Mad Max 4, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

On the weekend I went to see the film, Mad Max 4, "Mad Max: Fury Road".
It was action packed !
I only have good things to say about it  :)

Hot Water Systems

                                        

As you can see above,

the solar hot water system that's on the roof at the house where I'm staying

is too broken to use anymore.

The glass has been broken for a long time,

but the crunch came when the tank burst a seam and water was spraying out like

a fountain.

That was three and a half months ago !

But on Friday, I was able to have a new instantaneous electric hot water system

put in, as you can see below.

It feels good to have hot showers again !  

(c) Katherine Stuart 2015                                                                                                                                                                                             

Dust haze over Darwin

There has been the biggest dust haze
over Darwin
(Northern Territory, Australia)
tonight.

This is what it is like,
all around.









(c) Katherine Stuart 2015

Writing a Poem

So, how does one go about writing a poem?

I can only speak for myself, but this is my process  -

Taking as an example, my poem "The Wave",

            So, you're just going about your usual
            daily business,
            and then something triggers a feeling in you.

            Here, I was relaxing at the beach,
            pretty much doing nothing,
            just watching the tide come in,
            and then the way the waves splashed against
            this rock started to take my attention.
         
                The Wave                                       It was something about the motion
                                                                      of the waves splashing up and over this rock
          Oh, to be a wave,                                  continuously, that triggered a feeling in me.
          Dancing on a rock,
          Splashing in the air,                               I would say that the feeling was there inside me
          Spilling o'er the sides,                            all the time, it's just that this "event" harmonised
          Back in to the sea.                                with it.

                                                                      At the time, I was wishing that I could dive in
 (c) Katherine Stuart 2013                                        there and have a swim, as it was a hot day, but I
                                                                      didn't have the confidence.

                                                                      Okay, so I had this feeling,
                                                                      and I was associating it with the image I was
                                                                      seeing in front of me, of the waves splashing
                                                                      over the rock.
 
                                                                      Then I decided, to express this feeling in a
                                                                      poem.

                                                                      I always carry spare paper and a pen,
                                                                      so I just wrote down what came in to my head.
                                                                      But, I had to re-work it quite a bit,
                                                                      until I was happy with the sound of the words,
                                                                      and that it accurately expressed my feeling.

So, writing this down as a process, it would go something like this  -

1.  Go about your daily life
2.  Has a feeling been triggered?
3.  Is the feeling associated with an image?
4.  What is the image?
5.  What is the feeling associated with that image?
6.  Describe that image/feeling in words
         -  Use short lines of words, either,
               -  short sentences, or,
               -  long sentences, broken up into shorter pieces (you can use commas)
         -  The lines of words can rhyme or not
         -  The lines of words can be arranged in groups called verses (stanzas)
               which can each express individual ideas

         :)

(c) Katherine Stuart 2015                                                                                                                           
                                                             

Song - Tintagel Shipwreck

Tintagel Shipwreck

                                                           

                                                 Let me tell you,
                 A tale,
                 Of a ship,
                 That set sail,
             

                                                

 Down the coast,
 To no avail,

                                

                  One stormy night,
                  Doomed to fail.

                               

                  A decoy lantern,
                  On the headland,
                  Tricked the captain,
                  No bearing at hand,

                                

                 "Head to port!"
                 Was his command.
                 "Seek shelter,
                 Or we are damned!"

                               

                 But, 'twas no port,
                 Pirate cove it be,
                 Under the shadow,
                 Of Tintagel he.

                                

                Waves crashing,
                Relentlessly.
                Wood smashing,
                Rocks under sea.

                                

                 Woe to those,
                 Who swam ashore,
                 Worse than those,
                 Who drowned before,

                                

                  Dispatched by those,
                  Of pirate lore,
                  On the beach,
                  They were no more.
           

                                 

                  Scavenge did,
                  Those pirates toil,
                  Bringing all,
                  The goods to soil.

                                 

                 From the broken,
                 Ship of royal.
                 Plans to sell them,
                 No-one could foil.

                                

                  And what of all this,
                  I do say?
                  Standing nearby,
                  Out of the way,

                                 

                  In the shadows,
                  The answer's, "Nay!"
                  Silent witness,
                  Come Judgment Day.
                  Silent witness,
                                                                        Come Judgment Day.
                                                                        Silent witness,
                                                                        Come Judgment Day.

                                                                        Mmm............    (last 2 lines above
                                                                                                    x 6)

                                  

                 Stormy seas,
                 On Christmas Eve,
                 'Twasn't what,
                  You would believe.

                                                                         (above 4 lines
                                                                            x 2)

                                                                         Mmm............    (above 4 lines
                                                                                                     x 6)                                                                                                      



*Note  -  Played on my ukulele, open strings are  -  B (mid C) D F G#
               See blog entries "Chords on a Stringed Instrument"
                                          "How I Tuned My Ukulele"
               for details.

(c) Katherine Stuart 2015