The Replies Book

Sorting out the award winning photos from the idle-time sketches took an age and a half.

We could smell the aromatic wood smoke and the hint from some houses of roasts and pot boils of varied distinction.

We could imagine the bedtime stories being read to attentive children.

The signs were clear and easy to read. The symbols were universally understood.

Distant drums were a surprise – they didn’t fit this picture, this village, this life – but we welcome the novelty.

We’ll check one thing off our list if you do the same.

Get some rest.

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Twenty ways to prolong vigorous youth had been proposed by the regional government.

Many of the studies trying to prove this or that substance, ranging from frosted puff cereal to thick full milk cream portions at every meal, seemed to lack solid and reliable testing methodologies.

It was decided to, for now at least, to stick with the plan of a daily glass of red wine, a bite of cheese, an apple or pear, a slice of smoked avocado-turkey-noodle bread and half an olive.

Live long and prosper!

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Sniffing the fine floral fragranced air we slowly descended along the steep hillside path.

We heard music drifting up and wafting around us like a magic, healing vapor.

Tea was brewing in many of the small houses below us, we could smell that aroma as well.

A magic perfume was the treasured offering in the village. It guaranteed the wearer they would meet the person of their dreams.

The success rate was nearly one hundred percent.

Might as well buy some when passing through!

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Romance in the clouds, on the ground and by the mountainside.

We’re all at sea.

But we’re also crystal clear.

So sharp we might be clever.

So kind we could spend a century becoming a saint, and that’s quick.

So sure we’ll be asked to be a guest host.

For breakfast we like multi-grain toast.

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I’d like to take a shape and read it a story about texture.

In the short shadow between tone and timbre there is a reflection of seasoning and tempertaure.

It’s a lesson of sorts. Learning nothing and understanding everything.

So much was connected we’d imagine blowing a fuse.

But when you’re trained as an astronaut there’s a lot of leeway between what is possible and what you mange to do.

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