Little Red-Coat

RUBY TUESDAY

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/2009/06/ruby-tuesday.html

LITTLE RED-COAT.

Ruby Tuesday! Never tried it!

But this shot! How could I hide it?

This is my grandson's dog, Banjo,

Who'll catch any ball you choose to throw.

He comes to our house for a stay

Whenever his master goes away.

Malcolm and he are the greatest mates.

By the gate he always waits;

By-passes me, without a glance

(Unless I have the ball by chance.)

The little chap is quite beguiling,*

Particularly when he's smiling!

* Banjo, not Malcolm!

Banjo Baby here:

http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2009/01/extra-extra_6994.html

Feeding Time

EVERY PHOTO TELLS A STORY

http://everyphototellsastory.blogspot.com/2009/06/image-prompt-feeding-time.html

Thank you for reviving a sweet memory.

Greg will celebrate his fortieth birthday quite soon, so today's prompt was timely for me. In South Africa, where we were living then, July was mid-winter. What a lovely memory to recall! Rebecca, our daughter, was a summer baby and particularly good, hardly ever waking at night, so this is a 'Greg' memory.

The photograph is from the net but very evocative. There's even an arm-chair!

FEEDING TIME.

Greg was a Winter Baby, not good for night-time feeding,

So I made-up the spare bedroom with all that we were needing.

In went a comfy armchair, and a small change-table too,

In went a one-bar electric fire to stop us turning blue!

He was a bottle-fed baby. (He's forty now! He survived!

In fact, in spite of worries, he positively thrived!)

Our only light was the firelight; it gave a peaceful glow;

In fact, I remember perfection in that bedroom, long ago.

I'd sit and give him his bottle all in the friendly night

And rarely has the darkness seemed so gloriously bright.

Then I'd croon 'Bye Bye Baby' that Marilyn Munroe number,

And gradually he'd relax and comfortably slumber.

And so would I!

Yes, it's a fact, I'd sleep until the morning!

Until another feed came round, with its usual raucous warning!

The actual snug baby.

Forgetting as well as remembering here:

http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/12/248slipping-through-fingers.html

Hunter Heaven

HUNTER HEAVEN!

The gently-rolling countryside we find in New South Wales

Always captivates me! I would say it never fails.

And that's because, before we came, I visualised this land

As being beach and desert, and predominantly sand.

I'd heard about the Outback, and I'd heard of Manly Beach,

I'd thought there might be 'pretty bits' but not within my reach.

So, when we drive out of the city and we find, almost at once,

The most delightful places, I know I was a dunce.

The vineyards, farms and villages, under a brilliant sky,

Make me love the Hunter Valley and it's easy to see why.
*

Motion and Emotion

I was a Children's Hostess with the Union Castle Line in the early 1960s. This is one of my loveliest memories from those long-ago days.

MOTION AND EMOTION.

Two unrelated pictures, and yet they're linked for me,

And, whichever one I look at, I smell the salty sea.

I worked on the 'Transvaal Castle' a cruise ship carrying mail,

And we sailed through the Bay of Biscay in many a raging gale.

I felt no discomfort and I never felt afraid,

But I have some lovely memories I know will never fade.

I was in charge of the Playroom, which, of course, was closed at night,

For all the little passengers were in bunks and sleeping tight.

The wonderful 'new technology' was the Juke Box in those days,

And round black vinyl records were the very latest craze.

I'd go up the playroom on very unsteady feet,

For walking on a rolling ship is really quite a feat.

I'd then unlock the playroom door, but leave the lights unlit,

For various other shipboard lights brightened it a bit.
Our ship weighed 32 thousand tons and she was a steady craft,
But the Juke Box was at 'the pointy end' in other words, right aft.
The ship went up, the ship went down, and then she dipped and rolled
And high heels on a shiny floor could scarcely be controlled!

But I'd make my way to the Juke Box and switch the vital switch
And then it wouldn't matter how much the ship might pitch!
For Cliff Richard would envelope me, with his silky, ardent voice,
A voice full of youth and passion, nearly everyone's first choice.
First the ship pointed to the sky, where the clouds were wildly strewn,
And it hung there for a moment, as though about to swoon.
And then it came swooping downwards till all there was was sea!
There was nothing but the elements, except for Cliff and me!
And the shattered sea came churning up and the spume flew through the air,
But I was in the arms of love so I didn't really care!
Oh Cliff! We're both much older now, and the Mail Ship sails no more,
But the motion and emotion are with me evermore.



Another one of my heart-throbs here:
http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/09/144-for-paul-927.html

Denouement!

ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION

http://onesingleimpression.blogspot.com/2009/05/prompt-66-denouement.html

suggested this topic.

I'm not a fan of the stories of Agatha Christie mysteries, but I do admire her puzzle-making skills and her neat mind. The denouement is always a slick feature.

DENOUEMENT!

Denouement! What a lovely word!

One of the loveliest I've heard!

Reminding me of Agatha Christie,

She of the plots so turny-twisty.

She always ties up her loose ends

With a gathering of foes and friends,

Standing around in some vast hall

With beans. (And ready to spill them all!)

Cook and gardener, a high-born lady,

Secretary (a trifle shady), 

Ancient crone, with quite a history,

'Mr X' (now he's a mystery!)

Mr Plod (a neat disguise),

A judge, retired, looking very wise,

A criminal type, all smoothy-smarty,

(Be sure he wont be the guilty party!)

Two sweet young things for decoration

And one very sinister relation!

They stand in groups, neatly separated,

All with their breath very clearly bated,

All of them looking rather queasy,

With the innocent clearly the most uneasy.

Now, in real life, this neat display

All ready to give the game away,

Would be really hell to organise,

Quite impossible, I surmise.

'Where's Julia?' .'She's in the loo.'

'Shouldn't Rupert be in here, too?'

'I've a call to make; please wait a tick."

'This is an awkward time to pick!'

'Lord Pentarthur left at dawn!'

'Oh! (this one's posh) 'He's already gawn!'

'Make it snappy! I've got to go!'

'God! You policemen are so slow!'

Where's Lorraine? Oh dear! She's departed!'

'Get on with it! It's time we started!'

Agatha, in the books we read,

Never paid even the slightest heed

To the awful logisitics of real life!

Who cares if the Doctor killed the wife!

So long as denouements work a treat

And the criminal type admits defeat,

We can close the book or end the play

Wishing real-life worked-out her way!

A real-life mystery here:

http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2009/01/291-great-expectations.html

BRYANTICS' SUNDAY DIARY.

BRYANTICS' SUNDAY DIARY

We've all heard about the world ending with a whimper and not a bang! Well, in my case it's a start that's ending that way. I've decided to jot down a few notes about my life, as so many other people do, and today absolutely nothing happened! So I feel quite silly! However, things can only improve so I'll start as I mean to go on. I intend to write this Diary every Sunday.

Winter starts tomorrow and, true to form, the weather was showery and chilly. I walked down to the sea for some exercise during the afternoon, but the beach was deserted and it wasn't very pleasant, so I came home again! How's that for a thrill? Other than that I cleaned the house, blogged and cooked pork chops for tea!!

But there was one little flurry of excitement in the evening.  We were in the middle of watching a nostalgic program about 'Mary Whitehouse', remembered, I'm sure, by all Poms, when the phone rang.The phone-call was to say that a musician friend is interested in using some of my narrative poems to create a disk for schools. The main aim will be to introduce children to the idea of background music. So I hope it comes to something.

Thank you so much to everybody who commented on my first Blogging Anniversary. Now I can't wait to get started on the second year!

Brenda Bryant

The Spice Girls

MANIC MONDAY

http://www.manicmeme.com/2009/05/thatsa-spicey-theme-word.html

suggests a 'SPICE' theme

The Spice Girls may have been nothing more than a British phenomenon ( exported to Oz as all British things are), so I apologise to other readers to whom this is incomprehensible.

THE SPICE GIRLS

They were naughty, they were nice;

They were sugar, they were spice.

Ten years ago they knew such fame!

Everybody knew the name.

The Spice Girls! Icons of their time!

Silly, maybe, or sublime.

Teenage girls made future plans

To sing such songs and thrill such fans.

Now, it seems, there's only Posh

Who causes viewers to cry 'Gosh!'

And, in her case, it is her spouse

Who's really bringing down the house!

Time marches on for all it seems;

Ambitions end as faded dreams.

The teenage fans are now, I think,

Standing at the kitchen sink,

Humming tunes inconsequential

That once seemed heady and essential.

It all ended in a trice

Those long-lost days that were marked by

Spice!

It was ever thus here:

http://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/2008/07/52-legs-labours-lost.html