Category: Original Writing

In the Morning

Sunrise

 

Ding dong, dong ding
Hear the chimes ring
From the high tower
Hark to the hour

Roll over and turn off the alarm.

Westminster chimes, really?

Since when did they wake up anyone?

Oh well. Time to get up.

Head to the bathroom for morning ablutions

No shaving nicks – huzzah!

Breakfast of cereal and toast: raisin bran and rye.

Back to the bedroom to decide what to wear.

Will anyone notice yesterday’s clothes?

Walk out the door to

Wait. What?

Dress slacks and a t-shirt?

Inside, there’s cereal on the floor and bread in the microwave.

Touching a cheek to find shaving cream.

The clock reads 2:15 AM.

Sleepwalking again.

somnambulant promptThanks, Vanessa!

 

 

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In This Sign

Thanks to Vanessa of Petal & Mortar for dropping a note in the prompt box!

Distressed Templar Cross
Photo Credit: John Patrick Victor Jokinen (Dec. 27, 2012)

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

So said God to Constantine

So said the Pope to the Masters

So said the Masters to us

In this sign, conquer

Under this sign, defeat the Infidel

Under this sign, conquer the Holy Land for Christendom

Ascalon

Montgisard

Acre

Arsuf

NON NOBIS DOMINE, NON NOBIS, SED NOMINI TUO DA GLORAIM

In this sign, christen

Christened the Templars, for the Temple gave us

the Ark of the Covenant

the Black Books of Wisdom

the Head of John the Baptist

the Holy Grail

the Seed of Christ

the Secrets of geometry

the Treasures of Old Jerusalem

the Power

In this sign, command and control

Command princes and priests and popes and potentates and powers

Control the fighting and fields and finance and future of Europe

A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.

Bernard de Clairvaux, c. 1135

De Laude Novae Militae [In Praise of the New Knighthood]

In this sign, capitulate

Capitulate to the conspiracy and conniving of kings

Capitulate to the threat and terror of torture

God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom.

King Philip IV of France

In this sign, continue

God knows who is wrong and has sinned.
Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death.

Grand Master Jacques de Molay

Continue in legend and myth and lore and secret societies

Continue until the time is right once more

Templar Knight in Battle Dress angelfire7508

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

 

 

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Lessons in Adventuring

old lantern

This ten-minute free write from the Prompt Box came courtesy of @youarecarrying.

Simply tweet the word “inventory” and you’ll get a random list of objects.

 

 

The adventurer stands before his prize.

His long journey began many days ago, when he owned nothing but a shilling and a fused, ninety-ohm bedistor.

For months he wandered through hostile territory, fending off aggressive enemies and vicious woodland creatures, scavenging his defeated foes for more useful objects, and slowly building his private hoard of gold coins to finally purchase the shiny scroll allowing him to learn the spell permitting him to cast the Flexible Black Circle.

The spell granted him access to this room, cleverly hidden behind a false wall in a dusty closet. Rumor had it the owner of this house had been a skilled alchemist; what wealth he must have had on his person to hide himself here in a futile last stand!

He stoops to search the cloak wrapped round the dusty skeleton:

one gold coin and a new brick.

 

The controller nearly breaks as I throw it across the room.

I wasted a whole day for this!?

I could have been leveling up!

Inventory for Lessons in Adventuring

 

 

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Anytown, USA

anytown usa
dmaeducatorblog.files.wordpress.com

Thanks to Vanessa of Petal & Mortar for dropping a note in the prompt box!

Fading Gentility Prompt Box

Gentility

noun  |  gen·til·i·ty  |  \jen-‘ti-lə-tē\

1a :  the condition of belonging to the gentry

1b :  gentlefolk, gentry

2a (1) :  decorum of conduct :  courtesy

2a (2) :  attitudes or activity marked by false delicacy, prudery, or affectation

2b :  superior social status or prestige evidenced by manners, possessions, or mode of life

Signs run up and down the eastern seaboard:
 hidden to the average naked eye;
 revealed to those knowing the signs already.

Find a map: an honest-to-goodness paper 
 map stained with ketchup and mustard and grease
 and oil and the grit and grime of road trips - 
 not some satellite-produced, digitally-
 rendered version glowing on a glass-like 
 screen of modern technomancy.
 
Look at the names of counties and townships 
 and villages and roads, of lakes and streams 
 and rivers, of mountains and valleys 
 and other geographic terrain.

Pick a place at random: throw a dart, choose from a 
 hat, select a site with a nice-sounding name; 
 any place will do.
 
Visit the churchyard cemeteries: the old ones with 
 family plots marked out by mausoleums or low stone 
 walls or wrought-iron fences.
 
Open the phone book: few – if any – of the names 
 found engraved on these eternal monuments remain. 

Drive the roads: the ones with nearly unpronounceable 
 names or names that don’t sound like they look they 
 should. 

Ask the old timers and no two of them will agree 
 on how the name should be said. 

Look around:

 the brick buildings of the once-bustling downtown 
  with fading painted signage now converted into loft 
  apartments or the tourist-centered shops one finds 
  in any small town trying to regenerate before it 
  succumbs to the appeal and attraction of larger 
  cities or becomes boarded up all together

 the old houses too large for the lots they sit on 
  surrounded by smaller houses
  encroached on by modern buildings
  threatened by trailer parks
  pulled down by vines and weather 
  and ravages of time

Take it all in and consider it all together:
  the cemeteries,
  the names,
  the architecture,
  the decay,
  and the signs all point to one thing:
   the long, slow, inevitable decline 
    and fading away of a once-proud gentility.

 

 

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May I Borrow a Cup of Sugar?

Phil, the preeminent Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge, prompted me to write about sugar.

I use sugar for two things: coffee and sweet tea.

Most Pennsylvanians don’t make sweet tea, so I’ve only had a few years to work on my “recipe.”

However, K says I make the best sweet tea; and no, she’s not just saying that.

So, how do I make my semi-legendary sweet tea? Like this:

Cup of SugarI store my sugar in a red canister with a spoon.

Thirteen spoons of sugar go into each batch of sweet tea.

This is the first time I’ve ever actually measured the amount of sugar I use.

By my best guestimate (and using a few converters on the internet), this equals approximately 220 grams of sugar.

Boiling Water for Tea

Mix this sugar into 8.5 cups boiling water.

Tea PitcherI always use this flowered pitcher.

This is our most-used wedding present.

Add two family-sized tea bags and let sit 45 minutes.

Transfer to a larger, refrigerator-safe and tea-appropriate container.

Top with cold water (about 4.5 cups) and mix thoroughly.

Refrigerate until ice-cold and enjoy!

Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?

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Don’t forget to follow me on:

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The Gentle Subjugation of Humanity

 

Special thanks goes to Liesel of Skill Up Skillet for suggesting today’s topic!

 

          The Gentle Subjugation of Humanity

 
Waiting for centuries, biding time. 

Staging a bloodless, velvet revolution. 

Infiltrating the very fabric of society, all fell victim:

    Princes and Potentates

    Priests and Popes

    Politicians and People


Like cannibals of old, we gained power by consumption. 

  Power, but not victory. 


Now, we are enslaved: 

  Economies of nations rise and fall.

  Temples call for universal worship.

  Factions arise. 

  Blood spills.
 
  We cannot function.

 
                Coffee Reigns Supreme

coffe beans world map

Have a suggestion for a poem, photograph, or future post?

Drop a note in the prompt box!

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

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