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:
- Brick
- Folly
- Carapace
- Hessian
- Snowdrop
- Grizzly
And/or
- Illustrator
- Violet
- Ailment
- Twigs
- Eureka
- Dinkum
Have fun.
Jenny wondered just why it had taken her so long to have this fair dinkum eureka moment. She was an illustrator, not a philosopher. Old and grizzly was not the time to suddenly realise what life was about. Better late than never she supposed. She knew that ‘I want it NAOW’ is a phrase that should only be uttered by a cat.
ReplyDeleteSadly this particular folly has infected the world. Instant gratification is the rule and the ailment is pandemic. People whose lifestyles would better suit hessian demand silk. Shelter, such a basic need, had to be brick mausoleums. Bodies and faces had to be trim, taut and terrific. And forever young.
She rejected it all. She was not a rat and not in a race. Simple suited her best. A morning in the garden, admiring the first violets and snowdrops, listening to twigs crunch under foot and the birds overhead was more than enough for her. Her carapace of harmless old woman served her well, and insulated her from so much that she found offensive and unnecessary…
You certainly used the prompts with finesse.
DeleteJulia
"Her carapace of harmless old woman served her well, and insulated her from so much that she found offensive and unnecessary…"
DeleteThis is a BATTLE CRY!
:)
I absolutely LOVE that final line! *stands and applauds*
DeleteSandi: I hope that Jenny (and the world) win that battle.
DeleteThe final line is pure genius.
DeleteSo good!
DeleteI am also not a rat in a race and while I do love the feel of silk, I know I am much more comfortable in more simple things that don't require the care needed for silk.
DeleteSo much is offensive and unnecessary, and i hope more than just Jenny realize it soon.
DeleteHi EC - I love your take ... quite delightful and clever - tying it in to your garden. Brilliant - so good ... email on its way - cheers Hilary
DeleteFINE! We need more people to realize this. So well written.
DeleteI love that last paragraph...A morning in the garden, admiring the first violets, etc. Wondrous.
DeleteBeyond brilliant!
DeleteThis was really great, but that last sentence said it all. It was the icing on the cake!
DeleteOh what a brilliant take on the words EC. Profound.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Here is mine, used all the words.
ReplyDelete------------------------------------------------------------
For the entire winter Jean sat at her desk, and studied the book on gardening, her sketchpad on one side, the seed catalogue on the other. And oh yes, the gardening supplies website on her laptop in front of her at all times.
A folly, her husband Henry called it. It was like an ailment, he pronounced. A grizzly old pronouncer was Henry. But he had the pocket to support her endeavours. And he did indulge her fads and caprices.
She’d surround the garden in black brick, she thought, and she’d start the growing season with snowdrops. And oh yes, hessian for those low lying shrubs for next winter. And Eureka! maybe she could become an illustrator with all these sketches she was making.
An ornamental carapace should be surrounded by violets, she mused. And that dutch elm tree with the black ailment should be, very sadly, cut down to twigs for the fireplace. What a load of work lay ahead.
Fair dinkum! She said out loud, shutting the catalogue and book, let me sign up right now for an illustrator course!
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XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: I love this and find myself hoping that Jean can indulge both of her passions. Ailments be damned, both sound good to me.
DeleteShe's a lucky woman to have the Mr.'s support for her fads and caprices. I hope she gets her wish.
DeleteA good use of the prompts.
Go for it, Jean.
DeleteIt's certainly no disadvantage to have a Henry with the very pocket.
DeleteThis is great! I once spent a lot of time with catalogues and sketches of how my garden might be.
DeleteIt's nice to dream on paper and then work to make the dream come true.
DeleteHi WiseWebWoman - really fun to read ... if only I could draw ... you set the scene perfectly and fortunate her to have Henry around. Cheers Hilary
DeleteTHis was a fun use of the words! I liked it.
DeleteThat Jean is my kind of woman! Well done!
DeleteNicely done. Now I'm ready to find a gardening catalogue and start dreaming of spring.
DeleteI was walking down a path in a forest and a Grizzly spotted me. I ran and hid behind a tree. The grizzly sniffed and came down charging the path. He did not spot me but I looked beyond the tree and he was sniffing and charged me biting me in the arse. I got away by climbing a tree but he waited patiently. He finally left. I was so lucky.
ReplyDeleteThat bite sounds painful although it didn't seem to hinder your climb. Where are the rest or the other prompt words? It could make your story even more scary or funny.
DeleteJulia
suzanne dorries: Welcome and thank you for joining us. I would hate to be bitten in the arse by a grizzly - and wonder how she sat down - for the foreseeable future.
DeleteOh your poor bm. I hope it healed OK. Difficult place to show off with though :)
DeleteXO
WWW
I worried for a minute the grizzly might climb up after her.
DeleteBest strategy with a brown/grizzly bear is to lie down and play dead. It will probably sniff and decide you aren't worth worrying about, and move on.
DeleteHope that bite heals soon!
Hi Suzanne - so glad you could join us ... Grizzly bears - you were lucky to get away so lightly with just a nip on the rear-end. Thank you - Hilary
DeleteI don't want anything biting my hindquarters, especially not a grizzly!
DeleteOuch! good that you got away!
DeleteI hit a brick wall when I looked up the word hessian. Which definition to use? Then in a moment of folly, I decided to go the botanical way. I can visualize a carapace ornament in my snowdrop garden though it might look grizzly to turtle lovers.
ReplyDeleteJulia
Julia: Love it. And can definitely see a place for a carapace ornament in my own garden.
DeleteQuite a challenge for Mike. ;-)
DeleteSee below.
DeleteA carapace ornament surrounded by flowers sounds just right.
DeleteHi Julia - this was delightful ... and I could certainly visualise your result ... the snowdrops are coming out now - love them! Cheers Hilary
DeleteLovely, especially sneaking hessian in!
DeleteSnowdrops and carapaces in a Hessian garden is pure folly according to the grizzly brick layer.
DeleteSorry I could not let this callenge lie.
I like your take!
I forgot to mention, I'm short f spar time to use the other prompts just now.
ReplyDeleteJulia
Julia: Thank you for making the time to join us, I am grateful that you ate into your time allotment to do so.
DeleteHe was the world's greatest illustrator. A true dinkum. His signature, a magenta violet encircled with neon twigs. Every marketing department that hired him yelled, "Eureka," when they saw his finished product and the money that came rolling in. Until the day, the powers that be, decided he had become too popular, too flamboyant, too lacking in respect for those that made his position possible. A word whispered in the right or possibly the wrong ear and Jumbi, the greatest illustrator, of all time, disappeared never to be seen again. Word was put around that he'd died of a little known ailment. But those that were closest to him knew better. Conformity was now the new buzz word, creativity and free-thinking a thing of the past as the death knell tolled on self-expression.
ReplyDeleteSandra Cox: Perhaps because I believe it is happening already on some levels I find your contribution incredibly sad. Well written but so very sad and frightening.
DeleteVery contemporary. A fine piece of writing.
DeleteWell done Sandra and quite sad and very true in today's world.
DeleteXO
WWW
The death of creativity and free thinking is a crying shame.
DeleteIt has happened before in the world, and there's usually a revolution, and the whole cycle starts again.
DeleteHi Sandra - sadly too true, too often I suspect ... crushed to the ground, and all connections switched off - not good at all. Thanks - excellent take - Hilary
DeleteNicely done, Sandra. Too bad it may be truer than fiction.
DeleteOh yes Sandra Cox lovely take on all the words and I feel as though you’ve spun a mysterious turn of events and perhaps more of this illustrator in our next series of words!
DeleteFiction is more true than reality sometimes. I'm afraid this is one suhc. Sad, but well turned!
DeleteJessica was many things to many people, but you could never accuse her of being a shrinking VIOLET. As an ILLUSTRATOR she had carved out a decent career and made a fair DINKUM living doing what she loved best, and at which she demonstrated a good degree of proficiency. It was her portrayal of a GRIZZLY bear that had landed on the cover of “Adventure” magazine, with its attendant pecuniary rewards, but her personal favourite was a watercolour of a SNOWDROP. As a child, she already showed great talent, but her father told her it was FOLLY to contemplate a career as an artist. She smiled sweetly, and ignored the advice. “Better shove your head under your CARAPACE you old turtle” she thought, with no disrespect to turtles. He would never acknowledge that her snowdrop was magnificent. Now, late in life, when the TWIGS and BRICKS of outrageous fortune bothered her not at all, but beset by physical AILMENTS, she decided to pack her HESSIAN bag and go off to paint another Snowdrop. Her brother had been urging her to share the cost of erecting a tombstone for their parents, with Jessica creating an image to be engraved on it. EUREKA! A snowdrop would be just the thing!
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: Brilliant. Revenge is a dish best served cold - and what could be colder than a grave(stone).
DeleteHa ha, Sue beat me to it.
DeleteOh that was brilliant David. Oddly enough, my father quenched my artistic dreams so I am glad she rose above and sweet, sweet revenge.
DeleteXO
WWW
David M. Gascoigne, Brilliant indeed. A great use of the prompts.
DeleteJulia
That is brilliant.
DeleteOh, good for her!
DeleteHi David - that was great to read ... just perfect ... but I suspect she'd have to leave some mystery clues for future generations to find out why the snowdrop was there. Thanks - great take - cheers Hilary
DeleteAbsolutely brilliant, David. I like the idea of a snowdrop (that I have never seen) being carved on a tombstone.
DeleteWell written and a happy ending - for her at least.
DeleteI'm ashamed ... I'm behind the times - it looks like you've come up with some amazing tales - I will be back tomorrow ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeletePS challenging words I selected ... ?!
VERY challenging! I thought last week's were challenging until I saw this week's selection.
DeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Yes they are challenging, which is not a bad thing. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
DeleteHere's to let you fish another compliment. ;-)
DeleteNope Sean ... but I suspect I'd not be believed - !!
DeleteCheers Hilary
;-)
DeleteTrying to corral my tired brain into submission, i'll be back.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I am glad of that.
DeleteMy story will be over here.
DeleteDipping a hobnob in my tea I thought loudly: "Rather ageing with a few little ailings than being thick as a brick." Tetrapilotomos, as almost always busy with proofreading his 1669 pages short opus magnum "Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell", looked up, fixed me and murmured: "You would very probably not notice the latter. ... The hottonia palustris on your grizzly Hessian bag looks pretty dinkum, by the way."
ReplyDelete"Hottonia what?"
"Water violet. Not bad for an underpayed illustrator."
"Now I twig. I thought it was a snowdrop."
"You're a brick, Sean!"
Not sure, whether he meant it. Archaic collocations are his folly.
*
A few days later.
To spare myself the accusation of either misogyny or misandry let's leave it at that in one of the world's finest art galleries I saw two persons stop in front of a famous painting when the young person enthusiastically cried out: "Eureka! Is that a Carapace?" – "Almost, darling, a Caravaggio", I heard the approximately 35 years older person say, and hand in hand on they went. Amor vincit omnium.
Sean Jeating: I am smiling - which is often what happens when I read your take on the prompts.
DeleteSean Jeating, First I smiled but when I got to the last paragraph, I had to laugh out loud.
DeleteWell done.
Julia
Tetrapilotomos! I love it. what a great name :)
Delete1669 pages is a SHORT opus?
Great story :) I have a delighted grin across my face.
Oh, this was fun!
DeleteBravo you had my attention from the start and your lovely genius use of words like this here
DeleteWater violet. Not bad for an underpayed illustrator."
"Now I twig. I thought it was a snowdrop."
"You're a brick, Sean!"
Now I twig I love it!
Hi Sean - having managed to get across to your blog - I see I have a lot to learn ... while this was fascinating ... thanks for the future introduction to much from the wordsmith, Sean, ... cheers Hilary
DeleteWell done Sean. I love your play on carapace and the indulgence of the very much older man. And who knew about the violet nomenclature? :D
DeleteXO
WWW
This was grand, Sean:)
DeleteThank you. This was fun. I think I Just have to share your savant and his magnum opus with my SO.
DeleteLadies, thank you. Glad I could conjure a smile on your lips, in Julia's case even laughter.
Delete@ WWW: It could also have been a filthy rich lady indulgently correcting her muscular playmate, who admittedly was standing far behind as the good Lord distributed grey cells.
A few words that don't get heard much these days. I'll work on it tomorrow and see what pops up.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I look forward to seeing where the prompts take you - and us.
DeleteIt was folly to attack the Hessian as he hid behind his brick like grizzly carapace in the snowdrops.
ReplyDeleteBy Jove, Mike! You made it, you made it.
DeleteExcellent!
DeleteMike: Captain Succinct rides triumphant again.
DeleteHi Mike - yes you've definitely succeeded here ... amazing how such excellent tales appear from the prompts. Thank you - cheers Hilary
DeleteThat's good - and short.
DeleteMike, I can visualize the whole scene. I'm not sure I would entrust your help in my garden, lol... 😂
ReplyDeleteJulia
I'm having fun in my head right now.
ReplyDeleteCloudia: I am glad.
DeleteBravo, well done grand use of all the words, so many visions and your last paragraph tied it all up with a perfect bow! I put my words with a few photos as well this week again. Our brief day of spring livened my mood. https://twincitiesblather.blogspot.com/2022/01/snow-fairies-for-words-on-wednesday.html
ReplyDelete21 Wits: I am heading over now to see what you made of the prompts - and expect to be delighted.
DeleteThank you so much I hope you enjoy!
DeleteHere's my first lot:
ReplyDeleteThe brick came out of the blue, lobbed perhaps from the folly … why? To distract me? I was past that ...my mind was on collecting snowdrops … let's carry on – oh look what I've found a beautiful tortoiseshell box … the carapace will make a delightful vase for my little white beauties.
I hope they will bring some pleasure to old grizzly-face – did he chuck that brick, hoping I wouldn't find the shell … so many secrets were held in the woodland glade."
Cheers Hilary
Oh bother ... I meant to unwrap the hessian bag ... to do something!!
DeleteAh well ... failed at my own first set! Happy Days ...
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Not a fail at all. I can see it, and would love to know more about both characters...
DeleteHow many times did you proof read it? 2? 4? 10? It doesn't make a difference does it? Your mind keeps reading what you think you wrote, not what you actually did write.
DeleteMike: That is sadly, painfully true in my case. I am a woeful self editor.
DeleteNo fail. I especially loved lobbed from the folly.
DeleteA rousing success if you ask me. After all, the words are to get us thinking, we don't have to use all of them.
DeleteThanks Mike - I did use a hessian bag - then changed the 'tale' around ... so it sifted its way through its own self - if you can understand that!! Cheers to you all - thank you ... Hilary
DeleteYour hope should come true, Hilary.
DeleteAt least, I can assure you that this year's first snowdrops will conjure a smile on this old grizzly-face.
Oh wonderful and delightful tale and perhaps more will come from the woodland glade! I’m intrigued.
DeleteHere's my 2nd set ...
ReplyDelete"The illustrator was using a violet crayon … I wonder whether her ailment was better or worse today – at least it wasn't a purple one.
She'd brought her Dinkum doll with her … and had set 'Dolly' Dinkum on a bed of twigs to rest while she sketched in the dry river bed.
Eureka, she cried out loud – no-one would hear she was out in the bush – 'Dolly' might come to life, but she doubted it – she was just so pleased she felt better, and her illustration was completed … she called it 'Violet Calm' … then she gathered her things, picked up Dolly, to return home in a happier state of mind."
Cheers again - Hilary
Hilary Melton Butcher: Another charming take - and I am so glad that the illustrator feels better (and happier).
DeleteI love your take on both chapters of your story.
DeleteA job completed always make us feel better. She finished her sketch and you finished your sweet story.
Julia
Being able to go out and enjoy time with dolly and art would be quite cheering.
DeleteThank you all ... cheers Hilary
DeleteI am happy for the protagonist.
DeleteBut what do you have against purple, Hilary? ;-)
This is a happy story - and Dinkum dolls really exist! Thank you.
DeleteWell done Hilary on both of the stories, I love your use of the violet crayon. And the dinkum doll. And secrets in the woodland!
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Thanks WWW ... cheers H!
DeleteDinkum? You are truly evil.
ReplyDeleteI will leave it alone, come back with something later.
Susan Kane: It isn't nice to call Hilary evil. And of course you don't have to use any of the words...
DeleteHi Susan - Fun evil - I hope ... a challenge is a challenge isn't it?! You've mastered those words well in the answer you crafted up ... cheers Hilary
DeletePS thanks for standing up for me EC!!!
Sue, Hilary, though I probably shouldn't interfere: I think you got Susan's "evil" the wrong way round. It was certainly meant with a twinkling of her eye.
DeleteThis from someone whose poor soul almost on a daily basis severely suffers from being told 'you are very, very evil, Sean!'
Después de un tiempo de descanso, solamente me limito a esas buenas historias, que ha contado los participantes.
ReplyDeleteQuiero de nuevo saludar a todos los blogs amigos y eso me lleva algún tiempo.
VENTANA DE FOTO: Thank you - and welcome back to the blogosphere.
DeleteSuch a wonderful creative mind! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMy Tata's Cottage: This meme is a heap of fun isn't it? Perhaps you will join us some week.
DeleteGreat challenge, but I shall return. There's a couple of words that have left me scratching my head ( I know what they mean but using them in the right context? That's another matter).
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
A Cuban in London: Hilary stretched quite a few minds this week didn't she? I do hope that you can come back after so thought.
DeleteIt'll be interesting to see what you come up with ACIL - you're a wordsmith ... a Cuban one granted ... but that scratch will go away! Cheers Hilary
DeleteToday I wrote a very short take on the Words for Wednesday. Thank you for the words to Hilary Melton-Butcher and thanks to you, EC for hosting this. I'll be back to read the stories tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): I will be over to read your take as soon as I have responded to comments. I am looking forward to it. Big time.
DeleteSometimes in life people meet by chance and sometimes for a reason. I like to think of my meeting with John Chapman was a little of both. I was having an overnight at an inn and was sitting in the tavern when a grizzly looking fellow wandered in looking for some lodging. He was a wiry gent, yet looked as solid as a brick. His neat beard framed his face and seemed at odd with his weatherworn look. Even though sun beaten he showed no sign of ailment. If not for a couple of peculiarities, I would have said he looked like any other man who had been on a journey. His violet eyes peeked out beneath the large pot he wore on his head like a turtles carapace, and he had a hessian bag filled with twigs and seed across his body.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, I had to offer him a spot at my table to share a beverage and conversation.
According to him most people thought his mission was a folly, and as he explained I was tempted to agree with the masses. As far as he was concerned he was strictly on a business endeavor with potentially large profits.
He was traveling, often walking, from Pennsylvania into Ohio planting unsettled land to take advantage of the Northwest Ordinance which would allow squatters rights to anyone who planted 50 apple or pear tree. His business plan was to hire someone to look after the future orchards, then sell the land to west bound settlers, trees and all, for a large profit. With the hard cider apple trees, the new owners would be able to make their own cider to use and to sell, so it would be a win/win proposition.
We talked into the night then it was time to retire. I woke to begin my day in time to bid him a good journey. We shook hands, he stooped to pick an early winter snowdrop to put in his jacket lapel, then he wandered off. It was the last time I saw him.
Later that evening the illustrator in me took over and I found myself sketching him again and again. And my eureka moment came with fair dinkum* when I decided to dub the man in the drawing "Johnny Appleseed"
* (from Anne) I have never seen this word before and after looking it up this usage is a total crapshoot.
Excellent! John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed was indeed a most interesting and rather odd person.
DeleteAnne in the kitchen: How fascinating. I had never heard his endeavours explained in business terms before. Dinkum is not even used very often in its originating country any more - except by some politicians. And as soon as I hear them say 'Fair Dinkum, I am on the level' I started chanting 'liar, liar pants on fire'.
DeleteHi Anne - a wonderful tale - but 'fair dinkum' used there is fine ... it's not used often, but is still in use. Cheers Hilary
DeleteThanks for a fine tale widening my horizon, Anne.
DeleteAnne, I love your story. I'll be thinking of your story the next time I bite in a apple.
DeleteJulia
This made me think of Radagast the Brown and then Johhny Appleseed. It seems I was not off the mark. Dinkum was new to me as well, and I felt as akward as ... using it ;) Your story is lovely!
DeleteA well-told tale.
DeleteLet's see what happens:
ReplyDeleteDiana stood on the CARAPACE, waiting.
Sir Daniel had ridden leagues on his war horse, HESSIAN. After weeks of travel and battle, Sir Daniel was as GRIZZLY as the old men riding with him. The journey was the FOLLY of King Edward, at the suggestion of his mistress Lizzie. “Oh, Eddie! We could meet out here when the sun sets!” She had run to the BRICK wall, retrieving the key.
Edward’s brain was as empty as dust under his bed. Plucking a SNOWDROP at his feet, Sir Daniel, waited, arrow at the ready. Lizzie was the first to drop, and Edward screamed in his unique squeak, dropping dead upon Lizzie, cold and silent.
“HESSIAN let’s get out of here”, Sir Daniel swung up on the saddle. “Got places to go, people to see or kill.”
Susan Kane: I do hope that Sir Daniel sees more people than he kills - or that his potential victims see him coming and run.
DeleteHi Susan - a fun tale of medieval life taken with a pinch of salt ... cheers Hilary
DeleteI didn't see that coming. Well done;)
DeleteCorrection: NOT Diana on the carapace, DANIEL was on the carapace. He might have tossed her over.
DeleteHehe knights and ladies in distress taken to a new level.
DeleteFun words to weave a tale around. I enjoyed yours very much, and also those of your other commenters. My head's not working for putting any of my own together right now, but I am enjoying these very much.
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: Thank you. Some of the words/phrases in my piece came from a post of yours. I hope your head picks up - and thank you for cheering us on.
DeleteI miss the season of spring with Violets and Tulips here!
ReplyDeletebread&salt: Your Spring will return. Soon.
DeleteGreat
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that popped into my head was I should have been collecting bricks instead of snow drops to throw at that the grizzly. But, what folly it would be, the bricks wouldn't protect me either. Then my brain stopped, lol. Hope you're staying warm and out of harms way with this latest weather so many are dealing with.
ReplyDeleteSandy: No bricks wouldn't protect you from the grizzly. A brick wall to hide behind might. We are warm (too warm by my standards) here. I hope you are safe.
Delete