Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Words for Wednesay










This meme was started by Delores a long time ago.  Computer issues led her to bow out for a while.  The meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast. 

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, which includes cheering on the other participants.  If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.


The prompts will be here again this month but are provided by Margaret Adamson, and her friend Sue Fulton.  They also include photographs taken by Margaret's friend Bill Dodds.


This week's we have a phrase:
  1. Back to the drawing board

And/or
Another of Bill's photos.

 


Have fun.

Huge thanks to Margaret, Sue and Bill for challenging us this month.  Next month Lee will be providing the prompts.
 

104 comments:

  1. I recently got into jewelry making after a 30 year hiatus. My first piece was a lovely pink necklace, but I didn't have the correct findings to complete it so I did a haphazard job of tying the ends. Well, on the first day I wore it I felt a loosening around my neck and the beads all trickled into my bra. Thankfully I managed to save all of them. Now it is back to the drawing board.

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    1. I thought this was a regular comment until the last line! ;-)

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    2. mxtodis123: Like Sandi I thought you were ignoring the prompts at first. Skilfully woven piece.

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    3. That's fun to read ... a bobbly day ... while the beads 'rattled' around in your bra!! Congratulations ... fun take ... cheers Hilary

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    4. Sometimes we learn to be more careful the hard way. Great way to weave the prompt in!

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  2. Well, it was back to the drawing board after The Great Flood destroyed everything. All that was left was one road, but it didn't go anywhere.

    Well...that was a downer.

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    1. Sandi: Wow. I didn't even think of floods or a post apocalyptic world. Great take (and hopefully it will stay fiction.

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    2. Floods can do that. May you have none where you live!

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    3. Well written! And, I agree, may you have none where you live!

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  3. Golden hues, stark cliff-face, an empty road... As always Bill's photo is incredibly evocative and has me yearning to travel far, far away.
    They also fill me in feelings of inadequacy. It is obviously time to get back to the drawing board with my own photographic endeavours.

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    1. I like your words here ...

      I always enjoy reading peoples ideas on the prompts.

      All the best Jan

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    2. Hi EC - both great takes on the prompts ... cheers Hilary

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    3. Goood use of the words and I thnk your photography is just fine and dandy. I have enjoyed sending you the pormpts this month and am very pleased at peoples take on them.

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    4. His photographs are amazing, and you wove that in well.

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    5. EC, you are an amazing writer! You have alot of feeling in what you say!! Big Hugs!

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  4. If I can sneak away for ten or fifteen minutes I may have to try this one. It's a beautiful picture and tells its own story.

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    1. Jono: I hope you can - and agree wholeheartedly about Bill's photo. It is superb.

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  5. Bills photo is fabulous, thanks EC.

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  6. The road out of town led to possibilities. I needed possibilities. I took that road!

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    1. Well done Marie ... yes loads of opportunities ahead ... take care and good luck with the path that road leads you on - cheers Hilary

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    2. Marie Smith: I love this. And hope that your possibilities are wondrous.

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    3. Wherever else it leads, may your road lead to joy.

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  7. Interesting. I'll see what I can do.

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    1. only slightly confused: I look forward to seeing where the prompts take you.

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  8. This looks like an interesting prompt. I would like to travel that road. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. DMS ~Jess: I think a lot of us would like to travel that road.

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  9. It was back to the drawing board for the road builders when they discovered there had been a massive rock fall around the far curve of the narrow, winding mountain road.

    With a steep 2000 metre drop at one side, and a sheer, unyielding wall of granite on the other, further work came to a halt immediately.

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    1. Hi Lee - Sounds like you live here on Vancouver Island - the Malahat (Drive) is like that ... cheers Hilary

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    2. Lee: I suspect that your tale has been completely true more than once.

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    3. Hilary....when I was managing the resort on Hinchinbrook Island back in the mid-80s, I had a wonderful young man from Bellingham as a member of my staff for a while.

      Bellingham is aname you've very familiar with, no doubt! :)

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    4. It has always astounded me how these roads are built at all!

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    5. Yup, that would certainly halt road construction:)

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    6. Hi Lee - I'm new in the country and only here for a short time ... but I see Bellingham Bay was named by George Vancouver ... more than that I haven't noted ... but will keep eyes open now!
      I see Hinchinbrook Island is off Australia ... live and learn!! Cheers Hilary

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  10. This is going to be quite a challenge, so far I've got nothing.

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    1. River: I have confidence in you. Possibly more than you have.

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  11. Others' comments are way ahead of me ... let me think ...

    Oh is this a mistake I groan to myself as my eyes start to close on the never-ending road ... I must keep going, I have to get as far as I can and I need to find a twist or a turn off ... somewhere to escape further into the blue beyond - away, away ...

    Cheers to all - Hilary

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    1. Hilary Melton-Butcher: Away, away is a delightful thought...

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    2. That is certainly a road that calls for alertness (all of them do, but this kind seems especially treacherous).

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  12. Call my roommate__Check!
    Get out the big pot_Check!
    Boil water__Check!
    Google how long I have to boil water before it's ready__Check!
    Find out when it boils it's ready, who knew__Check!
    Add contents of box__Check!
    Stir, with what? __
    Google best stirring utensil__Check!
    Discover any spoon will do__Check!
    Pour contents into bowl__Check!
    Chill__Check!
    Put in the freezer to hasten chilling__Check
    Forget to see if the container withstands exteme cold__Check
    Clean broken glass and goo from freezer__Check
    Back to the drawing board.
    Who knew making Jello was so blooming hard?

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    Replies
    1. Anne in the kitchen: Ouch. I have over the years had similar mishaps. Not with jelly I hasten to add. Love your clever take on the prompt.

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    2. A former roommate did call me once to ask for the recipe for Jello. I did tell her if she could not read the back of the box and figure it out, she had no business in a kitchen__ever.

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    3. Anne in the kitchen: Sounds fair to me.

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    4. Oh, dear. Yes, i've known a couple of people who had trouble with even the simplest things in the kitchen, but i don't make fun, because i have the same trouble in other areas (like sewing).

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  13. Was planning a trip but when I saw a photo of that road it was back to the drawing board...
    Didn't have to think out that phrase or photo - just came into my head rather fast for once :)

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    1. Margaret-whiteangel: Isn't it wonderful when the words just come...

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    2. Yes, that road would make me think again. Good one!

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  14. Mixtodis 123. It is pleasing to know you still have Your beads.

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  15. My story is now ready for review on my blog.

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    1. Vest: I have been and applauded.

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    2. Did not stay long if it did arrive !

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    3. Vest: At the moment you won't receive an email to tell you that someone has commented. Because you moderation your comments you may have to go into the comments tab on your blog.

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  16. After 3 long years of asking Myrtle to take a train journey, she finally agreed to travel from Toronto up to the Lakes with me, Mind you it was not for the want to asking. i tried to soft soap her by wining and dining her and in fairness we both enjoyed those evenings. However my original plan was to take the train from Toronto to Vancouver but when i showed her my plan she rejected it saying it was much too long a train journey to be cooped up in a train carriage and she did not really fancy sleeping in those berths. So I went BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD and we eventually compromised with this shorter journey.

    As it turns out Myrtle has relatives that she has never seen in thunder bAy/Fort William and they are overjoyed that we will be spending some time with them. They have a cabin by the lake and have offered it to us so now Myrtle is very excited about going and in fact although we have to spent one night in a berth, she even seems to have forgotten her dislike for that.

    I am hoping if this train journey is successful and Myrtle enjoys it she will agree to perhaps another one from Vancouver up to the Rockies and Calgary.

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    1. Margaret Adamson: I hope that the longer journey DOES happen.

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    2. May this journey go so well, she gets bitten by the travel bug!

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  17. I like Bill’s photo very much. The thing about writing is that, although we may struggle sometimes to put pen to paper the journey we have can be a very positive one. It just depends what we learn from it and how we cope.

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    1. Terry: Bill's photos are always thought provoking and beautiful. And yes, all journeys are a bit like that.

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  18. Don't ask! An extra long day and a long treacherous road. First the solar panel came loose so we had to find a safe spot to pull over and fix that. Turned out Sanders had left the regular toolbox back in the regular car - all we had was a Swiss army knife to do the job with. Anyways, that was somehow managed, Sanders did it while I kept a nervous lookout for other cars coming down.

    Then a tyre blew, how? how? it's one of a kind right? just-designed the likes of which has never been seen before? Sanders explained he had used some fancy new retreading hacks - oh my god! And the toolbox wasn't there, remember? so we pulled over and waited and waited till another guy came along and loaned us the equipment, he gave us a few weird looks I can tell you. I might as well mention here Sanders' vehicular aesthetics isn't what you'd call sleek. By the time all this was sorted it was afternoon. We had plenty of water but no food, I was starving. But he kept saying pioneers had to be made of sterner stuff, not collapse with hunger at every new experiment.

    The road went on and on, uphill and down, all hairpin curves and bends and flanking an utterly terrifying drop. The car wouldn't go beyond a snail's pace, and maybe it was safer that way. Snails don't crash into mountainsides.

    Just as the light was fading something under the bonnet developed a rattle and before we could get a look boom! there was an explosion and a large metallic part thudded onto the road. That was it.

    I'll spare you further details. There we were - miles from civilisation in a broken down assemblage of metal and solar cells and wires stuck together with a glue gun, I was going to call a spade a spade. I turned to Sanders and pointedly asked if he called this thing a car? He just said, after blinking at me a few times, that he might need to get back to the drawing board.

    ~~~

    Stunning photo, just like last time!

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    1. Nilanjana Bose: I love this. And can picture and hear it perfectly.

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  19. Here is mine. Also very short:
    http://jannghi.blogspot.com/2018/05/words-for-wednesday_30.html

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  20. Replies
    1. Cindy Summerlin: I am looking forward to yours too.

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  21. The road is long, it stretches far a wide, bringing sightseers who knows where, on an awesome ride.

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    1. Spacer Guy: It does look like an incredible road doesn't it? The place for many dreams to be filled.

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  22. Good afternoon. I like this switch from the words, and my mind is working on something!

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    1. Karen S.: I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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  23. Wow, I love all the responses to the prompt and photo. I hope I get time to check out the others.

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    1. T. Powell Coltrin: There is a lot of talent here in the blogosphere.

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  24. Great series of words for people to enjoy. I hope to join in next week.

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    1. Denise inVA: I hope you can. I really hope you can.

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  25. Replies
    1. Cloudia: Some laughter, some tears. And a lot of creativity.

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  26. She couldn't help herself from inhaling her husband's scent before she carefully slid out of her side of the bed. They'd been married for thirty-five years. Thirty-five years and one day. Last night they celebrated with too much wine for her and too much vodka for him. Much too much vodka for him. He wouldn't be up for several more hours despite the sunshine already making it's way across their tiny front lawn.

    Their children had left her the expected text messages wishing her Happy Anniversary and checking on her, but none of them had called. That stopped long ago.

    She quietly used the bathroom in the hallway. Despite her husband's snoring, she didn't want to risk waking him up. She didn't flush nor did she wash her hands. She didn't even bother to put her shoes on. Instead, she looked at the black eye and dried blood crusted around her nostrils. Her anniversary gift from her husband when she said she was too tired for intimacy.

    With tears streaming down her face, she grabbed her pocketbook and cellphone and ran out of the house leaving the front door wide open. She put the car in neutral and let it roll backwards down the driveway before she started it.

    She called her daughter who cried tears of joy when she heard her mom was finally on her way. The room was ready for her. It was always ready for her mom and her father didn't know where it was.

    The moment she rounded the curve on the highway, she knew she was free. She was finally free and this gorgeous open road was just the beginning of her new journey, full of beauty and life, just like her.

    Elsie

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    1. Elsie Amata: Hooray. Freedom often comes too late. I am so glad she had (finally) escaped.
      This is a powerful and beautiful piece and sadly true for too many.

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    2. A wonderful story. I am gad she finally make the break and she was fortinate to have somewhere to run to and somehwere her hisband woujld not find her easily.

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  27. Loved the prompts and the responses.
    YOU have a great day.
    Hugs

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    1. Sandra Cox: Thank you. With luck the roof will finally be completed today. IF the tradies turn up.

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  28. I've driven on a road like that, and it looks lovely from far away, and on the picture it looks so lovely. Driving on it though, makes me a little nervous. I always felt like a tumblewood would appear from out of nowhere to attack me. (lol) Hugs...

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    1. RO:I always worry about the drop to the valleys below. I am a wimp.

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  29. The picture looks somewhat scary, or maybe eerie is a better word. Lobster pot! What a cute charm that must be. You'll have to post a picture and share.

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    1. Sandy: I wonder whether that eerie feeling would change if there were lots of cars on the road? I am not even certain I still have my charm bracelet. I will look.

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  30. EC.Problem sorted out. Thanks for letting me know of the problem. My analyst son came to the rescue.

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  31. Who said they could build this road here?
    It was meant to be the drive up to my cliff-side chalet...you know, the one I designed as was just about to build?
    RATS!!
    Oh well, back to the drawing board...;))

    Have a Fabulous Weekend! xoxoxo

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  32. Great responses and fantastic picture!
    Thanks EC! Big Hugs1

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    1. Magic Love Crow: Thank you so much for your always generous support. It is hugely appreciated. I hope your weekend is wonderful.

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  33. He said "Let's take our new car up Ol' Hwy 395." He said, "Let's see what this baby can do!" He said. "Look at this view! Isn't it..." He said. A few hours later, when AAA arrived with its tow truck, he said nothing.

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    1. Susan Kane: A tale which has been, and will be, repeated often.

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  34. Just when I think
    It's polished enough
    to send
    off
    Someone says, "What if?"
    And it's back to the drawing board.
    Sigh.
    The Journey Continues.

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