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 month Wisewebwoman
was going to provide the prompts on her blog - but she is on a blog
break and has sent the prompts to me.
Essentially the prompts will be here for the month and Wisewebwoman
and/or I will provide them.
This week's prompts were again provided by her and are:
- white
- painter
- courtesy
- recommendation
- neighbour
- disagree
- traffic
- ambition
- conference
- healthy
And/or
Have fun.
Listen to me Peter. I have been your doctor for several years now and I have to tell you that your lifestyle and your ambition are killing you. You are seriously depressed, you have chronic insomnia, and you are completely unfit.
ReplyDeleteYour heart, your mind and your body cannot take much more.
You can disagree with me if you like (though you are wrong) but please give me the courtesy to hear me out.
I have found you a new job, and my recommendation is that you apply. Now.
The benefits of your job include:
No noisy traffic.
No neighbours.
No interminable conference calls about unimportant matters.
Beauty and a healthy life style.
You will have to become a painter, to keep those gleaming white walls looking good, but that is the only drawback I can see.
The Lighthouse at Point Duck needs a keeper. Will you apply?
***
Two years later, I can only say that her unconventional advice was perfect. I am healthy and happy – things I thought impossible. Thank you doctor…
Clever!
DeleteWell done! Many could use such advice.
DeleteWell done EC, I really enjoyed this!
DeleteWow!
DeleteYou are amazing!
DeleteLove it! And the job sounds perfect. Where do I sign up? :-)
DeleteStill smiling when I read this:)
DeleteElephant's Child: Living in a lighthouse sounds good to me too. I'll even hire someone to keep the lighthouse that amazing white so I can be as lazy as possible.
DeleteHave a lovely day.
Bowing to the writer. So good.
DeleteGetting my ducks in a row, i'll be back.
ReplyDeleteMy story will be over here.
Deletemessymimi: I am looking forward to reading your always positive take.
DeleteAs a courtesy, and basically because he was a kind person, Jimmy, a painter by trade, volunteered to paint the historic lighthouse. Even though his high-spirited neighbor repeatedly made a recommendation of neon blue, because it would be more visible and it could be seen in traffic from miles away, Jimmy stuck with traditional white. After the job was finished, he decided to attend the annual painters' conference up the coast. His ambition, since he was a boy, to be painter of the year at some point in his career. Imagine his surprise when he found out that his neighbor, who'd wanted a neon blue lighthouse, nominated him for that singular honor. And even more stunning that he'd won the award. With healthy applause from the tables all around him, he strode to the dais to receive his gold-handled paint brush, inscribed to: Jimmy the painter who has both heart and talent. If karma was a color Jimmy decided it must be neon blue.
ReplyDeleteGood for Jimmy!
DeleteSandra Cox: Yay Jimmy. How I wish that karma worked that fast ALL of the time. Sadly (particularly on the butt kicking front) she doesn't.
DeleteA very inspiring story, thank you!
DeleteI can see a story about someone hiring a painter for that lighthouse...
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: It would be a very big job. And the sort of job that needed doing as soon as it was completed.
DeleteGreat word choices. Jimmy, you go.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane: I am looking forward to seeing what you make of them.
DeleteHere's mine:
ReplyDeleteMaybe he was looking for an argument. God only knew how bored he was. At sunrise, the painter arrived by boat loaded down with the supplies required for the biannual painting of the lighthouse.
When you’re stuck on a rock in the middle of the North Atlantic with no neighbours apart from the fish and the birds and the odd whale or dolphin, you’d do anything for a bit of company. Common courtesy would dictate he make the fellow, Eddie, welcome.
As he poured a cup of tea for them both he asked how was the traffic on the way over from Billington wharf, a standard joke of his. But Eddie, still standing, drinking all the tea in one gulp, just looked at him as if he was barmy.
“It’s hard to keep healthy out here on a rock in the middle of nowhere,” he offered. What the hell was he inferring?
“We’d need a conference about the work you’re doing, you come with the highest recommendation,” Harold said. Fancy words should put this chap in his place.
“I disagree with you there, Harold,” said Eddie patiently, walking out the door and down to the lighthouse, “no conference, just white. My whole ambition when tackling these jobs is to finish in a day, with no interruptions and no breaks, I’ll be gone at sunset.”
Wisewebwoman: I find myself being sorry for Harold. And not warming to Eddie. Great use of your prompts...
DeleteWell done:) I enjoyed this.
DeleteEddie does sound brusque, all business. Good story.
DeleteA fine example of "talking past each other".
DeletePoor Harold! His one visitor is all business. Great job! I could really feel this. :)
DeleteWell done friends!
ReplyDeleteCloudia: Thank you.
DeleteGood words and I like the photo.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: That photo is a stunner isn't it?
DeleteI'd planned a lighthouse picture for my next turn with the words, but I'll find something else. My story will be on my blog on Friday 13th.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I suspect that different pictures of lighthouses will produce different stories. Of course I am looking forward to your story.
DeleteShe saw her recommendation had been accepted … had no-one disagreed? Why had the painter covered the road in white paint? The neighbours had a questionnable healthy disagreement … it was only a courtesy to paint the road white – it could now be seen … yet her idea had been to light the street – not paint the road. Oh people … now the drivers will just slip and slide over the surface.
ReplyDeleteNow they'd need a lighthouse to light their way ...the world moves in intangible ways …
So does my head … and the fog the brain floats in … full of that flotsam and jetsam ...
Life is full of busyness - I hope to be back to read everyone elses ... cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: What an intriguing snippet. And oh, why oh why did the painter cover the road - which has my monkey mind pondering chickens and roads...
DeleteI hope your busyness is fun and productive - and thank you for stopping by.
Oh, dear, a white road. Sounds like there would be a lot of glare on a sunny day. Good use of the prompts, though.
DeleteThe painter, with ambition but courtesy, had a conference with the "healthy" neighbor and gave a recommendation of white to handle the lighthouse traffic but is afraid she might disagree.
ReplyDeleteMike: I do hope that the neighbour doesn't disagree. Captain Succinct rides again...
DeleteWhite is best for a lighthouse. While i've seen them with red and white stripes, that reminds me of a barber pole not a lighthouse.
DeleteThumbs up.
DeleteWhat a beautiful picture!
ReplyDeleteDamyanti Biswas: It is, isn't it? There is something about lighthouses.
DeleteNicely done Hilary, I love the idea of a white road.
ReplyDeleteMy story titled TRUST AND OBEY for WFW is posted on my blog page. Good prompts from Wisewebwoman.
ReplyDeleteGranny Annie: I have read your story - and loved it. Another very different take on wisewebwoman's prompts.
DeleteThe lighthouse image is intriguing and I am reminded that down HWY 1 a spell from where I grew up there is a lighthouse that was converted into a Youth Hostel and I've never, ever been by to check it out!
ReplyDeleteBea: I do hope you can rectify that omission. Soon. And post about it...
DeleteI am not good at this sort of word test. But, I’ll tell you about my day. As I was trying to place cardboard boxes in my recycling bins by the side of the road, traffic was stopped because of road work – a painter was repainting the white line on the center of the street. But, surprise, one of the workers came and helped me place the boxes in my recycling bins. I was very touched by such courtesy in downtown Nashville because my neighbours are not usually courteous. This happened today.
ReplyDeleteVagabonde: I love that a kindness in your day so perfectly fitted the word prompts - and hope that you find more kindness - and courtesy too.
DeleteHow nice. It makes one's day, doesn't it?
DeleteThat's wonderful to read, i love hearing about people who are kind to others.
DeleteOne of those lovely little encounters.
DeleteGracias, amiga, y me pongo manos a la obra, a ver que se me ocurre.
ReplyDeleteUn abrazo.
Manuel: I am looking forward to seeing what your fertile mind comes up with.
DeleteGreat word choices and nice images
ReplyDeleteSteve: Thank you. Perhaps you will join us some week. You would be very welcome.
DeleteHere's my take on the prompt: Home at the edge of the ocean.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the words. It's nice to join in the fun again.
Have a lovely day.
lissa: It is lovely to have you back - and I really enjoyed your story.
DeleteMy neighbour's recommendation at the traffic conference to let – as it turned out – a black painter do the job was overwhelmingly rejected as racist. After that, no one showed healthy ambition to whiten the lighthouse.
ReplyDeleteIt's a dilemma, sometimes, finding the best person for the job.
DeleteEven more so when stupidity is in the game.
DeleteSean Jeating: Sadly stupidity is in far too many games at the moment - and winning more often than I am comfortable with too.l
DeleteI did like your succinct use of wisewebwoman's prompts.
Happy Writing to you guys!
ReplyDeleteThe Happy Whisk: Thank you.
Delete:-)
DeleteHave a wondrous weekend, my friend.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Thank you. And to you.
DeleteWe lived in San Diego county, went on many field trips to the Point Loma Lighthouse Park.
ReplyDeletePark Ranger Rick gaze at the newly white painted Point Loma Lighthouse proudly. It had taken the better part of two days, and Rick was surprised how well it went.
Rick had done it as a courtesy to a neighbor who had disagreed about Point Loma lighthouse, “It’s too dang white” and “Why is the light never on?” and “Did you see any ghosts lately?”
At one time some rangers had asked to close the lighthouse to the public for repairs. Leaving him to do security rounds, Rick soon figured things out.
At night somber sounds and footsteps sounded like there were marching soldiers. Another night the house held a “ghost conference”. Apparently, this was not uncommon. On his nightly rounds, Ranger Rick had been passed by elderly woman floated behind, crying “They are gone, all gone.”
Standing at the lighthouse door, Rick heard the footsteps scrambling down the spiral stairs. Lead by Captain Decatur Israel troupe, they all left, surrounded by fog and mist. The old woman cackled, “Decatur, you old bastard.” Then she disappeared at the early sunrise.
Ranger Rick shouted, “Come on, guys. The sun is almost up, time for you all to head to your beds. And cut out the ice cold in my bedroom. You know better.”
And then, it was all quiet, and Rick climbed up the spiral stairs. “Hey, get outta here.” He closed his eyes and ignored the sounds around him.
Point Loma has quite a history, along with Rosecrans Military Cemetery. Spirits roamed through the headstones. Flags flew in still air. The reports of the spirits roaming are many many.
Susan Kane: This is a great use of the prompts. Lighthouses seem like a perfect place for ghosts...
DeleteGreat assortment of photos. Anne
ReplyDelete