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.
The prompts will be here this month but are provided by Margaret Adamson, and her friend Sue Fulcher. The prompts will also include photographs taken by Margaret's friend Bill Dodd.
Sadly this will be the last month Margaret and her friends provide us the prompts. Margaret's and Sue's health has got in the way and forced them to make decisions about where to devote their energies. I thank them, and will miss them.
This week's prompts are:
- Memorialise
- Terpsichorean
- Flotation
- Gusto
- Obnoxious
- Phlegmatic
- Philately
- Swaddle
- Voice
- Voluptuous
- Yolk
- Appraise
Wow! Head scratchers 😉
ReplyDeleteyes - you're right there!
DeleteGood luck to one and all ...
Cloudia: That they are - but it is good to expand our grey matter.
DeleteI think my grey matter has packed up and left home.
DeleteCome one River I know your grey cells have NOT packed up. This is the last challenge from us you will ever have and I know you can do it.
DeleteShe was a dancer, or as her publicist put it, a terpsichorean. The general public would be much more likely to say she was a belly dancer. It was her voluptuous body which first attracted him. Rich, bountiful and totally seductive. He somehow mustered the courage to ask her out. Their love story would be memorialized in history, shining brighter than Antony and Cleopatra.
ReplyDeleteHe was shattered at her response. Her voice was as beautiful as she was, but that didn’t soften her obnoxious response. She had laughed at him. Laughed and told him with gusto that he was too young. ‘You should still be swaddled in your mother’s arms ‘ she said. ‘ You are not a man, and barely an egg. Perhaps a half formed yolk’.
Time to appraise the situation. Philately might not be sexy, but it was profitable. Would she ignore his youth if enough riches were waved in front of her? Would a stock flotation give him enough to tempt her to think again? His practical and phlegmatic self dragged him back to earth. He had tried. He had failed. He was young, but not stupid. She might regret her decision when she realised just how rich he was, but she had her chance. And there would be other fish and other dancers for him…
I was so impressed with how you managed to use all the words, even though there was no continuity until you gave us this lovely tale of love and loss. VERY WELL DONE, dear.
DeleteHi EC - very clever indeed - and definitely brilliantly crafted - I could see the story ... excellent - loved it - Cheers Hilary
DeleteBrilliant EC. Comeuppance seems to be the theme here. I will be curious to see what others do with it.
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Ha! Philately might not be sexy?! I'll tell Tetrapilotomos.
DeleteApart from that: Fine descriptive story.
Well done. Those prompts are quite challenging. I'm impressed on your story and how that man handled his rejection. He's better off sticking with stamp collecting and carry on without her.
DeleteTetrapilotomos??
DeleteSue this tory (which I loved) was brilliantly crafted. He is better off without her. I am going to miss setting up these challenges for these wonderful people who can write such wonderful stories.
DeleteJust being able to use terpsichorean in a story makes this challenge worthwhile. I'd forgotten there was such a word. We need to find an excuse to use it more. I love the sound of it.
DeleteWOW! What a challenge to get all those complicated words into a coherent story - you nailed it! :-)
DeleteExcellent! She may indeed live to regret it.
DeleteSay what? I do understand that Margaret and friends find it hard to supply us with prompts, when they have to use hours with a dictionary - this is of course meant jokingly, I am grateful for the prompts, even though I sure have to find my dictionary this time around ;) I know half the words, I think THANKS!!! <3
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): I had to use my dictionary too - and suspect that most of us did (or will).
DeleteAnd now I tried, those words led me astray WfW
DeleteCharolotte Actually my friend and I never use a dictionary to find the prompts and in fact that is the easy part for us and the part we will miss. I am not a natural writer myself and I started just to encourage my friend Sue who is a brilliant writer, however she developed Parkinson and cannot write at all now so although we would love to supply prompts, we think it unfair to the others not to be writing stories at least with our own words/phases/photos. The think that takes the longest for us, is finding the right photos for your all to write about. Have a great time ahead writing many more stories for others to enjoy
DeleteHi EC, Margaret and friends - the 2nd set:
ReplyDelete"The man appraised the situation, her voluptuousness intrigued him … he could see the philately swaddled pile … ready for her to sort the stamp display on teams of school cheerleaders.
The girls had arrived in their colourful uniform – they were called the Yolkers – so you can guess the colours: white and yellow – yes … but then he pondered about her sensuous figure … wondering what her voice would be like – no doublt he'd have a chance to talk to her later on … but those girls … are tempting too.
However he must get himself under control ... he has work to do for the school."
I shall definitely look forward to see how everyone else does ... cheers Hilary
Well done, Hilary. I will give it a shot myself , but I think that you and Sue have taken the first two prizes!
DeleteGood going Hilary, nicely done!
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Hilary Melton-Butcher: This is beautifully crafted - but I do worry that he is tempted by the school girls. Their team name suggests that they are young...
DeleteJust for fun I read this changing the genders.
DeleteGood job, now I'm worried about those school girls.
DeleteToo funny, Hilary! The Yolkers were a perfect touch.
DeleteWell done!
DeleteHe sounds like a bad egg, looking at those Yolks like that!
DeleteVery well written Hilary.
DeleteHere's mine, EC and gang. I used all the words.
ReplyDelete---------------------------------------------------------------
The funeral home is packed to the rafters. Everyone wants to make sure the old terpsichorean is really dead. Others are curious as to how she will be memorialised, she was so obnoxious in real life. A flotation device might be required to rise above all the hyprocisy.
Her phlegmatic middle-aged son rose to his feet in front of her casket.
“Mother,” he cries with gusto, then lowering his voice while glancing behind him at her corpse, swaddled in pink silk, her voluptuous head of yolk-coloured hair – a wig, they mutter to each other behind their hands – draping around her. A colour never seen in nature.
“You weren’t just a dancer, mother, you were also a famous stamp collector renowned throughout the world of philately.”
Here he paused, taking a deep breath and then cleared his throat.
“What else can I say Mother? You were never home. You barely spoke to me. You sent me off to boarding school when I was seven. You didn’t acknowledge my existence.
“It’s all my friends who are here today and none of yours as you had none. You just used people to get to the top of the ballet world. You didn’t care who you hurt.
“So I’ve sold your stamp collection and after we burn you I am treating my friends to a scrumptious meal at your expense in the best hotel in town. And we will not raise our glasses to you, Mother per se, but to your good riddance!”
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Sweet justice!
DeleteWisewebwoman: I love it - and hope that he and his friends have many, many more delicious dinners together. And perhaps that they dance (badly which would upset her) on her grave.
DeleteReminds me of what many people sang when Maggie Thatcher had done her last gasp: 'Hurrah, the bitch is dead!'
DeleteThe Maggie Thatcher analogy is spot on.
DeleteThank you, David.
DeleteOh dear, I have a hard time imagining such selfish mother but I know they exist. She certainly reaped what she sowed. Well done.
DeleteFabulous. I really loved this line, A flotation device might be required to rise above all the hyprocisy."
DeleteA part of me is sad about the woman she became. Well done!
DeleteWhat a fabulous tale. I was truly impressed with how you wove this story of revenge that fit so well with all the words.
DeleteGood use of those words! I wiónder where all those evil stories come from. Must be something in those big words ;)
DeleteWell done for weaving in all the words into your story
DeleteHeartbreaking...
DeleteShe certainly had the notion that at least one of her grand adventures should be MEMORIALIZED; but how to choose? One has to be PHLEGMATIC about writing memoirs, but attack them with GUSTO nonetheless. My God, how she had used her VOLUPTUOUS body in getting what she wanted. Her TERPSICHOREAN routines at those private parties would have made Salome blush, starting out SWADDLED from head to toe, swaying sinuously to the music, dropping layer by layer. She knew how to build tension and fuel desire, her garments wafting to the floor as though suspended by some hidden FLOTATION device. Her seductive VOICE was equally alluring, soft whispers, suggestive innuendos, all capable of turning even the most OBNOXIOUS rich slob at the party into putty in her hands. Prime Ministers, presidents and scions of industry all fell victim to her charms. It’s amazing what a little deftly and strategically smeared egg YOLK will do! The money she could make in a night most people worked a year for. And now, the day after having her collection APPRAISED she reflected back on it all with great fondness. She always knew that PHILATELY would out-perform the stock market!
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: I love it. I am intrigued about just where she smeared the egg yolk though.
DeleteThis is so good. Words of Wednesday for at least one month. ;-)
DeleteI echo Elephant Child. Where did she smeared the egg yolk? She was quite the stripping mummy, lol...
DeleteI can picture it in my mind. Good job.
What a marvelous take on the words and quite the woman you captured. I too love the egg yolk bit.
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Excellent take David - certainly I could see her swaying, enticing all the males, and no doubt some females, within her orb.
DeleteShe was professional too in all her work ... as the philately collection showed. She might have used smeared egg yolk to fix her stamps in the album.
Cheers - Hilary.
Well told, and an excellent use of the prompts.
Delete
DeleteReally well done, David. I've actually known a woman or two like that!
Well told, and you leave me wondering over the use of yolk.
DeleteVery well crafted Story David and you left us with a little "wonder"!
DeleteThis was fun, I enjoyed learning a few new words. Here's mine.
ReplyDelete"To memorialize a terpsichorean with this award was a great honor. During this very important performance, her steps seemed to be as if in flotation with her surroundings, and yet she performed with such gusto. She had always felt her teacher showed her no respect for her endless hours of hard work. He always seemed obnoxious and phlegmatic in his treatment of her, his style definitely being the old-school ways. Unknown to her he saw her great potential and was, in his own way, setting her on the road to perfecting her art and receiving the recognition she deserved.
DeniseinVA: It is wonderful that you joined us again - and I am super impressed that you saw past her teachers obnoxious nature. I hope they have a long, long and productive professional relationship.
DeleteSome things we only recognise in retrospect.
DeleteThis was a great story. I'm glad that he saw her potential and I hope that it was not for selfish reasons.
DeleteI am so glad he saw her potential and delighted she finally saw it herself.
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This was a positive take on a time of hard work perfecting her art - well done ...
DeleteHe saw what she could become, and made sure she did. A well told story.
DeleteGood story - a teacher once told me that the phlegmatic demeanor was meant to not put ideas into our heads, and that correction was the best praise, for why correct those that could not learn? Old school teahing maybe was like this in the dance/acrobatics business?
DeleteI am glad we challenged you with at least some words that you were unfamiliar with however nevertheless you can up with a great story in the end Denise
DeleteNow, this was a nice little challenge. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteCertainly a bit more voluptuous than the slim girl Dafydd ap Gwilym memorialized in many of his poems. Still, just couldn’t get her out of my mind. Even whilst doing my daily crossword.
Yolk deposition. 14 letters.
What a woman! I’d have to ask Tetrapilotomos.
Entering my friend’s sanctuary with a mug of tea and three hobnobs, still looking for any space on his mighty desk I asked: “Did you ever enjoy terpsichorean pleasures?”
He, without looking up: “That’s not seriously the question you intended to ask.”
- “Oh well. Yolk deposition. Four…”
- “Vitellogenesis.”
- “Ah yes, of course.” I grinned. “You can really be proud …”
- “O why should the spirit of mortal be proud, in this little voyage from swaddle to shroud. What about a flotation therapy, Sean?”
- “Any problems, Tetrapilotomos?”
- Throwing an appraising glance at the manuscript in front of him, his voice no longer sounded phlegmatic: “Nowadays certain obnoxious editors ought to get purged with gusto.”
And on he went proofreading his 1669 pages short opus magnum ‘Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell’.
Your mind takes you in directions unknown to most of us!
DeleteI take it as a fine compliment, David.
DeleteSean Jeating: Echoing David, and grateful for the mind expanding ride(s).
DeleteWow! I enjoyed this journey very much!
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Brilliant Sean - I think I must study your answers and learn more history and musings from them. Excellent ... cheers Hilary
DeleteIt was intended as such, Sean.
DeleteNot what I had in mind, Hilary, but very practical!
DeleteFascinating use of the words, and very well done.
DeleteFascinating story. Is his book just empty pages or what? "Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell" what a hilarious title!
DeleteI love your writing.
Sean you crafted the prompt words in a fascinating way into a brilliant story. Glad some of the words you found a little challenging however you know more now that you did a week aga
DeleteThanks again, everyone.
Delete@ Charlotte: You are very clever. In 15 years I have not been asked this question.
@ Margaret: Except of 'swaddle', not the words but their combining was a challenge I enjoyed.
Being a lazy blogger and lazier commenter, I write it here: May life treat you well.
I agree, quite the challenge but you added a new twist...
ReplyDeleteWell done.
I guess it's my turn to test the word power challenge.
ReplyDeleteDiana was at the top of her terpsichorean career and soon to reach her plateau but she still could move her voluptuous body across the floor like a floatation buoy an a sea wave, expressing her movements with gusto.
She overheard the voice of her agent, Phil, talking to his phlegmatic friend, at breakfast, on how he wanted to memorialize her on a postage stamp. This was news to her.
Phil got so engrossed in this new idea that he didn't see how obnoxious he looked with egg yolk dripping from his beard as he swaddles the messy serviette around his fingers while telling his friend that he has more ideas to appraise.
Julia
Julia: You painted some incredible pictures with your words. I am glad that I don't have to think about food in the near future with your pictures of Phil...
DeleteYuck on the yolk but very well done!
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Hi Julia - love the 'flotation buoy on a sea wave' description ... and the eggy yolk dripping down his beard - yugh! Cheers Hilary
DeleteWell done! Good use of the prompts.
DeleteQuite a different take on the prompts, but still a good one!
DeleteAn interesting way you used the prompt words and made a very good story out of them Julia.
DeleteThat's a very diverse set of words.
ReplyDeleteRiver: It is, isn't it?
DeleteThe voluptuous voice was ready to appraise then purchase anything philately, backed not with yolk but albumin, then swaddle it for the trip home.
ReplyDeleteMike: Another interesting image.
DeleteWell done Mike - succinct too ... cheers Hilary
DeleteShort and sweet and full of images.
DeleteMike it may be short but I think we all got the picture.
DeleteGracious, it's been a day, but i'm working on it.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I look forward to your take on these challenging prompts.
DeleteAll right, in the middle of cooking for Grandpa's birthday gift, i managed to get something done.
DeleteIt will be over here.
Admirable, what in the middle of cooking for your Grandpa's birthday gift within but 77 minutes you managed to get done.
DeleteI enjoyed it.
Now and then some little aprosdoketa are a fine option to restore attention, eh?
Often words or short tale comes straight to my head for most of the past words, these have me thinking.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: I hope your thinking is productive - and look forward to seeing where it takes you.
DeleteYes Margaret D That was out thinking behind this mixture of words - to get everyone thinking and learning at the same time.
DeleteBuona giornata.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: Thank you - and to you.
DeleteWe are binging on Great British Baking Show, so this was on my brain.
ReplyDeletePaul Hollywood’s voice reminded the bakers that the meringue pie had to “be voluptuous in the top dome and no raw crust…”
All 4 remaining semifinalists were swaddled in clean aprons, wrapped them tightly.
When Val had opened the registered mail manila envelope, blazoned with famous philately stamp with the Great British Baking Show insignia. She didn’t believe it was possible, but there she was.
The short crust was in a blind bake. Egg yolks ended up in a bowl for later, but the egg whites were built into sky high white meringue. Custard ladled into the pale crust with clouds of meringues.
Oh, the pie was welcomed, ready for uncertain
appraisal.
Great meringue, smooth crème patisserie, Mary Berry smiled sweetly. But Paul, oh Paul. “Well, the crust is raw, raw! Meringue is weeping, clabbered custard is dripping…I can't eat this.”
As she had carried her pie back to the bench, she had grimaced, biting back a hidden desire. ‘Smashing the pie onto Hollywood’s face would be so rewarding.’
Val had nodded her head in agreement, a smile plastered on her cheeks. This was England after all.
Susan Kane: Arrogant though he is, the Silver Fox has a point. I would be reluctant to eat raw pastry too. Great use of the prompts.
DeleteOh, raw pastry dough is nice, but better baked. I would agree with the judges here. Well written!
DeleteI've not seen the Great British Baking Show. I've seen both the UK and US versions of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon Ramsay is far less shouty on the UK version.
DeleteOrnery Owl of Naughty Netherworld Press and Readers Roost (Not Charlotte): The Great British Bake off is MUCH less shouty than any show that Gordon Ramsay appears in. The judges don't set out to humilate the bakers either.
DeleteI agree pastry is better baked but I remember as a child when my Mum made pastry always eating some of it before it was baked!
DeleteSusan - well done ... I don't watch the show - too over the top. But I love lemon meringue pie and you've caught 'the feel' of the show - just OTT. Well done though - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteOf course I'm voluptuous, and thank you for noticing!(lol) Sending you lots and lots of hugs, RO
ReplyDeleteRO: Hugs. And a Happy Thanksgiving to you.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving
ReplyDeleteashok: Thank you. We don't celebrate this holiday here but I have a lot to be thankful for - and I am.
DeleteOooh, interesting words this go 'round. My brain is too pooped to pop today. I wish the participants and good yarn! x
ReplyDeleteBea: Having read your latest post I am not surprised that your brain and body are pooped. I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely.
DeleteIt's Thanksgiving here in the U.S. so I wrote an ode about it.
ReplyDeletehttps://poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com/2021/11/november-pad-challenge-2021-ode-to.html
Ornery Owl of Naughty Netherworld Press and Readers Roost (Not Charlotte): I really love your ode - both your precious memories and the new tradition.
DeleteLooking at these words give me no idea but at least I learned a few new words though I can't memorialise them at all. I haven't come across these words often but 'voice' seems to be a word I heard constantly. I hope to write something for the next prompts.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
lissa: Sometimes the words speak to us, sometimes they don't. I look forward to seeing your contributions next time their voice stirs you.
DeleteOh, now you are just making up words! 😂
ReplyDeleteSandi: Not a one. They are not words I see in regular use, but they are all 'real'.
Delete😂
DeleteThank you as always for your kindness. Carole.
ReplyDelete