John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. He invites us to participate in this cellphone photo prompt by creating our own CellPic Sunday post and linking it back to his.
Since I moved into my current home in 2020, I’ve been fighting a losing battle with holes in my yard. Gopher holes, mole holes, and vole holes. But I’ve recently discovered around a dozen new holes in the ground in the mulch at the back of my property. The holes are perfectly round and range in size from about a U.S. nickel to a U.S. quarter. Holes like the one below.
I believe these are spider holes, specifically tarantula spider holes, since we usually have some heavy tarantula fornication going on in our backyard during the tarantula mating season from late August through October.
I’ve been checking these holes since they started to appear to see if I could get a glimpse of a spider in one of the holes, and I have actually seen one or two, but if I bent down close enough to take a picture, they must see me with their eight little spidey eyes and disappear deeper into their spidey holes.
But this morning I set my iPhone to 10x zoom so that I wouldnt have to bend down and scare the spider deeper into the hole. And this is the result:
How many times do you respond to comments on your blog? How many tiers of comments do you think are appropriate?
I try to respond to every comment by, at least, tapping the Like button to let the blogger know that I received his or her comment and I appreciated it. If the blogger’s comment says something complimentary about my post, I’ll reply with a “thank you” comment. And if someone poses a question in their comment or responds provocatively in such a way that warrants a response, I’ll reply to that, with a comment.
As to how many tiers of comments I think are appropriate, it varies, but I rarely go more than four or five tiers. If I feel more needs to be said, I will occasionally put my responses in a post and then continue the dialogue (or diatribe) in that post.
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has asked us to find a song that includes in the lyrics “hot,” “burning,” “fire,” or “blazing, ” suggested yet again by Nancy aka The Sicilian Storyteller. The song I’m going with this week is “Summer in the City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful.
“Summer in the City” was written by John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, and Steve Boone and was recorded by the American folk-rock band the Lovin’ Spoonful and was released as a non-album single in July 1966. It was included on the album Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful later that year. The single was the Lovin’ Spoonful’s fifth to break the top ten in the U.S. and their only record to reach number 1. It was a departure from the band’s lighter sound, and it featured a harder rock style.
“Summer in the City” contrasts what it’s like to live in a large city during the day and during the night. According to the song, it’s difficult to walk around a crowded and hot city during the day, but it’s great at night because you have plenty of opportunities to chase women. This particular city is New York, where the band formed.
John Sebastian, the group’s principal song writer said that song came from an idea his brother Mark had. Mark, at 14, had composed and informally taped the song, which he titled “It’s a Different World.” Mark’s recording featured a bossa nova-like sound and rudimentary lyrics and was written in the style of soul singer Sam Cook. John expanded on Mark’s original composition, reworking the melody and replacing Mark’s laconic verses with more vital, upbeat ones.
The band was rather particular about the traffic sounds. Instead of just using what was available on the sound effects records in the studio, they found an old-school radio engineer who used to create the soundscapes for shows, so if a guy was riding a horse, you’d hear the hooves hitting the ground and the wind whistling by. This guy, whom John Sebastian referred to as a “hilarious old Jewish soundman,” came in with a huge library of street sounds, which the band went through for hours. They wanted the scene to build, so it starts softly (the horn at the beginning comes from a Volkswagen Beetle), and grows to a gridlock nightmare. To close the scene, they used a pneumatic hammer pounding away at the pavement.
Here are the lyrics to “Summer in the City.”
Hot town, summer in the city Back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty Been down, isn't it a pity? Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city All around, people lookin' half dead Walkin' on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
But at night, it's a different world Go out and find a girl Come on, come on, and dance all night Despite the heat, it'll be alright And babe, don't you know it's a pity The days can't be like the nights In the summer in the city In the summer in the city
Cool town, evening in the city Dressed so fine and lookin' so pretty Cool cat lookin' for a kitty Gonna look in every corner of the city 'Til I'm wheezing like a bus stop Runnin' upstairs, gonna meet you on the rooftop
But at night, it's a different world Go out and find a girl Come on, come on, and dance all night Despite the heat, it'll be alright And babe, don't you know it's a pity The days can't be like the nights In the summer in the city In the summer in the city
Hot town, summer in the city Back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty Been down, isn't it a pity? Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city All around, people lookin' half dead Walkin' on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
But at night, it's a different world Go out and find a girl Come on, come on, and dance all night Despite the heat, it'll be alright And babe, don't you know it's a pity The days can't be like the nights In the summer in the city In the summer in the city
Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).
Today’s word is “gem.”
Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.
Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, ÿplease manually add your link in the comments.
And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.
This, That, and the Other 