Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.
August 2013
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A little campfire

I had a work trip to Melbourne this week, which allowed me a little time to do some catching up with friends (although not all of them, unfortunately). On Saturday I managed a quick trip out to Castlemaine to check up on my furthest afield geocache (hidden near here), which required negotiating the hire car along […]

Marking or mountain?

I woke up this morning, very aware of the pile of marking awaiting my tender ministrations (a.k.a. the rampant red pen*). I knew it was going to be a marking day because the weather forecast wasn’t promising. However, when I looked up at the mountain and saw that there was still a smattering of snow on […]

Grooks (gruks)

I have discovered that some of the poems I have been writing verge on kind of approximately being “grooks”, or, as they were originally coined in Danish, “gruks”. A grook is a short aphoristic poem, a form made famous—and named as “gruk”—by Danish polymath Piet Hein (an aphorism is a pithy saying that whimsically captures a […]

Moods of the Mountain #11

It was quite cool when I woke up this morning, and I wasn’t surprised to see a new dumping of snow on the mountain when I looked outside. Blue skies and the angle of the morning sun make this one a little brighter than last Saturday’s photo.

The full “Moods of the Mountain” collection can be […]

Epilogue – Reflections on the 100 poems challenge

It’s now nearly four months since I embarked on the 100 poems challenge, and four days since posting the last poem. It’s probably a little early to have a full sense of perspective on the collection (not that I expect that this is a matter of any great consequence) but I do have a gut feeling […]

12 of 12, August 2013

When I woke up this morning—and having remembered that it was the 12th—the gloomy and damp weather forecast had me thinking that I might attempt a series of “wet grey moods” photos for this month’s 12 of 12.

I’m sure you can guess what happened: the sun came out and put paid to that plan!

The improved weather […]

The Alto’s Lament – for every A who has ever sung SATB

Many many years ago (24 in fact) I wrote a song—words and music—that lamented the long-suffering experiences of any alto who has ever sung in an SATB choir, where we often end up with the most monotonous lines (Handel, to give him credit, treats altos with a little more respect). I have performed The Alto’s Lament […]

Moods of the Mountain #10

It had been clear and cold last night, but I woke this morning to rain and evidence of extra overnight snow on the mountain. In this shot, the grey of the sky and the grey of the mountain are almost indistinguishable, and the early morning sun has lit the lower hills where clouds above and behind […]

100. Relaxation [100 poems challenge]

 

100.          Relaxation

Took
A deep
Breath to start,
With no idea
How much of a year
Would pass, and show my heart
And quiet thoughts; how much sleep
Might be lost to gobbledigook.
One hundred poems, all on show,
Filled with rhymes and awkward wit;
Don’t know what I will do
Tomorrow. I’m free
Since finally
It’s time to
Let it
Go.

3 August 2013

 

Comments: This one’s too clever for its […]

99. Solitude [100 poems challenge]

 

99.          Solitude

Some days
The sky above
And ground beneath
Are company enough.

29 July 2013

 

Comments: … although I must say that I do like a vista-filled horizon thrown in for good measure as well, of course … except that the corresponding words wouldn’t have fitted into the poem particularly comfortably! I enjoy the company of friends and believe […]