Porthole

July 4 - July 10

A weekly blog that starts skinny on Saturday and fattens up by Tuesday and is ready for slaughter by Friday ... if not before.

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  ███████          PORTHOLE           ███████

SUMMER: JULY 2020
“O FRIEND! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly.Ye are all leaves of one tree and the fruits of one branch.”
- Bahá'u'lláh

MY THOUGHTS

July 04: Prediction... cases soar to 100k/day by early August. 10 million by January.
July 05: The pony-tail posse is not wearing masks. Heaven help us all in this building.
July 06: Just another boring day ahead. Aren't they all?
July 07: Panic as I thought that my chromebook wouldn't charge. It did. I'm relieved.
July 08: It's sad to see riots in Belgrade, and Prishtina closed down. Montana's future?
July 08: I'm up against some awesome poets. I've been upping my game, still not quite enough.
July 09: Covid numbers are soaring in Montana and that's hard for me to ignore. Work to do.
July 10: I'm trying to limit social media to keep the drama and insanity at bay.

WEATHER

July 04: 26° and muggy; -66° and snow flurries at the South Pole.
July 05: 25° and dry with a gentle NW breeze; 14° and damp in Perth. Won't warm up much; windy later.
July 06: 20° clear sunny; 25° and humid in Nara, Japan. Low for the day. Rainy week.
July 07: 18° and gloomy; 32° and steamy in Orange Walk, Belice.
July 08: 18° warming, clouds; 31° and sunshine in Crete, Nebraska.
July 09: 20-29° clear warming; 21° rain later in Mexico City.
July 10: 16° at 1 a.m and cooling, may rain by morning; 24° and sticky in Santo Domingo, DR. Temps 34/23 this week.

IMAGES

July 04: Fireworks near where I live. Unexpected. Rose buds. Spicy lentils.
July 05: Fragrance of drying rosebuds. Cold tuna-cheese-macaroni.
July 06: Pink, white, red hollyhocks, dappled shade.
July 07: ... gloomy. Calming oolong tea.
July 08: rose, lavender, sage, linden, mock-orange. Smelly!
July 09: Starlight, lamplight, moths, river rumble, cooling breeze.
July 10: After 9 and not a cloud in the sky, orange horizon and alpenglow on beige mountains as they go to seed.

CONTESTS

It's increasingly obvious that I will NOT do all of these in any given month. Priorities are given to sporadic contest. Blink and I may have to wait 3 months!

FICTION:
"No Dialogue Contest-CLOSED"  SS <700. No dialogue. HEAT by 7/31. B/E
"Invalid Item"  FF < 300 Flash Fiction Romance/Erotica by 7/14(Freedom) B/E
"The Dialogue 500"  SS <500. July: A Dialogue with your Doctor at the Sanitarium.{bitem:}
"The Science Fiction Short Story Contest"  SS <2000. July: {bitem:}
"WEIRD TALES CONTEST "  SS <1000, July: invaders from outside. {bitem:}

POETRY:
"Poetic Traditions Poetry Contest "  <50. Old or new not awarded. Limited to 20. "First drum set" 
"Write from the Heart Poetry Contest"  Romance.
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Round 85 15th to July 14th. Old or new. Free verse <40 lines.
"Shadows and Light Poetry Contest"  Round 86 15th to July 31st. Old or new. Free verse <40 lines.
"The Humorous Poetry Contest"  <15 Humor. Round 33?. B/E
1 "Invalid Item"  Round 74: mondo. "White rosebuds [123]" 
2 "Invalid Item"  Round 75:
"Invalid Item"  New or old <50 lines

Whenever: "The Random Poetry Contest" 
August: "Invalid Item"  <60. It's a dark month...
September: "Verdant Poetry Contest"  Nature. Autumn. Form and words by Sept. 30.

BOTH:
"The Writer's Cramp"  Daily noon-noon WDC = 10 a.m. MTT. Must be item.
"The Taboo Words Contest ~ On Hiatus"  Monthly. <750 <40 July: FIREWORKS In progress: "Comforting Sophie (taboo) [113]" 
"Kittiara's Writing Contest"  1 ss, 1 poem. Theme: renewal
"Second Time Around ~ Birthday Special"  Old non-winners! Got lots of those (poem/ss) June 15th-14th

EITHER/OR:
"Butter My Buns Contest"  Erotica! 500 words or 15 lines. July: DEVOTION
"Inner Strength Contest "  July theme: RESOLVE <500 or poem 15 line max.
"The PET NEWS CONTEST"  SS <2500, P <40. July: A REAL WILD PET

NEITHER:
"The 4 Controversies Contest"  Opinionated non-fiction essay >1200. By July 17: COVID-19

VARIES:
"Share Your Faith"  until June 30. Story or poem. Prompt: dealing with anger. "Opening the garden ... of the heart [109] (36 lines)" 
"The Contest Challenge"  A contest of contests... every month.
"The Bard's Hall Contest"  SS <1000 GC+ Sizzle! July 31. {bitem:}

"Journey Through Genres: Official Contest" 

POULTRY

DAILY for JULY: "The Daily Poem"  by 4 p.m. WDC by: 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th
THREE DAYS A WEEK: "Invalid Item"  by midnight WDC by: 6th 8th 10th

"When we are ready [119] 8 lines" 

"July, 1935 [121]" 

"A forty-niner's 20/20 [122] (24 syllables)" 

"Gallo pinto [124] (6 long lines)" 

"Thunder [126] (19 lines)" 

"Belgrade burning [125] " 

"Waiting for the trash [129]" 

"Porto [128] July 10" 

"Unaswered [130] (10 lines)" 

Boiling:

"Consideration [131] " 

Not yet laid:

PORK

DAILY: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 

July 5th:

STATIC

Half a loaf of bread [120] (289 words)  (18+) < 300 words. Prompt: bread, window, tree. #2226128 by Kåre Enga in Montana

July 8th:

STATIC

Forever Twenty [127] (295 words)  (18+) What if you don't celebrate... Flash fiction < 300 words. Prompt: necklace, number, news. #2226364 by Kåre Enga in Montana

July 10th:

STATIC

Cursive [132] (293 words)  (18+) < 300 words (answer, stange, long) #2226467 by Kåre Enga in Montana

Baking:

READING


MOVIETIME

I can't focus on audio-visual! I need to finish one movie and find one that works for me. I have 200 to choose from. May need to go on-line and watch some East Asian love story serials.

MARKET SENIOR CENTER COFFEEHOUSE

July 4th: Market has expanded a bit. Bought 'baby' carrots. Glad to see Irina.
July 6th: Spoke with friends at the Senior Center. Sat with Phil. On the way back, bought two gallons of 2% milk for $7 (price went up).
July 8th: 90% masks at Orange Food Farm. In and out. Nice walk.
July 10th: Saw friends at Senior Center. Spoke to some. Told them how busy I was, how withdrawn. Grilled tomato cheese sandwich. Chicken rice soup.

MY FORMER LIFE

early July: cherry season in NY and MT.
July 4th growing up: visiting my uncle on his birthday.
July 7th, 1977: Greyface had 4 kittens, none lived. Quit job.
July 7th, 2003: leaving home
July 7th, 2008: moving to Missoula.
July 9th: Martyrdom of The Bab. Usually at noon in the sun. (July 8th this year)
July 9th, 2003: With friends in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Reading Harry Potter.

WATT'S GNUS

Starbucks employee receives more than $16K in tips after refusing to serve a customer who wasn't wearing a mask (The Hill) In San Diego. He plans to pursue dancing.
Kansas newspaper apologized for publishing a cartoon equating the governor's coronavirus mask order with the Holocaust (Business Insider) I've visited Anderson County. Considered moving there. Editor is the chairman of a county GOP party. Not good PR for the GOP.
Missoula County requires face masks at indoor public spaces (Missoulian) But little to no enforcement.

WATT'S GNUS INTERNATIONAL

Over 350 elephants have mysteriously died in Botswana (ABC) No words.
Ukraine battles post-lockdown virus surge (AFP) Lviv hard hit. Graph at worldometer confirms upsurge.
Looming expat law may force some 800,000 Indians to leave Kuwait (Al Jezeera) Kuwaitis are only 30% of the population.
Bolsonaro Gets Covid After Downplaying its Impact on Brazil (Bloomberg) Leaders all over the world are getting ill.
Kosovo imposes curfew as coronavirus infections surge (Medicalxpress) Numbers soaring.
Violence Erupts in Serbia Over Plan to Reimpose Virus Curfew (Bloomberg) As in my poem "Belgrade burning [125] " .

OPINIONS

"Botanist's conspiracy"  edited
"It was 'death by cop' and 'being black'. [re autopsy]"  edited
"Not proud at all"  not finished yet
"Church of America"  not finished yet

SPACEBOOK quotes (you can guess context):

I told Maji: "I gently disagree. I can give a hug, a place to stay, whatever it is that I have to offer. It's not quid-pro-quo. Whether it heals or helps or not that's not up to me. I'm just being the best 'me' I can be. As the cup overflows ... so it shall be filled again. (But yes... we also need to take care of ourselves.)"

BLOGVILLE

Reference to challenges, contest and prompts (not all appearing on the same week):
BC: "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  (daily) (I'm not a member)
BCOF: "Blogging Circle of Friends "  using my Nlog (nature blog) "Nurture your Nature"  and "Hoarfrosts from Hell"  (daily)
JAFBG: "JAFBG"  (open rants)
JI: "Journalistic Intentions"  using my Blog "Enga mellom fjella"  (8 blogs from 16 prompts) "June post. I'm finished. "  
30DBC: "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  (July)
MHA: "Invalid Item"  weekly prompts starting June 14th.
OP: "Invalid Item"  using my Plog "L'aura del Campo" 
PP: "Promptly Poetry Challenge (2023-2024)"  my Plog response to prompts as I missed the sign-up date.
Real: "Welcome To My Reality Forum"  75 prompts
SB: "Space Blog" 

July 04 SB: "Scibbles on a tattered page (stardate unknown)" 
July 04 30DBC: "bloodbank conversation " 
July 05 30DBC: "Inspiration constipation" 
July 05 SB: "Half a loaf of bread" 
July 06 30DBC: "The fragrance of the flower..." 
July 06 SB: "4157 21 Awake for a moment" 
July 07 30DBC: "Knyflok speaks of inspiration" 
July 07 SB & BCOF: "Stardate: 4157 22. The Eyes of Kat" 
July 08 30DBC: "Quentin has a birthday ... at least 3 times per year" 
July 08 SB: "4157 23 Threading the needle" 
July 09 SB: "4157 24 A Day of Distress " 
July 09 30DBC: "Me and João talking about Lagos, Portugal" 
July 10 30DBC: "João at midnight " 
July 10 SB: "4157 25 Dreams" 
July 10 BCOF: "Cursive " 

Visited this week so far and commented: Lostwordsmith 🌸 pwheeler - love joy peace jabberwocky Princess Megan Rose 22 Years WakeUpAndLive️~🚬🚭2024 PureSciFi Chris Breva SB Musing Sumojo innerlight QPdoll Apondia Alexi Kell Willsen SusanFarmer Sum1 Debi Wharton Bernie Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008 Charity Marie - <3 💙 Carly Cheddah Elle - on hiatus Prosperous Snow celebrating SandraLynn Team Florent! QueenNormaJeanGreeneggs&vegham Future Mrs. B SB Musing Joy Lyn's a Witchy Woman Robert Waltz tah2o bobturn Cappucine Kit_Carmelite lizco252isback Eric Wharton Sorji Mighty Brian is a Streaker Try2StopMe IceSkatingSugarCube Charlie ~ skeason

Trying to keep up on blogs. Over 30 last week but 15-20 is a better goal.

Postcards:

#8 to Nanette in Illinois. 7/4 (postcard of Taiwan)
#9 to Teresa in Bozeman. 7/4 (postcard of Cartago, CR)
#10 to Gary in New York. 7/4 (beach in Kenting, Taiwan)

I moved to Missoula July 2008 and the mountain burned:

                                                                                                                                           

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