https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/Short Stories and poems and other matters. The odd argument and opinionated piece.hourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/626747Rain sparks Silvery droplets Threaded through A child’s freshly cut hair. The purity Of their freshness Opens small prisms Of lightness Windows to dimensions Visited briefly Before they collapse And cling Strands of hair Together. Ilana Leeds September 2009https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/626339Yesterday I could not find the speckled chook. The red one meandered around softly clucking away to herself. I believe that she was probably lonely. I was sad, thinking that perhaps a dog or a large cat or a fox had made a meal of her and was mentally distancing myself from the sorrow. However when I raced upstairs to go to the bath room before I went to pick up my son, who should I see crouched cluck, clucking to herself on Nir's bed, but speckled chook. And she had poohed. She had poohed on...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/625927I actually am going to say something which I really feel a need to express. Despite all the difficulties in the relationship with my mother over the last fifty-five years or so, I really do love her. She has taught me a lot. It is very difficult when you are very different from a parent and hold very different views and have a different way of doing things. You may find it impossible at times to deal with things that crop up frequently in the relationship, but there is that bond. I may never...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/625612I have booked three events for the Melbourne Writers' Festival which is all I can afford the time to go to at the moment. I am going earlier to listen to some works being read and that is free in the club room of the MWF. Today I went to the Quentaris Chronicles talk by one of the co-editors Paul Collins. Very interesting and seeing as I have created my own fantasy world and work with the Chronicles of Or which I need to rethink and replan a greater part of the text, I found Paul Collins's...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/624877and a Third in the poetry section. Cut the glare of publicity, even got my photo taken...so as the swelling of the head subsides I now get to work on my entry into the Lord Mayor's Writing and Literature prize. I have two water bottles, two small little footballs - all of which Nir will love. Two pens, two small rulers, two notes books - just the right size for writers of aspirations for their inspirations. And last but not least, two fridge magnets with clips for those notes and fragments of...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/624741My two poems have been short listed and I am going. I am taking my own food. I must get a baby sitter for my son from 8 to 9.30 pm. He knows and is not a happy chappy because he believes that he should not have to be subjected to baby sitters and that Mummy should not go out. I am annoyed that the short stories I submitted, one in particular is not short listed. It is a bloody, good story even if I say so myself. I am going to work on it and submit it to the Lord Mayor's Literature Awards by...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/624546How do you start your day? I start mine with renewed hope and in anticipation of what the day might hold. It is with optimism and after thanking Kodesh Baruch hu for restoring my neshama to the guf, I wash and get up to live and enjoy my life. I was saddened this morning to go outside and feed my two little hens and have to hear the most horrendous argument from two people, a male and a female next door. The most horrid energy emmanated from the building next to us as they flung foul language...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/624383apart from being busy with work and writing, I have had a few new events in life lately. I went to the Neshai Chabad Convention at Phillip Island which was fantastic and spiritually inspiring. Then I when I returned I had to get the roosters made into soup as they had attacked the young girl Maya who went to feed them and let them out of their pen. So the shochet came on Tuesday with his teenage son who actually cried when he saw them. I did feel horrid handing them over to their fate but...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/622619I am still here TAPS although one of my boys, the speckled one, nearly got eaten by a fox the other morning. He was very lucky I literally flew down the stairs when I heard a whole lot of squawking after I had let them out and fed them about 5am. I am trying to limit my red rooster's bugle calls in the morning. I think some neighbours might be feeling like they might enjoy a bit of chicken chop suey. He really lets them know he is awake and about. Anyway after I arrived downstairs (nearly...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Leeds_waffle/621341The rooster is becoming ever more bossy and wants to assert his dominance over all in the yard including me. Especially after Nir has stirred him up by chasing him and the hens and the other rooster. He chases me and pecks at my skirt all the while doing sideways dance with one wing outstretched down at his side. He makes aggressive clucking sounds which amuse me, so I reach down and pick him up and scratch his head. That seems to calm him down. Oh the joys of keeping chooks and a rooster or...