Wednesday, 10 April 2024

Words for Wednesday 10/4/2024

 


 

 

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 I am providing the prompts.

Charlotte (MotherOwl) has selected water blue as the colour of the month.  If you can include it in your story she and I will be grateful.

This week's prompts are:

  • Feather
  •  Bookstore
  • Comfortably
  • Money
  • Deliver

 

And/or

 

  • Exquisite
  • Nudge
  • Key
  • Stepped
  • World


 
As always, have fun.

90 comments:

  1. I'll be back to link up after I work on it.

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  2. Hi EC - here's mine ... the first set:
    They'd decided that the new bookstore should be a place of refuge in these difficult times … where people could meet comfortably without worry.

    The money they'd received from their mother would help them deliver these surroundings so those poor souls could perhaps have some relief …

    … especially as the shop was on the waterfront of the lake … when the sky would glisten on the lake in the sun with a watery blue …

    Their chosen bookmark was a tribute to the birds to be found around the shop and lake … a feather on a pale blue background.

    They were determined to help others overcome their grief … by offering a shelter, interesting works to read, a coffee with a delicious slice of freshly baked cake. A recipe for a healthy future – they hoped.

    Cheers and sent with hugs - Hilary

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    1. Hilary Melton-Butcher: I would go to this bookshop. Often. What a wonderful use of their inheritance.

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    2. I'd love to visit that bookstore. Good job, Hils.
      Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com

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    3. Thanks Sue, and Sandra ... I'd love to go to that bookshop too - especially if there was no wind! Cheers Hilary

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    4. Well. I accidentally posted my comment at the bottom!

      Scroll down to see it... 🤦🏻‍♀️

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    5. I would like to visit that Bookshop too.

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    6. Count me in. I’ll meet you and Sue there.

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    7. All good for a cup of tea, relaxing talk, easy going - and those views to die for - I'd love to own it!! Cheers Hilary

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    8. This would be a lovely place, I'd enjoy it very much.

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    9. Certainly not the worst of all bookshops. ;-)

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    10. It sounds like a wonderful bookstore. I hope they start to spring up everywhere.
      Hugs, Julia

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    11. Oh, I want to visit. Well written.

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    12. Thanks a lot for the great write-up. Have a good time!

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  3. TAX TIME LOOMS!!!
    Worried about your books?
    Don’t be. Rest comfortably, knowing we deliver. We help you keep more of your hard earned feathers in your nest.
    Contact us @keepyourmoney.com

    Maggie smiled. Her ad was already getting lots of responses. Across the world. Deliver she would, though she was pretty certain that the books she was given to nudge into shape contained more fiction than any bookstore. Not to worry. When she stepped up to the pass her exquisite ice water blue eyes compelled people to tell the truth, and the final version she gave to her clients was factual and the key to improving their relationship with the tax office. She ensured that they got every break they were entitled to, and not a penny/cent/peso more.
    Who knew that her penetrating eye for detail could give her such an exciting (and lucrative) career?

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    1. Woot. Woot. What a fun use of the words. Ooh, those eyes. Good job, EC.
      Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com

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    2. Fun take EC - I might come over and get some tax advice ... lovely ... cheers Hilary

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    3. "exquisite ice water blue eyes"

      I like how that rolls off the tongue.

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    4. Ice water blue eyes and a penetrating eye for detail? Sounds just like my mother.

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    5. I am switching accountants without further delay!

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    6. Good one, EC! If only we could all have a 'Maggie' accountant... :-)

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    7. I like this! We all need her, it's good to have an accountability partner.

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    8. Great use of the prompts - and thanks for using my colour. This story makes me happy that I do not need to do my taxes any more.

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    9. Elephant's Child: I think I need Maggie's services. Tax is hard so letting other people do it is better.

      Have a lovely day.

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  4. I'd love to visit that bookstore. Good job, Hils.
    Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com

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  5. Replies
    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: Does it tempt you enough to join us again?

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  6. The Feather and Quill Bookstore on the corner of Water and Blue was her destination. Money jingled comfortably in her pocket along with a credit card in her purse. The bookstore had assured her they would deliver, but what was the fun in that? She preferred the sensory rewards of a brick and mortar book shop, greeted by row upon row of old friends. A smile of delight settled on her features as she swung open the door and stepped into her version of heaven.
    Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com

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    1. Sandra Cox: Her version of heaven - and mine too. I do love a good bookstore and have happily spent hours (and money) in them.

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    2. The corner of Water and Blue. I like what you did with those prompts!

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    3. I like the corner of Water and Blue too and prefer browsing a real store rather than selecting online and waiting for delivery.

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    4. Deliver? That’s no fun. I am a shelf poker of long standing!

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    5. Many of us have that version of heaven keeping us going here on earth ... so much to read through! Cheers Hilary

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    6. Yep, Heaven has to have a library/free bookstore.

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    7. "Version of heaven": You can only be talking of my daughter's bookshop. ;-)

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  7. "They were determined to help others overcome their grief … by offering a shelter, interesting works to read, a coffee with a delicious slice of freshly baked cake."

    This sounds wonderful.

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    1. Thanks Sandi .. glad you approve ... and it'd be ideal. Cheers Hilary

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  8. Coffee, cake and a book, what more does a girl need?

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  9. A letter came to me as I was sitting on the chair COMFORTABLE at the BOOKSTORE along with some MONEY inside to pay and DELIVER a book to a dear elderly lady down the road and a few street.s back
    Alas there was also a FEATHER inside the envelope. I guess it was from one of her chooks! It has me wondering if the dear sweet lady was trying to keep the ‘peace’ and not for me to raise my voice having to deliver the book. We all know what a ‘feather or feathers’ mean.

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    1. Margaret D: I knew that being sent a feather in times of war meant you were a coward and now I am wondering what the message behind this one is. What an intriguing snippet.

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    2. Hi Margaret - definitely a snippet demanding (please) more! Cheers Hilary

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    3. I'm also aware of what a feather means in wartime, but curious about what you meant here.

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    4. Means: peace, love, trust, honour, truth, wisdom, respect and a heap more things.
      It means I wouldn't get angry for the delivery I had to make, as in I would be peaceful.

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    5. Interesting story, and thanks for the explanation.

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    6. Margaret D: Thank you so much for this additional information. And hooray for peace.

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    7. I really liked your text, very beautiful ending! Thank you very much. Have a nice weekend!

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  10. A friend gave me a nudge as I turned the key and stepped through the door into the exquisite world of (.........).

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    1. Mike: And now you have me wondering what your exquisite world would look like, and what is would contain.

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    2. Hi Mike - well you're obviously still alive as you're stepping through ... and yes what would behold you? Cheers Hilary

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  11. This morning, as I was STEPPING through the garden with my bowl of porridge, I slipped on the wooden porch and received a good NUDGE from the wooden pillar supporting the roof - how lucky I was, I think the roof was already shaking. I can't imagine what could happen in the morning... the WORLD is simply beautiful, you can really rely on it, even if not every piece is EXQUISITE.
    By the way, the bowl is still intact. Do you also have porridge in the morning?
    I walked back to the house with my KEY in my pants pocket.
    Relief.

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    1. Barwitzki: Love it. And am glad that the bowl remained intact. I like porridge, but am more likely to have it later in the day.

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    2. Hi Viola - well done ... I'm glad the bowl and porridge survived ... I'm like EC - I don't eat much in the morning or during the day. Fun story - cheers Hilary

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    3. I do hope the nudge from the pillar didn't leave any bruises.

      Seldom do I have breakfast, but when I do a good, hot cereal of some kind is comforting.

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    4. On a day when – to give but two examples – an abortion ban from 1864 is declared valid again in Arizona: abortions are to be punishable in future even in cases of rape or incest; on a day when the "divine legality" of genital mutilation threatens to become "in" again in Gambia, this world is certainly not a BEAUTIFUL place.
      I do agree, though, that a bowl of porridge can make a day ... as long as you didn't get pregnant in Arizona after a rape, or a girl (not only) in Gambia ...
      [Sorry, I should not have read the news]

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    5. Good story, and happy for the bowl. Sorry no, I do not eat porrigde, I had too much of is as a child.

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    6. Optimistic text. I like texts that exude optimism. Thank you. Have a nice weekend!

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  12. It is a FEATHER in my cap that I married my EXQUISITE wife. And no one had to NUDGE me to do that. The real KEY was that she was always willing, eager even, to go into a secondhand BOOKSTORE with me. Once we had STEPPED inside she knew that we had entered a very special WORLD, and she embraced it with all the fervour that she could DELIVER. The books were lined up like treasures, COMFORTABLY nestled on their shelves, radiating happiness, imparting wisdom, pleasingly pungent in their mustiness, embellished by time. I remember so well finding two volumes, both of which I coveted, yet these were precious volumes, long since out of print, and in very fine condition – and not cheap! I hemmed and hawed, chose one then the other, set one back on the shelf only to take it down again, and finally settled on one. When we went to pay, my wife, standing behind me, reached around and placed the second book on top of the one I had on the counter, and with a smile as big as morning sunrise, said, “It’s only MONEY, Honey, and sometimes money really can buy happiness. Get them both.”

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    1. What a grand story and relationship:) Kudos.
      Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com

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    2. Yes! Money, spent on special things you will love and treasure, can bring some happiness.

      She not only shared your love, she payed attention to you as well as the books!

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    3. David M. Gascoigne: Perfect wife, perfect relationship.

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    4. David, you see a bookworm's eyes sparkling.

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    5. You reflect my sentiments here. Well done!

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    6. David M. Gascoigne: Your wife is a gem. And money sometimes do buy happiness.

      Have a lovely day.

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  13. Hi David - I imagine you've both made an excellent partnership - and yes ... why leave one ... it is only money - while the pleasure you have had from your books is immeasurable ... lovely take on the words. Cheers Hilary

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  14. The Amazons of this world may nudge and nudge. I shall not spend money in order to get the book I want comfortably delivered by an exploited poor soul.
    My key to the realm of letters is to be found in my exquisite little local bookshop.
    By the way, on rare occasions, I still dip my pen into an waterblue inkwell. ;-)

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    1. Nice, yes books have to be bought in person whernever possible. An inkwell - long time since I last used one. Thanks for using my colour.

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    2. Sean Jeating: Loud applause. I much prefer bookstores to the contactless delivery. I only resort to the latter when my local bookshop cannot get what I want.

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    3. I am not certain we have any local bookstores remaining, just the chains. I've been working so many hours and days it seems there's no time any more.

      Nice use of the prompts!

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  15. It's wonderful to see the rich tapestry of creativity sparked by this week's prompts! From feather-light prose to deep dives into the world of storytelling, each contribution adds a unique flavor to the Words for Wednesday community.

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    1. MELODY JACOB: You are so right and I delight in the creativity each and every week.

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  16. This week, and maybe the coming weeks as well, I am going to integrate the Words for Wednesday in my A-Z pieces. What with spring happening I have limited time for writing - today it's cold and rainy, so I play catch up on commenting, and might find time to write about a few apprentices for the A-Z :)

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    1. Charlotte (MotherOwl): I am enjoying your A-Z and look forward to seeing how you incorporate the W4W prompts.

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    1. Rajani Rehana: Forgive me, but this (and please read my blog) are the only comments you ever leave. I get the feeling that you don't read my posts.

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  18. I'm late but I'm rarely on time. Here's what I wrote with the prompts: Fiction: Jingle on the dogs. Thanks for the prompts.

    Have a lovely day.

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    1. lissa: I really enjoyed Jingle on the dogs - and am still smiling.

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  19. Ooh, now this is handy! I love writing from prompts!
    Google won't let me sign in, yet again, sigh
    Deniz at https://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Deniz: Blogger can be a blight like that. I love your photos of Spring and hope that our prompts (which appear weekly) do inspire you.

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  20. Unfortunately I don't have time at all. I'll try over the weekend though. I think the prompt words lend themselves to writing a nice story and thank you🌹!

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    1. Katerinas Blog: Thank you. I look forward to seeing what you create with the prompts.

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  21. Thank you my friend for providing the fun! Aloha!

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    1. Cloudia: This meme is so much fun that I am happy to facilitate.

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