Idiom #2
No Comments »31st July, 2006; Category: Idioms
This week’s idiom is
“the lion’s share”
This saying means the greater or larger part of something, as in ‘the fat boy ate the lion’s share of the cake.’
Its origin is quite interesting. Until I did some research on this I was unaware that this saying has its origins in an Aesop fable.
Wikipedia explains the fable like this:
In the fable, a lion, fox, jackal, and wolf go hunting, successfully killing a deer. It is divided into four parts; the lion taking the first quarter because he is king of the beasts, the second quarter because he is the arbiter (presumably, of who gets which portions of the deer), the third quarter because of his help in catching the deer, and finally, the fourth quarter for his superior strength.
See also my article “What is an idiom?”
Short Fiction #6 Early Morning Delivery
Early Morning Delivery
A sudden knock woke James.
He stumbled to the door.
“Yes? Whaddaya want?â€
It took him several seconds to focus on the woman on the doorstep.
“YOU!†he hissed. “What… how… who gave you my address?â€
Finally she spoke.
“This, I believe, is yours,†she said as she thrust a baby into his arms.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2006 Trevor W. Hampel
Read more of my short fiction and poetry here.
Poem #3
No Comments »28th July, 2006; Category: Poetry
Morning Mist
Mist in the morning,
Mist in the valley,
Flowing silently
Over mountain ridges
Down into valleys.
Hovering, dampening,
Evil and close.
Sunlight
Weak and cold,
Meekly trying
To brighten the day.
No bird sings.
No creature stirs.
All is silent
Cold and damp.
I shiver
And sullenly tramp
On through the wet grass,
Down through the gloom
Of the valley ahead.
A lone magpie
Bravely carols a greeting
And I courageously
Shout in reply
But my words
Only echo
Mockingly
As a flurry of feathers
Tell of my departing friend.
But the spell has been broken.
The mist
Like a stealthy ghost
Slips silently away,
Quickly enveloped
By the strengthening glow
Of the new day’s sun.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2006 Trevor W. Hampel.
Unintentional War Blogging
One of the blogs I read several times a week is Melly’s blog called All Kinds of Writing. The author writes about all kinds of things including life, the art of writing and the business of writing.
Melly lives with her husband in Toronto, Canada, but many of her family live in a war zone. They are right in the thick of it in Haifa, northern Israel. She recently decided that she needed to be with her family in these troubled times, so she flew to Israel.
She has continued to write her blog – with bombs falling all around her. And when the bombs stop, she has the courage to take photos of their impact on everyday life. She has posted a number of these photos already. Her writing gives the reader a graphic idea of what it is like to have a war in your face and personal, and how it affects the ordinary people and the everyday problems it causes.