Huge thanks to everyone who answered my plea and offered to provide the prompts.
And equally huge thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh who challenged us last month. This month Wisewebwoman is providing the prompts and they will appear here. Charlotte (MotherOwl) has selected fawn brown as the colour of the month.
So where are the prompts next year?
JANUARY: I will provide the prompts here.
FEBRUARY: lissa has offered to provide the prompts. They will appear on her blog.
MARCH: River is providing the prompts on her blog
APRIL: I will provide the prompts here.
MAY: David M Gascoigne is providing the prompts and they will be here.
JUNE: Hilary Melton-Butcher is providing the prompts and they will be here again.
JULY : Charlotte (MotherOwl) is providing the prompts on her blog.
AUGUST: messymimi is providing the prompts on her blog.
SEPTEMBER: River is providing the prompts on her blog.
OCTOBER: Sean Jeating is providing the prompts which will appear here.
NOVEMBER: Alex J. Cavanaugh is providing the prompts again and they will be here.
DECEMBER: Wisewebwoman is providing the prompts on her blog.
We are being given the prompts from both hemispheres so they can appear as early as Tuesday your time or as late as Thursday. If any of these months don't suit you, please let me know.
And, as always, have fun.
My email is still having hissy fits and I am less than impressed with my ISP but I have received this week's prompts from Wisewebwoman
They are:
- Oysters
- Herringbone
- Puffin
- Needle
- Broom
and/or
- Hummus
- Crochet
- Locket
- Sprocket
- Market
Hi EC - word concoction to follow ... thanks for schedule - June will be fine for me ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: I am glad to hear that June suits you - and look forward to seeing what you do with these prompts.
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ReplyDeleteCaitlin had spent the morning watching puffins with her friend Eleanor. Beautiful birds and they made her heart sing.
She and Eleanor were as different as chalk and cheese. She talked too much, and Eleanor made oysters look garrulous. She liked hummus and spicy food from several cultures. She could only describe Eleanor’s taste in food as fawn brown, bland and boring. She barely knew one end of a needle from another and Eleanor’s crochet skills were justly renowned.
Just the same, there was a market for a relationship like theirs. A relationship that money couldn’t buy, but had been cherished and nurtured over the years. They had been friends for over forty years now (no new broom about it) and she sometimes thought that if ever she was to have a locket with a picture of the person dearest to her, Eleanor’s face would be the one she chose.
Like herringbone they just fitted together – or perhaps a sprocket would be a more appropriate analogy. She was the projection, and Eleanor the wheel that engaged with life and connected them both with the world…
Fabulous take on the words, EC, you summarized friendship beautifully. I lost my bestie a while back (friends for our entire lives) and that described us perfectly. We were so different but adored and supported each other through thick and thin.
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WWW
Well done as usual. I particularly love your final sentence. :-)
DeleteYou've described the friendship we all hope to have with someone, somewhere.
DeleteExcellent story of a true friendship EC.
DeleteThank you for teh 2024 schedule, March and September suit me fine.
I love your stories. Great use of the words!!!
DeleteAs always so well written. Thanks.
DeleteHi Sue - a very clever take on the words - love it ... thank you ... brilliant - cheers Hilary
DeleteContinuing story of Dahlia and Edward Part 9. All words and colour used. Looking forward to reading yours!
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Dahlia always took her time making her choice from the fresh daily catch at the market on the wharf, greeting the fishers as they berthed. Today it was oysters.
A tap on the shoulder whirled her around, and there was Edward in a herringbone jacket with leather elbow patches and a crocheted fawn brown tie which matched his twill trousers.
“I fixed that sprocket on your bike,” he said, pointing back to where she’d locked it against the railing.
She was speechless, he had followed her? What?
“I also fixed us some garlic hummus for lunch and I’ve a new painting of a puffin I want to show you,” he said next, oblivious to her silence as he gently lifted the locket from her neck and examined it. She pushed his hand away.
“Edward,” she said, controlling her irritation, but why should she, she thought, “we need to talk….”
“What?” he said, “we’re talking now….”
“Stop!” she said angrily, needled beyond control by his attitude, "you seem to be immune to any self-awareness or indeed from any boundaries. This is entirely one-sided on your part and you need to-to-to take out your broom and clear away any preconceptions of what you believe is going on between us.”
His face darkened and he took a step backward as if she had hit him.
“No one speaks to me like that,” he said, “No one!” and he turned away and marched off.
She was left with a frisson of fear but tossed it off as ridiculous while she paid for the oysters. Good riddance, she thought.
Hooray for Dahlia: I was beginning to worry about Edward. And at least she got her sprocket fixed.
DeleteThat's impressive that it's a continuing story.
DeleteShe's right to turn him away, now she needs to watch her back.
DeleteUh-oh, I see trouble ahead. I'm glad she spoke her mind, but now she needs to watch out for Edward and any possible retaliation.
DeleteI echo River's words. Uh-oh was my first thought. Well written.
DeleteMe too WWW - trouble or murder are brewing ... I'm loving the story - cheers Hilary
DeleteI wear a golden LOCKET that stores the photo of my beloved mother, Betty.
ReplyDeleteShe was the queen of CROCHET. She excelled especially in HERRINGBONE design (a sort of zigzag pattern, which was not easy to master).
She made the best HUMMUS spread which was a constant on our table and bread.
It is from her that I've learnt the importance of the NEEDLE (sewing) and the BROOM (cleaning) in housework.
A visit to the MARKET was the highlight of her week. There she bought essential food, and also got acquainted with items that never entered our home (because of kashrut rules) such as OYSTERS .
She had no car, so she never had to deal with a broken STROCKET.
She had a strange attraction for little birds such as the PUFFIN sea bird (the parrot of the sea), and preferrence for FAWN BROWN colour in clothing.
That was my Mom. May she rest in peace!
DUTA; This is lovely and I can just picture your mama. Gone but never forgotten.
DeleteI agree. This was lovely.
DeleteShe sounds like a wonderful person and a very good mother.
DeleteVery nicely done.
DeleteBeautifully done DUTA, you draw quite a portrait of your lovely mother.
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Nice use of the words. Thanks for using my colour.
DeleteHi Duta - a gentle tale ... thank you - cheers Hilary
DeleteMaster Puffin saw the oysters and thought ha! ha! … those would eliminate the herringbones he'd recently been getting stuck in his beak and 'teeth'.
ReplyDeleteMrs Puffin was very upset at her son … and she'd had to use a needle to extract the bones … and then had to use a broom to clean his beak and mouth.
Mr Puffin wondered if Lewis Carroll could write up a story for Puffinland … tis the time of stories …
Hilary Melton-Butcher: I love this - and would love to see what Lewis Carroll (or some other quintessentially British humourists) would make of it.
DeleteNicely done!
DeletePoor Mrs Puffin, I hope Master Puffin learns to be more careful.
DeleteI love this, I can see the picture of Mrs. Puffin and the broom clearly.
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Stories for Puffinland. We have the title, now we need someone to write the stories.
DeleteDuring lesson times when the kids were quiet – she happily crochet lockets for the Christmas market.
ReplyDeleteHer hummus piece she was a little concerned about, so had measured chickpeas in the sprocket – to ensure each crochet stitch matched the quartets desired by the pattern makers.
Christmas would tell us whether she'd made sufficient fawn brown chickpea squares for the social committee's blanket and if they matched up. Otherwise she'd spend the next day eating hummus with plenty of wine … happy days – better than crocheting.
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Yet more big smiles. Speaking for myself I would MUCH rather eat hummus (teamed with wine) than crochet anything.
DeleteI used to crochet, but it's been too long. I hope she made enough of the squares and gets a break.
DeleteCould never master crochet even though I'm quite the knitter. But yeah to hummus and wine.
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Great story, Hilary! Crocheting is fun and therapy for me.
DeleteI seem to be the odd one out, preferring crochet to wine chickpeas and oysters. Well done.
DeleteCrochet doesn't rhyme with locket or sprocket the same way you can find hummus in a market but can't make them rhyme. (What?!)
ReplyDeleteMike: English is a seriously weird language.
DeleteIt's because way too many of our words in English are just adapted straight in from other languages, pronounced as they are in that other language. It makes for some oddities.
Delete*snort*
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Hehe those "eye only" rhymes are so fun.
DeleteHow would you make chickpeas rhyme?
Hi Mike ... yes - our language beggars belief sometimes.
DeleteCheers - Hilary
As I ate my oysters and puffin meal, I thought about the herringbone broom I bought and the small needle that must have been used to make it.
ReplyDeleteMike: You ate puffin? Shame on you. I am always intrigued to see how few words you can cram the prompts into.
DeleteYou certainly come up with unique, and very short, stories.
DeleteNooooo on eating puffins, they really are darlings. I watch them all day as they are so funny.
DeleteXO
WWW
Well told. I never ate puffin, but despite WWW's protesting screams, I'd like to try, but you get to keep the oysters (and hummus).
DeleteI'll get started. Charlotte chose Fawn Brown as the colour of the month and I will try to include it, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, and August is fine. If you need me to step in during an "emergency" and pinch hit for anyone, let me know.
DeleteMy story will be over here.
Deletemessymimi: Thank you on all counts. If I need you to step in I will assuredly call on you, and I look forward to your take on today's prompts.
DeleteSprocket is my favorite villager in Animal Crossing. 🙂 Great prompts. I'll be reading.
ReplyDeleteSandi: I don't know Animal Crossing. Perhaps you could make a story out of it?
DeleteNice use of the words to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI thought I might wander off to the HERRINGBONE Restaurant in Adelaide over the weekend to dine and have some OYSTERS as an Entree, of course I had better phone before I book a seat on the plane to see they indeed do them on their menu.
After doing that deed there is work to be done in the porch as in sweeping it with the BROOM and looking for the sewing NEEDLE I dropped when I went out the door late yesterday afternoon.
Margaret D: I hope the needle is found - and not in the foot as is too often the case here. I don't think I would fly anywhere for oysters, but there is no accounting for taste. Another great use of the prompts.
DeleteIt would be nice to be able to fly over to another town/city for a meal at a particular restaurant. Not that I would be likely to do so even if I had the means, but it would be nice to have the means.
DeleteI'm sure Tasmanian Oysters we have here would be better :) ..lol
Deletelost needles are ofttimes found with the wrong part of your anatomy. wishing you luck.
DeleteHi Margaret - that wandering needle could prove disastrous somewhere ... but I'd eat oysters anywhere - but not travel on a plane afterwards! Cheers Hilary
DeleteSo, now I wrote and pre-posted all the July Words for Wednesday. Whatever is going to happen -- apart from Armageddon -- the Words will publish!
ReplyDeleteWriting will hopefully happen later today, and then reading and commenting.
Charlotte (MotherOwl): Thank you for getting onto providing the prompts so quickly (I first tried to write so promptly). I look forward to them - and to this week's tale.
DeleteI really like the first group of words. I'm continuing my ghost story. Thanks for the prompts, wisewebwoman.
ReplyDeleteHere's my link:
Being sarcastic with ghosts
I'll try to prepare the prompts for February soon. It's so odd to think next year is coming so soon...
Have a lovely day.
issa: I have read and enjoyed your continuing story. I so admire those of you who can do that. I am glad that February suits you.
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