Northern Lights

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Way up North where Santa lives

And magic is everywhere;

Where snow and ice

Have to suffice

And frigidity fills the air,

There's a little machine

That few have seen

It works on winter nights.

It rolls and churns

And spins and turns

And creates the Northern Lights!

And here is an illustration

That captures this wondrous thing.

Can't you see the swirls

And ripples and curls

Of the manufacturing?

From the heart of this wondrous motor

See the ribbons of light go forth!

Soon they will fly

Up to the sky

And entrance the folk up North.

Like magic they'll flow and flutter,

Like magic they'll swoop and spread,

And the rich dark night

Will be filled with light

Dancing up overhead!

Another piece of sky-whimsy here:

http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-have-just-recovered-from-my-second.html

Perspective!

One-Minute Writing suggested 

PERSPECTIVE

and I already had this written so I've snuck it in!

PERSPECTIVE!

See the mighty river flowing past the mountain peaks,

Flowing to the ocean which each mighty river seeks!

See the craggy mountains and the caverns way below!

From up here in the aircraft we can see the river's flow!

We're much too high to see the river traffic floating past!

Surely there I spy a swimmer! And, maybe there, a mast!

The river's flowing strongly till it meets the open sea

Where it will merge with other rivers, wild and rough and free!

*

Sorry to disappoint you! This is just a little stream!

Sometimes, with photography things aren't quite what they seem!

This is just the overflow from my local swimming pool,

Running back into the sea, salty, fresh and cool.

With one step I'd get across it! It's so shallow I could stride,

Barely up to my ankles, across to the other side!

Sometimes, even on our own., playing games is fun;

'Let's Pretend' for adults! Good for everyone!

A more useful piece of pretense here:
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/10/176-knack.html

Elbows to the Rescue!

This very apt illustration refers to Upper Sleeve; I have called it Elbow.

ELBOWS TO THE RESCUE!

With Swine Flu on the rise, here's a very vital hint:

Some of you may heed it if I get it out in print.

Cough into your ELBOW and not into your hand.

Cough into your SLEEVE! Remember hands are banned!

If you cough into your elbow the germs will simply lie there;

With no access to a body they will wither up and die there.

If you cough into your hand the germs will live for quite a time

And passing on the germs these days is almost like a crime.

You may transfer these germs to a handle or a book,

Into the food you're serving, into the food you cook!

Your germs may not be Swine Flu, they may just be something mild,

But who wants to take a risk with some susceptible small child?

Help stop the spread of Swine Flu in this very easy way

And then we all will live to tell the tale another day.

A cautionary tale here:

http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2009/02/lost-at-sea.html

Thankyou Dr!

Woke up feeling pale and wan,*

Then, courtesey of 'Dr John',

A flurry of new 'blends' arrived!**

I cheered up! And I've survived!

This network business spurs me on!

Thankyou, thankyou 'Dr John'.

* Not really, but it rhymed!

** BLog frENDS.

Find Dr John here:

http://fortresslinna.blogspot.com/

King Goblin.

A cobalt vase.

Modern cobalt miners in Africa.

MY TRUE COLOURS
http://poopsiestruecolours.blogspot.com/
chooses
 'COBALT' 

KING GOBLIN

It happened in old Germany centuries ago

When miners dug for silver in the earth.

Silver was a precious metal everyone desired

And it was treasured for its certain worth.

Now the miners had some problems as they worked there underground;

There was something there that seemed to cause a block,

And they named the problem 'kobold', meaning goblin, evil sprite,

And they said this 'kobold' lived within the rock.

The mines were way deep underground, where air was hard to find,

Men were working in unpleasant airless tombs,

And the 'kobold' causing trouble added greatly to their pain,

As it gave off evil gases, noxious fumes.

Then, in the eighteenth century a chemist called George Brandt

Said 'kobold' was a metal coloured blue,

And he christened it 'King Cobalt' for he found it coloured glass

With a deep and almost indigo-dark hue.

So now we see 'King Goblin' in delightful ornaments;

In vases, bottles, every kind of glass.

No doubt the King of Goblins has a chuckle to himself

To think such magic ever came to pass.


A tragic poem about colour here:
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2009/01/278-turquoise.html

Signalling

For ABC WEDNESDAY
http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/
Letter
'S'

SIGNALLING

What message are you sending, Indian Brave?

Is it about a world that we should save?

Do you see us squandering all our wealth?

Do you see us taking the world by stealth?

Do you mourn the death of native crops?

Are you thirsty when the river stops?

Do subdivisions decimate your land?

Are White Men all too slow to understand?

*

Your messages, unseen, hang on the air,

Smoke signals that should make us all aware.
*


Another North American monument here:
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/08/104-deception.html

Watery Wonder!

Lake Eyre from the air.

The birds arrive!

For
WATERY WEDNESDAY

You can't get a bigger water-event than this!

WATERY WONDER!

I'm sure I'll never go there; it's much too far away,

Isolated, desert-dry, remote.

And, surely, if I went there, which I know I never will,

I wouldn't think to take along a boat!

But this year Lake Eyre's flooding! It's been bone-dry for years!

Four times in a century it floods!

And suddenly the desert's come alive with living things

And the sand is sporting grass and sprouting buds.

And somehow, all the bird-life from a thousand miles away

Has heard of the phenomenon and flown

To enjoy the precious water and to breed along the banks

And to claim a part of Lake Eyre as is own.

It really is a miracle! It's here and then it's gone.

It's so wonderful and yet so very rare.

It gives hope to Australia at this time of great drought.

It's a symbol of deliverance.....Lake Eyre.

The Lake Eyre basin. 

Quote:

"As drought keeps a vice-like hold on areas of south eastern Australia, the rivers are running strong through the arid centre of the continent, transforming the region. Water is now steadily spreading across Lake Eyre, for the first time in decades. Where ever the water has flowed it has triggered enormous pasture growth and bird breeding events."




A mythological view of Australia's waters here:
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/10/159-rainbow-serpent.html