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.
This week's prompts are:
- Beautiful
- Elusive
- Endurance
- Deep
- Determination
- Extraordinary
And/or
Have fun.
I have been remiss. Early next week (if not before) I will put up a post to show where the Words for Wednesday prompts will be next year.
The day (and the year) is going, going but not yet quite gone.
ReplyDeleteThis year has felt a bit like an endurance feat, for me and for the world. Extraordinary events have become the norm, and it has taken determination to keep putting one wobbly foot in front of the other. Equanimity has been elusive, and has often slipped my grasp.
Just the same, I have continued to find consolations (often in the natural world). For which I am grateful. There will be no resolutions from me as the new year dawns but a deep and abiding hope that I will continue to find and celebrate all that is beautiful – in my life and in the world.
Done with grace and style, Sue. I expect that this largely biographical.
DeleteMay (y)our hopes come true, Sue.
DeleteAbsolutely spot on. Your words and thoughts could have come right from my own world and heart and soul. May we all be blessed.
DeleteBeautifully written. Both heartfelt and heartwarming.
DeleteMy prayer for all of us is peace, joy, and all that is good and lovely.
DeleteWe find our consolations in the most ordinary events and emotions.
DeleteBeautifully expressed.
XO
WWW
Such a natural expression of your perspective--your gift of finding the silver lining. I wouldn't know this is based on prompts if I didn't know it's based on prompts.
DeleteHugs across the miles.
Hi EC – I suspect many of us feel as you do … even in this thick misty gloom I can see that the sun will appear … and bring forth those marvellous Spring flowers … we survive with hope.
DeleteThanks for all you do – I hope my name is down for one month of setting the words … cheers and a peaceful year end … and a blessed 2022. Hilary
Spot on EC. Let's hope for a new and better year.
DeleteI hope to read many more of your wise thoughts in the coming year.
Thank you all. And yes, Hilary, you are down for a month. Next month.
DeleteOh my gosh - thank you ... I'll email you later on ... words to go!! Happy New Year to you and one and all ... xoxo
DeleteWell done with the prompts! And I share your hope. :-)
DeleteBeautifully written. It has been a challenging year for every one. I'm glad that you have kept your equilibrium through it all and have decided to find consolation in the natural beauty.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Julia
A new year is upon us and we dive in with a lot of uncertainty. I hope that I'll be able to take in all that is beautiful and to look for the simplicity that is to be found in this extraordinary and diverse world we live in.
ReplyDeletePeace can be illusive unless we fine tune our endurance of our differences. With deep determination, I plan to look for the positive in the new year. May all the sunrises and setting of the sun brings you hope in the new year.
Happy New Year everyone.
Hugs,
Julia
Julia: I love this - and so say all of us.
DeleteWell done, Julia. We should all look for the positive, although at times it's hard to do.
DeleteNot the worst plans for next year. Good luck.
DeleteYes, I agree with you in every word. May there be peace and not just good but great beyond words for all!
DeletePraying you find much that is positive, and hopeful.
DeleteA beautiful wish.
DeleteThank you.
XO
WWW
Hi Julia - humans need patience, time to think and reflect - peace around us can be there ... all the best to you - Hilary
DeleteYes! well written.
Delete2021 was a tough year! Hope 2022 better. I believe that it will be BEAUTIFUL.
ReplyDeletebread&salt: I really hope you are right but am sure that there will be many, many beautiful moments to come.
DeleteMay it be so.
DeleteMe too.
DeleteThe DAWN of another day broke with the same EXTRAORDINARY heat that had been a feature of the entire spring. It was becoming a test of ENDURANCE to live through this kind of weather. One needed the DETERMINATION to get through it without falling into a DEEP abyss of sorrow that anthropogenic actions had caused to planet’s climate to go off-kilter in this way. The land was parched, the streams dry, the rotting carcasses of animals seeking refuge littered the landscape. This valley that had been so achingly BEAUTIFUL was a stark reminder of man’s inaction and denial. Who could have believed that common sense would have proved such an ELUSIVE commodity?
ReplyDeleteDavid M.Gascoigne: Oh David. I wish that this was fiction. How I wish it. With all of my heart.
DeleteSpot on, thank you.
DeleteScary.
DeleteDystopian for sure David, I often have nightmares of your well written piece.
DeleteXO
WWW
Excellent David - beautifully written ... the dystopian world caused by us humans, not helped at all by leaders - brutal many of them. I do hope 2022 will be kinder to us all ... Hilary
DeleteOhh, sad, but unfortunately too close to home. For a wiser 2022!
DeleteI couldn't have said it better and it's getting worst every day.
DeleteBowing to the writer. Excellent, David.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, these are such joyous and beautiful words offering us a grand determination to carry on this extraordinary feel of deep cheerfulness especially, for those experiencing an elusive wintertime blues mindset, while searching for the endurance to banish any and all darkness from within.
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hawthorne would be delighted. I am! ;-)
Delete21 Wits: Oh yes. Definitely something to aspire to.
DeleteYou used those beautiful words quite well, too!
DeleteHi 21 Wits ... we need light and know it is there for all humanity - so true ... thank you - Hilary
DeleteAn endurance of friendship can be quite illusive but when determination runs deep, friendship is both extraordinary and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's to the friendship between blogger buds.
Sláinte!
DeleteSandra Cox: Applause - and a big YES to the friendship of bloggers.
DeleteBlogger friends are some of the best, especially the ones i've met in real life.
DeleteThanks Sandra for reminding us we are a thoughtful bunch of souls, caring for each other ... cheers from a blogging buddy, Hilary
DeleteLooking back he had lived an extraordinary life, so far; somehow elusive, but also beautiful. Certain experiences made in those past two milennia had been enough to, after all, convince him it was no longer necessary to dig deeper. If not en detail, by now he was quite sure about mankind's future.
ReplyDeleteAnd it dawned on him 2022 for him personally was to become an interesting year.
Sean Jeating: NOT I hope an interesting year in the terms of the purportedly Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times'...
DeleteThis sounds hopeful for him, but not necessarily for the rest of us.
DeleteI gather this person has lived for a very long time? Well written.
DeleteXO
WWW
Hi Sean - yes ... we are in times of major change as far as the world goes ... I just hope he will be there for his place in the world ... we just need to make sure we give of our best for those around us and for him. Interesting comment - thank you - Hilary
DeleteYes 💙
DeleteQuite profound, Sean.
DeleteLet's hear it for extraordinary lives and an interesting (hopefully in a good way) 2022.
DeleteSo very true. Well done...
DeletePutting on that Thinking Cap.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: Your cap fits well and I am sure you will produce something to marvel at again.
DeleteMine will be over here.
DeleteThe monsoons produce annual floods that Malaysians face with continuous endurance. It is an elusive dream that our drainage systems will be improved to steer the deep and muddy waters away. With determination we return with vigour to start anew our beautiful homes as ordinary Malaysians revealed their extraordinary qualities.
ReplyDeleteKestrel a great informative take on the words.
DeleteXO
WWW
kestrel: This is a brilliant use of the prompt. How I wish that the drainage systems could be improved. Soon.
DeleteHi Kestrel - too many man-made problems ... I do hope for everyone's sake things become easier ... take care - Hilary
DeleteGreat job!
DeleteWell done!
DeleteWe get more flooding rains now than we did before, and like you, we know the drainage will not be catching up any time soon. It's not easy, i admire the courage Malaysians show in the face of destructive water.
Living in a flood prone area, I've seen first hand how destructive flooding can be. I sure hope that you'll get a better drainage system soon.
DeleteBoth informative and moving. Well done.
DeleteThis is a true story of a dear friend who cared for her afflicted husband until she no longer could. All words and pictures used.
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------------------
She had to watch him closely as the sun went down. She had never studied the sky so intently in her life.
She didn’t think how beautiful it was, how deep the splendid colours, how extraordinary was the turning of this planet away, even though briefly, from the life- giving healing light.
The timing was so elusive, it varied with the seasons, with the daylight shortening or lengthening.
Her determination paid off at times, at others she missed it by a minute or so.
His endurance was strong in the face of her anxiety
as she rushed towards him closing the curtains before he could look out and see his childhood, his farm, his father on the horse and wagon, his mother shooing the chickens to the coop, his sisters calling him.
Sundowners, they called it. Alzheimers Sundowners. When the hallucinations and his enormous distress began as he looked out on their suburban road, when his childhood family didn’t respond to him banging on the glass.
----------------------------------------------------------
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: Heartbreaking. Dementia is one of the very cruelest of illnesses isn't it?
Delete@ WWW - you've brought those challenges experienced by many - with thoughts to your friend ... and all who suffer - Hilary
DeleteOh, this sadness, this helplessness, this despair. All one can do: Trying to stay calm and being kind.
DeleteA heartbreaking story.
DeleteSuch a heartbreaking story. I've watched my neighbour quickly decline and one day, she just stopped breathing. Such a devastating illness.
DeleteOh, hearthrending story. Sad, sad times for that poor lady. You made me see them clearly.
DeleteIt reinforces why we support euthanasia.
DeleteKudos to your friend and you for honoring her. Alzheimers is such a wretched disease.
DeleteThe pictures are pretty, did you take them?
ReplyDeleteRiver: I did.
DeleteAll of the entries here are very very good. Thank you, writers.
ReplyDeleteHer deep endurance was beautiful and elusive while exhibiting extraordinary determination.
ReplyDeleteMike: I like it - but what made you choose a female protagonist? The words would have fit a man equally well.
DeleteOne word, beautiful. I don't think I've ever used the word beautiful when talking about a guy.
DeleteMike: I see - but have NO problems in describing people's attitudes or actions as beautiful, regardless of gender.
DeleteHi Mike - so succinct ... and interesting commentary between you and Sue ... cheers Hilary
DeleteI was also taught at school, beautiful for women, handsome for men ;)
DeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl) and Mike: Handsome for appearances yes (though I have known some beautiful men) but for actions and ideas?
DeleteYou do these sentences very well.
DeleteMike, a man of few word but you deliver the punch.
DeleteYes, EC, ideas, abrstractions and so on, I'd use beautiful. So you're rigth, I was too quick, the protagonist here could be either.
DeleteI will have my story on my blog tomorrow since I have something else planned for Friday.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I look forward to it.
DeleteHaving nothing to do with today's words--- I am glad you could see the colors!
ReplyDeleteBill: I could, and am glad to share them.
DeleteHi EC - I'm combining both as 2021 nears its end ... :
ReplyDelete2021 the sun rose, they all had that deep determination which thankfully is part of the human endurance … while freedom remained elusive …
… what is extraordinary the sun keeps rising, sometimes nebulously hidden, yet as 2022 comes around we are still here … that bright circular globe ensures life springs forth …
… let's hope this year and ever onwards … humans remember the life force that is not their eternal right … and learn to appreciate and care for this wonderful world.
Thanks for organising these fun challenges! each week ... have a blessed and peaceful New Year ... cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: I love it - and hope (fervently) that more of us do remember...
DeleteAnd thank you.
Well said, Hillary, and may it be so.
DeleteWe need to remember, our lives depend on it.
DeleteOur lives sure depends on it. I can't imagine a world without sun. Everything would freeze and ceased to exist.
DeleteSun = life. Yes; we'd better not forget.
DeleteShe was elusive and that made her beautiful. A determined whisper, deep endurance, in all of these things she was extraordinary. But it meant nothing because, as you can see, when she wasn't elusive she was a fool. No endurance, no beauty, only the deep determination of self-destruction. Extraordinary! Be elusive, girl, always.
ReplyDeleteDandi: What an interesting take. I suspect many of us have at least two sides - and that the 'wrong' one is frequently on display.
DeleteYou called me dandy! 😂
DeleteA fascinating take on the prompts.
DeleteLike EC said, an interesting take. I don't quite get it but you used the prompts effectively.
DeleteSandi: I am sorry. Dyslexic fingers and woeful proof reading.
DeleteI think it's fortuitous that her 'wrong side' showed as well. Else woe the poor guy who was taken in by her elusive beauty.
DeleteEle, no need to apologize. Dandy is good thing to be called, even if by mistake! 😊
DeleteSandi: Thank you for being so understanding.
DeleteCharlotte, well, ouch! 😳
DeleteHello, EC. Not very creative today. And my ADHD dog took his green ball, red ball, and a stuffed squeaky toy outside and forgot them there. With the amount of snow we had this week, he won't see them until spring. What a doofus.
ReplyDeleteThe Blog Fodder: I hope (and am sure) that your dog will find other things to play with - or that you will find his favoured toys for him.
DeleteTanya bought him a new soccer ball for Christmas and three new tennis balls. He loves his soccer ball more than anything. And he can't lose it in the snow. We are good to go. Happy New Year.
DeleteThe Blog Fodder: I am very glad to hear it.
DeleteI just continued my story of Susan in Iceland I almost scare myself.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): You certainly scared me.
DeleteHere's wishing you an extraordinary, healthy and safe New Year! Hugs, RO
ReplyDeleteRO: Thank you so much. And to you - and the world.
DeleteNice prompts❤
ReplyDeleteKinga K.: Thank you. I am blown away each and every week with what people make of the prompts. Have a wonderful New Year.
DeleteHappy New Year.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: Thank you - and to you and your family.
DeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your family Sue. I hope 2022 will be a healthy, happy and peaceful year for you
ReplyDeleteMargaret Birding For Pleasure: Thank you - and to you and your family.
Delete