Disodeous Summer

 

The four principals of the horror show unwound in the break room, still in costume after the live taping ended at midnight. Ed's sportcoat draped his chair, where he sat huddled over coffee and a notebook. His latest article for the ladies mag was morphing into a sort of dis-ode to summer. Which he hated.

The dwarf Hecabano counted himself a kindred spirit, hailing as he did from the frozen Yaglukk region of the Outworld. Ed, though, tended to let little things get to him. "Pray, Master Ed, how does summer bring you such discord?" He frowned at Wicca in her black stage dress, currently on a Raiders kick. The music of Paul Revere rocked the pad in her hands. 

"Where do I start?" Ed glanced at the vampire Cambris. "What's your take on gettin' hot and sweaty?" 

"I do not sweat," Cambris replied in sepulchral matter-of-fact. 

"So then," Wicca chimed in. "What have you been scribbling over there?"

Ed scanned the list. "How about poison plants. And fleas, mosquitos, and tunneling mites." He stood up and raised his T to show three welts on his abdomen. "There's more on my arms and shoulders. How does something microscopic raise so much hell?"

"Avoid that wood pile," Hecabano advised, "where you play with the ants and termites."

"Yeah, well. . . ." Ed eased back down. "Only two more months of this summer nonsense, then it's the start of the holiday season."

Cambris raised a brow over a blazing gold iris and pupil. "They have set it back so overmuch?--to September the first?" 

"Sure. They can't wait to import the European specialties like the choco-booze bottles Wicca likes to swill. Before then, it's too hot."

Talent agent J B Bigmon wandered in. "Great show, people. I especially liked when Cambris threw the flaming skull at the swamp guys."

Filming it through a scry orb had made it possible to capture Cambris' image. "Hey--I'm steppin' out with Bunny. But first, an upload of my special ladies!" 

"Never again," Wicca muttered, recalling Bunny's stellar showing in the Wicca Lookalike Contest.

Bigmon bent beside her to film his beaming face next to her scowl. He went around to do the same with Cambris, mystified when her image didn't show up in the file. "How does she do that? Ed, you gotta clue me in on these special effects. They must be costin' us a bundle." 

Cambris' glowing eyes followed him out when he left. 

"Forget it," Ed said. "You know the rules, Cambris--bad guys only."

Now Ed was favored by her predatory gaze. "Ah, but he is beefy, and has disdained that horrid-tasting poison being foisted apace on the populace." 

"That's the spirit! Wax poetic for me, so I can finish this article with a dash of style."

"Here's a thought, Ted." Wicca smirked. "Let that reporter matron interview Cambris directly, and cut out the saddle man."

"Middle man," Ed corrected. "Cute." 

Hecabano leaned close. "She will need to be watched. You have enough experience at babysitting vampires to write a learned treatise."

"What is this, horned one?" Cambris eyed him sideways. 

"Oh, nothing, Mistress Cambris. I merely reminded him of the need for a chaperone."

Wicca turned up the volume. "Ooh. . . .this one's my favorite." The Raiders performed Where The Action Is. 

Happy 4th of July Weekend

Happy 4th of July!  Tell us what you are doing.  Anything planned? Going to take a break from packing boxes for our move and go out of town.  So much to be thankful! Any good movies lined up to watch?

 

So many movies and books to get into if you have a break.  Or maybe have something on in the background while you write or paint, or continue your project.  I know I need some background noise to keep my mind focused as I write.   Whether it's music or natural sounds outside such as birds or crickets to frogs at night with the windows open.  

One movie I find intriguing is this one.  Just fits our moment in our country. It is a very good movie to check out.  Two of my favorite actors.

 

Hope all have a blessed and safe weekend!  Keep on the creativity, keep on your dream. You will get there.  Please recommend us.  Thank you.

Finding Creative Time

   

Good Monday Evening!  Been a few busy months as we get ready for our move.  However that is no excuse not to be creative as well productive.  As a writer and artist I find ways around it all.  Do you have a  place of serenity to let your mind go. When our son takes a nap I sit outside on our porch with a view of the front yard. It is a beautiful spacious yard.  A rain shower may pass on by.  Carolina wrens built nests in the nest boxes above.  Bunnies scurry on by and birds, so many birds.  Here I can see the world go by.  Since we live by a road,  the traffic is occasional.  I finally heard that old vintage antique car squeal by.   So much to see and inspiring I spent many summer afternoons, sometimes in 95 degree heat.  To stay cool, I drink an iced tea or some other beverage.  

Sometimes things happen in our day like the baby bunny our dog flushed out.  So adorable.

As you can see we've been cleaning up the yard getting our house ready to sell.  Next is the attic, as we have lots of shelving and still our main floor has three rooms.   We took a couple weeks break and now getting geared up to keep on cleaning and packing.  Our new house is being built as I write this. It has a roof, walls, plumbing, air ducts and so forth.  Still I find time to sift through the gaps and be creative. Even if it is a page a day I write.  Book is going great, making it consistent.  

At the end of a day being a parent, a wife, managing the homefront and so forth, I feel like this kitten. Totally wiped out by the day.  

Our move is getting closer each day.   How do you find ways to keep on task?  Is it as busy as mine?

The Master of Wasting Time

 

Medium-size brown ants converged on top of a tree stump. Their target was a nest of termites Ed had cracked open. They efficiently entered the tunnels of the tasty treats, dragging them out, carting them off to a horrible fate. 

"Creepy," decided Bonnie, visiting from the Outworld, alumna of a chemistry lab. "I'd just hose the whole thing with bug spray."

Ed set aside his pruning saw, swigged coffee from a thermal mug. "And miss all this free exercise?" The owner of the condo property was happy to get it done at no cost. "Now check out my latest invention." He stepped over to a plastic table and dipped a bubble wand into a jar of milky fluid. He blew a baseball-size bubble, watched it drift over trees in a gentle but unusually cool June wind. "Notice anything?"

Bonnie squinted until the bubble was too small too track. "It never popped. What's in that stuff?"

"My winter formula tweaked for summer. In addition to sugar and syrup, you add the clear part from a raw egg. That's why it turns milky after the first week."

"Say no more," Bonnie said. "Egg sticks to a plate like glue. The albumen keeps the bubble membrane from drying out."

"Silliness," ventured the vampire Cambris, swathed in her special anti-sun suit. She regarded them from behind welding goggles. "Is it fair wonder that I am the ant to your termite?" 

"Hey, that's good." Ed picked up the mug and saluted. "I was hoping this nature spiel would make you wax poetic. Not that you need any inspiration like I do. That lady from the women's mag wants to interview me again, and I'm all used up for material."

Bonnie laughed. "Round two of your crackpot philosophy?"

Wind rustled trees like the wash of surf. Having paused his sweaty labor, Ed pushed down the sleeves of his sweatshirt, suddenly chilled. "What's that they say about a cold day in June. . . .hey, that's pretty lame. Help me out, ladies. Anything interesting happen today?"

"Well," Bonnie began, "this guy at the Quik Mart got a little fresh. Maybe you could--"

"Perfect! We'll do word origin!" Ed dialed up the studio's resident gold cyborg, and her instant web access. "Queenie, what's the origin of 'fresh' when used as an insult?" He grinned at Bonnie and Cambris. "I've been called that a time or three."

"Fresh," came Queenie's voice. "Fresh off the boat. Uncouth."

"Oh-kay," Ed said as the ladies grinned back. 

"Not yet assimilated into society. Taking boorish liberties. Synonymous with 'masher': unduly cornering victims with unwanted--"

"Switching gears!" Ed waited for Bonnie to regain a straight face. "On Gilligan's Island, Mr Howell calls a guy a 'cad and a bounder'." 

"Cad: an academy student; a lower class pretender. Bounder: one who attempts to leap into a higher social class."

"Now we're rockin'." Ed signed off. "That reporter oughta be dazzled by my new material." 

Cambris reached unsuccessfully for a bubble Ed launched. "She should interview the gold one, who has not the time for this frivolous wastage."

"Maybe the reporter does," Bonnie said. "Ed has an appeal for older women."

Ed grimaced. "Well, that line of material is one big waste of time." 

MST3K: UFO

 

Clayton Forrester  Happy Saturday, spacemen! How's that for alphabet soup? I refer to the scifi series UFO. No, you aren't gonna riff on it--I'm gonna review it! The fanciful premise was that, by 1980, we'd have a fleet of subs, a base on the moon, and a squadron of space interceptors. It was headquartered in England, of course, being a British series. They called it SHADO: supreme headquarters, alien defense organization. The aliens were quite cooperative in keeping the war a secret from the public. 

The fighters weren't the cool vipers from Battlestar. They had a single torpedo, and once it was used, the pilot was done for the day. Done period if the alien ever brought his laser to bear. They were so helpful in only fielding one at a time. 

What the producers never figured out was that guys tuned in to see the moonbase flight controllers--not Ed Bishop, who hogged most of the action. An attempt was made to give them more screen time in subs, tanks, and spacesuits, but these just weren't the same as the curvaceous moonbase uniforms. 

Joel  As I recall, the premise didn't have much by way of legs.

Crow  Except for Gabrielle Drake as Lieutenant Ellis!

Forrester  How about this: the aliens would naturally build a base on Mars in an effort to mount a knockout punch. For SHADO, the stakes are now the entire solar system! They might even capture an enemy ship!

Tom  Too bad they didn't have the budget.

Joel  Yeah, but just a few years later, the same design team cooked up Space: 1999. Martin Landau took too many closeups away from the gorgeous Barbara Bain.

Forrester  Can we stay on topic here? What have we learned from this?

Crow  When it comes to scifi, no women equals no show.

Forrester  Well, true, but. . . .okay, you're onto something there. 

Mountain at Dusk

 

This detail from a 16x24 was modeled after a coffee ad in back of a magazine, minus the product and its logo. The presentation is very simple, with no real detail. It relies on what the ad men intended: a soothing panorama of harmonizing colors. That also makes it fun to paint, as you can ad you own interpretation. Not seen is the reflecting pool I added at the bottom. which mirrors the peach sky. Try this source of inspiration for yourself, if only in practice. It might end up being a displayed work for many years, like this one, which has a calming influence in a bedroom.

LLudd and LLevelys

 Belli the Great has three sons, Lludd, Caswallawn, and Nynyaw. Afterward he is said to have a fourth son, Llevelys. After Belli death, Lludd becomes ruler, and rebuilds the fortification of London. London, according to this legend, got its name first by Lludd: Caer Lludd, later Lwndrys, before London.

Lludd's favorite brother, Llevelys, asks him if he might seek the hand of the daughter and heir of the deceased French king, to which Lludd agrees. The French nobles agree, and Llevelys marries the daughter, and rules the land.

To England come three plagues or difficulties. The first is the Coranians, who seem to be an untrustworthy group, at least in speech. The second is a "shriek" on May-eve that leaves people and animal scared and weaken. The third is a sharp decrease in food.

Lludd asks his counsels' advice, but they have no answer. Lludd then goes to his brother in France secretly so that the Coranian might not know the mission. The brothers meet near the coast of France, and speak on other matter, then both speak through a horn only the other can hear and avoid the Coranians hearing through the wind; but all the two brothers hear are hostile words. Understanding what is happening, Llevelys has the horn rinsed with wine, thus driving out the demon within the horn.

For the first plague, the Coranians, Llevelys gives Lludd insects with the instruction to crush some in water; call all the people together, including the Coranians; and sprinkle the charmed water on everyone. The Coranians would die, his people left unaffected.

The second plague, the shriek, Llevelys says is their dragon; and it is fighting another dragon. When Lludd returns, he needs to measure the land, find the midpoint, and have a cauldron filled with mead placed in a pit, covered with satin. Lludd is to stand there, watch the dragons fight on the ground, then in the air until they tire and fall and turn into pigs as they land in the mead, drink it, and fall asleep. Lludd needs then bury the pigs in the strongest place in his dominion. That will be the end of this plague.

The third plague is caused by a mighty man who consumes the kingdom's food. He causes people to sleep, as he steals the food; but Lludd is to have a cauldron of cold water by his side; and when oppressed with sleep, to plunge into the cauldron.

Upon returning, Lludd does as his brother advised; and gets rid of the Coranians and the dragons. Then he has a feast prepared, and then a giant appears, and puts the food into a large hamper. The king tells him to stop. A fierce fighting ensues with Lludd overcoming the giant. Fearing death, the giant says he will make a restoration equal to all he has taken. The king accepts this. From this time forward peace reigns in the land during Lludd's lifetime.

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Criticism

Belli or Beli Mawr is a Welsh ancestral figure. Llevelys is added, it seems, belatedly. Lludd and Llevelys might be brothers as in the honorific "Brother King", showing good relations between Lludd, king of Wales or England combined and Llevelys, a Celtic king on the Continent, such as in Brittany.

The Coranians are described as the Corieltauvi or Coritani, a group of tribes in East Midland, rather far from Wales. They are also described as "dwarf" from Asia, that is Romans. In my ignorance, I suppose they could be the Cornovii, another group of tribes bordering Wales.

The dragons, it is said, could represent the Brythons and the Anglo-Saxons.

The original poem appears to have been corrupted or the its meaning understood by the first listeners lost. The number three is significant in Celtic writing. A good poet would have combined elements that are associable, especially to the listeners. If in the third or forth century the poet said Romans and Anglo-Saxons, the people would have scratched their head. It would seem strange for the poet to lump the historically insignificant Corieltauvi, who were easily overwhelmed by the Roman — and possibly forgotten, with the Anglo-Saxons in the same tale no matter the time of composition. If this is a largely local tale (Welsh, with a Brittany connection), the foes might also be local. The giant could be a neighboring and hostile group of tribes that finally submitted to a Welsh king. The Picts suggested for one foe seems proper.