A Christmas Post: Christmas Story: Christmas Day in the Morning

A Christmas Post: Christmas Story: Christmas Day in the Morning: From Denny: As an American high school kid living in Taiwan I was introduced to the author Pearl S. Buck. She grew up as a Christian missionary kid in mainland China during the 1930's and was one of the very first Westerners to bridge the cultural gap between China and the West in understanding. Buck wrote a lot of stories, recommended by both the local Taiwanese and the Christian missionaries, and I read them all back then since there was no TV in English. I read a lot of books, even took to reading the Encyclopedias when I ran out of material! :)

While this author may be considered simplistic and out of fashion at the moment, she still deserves a read in my mind. Why? One of the subtle cultural nuances that crept into her writing was the Chinese sentence structure: extreme sheer simplicity. Sometimes, later generations who have not lived abroad fail to pick up those intense subtleties and so write off her writing, failing to realize they are missing an opportunity to get inside the head of Chinese culture by reading about the smallest things in Life written in a simple way.  Parents with teenagers will definitely appreciate this story.

Love Light Silver Oval Necklace

Let your love light shine!

* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - contributing to fund efforts to help homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  Thank you to all those who are supporting this cause.  You rock!

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Libations Friday! 24 July 2009

Featured today: A Louisiana coffee recipe in the form of a coffee shake for this hot summer and an original dream sequence poem.

From Denny: Around here the famous Louisiana coffee company is known as "CC's" - short for Community Coffee. You can use your favorite coffee for this shake too. I'm a big fan of CC's New Orleans Blend with Chickory (which tamps down the acid level). Try this super simple easy recipe for your lazy weekend, so refreshing after a long work week!

CC's Coffee Banana Shake

Ingredients:

1 cup brewed and chilled Community Coffee's Louisiana Blend Coffee

2 medium-ripe bananas, sliced

1 pint good quality ice cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 or 2 drops of almond flavoring

Directions:

Pour the coffee into a blender, then add the bananas, ice cream, sugar and almond flavoring. Cover and blend at high speed until thick and fluffy. Pour into chilled glasses. Serves 3 to 4 people.

On to the poetry section for this week...

From Denny: Those of you who read over at my quotes blog, Beautiful Illustrated Quotations, know I read some articles recently I found disturbing in their political vitriol. There is some seriously toxic stuff written without so much as a true fact to back up the rhetoric. It's pretty amazing how toxic and full of hate some people continue to choose to be, all in the name of identifying themselves as good Christians. Uh, do they read the same Bible I do? Last I checked, Jesus preached love and the digging out of our hearts all hatred for others.

Anyway, the recent event brought to mind a poem I wrote last year talking about toxic people. You know how it is; you get ready to go to sleep and go into a meditative state to process the day. Well, with that meditation I added a question prayer about how God views all this toxic squabbling on this planet. It wasn't long before I got an interesting answer. Of course, my spirit tends to be joyful and loves ironic humor and so, as God talks to us with our own private language, He framed the answer in my own personal code of humor. At first the dream was a bit disorienting and disconcerting as it felt like a smothering effect until I realized what was going on - and that I had the power to do something about what was happening.

When some other poet friends read this poem they thought it was a death and resurrection poem, something I never intended but hey! a cool extra double meaning works for me! What I intentionally wrote about - as this was written in the middle of the night upon getting this dream - was how life and toxic people throw dirt on us and its our job to dig our way out, knowing that we have helpers standing nearby, and, in the end, laugh at it all. Laughing off garbage seems to be a recurring theme for my writings.

I even created a little abstract drawing to go with the poem. The cheekbone area looks like a stairway. Dream sequences are such fun to draw! It's like "all bets are off" on the expected and you can insert the unexpected or unusual.



Flinging Dirt Drawing by Denny Lyon

Flinging Dirt

The muse guy smiled and beckoned
Directing my attention to a hill
Upon which I stood waiting

Suddenly huge mounds of dirt flew my way
Falling back surprised, fell down to the ground
The dirt filled the air, covering me quickly

Inside the dirt, perplexed, I blinked
The dirt was busy above, growing heavy
Groaned, stifled from the weight of it all

The dirt was not earthy and fresh or new
Smelling bad, stinking stale and worse it was
Deeper I sank, now a depression made a grave

Deeper into the earth I sank, the dirt mounded high
A shovel appeared, grabbed the smooth handle
Carved a space to sit and ponder dark, shovel propped

Why is this happening?
Why does this dirt smell so bad?
Why does no one notice this wrong?

Decided to fight, moving dirt behind
Determined, ascending faster than dirt above
Gratefully surfaced, peered up the narrow hole, light!

Climbed out onto the dirt, now highest mountain
The dirt throwers disappeared, evaporated, not known
Felt the sun on my face, warm, inviting, renewing

Looked around for trouble, looked long way down
At the bottom a long line of angels, tall, smiling
Approaching they all broke into cacophony applause

Who are you? I inquired
Why are you here? I continued
What is your purpose? I had to know

We are the Congratulations! Committee to greet you
We are here to assist your next decisions, eternally
Our purpose to walk by your side on your souls journey

I took it all in, delighted to meet them
They must have provided that shovel
Assuring my survival if only I would act

The dozen very tall men kindly bent down to my level
Dazzling smiles all, requesting how may they continue
I scratched my head, wiped the dirt off my face, shook my clothes

First things first, guys, I demanded, which way are the showers?
At that they all roared laughter, so loudly, it hurt my ears
Which way are the showers? They laughed and laughed more

One angel, raised his hand, laughing hard, sweeping right
My eyes looked up at his, tracking his directive to behold
Jesus Himself was laughing, waiting for me, clean towel in Hand


Denny Lyon
Copyright 12 July 2008
All Rights Reserved

Coffee Photo by once and future @ flickr

Have a great weekend, everyone; stay safe! Thanks for visiting!

Blender, Ice cream, coffee shake, coffee Recipes, poetry, New Orleans, Food, Cooking, Home, CC, Christian, Bible, Jesus, Cook, Denny Lyon, The Social Poets, Flinging Dirt, angels, humor

What Do You Do to Reach Enlightenment and Then Afterward?

Alonzo E. Lyon in about 1905 at age 25. He did not become my grandfather until age 80 and lived to almost age 95.

From Denny: This is a post I featured on two of my other blogs: Beautiful Illustrated Quotations and The Healing Waters. Often I've stated that a quote is always good for a short essay and out popped one yesterday and here's the proof! :) Who needs to invent writing exercises when you have scores of quotations from which to choose to write a commentary? Which is also why I quit parking so many quotes on this blog and started up a new companion blog to house them. Live and learn!

I've always liked this quote. What's interesting is that my Christian Grand Dad from Kentucky, who had never heard of Zen, taught me the same concept through his wisdom AND his attitude AND his actions - something completely lost on his own son and other grandchildren, even arrogantly dismissed and ignored.

I was the only kid who liked to literally sit at his feet and listen to his tales of his youth, his farming and other business adventures and finally the wisdom of what he had learned in this life. He was one of those rare individuals who read the Bible literally every day as he found great Joy in doing so - yet he never was a finger-in-your-face kind of man. Grand Dad really understood the true messages from Jesus, unlike so many of his time period.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Frederick Vinson Image via Wikipedia

As I was doing some family genealogy I found out many things about my grandfather he never publicized. During his time he felt God blessed him with wealth and, therefore, it was his job to be responsible with that wealth and do a lot in the community. He didn't do that on a flashy basis with his name on a million buildings and show off at public events. He did it one person at a time - just like Jesus.

Basically, he functioned in the office of Apostle as he helped so many people from so many walks of life when they experienced hard times. Then those people went out and passed it forward to help others too.

He was a childhood best friend of a Supreme Court Chief Justice (Vinson) who was deciding about civil rights and segregation. That Justice used to come home to Kentucky and go fishing with Grand Dad (Alonzo Lyon). I know my grandfather; he would not let any moment pass to press for the civil rights of African-Americans. He was horrified and disgusted at the treatment of returning WWII black veterans.

Grand Dad also pressed for women's rights as he considered women " the best of mankind." What a unique attitude for his time! He was the parent - and the inspiration - my father never chose to be. Grand Dad often called him down on his bad attitude, especially toward women, "there was no call for that, not even with children."

Women loved his company. Children flocked to him as I often strolled with him around the neighborhood every summer to share him with the other kids who had grandparents who were indifferent to children. Every summer he was like the local celebrity!

Well into his late 80's he made friends with the local five-year-olds. When questioned about that practice he would reply, "I've outlived my wife, my friends and most of my family including my twin. Besides, you make friends with every generation." With a huge knowing smile and a wink in his eye, "It won't be that long before this little boy will be a young man and we can go fishing together!" He definitely was "a fisher of men."

Quote

"Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water."

~ Zen Buddhist Proverb

Libations Friday! 15 May 2009

From Denny: Coffee Martini Recipes from Sandra Lee’s show Semi-Homemade at the Food Network. This woman is great fun and highly creative! She offers a plethora of creative entertaining ideas in each episode of which just a small portion would make a great event.

Her joy is contagious and so is her creative spark. Definitely recommend watching her if your writing or work day is in a slump. Sandra will cheer you right up and into your own productive day.



Cafe Roma Martini

Serves: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 shot anise-flavored liqueur (recommended: Sambuca)

• 1 shot coffee liqueur

• 1 shot half-and-half

• Ice

• Coffee beans, for garnish

Directions

Add all ingredients (except garnish) to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with 3 coffee beans. Enjoy!



Tall, Dark and Handsome Cafe Martini

Serves: 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 packet cocoa mix, for glass rim (recommended: Nestle)

• 2 shots vanilla vodka (recommended: Stoli Vanilla)

• 1/2 shot coffee liqueur

• 1/2 shot chocolate liqueur

Directions:

Wet rim of martini glass on a damp paper towel and dip into cocoa mix; set aside.

Add remaining ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir and strain into martini glass.

Roman Acrostic Poem Image by Synwell Liberation Front via Flickr

On to the poetry portion of Libations Friday! Notice the ancient Roman acrostic poem literally "written in stone."

*** About Acrostic poems ***

What is an acrostic poem?

Well, you start with a main subject word. Then you brainstorm, writing down other words that describe your main subject. What you want to do is tell a story about the subject through action or description.

Acrostic poems use the first letter of the poem’s line to begin spelling out the subject word. Each line progresses with the first letter of the poem’s line spelling out the next letter in the subject’s word you chose. Remember, to fit this form of poetry all the lines of the poem are supposed to relate to the subject word.

It’s fun to greatly exaggerate by enlarging that first letter of each line for the reader’s enjoyment. It also makes it easy to read and clear to understand what the topic word is as it is read vertically.

History of Acrostic Poems

Ancient Secret Religions

Acrostics were used like passwords in the ancient world by secret religious cults as identification. How cool is that? Poetry used in an intelligence network. Now that’s classy!

Ancient Greeks

The ancient Greeks from the time of Alexander the Great (333-325 B.C.) used acrostics. In fact, the use of acrostics was quite common.

Ancient Romans

By 240 B. C. Greek drama began in Rome and so did formal Latin literature. There were ancient Roman writers from 200 B.C. who wrote the arguments of their plays with acrostics in the titles. One of these writers was known as Plautus (c. 219-168 B.C.) who was taken prisoner and brought as a slave to Rome.

He wrote a lot of comedies based off Greek literature. Shakespeare based some of his plays off of Plautus! Gives new meaning to bouncing ideas off other creative people... :) What a literature lineage that has come down to us through the ages!

Acrostics from history and religion

The Erythraean sibyl wrote:

Iricrovs
Xpioros
9eoO
wos
crconvp

Translation:

Jesus
Christ
the Son of God
the Saviour

Then there are the initials of the shorter form of this acrostic that make up the word “ixˆus” which is translated as “fish” – that Christian symbol you see everywhere! Because a mystical meaning has been attached to this it morphed into yet another form of an acrostic.

Here’s an acrostic poem about President Abraham Lincoln written by a child from Mrs. Beyer’s page, an elementary school teacher. What an incredible resource site: Mrs. Beyer’s Page for elementary kids (and adult kids who enjoy the fun too).


Abe Lincoln


Abe was his nickname

Books are what he loved

Ready to lead his country

A really tall guy

Has a good sense of humor

A very good president

Many people have him as a hero


Lived as a woodsman

Important to our history

Nancy Hanks was his mother

Came from Kentucky

Oh times were bad

Lived in poverty

Never looked at the bad side


Written by Tyler

***

Two sites for you to enjoy:

Acrostic Poem Interactive

How to Write an Acrostic Poem with a step by step written article.

Want to learn how to write an acrostic poem?

The faster and most fun place to start is at the following site - Acrostic Poem Interactive - that quickly takes you through the process. In fact they take you through it so quickly you don’t have time to stall, get writer’s block, mind freeze or any of those other annoying habits that stop the flow of good writing. In short, it’s FUN!

Of course, I just had to break the rules. What is life if you don’t go against the grain from time to time? Answer: boring! What did I do that was different?

First, they get you to choose a subject word. I behaved on that point. Secondly, they asked you to brainstorm and list several words in the boxes provided that described your subject word. That’s where I diverged. Not that their approach was wrong; it’s a very good approach. I was just feeling plucky at the moment so gave it a whirl.

What I did different for that stage of brainstorming was to choose word associations that began with the same letter as each letter in the word. For example, I choose Pony for the letter P in Poetry. Ponies have nothing to do with describing poetry, well, normally, until I got a hold of it! :)

Here's my amusing attempt at a spontaneous acrostic poem:


POETRY


Pony up to the desk, said the poet!

Oh, this paper screams for words

Easy does it, start slow

Time is on our side to compose

Rage, impatience pushed away

Yes, rally your mind forces: Poem!


Denny Lyon
Copyright 14 May 2009
All Rights Reserved


Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for visiting!


Coffee photo by once and future @ flickr

What Really Makes Me So Smart - part one

What Really Makes Me So Smart - part one

Well, that’s an arrogant title! What can I say? I find the truth amusing – even about myself - and possess the boldness to speak it out loud. “Wow! What an ego!” you say? Now that you have made an assumption about where this story is going, well, just read on; you won’t be disappointed.

By Denny Lyon
Photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr

We Believe In Santa

We Believe In Santa

1,000 views of all the many photos here and counting!

Over 50 photos of Santa's believers and Santa sightings! Do you believe in Santa? Do you believe in spreading goodwill? Join us this season to gift others with more than mall presents.

By Denny Lyon
Photo by Weaselmcfee @ flickr