Dale offers the prompt “minimalism” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
Some of these may be more cluttered than a true minimalist would find acceptable.
Except perhaps for the last one.
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Cosmic Photo Challenge: Minimalism
Author: Frank Hubeny
I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.
January 2026 Limericks
All of these limericks were originally posted to either Esther Chilton’s Laughing Along With A Limerick or her Writing Prompts during the month of January 2026.
Curly Curls
Well, I don’t think I have much to say
about curls that girls display.
When each curl is true,
then the girl is, too –
so I thought – and still do – come what may.
Prompt word: “curl” January 5, 2026
White Snow
When the trees are all white, there is snow.
It is bright in the light. I will go
out to play in the stuff
till enough is enough,
go inside where I’ll hide from the snow.
Prompt word: “snow” January 7, 2025 (modified)
Farm
There’s a farm in the valley that’s fine.
You can buy there fresh veggies and wine.
There are eggs there as well.
Though some critters may smell,
when there’s sun, then the sun loves to shine.
Prompt word: “farm” January 12, 2026
Lovely Light, Bright and True
Whether red, maybe blue, lovely green,
it is light. It is bright and serene,
but I wonder if you
know that light can be true?
Well, I do and it’s true. I have seen.
Prompt word: “red” January 14, 2026
The Crime Of Rhymeless Rhyme
Though some thought that it should be a crime
and it was, more or less, for the time
when dark poems with words
like loud ravenous birds
made no sense and much worse didn’t rhyme.
Prompt word: “crime” January 19, 2026
The Rhymeless Rhymer Makes His Defense
I have heard it’s absurd. It’s a crime
to be running one’s mouth all the time.
Still, mine’s running so well
even whiners can tell
it’s all nonsense but nonsense with rhyme.
Light and Night Rhymes with Fright
Though the light said it’s day, it was night.
I could see. What a horrible sight!
There were monsters out there.
There were goons everywhere,
but in peace I slept on through their fright.
Prompt word: “night” January 26, 2026
The Games Of Feud
“All the same you are just playing games.”
Well, at least I am not calling names.
At least now I am not.
When the feuding gets hot,
who knows what we will use for our flames?
Prompt word: “games” January 28, 2026
2 Timothy 4:3-4
Proverbial Fairy Tale: Happy Lad
Once upon a time, much like today, there lived a lad who was happy.
He was happy the next year and the next and he was even happy the year after that. One almost wondered if he would ever have a sad year, but even when it seemed like he should be having a sad year, he was happy.
People asked him why he was so happy wondering if they could be happy as well, but worried that there might be a catch or some odd requirement that would disqualify them.
He told them that a happy heart is a wonderful remedy but a broken spirit dries the bones which puzzled many figuring he really didn’t tell them anything useful, but some, even some of the puzzled ones, decided to just live happily ever after since what harm could it do? By doing so they might even witlessly check off all the requirements, if there were any, and live happily ever after.
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Denise offers the prompt word “check” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Genesis 3:1
Proverbial Fairy Tale: A Critter’s Just Deserts
Once upon a time there lived a critter, a fish out of water, whom no one could figure out. We all knew he had problems, but he didn’t think there was anything wrong with himself, at least, nothing worth the bother of fixing.
Although he reassured us that he was fine – “just following a different drummer”, he lamely explained – how could we convince him otherwise without a proper diagnosis? So, we diagnosed him ourselves yelling: YOU’RE NUTS!
That should have solved the problem, but all it did was isolate the critter further while we went off to our regular therapy sessions and he let his problems go from bad to worse. Even after all of us went to our just deserts none of us could figure out why he kept living happily ever after.
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Denise offers the prompt word “fish” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Cosmic Photo Challenge: Morning Light
Dale offers the prompt “morning light” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
These photos are from the past, but they are all of morning light over the Atlantic Ocean.
It is great to get up early and go to the beach to watch the birds and the sun.
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Review of Three Channels
About five years ago I realized I was a biblical creationist. Much before that I would have said that birds came from dinosaurs and the world was gazillions of years old.
This has been one of the most interesting rabbit holes I have EVER gone down. I know you may be glad you didn’t go down yourself, but if you ever decide to take the plunge, below are three YouTube channels that I now regularly watch and highly recommend.
Standing For Truth
This episode covers Jason Lisle’s Anisotropic Synchrony Convention (ASC) and the model which predicted before the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reported back data that we would see fully formed galaxies at further red shifts that had heavy elements in them.
When JWST confirmed the predictions of Lisle’s model it falsified the big bang as we know it. A corrected big bang story will need to be devised by those who won’t give up on the Lambda Cold Dark Matter model, but Lisle’s ASC model needs no modification.
Examining Origins
My first introduction to Cornelius Hunter came from this channel. He is a philosopher of science who views biological evolution as a “theological research project”, not a science, although it could become a science if it started to take itself seriously.
Since listening to him a few months ago I have read his books, Darwin’s God and Science’s Blind Spot, both of which I recommend if you are interested in biology and the philosophy and history of science.
Logos Research Associates
In this episode John Whitmore provides an overview of the Coconino Sandstone. The beds of this layer are slanted rather than flat. A flat layer can easily be seen as having been laid down by a huge water catastrophe (think, the global flood of Genesis 6-9). However, can the tilted layers of the Coconino Sandstone also be viewed as deposited by water?
Concluding Remarks
The discussions on these channels are lively. Although the hosts are creationists, many evolutionists comment to challenge them. So, it is not a totally one-sided experience.
For a quick jump down the rabbit hole, these three channels are good places to start. You might even find, as I have, that you prefer it down there.
1 Timothy 6:20-21
Proverbial Fairy Tale: Lad And Lass
Once upon a time there was a lad who proudly declared that he took only one biology class (of which all he remembered was dissecting some frog), no chemistry classes and no physics classes (worth mentioning). He did take enough mathematics and programming classes to confidently declare that he could read all of that other garbage should he ever want to waste his time doing so.
About the same time there was a lass who had her eyes on the lad. It is unclear whether she pursued him or whether she convinced him to pursue her or whether there was any difference between those two options. Regardless, she got him.
Since biology works no matter how many classes you’ve taken nor how many frogs you’ve dissected nor how many boyfriends you’ve convinced to pursue you, they made a vow to live happily ever after.
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Denise offers the prompt word “vow” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 