This
meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues and then life issues led her
to bow out. 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. And huge thanks to those of you who come back, sometimes time after time to cheer other contributors on.
This
week's prompts are:
- Reflection
- Mirror
- Deception
- Air
- Heir
And/or
- Seeds
- Planting
- Harvest
- Forget
- Due
And/or
She has been very generous hasn't she?
I am going to continue to add a further challenge to the mix. Charlotte(MotherOwl)
has assigned a colour to each month of the year. This month it is pine
green and if you can include it in your Words for Wednesday
contribution each week in January she and I would be very grateful.
‘ I am going home’. Such a simple phrase. One we have all said many times. And yet…
ReplyDeleteIt is not simple at all. My childhood home isn’t the same as that of my brothers. And our final homes will be different too.
The word home is a mirrored reflection (and sometimes a deception) of our hopes, our memories and our dreams. We seem to think that the air of our homes will always smell of cinnamon and comfort – and that it is something that we can simply pass on to our heirs.
I think too many of us forget that seeds require planting and nurturing. A bountiful harvest is not our due, but requires work. Oh yes, some people are lucky and despite not putting in the hard yards seem to harvest nothing but good. I wonder, how I wonder, just how nourishing that sort of harvest is.
OR
Peter cursed the reflection he saw in the mirror (turning the air blue with his curses). Deception he cried, turning a sad pine green colour. I cannot have put on that much weight over the holiday period.
Sadly, giving him the credit due, he knew it was true. He was the heir to his mother’s metabolism and, harvesting empty calorie after empty calorie had planted the seeds of his own downfall by forgetting that he was definitely what (and how much) he ate.
Hi EC - interesting sets of words from Mother Owl.
DeleteYou've crafted a story memory for us all - life is always different for each and everyone of us, yet we do pass on our own ways of life ... but we need to craft our own way forward ... experience helps.
Peter fortunately though recognises his own downfall but we do inherit our parent's genes - no way to escape them.
Cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Thank you. The prompts this month are provided by Sandi not Charlotte (MotherOwl) who has given us an additional challenge.
DeleteYour first response is beautiful, and the second, a reminder about what we eat.
Delete💙
DeleteThanks Sandi - sorry rather overloaded ...
DeleteOur first home is in the heart of our parents, i believe.
DeleteTwo excellent and very different uses of the prompts.
The first is so true, the second, with Peter, sounds just like me, too many empty calories and my mother's excess weight.
DeleteThe first tugged at my heart. The second made me grin. Well done.
DeleteTwo for one - both of your stories were excellent! I have deep sympathy and understanding for Paul. :-)
DeleteAnd the music video? Wow! Just... WOW!
Bowing twice.
DeleteI do like both of these ... home is what we make it, and different for everyone. I unfortunately also fell into that holiday eating disaster!
DeleteBoth reflections are most apposite and ring true for so many of us.
DeleteYou excel with both stories, Sue - especially the first one.
DeleteOh yes. Good stories. Thinking matter and laughing matter both. Thanks for using my colour.
DeleteOhhh, the second list of words sounds fun! Happy 2023!
ReplyDeleteThe Happy Whisk: I hope that people have fun with both sets - and the music (which is always more of a challenge for me).
DeleteTrue, to have fun with both sets is the best. I just like the second list better however I agree with you. Hope they enjoy both.
DeleteHi EC - I'll be around ... but probably not til the weekend - a few things still going on - but the 2nd set:
ReplyDeleteBefore she died we'd seen her out in the garden whirling and calling out 'What's the time Mr Wolf', and wondered what she was doing … we'd asked her … but never got an answer – said she'd forgot and couldn't remember things.
Now we know – planting seeds, and here's the result a garden full of dandelions, yellow ones, green-yellow buds, fading orange flowers, then 'fluffy' clock seed heads …
To celebrate her passing … the children were invited to come along and play games in the garden – with its bed of golden dandelions, later telling the time … Mr Wolf would help there …
Sadly the house would be sold, and a new owner would move in – someone probably not so au fait with English folklore … but with a verve for de-weeding the garden – no doubt conducted with due diligence.
Cheers to you and Charlotte ... Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: I hope your busyness is fun - and love your take on the prompts, sad as it is. I am pretty certain that some of her 'weeds' will escape and regenerate.
DeletePS: Sandi is providing the prompts this month, with an additional challenge/request from Charlotte (MotherOwl).
DeleteWell done. I was right there in the garden, next to the dandelions.
DeleteI think I've got it now ... muddled with two providers - my brain is very addled ... but clearer - I hope! Cheers H
DeleteWeeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them, or so said Winnie-the-Pooh. I hope the new owner appreciates them.
DeleteI can't think of a better way to celebrate a passing than dancing and playing in the loved one's garden.
DeleteFrom the bottom of my heart echoing Sandra.
DeleteThis is lovely, Hilary, quite poignant. Would that we could all be remembered with such joy.
DeleteI feel this is a happy celebration of dandelions, Hilary. Bravo!
DeleteSomething tells me she remembers everything just fine. 😊
DeleteDandelions are not weeds!
Deletevery well done Hilary
ReplyDeleteThe heir studied her reflection in the mirror. Deception in the air. Would the police figure out her grandfather's death wasn't an accident? She smiled. The mirror reflecting only sweetness and innocence. Not a chance, she thought with satisfaction and left the room to meet the mourners.
ReplyDeleteThat's great, Sandra. You said a lot with a few sentences.
DeleteOoh...
DeleteSandra Cox: This is nasty - and very, very clever.
DeleteWell done Sandra ... for a rather wily heir - I hope she gets found out ... cheers Hilary
DeleteTime will tell. Excellent use of the prompts.
Delete48 worder about a murder. You are a fox, Ms Cox.
DeleteHmm, nasty piece of work. Well done - so much in so few words.
DeleteDevious and scheming.
DeleteOh, well written indeed.
DeleteWhen planting seeds I hope I don't forget when the harvest is due.
ReplyDeleteMike: You will regret it if you do.
DeleteEspecially if they're my dandelions! Well done Mike - short and sweet ... cheers Hilary
DeleteWrite it down. I don't forget when i write it down.
DeleteShort and pithy and always on point.
If I can forget why I walked into a room, I can surely forget something I have to do 3 or 4 months from now, including losing the paper I wrote it on.
DeleteMike: I hear you - and am all too familiar with forgetting why I came into a room.
DeleteYou have the gift of precision - well done.
DeleteIt's important.
DeleteA paper brain is a must for gardening!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat first set is awesome!
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: All of Sandi's prompts have been thought provoking.
DeleteDue to the seeds they have sown, the wandering strangers should not be surprised at their harvest. After all, they are heirs of a species that, when it looks into the mirror of its past, has practised self-deception over the millennia.
ReplyDeleteFaces turning pine green? Self-reflection in the air? Forget it! They would much rather plant war.
well done!
Delete"They would much rather plant war."
DeleteThis is powerful and profound.
Sean Jeating: How I wish you were wrong.
DeleteThey sound like a group i don't want around. Well done.
DeleteHi Sean - they sound like my prompt to the WEP Thriller in October last year ... except mine were from space ... not today's 'rotters of war' ... great take on the prompts ... cheers Hilary
DeleteWell done, Sean. Written with sharp-edged precision.
DeleteThat last sentence is all too true, Sean.
DeleteYuck, bit well done.
DeleteSomeone is singing that hymn in the background of this story, i'm off to listen and find out who it is.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: Youtube should tell you. Both have incredible voices.
DeleteActually, i meant i could hear, in my mind, someone in the story i wanted to tell was singing and i had to go figure out who it was. Turned out to be Grandma Bea.
DeleteMy story will be over here.
messymimi: I understand - and am looking forward to reading about your Grandma Bea.
DeleteThat song is so beautiful! I've never heard it before but will never forget it. The words today make me think of Prince Harry's book, which I will never buy or read, I'll have to set them aside until tomorrow when my mind is emptier.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I have never heard that hymn before either - and like you will not be buying or reading Harry's book. I do look forward to seeing what you make of the prompts though.
DeleteSeeds
ReplyDeletePlanting
Harvest
Never Forget Nature's
Due!
Thank you for your companionship
Cloudia: This is brilliant - and rivals Captain Succinct (also known as Mike).
DeleteNice! 😊
DeleteAgreeing with EC, brilliant.
DeleteWell done Cloudia - elegantly and succinctly put ... clever - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThe song and singer: heart stopping.
ReplyDeleteSandra Cox: It is a powerful rendition isn't it?
DeleteOnce, I longed for more of a harvest, planting just one more seed. Forgetting all logic and sanity, I paid my dues and toiled through the seasons of life, growing and tending my labor of love. Twenty years have past, the full potential of my bounty is still to be seen, ever unfolding, changing, now tending his own garden, planting his own seeds.
ReplyDeleteAnd so it goes on. Beautifully told!
DeleteJuli: This is beautiful. Truly beautiful.
DeleteMuy bonito, Julio, como lo has narrado, y ya lo dice el refrán: que el que siembra, recoge.
DeleteUn cordial saludo.
This is perfect, quite beautiful.
DeleteLovely!
Delete"Now tending his own garden."
DeleteA wonderful ending!
Yes! so peaceful and potent.
DeleteMine has been published here at Of Dandelions and Sunshine
ReplyDeleteCindi: I have already read your story. It was remarkably timely (despite not being about Prince Harry).
DeleteSorry to be so late getting to this, Sue. Yesterday was activity from dawn till bedtime and I just didn't have a chance. Sometime today I will post my submission.
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: Not a problem - and I see you have already posted. Off to read it now.
DeleteWhy is it that cheap motels always have a giant MIRROR positioned somewhere that you cannot avoid walking past when coming out of the shower? Most of us have passed that stage in life where we gaze at our REFLECTION with pride. In this worn and neglected room the PINE GREEN walls did nothing to enhance the image. There must surely have been a sale on paint. The mirrors don’t lie (or so they say) but I am sure that a little DECEPTION was involved in what I saw. It was probably one of those mirrors like you see at the county fair which distorts your body. There was sadness in the AIR I have to confess. How had I got down to this level? Where did the time go? What happened along the way? I remember the days when the object of a visit to a motel might have been to produce an HEIR. Who can FORGET those halcyon days? I had a career and a wife, a nice home and a bright future. Until the takeover that is. Within mere months the PLANTING of SEEDS of destruction were taking place. A bitter HARVEST was coming DUE. At 57 years of age, what was I to do? I accepted the demotion to salesman, setting me back thirty years. Suzie, having lived a life of great comfort, could never accept the new reality, and left to take up with one of the very executives who sealed my fate. The divorce cost me a small fortune and I lost the house. In a way I had to finance my own demise and her new success. Life is not always fair.
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: Life is OFTEN not fair. This is sad, but beautifully written.
DeleteDark, but excellent. Excellently dark.
DeleteAwful. Sad. Horrifying. I mean how the tale turned out, not the writing! Well done, David.
DeleteA sad tale for the times - too often repeated, I think. Well done!
DeleteWell done, David. What a great short-short and so many of life's sad truisms in it.
DeleteSuch a sad, all too common story. It makes me wonder about the the marriage to begin, but that's probably a novel you haven't written and might not want to.
DeleteThe story is excellent alone.
Excellent take from you David ... probably so true in many cases ... cheers Hilary
DeleteNo, life is not always fair. But your description of nhis demise is good!
Deletejabblog has joined us again, and so very well too.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue - yes I agree excellently done from Janice - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally forgot to link to my own story. Of course it's about Susan.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy reading the pieces people come up with, Sue! They are always so varied, which is one of the joys of reading them!
ReplyDeleteFundy Blue: The variety blows me away, each and every week. Thank you for trawling through my back posts.
Delete