David L. Atkinson's Blog, page 2

Poetry Thursday 295 - Who are we?

This morning we have been blessed with the Trump state of the union speech and Theresa May trying to come across as positive in the political arena while leading a trade delegation to China. Where does that leave the majority of us?


Do you know who you are?
Battles you fight for those who don’t care.Bribes you take to ease your lot.Cousins arguing brought countries to war.Ordinary people are the ones on the spot.
Affluent leaders playing their games.Families in poverty needing support.An endless roster of unknown names.Fun and games for papers to report.
People at home are filled with pride.The soldiers are ploughing mud filled trenches.Truth in print? Or the establishment lied!War breaks families in violent wrenches!
Do you really know who you are?They don’t give a damn!You are only allowed to go so far.Ruling classes are controlling destiny of man.©David L Atkinson February 2014

I keep insisting that I am not left wing and it is true in the strictly political sense but I do feel that we live in a two tier society. A them and us situation. Hence the rather angry poem above. 



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Man ‘Flu
When next days dawn as next day do,a cough, a runny nose indicated ‘Man ‘Flu,Oh no! Two weeks of bark and drip,and questions over whether to take a trip.
If you take a prescribed medication,two weeks will be the ailment’s duration.If allowing nature to take its course,a fortnight the virus will last from source.
My preferred medication could be risky,as I consider a dram or two of whisky.This is specific for the ‘Man ‘Flu bug,but take care not to drink the jug.
As to looking for sources of sympathy,the opposite sex are noted for apathy.Fellow man is of little support,it’s down to oneself to provide comfort.
Hence ‘Man ‘Flu’ a disease borne alone,driving the male into his cave for one,to suffer and moan till brighter days,and we can re-join life in the usual ways. ©David L Atkinson January 2018
God Bless

Tuesday food blog - Sausage thingamy

This week I took the time to create something from ingredients I had in the cupboards.
Sausage Thingamy
This is not taken from an idea by a particular celebrity chef but it is based upon a sausage casserole. I have not used a packet mix or anything from packets.
Ingredients
14oz tin of chopped tomatoes4 pork sausages, skinned and chopped into bite size pieces1 onion, chopped1 tsp garlic salt1tbsp oreganoOlive oil for cooking1 tbsp balsamic vinegar1 tbsp tomato puree1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce1/2 pt gravy
For the topping
2 potatoes, parboiled2oz red leicester cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper
Method
Parboil the potatoes for ten minutes. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees CSkin and chop the sausages into bite size pieces and brown in a frying pan. Add a chopped onion and season. After five minutes, when the onions have become transparent stir in the tomato puree and garlic.Pour the chopped tomatoes and gravy into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the oregano, balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce then the sausage and onion mixture. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.Meanwhile remove the potatoes from the water and drain. Allow to cool so that they can then be sliced.Pour the contents of the saucepan into a casserole and arrange the sliced potato on the top. Sprinkle over the cheese and place in the oven for 25 - 35 minutes or until the cheese bubbles.Serve - this recipe will serve 2/3.
It was also Burn's Night during the week (25/01/2018). Traditional dish to eat is 'Haggis, neeps and tatties'.
Haggis, neeps and tatties


I always buy my haggis from the supermarket but I created my own neeps (swede) and tatties (potatoes).For this meal I parboiled the vegetables and then finished them in a roasting tin with olive oil, garlic salt and black pepper. Very tasty way to celebrate the Scottish poet.
God Bless

Poetry Thursday 294 - Beneath the surface

It's funny how the brain works, or at least how mine operates. One may ask how can politics and soup provide inspiration? Well I am not sure but here it is.



Pea and Asparagus Soup
It was thick,it was green,it had lumps,it looked mean,ingesting the croutons in the bowl.The disappointment an ingredient omitted,asparagus on the label but in the tin deleted.©David L Atkinson January 2018

Game Soup
It was dark,it was brown,it was rich,it went down,but of flavour I could detect nought,I expected more from the meal what I‘d bought.The substance was adorned with a tempting name,for the soup what I purchased was Game. ©David L Atkinson January 2018


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None as deaf as those who don’t want to hear
How can the head of the snake not see,the trouble being caused for you and me,by the actions taken within her coven,stuffing our lives in their Aga oven?
The poor, elderly, lonely and young,are fair game for the glib, sophisticated tongue,being described as wastrels and bone idle,then stripped of their last pennies in their idyll.
Reported by media the scale of the ills,Government claims there are enough pills.And yet the queues grow longer with every lie,And ordinary people continue to die. ©David L Atkinson January 2018


God Bless

Tuesday Food Blog - All sorts

Not Bassett's liquorice! It has been a strange eating week. There are no surprises but a tasty shortcut.

Chilli and mash
This is a real quick comfort food. Imagine you've come in from work, your really hungry and need to whip up something with a bit of a bite in half an hour. I had potatoes in, had run out of rice, a tin of steak, a tin of baked beans and an onion.I always have herbs and spices in so there was chilli, tomato puree, garlic salt sea salt and black pepper which I sauteed with the onion while the potatoes were boiling.The beans and meat are already cooked so ten minutes of bubbling with the cooked onion base and the meat sauce was done. Potatoes mashed with milk and butter - hey presto! almost instant chilli con carne.
An egg with a double yolk
I bet that I have only had a double yolked egg two or three times in my life. I cracked this one today. Having just returned from the dentists at which I had a filling repaired and feel as if the young man had spent half an hour walking around inside my mouth wearing hobnailed boots, I wonder what sort of experience I would have had without the above good luck.
Almost full English
Only 'almost' because it lacks tomato, mushrooms and black pudding. Please notice that hash browns are NOT part of a full English breakfast. If you require carbohydrate then a slice of fried bread or toast is the correct addition.
God Bless

Atwood's World

At the time of writing I am familiar with Attwood only by reputation and hearsay.

[image error]Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood CC OOnt FRSC (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, inventor, and environmental activist. She is a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Prince of Asturias Award for Literature and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once.
The book I had recommended to me is the well known The Handmaid's Tale. It was pointed in my direction as it is, a sci-fi book  with women as the focus. 
The book raised the question of why write in the genre at all. Having said that the sixth novel I wrote was futuristic, a dystopian journey in northern England. I was driven to write it by the, in my opinion, foolish capitalistic decisions being made by the travesty of a government that was in power at the time. I believe that Margaret Atwood may well have had a similar driver, it being the plight of women even in the 1980's.
It is yet another example of the duty of writers' to act as  a conscience, a Jiminy Cricket, to society, in an attempt keep them on the straight and narrow. In these days of social media it is even easier for writers to have an immediate impact. The mainstream media lump people together who stand up for the rights of the individual as extremists and yet it is the capitalists who are in the extreme right. All that ordinary people require is a fair deal.
Cessation 



God Bless

Poetry Thursday 293 - Evidence

We are all on a journey and on that trip will touch others but what kind of a person are you?


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What shape a footprint
Looking back what prints are left,what shape, how sharp, how deep?When you’ve gone and the family’s wept,what memories are generated in your sleep?
As a child were you sharp, angular,or a softer more gentle breed?Did you stamp, deep and regular,or skip lightly, haphazardly in your need?
In working did you support and care,or ride roughshod over others feelings?Did you subscribe to the need to be fair,or bully and push through countless dealings?
Will your family remember you fondly,will your friends stay true for long?Or will your passing come more sweetly,and the remaining emotion be less strong?
Can you see your footsteps in the distance,is the path long and clear,or has your journey been a random instance,touching few and soon to disappear? ©David L Atkinson January 2018

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Masters of Lies
Come you masters of lies.You that quote the wrong facts.You that trick ordinary folk.You that build your own nests.
You that hide behind walls.You that hide behind desks.I just want you to knowwe can see through your masks.
You that never done nothingbut cheat and deceive.You play with our world,its yours you believe.
Have you put a stick in my hand?You hide from my eyes.Will you turn and runwhen the people arise? ©David L Atkinson January 2018

God Bless

Writing - Do you have to bleed to write?

I have heard from a variety of sources that to be a good writer you need to bleed - that is, suffer at a personal level in your life. Of course, I don't subscribe to that because what is a major gash to one person is scarcely a pinprick to another. In the history of writers you come across people, as with all people they lived lives, and in doing so had highs and lows. Charles Dickens had to write to make money in an attempt to clear his father's debts. Dickens senior spent time in debtors prison. Some writers were difficult in their attitudes and behaviours but the same could be said of plumbers and electricians. The fact is that if you possess the writing gene you will write, badly or otherwise.

[image error]Mary Shelley
This week I have read an article about Frankenstein's creator, Mary Shelley.Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.After Wollstonecraft's death less than a month after her daughter Mary was born, Mary was raised by Godwin, who was able to provide his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his own liberal political theories. When Mary was four, her father married a neighbour, with whom, as her stepmother, Mary came to have a troubled relationship.In 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her father's political followers, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who was already married. Together with Mary's stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary and Shelley left for France and travelled through Europe. Upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child. 
It was while this group were abroad that  Frankenstein was begun and soon completed within nine months, but it was Shelley's condition and morals that came into question in this pre-Victorian era. She was only sixteen when she set off on her European adventure and when they returned penniless Mary was shocked that friends and family didn't welcome her home with open arms. At that time having affairs was for the gentry but even after Percy Shelley's first wife killed herself because of her being abandoned he wasn't allowed custody of his own children. Advocating free love in the early nineteenth century was not going to win friends and influence people.
In fact Mary was a kind caring wife and mother but tended to be misread by many as self-willed and radical in her views. As a result, when her husband continued to have other affairs she received little support or sympathy as she was reaping what she had sowed. 
Mary was widowed aged 24 in 1822 and it had been a meer eight years since she'd eloped with Percy but she was still being ostracised. Attempts were made to remove her son from her custody, she couldn't get writing work as a 'fallen' woman. In fact she had suffered loss many times including three of her four children. Loss was not uncommon in the early 1800s. This struggle went on for the whole of her life and she continued to strive to work as a writer which she managed but without huge success.
The fact that she is remembered for Frankenstein is slightly unfortunate but a reflection of her nature in that her early career was spent supporting her father's writing and her husband's poetry. When she was writing her big historical dramas there had been a change in fashion but she also contributed to biographical encyclopaedias.

In both the case of Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens there is an indication of what is necessary to become a good writer. They both worked hard, continually and for many years to achieve success. Some would say there is no secret just 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.

God Bless

Poetry Thursday 292 - Are you ready?

I've been fortunate to have lived a long time and on that journey have seen many people die. There are all sorts of trite statements that are supposed to be supportive or explanatory when discussing the death of a friend or loved one but as those who have had the experience know, it is a personal space that grief thrusts you into and wholly individual in nature.
Over a two week period, significant only because of Christmas, a number of people from our church family have died.




Are You Ready?
Are you ready?If called have you prepared for the ending?The longer spent on the path the more footprints that have been left.The young leave fewer but more clearly defined,whereas with age the shapes weather and blur.Both are significant.
Are you ready?The passing spreads as ripples on a pond when a stone is dropped.Each concentric wave envelopes its crowd of spectators.As the spread increases so the crowd itself thins,marking the passage of time.
Are you ready?None are immune although the media seems to be suggesting otherwise.Have you conducted yourself with love and gentleness throughout the journey?Then your final steps will be met with love and regret,marking the quality of your sojourn.
Be ready.As the where and when are rarely predictable,your daily conduct is informative.Live your life on the daily walk,draw others along your path.Guide and follow in equal measure as humility should be the backdrop to your journey.Decorate your scenery with care.©David L Atkinson January 2018


God Bless

Tuesday Food Blog - Witches' Brew Chowder

Back again having had a busy weekend. I decided to have petit pois soup for lunch and discovered that there is a recipe for Witches' Brew chowder, so I decided to adapt the tin of soup I had into something suitable for a flying female magician.

Witches' Brew Chowder
Now if you want to be a purist then create your own petit pois soup base but frankly the quality of specialist soups is so high that opening a tin can be a serious option.
Ingredients
1 can of Morrison's Petit Pois and Asparagus soup1 small onion, chopped2 rashers of bacon, chopped and fried1 tsp garlic saltsalt and pepper
Method
Fry the chopped onion and bacon with the garlic salt and pepper. After the bacon has browned (you could roast it separately) add the soup and heat thoroughly.Serve.
This soup is extra tasty for the additions, but you could go further by adding other veg such as celery, carrots or potato. I was tempted to add a couple of handfuls of rice to make a pilaf but felt that the soup was thick enough anyway and I would have had to add water which would have diluted the flavours.
Making meals from soup is not knew but for those less confident with their cooking this is an easy way to create a beautifully tasty meal with a great name - Witches' Brew Chowder.
God Bless

Poetry Thursday 291 - Best of Friends

An interesting couple of days that had little to do with Christmas (not quite nothing). There was a blog page set up on Wordpress called One Girl and Her Dog - https://onegirlandherdog.blog/ ; then there was Mr Bojangles by Robbie Williams. The words are excellent, simple but poignant for dog lovers.



Best of Friends
Close and panting, looking for approval,your best friend wags – tail or docked.Their love is everlasting and unconditional,their presence forever in the memory locked.
The embodiment of trust and loyalty,when they die it will lay you low.They will astonish with range of ability,but their loss is a bitter blow.
Enjoy their company and delight in the funyou will have with your faithful mate.The loss of your friend when their life’s runis something you’d rather not contemplate.   ©David L Atkinson January 2018


The picture of the boxer is a pretty close match to the dog I had as a
child.

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Mr BojanglesRobbie WilliamsI knew a man Bojangles
And he'd dance for you
In worn out shoesWith silver hair a ragged shirt
And baggy pants
He would do the old soft shoeHe would jump so high
Jump so high
Then he lightly touch downHe told me of the time he worked with
Minstrel shows travelling
Throughout the southHe spoke with tears of fifteen years
How his dog and he
They would travel about.But his dog up and died
He up and died
And after twenty years he still grievedHe said "I dance now
At every chance in the Honky Tonks
For my drinks and tipsBut most the time I spend
Behind these country bars
You see on I drinks a bit"It comes to an end shortly afterwards but if you want to enjoy the whole song use the link belowhttps://youtu.be/ZhmCYHeAFhw
God Bless