Flustered Duck

An elderly woman with a blue scarf over her hair wearing a red-trimmed green/grey shawl over a white-aproned dark skirt is seated at a folding table busy with some handcraft while a young girl with a long braid of fair hair down her back is kneeling beside her looking out through the window. The girl is wearing a long-sleeved striped gown and a red-backed waistcoat with a grey (?fur) trim. The window is covered by sheer lacy curtains and has potplants on the sill. A dark grandfather clock is behind the woman in the corner and there is a dark wooden chest of drawers to one side with a white lacy cloth on its top as well as a red-velvet covered, gold trimmed casket, a small blue vase and a large oil lamp. A landscape painting is on the wall above the chest. The walls and floor are uncovered wood. Image by Jacob Gløersen (1852–1912) from Wikimedia Commons.

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Image: Jacob Gløersen (1852–1912). #jumblepublishing #publishing #selfpublishing #editing #jacobgløersen

Halloween by Lindsay Turner Some yellow sunflowers open down the street, A ladder is open beneath someone’s apple tree. Beneath a dead sky the contours are flattened. So the land of the dead is closer today. The land of the d…

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At the bottom of a manuscript page, stretching out of a gold rectangle with an inner blue frame, a lean brown quadruped is stretching out daintily with one hind leg extending out of the rectangle. It has a tufted tail and a very narrow head with a boar-like snout and tusks. It has extremely long and pointed green horns flexing in different directions. It has small pointed ears and appears to be smiling. Image from British Library, Royal MS 12 C XIX, folio 30r.

This may be my favourite illustration of the yale, although its colour doesn't match the "black" of the description. I love the way its exaggerated horns actually appear to be moving and its dainty pose. It is from a British bestiary dated to c1200-1210. #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #yale

Bats by Paisley Rekdal unveil themselves in dark. They hang, each a jagged, silken sleeve, from moonlit rafters bright as polished knives. They swim the muddled air and keen like supersonic babies, the sound we imagine e…

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A very cow-like black beast with large white antler-style horns, one facing forward and one facing backward. It seems to be posing prettily on brown grass against a red background with occasional gold spots. It is looking sideways with a definite smirk. It is in a gilt frame on a manuscript page. Image from Bibliothèque Municipale de Valenciennes, MS 320 (Liber de natura rerum), folio 62v.

This medieval yale has an unusual set of horns in that they are branched like antlers, although they are still pointing in different directions. It is from an encyclopaedia written by Thomas de Cantimpré (1201-1272) around 1240. #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #yale

There Are Birds Here by Jamaal May For Detroit There are birds here, so many birds here is what I was trying to say when they said those birds were metaphors for what is trapped between buildings and buildings. No. The birds are her…

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A smiling bulky black quadruped with very long pointed horns, one facing forward and one backward, lying on a brown hill with a flying creature (it has the white head and body of a rooster joined to the curled brown end of a serpent) pecking at the top of its head. The black creature seems to have a ruff and has a blunt snout. Image from Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ms-3516 (L'Image du monde / Bestiaire of Pierre de Beauvais), folio 206v.

The medieval yale was also described as being black and its only known enemy was the basilisk as shown in this image from a bestiary by Pierre de Beauvais dated to the 13th century. #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #yale

The Scarecrow by Kahlil Gibran Once I said to a scarecrow, “You must be tired of standing in this lonely field.” And he said, “The joy of scaring is a deep and lasting one, and I never tire of it.” Said I, after a minute of thou…

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A slightly dappled silvery-coloured quadruped with very long and slender pointed horns. One horn is pointed over the beast's back and the other points over its head. It has a boar-like snout with small tusks as well as a horse-like mane. It has a whip-like tail. Image from Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod.gall. 16 (Psalter of Isabelle of France), folio 38r.

Our medieval beast this week is the yale. It described as being the size of a horse with long flexible horns which it can move in any direction. It also has the tail of an elephant and the jaws of a boar. This image is from Isabelle of France's Psalter, dated 1303-1308. #medievalbeasts #yale

Corvid Fantasies by Adrian Flores Ballard I went for a walk in the woods at night Wrapped in a cold chill’s grasp amongst the alpine wilderness Where shadows loom large and ebon dreams take flight. Seduced by excitement, trembling with fri…

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In the light of a large window in an otherwise dark room, a dark-haired woman is working on a large dark-framed loom. She is looking down at the fabric she is weaving and is obviously intent on her work. Her hair is covered by a red scarf and she has another red scarf arranged over her white top and is wearing a white skirt or white apron. A younger woman, also wearing a red scarf over her dark hair, is seated to the side of the loom winding thread. She is dressed in a red bodice over a white blouse and a light brown skirt with a wide black stripe above the light brown ruffle. There is a bench in front of the loom upon which a fringed red shawl and a black shawl have been thrown. Image by Pedro Weingärtner (1853–1929) from Wikimedia Commons.

A painting by Pedro Weingärtner (1853–1929) is our writing prompt today. Are you going to focus on one of these two women? Or is your story going to focus on why they are working? And what they are making? #writingprompts #writinglife #writingtips #pedroweingärtner #artworks

Indifference by Daniel Fuller I do not find the height so sad anymore, not lately with the mist, so poorly attached, as it is, to the ground where she stands —even the grey rain is blackened by this affliction, pried from the v…

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Book cover.

"Murder Two Doors Down" by Chuck Storla is a cozy mystery featuring an insurance fraud investigator who finds himself investigating a murder in his suburban subdivision to stop himself being framed. #bookrecommendations #tbrlist #cozymystery #murdertwodoorsdown #chuckstorla

Crewelwork by Leslie Williams With more persistent stitchery I might breach the red intelligence of berries taking French-knot shapes among embroidered leaves, or bring a spirit hovering in the satin-stitch of a hummingbird’s s…

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In the foreground, seated side-on at a table, a smiling young woman, dressed in dark clothes, with fair hair worn in a single braid pinned around her head is rocking a wide wooden cradle where a bonneted baby is lying beneath a patterned red blanket. To the left, also at the table but seated on a wooden settle, three women are seated drinking from white cups while talking. The nearest woman is young with fair hair in a single braind wound around her head, wearing a bright red skirt and a white-collared dark top. The other two women are much older with black scarves completely covering their hair and dark dresses. On the far side of the table, two children are talking, one drinking out of a saucer and the other holding a cup. A window is behind the table and looks out onto a white building. Image by Hugo Salmson (1843-1894) from Wikimedia Commons.

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Image: Hugo Salmson (1843-1894) #jumblepublishing #publishing #selfpublishing #editing #hugosalmson

Bug-out Bag by Nicholas Montemarano We packed nuts, dried fruit, canned Spam. We packed pepper spray and playing cards. We packed passports. We packed matches and a hatchet, never mind that we’d never built a fire or killed for food.…

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In a gilt-edged frame against a red background, a brown bird with a gold beak is eating grass towards the left. The texture of its feathers is shown by a variety of patterns and it has a fairly long tail. Image from Lippische Landesbibliothek, Ms. 70 (Der Naturen Bloeme), folio 66r.

Our fourth different medieval anthus is again from a 1287 edition of "Der Naturen Bloeme". All the images I have been able to find of the anthus have been from "Der Naturen Bloeme" or "Liber de natura rerum". #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #anthus

On Being Awake at 5 A.M. by Stuart Buck some days my sadness is so magnificent that an acrid taste lingers in the mouth of the night and i think about the thousand ways that i might die and i think about the birds. From: Date: 2019 By: S…

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In an elaborate rectangular frame on a manuscript page, a red-brown bird with a very long neck and very large white feet is facing left and eating what is supposed to be grass but looks like worms. Stylised trees are visible on both sides. Image from Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16 (Der Naturen Bloeme), folio 77r.

The medieval anthus was said to eat grass which was the reason it was in such conflict with the horse. This anthus is yet another style of bird. It dates from 1350 and is from another edition of "Der Naturen Bloeme" by Jacob van Maerlant (c1235-c1291). #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #anthus

The Fox-Haired Seer Makes A Pilgrimage to Devil’s Elbow, NY, Where in 1932 A Steam-Shovel Operator Discovered the Skull of an Axe-Murdered Young Woman; and Listens by Fox Henry Frazier Not unlike the Vestals in their forced walks across Rome to prove their bodies unviolated by men, I conduct my promenade these nights: my body both water and sieve, both returned to the earth and i…

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A large grey-winged, green body parrot-like bird faces left between text to a trotting horse which is mostly outlined, although there seems to be pale shading. The bird seems taller than the horse. Image from British Library, Additional MS 11390 (Der Naturen Bloeme), folio 41r.

This particular anthus from an early 14th century manuscript of "Der Naturen Bloeme" looks like a parrot highlighting the extreme vagueness of the bird's description in medieval manuscript. #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #anthus

The Colonised Mind by Jemshed Khan What any colonial system does: impose its tongue on the subject races. —Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “Decolonising the Mind” For me, it is already done: My parents’ ghazals shushed an…

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In a square frame on a manuscript page, against a gold-spotted red background, a very angry-looking grey/black crow-style bird is attacking a blue-grey galloping horse which is giving the bird the stink eye. Image from Bibliothèque Municipale de Valenciennes, MS 320 (Liber de natura rerum), folio 101r.

Our medieval creature this week is the anthus. It is described as a small bird which fought horses as in this 13th century illustration from "Liber de natura rerum" by Thomas de Cantimpré (1201-c1272). #medievalbeasts #medievalmanuscripts #thomasdecantimpré #anthus

Book Like My Woman by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda Although she tried to conceal it, I looked at her spine first; Like a library book, she is often handled but never checked out—never judge a paperback by the front cover. Flipping towards our intro…

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A somewhat dark scene showing a red-brown rowboat, almost hidden by tall green reeds, tied up at a rudimentary dock beside a pasture. A path is shown leading through the pasture behind the dock, disappearing through a stand of large green trees. A brown beast (probably a cow) is grazing in the pasture on the left and the pasture seems surrounded by trees with a large hill in the distance and a shadowy white house just visible beyond the trees. Over all is a blue sky studded with white clouds and streaked with the yellow of sunrise or sunset. Image by Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901) from Wikimedia Commons.

This painting by Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901) is our writing prompt this week. What sort of story are you going to write in this setting? #writingprompts #writinglife #writingtips #edwardmitchellbannister #artworks

Chronicles 2023 by Tamara J. Madison Again they are banning books, threatening prosecution, hiding behind their illusions– self-loathing they assign to others, as if: trees do not remember the shame of bodies swinging from their branc…

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Book cover.

"Dead & Breakfast" by Kat Hillis and Rosiee Thor is a cozy mystery featuring a married vampire couple running a bed and breakfast who find the local mayor in their begonias. #bookrecommendations #tbrlist #deadandbreakfast #kathillis #rosieethor #cozymystery

A Blurry Photograph by Martha Ronk The tree azalea overwhelms the evening with its scent, defining everything and the endless fields. Walking away, suddenly, it slices off and is gone. The visible object blurs open in front of you, …

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Don't know whether to laugh or groan there but, hey, think of the damage a pair of skates can do...

In a cave, an elf with a long brown beard and flowing brown locks, wearing a red beanie, an enveloping cream-coloured smock and thigh-length brown boots, is seated on some rocks working on a very large red (and probably magical) red sword. Some tools are scattered around him. A large blue shape, possibly a distant mountain, is visible through the cave opening. The painting looks blurry. Image by August Malmström (1829–1901) from Wikimedia Commons.

Instead of waiting for a mythical creature to arrive, let Jumble Publishing and Editing (jumblepublishing.com) help you with your editing and self-publishing.
Image: August Malmström (1829–1901) #jumblepublishing #publishing #selfpublishing #editing #augustmalmström #artworks