Blow, Haiku Siren, Blow!

Posted on August 22, 2018 by jhoffman

In honor of the Cradle of the American Haiku Festival, held in Mineral Point while we rollicked, Weekenders — with Haiku Helper forms and yellow whistles on hand — announced their creations:

Underwhelmed
Frank Lloyd Wright’s all right
Warehouse too much dust and must
Who needs the dumb bat
    . Tommye | Malvolian of the Year

Bean There; Done That
Thou must mind the Bunn
Else thy pot runneth over
Thou hast wet thyself
    . DD | Silver Medal

Untitled
First time Weekender
Looking forward to some fun
Great times with loved ones
    . Jennifer | Bronze Medal – Tie

 Wright Direction | A Bryku
We start with no guide
From the womb self-docenting
Where’s Bryan Schneider?
    . YOS | Bronze Medal – Tie

 + + +

Hunting lodge is nice
Not good for the animals
Eat corn no read meat
    . Mick

Mary Jo kitchen
Food always so tasty
Join us for some fun
    . Sharon

See Last Line
Opinions? You bet.
Traffic, cookies, jelly beans
Orchestrated rant
    . Deb

today
Cedar Valley Lodge
Brought us all from our homes
Food! Wine! Improv! Friends!
    . Tommye

Road trip
The date was now set
Spring Green is the next stop
Ready Set Let’s Go
     . Sharon

All the World’s
Just me and a chair?
Clock ticks. Stares. No printed sheet?
* Gulp * Planet Improv
    . YOS

Hey Doodle!
No. This isn’t right
Everybody turn around
Bucolic gridlock
    . Deb

WWW
At Cedar Valley
With a bunch of weird people
Amused and confused
    . Ed

You want to what
Oh for the improv
Let loose and let your hair down
A good time for all
    . Sharon

The syllable count.
My place in the bathroom line.
Both five seven five.
    . YOS. From “Haiku Helper”

Ha! Ha! Haiku
Meteor oh my!
The sky was quite a beauty
Tonight was the best
    . MJ, Lu, Fran, Jen, Tommye, Wayne, Mick.
      A Spiteku by the non-play goers to mock those up the Hill

Friday Night
Silent Sentinels
Late Lights Streaking Sky Wonders
Early Light White Dawn
    . Mike

Bump Trump
Trump is a road bump
So hold on till he is gone
Our people save us
    . Wayne

I need a haiku
Love you to the moon and back
Happy to be here
    . Lu

Reflections on the bathroom habits of cows
pie pie pie pie pie
cows can come and cows can go
pie pie pie, pie pie
    . Mike

Mickey
New pup in the home
And he won our hearts quickly
And likes his friend Jake
    . MJ

G—- : Renku! Haiga!
We’ve all got our own problems.
Lou Gehrig managed.
    . Deb. See “HSA Midwest News – July 2018”

Our Flyku!
Keep your spirits up
The father also rises
You can’t be grounded
    . The Collective. To Joe

Our Comedy Barn
Laugh passed hand to hand
Hitchhiked through dice and docent
Good friends all thumbs up!
    . YOS. Post-end wrap up

Afterku Haibun
On Sunday, a legation of Weekenders visited the Cradle of the American Haiku Festival in Mineral Point. We were admonished there – crossed forearm X for emphasis – that the English language is now considered too heavy for 5/7/5. Mooooon, throoough. Whatever that means. We shall ultimately ignore this warning. Meantime …

Cotton candy despair.
Ghosts of dead rainbows
On my tongue
    . DD | Haibun variation on a theme from Frogpond 37:2

Posted in 2018 – WwW XVIII, Poetry Slam | Leave a comment

Fun Knee: Evaluating 18

Posted on August 22, 2018 by jhoffman

Quote whoredom: Our Weekend Tagline

  • You just might wet yourself! | Bryan
  • The hugs are free! After you sign a waiver.
  • Deb’s reference to the owner said it all | Bob
  • So funny Deb will wet herself | Mike [Authorized 19 motto]
  • Thanks, John, ya done good! | Wayne
  • The future is now, be yourself | MJ
  • Enjoy our exciting gravel beds! | YOS

What’s the punchline? (Extra credit for referring to a fellow Weekender or feature of XVIII.)
The set up: “And the first thing I said to the surgeon after waking up from the operation was …

  • … lettuce, tomato, no onion, mayo on the side.” | Mike
  • … Doctor, how do I get this Bryan Schneider off my head?” | YOS
  • … I don’t care what Lu told you. I’m not Jewish.” | YOS
  • … it was my left arm that was broken, you goof!” | Wayne
  • … do I still have my humors? I have to participate in Deb’s improv seminar.” | MJ
  • … did you wash your hands before you started?” | Bob
  • … why was your hand there?” | Bob
  • … did Mike find his ducks?” | DD
  • … slow the f*** down.” | DD

Some thoughts/suggestions for 19

  • Zip Zap Zop ziplines | Mike
  • White Sox ballgame | Wayne
  • Breakfast cheese course. Consider scheduling with the Perseids if Weekend viewing is advantageous | Bryan
  • Water fun | MJ
  • Don’t let John do the planning | Bob
Posted in 2018 – WwW XVIII, Survey Says... | Leave a comment

A wend through Weekends past

Posted on July 20, 2018 by jhoffman

Like an internal organ distending with undiagnosable fluid, the Weekend tradition just keeps getting greater:

 

Posted in Announcements | Leave a comment

Sonnet 17

Posted on August 6, 2017 by jhoffman

MushVrooms
Our rollicking, frolicsome, Pollocky dream

She layers thinly, he is all Sakrete.
Each bared our own spirit, like woodland Pucks,
Through Weekend. And if we birthed no Magritte,
Yet we shared full joys, loves and laughing yucks

Under swaddling skies – for once not too humid:
A mid-summer play with nonstop undressing,
Wondrous meals, gardens, our Vrooman,
Then, as if to grade school art class, regressing.

A fungus flourishes with fertilizer
And dank (and how do buried talents sprout?).
Though the Muse worried we’d murderlize her,
With beret, face hair and Master Mike, out

came startling art. So cherish your special blue.
Till next year, when our friendships we all renew!

– YOS

 

Posted in 2017 – WwW XVII, Poetry Slam | Leave a comment

Top Tens of Seventeen

Posted on August 6, 2017 by jhoffman

“What the hell, Odell?” (Tommye, with an update of “To wander around.”)

+++

“That’s not retro. It’s what it is.” (Mick’s observation of the Café 110 décor – and winner of the Most Insightful Comment about Art and Life award.)

+++

“Chicken ain’t up.” (PT’s Barbecue. In life, sometimes the second choice is the best choice. Oh those heavenly ribs.)

+++

“I wish I had worn more comfortable shoes.” (Deb, year 17)

+++

Wayne’s Dali-esque mustache (Deb)

+++

“Nope.” Bryan, staying on message throughout (From Deb)

+++

“Blub.” (Mike attempted a comical reading of the Allerton’s rose bed signage. A nearby crane-sanctuary-like busybody offered an immediate correction.)

+++

“I told George Wendt to go pound sand so I could hang out with you guys.” (Hage. Name dropping is an automatic Top Ten.)

+++

Hanging cheeses. (Ask Weekender Lu about this one. Let’s just say it involves anatomy.)

+++

And the winner of the Smallest Mushroom award … Tony!

+++

Trains may exceed 80 MPH (And given the neighborhood, we strongly advise it.)

+++

All Xmas cards $1.00 (“I’d like every one except this one” … “Okay, that comes to $2,454. Credit or debit?” At the Brown Bag in Monticello.)

+++

Ha ha ha ha! (YOS found what was to become a rather tiresome laugh track app.)

+++

The village of Farmer City.

+++

“No passing zones not striped for next mile.” (Piatt County Highway Department. New contest: How many ways can that be understood?)

+++

Art class / blue mushrooms / Allerton’s mansion / hidden garden (where’s the garden?) / good pizza / enjoyed the antics of the Shakespeare group / squeaky floor / hearty breakfasts / Minooka “vintage” faire / berets and hats / lunch (ice cream) on Saturday with Lu and Spinas at small park with flowers. (Tommye with a flowering of memories)

+++

  • Learning to paint by Mike
  • “Again? How much humility can I stand?”
  • Compliments to John for implementing a spending WWW.

(From Wayne)

Posted in 2017 – WwW XVII, Top Ten | Leave a comment

Some thoughts on Seventeen

Posted on August 6, 2017 by jhoffman

Testimonial mottos

  • “Nope.” (From Deb. Inspiration: Bryan)
  • “We put the Weak in Weekend!” (Mike)
  •  He did it again! (Success of WwW, from Wayne)
  • “Yesterday’s memories, tomorrow’s repressions.” (Bryan)

Darkest impulses/thoughts that raced through our minds

  • At some point, stop counting. No one says Fourth of July Parade #242. (Deb)
  • Give everyone only black paint for the sip’n’paint. (Mike)
  • Acoustics in the dining room, walk to the hidden garden, fell on concrete stairs at last moment ☹ but OK. (Tommye)
  • And from our eternally upbeat Weekender Wayne, with Darkest crossed out and Lightest substituted:
    • “Are you well? We both are?”
    • Allerton was fine. Now what about the other six Illinois wonders?

Suggestions for next year

  • Go with “Weekend XVIII” (Heading in the opposite direction from Deb, Mike suggests Super-Bowleque Roman numeralizing.)
  • Let’s go north (Wayne [Papa])
Posted in Survey Says... | Leave a comment

Ballistic Mizzle

Posted on August 6, 2017 by jhoffman

If memory serves:

  • 6 parts lemonade
  • 2 parts whiskey
  • 1 part cinnamon schnapps
  • A muddle of mint

– YOS

Posted in Famous Recipes | Leave a comment

Weekend 17: Getting artsy with it

Posted on August 6, 2017 by jhoffman

From PT’s barbecue to the wonders of Allerton, from half-naked acting to our grand mansion vrooms, it was a Weekend to remember. And thanks to our master teacher, we all came home with priceless fungal souvenirs to keep the memories always with us.

To relive Weekend once more, click around for photos, Top Tens, a sonnet summation and commentary. And check out our Facebook page for more.

Posted in 2017 – WwW XVII | Leave a comment

NOTICE

Posted on April 10, 2017 by John Kieken

Due to the never-ending barrage of spammy user registrations, I’ve totally disabled the ability to register as a new user of the 4Images photo gallery system on this website.

If you’d like to post photos, comments, etc., please contact me and I’ll create a 4Images user account for you.

Thank you for your support and patience.

You know what they say about hindsight… anyhoo… I think at some point, we’ll need to transition our photos away from 4Images and into a new WordPress gallery. Maybe there’s a plugin for that. 😕

Posted in Announcements, Rules (Know 'Em So You Can Break 'Em) | Leave a comment

Let me tell y’all a story …

Posted on July 22, 2016 by jhoffman

Once again unto the Vroom, dear friends. Some highlights:

  • Newbies Fran and The Johnbon (half newbie, at least) seemed to like us. We felt very much the same. They’re in!
  • We were shocked/shocked to discover Weekender Tommye, aka Emily Pennyfeather, capable of murder.
  • GoH winner MJ taught us of Grecian urns, while we came to understand so much more about each others talents.
  • Cantaloupe sorbet.
  • We hosted our first virtual Weekenders, Beth, Ike, Chris and Cora. (Next year, we shall drag them from California if necessary.)
  • Lincoln rabbit eared us. (And appropriately, we learned: (1) The Republican Party of Illinois was born in Bloomington and (2) Civil War embalming techniques. It was a pretty good 160 year run while it lasted, what with The Great Emancipator, promoting liberty, Reagan, blah blah … We have come not to praise the GOP but to bury it.)
  • Most critically, we realized: Why in the snot should we drag everything to the Ewing grounds when we can dine on our own mansion veranda?

Scroll down to enjoy the Top Tens and more from a grand Weekend — and from years past — and check out the photographic evidence of our fun.

Till 17, I remain … YOS

Posted in 2016 – WwW XVI | Leave a comment