Celebrating the successes of an Old Year

I had a lovely e-mail today which read:

You are among the 25 authors whose prose or poetry has been selected for the 2014 Mariner Awards.  As our Annual Review says, "The 40 titles listed — out of 304 for the year — are the ones that the Review Board has rated most highly in 2014. They have earned Bewildering Stories’ most signal honor."

There are TWO of them :)
Bewildering Stories has passed it's 600th Issue and I so proud to be part of that!

Christmas was properly but if anything, modestly celebrated here at Chateau Joslin with pork, apple, roast vegetables, sprouts (of course), individual Xmas puds, Alnwick rum butter and cream. Didn't have room for coffee but I had been basically pigging out for the past three weeks so no kudos there.
The presents were lovely and we spoke with family and friends. Special thanks to Kath and Jim way over there in Minneapolis for your call 
and emails from afar too, Jody Costa, Amy Corbin and Jane Vandenburg.

Apparently there is SNOW in some parts. It was frosty for the past few nights but no snow here and the frost is all gone too. Sometimes the NE is milder than the SW. This IS BRITAIN!!! Here in the garden there are still roses and a couple of other hangers on, despite a recent frost.

I have a poem today in PPandP -- a true story of lost love Ahhhh! In fact that is my third 'garden' based poem there -- coincidentally. So here you go: 

Pretty poems all in a row.
AGNESENGA

Liaison at Dusk  

Doomed Love 
 




As you make your New Year Resolutions, remember the first one should be to be KINDER and more POSITIVE. 

'cos what's the point of being skinny if you're beastly and MEAN?

Food for Thought for Friday -- Happy Yule

The Wassail cup -- a libation for apple trees

filling the house with scents of

gold, frankinsence, 

bay, holly, ivy, mistletoe, oak; 

the Yule Log that burns brightly for 12 days

 or the chocolate log that lasts 12 minutes :)

However you celebrate the Winter Solstice

this weekend sees the turn of the season 

and the last Sunday of Advent all at once.

so CELEBRATE 

Nothing to do with polar bears -- I just like him!

Thought for Friday -- Five Armies and lot more

A lot more of the same that is... I wasn't expecting a great deal from the last of the Hobbit films; just over-egging. I got what I expected and a couple of laughs but the best scenes were not the big action stuff and this is where all of these films fell down. All I ever wanted was that STORY and instead in my opinion Jackson lost the plot in prolonged battle scenes, cold elf eyes and protracted plots. And this one disappointed me in another way too -- there was no tune I could 'hum as I left the cinema' as Tom Lehrer put it in Oedipus Rex. So that as they say is that and I for one am quite glad it's over. If I saw one more Legi moment or another cave troll or 'mercenary goblin' whatever that is... I would get serious latex costume cramp.

By all means go and see it but don't say I didn't tell you so -- and there are two lines worth the laugh :) and a couple of nicely acted scenes amongst the CG HooHaa.

Baah! Humbug!

 

Thought for Friday -- It's beginning to look a lot like

Yes it has happened. Our first frosts have arrived. I looked out at 5 in the morning on Wednesday, and the world was picture postcard white. It's turned mild again now. The good old Gulf Stream and Jet Stream are keeping us cosy this year so far. 

And my plans for this weekend -- put up our tree :) I fancy some twinkliness.
Here are some memories frozen into my mind from childhood..

Frost
The swish and whoop
of boys sliding sideways
across the schoolyard.

The sharp edge of the glassy dam
where swans preen yellowish plumage
less than pristine.

On the playing field grass bristles white.
Swings dangle chains too cold to touch
even with mittened hands.
The roundabout’s in stasis.

The snap of leaves,
and crackle of fire as the Parky
burns the pyre of summer.

Broth, bed socks and lemonade
bottles filled with hot water
blankets and eider
weight the eyelids down

patterns form
inside the window panes.
A million questions greet each day.

Why don’t birds freeze to the trees?
Old fashioned glitter cards, silver tinsel,
a snowman skiing on a fruitcake.
Frost.

© 2014 Oonah V Joslin