Six Word Saturday

Ring out old; ring in New

Happy New Year, my virtual friends.

L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday December 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

Cross posted - with some corrections - at The Corner

Theme:  Knock-knock.  Who's There?.  For good or for ill, the root of many jokes.  Share your favorites in comments.  Theme song No. 1.  Theme song No. 2.  Here, the theme answers end in a word that is synonymous with KNOCK.  Knock can be a forceful physical contact, or severe criticism - as used here.

17. Ice Cube genre : GANGSTA RAP.   Ice Cube is a rap artist.  I will not link.  But OTOH, I will not give him a bad RAP.

25. It's not as bad as the fire, metaphorically : FRYING PAN.  From the FRYING PAN to the fire is just making a bad situation worse.  A critic would PAN that action.

 37. Bases loaded opportunity : GRAND SLAM.  This occurs when you bid and make a contract to take all 13 tricks.  Wait.  Hold on - this is from C.C. so we must have baseball.  That GRAND SLAM is a home run hit with the bases loaded.  Would you SLAM me for referring to bridge?

52. All out : FULL BLAST.  Holding nothing back.  Amping it up to 11.  Blogging this puzzle is a BLAST, so I won't BLAST it.

And the unifier:  61. Start of a joke, eitrher part of which is synonymous with the ends of 17-, 25-, 37- and 52-across : KNOCK-KNOCK.   Who's there?  Jamaican.  Jamaican who?  Jamaican me stand out in the cold.  (I was Jamaican that up.)

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, and that's no joke.  Our dynamic - and prolific - duo has come up with another Wednesday challenge.  Are we up to it?

Shadow Shot Sunday

 Christmas Eve Day

A dusting of Snow

Whitens and brightens the way

To Grandmother's house

Stockings were hung by

The chimney with care, and soon

The grandchildren came.

Have a joyous and blessed Christmas!

Jesu Bambino

Six Word Saturday - The Christmas Song

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Have some music.

My arrangement of Mel Torme's Christmas Song.

Or, in case you're feeling Grinchy

My arrangement of Mr. Grinch

L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 Donna Levin

Theme: Je suis chaude* aka FEVER, aka "I got the hots!"

17 A. Crisp cylindrical appetizer : SPRING ROLL.  Translation from the Chinese, 春卷 (Thank you Wikipedia.) A rolled, filled appetizer common in Asian cuisine, with lots of local variation in wrapper, filling and nomenclature.  SPRING FEVER: an ill-defined feeling of restlessness, excitement or laziness, brought about the onset of Spring.

27 A. Tango necessity : DANCE PARTNER. One with whom you dance, natch.  Example.  DANCE FEVER: a disco-era TV variety show featuring couples in dance-off competitions. 

46 A. Pleasure craft : CABIN CRUISER.  A power boat with inside accommodations for passengers and crew.  Pick the one you like.  CABIN FEVER.  A feeling of claustrophobia, restlessness, boredom and/or depression resulting from being confined for an extended period with little or nothing to do.

And the unifier: 63 A. State of excitement (generated by the starts of 17-, 27-, 38- and 46-Across?) : FEVER PITCH.   This also implies energetic or frenzied activity.  Origin is not well known, but feverish can relate to an over-wrought or delirious state, so there might be that kind of connection.

* We recently had a discussion about how one must be careful in translating "I am hot," into German, with obvious opportunities for unintended misunderstanding.  I believe the same hazards exist with translating into French, but will defer to the resident expert on such matters.  Kazie?

Hi, gang.  JazzBumpa here.  Let's try not to get too overheated as we explore today's entry.

Mellow Yellow Monday / Sensational Haiku Wednesday

12/21Update: I'm not above combining memes, when doing so suits my purposes.  By coincidence, this week's yellow shot also fits this week's haiku theme.  Some times you're just lucky.

Back in September

SPIRIT

Falcon Cheerleaders

Lifting up Falcon spirits

For their team and fans

Shadow Shot Sunday

This shot was taken on October 6th, the day of our Michigan color excursion. 

Other pics from that day can be found here and here.

Blue Michigan sky

And the bright orange glow of

The fruits of Autumn

Shadow Shot Sunday has moved to a new location.

Many thanks to Tracey for starting and maintaining
this terrific meme for so long.

Many thanks to our new hosts, Mystic, Rose and Gemma
for continuing the tradition.

I'm delighted to add that one of my shots (third photo here) made the collage
on the last posting at the original site.

Six Word Saturday

Seeing WICKED with two granddaughters tonight.

Plus my wife and their mom.

(None of whom are pictured below.)

Picture Source

 

Sendational Haiku Wednesday

PREPARATION

Performances On 

Friday and Monday; have four 

rehearsals to go.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Playing BLOCKHEAD with Nate and Em.

Making a tower in Seussical style;

Will it fall down or stay up for a while?

And who could imagine blocks piled so tall?

And whose little fingers will make those blocks fall?

Shadow Shot Sunday

LIGHTS

In shadow of night,
Lighted trees are like beacons,
Showing us the way.

The way in

The way out

Since these are just lousy cell phone shots, here's another look at the mysterious figure who cast this enigmatic shadow at the entrance to the Novi Civic Center.

Six Word Saturday

Going to The Nutcracker Ballet tonight.

Granddaughter Amanda is the Snow Queen.

 Picture source

Mellow Yellow Monday

My Mother's Peace Rose

Photo taken 9/17/11

Peace Rose, your yellow

Glow flows from pink center,

Announces new hope.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Burning Bush in Autumn

Photo taken 11/15/11

Burning bush, your flame
Is extinguished; your naked
Branches still flicker.

Update:  For Mystic.

Burning bush, do you 

Call to Moses? Do your flames

Cast shadows of God?

Six Word Saturday

My market outlook is exceedingly grim.

Interested?  You can find it here.