The lovely Delores at Under the Porch Light
had
been running this meme for a considerable period of time, week
after week. Computer issues led her to bow out for a while and I took
over. When Delores' absence looked like being more permanent I begged
and cajoled for other volunteers to share providing the prompts, and
Words for
Wednesday became a movable feast. Sadly Delores has (temporarily I
hope) discontinued her blog, though we have been told that she will be
back in the fullness of time.
Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore... We can use some or all of the prompts.
Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme. If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
This month the prompts will be published here - but are provided by Mark Koopmans.
.
This weeks prompts are:
Next month the prompts will be provided by River, and I hope that you will all visit her to see what she provides to challenge us.
Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore... We can use some or all of the prompts.
Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme. If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
This month the prompts will be published here - but are provided by Mark Koopmans.
.
This weeks prompts are:
- Espionage
- Charger
- Sheep
- U-bend
- Dent
- Fluoride
And/or
- Heisenberg
- Ceiling
- Orchard
- Velcro
- Plentitude
- Squiggle
Next month the prompts will be provided by River, and I hope that you will all visit her to see what she provides to challenge us.
The wife's espionage charger meeting was in session.
ReplyDeleteI being a real sheep and the dent in morals of the chatter,
I took a u-bend at the bathroom and washed my ears with fluoride.
Martin Kloess: Desperate times call for desperate measures.
DeleteOuch! Fluoride for ear washing...now that's something new! :)
DeleteI would like to be a member of an espionage charger club. After you washed your ears with fluoride did you brush your teeth with Pepsodent?
DeleteGood one. That's funny:)
DeleteGreat start to this week's words:)
DeleteFluoride? Now that must have been an experience.
ReplyDeleteI will post at my site on Friday. Mark came up with some crazy lists last week, and we'll see how this week works out!
Susan Kane: Looking forward to your take. And have been thoroughly enjoying the creations Mark's words have sparked this month.
DeleteThanks Susan, and again, thank you, EC... this was a whole load of fun for me, too:)
DeleteCharlie had been suspected of espionage so he jumped in the Dodge Charger and took off down the mountain. He didn't get far before having to stop for sheep crossing the road from one meadow to another. Finally on his way, he nearly lost control of the car when he came upon a u-bend in the road. He finally managed to get down the mountain without a dent. What he didn't know was that he was slowly dying. Someone had poisoned the fluoride in his toothpaste that morning.
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: Poor Charlie. Some days just don't work out...
DeleteYikes! I think I'd prefer a fast working poison to a slow, drawn out death.
DeleteGreat story in one paragraph, Mason!
DeleteBravo, Mason... that rocked !!
Delete'Nothing to see here. Move along people/sheep. Move along.'
ReplyDelete'Yes, your water has been enhanced/adulterated. Fluoride. Nothing much else.'
Perhaps the charger for your various electronic marvels can be/is used for espionage. This will only be used for your/my safety.
Trust me, I am a politician and I have your/my best interests at heart. And if my support doesn't show so much as a dent after all the u-bend twists in policy I am home and hosed.
Aha! Good one, EC! :)
DeleteYou nailed it!
DeleteDefinitely a good one.
DeleteTrust me, I'm a politician and have your/my best interests at heart......PERFECT!
DeleteLOL "I am a politician and I have your/my best interests at heart." So timely.
DeleteAnimal Farm popped into my mind :)
Delete... Or did I mean 1984? (I'm so confused sometimes:)
DeleteOh God! She was one hard woman to please. She had told him to paint the ceiling and pick the orchard, but had not indicated which one was most important to her. She left him a choice he couldn't make given her lack of a preference. Now he was stuck like in a task oriented Heisenburg conundrum. Which needed to be done first and which could potentially wait until later. Then he realized the tasks were not separate for her, but were in theory held together as one by her verbal velcro. Paint and pick. It was not "choose your own adventure today' as much as a "get your ass in gear" command. A squiggle of paint followed by more and soon the bathroom looked fresh. He silently thanked the builder who had insisted on floor to ceiling ceramic tile, picked up some baskets and set out to tame the fruit trees. They were loaded and he was thankful for their plentitude, but even more thankful their "orchard" had only 5 trees. At about dusk he saw her car pulling in the driveway, just as he finished picking the last peach, smiled and waved, saw her glaring at the side yard, then crap! He remembered she did have a most important chore. . .Hang the sheets on the line to dry so they would be ready for her to make the bed when she returned!
ReplyDeleteThat's great. Anne. Well done. :)
DeleteAnne in the kitchen: The tasks she handed out look a little like my to-do list some days. And I don't think anyone else would take them on. Great story.
DeleteNice use of the words. I would have hired a neighbourhood teenager to pick the orchard and someone else to paint the ceiling.
DeleteBut now he'd better hurry up and put sheets from the linen press on the bed!
Oh I loved it and felt frustrated for the failure to hang the sheets to dry in time for bed.
DeleteThat sounds like a story that may have an evil twist coming up :)
DeleteI failed to submit my attempt last week...because I didn't make an attempt due to extraneous happenings...however...here is my effort for this week.
ReplyDelete"Matt and his brother had grown up on a SHEEP station miles and miles away from the nearest town and school. The water supply on the property was dependent upon rainfall and the large dams dotted across the land that drew water from the Great Artesian Basin. But there was no shortage of FLUORIDE in the diets of those who lived on the sheep station. Everyone ate enough roasted legs of lamb, mutton, grilled chops and mutton stews to fill any glimpse of a void in their intake of the chemical. Along with the abundance of carrots and potatoes pulled freshly from the homestead’s garden they had little to worry about on that score.
Other than his younger brother, Jack - who was only 12 months younger than Matt - there were no other children close by the boys could call their mates. The brothers became each other’s best friend.
Because of the remoteness of their parent’s property their primary and early secondary education were conducted by the School of the Air, the correspondence school that catered for children of outback Australia.
Both boys had inquisitive, alert minds. It became obvious to their parents from when they made their first SQUIGGLE on their home blackboards they had a couple of young geniuses within their midst. By the time Matt and Jack were ready to go off to boarding school they were both capable of understanding the mathematical principles of the German physicist and Nobel Prize winner, Werner Karl HEISENBERG.
On the sheep station the boys, as well as their studies, which they took great joy in, had a PLENTITUDE of other interests to occupy their time and minds. There was no CEILING on what they could do; on what they could learn and explore. Their imagination recognised no boundaries.
The brothers each learned to drive at an early age, and soon thereafter they were eyeing off their father’s muscle car sitting in one of the sheds; their father’s old Hot Mustard-coloured Valiant CHARGER, the engine of which was still in peak condition. They’d rev it up and tear around the U-BEND at the far corner of the property’s ORCHARD.
The boys had stuck VELCRO strips onto the seatbelts, meaning at all times they were securely strapped in, but that was of little comfort to their mother.
By some miracle the lads only managed to DENT the car once. Tearing around the property the boys pretended they were masters of ESPIONAGE. Two brash young Steve McQueens – “Kings of Cool”, barnstorming around, leaving clouds of dust in their wake, fearful of no one and of nothing."
Lee: Great use of ALL the words.
DeleteEspionage on a sheep station, I like it.
DeleteI've spent time on a sheep station....
Knowing you I have to ask if this is a true story? Probably one of your real adventures. LOL
DeleteGreat job! Really made me feel like I was there:)
DeleteThe U-BEND had a DENT in it, so whilst I was waiting for the plumber to arrive I cleaned my teeth with the toothpaste that had FLUORIDE in it. Then I put the CHARGER on the phone and went to check the sheep in the paddock adjacent to the house. Upon returning to the kitchen turned the radio on and heard a news item that MR. HEISENBERG, a neighbour had been charged with ESPIONAGE.
ReplyDeleteI did it!!
Margaret-whiteangel: You did. And with lots of style too.
DeleteWell done! I like it.
DeleteBig story in few words. Interesting and exciting!
DeleteBOOM!!
DeleteHeisenberg? I hope that's a city.
ReplyDeleteHey River.... look up the TV series, "Breaking Bad" and there you will find Heisenberg :)
DeleteFluoride, that splodge on the local map, a community that never was … Ajax had become one – what had happened to Fluoride.
ReplyDeleteMy course was set … I’d encounter U-bends, I’d dent my beloved Charger … the car I’d saved so hard for … down we went into the valley along the dirt roads … I needed to resolve the mystery of Fluoride.
People are like Sheep … they follow, they don’t think … but I needed to infiltrate the water treatment plant’s records to establish if Espionage occurred.
My great parent’s livelihood was lost here … I wanted to write the story and redress the balance for our family: my next book, perhaps ... my memoirs ...
Hilary Melton-Butcher: And how I want to read that memoir...
DeleteOh yes, do redress the balance for your family:-)
DeleteThe mystery of Fluoride!! *LOVE* it:)
DeleteHaving brushed her teeth with fluoride toothpaste she went down and set the table for her dinner party. Of course she set out her finest ware including the infamous charger which was solid gold. She wondered if any of her guests would notice the solid gold charger among the fake gold ones. Hum, who should she seat at that spot? While going about her dinner preparations, she reflected back on her days of espionage in the countryside of England with sheep dotting the landscape whilst she observed the many spies from a distance. She missed the green pastures but not the dangerous assignments. She was thankful earlier that morning she avoided an argument with her neighbor when she put a dent in the neighbors car at the grocery with her shopping cart piled high for her dinner party. The neighbor came up angry as a banshee mumbling about the dent being the last straw after the u-bend became plugged. She knowing about plumbing issues offered to unplug the u-bend if her neighbor could forgive her for the dent in her car. After unplugging the sink the neighbor and she were fast friends again. She was sure her dinner party would be fascinating and she was definitely curious how it all would play out given the secret and double agent guests she had invited. She hoped she didn't get drawn back into their world after this party but she just had to find out who the original owner of the solid gold charger was and hopefully return the charger to them.
ReplyDeleteI like this a lot! You did good :)
DeleteLinda Starr: Intriguing... And how I would love to have a neighbour with plumbing skills.
DeleteAnd will we ever know "the rest of the story"? Intriguing and fun.
DeleteYES! I agree... mystery and intrigue... what happens next :)
DeleteMy story is scheduled to appear on my blog on Friday 27th. I didn't get all the words in, velcro hadn't been invented yet in the time I set my piece...
ReplyDeleteRiver: An early morning treat for me to look forward to.
DeleteAdding Velcro can be a sticky situation in any story:)
DeleteOne of these days, I'll play again.
ReplyDeleteTake gentle care, EC.
Rawknrobyn: When you are ready.
DeleteThere was a conspiracy afoot once again to put fluoride in the drinking water of the rural community. This had always been an issue in the Big City and they had unwittingly gone along with it. Someone was trying to prevent it in Podunk. Was it a case of malfeasance or was it an actual conspiracy?
ReplyDeleteI was headed out to Podunk in my Dodge Charger at high speed in order to find out right now what was going on. While lost in my thoughts I left the road at a u-bend and drove into a pasture full of sheep. Luckily for them I swerved in time to miss, but instead came to rest against a tree putting a big dent in my car. Damn the luck!
Jono: I like it. And am glad you missed the sheep. And didn't dent yourself.
DeleteSounds to me like Podunk doesn't want you meddling in their affairs.
DeleteLoved it that you know where Podunk is. LOL Fun story.
DeleteHaha! Nice one, and the sheep lived to shear another day:)
DeleteAmazing what random words can make.
ReplyDeleteLux G.: Amazing and a lot of fun. I hope some week you will play too.
DeleteNow that's a mesh of words!! :)
ReplyDeletemail4rosey: Yup. And they have taken us on some amazing adventures already.
DeleteI derided to try both sets of worlds to close out May. Thanks EC and Mark for a fun month.
ReplyDeleteEspionage
Charger
Sheep
U-Bend
Dent
Fluroide
TITLE: The Spy by Granny Annie
The theme was ESPIONAGE
And it grew even larger
When the spy's cell phone died
He was without battery or CHARGER.
More than a wolf in the
Clothing of a SHEEP
He was disguised as a plumber.
The chip hidden in a U-BEND deep.
The attempt to remove caused a DENT
While the CIA spy only cried.
This world saving chip
Had been destroyed by FLUORIDE.
Heisenberg
Ceiling
Orchard
Velcro
Plenitude
Squiggle
TITLE: Day Dreaming by Granny Annie
She rested in the ORCHARD
Staring at the sky for her CEILING
Wondering if the HEISENBERG model
Was Statistically appealing.
Suddenly apples fell around her
As if their VELCRO failed to hold
They were in great PLENITUDE
And covered the nearby road.
Worms began to swarm out
As toward her they did SQUIGGLE
She jumped up to dance and stomp
And away she did wiggle.
Granny Annie: Both brilliant. Thank you so much for joining in.
DeleteAwesome, Granny and I loved this:
Delete"Suddenly apples fell around her
As if their VELCRO failed to hold."
These are some toughies! I always enjoy what others write. I'm not so creative or is it lazy. LOL
ReplyDeleteSonya Ann: I am voting for lazy. Creative you certainly are. Some week you will join us.
DeleteI enjoyed reading through the comments. You all are so creative!
ReplyDeleteRomance Reader: Aren't the stories fun? Perhaps some week you will join us.
DeleteHi human, Sue,
ReplyDeleteThought it was about time I dropped in or your blog site. No, not literally! :)
Interesting responses to the words. Trust that human, I live everywhere, Mark, to come up with such words.
Pawsitive wishes,
Penny!
Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar!: Lovely to see you. I hope you and the human you care for are doing better.
DeleteI have no idea what you're talking about, Sir Gazza :)
DeleteWhat a unique selection of words this week. I have a couple that I would have to look up before using in a story. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
DMS ~ Jess: Mark really got me thinking this week. And I suspect a number of other people too.
DeleteI have too much time on my hands sometimes:)
DeleteI just saw Susan's, and your comment over there made me laugh. :)
ReplyDeletemail4rosey: I am not a fan of dentists. A necessary evil.
Delete