Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Words For Wednesday










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 words are:

  1. Radiator
  2. Football
  3. Ballet
  4. Electricity
  5. Cooking
  6. Debonaire

And/or

  1. Mambo
  2. Wrinkles
  3. Transport
  4. Suffocating
  5. Beanie
  6. Patisserie


Have fun.

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

119 comments:

  1. Reading the lists, my eye goes quickly to the borrowed words from French. I was thinking about how both English and French employ the silent 'e' at the end of a word. It isn't debonairE, but wouldn't it be fun if it were?

    Wee silent 'e' list:

    grime
    safe
    knife
    page

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    1. Bea: English is a very rich language and owes a lot of that richness to the words and expressions it has borrowed and stolen from a wide range of languages and cultures.

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  2. "But Winston, you begged for these lessons. What did you think ballet was?"
    "Ballet? I saw it in the paper and it had BALL in it and I like to play ball, all kinds of ball, baseball, basketball, football....."
    "Well, I thought you looked very debonair in your tights and dance shoes and so did that little blond girl I think. Seemed there was some 'electricity' there" Grandma teased.
    "Oh Grandma, I was so embarrassed to be seen in those tights I was so hot I was cooking."
    "Well dear, you have nine more lessons to ge so you may as well get used to it." the wrinkles around her yes crinkled, "You could transfer to mambo lessons if you like."
    "Oh yes." Winston said. "Ruffles AND tight pants. Perfect. Grandma I'm the only boy in 3rd grade takig dance lessons...please...please....let me quit."
    "No Winston. I had to transport you over half an hour to get here and I paid over $200.00 for these lessons. You simply have to finish them and that is all there is to it."
    "If anyone I know sees me here I'll be suffocating with embarrasment."
    "Never mind sweetie. Here, put on your beanie and I'll take you to the patisserie for a treat on the way home."
    "Cream puffs?"
    "What ever you like dear." Grandma smiled to herself. Her boy could be bribred to do just about anything with a cream puff.

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    1. only slightly confused: Her boy isn't the only one who can be bribed with a cream puff. Of chocolate filled pastry. Great story.

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    2. Yes, when once they start, they should at least finish. It's good character building.

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    3. I love your story Delores. My grandson did ballet for about four years and found it helped a lot with his soccer playing.

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    4. This is a lovely story ... and yes ballet does help a lot people - footballers et al = a surprising truth! Cheers Hilary

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    5. I can be bribed with chocolate! I love this story.

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    6. I love it and wonder how many other small boys were tricked into ballet?

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    7. How fun! I never thought about the ball in ballet. It could confuse someone. :)
      ~Jess

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  3. Don't Wednesdays come round so quickly. If I were to take part I'd choose the first selection.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Wednesdays come round very, very quickly indeed. Some day we will coax you into joining us. Picking a favourite list is a great start.

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  4. Rabbi Patisserie's beanie hung so low as to cover the wrinkles along his forehead. I nearly suffocated in laughter, when it fell off while he transported Jessica Bernstein in a chair dance during her Bat Mitzvah reception. The guests were doing a mambo dance around them. (I guess they didn't know the hora.)

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  5. I can, just, remember those days. Those debonaire care-free days. The days when I could contemplate swanning into the patisserie at mid-day, clad in my elegant best. Those child-free days.

    Now? I am suffocating under the weight of my to-do list. Transporting one to football, another to ballet and a third to Mambo classes. Organising someone to fix the leaking radiator. Paying the electricity bill. And cooking. Always cooking. Planning meals, shopping for meals, preparing meals, cleaning up after meals. Finding that lost beanie. Even my wrinkles have wrinkles.

    Your precious children I hear you say. ' Would you give them up?' Today, yes. In a heart-beat. Ask me again tomorrow. Perhaps my answer will be different.

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    1. If it actually came down to the moment, you wouldn't give them up. But i do know the feeling.

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    2. I shall be eternally grateful that my children weren't interested in sports. One girl did want to play netball, but we lived in a city where the teams began at age 9 and she was only 7. The cooking and meals sentences are so true, I must have spent 75% of my time in the kitchen, with another 20% in the laundry.

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    3. Heh. This was great, EC. A typical mom's day cramming 48 hrs worth of work into 24.

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    4. It's the way of those blessed people - the Mums of this world ... always looking after, caring and making sure life comes together ... but suffocating in the heat to boot ... cheers Hilary

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    5. Yes I remember those days of juggling many thinkgs at one time with the children so this story brought back memories but i am glad I did it but would not want to do it as a grandparent

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    6. much like most parents I'm sure!

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  6. I cannot for the life of me think as to how to combine these words. Good luck everyone.

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    1. Marie Smith: They are a challenging selection aren't they?

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  7. The football in the first one is throwing me. (I really should be throwing it.)

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    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: I didn't think that anything could throw you.

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    2. Alex - it's not a game I associate with America - so no wonder you were flummoxed ..

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  8. "Saturday was buzzing with people, crowds of people. The FOOTBALL Grand Final that was due to be played on Sunday afternoon was drawing crowds of fan to the city.

    On top of the grand final, not only was the Australian BALLET Company performing “Swan Lake” at an inner-city venue, but the world-renowned Cuban Malpaso Dance Company had arrived to the city, as well. The dance troupe brought the passion, energy and creativity that define Cuban dance and music to town.

    Already some members of the restaurant staff, captured by the ELECTRICITY in the air generated by the excitement overtaking the city, were breaking into MAMBO steps as they set the tables.

    All forms of TRANSPORT into the city were filled to overflowing. So far no major delays or problems had been experienced. Hopefully, the status quo would remain.

    Even the Head Chef looked DEBONNAIRE. For a change, he’d discarded his trademark BEANIE, for his rarely-worn, starched, pleated, white chef’s hat. The tall toque had been ironed to the point that no WRINKLES, not a single one, could be seen.

    The heat in the kitchen was almost SUFFOCATING as the kitchen staff ran about COOKING up a storm. Outside, the temperature had dropped considerably, but no RADIATOR was required in the restaurant, or in the kitchen. The heat emanating from the large ranges, and the expectancy of a busy night were enough to keep everyone warm.

    Michel, the French pastry chef in the PĂTISSERIE section of the kitchen already had made rows of cream-filled, caramelised sugar-dipped Saint-Honoré, as well as an endless supply of the delicious dessert, Paris-Brest; the custard-filled choux pastry rings."

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    1. Lee: You wove these challenging words together well.

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    2. Oh, i'd love to be there!

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    3. Well done Lee; I certainly hope the city's transport systems holds up with all the extra people flooding in. Mmmm, patisserie, I've had to give those up for a while.

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    4. Hi Lee - that was an excellent picture of a Saturday fun day in the city ... loved it - and the chaos that will be ensuing as they all mix ... cheers Hilary

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    5. A great story with all the prompts wovening is very well.

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    6. and I'm drooling now for dessert!

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    7. This was great, Lee! Your imagination is always sparking.

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  9. Hi EC ... the first list: I'll be back to read more and comment on them:

    Football finished, radiators put away, hardly any electricity needed ... oh yes a bit for the tennis watching ... cooking on the bbq, a child practising her ballet steps outside ... my husband debonair as usual ...

    I wish!
    Cheers Hilary

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    1. Hilary Melton-Butcher: Another lovely vignette.

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    2. Noting to complain about there Hilary espevially a debonaire husband

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    3. I enjoyed this, Hilary. Especially the debonair husband:)

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    4. sounds like a wonderful weekend!

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  10. Replies
    1. messymimi: I will be over to read it very shortly.

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    2. A wonderful story and loved your photo for Wordless Wednesday!

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  11. May still has another Wednesday in it. I'll work on the words and have something on my blog by Friday :)

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    1. River: My bad. The prompts will be here next week. They will still be at Lee's next month though.

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  12. Lovely stories what is written by your followers.
    I had a go again - just a rather short one..

    Hope the RADIATOR doesn’t use too much ELECTRICITY whilst I watch the FOOTBALL , would much rather watch the BALLET for to me, it’s much more DEBONAIRE to see than the FOOTBALL.
    Now it’s time to use more ELECTRICTY and boil the jug for a cuppa!

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    1. Margaret-whiteangel: Love it - and would much rather watch ballet than football myself. Enjoy that cuppa.

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    2. Funny how everything we do uses electricity now -- i wonder how our ancestors survived!

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    3. I am not into watching sport but I love ballet, Good story

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    4. nicely done! Tho I think I would rather watch football than ballet!

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  13. My first story using the first set of words.

    One of the stage hands had been found dead in the wings and close by his body was what looked like a FOOTBALL. However when Detective Philpot tried to lift it, it was the weight of a ten pin bowling ball. The man had a huge mark on the side of his head and before he even got forensics in to confirm his suspicions, he was treating the theatre as a murder crime scene.

    When the female BALLET dancers became suspects in this murder investigation and when this DEBONAIRE young detective appeared in their dressing room, they grew lightheaded and quickly began COOKING up crimes they had not even committed. The air was full of ELECTRICITY and one dancer was so excited she fainted and hit the RADIATOR!

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    1. Margaret Adamson: I can just see that - all of it. I am wondering what the murder weapon is though. And who the culprit is.

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    2. The clue for the weapon is in the 1st paragraph however the culprit is another story away!!!

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    3. It would certainly cause a stir to have a detective suspecting everyone in the theatre, and did someone hide a weight inside of a football? Curiouser and curiouser!

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    4. Good set of clues or red herrings ... loved it - and would like to know more ... cheers Hilary

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    5. that fainting dancer is lucky she didn't become victim #2!

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  14. 2nd story 2nd lot of prompts

    This is the story of ten older, (well over seventy year olds with a lot of WRINKLES), men and woman who had been dancing for years together but always had an urge to learn the MAMBO. What better way to be taught by experts than to go to Cuba, they thought, as the locals would be skilled and fluid and able to move beautifully across the dance floor.

    Well as older folk we all had our own wee ways but Audrey sorted us out with all the TRANSPORT and accommodation down to the last details. We were flying into the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana and being picked up in a ten seater minibus. Well we did arrive on time and were hit with a massive heat wave as we descended the aircraft steps. When our so called minibus arrived it was a laundry van with no windows and two bench seats!

    As the driver could not speak much English we eventually piled our luggage down the middle of the van and struggled onto the two benches. NO windows, NO ventilation and Albert refused to take off his BEANIE! Then Alice started crying and saying she was SUFFOCATING. Bill and Henry tried to comfort her and told her we would be there soon. Barbara, whose daughter, back home owned a PASSITERIE, had kindly packed us each delicious pastries so that took everyone’s mind off this terrible journey. Finally after 50 minutes the van ground to a halt and we were never gladder to arrive at the beautiful Melia Cohiba Hotel.

    We spent the next week learning this lively Cuban dance. The men twisted and the women dipped in intimate and suggestive poses. The rhythm beat was a rapid, dynamic pulse that kept us all twirling around the dance floor for hours. Some might say there is no fool like an old fool! But let me tell you, we had such fun and seemed to completely forget our terrible van journey at the beginning of our holidays We discovered that dancing is such a very important part of Cuban life – it’s an expression of joy and sensuality and offers locals a release from the daily grind. We embraced everything with open arms.

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    1. Margaret Adamson: Hooray for living life to the full.

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    2. Oh, that's just how i want to be as i grow older! Wiser and more full of life than ever.

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    3. I love this! What a fun trip even with the laundry van!

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  15. Ha, here goes - but my apologies in advance!! Lol

    MAMBO...my favourite category - oh
    if it weren't for all these WRINKLES
    I'd be up there dancing with the best of them!
    TRANSPORT is a problem too - the festivals
    are never held in this overcrowded and SUFFOCATING
    Town of mine.
    Oh where's my BEANIE hat - I'm
    off to the PATISSERIE for a dream cake.
    Well, a girl needs some kind of compensation,
    doesn't she?? 😉😉

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    1. Cake is a pleasant compensation, indeed!

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    2. Ygraine: No apologies needed. None. I really like this and have used cake as compensation before now. And chocolate.

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    3. how fun! and yes to the cake please!

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  16. I see the word Football on your list, and that makes me groan!! Hubby announced yesterday that he had purchased our season football tickets and that he changed locations slightly. Grrrr it's not even summer yet and his mention of fall football puts me in a lousy mood. He's an avid Ohio State Fan. I enjoy a game or two, but after that not so much. I hate how it takes the whole fall. I hate how it takes the whole wkend, and everything has to be scheduled around it. I could indeed to a whole blog post about it, and been part of your words on Wed...but forgot again until coming here and had just put up a post yesterday.

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    1. Sandy: I suspect than more than one of my sisters in law feels your pain. Sport is too often king here and lives are rearranged as a result. Sigh.

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  17. Mom had finished cooking with electricity her dish to bring to the after recital party. Her daughter finished dressing for the ballet and band recital. Her son had come back from his football game and dressed quickly for the recital. He looked so debonaire in his suit. She called for her daughter to come down quickly so they could all be off for the evening. Unfortunately her son proclaimed at the last minute that the car radiator had overheated. She had no idea how they'd get to the recital on time.

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    1. Leave it to car trouble to ruin an evening! Well, i hope a friend or someone was able to help out and rescue them.

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    2. Linda Starr: Echoing messymimi, and thoroughly enjoyed your take on the prompts.

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    3. Loved this story and I amsusre a kind neighbour gave them a lift

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    4. I do hope that they were able to get a ride!

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  18. He carried that Radiator
    with the grace of a Football player.
    It was quite a Ballet!
    Electricity filled the air!
    He was really Cooking!
    and SO Debonaire!

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    1. Cloudia: This is a delightful poem. I am so glad you could join us.

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    2. We DOne Cloudia In 6 lines you got 6 prompts in a lovely little poem

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    3. wonderful! I'm sure the radiator was much heavier than a football however!

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  19. Loved reading all the stories from those words!

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  20. Everyone has had much fun with the words this week...well done one and all! :)

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  21. Great takes on challenging prompts this week! :) Will be back if I can think of something.

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    1. You don’t need that BEANIE for a BALLET show!
      Well, if I can’t wear it I’d rather not go
      I’ll stay and watch the FOOTBALL on the telly.
      It’s not DEBONAIRE, okay for the deli
      maybe. And your amateur stab at MAMBO -
      beanie and ballet? – that’s a terrible combo!

      Get changed pronto, we must leave, roads and TRANSPORT
      will be packed because of the match, droves of sport
      lovers for the football. Yikes, SUFFOCATING!
      I’d prefer to be home, that’s what I’m stating.
      Well we can’t, Tim’s COOKING dinner and the cake
      is from your favourite PATISSERIE, don’t make

      such a mammoth fuss! Please take it off your head
      and go get yourself a proper hat instead.
      Am I crazy? Will I allow my old brain
      to become unhinged and insane,
      like an overheated RADIATOR? – not me
      ballet or no ballet, I’ll stick to my beanie.

      It’s the stage people are going to look at
      not me and my WRINKLES in a fancy hat!
      I don’t understand why to watch certain arts
      the audience must dress up as if for the part!
      it’s the dancers who should be in costume
      and produce the ELECTRICITY in that room.

      If I can’t go there exactly as I am
      I am not going, that’s that, ballet be damned.
      This is why these fancy arts are a dying breed -
      coz you insist an ord’nary fellow needs
      to become something he’s not, dress extra posh.
      Are eyes under a beanie less sharp? – hogwash!

      Okay, keep your shirt and your beanie on, phew!
      Just please get a move on now, I don’t want to
      trample on toes in the darkness, squeeze my way
      past a million people to my seat, okay?
      You and your beanie! Tempest in a teacup
      just because I told you to, for once, dress up!

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    2. Nilanjana Bose: Love where these prompts took you. I can so hear this conversation - and am thinking mother and son. Or perhaps partners...

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    3. I was thinking partners, but mother and middle-aged son work too :)

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    4. Wonderful job at rhyming!

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  22. Thursday, 24 May 2018
    Words on Wenesday.
    The words for Wednesday. are Cooking. Football. Debonair. Electricity. Ballet. Radiator.

    It was quite warm during the day yesterday but turned quite chilly during the evening creating the frequent power outage and the power for the electric* radiators, dotted around the house.
    . This seems to always occur when cooking* the evening meal but luckily we have a gas cooking arrangement to supplement the electricity* supply.. The power cut also thankfully brought an abrupt end to a thugby football* game being watched by a visiting friend who had been listening and watching the ravings of the crowd screaming advice to the hardly debonair* bunch of tattooed overweight gormless muttonheads, the ballet*of hooliganism abruptly ending giving instant relief to one's ears.
    The lighting of the candles was the next priority and a bright flashlight to search for the odd necessities being reminiscent of my childhood rural days living off the grid.

    Vest .... back soon.

    at May 24, 2018 No comments: Links to this post

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    1. That was an imaginative take on the words, Vest. Well done! :)

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    2. hahahahaha well done and quite the visual of the players!

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  23. Lee, Interesting goings on in your fair city. I too went out for lunch and a show yesterday accompanied by my cleaning lady; Oi Oi you may say, but it was all above board; no hanky panky simply a source of transport. we didn't even hold hands and did not register any emotional excitement.

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    1. Yeah! Yeah! That's what you're telling me, Vest...but I know better! Sadie, the cleaning lady and I are the best of friends...but I keep her confidences...I won't spill the beans! :)

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  24. Yikes! For the first time since I started joining in on the fun, I'm stumped. I'll blame it on my migraine. Lets hope for better results from me next week. :)

    Elsie

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    1. Elsie Amata: Yet more migraines? I am so very sorry.

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  25. Replies
    1. Sandra Cox: Lots of excellent takes on prompts I found very difficult.

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  26. I believe prompts and challenges are a huge part of the fun for many personal bloggers. Maybe you could do my survey of "Older bloggers" (any age is fine, by the way) and tell us why. Cheers!

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    1. Rachel McAlpine: I think we all need challenges. Where can I find your survey of older bloggers.

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  27. I'll just sit on the sidelines, crocheting madly and enjoying the word play!

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    1. Jayne: Like those crocheting at the foot of Madame Guillotine?

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  28. Lots of great ones!! These words were hard!! Big Hugs!

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    1. Magic Love Crow: There are some wonderful stories - and it was hard. Thank you so much for applauding us.

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  29. Good list of words, will have fun.

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    1. Weekend-Windup: I hope you will let us see where the prompts take you.

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  30. EC. Your comment to Jane brings to mind the " Carry On"; 'The black finger nail' movie, Sid James Motley crew. When the Duke to be executed say's. "Short back and sides not too much off the top".

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    1. Vest: Not a movie I have seen - but it sounds like a hoot.

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  31. It's always so neat to see the clever stories people can come up with to include these words. So fun! Hugs...RO

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    1. RO: It is. I am blown away often. Hope your weekend is wonderful.

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  32. just appreciating other people's stories this time. This is such a fun meme.

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    1. catmint: It is isn't it? And there are some gems produced each and every week.

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  33. Hey EC, Wishing your warm(not hot:)sunshine, sparkle and energy.
    Hugs

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    1. Sandra Cox: It is early here, and the frost is on the ground. It looks like a bright and beautiful day - and I hope yours is too.

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