Category: Creativity

Weathermania

It’s an A for anabatic and a B for beaver’s tail,
With a C for coriolis and a D for downdraft hail.
El Nino Southern Oscillation, fogbow’s visibility.
Gustinado, glaciation, a hodograph, helicity.

Please excuse my insolation, intertropical I’d say.
Jet streaks all around; and graphed the kilopascal way.
Lenticular, the lapse-rate, mamma clouds and mesonets,
Northern lights and NGMs will end in orographic sweats.

Beware the popcorn (sic) convection; pressure sometimes causes that.
Psychrometric intervention; rossby waves both shear and flat.
Theta-e, a turkey tower, an ultraviolet extreme;
UTC and UVV, with a gentle warm advective stream.

Old X is out of favour here but yougs and yellow winds prevail.
Zones and zulu time, the solar zodiac brings up the tail.
You’ll wonder what on god’s own earth (!) this catalogue of terms can be?
I don’t count sheep. I list like this the words of meteorology.

Shipping Out

I’m off on vacation for the next few weeks, starting Monday, heading for sunny Tortola and a little winter warmth, no cell phone, no internet, no worries, should be back about March 6.

In the meantime here is a wee pome for the weather comp.

 Shipping Forecast

It’s a comfort to know, when the barometer’s low
That Malin’s expecting a gale
It’s a long way from me, and somewhere at sea
Where the wind is beginning to wail

And in the same blow is expected some snow
For Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle
It’s all one to me, I’m Lundy you see
So I listen to this with a smile

The isles of Faeroe, are in an ice floe
Iceland, Viking and Forties – a fright
Cromarty’s sleet, Forth, Tyne, Dogger are beat
By Fisher’s storm in from the bight.

The Humber/Thames rain will cause Dover pain
And Wight will get little sun
Portland, Plymouth they say will be worse than Biscay
And Trafalgar and Fitzroy are done

The Sole chance for me, is the Irish Sea
Which, with Fastnet, may turn it astray
I’ll stay in the house, be quiet as a mouse
And hope that it all goes away.

Weather vain?

You were noon sunshine, no, a heatwave’s blast
That stormed a myriad moons ago
And flooded all my thoughts with monsoon rains
Conspiring youth’s mild innocence to fade

What cyclone’s surge could dim that radiant glance?
What calmed the crashing jet streams of those hours?
Did gathering clouds obscure those flashing eyes
Or grey monotony depress those lighted waves?

(pic courtesy John Constable 1821)

Poetry Competition February/March 2013

I am cold, no matter how I warm
Or clothe me;
O Winter, greater bards have sung
I loathe thee!

Final stanza from “To Winter” by Eugene O’Neill

The theme for your literary gems this time is Weather: any poetic form is acceptable. May I please have your entries by midnight on the 11th March 2013.

Just add your entries to this thread or link your own posts.

Results…..

Sorry to be  a little late, but I was called away to lend a hand with a new baby and only returned, rather shattered yesterday : tired but happy.

There were very few entrants to both competitions: in fact only one in the short story section. But what a story, Mr Royal! I’ll never be able to see a giraffe again without thinking of you.
SO, although you had no competitors, you are the worthy winner of the short story competition, and I look forward to a theme set by you for the next round.

There were a few more entrants for the photography side of things – I had expected photographs of little hands clasping larger hands, hands undertaking tasks, such as cooking, knitting, painting…. but no, you had other ideas…

OZ had this contribution: viar amoozing take on the ‘hands’ theme, and viar topical on the equine theme!

Ara posted this a beautifully side lit picture of Alice, Duchess of Suffolk who resides in her resting state in the church where PapaG was Christened, no less!

Christopher posted this, though sadly the hands were not very clear in the size of image.

Last, but not least, JM posted here with a vair amoozing piece, full of puns and several pictures – (the bananas nearly won, hands down, but for the misplaced figure in the background which to my eye spoiled the composition)

But in the end the prize does go to JM for the most unusual take on the theme: the graffiti handwriting of Clarice Cliffe (nee Shorter).

So I  hand the baton to you, John: your turn to set the next photography competition.

??????????

Oxfordshire sunset, tonight

February 15th Poetry Competition – A Winner

All Rise!  Well that’s what they shout here when the judge arrives in the chamber.

All you who entered should be rightfully proud of yourselves.

We had THREE quick entries from Janus, first a muse on the word including some lions, then a brief visit from Jane A. without prejudice and finally a modern bit about football. All as  different as chalk and cheese and all well up to his usual high standard.  Then Soutie arrived with his pride  handing out some summary justice in poetry.  Araminta stepped back to Jane’s era also with her tale of the debutante tripping the light fantastic before the inevitable fall.  Finally and with minutes to spare John Mackie offers us a personal take on the little enjoyed but undoubted advantages of  Scottish Presbyterianism.

I liked them all but I best liked Ara’s take on the coming out (or coming down) of her deb, a finely crafted piece that had just the right flavor of pride before the fall.

So well done Araminta and over to you for the next.