Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wednesday 10 August 2022

Words for Wednesday 10/8/2022




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.

Last month's prompts were provided by Hilary Melton-Butcher for which we thank her.  This month they will again be here, and I am providing them. 

This week's prompts are:

  1. Cold
  2. Rugmaker
  3. Guiding
  4. Thursday
  5. Forever
  6. Both

And/or 

  1. Farm
  2. Lights
  3. Club
  4. End
  5. Moth
  6. Away
Have fun.

 

85 comments:

  1. Economies based on farm produce, small scale agriculture and handicrafts were transformed and forever changed by the Industrial Revolution. Rachel knew that she owed a lot to those advances but still she saw it as both a boon and a blight.
    Yes, having lights at the flick of a switch was comfortable, and she would be reluctant to go back to depending on candles. She could keep food fresh for longer. However unique carpets and rugs had emerged from the skilled hands of a rugmaker, rather than identical items produced by a soulless machine guided by a cold and impersonal computer program. Thursday had been market day. A time to sell, a time to buy, a time to socialise, rather than a day like any other.
    And it was again. She and a club of like minded souls refused to give in. Yes, they would take and appreciate the increased comfort and safety in their day to day lives, but they would also strive to maintain tradition and creativity. Their work was now described as artisan and attracted high prices, which made her smile. At the end of the day she was just doing what her many times great grandmother had done as a matter of course. Some people bought the things that she and her friends made. Some didin’t. She couldn’t grow everything or do everything, but she didn’t need to. Swapping her home baked bread for the repair of her much loved quilt that the moths had got to, was far and away a better choice for her than working in a factory, a store or an office.

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    1. Oh EC you've nailed it here ... so true to, I imagine, what life was like ... excellent summary and I so agree re her choices of not working in a factory, a store or an office. Cheers - Hilary

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    2. If this doesn't make us all yearn for a simpler time I don't know what will. As usual, Sue, you have given us a few minutes of pleasure while we read your piece, and a whole lot to ponder.

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    3. Well done with the words! (And homemade bread is excellent currency.) ;-)

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    4. My hat is off to all who do this kind of work, keeping the best of the old handicrafts alive.

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    5. EC, I love your story. Rachel is a woman after my own heart...

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    6. I love the idea of a simpler way of life, but not being crafty in any way at all, I had to settle for working in factories to put food on the table. Great story :)

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    7. I always enjoy your writing!!! This one, too. Keep writing, my friend.

      Teresa from T. Powell Coltrin Writes @ https://journalingwoman.blogspot.com

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    8. Beautiful take on the words, EC, it took me right in and I so love the idea of bartering home made for home made.
      XO
      WWW

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    9. A fine plea for simple(r) living, Sue.

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  2. Hi EC - love these ... here's the 2nd set:

    The lights were on in the club house, the moths were fluttering around the lights ... they needed to bring the step ladder out, so their young ecologist could clamber up with her moth trap ... then over time ... the budding entomologist could spend many hours whiling away her time recording all the moths found ... 

    The farm was a solace for her ... where she could keep her records safe ... for now the farmhouse was her safe haven.

    Cheers to all participants - Hilary

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    1. It would be lovely to have such a safe haven, and a budding entomologist/ecologist needs such nurture.

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    2. Hilary Melton-Butcher: I am cheering for the young ecologist, those who support her, and her creator.

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    3. Well done Hilary and moth collected is extraordinary. Some are incredibly beautiful.
      XO
      WWW

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    4. Moth traps are certainly more moth-friendly than fly flaps. ;-)

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  3. Hi EC - second lot:

    Gosh - it was cold ... but it was Thursday and she needed to get across to the church ... it was where the rugmakers worked - and was here that the weekly lessons happened, and where she hoped to learn the process of rug-making.  She'd realised she needed to make a few rugs to warm her family's home, but also to raise some funds ... 

    Here was her friend, who had promised to guide her to the safest border crossing - so she knew where it was... then at some stage in the future they could both escape overseas with a worthwhile trade from which she could earn a living ... that would last forever.

    But now it was cold - and if she ran she'd warm up a little before the teacher arrived ready for the lesson.

    Cheers ... fun words - thanks for setting this week's Words up for us - Hilary

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    1. A dream of so many, to learn a good trade, make a decent living somewhere safe. How i wish everyone on Earth could do that from where they now live, no more refugees, no more need to flee unsafe conditions. A dream i will continue to dare to dream.

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    2. Hilary Melton-Butcher: I love it - and your words reminded me of a book I have recently finished in which a rugmaker DID escape overseas and finally found a safe haven.

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    3. As a rugmaker, I truly enjoyed your story, but hank God, I don't have to depend on rug making to make a living.

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    4. We have similar stories Hilary- I do love this idea of making a living from handcrafts. I sold many of mine in my time but never, ever enough to make a living.
      XO
      WWW

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    5. Good one, Hilary.
      The last sentence is particulary touching. It tells all about her present life conditions.

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  4. Replies
    1. My words will be over here.

      Meanwhile, i'll be reading and responding as i can.

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    2. messymimi: As always I look forward to seeing where the words take you - and thank you so much for cheering all the other contributors on. We appreciate it. And you.

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  5. Ah, Sue, your prompts were GUIDING my thoughts in direction of a tanka:
    The end of Thursday
    Rugmaker: Away with both!
    This was no moth farm.

    His fly flap a wielded club
    put their lights off. Forever.

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    1. Sean Jeating: Colour me awed. I am so very impressed at people who can master poetic forms that daunt me. And tankas are one of those forms.

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    2. Some people have ways with words, and you fit the description...

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    3. A tanka is a form of poetry? How many forms are there? No wonder Poetry and me do not get along.

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    4. Hi Sean - loved your take ... a wielded club ... no wonder the lights crashed out ... brilliant - Hilary

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    5. Well done Sean, you are gifted in (at?) Tanka.
      XO
      WWW

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    6. I'm in awe of tankas and their creators.This is no exception.Wonderfully done.

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    7. Ladies you see me blushing, the more as I do consider myself a joyeous dilettante. I shall take your praise as an incentive, though. Thank you.

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  6. The moth, drawn to the farm lights from far away, came to an end with one swing of my club.

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    1. Mike: Bad Mike, bad, bad Mike - but Captain Succinct used the words well.

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    2. It sounds like at least they did not suffer.

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    3. Hi Mike - you have a very good aim ... but as EC said - succinct to the last ... cheers Hilary

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    4. I would want to preserve the moth, not smash it to bits.
      XO
      WWW

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    5. A fly flap would not not do, Mike, eh? ;-)

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    6. Oh oh, double negative?! No, no: Herwith I declare one 'not' deleted.

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    7. Sean - I don't see no double negative.

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  7. When it gets cold, my craft as a rugmaker comes alive, I shift from gardening and food preserving the garden's bounty to pulling loops on my wool rugs. Forever an earthy person, I love both.
    Living on a farm is a far cry from the city lights, I'm not a member of the golf club but in the end, keeping the moths away from my wool is a priority.

    Julia

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    1. Julia: I love this. You have your priorities right.

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    2. Hi Julia - much better to keep the moths away from your wool ... golfing can wait! - cheers Hilary.

      No worries re the guiding ... the seasons will, as you mention, dictate ...

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    3. Excellent take on the words.
      XO
      WWW

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    4. Thoreau would be delighted to read this.
      I am!

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  8. Oops, I need some redemption here... I don't know what happened to " guiding" but I let the seasons be my guiding mentor as to what to do. Julia

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  9. Mike, I'm sure glad I'm not a moth around your farm lights. You have a quick way with words. Short and to the point and you save a lot of ink and paper.

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  10. Julia, i like your story. Living on a farm, you can let the seasons guide and do what needs doing when it needs doing.

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  11. I like the words, I'll let them percolate overnight and see what happens.

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    1. River: I look forward to seeing what you brew with these prompts.

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    1. Margaret D: Thank you. Spam had claimed you yet again.

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  14. It was a cold Thursday that would forever be locked in the mind of the rugmaker as she guided her loom back and forth. Her mother had died and her granddaughter born within hours of each other. The cycle of life, filled with both great joy and great sorrow. She added a black and a pink thread to her pattern in honor of them both.
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    1. Oh that's so lovely Sandra, teary. I created such memories for my niece on the afghan I made for her family.
      XO
      WWW

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    2. Sandra Cox: This is very, very moving and truly lovely.

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    3. A precious little jewel, if I may say so.

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    4. Often that's the way it goes, life is up and down, sometimes all in the same moment.

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    5. Life is sometimes like this, ups and downs even in the same moments.

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    6. Love this! Especially the touch added by the black and pink threads.

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    7. Hi Sandra - wonderful ... lovely take on the prompts - cheers Hilary

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  15. Here is mine, all words (and how brilliant were they?) used. And I'll go back to read all of yours.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It was a cold dawn on Thursday as she headed out to the class. There was no money for bus fare so she walked the two miles to the farm in the frosty air.
    In the grey distance, she noticed lights were shining from the barn windows where the old rug maker taught her class.
    Her guiding spirit taught far more than learning the craft. Gisele and the class (more like a club now, as they all got to know each other) wanted this incredible semester to last forever. Suddenly, Ruben called to her from away off and waited for her and they both came into the bright airy barn together, catching their breaths at the jewels of rugs hanging from rafters and struts everywhere, listening to the sounds of stools and looms and hooks being sorted by their classmates as Irena, the rugmaker, their brilliant textile artist, welcomed them all and said:
    “Now that we are reaching the end of all that I can teach you, I must talk to you about the herbs you will need for preserving your beautiful work. You cannot ever leave it to the moths who would devour it.”
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    XO
    WWW

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    1. Wisewebwoman: This is lovely. How I hope that such classes (and teachers) survive and thrive.

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    2. Wisewebwoman, I love your story. Yes, I agree, the rug maker must keep the moths away, especially when working with wool. I love using lavender.

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    3. Beautifully woven story, Mary. Thank you.

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    4. A wonderful story, it's a joy to learn from those who love their craft.

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    5. Wisewebwoman. The story drew me right in, as if I were there. Well done.

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    6. This was so well done. Hats off to you for using all the words. It's got me hooked, though. I'd like to know where this story goes.

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    7. Hi WWW - this a great credit to craft-makers all ... we most definitely need them. Thank you for reminding us - cheers Hilary

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    1. Truedessa: I hope you will allow me to put this comment back. I saw it in email and loved it.

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  17. This magic rug could only have been created by a mysterious rugmaker, guiding us to find the right path forever. We both find ourselves radiant with love on this magic rug, flying through the night on an astral journey that doesn't subject us to a cold. That's my reflection this Thursday. XD

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    1. Raquel: I love this. Thank you for joining us.

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    2. Having visited the dark side of the moon and the Andromeda Nebulae on my flying carpet I can understand your delight.

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    3. Hi Raquel - wonderful thoughts ... cheers Hilary

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  18. Replies
    1. DeniseinVA: I am very glad that you enjoyed this post and the creations by the talented commentators.

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  19. I loved reading it so much! Wonderful Post! Have a great day!
    Rampdiary | Fineartandyou | Beautyandfashionfreaks 

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    1. Jyoti: Thank you. For future reference I will delete your comment if it links to your business sites.

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  20. Look at how many people are visiting you! I enjoy this with most of the action inside my head, lol. Good luck everyone!

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    1. Cloudia: I am happy that you enjoy it - and love it when you let the action out of your crowded head.

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