The Wordsmith's Forge

This poem came out of the July 21, 2020 bonus fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles. It also fills the "Dark" square in my 6-1-20 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest.  This poem belongs to the series Monster House.

Warning: This poem obliquely references murderous police and intended consequences to same.

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dialecticdreamer is hosting Feathering the Nest today. Leave prompts, get ficlets!

While the usual theme is nonsexual intimacy, there's also something new this time:

There’s one exception to the “usual” fluff this month: Marios the Squeaky Toy. Short scenes focused on the consequences of his deplorable behavior can be written without much setup, making it fun for everyone, and then later stitched into a cohesive whole.

And don't forget this:

If I reach a total of $150 in tips, I’ll write and post a bonus story of seventy-five hundred words to eight thousand words. This will probably be slower than normal, as I have nothing written at the moment to build on. So, let’s make it more fun: everyone who offers a prompt can also make a request for a plotty bonus story. I’ll pick and choose (probably, blending several elements) and build the bonus story to suit.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Birdfeeding
Birdfeeding
Community Building Tip: Pop-Up Playground
Birdfeeding
Screaming Owlets
Self-Awareness Question: Senses
Birdfeeding
Hard Things


Last week's fishbowl went well. I am still writing.

The sunshine_challenge has concluded, although the outro post isn't up yet.
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 1 Red
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 2 Orange
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 3 Yellow
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 4 Green
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 5 Blue
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 6 Indigo
Sunshine Challenge: Prompt 7 Violet


Poetry in Microfunding:

There are two open epics at present.

"Protect the Forests" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Iron Horses. The Iron Horses talk about hunting and gathering.

"Pride Against Prejudice" belongs to Polychrome Heroics. The friends make it to Lucy's toy booth.


The weather has been hot and muggy.  It's been raining off and on today.  Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a flock of mourning doves, a flock of sparrows, a flock of house finches, several cardinals, a brown thrasher, and two squirrels. Currently blooming: comfrey, pinks, violas, alyssum, petunia,Queen Anne's lace, yellow coneflowers, purple coneflowers, cup plant, blackberry lily, wild senna, dwarf morning glory, morning glory, hosta, gladioli.  I am especially surprised by the gladioli, which I planted last year  around the telephone pole; they are not supposed to overwinter in this area, but several survived.  0_o  Further evidence of climate change.  I picked a handful of blackberries.

Today is cloudy and wet, although not currently raining.  It's much cooler than recent days, too.

I fed the birds.

It's too wet for yardwork.  Given the humidity, I'm not sure if it will dry off later, but I'll check. 

EDIT 7/27/20 -- It rained again this afternoon, though we didn't notice at the time, and everything is soaked.  Still not a day for yardwork.

The general fund poll is now open on Dreamwidth.

Today we tried Patak's Jalfrezi Curry Simmer Sauce with shrimp. 

This is supposed to be a coconut-tomato sauce with mild chiles.  It's a lot spicier than most of the other curries, with a bright and surprisingly fruity flavor.  (If you like fruity curry that is spicy but not volcanic, this is a good choice.  Want it hotter?  Throw in a Carolina reaper or other fruity hot pepper.)  I didn't catch the coconut at all.  While our first effort was merely okay, it wasn't as good as the egg curry or the mutter paneer.

However, it got me thinking about other possibilities.  My first thought was to add coconut milk to bring in that flavor and moderate the spice level.  While I was waffling over whether that made it worth trying again, I thought of adding pineapple chunks.  That would pick up the fruity flavors, cut the heat a little more, and we both like the combination of pineapple-coconut-shrimp.  So we're going to get another jar of this and try again.

EDIT 8/7/20 -- We remade this several days ago as Hawaiindian Curry, using the coconut milk and pineapple, which turned out quite well.