Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 29

Robbie’s Inspiration – W3 poetry and Sunday Stills and 500 tiny friends #poetry #photographs

W3 poetry promptJane’s prompt guidelinesWrite a poem of three stanzas inspired by the phrase ‘A Wilted Flower’;Rhyming: Optional

You can join in here: https://skepticskaddish.com/2024/03/06/w3-prompt-97-weave-written-weekly/

I’ve written a puente poem. This form has three stanzas with the first and third stanza having the same number of lines and the middle stanza having only one line that acts as a bridge between the ideas in the first and third stanza.

Sleepless Wonder

Eagerly we awaited the birth of our oldest son

Soon to be parents, we were filled with anticipation

When he finally entered this world, our joy overflowed

Our baby fulfilled our greatest wish; made us a family

– but, our angel never slept –

Days and nights confused, he kept me awake

Singing, I walked him up and down the passage

Arms, back and legs aching, I wilted like a flower

Desperately deprived of sleep, I soldiered on

Sunday Stills – Rain

Terri’s challenge this week is rain. You can join in here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2024/03/03/sunday-stills-rain-rain-go-away/

We haven’t been getting that much rain. We get short heavy showers but it is nowhere near enough.

Picture caption: It is raining but the sun is shiningPicture caption: Raindrops on roses500 new pets

Marsha wrote a fun post about inspiring pets which you can read here: https://alwayswrite.blog/2024/03/06/wq-163-march-6-the-inspiring-world-of-animals/.

My latest batch of 500 friends are starting to leave the nest. I’ve managed to keep this nest hidden from TC the spider killer for a while and they are nearly safe now.

They have eight legs a piece and they’re all called Miranda …

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog from MasticadoresUSA: The Modern Siren #poetry

Thank you to Barbara Harris Leonhard for publishing my poem.

“The Modern Siren” by Robbie Cheadle

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday, more about mielies #poetry #wildlifepictures

These poems are for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. You can join in here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/02/27/24-seasons-syllabic-poetry-challenge-no-23-2-27-24-part-ii-snow-becomes-rain-february-19-march-4-usui-%e9%9b%a8%e6%b0%b4/

My fascination with the mielie plants continues. I noticed this week that the ears do not appear in the same place as the tassels. In fact, the tassels and the beginnings of the ears appear at the same time but in different places. This led to some research and learnings. I am sure anyone who farms knows this, but I didn’t.

Male and female inflorescence (tanka)

Long yellow tassels

Contain flowers and pollen

Of male persuasion

Stalks, sheathed ears, kernels, and silk

Contribute the feminine

Male tassels of the mielie plantWind pollination (tanka)

Yellow male tassels

Tinged with pink; produce pollen

Which, when caught by wind

Pollinate the waiting silks

Of the female. Corn results

The female stalk, sheathed ear, and silk which later become kernelsLingering Heat (choka)

Overheated air

Collects in the green valley

Insidious gas

Invisible, vapourless

Sticky like syrup

Collecting like thick fluid

Inside waiting lungs

Slowing blood circulation

Limbs and head, slow and sluggish

In the valley alongside the Groot Marico RiverA herd of hot Cape buffalo making their way down to the riverLioness lazing in the shadeLion lazing in the shade. The only creatures that could get these lions to move on such a hot day are elephants. Lions are respectful of elephants.

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday and fondant dogs #poetry #fondantart #dogs

Tanka Tuesday

I have two haikus to share for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday poetry challenge. The first signs of autumn are visible although it is still very hot.

Haiku 1

Like threads of grey hair

The first red leaves of autumn

Summer shows her age

Haiku 2

Red and yellow leaf

Indicator of autumn

Unwanted first sign

Haiku 3

Flowers, past their prime

Welcome a manmade shower

Revived by fake rain

Fondant dogs

I am sharing my fondant dogs as a tribute to Pete’s wonderful Ollie who passed earlier this week. Rest in peace, Ollie. You can read Pete’s sad news here: https://beetleypete.com/2024/02/25/sunday-musings-about-ollie/

Robbie’s Inspiration: Repost Treasuring Poetry – Poet and editor of MasticadoresUSA, Barbara Harris Leonhard, talks about poetry and a review #poetrycommunity #bookreview

Please join me at Writing to be Read for an interesting discussion about poetry with Barbara Harris Leonhard and my review of her inaugural poetry book. Thank you for hosting Kaye Lynne Booth.

A huge welcome to Barbara Harris Leonard, editor of MasticardoresUSA, and talented poet, to Treasuring Poetry. What is your favourite style of poetry…

Treasuring Poetry – Poet and editor of MasticadoresUSA, Barbara Harris Leonhard, talks about poetry and a review #poetrycommunity #bookreview

Robbie’s Inspiration – How to make a life-sized guitar cake #baking #cakeart

On request, I am sharing the process I underwent to make Michael’s life sized guitar cake. The cake was for his 18th birthday and I planned it in advance (I always plan everything in advance).

In advance

During my December holidays, I traced his Fender guitar onto baking paper. I also took a series of photographs of it so that I could examine the detail (without him glowering sullenly over my shoulder at my touching his prized possession).

I then baked three large rectangular cakes. I always use sponge cakes for cake modelling as they don’t crumble as much. I cut out my tracings and fitted them to the three cakes (2 vanilla sponge and 1 chocolate sponge). I then cut the cakes into the guitar pieces using a sharp knife. I froze the pieces wrapped in silver foil.

I then made a large amount of butter icing and coloured it a bluish purple. This I kept in the refrigerator for the 3 weeks until the birthday.

I made the decorations for the guitar using fondant or sugar dough. I buy the fondant and roll it out using corn starch to prevent it from sticking. I cut the fondant to the required shapes using my tracings for the guitar details. I then painted them using gold, silver, and black power food colour. I used edible quick dry fluid to mix the food colouring. I painted Smarties for certain knobs on the guitar and used fruit jelly sweets for other. You will have to work out what these are from the picture. I don’t know all the guitar bits and bobs.

Assembly

48 hours before I needed to work on the cakes, I put them in the fridge to defrost slowly. This way they don’t go soggy with moisture.

I then laid out the cake. As it was so big, I had to use four cake boards and I had to do a bit of recutting and modelling so that I could ice the cakes on each board separately and then assemble them on the table. If you look carefully at the laid out cake below, you will see the fresh cuts where the cake boards join. TC helped me do this in the most efficient way.

The next step was to do a crumb coat. I applied a thin layer of butter icing to each piece and then refrigerated them. Once the crumb coats had set, I applied a thicker icing coating.

Once all the pieces of cake on each cake board were iced, I carried them to the table and assembled them in a line to form a guitar. I then added the decorations using royal icing to ‘glue’ them in place.

This was the final cake.

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday and photographs #poetry #pictures

You can join in Tanka Tuesday here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/02/13/24-seasons-syllabic-poetry-challenge-no-21-2-13-24-part-ii-the-beginning-of-spring-february-3-20-risshun-%e7%ab%8b%e6%a5-24/

Aiming High

(A nine-line chōka of 5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-7)

Reaching for the sky

Slender stalks of the mielie plants

Dark green and dusty

Growing higher and higher

Until they falter

Some support is required

Nature finds a way

Light green tendrils burrow down

Assisted growth continues

Micro poem

Heavy clouds stack up

Laden with summer rainfall

Sun salutes in pink

The morning after (shadorma)

Fragile globes

Painted with gold sheen

Shimmering

Glistening

Overnight rain gives morning

A gleaming greeting

Nature’s handcrafts (tanka)

Dainty spider web

Sparkling in late summer sun

Rainbow of colours

Highlights intricate details

Of remarkable craftwork

Robbie’s Inspiration – Reblog, Growing Bookworms: Meet prolific children’s book author, Janice Spina, and a review #growingbookworms #childrensfiction

Thank you to children’s book author, Janice Spina, for being a wonderful guest for my February Growing Bookworms post. Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

Growing Bookworms – Meet prolific children’s book author, Janice Spina, and a review #GrowingBookworms #readingcommunity #childrensfiction

Robbie’s Inspiration – Tanka Tuesday: Late summer #poetry #poetrycommunity

It is not early autumn here, it is definitely late summer. These three poems reflect the current environment. You can join in Tanka Tuesday here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/02/06/24-seasons-syllabic-poetry-challenge-no-20-2-6-24-part-i-the-beginning-of-spring-february-3-20-risshun-%e7%ab%8b%e6%a5-24/

Time of plenty (shadorma)

Late summer

Abundance of fruit

And berries

Believed to

Warn of long winter ahead

Ensure you prepare

Summer’s light (tanka)This picture was difficult to get. It is best I don’t tell you the details of how I got it – haha!

February light

Dances softly on grasses

Mellowed like good wine

Youth’s sharp edges worn away

By reality and hard work

Heatwave (Etheree)

Brief

Reprieve

Ending in

Searing heatwave

Soaring temperatures

We bake inside our skins

Like potatoes on a braai

Sleepless nights, bodies slicked with sweat

Concentration wilts, fatigue abounds

Tempers fray as work demands continue

Laws of nature

Purple

Agapanthus

Bow heads in deference

To the law of nature

That blooms become

Seed pods

This is a Badger’s Hexastich, consisting of six lines written in 2-4-6-6-4-2 syllables per line.

Our agapanthus a few weeks ago

Our agapanthus now with heavy heads full of seeds

Robbie’s Inspiration Reblog: Story Empire, Designing eye -catching book covers – Poetry #poetry #bookcovers #writingcommunity

My second Story Empire post discusses eye catching covers for poetry books and briefly comments on the benefits of writing poetry for prose writers.

Designing eye-catching book covers – poetry