Growing up in Indiana I learned at a young age to play Euchre. Lunch time would be spent playing Euchre with friends. We would have tournaments. And we would laugh. Euchre is a game of many rules. Some are determined by Hoyle (my father was a stickler for playing "according to Hoyle") and others are not. We would play "No Face, No Ace" which meant you could call a misdeal if you had no face cards and no aces. Others would allow a misdeal even if you had aces. Sometimes they would play a version referred to as "Low No" in which there was no trump suit and the low card would win the hand. In addition to funky rules we had our own set of superstitions. You never cut the cards - "cut your luck" and the score cards were only the 4 and 6 of spades and hearts - never the clubs and diamonds. As for score cards it was considered bad luck to have "the horse riding the jockey" that is the 6 on top of the 4. A "loner" hand is when you play and your partner and their cards don't. The advantage is that if you get all the cards then instead of getting 2 points you get 4. That is a big deal when you are only playing to 10. Some people would gloat a bit which was OK but you never wanted to be mean about it because Karma will make you pay. Which is what happens when you make a suit trump by "ordering up" the card the dealer turned up on their deal and then failing to get 3 tricks. That is called being Euchred and the winning team gets 2 points! When the other team was on the verge of winning, needing only one more point, they would announce (with great bravado) that the barn door was open and the cows were coming home. When they would win, especially if by a substantial margin, they would "milk the cow". This is of course a silly thing but it is done nonetheless - one partner laces their fingers together with their thumbs pointing down and the other pulls on the dangling thumbs. You would think I'm describing the antics of middle school card players but YOU. WOULD. BE. WRONG!

We played in the church Euchre Tournament. Each person is given a number and must rotate to another table based on your number. That way you have a different partner every game. They play 8 games and you record the points your team won on your score cards (you also have to turn in the table score card). At the end of play they tally up the scores and a tournament winner is determined. The entry fee is a $10 gift card. The winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) are given gift cards and the lowest score is given a prize too. The person with the most "loners" gets a prize as well. Sparky came in second place and I tied for 3rd place. Sparky got a $25 gift card to Martins and a $25 gift card to Starbucks! I got a $25 gift card to Bath and Body Works. But even more importantly, we had fun and we laughed. I got to play with some people I'd only seen at church and had never talked to. That made it even better!

If you have never played Euchre (pronounced you-cur) there is a good description at Euchre for Dummies

I know I've made lots of orbs and some of them start to look alike. But they all look different to me. This one is a repeat of an orb that bit the dust when Sparky sent it bouncing down the basement stairs. It is called Solisphaera helianthiformis. The initial piece was glazed in Atomic purple which is a pale lavender color. It tends to be a thick glaze and generally obscures any fine detail. I used it because I liked the color but it really wasn't the best choice. It had been bumped by a cleaning lady I had at one time and had lost a spike. I was able to glue it back on but I couldn't sell it in good conscience. Someone had liked it so I did another one that ended up in the Student Faculty Show as part of an installation titled "Three Amoebas". It didn't win but a couple people were amused by the title. After the show ended I was approached with an offer to purchase just the Solisphaera helianthiformis piece. I sold it. It had been glazed in Tomato on the surface of the orb and all the spines were done in Red Iron Oxide stain. Which bring us to this iteration of the coccolith. It is glazed in Super T on the surface of the orb with Oribe on the spines. I like the way it looks. It has a more aquatic feel and is lighter. It makes me think that it really could be floating through the ocean waters...

Standing on the fringe of sanity
The prospect of jumping
Repeated flash, an impulse
Especially attractive when viewed
Sans glasses or when
Squinting into the sun
Eventually I scroll past the thought
Decide insanity is overrated

This is an acrostic poem for the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 using prompt #26 - Use the words: prospect, scroll, fringe, glasses, flash. That completes my Scavenger Hunt. I managed to get it done before April. April of course is National Poetry Month where everyone is urged to write a poem a day. I'm sure some of you think the writing a poem a day would be very stressful. I however find that writing poetry is relaxing and helps relieve the stresses I'm experiencing at work.

Speaking of stress, it has reached a fever pitch. It reminds me of a Sci-Fi show I saw on TV. It might have been the Twilight Zone or maybe it was the Outer Limits... There are a group of people trapped in a room with a gun on a table (Some alien entity has put them there for a social experiment). There is only one way to escape - die. The problem is that there are fewer bullets than people. The choice is to commit murder and be left alive and thus forfeit their own life. They stand around the table tensely staring at the gun and at each other. Arguing and pleading and discussion take place. Time is running out but no one wants to grab the gun. Finally they are unable to act and time is up. They all live because no one was willing to kill the others. So that's what it is like for me at work... yeah, lots of fun.

So a few weeks ago I mentioned that Sparky knocked some of my orbs off the shelf and bounced them down the stairs. That resulted in a mess and the loss of some of my art. I was a little sad but I've taken the opportunity to have a redo. Some of the pieces did not look exactly the way I'd have preferred. I have made the second version and hopefully improved on the final result. The first one is Pontospheara japonica. I made this one a long time ago and the glaze was meh. Since it couldn't be salvaged I did it again...
This is the one that bit the dust. The glaze is pretty bland and it was too thick and obscured the details.

I used a thin coat of Phil's Celadon with the background being a contaminated batch of Royal Blue glaze. I had hoped that the background color would be a more vibrant blue. Still it is a vast improvement over the previous effort.

Maneuver between the lines
I’ve never been good at parallel parking
Take heed the no parking signs
The mall lot spot I’m marking
I’ll find the car without the key fob barking

This poem is a Lira - a Spanish form or 5 lines per stanza with a strict syllable count of 7/11/7/7/11. To make it just that much more difficult it also requires a rhyme scheme of a/b/a/b/b. Yep. This is my offering for the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 using prompt #24 - Use the phrase “I’ve never been good at parallel parking”. I have just one more prompt after this one! I'm very excited.

Of course you are wondering what the title of the blog has to do with my poem. Well to be honest, and I'm in the habit of honesty, the title refers to my work week. We are facing a Tsunami of chaos. It is just past Spring Break. All of the students who signed up for undergraduate research have just realized that they have to complete their projects, collect and analyze their data and produce a poster to be presented. The first wave of panicked students has crashed into my email. They have forgotten the password for their online training account. They need the instructions (again please) for submitting their occupational health forms. Oh and by the way, I want to start my project tomorrow so where can I get 20 fish. Yeah. no. It doesn't work that way. You have to be added to a protocol. The protocol won't be approved until you finish the training and the occupational health requirements. You can't get access to the animals until you take the facility tour. Occupational health forms are reviewed every Wednesday. Tours are given every Tuesday and Thursday. It doesn't just happen with an email and a wave of my hand. I should have this wave sorted out in time for the second wave. The first wave are the smart and motivated kids who just forgot. The second wave are all the slackers who got by with this kind of slapdash work on the basis of their last name, their athletic prowess, or their good looks. They are soon to learn a tough life lesson. There are no short cuts and no exceptions to the rules. They usually sort themselves into the "I've better get on it if I want to stay out of trouble" group and the "Oh well, Dad will fix it for me" group. You can pretty much guess which ones will get a passing grade and which ones will either drop the class or leave the university in disgrace. Of course there is the third wave. They ask for help but never follow through. They are the goners. The university tries to mentor the students and provides lots and lots of academic assistance. However there is a point where the student must take responsibility.

Sparky and I usually eat out once a week. Generally it isn't any place fancy unless you count Taco Bell or Chick-fil-a as fancy restaurants. However we do on occasion eat at a more upscale establishment - Cheddar's Scratch Kitchens. This is one of our favorite places. They have a variety of tasty menu selections. My favorite has always been their barbecue ribs. This week after a particularly grueling day, I suggested we eat out. We ended up at Cheddar's. I ordered the ribs. Sparky ordered the veggie plate which comes with a soup or salad and 4 side dishes. I gave him half my ribs and he gave me one of his sides. Usually the ribs are "fall off the bone" tender but not this time. They were tough. The kind of tough that results in gnawing the bones in an attempt to get some meat loosened. I realize that eating out is a business transaction. They give me food and I give them money. But I felt like they had broken a promise. They promised me tender ribs and I promised to keep coming back - even when they raised the price by $2.00. But now I'm not so sure we can remain friends. We did eat and we did pay the bill. We even gave the server a nice tip. Yet I've got a lingering feeling that the trust is gone. I suppose I can overlook this breach of contract and betrayal of expectations, the broken promise, this once. But if this happens again the friendship is over. The damage has been done. The pictures of our plates don't really tell the story. Sparky took 5 of his 7 ribs home and I added 4 of my portion. We will have a nice 2nd meal if you count the baked potato and the black beans... That's why the plates look so empty!

This post satisfies the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 prompt #25 - Include a broken promise. Sadly the meal didn't satisfy...

Gather clothing to see what fits
Reject spandex and clinging knits
This place becomes my fashion’s tomb
Nothing more than a dressing room

A small closet without a chair
Try on clothes and get static hair
Disappointment adds to the gloom
Nothing more than a dressing room

The door won’t latch as I undress
Nothing fits there won’t be success
Hang up clothes and my hunt resume
Nothing more than a dressing room

Tiny cubicle contained hope
Thirty outfits and all were “nope”
Failed shopping self-esteem consume
Nothing more than a dressing room

We are coming up to the warm time of the year. All the stores are advertising their new spring clothes. I freely admit that I shop second hand. At least I know that the clothes will hold up - they have survived to make it to the thrift store after all. I do enjoy shopping for clothes but I don't always like trying them on. There are a couple stores that have horrible dressing rooms. K-Mart, Sears, Penney's, and Target are pretty sad. Mostly because the rooms are so small that there is no room for a chair. They make my closet at home look spacious. You have to hang your coat and purse over the door or put them on the floor. Some have an awkward bench built in that doesn't help. Even though I'm not a fan of those dressing rooms I refuse to use others. Francesca's dressing rooms have a weak curtain. It doesn't cover the opening completely. No way on the planet am I trying anything on there. The same for Tiger Imports. The newly remodeled Goodwill stores are nice because they have finally made the dressing rooms bigger! There are a couple of stores that get kudos for their dressing rooms. Kohl's has big rooms with a chair and multiple hooks and rods for all the things you want to try on. Christopher & Banks has great dressing rooms too but I've never wanted to pay that much for a jacket.

This is my Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 using prompts #22 - Discuss a closet, #23 - Use a dressing room. I wrote the poem as a kyrielle. A kyrielle is a 4 stanza poem with 4 lines per stanza and 8 syllables per line. The last line of the first stanza is the refrain. The rhyme scheme is aabB, ccbB, ddbB, eebB.

Don’t call me petulant. I have every reason to be unhappy. It isn’t a choice to shave or not to shave my head. To be bald or not to be bald. It is a luxury I can’t afford. Celebrities wear sunglasses to disguise themselves. I wear them to disguise the eyes of the people staring at me with my bald head. No one wants to ask and I don’t want to tell all the minutia and trivia connected with chemotherapy. To be or not to be, that is the question. I’m fighting to be. I want to stay on the ground. The stratosphere of heaven doesn’t yet appeal to me. I stare into the mirror watching my iris shrink as my pupil grows. I hold that lock of hair tightly and ferociously saw at it with the scissors. It isn’t out of spite that I cut off my own hair. I will cherish it. It will be saved. Curled and cozy. I will save it. It will save me.

This is a prose poem for the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 using several prompts - #17 - Use the words: trivia, sunglasses, stratosphere, petulant, #18 - Discuss shaving your head, #19 - Include a quote from Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, #21 - Use the words: cozy, lock, spite, iris. Prose poems combine poetic elements with the appearance of prose. It often contains traces of metrical structure or verse.

No, I don't have cancer. I do however know people who have had or currently are battling cancer. The side effects of chemotherapy are often very unpleasant. Patients deal with nausea, aches and pains, loss of appetite, and a myriad of other unpleasant consequences. The most psychologically devastating for many women is the loss of their hair. Some cope with wigs or scarves. Others wear hats. And a few brave women walk tall with bald heads.

I've lost a lot of weight. I didn't however go on a diet per se. I simply counted my calories (and I still so) and allowed myself to eat what ever I wanted as long as I stopped when I hit my limit. If I wanted a Milky Way bar (270 calories) I could have it. I never felt deprived nor did I crave "forbidden" foods. I went on the diet at the prompting of my physician in an effort to drop weight and more importantly reduce my cholesterol. I cut out cheese and eggs. I have added them back in moderation. But to the point of this post - I work with a bunch of women who off and on go on extreme diets.

I've seen them try the Paleo Diet where they couldn't eat processed food, refined sugars, dairy, beans, and grains. Instead they were limited to grass-fed meats, fish/seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, nuts, and seeds. The way they drooled and snarled when a box of doughnuts appeared was truly frightening. Then there was the South Beach Diet. Oy. The first couple of weeks don't allow many carbohydrates so they restrict breads, fruits and many vegetables - at least the good ones. You can have all the eggplant, leafy greens, peppers, tomatoes and zucchini you want to eat along with your cheese, lean beef, and white meat chicken! I thought the Paleo Diet made them "hangry" but I was wrong. The South Beach Diet made them crazy. Then a couple of them went on the whole 30 diet plan. This was ridiculous. They explained it to me as NO dairy, sugar, grains, legumes, alcohol, smoking, soy or food additives. They became like women possessed. They managed to hold on for about 12 days before they broke down and had a coke and some M&Ms. It was a relief for the rest of us when they went back to eating Weight Watchers frozen entrees.

We about died when one of the girls tried the Cabbage Soup Diet. It was kind of involved but allowed for the consumption of massive amounts of cabbage soup and limited amounts of certain fruits and vegetables. She did lose weight but I think it was mostly from the evacuation of her entire digestive system. We all lost weight too, especially if we ventured near the bathroom on our way to the break room! The current diet is called the Rainbow Diet. It seems to be a very extreme diet and is only meant as a short term kind of thing. I'm pretty sure this is their way of distracting themselves from the chaos at work. Perhaps it is an effort to regain some control over their lives. The diet rules state that you can only eat foods that are of the color of the day. It is based on the colors of the rainbow (ROY G BIV): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. However they combine blue/indigo/violet into one and add white and black. The diet also restricts the quantity of the food. I don't know their motivations but it is certainly a distraction to the rest of us as they nibble on 2 strawberries and 5 raspberries and drink a tiny cup of pomegranate juice. I'm guessing they might make it to yellow or possibly green. When will the madness end?!!?

I kind of cheated on this Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017. I had written this post and then went back and tried to figure out a way to work in a prompt... so here is prompt #27 - Discuss a distraction.

Tiny dots of eggs in neat rows
Dark omens of the adolescent pupa
Her wings crumpled and still

Voraciously they scalloped leaf edges
Growing caterpillar chaos escaped from
Tiny dots of eggs in neat rows

Each body fat gorging on rose leaves
Becomes slow and muddy hardening
Dark omens of the adolescent pupa

The cocoon hides the miracle
Until it bursts open to reveal
Her wings crumpled and still

There is a cycle to this life. In fact there is a cycle in everything we do and nearly everything that lives in this world. From the water cycle that dictates that water falls from the sky, is evaporated by the sun and then condenses and falls again to that complicated Krebs cycle that is the source of energy in living cells produced in the mitachondria! I like to think that here is also a cycle connected to forgiveness. It is where you need forgiveness and give forgiveness and then get forgiveness and so on and so on in an endless cycle. I wrote this casacade poem where there is a kind of cycle in that each line of the first stanza becomes the last line of subsequent stanzas. I used the Winter Scavenger Hunt 2017 prompt #16 - Include the life cycle of an insect.