unique quality of singing while flying and hovering high above the ground. Skylark the noun, which refers to this amazing bird, entered the English language in the late 1600’s. The verb version didn’t show up until two centuries later.

I have this recurring dream. In it I am always flying. It feels so real. I am swept up in the thrill of feeling my feet lift off the ground and ascent into the sky, higher and higher. Ironically, in my waking moments I have a debilitating fear of heights. My knees turn to jello and my head spins whenever I find myself in a high open place. But not in my dreams. In my dreams, I swoop and glide and take in the sights below…and I had not really thought about it before, but in my dreams, my heart sings.

When the burdens of life weigh me down I have this dream and am encouraged to rise above. When sorrow hangs like a dark cloud above me, I am encouraged to break through the clouds into the sunlight and beautiful cerulean blue sky, light as a feather, wind in my hair…and to let my heart and soul sing!

In my next life, I think I would like to be a skylark. Or perhaps my dreams are merely hinting at a previous incarnation to remind me that I have already learned to rise abover and to sing while flying!

Happy Friday to you! Have a wonderful weekend. Here’s my haiku!

Skylark Song

Next incarnation
oh let me be a skylark
flying high in song!

kat ~ 29 July 2016

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality, Word of the Day Haiku

July 27, 2016

you’ve been warned

By Kat Myrman

Franz_Marc-In_the_Rain(Im_Regen)_(1912)

when planning for a lovely stroll,
with dog in tow,
to play some fetch
at river’s edge

take care to notice red dawn skies
-word to the wise-
you might regret
the plans you’ve set

if you ignore the coming storms
when you’ve been warned
you’ll feel the pain…
relentless rain.

kat ~ 27 July 2016

A Minute Poem for Jane Dougherty’s Poetry Challenge based on the painting by Franz Marc entitled “In the Rain”, including the following word prompts: Rain, Red, Relentless, River, Regrets.

19 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Life Lessons, Minute Poem, Poetry

July 26, 2016

Lock – Haiku Extremes

By Kat Myrman

This week’s prompt for Haiku Horizon’s weekly challenge is the word Lock. Lock is one of those words that has multiple meanings or applications. I would venture to say, more than most! It can mean all of these things (from Dictionary.com):

As a Noun:
1. a device for securing a door, gate, lid, drawer, or the like in position when closed, consisting of a bolt or system of bolts propelled and withdrawn by a mechanism operated by a key, dial, etc.
2. a contrivance for fastening or securing something.
3. the mechanism that explodes the charge; gunlock; safety (def 4).
4. any device or part for stopping temporarily the motion of a mechanism.
5. an enclosed chamber in a canal, dam, etc., with gates at each end, for raising or lowering vessels from one level to another by admitting or releasing water.
6. an air lock or decompression chamber.
7. complete and unchallenged control; an unbreakable hold.

8. Slang. someone or something certain of success; sure thing: He’s a lock to win the championship.
9.Wrestling. any of various holds, especially a hold secured on the arm,leg, or head:
leg lock.
10. Horology. (in an escapement) the overlap between a tooth of an escape wheel and the surface of the pallet locking it.
11. Metalworking. a projection or recession in the mating face of a forging die.

As a Verb (used with an object):
12.to fasten or secure (a door, window, building, etc.) by the operation of a lock or locks.
13.to shut in a place fastened by a lock or locks, as for security or restraint.
14.to make fast or immovable by or as if by a lock: He locked the steering wheel on his car.
15.to make fast or immovable, as by engaging parts: to lock the wheels of a wagon.
16.to join or unite firmly by interlinking or intertwining: to lock arms.
17.to hold fast in an embrace:She was locked in his arms.
18.to move (a ship) by means of a lock or locks, as in a canal (often followed by through, in, out, down, or up).
19.to furnish with locks, as a canal.
As a Verb (used without object)
20. to become locked: This door locks with a key.
21.to become fastened, fixed, or interlocked : gears that lock into place.
22. to go or pass by means of a lock or locks, as a vessel.
23. to construct locks in waterways.
So…of course I couldn’t write just ONE haiku. I give you two extremes of this very complex four-letter word.
lockofhair
Locks of Hair…
wispy locks of hair
pressed lovingly in vellum
strands of fine-spun gold
PhotofromtheNice

CNNWIRE Image from Nice, France

Locked and Loaded…
locked and loaded
terror rages in our streets
promote peace not walls

~kat – 26 July 2016

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Haiku, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings

July 23, 2016

Fahrenheit

By Kat Myrman

photo by Dan Carlson

It would be impossible after this week to dismiss global warming, with temperatures surging over 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tim managed to escape the blazing forest into the clearing where rescuers waited, but the sticky oil infused blacktop coated his shoes, bursting spontaneously into flames just as Tim secured himself in the rescue harness to begin his ascent to the hovering helicopter.

While everyone watched in horror, Tim kicked his feet frantically, finally freeing his feet from his shoes as they plummeted like fireballs to the ground below.

kat ~ 22 July 2016

A Three Line Tale for Sonya at Only 100 Words.

5 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in 3 Line Tales, Challenges and Writing Prompts, Flash Fiction

July 21, 2016

D-Day Memorial – Echoes of my Neighborhood

By Kat Myrman

Happy Thursday and welcome to my neighborhood. It’s been a few weeks since my last post to Jacqueline’s Echoes of my Neighborhood Challenge. To be honest I ran out of micro, macro, oddities to show you…and it is likely very clear that I do not get out much! 🙂 Besides my day job and taking care of my critters, I rarely wander past my front door. But this past weekend I had the honor to visit an historical site to hear a concert. With all the unrest in the world today, it is good to reflect on the past to realize that we have the capacity to come together, nation to nation to defeat a common enemy. Even when the price is great, good eventually overcomes evil. And that gives me hope!

From the National D-Day Memorial Website: On June 6th, 1944 United States soldiers, in one of the most pivotal battles of World War II, invaded the French coastline in order to propel German soldiers out of Western Europe and lead the way for victory against the tyrants of that era. Dedicated on June 6th, 2001 by president George W. Bush, the National D-Day Memorial was constructed in honor of those who died that day, fighting in one of the most significant battles in our nations history.

It is located in Bedford, Virginia (about 45 minutes from where I live). Why Bedford? Here is a second excerpt from the Memorial’s website:

Bedford, Virginia… 
Like eleven other Virginia communities, Bedford provided a company of soldiers (Company A) to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard’s 116th Infantry Regiment was activated on 3 February 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies, including one who, two years earlier, had been reassigned from the 116th Infantry to the First Infantry Division. Thus he had already landed in both Northern Africa and Sicily before coming ashore on D-Day at Omaha Beach with the Big Red One. Company A of the 116th Infantry assaulted Omaha Beach as part of the First Division’s Task Force O. 

By day’s end, nineteen of the company’s Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation’s severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.

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All photos by Kat Myrman – July 2016

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Challenges and Writing Prompts, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, Random Thoughts and Musings