Adventures with Meps 'n' Barry » Current Events

Candy. Crushes. Competition.

meps — Sat, 28 Mar 2015 23:55:10 +0000

I am glad to have worldwide acclaim,
In the self-published, dog-eat-dog game,
It’s my title, thank god,
That is prize-winning odd,
Not my writing, my looks, or my name.

The BBC ran a teaser with “Candy crushes competition” as the headline

I don’t know whether to be excited or embarrassed.

WhenÂ The Bookseller announced that Strangers Have the Best Candy has received the Diagram Award for the Oddest Book Title of the Year, they said there was no cash award, just a “passable bottle of claret” awaiting me in London.Â However, their news release said that agents and publishers “are tipping it to be the ‘hot book’ at the forthcoming London Book Fair.” Is this an example of British humour (sic), or are they serious?

Light entertainment

meps — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:08:15 +0000

All our plans for the evening were made,
When our friend, Ken, who crews on the Jade,
Made us just chuck them all,
For he gave us a call,
And said, “Come on, be IN the parade!”

Brunswick lighted boats, ready for the parade

You may ask, what were our plans for the evening? We had dressed up in Santa hats to watch the parade from shore! A huge thank-you to Pete, Ken, Deb, and Chuck for letting me practice my parade wave.

The experience brought back memories of the first (and last) time we cruised in a lighted boat parade, in 2003 in New Orleans. I wrote a limerick about that, too — one of my first!

Soggy Seattle homecoming

meps — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:48:34 +0000

They held extra rain in the sky,
Until I arrived in July,
A serious bummer,
Because in the summer
Seattle should be warm and dry.

Did you guys save this rain just for me? You shouldn’t have!

—

How the West was wet

meps — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:49:04 +0000

As the day breaks, a beautiful hush
Hangs o’er breathtaking fields, oh so lush,
But this deceptive green,
Is the most ever seen,
For the rain’s turned the whole place to mush.

Sometimes it’s the colors that tell the real story, and it’s a tragedy. Driving along, enjoying the lovely green fields in North Dakota and Montana, we suddenly realized: It’s not supposed to be green here! And those blue waters? The ones over the road? They’re not supposed to be here, either.

A rancher in Montana yesterday told us about digging a post hole on top of a rocky hill and coming back, two days later, to find it half-full of water. “It hasn’t rained, has it?” he asked his Dad, incredulous. “Nope.” In all their lives, folks have never seen the ground this saturated. Many folks couldn’t plant their crops. The ones who did say their hay’s not forming heads and ripening.

Our pictures show blue skies, puffy clouds, and vast green fields. The news organizations’ photos show tragic flooding and families fleeing their homes. Both capture the truth of 2011.

Here’s where we crossed the Mississippi.

And here’s some of the flooding along I-94.

The following super-green photos were taken at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

Pud muddle

meps — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:32:16 +0000

We were driving from Durham to ocean,
When we happened upon a commotion.
All the folks in a huddle,
Had been stopped by the puddle,
But it did not impede our car’s motion.

I’d been worried, unable to sleep,
For I feared that my friend’s trusty Jeep,
Might get stranded and drown,
In that flood, murky brown,
But the water was 2 inches deep!

At an ice cream shop in Vanceboro, North Carolina, the woman behind the counter told us she had to be rescued from her house that morning by boat. When we asked about any flooding on US 17 to the south, she said, dramatically, “The water is over the road up that way — and it’s rising.” Concerned, we hurried through our ice cream and got back on the road. We found the flooding, one block away. It was just a big puddle.
-30-

Bovine political statement

meps — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:07:50 +0000

Here in sunny Nebraska, this morn
There’s a steer who is feeling forlorn,
He looks up and says, “Moo!”
Which means, “Hi, how are you?
I like grass, pleeeeeease don’t make me eat corn.”

Driving through CAFO country is enough to turn anyone vegetarian…

Claire’s birthday present

meps — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:05:30 +0000

If you think that equality’s great,
And you wish for a world free from hate,
And you have curly hair,
And your first name is Claire,
Here’s your present! It’s just one day late.

Claire’s birthday was the day before the inauguration of Barack Obama. The photo above is Obama’s official presidential portrait, which we’ll be seeing in federal buildings while he is in office. It’s the first presidential portrait taken with a digital camera.

Pitchin’ and moanin’

meps — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:20:57 +0000

Now there once was a feller, McCain,
And he took matching funds to campaign.
Now Barack has the dough
For his own TV show,
Which makes baseball fans loudly complain.

Speaking of complaining, Barry rolled his eyes and said no more political entries in our Adventures blog. But he just can’t stop me from limerickin’!

What’s in the Clinton Presidential Library?

meps — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:31:57 +0000

Oh, there once was a fellow named Bill,
And he thought being Prez was a thrill.
So he saved every note,
That his staff ever wrote,
Which now poses a problem for Hill.

Boo hoo ha ha

meps — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:00:54 +0000

When the big female candidate cried,
People said, “The ex-president’s bride
Is not really tough,
And campaigning is rough.”
But it brought voters o’er to her side.