Category: nature

What I’ve been reviewing – The Waterfall by Margaret Drabble

 

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The WaterfallThe Waterfall by Margaret Drabble

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was actually slightly engaged by this Drabble, which is still by no means a recommendation. The antiheroine is so aggressively depressed and protective of that immersed gloom and negativity that I felt rather like applauding her. It’s a stance you have to tough out and justify with chin thrust out, in a world trying to drag you into a perpetual love-in. That said, still not a great book and a limp rag of an ending.

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image – https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixo7000/ licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

Poem: …star corsage

 

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a bouquet of roses,

of diamonds and baby’s breath

a few stars thrown in

to confuse over scale

and Satan peering from a black black hole

deep, deep, deep in the vase

a bouquet of roses

roses, foxes and diamonds

diamonds and baby’s breath

breath, and a few stars

the scale is confused

and Satan’s in there too

peeping out a black hole

gravity in the vase

down deep, deep

© Copyright Alex Ankarr 2017

Image – Vaughan’s Seed Company; Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection, no known copyright restrictions.

Today’s post in the ‘post a day’ project…

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Oh man, that’s a stroopwaffel, right?  Oh man.  Or alternatively, a flat cap.  The ones what they wear Oop North.  It’s a penguin in a Hovis ad!

To be fair, the penguin seems more interested in its little fishie.  More biscuits for me!

 

image – srslyguys https://www.flickr.com/photos/srslyguys/    licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Today’s post in the ‘post a day’ project…

8035846170_f17767c99a_z

Oh man, that’s a stroopwaffel, right?  Oh man.  Or alternatively, a flat cap.  The ones what they wear Oop North.  It’s a penguin in a Hovis ad!

To be fair, the penguin seems more interested in its little fishie.  More biscuits for me!

 

image – srslyguys https://www.flickr.com/photos/srslyguys/    licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Poem: …star corsage

 

19774605713_d4e2cbeb2c_b

a bouquet of roses,

of diamonds and baby’s breath

a few stars thrown in

to confuse over scale

and Satan peering from a black black hole

deep, deep, deep in the vase

a bouquet of roses

roses, foxes and diamonds

diamonds and baby’s breath

breath, and a few stars

the scale is confused

and Satan’s in there too

peeping out a black hole

gravity in the vase

down deep, deep

© Copyright Alex Ankarr 2017

Image – Vaughan’s Seed Company; Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection, no known copyright restrictions.

What I’ve been reading – Crazy Vanilla by Barbara Wersba

Crazy VanillaCrazy Vanilla by Barbara Wersba

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I expected a little more from this than I actually got – it felt as if at any moment a profound epiphany might appear, but that promise was never quite made good. Still, I did enjoy it. The best thing was reading about Tyler’s love of nature and animals, which felt deeply real. His opinions and reading about the anthropomorphization of animals in human culture was especially interesting – more so than his personal relationships, really. I found his issues with his older brother’s sexuality a bit tacked-on and not really credible. Still a worthwhile read though.

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What I’ve been reading – The Little Grey Men by B.B.

The Little Grey MenThe Little Grey Men by B.B.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very gentle, sedate fantasy adventure, with just a few moments of high excitement. I give it four stars for the quality of the writing, although I usually like fantasy novels with more of the fantasy equivalent of car chases, explosions and alien invasions. The characterization is good enough that one does suffer along with the gnomes, lots of angst hoping for their safe journey and eventual reunion. If you invest the effort into really getting into the book then I think it pays off, although it might take a bit of doing.

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