JAN 27, insects: bumblebees

a) reprise from January 2020

JAN 27, insects: bumblebees

Author's Note: One week ago, this fellow seemed to land for a rest on the roofrack of our car, parked in our lowcountry driveway. He stayed for a while, not seeming to mind posing for photos, and then took off again. Pictures were taken with my i-phone 7 camera.)

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

b) current birdie-pic

     

common grackle

                                                

JAN 26, limerick extension: Collage of Internal "LIMERRHOIDS"

Learn more about these limerick variations as described by their "inventors" and perpetrators HERE !

Readers can find a collection of even more of these variant verses by clicking HERE !

 

JAN 25, fabric art: the fabric artist

a) reprise from January 2020 

JAN 25, fabric art: the fabric artist

You can find other examples of awesome illustrative fabric art on this blog in posts for the  February 20, and March 19, 2020.

b) current birdie-pic
 

Eastern bluebird

JAN 24, defining opinion: homogenized milk

 

Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

JAN 23, wordplay maps: sister-cities anagrams (4-6)

a) reprise from January 2020 

JAN 23, wordplay maps: sister-cities anagrams (4-6) 

b) current birdie-pic (from the author's favorite pond)

guests at poolside, Ibis Hotel

JAN 22, unusual sightings: Toronto wildlife

a)

b) current birdie-pic (S. Carolina)

common grackle

JAN 21, terminal (poetic) exclamation: cold? I'M SOLD!

Readers might want to hold off reading this submission until they have have familiarized themselves with concepts exemplified in the posts on  "Limerick Variations", and "Terminal Exclamations" on the blog "Edifying Nonsense".

                                                                    final OEDILF approval April 2024, #125236

Authors' Note: Our protagonist, presumably a Canadian snowbird, can take little comfort in the higher values of Fahrenheit than Celsius temperatures in the reasonably livable range. The temperature is what it is; only the describing numbers differ, although they are precisely related as defined in PGS's conversion. And below -40 degrees, Celsius is higher (but not warmer) than Fahrenheit.

The above verse was written on a brisk January morning when the temperature in degrees was -12C (10F) in Toronto, -10C (14F) in Atlanta, and 11C (52F) in Miami.

You can review our collection of poems on the topic of "Terminal Exclamation (Limerick Variations)" as it evolves on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE.  

Birds along the south Atlantic coast of the US, like this goldfinch, don't seem to mind. Perhaps they know that it's going to warm up shortly! (At 10:30, it's already up to 31F!)

goldfinch

Incidental additional poetry:

JAN 20 (2024), singable satire: Dean Martin sings "ROBBIE BURNS' DAY"

  

PARODY-SONG: "Dean Martin Sings Robbie Burns Day" 2024, a parody pastiche with lyrics by Giorgio Coniglio, substituted to "That's Amore", the Dean Martin 1953 classic.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December, 2018, updated from earlier blogposts, and with improved verse-charts. 

Explanatory Notes: Robert Burns, born 1759, became Scotland’s ‘national poet’, and a cultural icon at home and among Scottish diaspora around the world. In his short life - he died at age 37 -  he wrote hundreds of well-loved poems and songs; the most famous is Auld Lang Syne, traditionally sung on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve). Robbie Burns Day is celebrated on his birthday, January 25, often with a Burns Night supper. 

Burns' best-loved poems include "To a Mouse", "To a Louse", "Tam o' Shanter", "Parcel o' Rogues", and "Address to a Haggis".

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Robbie Burns Day" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Robert Burns 

ROBBIE BURNS DAY

(to the tune of "That's Amore")

INTRO (Tremolo)
In Aberdeen and overseas
Kilt-wearers freeze below the knees.....

When friends honor the haggis and flag of St Andrews - 

That's Burns Day.

First you’re piped to your place, they intone Selkirk’s Grace -

Robbie Burns Day.

Cock-a-leekie soup, cook will boast, address-by-the-host,

Offer toasts to the haggis.

The Saltire, or St Andrews cross

You think, “oops!” – dinner-wasn’t-cheap, eat tatties an neeps *,

Hope to sleep through the speeches.

Poems recite –- Mouse-that-gets-a-fright, Louse that’s-in-plain-sight,

Witches’ night – "Tam o’ Shanter"

Greed retold, Scotland’s future sold, England’s bribing-gold,

"‘Parcel o’ Rogues"  - truth or slander?

With slurred speech you sound Scottish, sipped Scotch ‘til you’re sottish - 

That's Burns Day.

Yes, you’ve downed too much malt, might be mostly your fault -

You feel plough'd.

Finally guests’ vote of thanks, you chant, closing your ranks

Like Hogmanay.

Let the world praise today the auld Bard o’ Alloway -

Robbie Burns Day!

JAN 19, crepuscular rendez-vous: the following afternoon's events

 

The next day, we took our foray a bit earlier in the afternoon. The weather was clearer and considerably colder, but the late afternoon light had a golden hue....  

a pair of bottlenose dolphins hunts in synchrony

a lone cormorant flies low above the creek's surface

\

a goofy-looking penguin preens itself 

a more formal pose

at the ibis hotel

 

JAN 19, waterfowl: crepuscular rendez-vous

 "Crepuscular" is defined in our poem HERE.

snowy egret

black-crowned night heron

 white ibises in pondside shrubbery

white ibises finding a resting perch in the trees

further dimming of the light

ominous appearing cormorants

Is this a good place to spend the night?

wings of man

Be sure to check out the sequel to this foray, to be published tomorrow. 

JAN 17, American satire: Hillary pilloried

a) reprise from January 2020

 American satire(1)

Author's Note:   The results of the acrimonious U.S. presidential election in November 2016 caused despondency and resentment in some segments of the population. Donald J. Trump ran a successful campaign under the slogan "Make America Great Again", and won the electoral college majority. After the election, there was considerable distraction by unproductive disputes over the popular vote, possible voter fraud, and the size of crowds at inaugurations. 

We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find more than 30 similar verses on this topic in 5 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

b) recent birdie-pic

house finch (male)

JAN 16, visit to the National Gallery of Art

John Ward, "The Northern Whale Fishery", 1840 

Edouard Manet, "The Old Musician", 1862 

 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, "Pont-neuf, Paris", 1872

Alfred Sisley, "The Meadow", 1875 

Gustave Caillebotte, "Skiffs", 1877

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, "Oarsmen at Chatou", 1879

Mary Cassatt, "The Loge", 1879

Georges Seurat, "The Lighthouse at Honfleur", 1886

Mary Cassatt, "The Boating Party", 1893

Camille Pissarro,
"The Louvre - afternoon, rainy weather", 1902 

Mary Cassatt, "Woman with a Sunflower", 1905

snowy Washington street
on the morning of departure

high tea at a DC hotel
 prior to the Gallery visit

 Editors' Note: You can view illustrated verses about some of the artists by clicking HERE.