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, and mixing and matching is encouraged.
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.
A big thank you to Margaret Adamson, her friend Sue Fulcher, and Bill Dodd. Their prompts challenged us all last month and gave us a lot of fun too.
The prompts will be here this month and I am providing them.
I am also asking for volunteers to provide the prompts on a month by month basis next year. Please let me know in the comments if you are willing to help out. November 2021 has been claimed but the rest of the year is free.
This week's prompts are:
- alias
- garden
- rivers
- enjoy
- little
- you
And/or
- unusual
- life
- walls
- serenity
- mapped
- madness
Have fun.
You.
ReplyDeleteMadness they (an alias I have always distrusted) said.
Little did they know. They were wrong. As they so often are.
Yes, the garden of our life has been unusual, straying into unmapped territory.
Together we have built walls against them,
Found serenity.
And enjoyed it.
It hasn’t always been easy and our rivers certainly haven’t run smoothly,
Just the same,
I wouldn’t trade any of our yesterdays for a lifetime of their tomorrows…
I LOVE this. It's moving like those flowing rivers and wiggles right into my heart. I knew you'd pick the words that had garden in them:) AND I'm honored to see I'm on your reading list.
DeleteYOU stay safe. Be healthy.
This is good.
DeleteSandra Cox: Of course you are on my reading list. And I have another partially finished which I will add to the list soon. And thank you.
DeleteWell done Elephant Child. That's a life well lived with no regrets.
DeleteYes and yes.
DeleteBeautifully (and cleverly) written! That's a life to cherish. :-)
DeleteYou really know how to do this, Sue. I am gobsmacked every week.
DeleteYou can definitely be very proud of this one.
DeleteBonito relato, y muy bien resuelto.
DeleteSaludos.
Excellent use of words!
DeleteI love this so much, EC. It really resonated with me and touched my heart.
DeleteWarmly,
Elsie
Hi Sue - so true ... we draw the drawbridges up ... I certainly have at the moment ... but wonderful imagery you've given - and I know you go beyond your walls. Stay safe - Hilary
Delete@ Elephant's Child: Sounds like a good speech or a poem.
DeleteHave a lovely day.
EC, you are an amazing writer! I really mean that! Big Hugs!
DeleteI can make Words for Wednesday for January if you like?
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): I would like that very much. Thank you.
DeleteFine. I have pre-posted them already ;)
DeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): You are quick off the mark. I haven't even prepared next week's prompts yet (shame on me). I am really looking forward to seeing how you challenge us next month. Many thanks.
DeleteEnjoyed your take on the words, EC. And I can do February 2021 if you like.
DeleteXO
WWW
I was procrastinating ;) I don't know why, but writing is next to impossible for me right now. I even began folding the laundry!
DeleteWisewebwoman: We have a taker for February already (yay). Do any other months appeal? I will put up a post in a day or so showing which months are covered and where the gaps remain. I am so grateful that people are responding to my plea.
DeleteI can do April if you like EC?
DeleteXO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: April would be excellent. Thank you.
DeleteMarked on calendar. I live in hope for 2021. There is no choice :)
DeleteXO
WWW
Even though I haven't been joining in lately, I still enjoy reading the ways people weave their stories with the words. Thanks EC :)
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: I am glad to hear it, and hope that you will be inspired to join us again next year some time.
DeleteI'd be happy to give you words for February.
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: Thank you. That would be brilliant. Here or on your own blog?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei will keep observing how it works and probably in my free time in new year can suggest words too. Do have a great day
ReplyDeleteSteve: Thank you. On both counts. I do hope that you join us soon. This meme is a heap of fun for both participants and readers.
DeleteHi EC - 2nd lot ... and I'll do March if you want someone to continue the year ... here preferably on your blog - if that's ok.? I'll send them to you in February.
ReplyDelete"Mad George enjoyed his unusual life, he mapped the walls … he knew he couldn’t go beyond the pale … he didn’t wonder what else there was to life … he was content … the Serenity Prayer came to mind.
His friends and fellow occupants knew his madness wouldn’t worry them. Christmas time would be the same for Mad George, but they could have a few extra treats."
Cheers - Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Thank you. March would be great, and of course you can post your words here.
DeleteI love your story, and I firmly believe that we need the Mad Georges (and Georginas) to enrich our lives.
Those who are happy just as they are, are not really mad, at least i do not think so.
DeleteWell done Hilary.
DeleteA definite thumbs up, Hil. Let's here it for Christmas and the Mad King Georges of this world.
DeleteHere's mine, great words this week.
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------------------------
I come to meet you in the garden by the unusual stone walls abutting the river. You mapped it out on the email you sent me this morning.
I park my car a distance away, not wanting it to be traced.
I enjoy the walk. All my life I've been a walker, it keeps the madness at bay.
Of course I indulge the madness a little occasionally. It needs an outlet.
Today for instance.
My alias tells you I'm blonde and tall, thirty six, slender, with a PhD in English literature.
In reality? Let's not go there. Well, just a teaser. I am on the wrong side of fifty, under five feet and weigh - I don't know - it's been a while, and work as a clerk in retail.
Ah, look at you, here you come all eager and early, with flowers too, a nice touch.
I'm off to the side, of course. feeding the river ducks, covertly watching. I'm timing you.
You've started pacing. Just a little. Adjusting your tie, fingering your hair. Checking your fingernails.
It's a good game, I write down 30 for 30 minutes. Little wagers with myself. The record is 55, unbeaten since 2019.
-------------------------------------------------------
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: This is a most excellent take and has me smiling all over my fat face.
DeleteQuite a funny tale, but hard to understand; I had to read it through three times before I got it. But maybe I'm just tired and November-daft. When I understood it, I liked it.
DeleteWhat a game!
DeleteReally well done - and quite wicked!
DeleteLiterary work of art.
DeleteWhat an unusual life. Walls give me serenity. My life is mapped all over them. No madness here.
ReplyDeleteMike: Smiling here. Not even a little madness? Come on, you are among friends, you can admit it...
DeleteNo madness? You're kidding. Nice tale.
DeleteThere needs to be a little madness. As i like to say, not clinically nuts, just generally nuts.
DeleteVery clever.
DeleteBrilliant take - succinct too ... take care Mike - Hilary
Delete@ Mike: I like this very much.
DeleteHave a lovely day.
I enjoy your posts so much!
ReplyDeleteBeauty Queen: What a lovely thing to say. Thank you so much.
DeleteFor Ellie life had been unusual which is why she was there. All the walls in the world could not give her the security she craved. She suffered from "madness" her family was told. "Oh well. Her grandma had been beyond that, she was told. Ellie's life was mapped out before her in a gray stone way. "Time for pills" Nurse Rivers announced. Yay, Ellie thought. Yay.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a few dark days, Sue. Aching has filled my brain with pain.
Susan Kane: I am sorry that you have had a dark few days and hope the sun is starting to shine again for you.
DeleteYour story makes my heart ache. It is a sad reality for some.
Heartbreaking, and well told.
DeleteTough story, but well told.
DeleteBless her heart:-(
Deletehi Susan - sad, but so true I suspect ... take care and I hope your blues have eased ... it's just not easy for anyone at the moment. Stay safe -Hilary
DeleteThanks for giving taciturnity a chance.
ReplyDeleteWhenever seeing his you being but a mirrored alias in the rivers, afterwards he enjoyed his little garden the more.
Therefore, one ought not consider unusual when life's walls are mapped with both serenity and madness.
Sean Jeating: Thank you for joining us. Serenity and madness both have beds in my garden. Frequently overflowing beds.
DeleteThey balance each other out.
DeleteQuick interesting.
DeleteHi Sean - taciturness deserves a chance - even in his unusual garden ... well done - Hilary
DeleteMy friends might think it's unusual for me to live my life inside these walls but under the circumstances, I found peace and serenity here and and realized that my mapped daily existence was pure madness.
ReplyDeleteJulia
Julia: Another lovely take on my prompts. Thank you. And a big hooray for finding peace and serenity - particularly by stepping away from the expectations of others.
DeleteIf what was mapped was madness, it was best to choose the unusual.
DeleteHi Julia - you obviously don't think your enclosure is too worrying - so you're right ... being outside would be pure madness for you. Take care - Hilary
DeleteYes, i would dearly love to take a month or even two. Providing the prompts is such fun. In a bit, i will be back to link up for this week.
ReplyDeleteOkay, my story will be over here. Warning, it is a true story, and might trigger some people, so read at your own risk.
DeleteIt looks, as i read back over the responses, like you have everything through April, so i would be glad to take May, and then another month toward the end of the year if you need. As i said, i have found i really do enjoy it.
Deletemessymimi: Thank you. May it is, and another month if we need you.
Deletemessymimi: I have just read your true story and my heart aches. It is beautifully written, and still my heart aches. Thank you for being the caring and supportive person you are.
DeleteOh I like where you took me with your list of life, living words I feel as if a garden of rivers still flows through my thoughts. Serenity mapped through madness sound like a perfect way throughout our journey of life! thanks, you've brightened the day!
ReplyDeleteWell done!
Delete21 Wits: I really like this, and hope that all our journeys flow so gently.
Delete21 Wits - clever ... well done - Hilary
DeleteI really enjoyed this.
DeleteWonderful tales or short stories all have written, enjoyed reading them.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: There are some beauties aren't there?
DeleteAnd i hope you find them!
ReplyDeleteLaurie: Echoing messymimi. I hope you find them too, no-one deserves them more.
ReplyDeleteI can provide the prompts for June, so at least six months are covered, then I can do another month if there are any left over when others claim a month.
ReplyDelete"Madness was mapped out for me if I followed the path of my ancestors, so I gave up the rat race and moved to a little plot near where two rivers met, here I planted a garden with vegetables, another with flowers, and now enjoy a life of peaceful serenity."
River: Thank you. I am loving the way the year is filling up.
DeleteAnd I also love your story - which sounds close to my perfect life.
Oh, a good life!
DeleteHi River - beautiful ... all the best - Hilary
DeleteI seldom chime in on these prompts, but...has anyone else noticed they make a found poem?
ReplyDeletedinahmow: I did - with some rearranging (and perhaps some omissions.
DeleteDinahmow, thanks for the kick to my brains. A poem, albeit a strange one, arose in my poor mind. Words for Wednesday
DeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): I am thrilled that dinahmow spurred your recalcitrant writing brain into action. And applaud the result.
DeleteJust published a blog post that accidentally coincides with many of these words! They are prevalent in my life, clearly :-) Happy Wednesday! xx
ReplyDeleteLisa Southard: I loved (and envied) the vignettes from your days.
DeleteAquí tenéis mi humilde aportación, que espero sea de vuestro agrado:
ReplyDeletePor Sevilla pasa el río Guadalquivir, el único navegable de España, y en su ribera tiene un pequeño jardín del siglo XIX, conocido como el "Jardín de las Delicias", muy visitado por sus hermosas esculturas, así como también por el exquisito buen gusto con que las manos expertas del artista, lo dotó de una belleza natural, y una policromía de macetas y macizos cuajados de flores, que hacen pareja con el azul del cielo, de nuestra bendita tierra.
Si algún día tu y tu familia decidís visitarnos, no olvides nunca pasar por este jardín que es un remanso de paz y sosiego, mientras contemplas como las aguas del río fluyen lentamente, y disfrutas de los perfumes de las muchas plantas aromáticas que abundan por estas tierras.
Me falta: Álias.
Un cordial saludo, y cuidaros mucho.
Manuel.
This sounds like a wonderful place to visit. I hope with all my heart to be able to travel once again and see such wonders.
DeletePS: I'm sorry for not answering in Spanish. While I still read it, my writing skills are too rusty to be of much use apart from ¡Gracias por la tua storia! Y cordial saludo a ti tambien, Manuel.
Manuel: How I would love to visit that Garden of Delights. Thank you so much for bringing it to us with your words.
DeleteHave a truly wonderful week.
Gracias, Charlotte e Hijo de elefante.
DeleteI am about two thirds of the way through “ALIAS Grace”, a wonderful novelized version of an historical event, by that most illustrious of Canadian authors, Margaret Attwood. LITTLE wonder she is so acclaimed, she is also a birder, and what could be better than that, I ask YOU?
ReplyDeleteThis book has been my companion within the four WALLS of my house, and during these unseasonably warm days of November, I have taken it into the GARDEN to enjoy with my morning coffee. The book is extremely well written and I am ENJOYING it immensely.
It is an UNUSUAL account of the poverty of the serving class in the early colonial period of Upper Canada, and the LIFE which they were destined to endure in the New World, often little better than the misery they had left behind. Grace, a refugee from Ireland, and a child, is compelled at times to act as though she had been touched by MADNESS, ironically in order to be released from an insane asylum, as “hospitals” were termed in those days. Nevertheless, she maintains throughout an air of SERENITY, accepting a fate that one might conclude had been MAPPED out for her, with RIVERS of deception, mistreatment, the wrong toss of the dice, and a fatalism that is unbearably touching. She accepts with stoicism that life is not always just, and that if she has to pay the ultimate penalty for a crime beyond her control, and for which she is falsely accused, she will do so with dignity.
Amazing book review using all the prompts!!
DeleteDavid M Gascoigne: I have read Alias Grace, and what a masterly summary you have created using the prompts. Well done and loud applause.
DeleteEnhorabuena, David, porque has utilizado todas las palabras de este reto, y por lo bien que has hilado la narrativa de tu relato.
DeleteUn saludo.
Hi David and Sue - thanks for this brilliant review and take on the prompt words. Love it - and I've noted to get a copy to read at some stage next year ...
DeleteYou've done a wonderful job ... while introducing me/us to the book is fabulous ... thank you so much - love it ... take care both of you ... Hilary
My story is posted on my blog. I have to do that before I read all of yours or I will be influenced. Can't wait to see what everyone has done with these great words.
ReplyDeleteI always do the same. This was a wonderful take on the prompts!
DeleteGranny Annie: I do exactly the same as well - and really, really enjoyed your very different take on this week's prompts.
DeleteI should start posting these on my blog if I ever start blogging more than once a month again. For now, here's my rather odd contribution:
ReplyDeleteThe two rivers begin as little streams high in the stony mountains. They wind their way through the forest, finally flowing alongside your garden where you and I sip tea and talk and enjoy this carefree time. How these moments erase the past and my alias--for now--becomes who I really am.
cleemckenzie: I see nothing odd about your contribution (which might mean that I am also odd). I would love to join you and your alias for a cup of tea.
DeleteHi Lee - it's clever and I can see the weaving of your mind ... well done - love it ... all the best Hilary
DeleteI love this!
DeleteMandy enjoyed the serenity of unusual plant life in the little garden hidden behind the stone walls where the two rivers met and joined. You mapped the spot before madness claimed your soul and signed it with your alias, Lewis Clark.
ReplyDeleteCarol Kilgore: I hope that Lewis (or his alias) can also enjoy that haven. Thanks for joining us.
DeleteHola Hijo de Elefante
ReplyDeleteGracias por tus bellas palabras en mi espacio
Gracias por leerme
y ser siempre tan amable
Aqui va mi aporte para la propuesta :
When you were little
you went out to the garden frequently
to browse
One day the new neighbor peeked over the fence
I was your age
just 9 years
and you made up a name
you used an alias
You said you were called Swimmer.
One day when a long time had passed
They went to the river to enjoy.
Roger the boy
Your neighbor, that's what his name was
Got into the river
But then I couldn't get out
Luckily as a good swimmer you went for him
And you helped him
have a nice night
Big hug
eli mendez: I really like your poetry - and thank you for joining us. You have a wonderful day and night too.
DeleteThose words! You mastered this. Love your entry especially the last line, "I wouldn’t trade any of our yesterdays for a lifetime of their tomorrows." This year has been a terrible one for most. I know that out of each bad thing we can find a positive. I hope I feel that way after Covid is out of the picture and 2020 is only a memory. :)
ReplyDeleteT.Powell Coltrin: Thank you. I am sure that many of us will be very glad to have 2020 in the rear view mirror - and hope we learn from it.
DeleteWell done Laurie - and I hope you find them ... I think you will - stay safe - hilary
ReplyDeleteI cant compete but this is my drivel:
ReplyDelete‘Tis the madness of life when you say
That your garden has dried out the clay,
And to get rivers mapped,
Ere the little stalks snapped
And the walls close in on your day.
The Blog Fodder: Drivel? You are very wrong. Thank you for joining us.
DeleteI don't know what provoked me to write this silly letter but I did. The link to my take on the prompts is here
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prompts.
Have a lovely day.
lissa: My reading list has been hiding your post from me. I will head over and read your take on the prompts very soon - and expect that I will enjoy it as much as I do all your work.
DeleteI hope you find them Laurie! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteWell done everyone! Big Hugs EC!!
ReplyDeleteI second that. Woot. Woot.
DeleteI chose the first set of prompts.
ReplyDeleteHere goes:
I may have mentioned this somewhere before. His alias is Stoney B. He rules the back patio. Smoking a joint, he surveys the patchy garden below. I’m watching him from my bedroom. If I open my window a crack, I can enjoy the dank smell of his marijuana. Do you know that I watch you? Is it a little creepy? I’m not super into staring at a silent dude smoke dope, I’m just avoiding dealing with the mountains of boxes upon rivers of upended furniture still waiting to be placed in my new home.
Bea: I know that this a true story - and am shuddering on your behalf. Both for the presence of Stoney B AND for the mountain of unpacking to do.
DeleteBrilliant stories everyone!!
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed reading them all...and would love to have another try when these next two weeks or so are over, and I can concentrate again!😉
Have a lovely weekend!!
Much love and hugs ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Ygraine: Thank you. I hope your surgery goes really, really well.
Delete