the H

Welcome to the H! The H will highlight many things: holly, Holly helps with learning English, hope, health, habitats, haiku, horizons, humor, 'heavy' topics, hunger, habits, hobbies, humanity, more. English language learners, watch for: SAT Site of the Week shares SUN 'street scene' posts MON 'make a mistake?' quizzes TUES 'taste of English' recipes WED Words of the Week(WoW7) THURS 3 transcription challenges FRI 'figuratives' (idiom shares) I like questions; please feel free to ask them: click ASK HERE [Click on the title of any post to open it in a new tab or window. Then you can add your comment(s).] Click HERE for an archive of all "the H" site posts. var sc_project=11278157; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_security="a2dcb816"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");

[haikuholly]

Hi there. Is this a for real?

Not sure what you mean by ‘this’?  [Is what real?]  Is my blog real?  yes. :) 

[haikuholly]

PunToons!

Just jest!  Pun fun!  Loads of laughs, cartoons, puns, puntoons. Get the hang of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Puntoons-Jest-Health-Mack-Rowe/dp/075963999X

Do you know all of these puns?  Are you able to use them correctly?  

Try one or two (Reply and share your example dialogues).

[haikuholly]

stress relief

power of touch soothes, embraces humanity, smiles heal masseuses

Beautiful.  Worthy of replication ~ 

https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2017/may/03/best-photos-of-the-day-a-dirty-rotten-job-and-a-tory-poster#img-8

[caption by The Guardian  Maban, South Sudan / A disabled refugee child is massaged at Doro refugee camp near Bunj. Masseurs from the local community, trained by the NGO Jesuit Refugee Service, provide massages to disabled children three times a week to reduce stress and improve mobility / Photograph: Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images]

[haikuholly]

love nest

gilded paradise lovers cavort, make a date: meet me in the reeds?

https:[//www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2017/may/03/best-photos-of-the-day-a-dirty-rotten-job-and-a-tory-poster#img-14

[caption by The Guardian = Glubokoye, Belarus / Great crested grebes near their nest on a lake at sunrise / Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty]

[haikuholly]

ruby

neighbor’s peonies brightened our morning, petals dropped, nonchalant

[haikuholly]

mediocrity

living in mundane gradations in umber tell history goodbye

[I find this photo captivating, but am challenged to explain why.  It has haunted me this week.]

A photograph by Russell Boyce (taken in Gdynia, Poland), with the caption: “A woman smokes a cigarette on her balcony"

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/apr/29/the-20-photographs-of-the-week#img-16

[haikuholly]

tingles

meditation blues pine needles pierce attention silent as splinters

[haikuholly]

lunar pull

lunar tug of war parallel universes collide in my mind

~ ~ ~

Staring at the moon I often (imagine that I) feel cosmic energy, feel as if my pulse is shared by some ‘something’ out there…

I feel these waves, waves of soothe and torment, soothe and torment, and the grit left behind to mull over needles me like the sand used to inside my bathing suit after a day on the beach.

Does the moon do that to you, too?

[revised from haiku written March 10, 2012]

[haikuholly]

through the looking glass

peering at me; wonder which of us sees more magic? spider finds inside

[While studying the garden through the globe the other day, I realized there was a tiny spider INSIDE the globe.  So far no web visible inside.  Guess the spider sensibly decided that he/she might not catch much inside a globe?   (Though since that day, I have also seen a carpenter ant scurrying around the inside too.)]

[haikuholly]

so soft ~

some call it a weed mullein, whorls spread cushioned pads truth: lung-healing herb

I love the soft caress of mullein leaves (reminiscent of lambs’ ear leaves).

Whenever they appear (courtesy of birds’ droppings, I imagine), I let them flourish.  From this whorl, a tall stalk (sometimes ruffled) will appear, and then at the top, circles of soft yellow flowers will bloom.  

[What makes a weed a weed?]

[haikuholly]

new flower bed

coming soon to this  little plot of mine -- blanket covering magic chamomile, cosmos,  hyssop, borage, zinnia,  love-in-a-mist, more

[haikuholly]

stone borders

neighbor’s giveaway ‘transplanted’ treasures mark edges, shade critters, delight

[Some of our day was spent wheelbarrowing (my husband’s task) stones from our neighbor’s yard to ours ~ and then placing them as border edging around a few of our garden areas.  As I find extra-pretty stones, interesting objects, I’ll place them on top of some of these stones (and probably move them around now and then too!).]

[haikuholly]

sweet sweet Williams

popcorn exhibit! flowers, leaves, bees, butterflies: pop!  pop!  pop!  pop!  pop!  

[haikuholly]

satisfaction

Weeding, planting seeds: even the bluebird approves! Birdbath: flowers float.

[a very satisfying two days (After several days of rain, we’ve had two beautiful days to work outdoors]

[haikuholly]

some words are just beautiful

feel the sound of it, threshold, forest path, suspense: liminality

[haikuholly]

WoW7 list April 26, 2017

WoW7 = words of the week (times 7)

1.  pollster

2.  upholster / upholsterer / reupholster

3.  opposer

4.  holster

5.  squalor 

6.  bolster

7.  boisterous

This week’s list is a bit odd.  I hope you’ll spend time practicing the pronunciations, and really paying attention to how your mouth shapes the words.

/s/ vs. /z/

/l/ vs. / r/ 

different vowel sounds

Try to identify the pronunciation differences between ‘upholster’ and ‘opposer’.  

Rumor has it that the upholsterer lives in squalor.  He reupholstered my divan and bolsters last year and did a fine job.  

It really bolstered my spirits to have the room look new.  Even the pollster who made the rounds of the neighborhood last week commented on the fabric I chose!  

Did you hear the boisterous Trump opposers at the rally?  Watching the security guards reaching for their holsters was enough to send me scurrying!

[haikuholly]

bluets / Quaker ladies

bluets are singing! with Quaker Lady resolve all spirits lightened