Tanka for Echo: March 20, 2001

four days old when we

met you and your eyes were closed:

it was puppy love

I found your puppy album

golden treasures from the past

joyful memories

your exuberance, Echo,

echoes in my heart

Not Peachy

a peach could learn from

a nectarine: hair on fruit

ruins my enjoyment

#Daily Haiku Prompt

#fruit  #hare

Full Moon

full moon hides behind

clouds and I wait for words

but words retreat too

Daily Haiku Prompts: Full, Moon

Orchid

 

purple orchid plant

I forgot to water  you--

sorry, my old friend

Daily Haiku Prompt: orchid

Ending A Blog Break

My life has been busy in many ways so I took a prolonged blog break. 

Some were traumatic and life-changing. (Don't want to go into details.) Some meant spending time doing things I'd rather not do, but needed to do. Taxes are included in this group, and I'm still working on it. Ugh.

Enough of that... 

"I'm baaaaack," as Arnie would say. 

Got a writing prompt from Debbie D., "Dance."

Three delightful memories come to mind.

My mother and father never went to the Palais Royale in the forties to dance to Duke Ellington's music, despite my mother's desire to do so. This was probably because my father was a very basic dancer and couldn't keep up with my mother's jitterbugging. 

(edited to add this old LJ link)      https://boreal-owl.livejournal.com/127526.html

When we attended our friends' son's wedding reception I finally saw the stunning art deco locale overlooking Lake Ontario. I felt as if I were at one of Gatsby's parties. (M and I did not dance, maybe keeping up the family tradition, and for similar reasons.)

https://www.palaisroyale.ca/

Despite his reluctance to dance, M did take disco dancing lessons with me in March 1978. During one of these lessons, it snowed unexpectedly. Unfortunately I was wearing sandals. To get back to the car, we had to climb over the snow piled on the roadside. 

Much to my surprise and delight, M lifted me over the snow bank! I called him Sir Walter Raleigh. Romantic gestures and humour: an irresistible combination. 

And the best example of dancing in our family is this.

https://owlsquill.blogspot.com/2012/05/echos-leash-dance-video.html

Chet and Bernie Mystery Series by Spencer Quinn

 Lately I've needed light, entertaining reading. There's a time for serious reading, but it's not for me these days. I need stress relief. I need humour. My friend and critique partner suggested these books.

Chet and Bernie are partners in the Little Detective Agency.

Chet, a big black dog who flunked out of K9 school, is the unreliable narrator. Because he misunderstands human speech, taking cliches and metaphors literally, a lot of what he thinks is wrong and funny. He thinks and acts like a dog: getting easily distracted by scents, food, and other animals. In this way he often misses the train of thought of conversation. This is one way the author hides red herrings or important mystery clues: inserting them in a chain of amusing doggie thoughts.

Bernie Little is the private investigator who works with him. His quirks include: fearlessness with everyone except attractive women, fear of public speaking, and an inability to understand some of Chet's hints about things to check out.

Often Chet discovers an important clue but can't communicate this precisely to Bernie. Chet finds things that Bernie can't through his superb canine tracking skills, sense of smell, and hearing.

Some of the titles are: Dog On It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, To Fetch A Thief, A Fistful of Collars, Paw and Order. Oh yeah, the titles are fun, too! (I entered a contest to suggest the next title.)

If you're a writer looking for a great example of unique, strong voice and ways to add humour, you'll enjoy studying what Quinn does. 

Even if you just want some suspense flavoured with humour, I highly recommend the Chet and Bernie mystery series.

 

Winter: a tanka and a haiku

Winter Tanka

owls love winter:

long nights for hunting rodents

under pale moonlight

in the heart of darkness owls

begin their courtship dance

Winter Haiku

Echo liked winter 

pushed his nose into the snow

coldness brought delight