The Lighter Side of JzB

Here you will find photos, poetry, and possibly some light-hearted foolishness. For the Heavier Side
of JzB
see my other blog,
Retirement Blues. (There be dragons!)

I claim copyright and reserve all rights for my original material of every type and genre.


Every day visits*
From Moose, Goose, and Orb Weaver
All seized by Haiku


"Why moose and goose?" you may ask. Back on 2/04/13 Pirate wrote a haiku with an elk in it, and I responded with
one with a moose and then included him every day. A few days later in comments Mystic asked "Where's the goose?"
So I started including her with this post on 2/07. A week later on the 14th, Mark Readfern
asked for and received a spider. The rest is history.

*Well, most days, anyway. Grant me a bit of poetic license.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #20, Joanne's "Autumn Leaves"

Two weeks ago we took a color tour in northern Michigan.  It was a bit early for peak color, and certainly before the leaf fall, but we had perfect weather.  Here is a view along Lake Charlevoix.

Michigan Color, Oct 11, 2013


Today's challenge is to complete a tan renga using Joanne's Autumn Leaves haiku, set a bit later in Autumn.


autumn leaves
myriad shades red and gold
begin to fall as snow  
                                (Joanne)

bare tree tops start to shiver
hoping for a white blanket                          (JzB)


Is the pathetic fallacy appropriate to haiku and tan renga?  Maybe one of you knows.

If anyone is interested in knowing what sort of things I do when I'm not doing this, you can find some of it here, here, and here.

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #20


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

LA Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, October 23, 2013  C. C. Burnikel

Theme: VERMILION INTERSECTIONS,  or WHERE REPUBLICANS AND COMMUNISTS MEET AND GREET. [I refuse to call this THE RED WEDDING!]  The starred clues refer to themed answers indicating various shades of red that cross in the grid, [I dare to report with no trace of embarrassment.] 

21 A. *Small fruit first cultivated in Oregon : BING  CHERRY.  Wikipedia tells us, "The cultivar was created as a crossbred graft from the Black Republican cherry in 1875 by Oregon horticulturist Seth Lewelling and his Manchurian Chinese foreman Ah Bing, for whom the cultivar is named." 

58 A. *Vin Scully will be its 2014 Grand Marshal : ROSE PARADE. This New Year's Day festival of equestrians, marching bands and flower-covered floats antedates the Rose Bowl football game by 12 years.  The latter was added in 1902 to help fund the former, which is now the province of the Honda motor car company. 


12 D. *Chain named for a Stones hit : RUBY TUESDAY, song and restaurant.


 

24 D. *"Clue" suspect : MISS SCARLET


Leslie Ann Warren, shown here close to the other suspects - and tantalizingly close to a wardrobe malfunction - stepped in to play Miss Scarlet in the movie version of CLUE when director Johnathon Lynn's first choice, Carrie Fisher, went onto rehab four days before filming started.  Whether she had the DT's is unreported.

And the centrally located unifier:  41 A. Humanitarian symbol, and a hint to what happens where the answers to starred clues intersect : RED CROSS.




Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here.  Our fearless leader has blended a colorful cocktail for us today, with an unusual 15 x 16 grid design, and intersecting horizontal and vertical entries long with a creative theme.   Other possibilities include beets, apples, catchup, Bob the Tomato, Rover, Erik the Viking, Lucille Ball and the Rouge River.  Let's see what else she has in store for us.


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Carpe Diem #328, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon



my garden this year
the marigolds did so well
but not tomatoes


~~~~

come along my friend
let us go to the garden
where we'll just hang out

~~~~
sometimes when i speak
about the low hanging fruit
i just babble on

~~~~

 

Carpe Diem #328

Monday, October 21, 2013

Carpe Diem's Make the Haiku complete #2

The challenge this time is to complete a haiku left unfinished by Basho in 1690.   The intense difficulty stems from the fact the the first two lines have no obvious connection - in fact it's hard to even relate them to each other in a coherent way.

The first line is so evocative of loss, or at least unfulfillment.  Is the wife on a trip, has she left the implied speaker, or died?  Has he never had a wife and wishes he did?  So many possibilities, and none of them happy.   I have a feeling there is something symbolic about the bamboo grass of line two that is outside of my knowledge base.  And grass diving - what does that even mean?

So - a tough challenge; but I'm taking it seriously.

Basho's unfinished haiku:

tsuma kou te nezasa kazuku ya ..............

missing a wife
the bamboo grass dives under
.............................



My attempt at completion:

missing a wife
the bamboo grass dives under
her departing steps




Carpe Diem's Make the Haiku complete #2

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Carpe Diem Special #63, Garry Gay's "New Snow"

 Inspirational haiku:

new snow--
the path you made last night
has gone with you
(c) Garry Gay

~~::~~

I read in this a sense of loss,
a bit of melancholy and longing:
hence, my inspiration.

adulterer's path
cold fresh snow and dark shadows
conceal his footprints

Carpe Diem Special #63

Friday, October 18, 2013

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #19, Garry Gay's "Halloween Night"



Halloween night --
the fisherman
dressed as a scarecrow  
                        
(Garry Gay)

under the halloween moon
the fish scatter like scared crows           (JzB)


Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #19

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Carpe Diem #325, Release (provided by Maggie Grace)

~ 1 ~

let republicans go
on the next election day
for the harm they've done


~ 2 ~

can i forgive them
they know what they are doing
and it is evil


~ 3 ~

goose flies away south
moose stands by the lake watching
as her gray image fades

~~()~~

Carpe Diem #325

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Carpe Diem #317, Ivory (provided by Bjorn Rudberg)

 Seven of our Eleven Grandchildren


 IVORY

in our family
we are melanin challenged -
ivory skin tone

Carpe Diem #317



Carpe Diem Special #61, Garry Gay's "Sweat Lodge"

Inspirational Haiku:

sweat lodge -
my only vision
is of the cool water

What you get from me:

in the sauna -
steeling up my nerves
to roll in the snow

Not something I've ever done, not am I likely to.  But that's where the thought took me.

Carpe Diem Special #61, Garry Gay's "Sweat Lodge"

Carpe Diem "Make the haiku complete" #1

The goal is to add the 3rd line to the first two extracted form an existing haiku.

Today's starter was written by Kristjaan a couple of years ago.


cicadas singing
in the last rays of light -
 ..................................

Completed 

cicadas singing
in the last rays of light -
sad shadow song 

Carpe Diem "Make the haiku complete" #1