November Project update: Days 1-5

[calissa]

We're almost a week into November already and I haven't yet checked in regarding my November project. To be honest, I haven't been quite sure whether I should because I find that I start thinking things have to be up to a certain standard in order to share them here. However, there have been some things that I have wanted to share. I'm also losing track of what I've done and when, so this might help keep things straight for me.

To recap: since I am unable to participate in NaNoWriMo, I decided to create my own challenge. I will engage in some form of creativity every day--at least enough to fill one A6 page. So far, this has tended to be photography because taking photos is relatively quick and I'm still enthralled with the new iPhone lenses my sister gave me for my birthday.

Apologies to those that follow me on Instagram and Facebook since you'll likely have seen most of these before.

My best photo on Day 1 can be seen in my Beltane entry. However, I also managed to use my new fisheye lens for the very first time to capture a 22 degree halo around the sun. Usually the phenomenon is so big that you can't fit all of it in frame.



I'd also spent some time on Day 1 responding to jjhunter's 2013 Trick or Treat haiku fest. I wrote some more for Day 2. Below are my responses.

Prompt: Ghost
A pale plume rises
from a mug that's warm and full
--a ghost of tea past.


Prompt: Pumpkin
To carve a pumpkin!
How I long for this! Tried once--
almost broke my wrist.

Suspect northern friends
Use different pumpkins.


Prompt:Happiness
Happiness I'd give
Like candy: unstinting to
Whoever knocks here

--save a pack or two
For me to snack on.


Prompt: Worm (Attempt #1)
The stench of decay
Fat worms eat death and leave me
Compost for my plants.


Prompt: Worm (Attempt #2)
Early bird, singing,
Gets pre-dawn worm and a curse
From partied-out witch.


Prompt:Notebook
Pretty, blank notebook,
Once neglected and sterile,
Now filling with haiku.

I was rather pleased with how my photo for Day 3 turned out.



Day 4 was a little less inspired. I'd been keen to try out my macro lens on the bean sprouts Sahaquiel's father had brought over on the weekend. I just couldn't get a good shot, though. Below is the best of the batch. It reminds me of a somewhat serpentine dragon :D



As an aside, beans are so amazing! They grow so quickly, unfurling even in the few hours I was out for lunch on Day 4. They're now several inches tall and will have to be planted in the veggie garden in short order.

Day 5 involved an aborted attempt at poetry. I used to write a lot when I was a teenager and while I was at uni. I even had a few small bits and pieces published. Over the years, my output slowed to a trickle and I had never been a big reader of poetry, though I mostly enjoyed what I stumbled across.

In 2010 a friend of mine passed away suddenly. At his funeral his wife read the Owl and the Pussycat and talked about how he would read poetry to her every night. When I got home Sahaquiel was ordering books online and asked if I wanted anything. I put in a request for Mary Oliver's New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1. Since then, a book of poetry has lived on my bedside table (I limit myself to one poem a night, so that they can be properly savoured).

Joining poetree helped along the desire to begin writing poetry again but I have been struggling with it and feeling like I am learning from the beginning all over again.

So as my unofficial contribution for today, you get this:



Imperial Spice tea with the first fruit mince pie of the season. Sahaquiel is enormously fond of fruit mince pies and can never resist buying a pack when he sees they've come out. It probably helps that the ones from the local bakery are super tasty.

That brings us to today. My official contribution is a poem I plan on posting in another entry. However, since I've been sharing some glimpses of my daily life, I thought I'd post this photo.



It's a glass teapot that can be warmed up by a tealight candle underneath. I'd managed to smash the original teapot a few months back. Today, I finally managed to get a replacement, thanks to some gift vouchers I had acquired for my birthday. This is especially awesome for cooking my own ginger infusions.

Comments

[onewhitecrow]

If you've had beans in before and turned the soil over it should be pretty fertile. Mind the giants.

Hmmmm...oh, pretend vanilla might as well be sugar, say I. Cloves will do that, it is true.

Tell me about it if you do?
(alas, I have no tea icon, only tiny tomatoes...this must be remedied, I think.)

[calissa]

We dig through some compost at least once a year, so it should be fine. I'm counting on my dogs to give me warning of the giants :)

pretend vanilla might as well be sugar Agreed.

I most certainly will! In fact, I'm going to write myself a reminder now to pick up that sample pack...