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. And huge thanks to those of you who come back, sometimes time after time to cheer other contributors on.
The prompts will be here this month, but they are being provided by David M. Gascoigne. An additional prompt from Charlotte (MotherOwl) is to include in your take on the prompts.
This
week's prompts are:
- Elbows
- Imagine
- Canal
- Heavily
- Population and/or
- Mocked
- Months]
- Annex
- Support
- Casino
Have fun.
Mocked...that jumped right off the page at me and I immediately thought about trump mocking The Pope by making the hideous AI picture of himself dressed as the Pope. So classless, so disrespectful, so mocking. Hope you're doing well and keeping your head during these very troubling times.
ReplyDeleteSandy: Mocked indeed. Classless indeed. I continue to watch what is happening in horror.
DeleteSandy:
DeleteAquest home no és mereix ni ser nombrat.
Mocked. Insulted. Disrespected. Classless. Laughingstock. Embarrassment.
DeleteIn addition to all his other character flaws he is totally lacking in class.
DeleteTrouble is that he is normalising that behaviour.
DeleteSandy - well done ... interesting comments here - I so agree ... cheers Hilary
DeleteFirst one sounds a little dystopian...
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: Time will tell whether you are right.
DeleteI dodged the dystopian theme, so possible...
DeleteImagine if you will a fairy story. Once upon a time in a land far, far away (which may have become Italy) a Princess was born. Early. On the day of her birth her fairy godmother was absent (she was communing with the herons on a nearby canal).
ReplyDeleteIn the absence of said fairy godmother Princess Isabella did not have limpid blue eyes and long blond hair. Instead her eyes and her hair were dark and her hair unrepentantly curly. She did however have flower petal pink cheeks.
As the months became years it became obvious that our princess’s fingers might as well have been elbows where the arts of sewing, weaving and music were concerned.
When it became clear that she could spin gold into straw she was mocked by the ladies (misnamed) in waiting.
‘Che casino! Or, what a mess!’ they said. ‘If we could add a suitable annex to the duty statement of princesses we could depose Isabella’.
No they couldn’t. Even if they could Isabella was heavily supported by the general population, who liked her interest in them and their lives and saw no need for a Princess to be perfect. And besides she looked like them. Another happy ending.
Un conte preciós.
DeleteNo totes les princeses han de ser perfectes, de fet no ho són, amb fades o sense. I aquesta tenia tots els requisits que el seu poble volia. ;-)
Molt bo, Sue!
A beautiful story!
DeleteVery happy, as am I after reading it.
DeleteLove it! "Perfect" isn't the same as "happy", for princesses or anybody else. :-)
DeleteWonderful E.C.,
DeleteI love princess stories and it's so well written!!
I love this! A Princess who isn't "perfect" but instead loves and helps her people who love her in return. She's "good people" as my mum would have said.
DeleteA happy ending indeed, Sue, especially relevant in this time when royals strive to be “just like us.”
Delete"fingers might as well have been elbows" - loved that image.
DeleteLoved it. That was a grand fairy tale.
DeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
Hi EC - what a fun fairy story for us ... congratulations on the thought process ... loved it - cheers Hilary
DeleteWhat a lovely fairy tale! Imperfection is its own perfection
DeleteWill work on it when my assistant goes down for a nap.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I look forward to it - and hope your assistant naps well.
DeleteMy story will be over here.
Deletemessymimi ~ there was a lead into who attacked the gnolls in this week's story that I will go into more detail on next week. There are multiple tribes of gnolls in the DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) world, and the one Kael was meeting and associating with was not the same gnoll tribe that Alexander was working with.
DeleteCindi, multiple gnoll tribes? Oyy.
DeleteLooking forward to reading messymimi's.
DeleteYou have written a sad indictment on society.
DeleteYour story was lovely my friend.
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: Thank you.
DeleteMine has been published here!
ReplyDeleteCindi: I have read it - and am applauding again.
Deletethecontemplativecat here. This is partially true.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pre-Christmas shopping sale day at Harrod’s. It might be hard to imagine, but the lifts were heavily packed with residents from with their presents. I noticed that English people murmur apologies, tourists do not. Elbows dug into my ribs, and I swore the entire population of London was in the lift with me.
I was hoping for some support from the doorman, but he was hiding somewhere. I had saved 6 months’ salary to visit London during the Christmas season but regretted it now. A flood of shoppers drove me along through the door and I stumbled the first five steps. On the verge of making a face plant, I heard the Yank tourist mock me, gaining irritation in the English swarm.
As I hit the sidewalk with a bloody nose crunch, I felt a hand pull me up and whisper to me. “Those Yanks. Wish someone would give them a comeuppance.”
With that I was on my feet, I grabbed the shoulder of the American tourist, flipped him around and wiped blood on his shirt. Then I dredged up and cut loose with every profane swear word I knew. Never being one who said more than a “damn” of “shite”, I sure had a vocabulary from memories of my brothers.
The swarm froze and then clapped. We all moved on, but I kept pace with the bloody tourist. Well done, well done, they murmured.
Excellent use of the words.
DeleteI hope that the Christmas holiday got much better after that.
DeleteSusan Kane: Christmas shopping in a busy city fills me with horror even without mockery or blood shed. I hope that there is truth in you wiping your blood on his shirt but fear not.
DeleteYou elucidate all the reasons why I avoid going shopping.
DeleteYou are selling the idea of staying home very well!
DeleteHi Susan - you definitely know our Harrods' Christmas shopping ... elbows to the fore - well done - cheers Hilary
DeleteAmazing story!!
ReplyDeleteGood use of words!!
Nothing fermenting in the brain just yet, but I'll work on it.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I am confident that your fermenting will produce a fine vintage.
DeleteHaving another go today - the mind is working once again.
ReplyDeleteJust IMAGINE ELBOWS on the dining room table at Buckingham Palace!
Oh yes, invitation came in the post I was told, snail mail of course. I was wondering who was invited to the special occasion, maybe people who lived near the CANAL which is rather a HEAVILY populated area. Due to the POPULATION only a few people from that area were invited so I was told.
I was a waiter at this wonderful dinner put on by the King of England who thanked these people for their tireless charity work, and so many people from the canal area had their elbows on the dining room table – disgusting!
Margaret D: I am glad to see you joining us again. My mother would wholeheartedly agree with your narrator. There were never any elbows tolerated on her table.
DeleteA wonderful use of the prompts, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall to that dinner! Altho I'm sure there were no flies in the palace!
DeleteSeems to me that table manners have pretty much died altogether.
DeleteThe criticism of real mail, made me wonder what would happen if the invitation came by text? How would it read?
DeleteWell done Margaret - elbows well away 'off that table' ... manners maketh man ... ???? Cheers great tale - thank you - Hilary
DeleteBeing a king's waiter sounds exciting.
DeleteWe waited in line to vote. It’s a pretty important election, weighing HEAVILY on people’s minds. The madman to the south wants to ANNEX us, and along the way take over Greenland (by invasion if necessary), and the Panama CANAL is not being operated exactly as he would like, so better take that over too. As for Gaza, just IMAGINE the CASINOS and spas that stretch of beachfront will SUPPORT. The Palestinian POPULATION wouldn’t fit in, of course, so better exile them. Smacks a little of ethnic cleansing, if you ask me. Imperialist expansion has become the order of the day. And the big grab for Ukraine’s resources amounts to the same thing. In less than four MONTHS the world has been turned upside down. Enemies are to be cozied up to, friends and allies MOCKED and scorned. ELBOWS up, Canada. Don’t ever give in.
ReplyDeleteExcellent commentary on the current situation here.
DeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: Never, ever give in. Or the bully will triumph.
DeleteA cleverly thought out and topical use of the words.
DeleteHi David - he'll be here soon ... wanting to buy us - perhaps he'll stick to Scotland?! Definitely Elbows Up Canada - do not give in ... Cheers Hilary
DeleteI echo Cindi and wish it weren't so. Well done, David.
DeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
Trying to get my Susan's story going again.
ReplyDeleteWell done! Looking forward to reading more.
DeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): And I loved it - though I found it sad. Progress sometimes isn't.
DeleteAn engaging story!
DeleteHere's my effort with these words.
ReplyDeleteJ Cosmo Newbery: I am off to read it now.
DeleteHi EC - belatedly late ... things a-bugging life a bit ... but ok ..
ReplyDeleteImagine how that population of mosquitoes has heavily increased now that the canal has become fetid. The Council has been mocked because of the decision to approve the casino complex along the canal banks.
Any support the Council might have had has evaporated … especially now it's May, that month of pretty pink flowers … with its subsequent approval of an annex, it has lost even more of its support base, as the stink permeates.
The temperatures are rising … so we're in for a stinky summer … I'm glad I live near the sea and usually only suffer from Sahara dust storms. But that brings more of the population down here … waving their arms about … bashing people with their elbows … while they try and establish some space of their own.
It's 'cold' today - so no mozzies around .. take are and I'll be reading now or v soon ... cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Shudder. If only Council (any council) didn't so often make those decisions. And the stink of fetid water is all pervasive. As are the 'squitoes.
DeleteI love the way you used the prompts. Might I suggest goldfish for the canal. They feast on mosquito larvae, though fetid water might be uninhabitable for them.
DeleteThe casino in the annex was supposed to support the hotel but it's been months since the new owner (Pretty Flower Pink tRUMP) hasn't made a dime and has been mocked.
ReplyDeleteMike: I am surprised that the casino hasn't made a dime. Too often they make bucket loads...
DeleteHi Mike - perhaps a debt drowning will occur ... just awful - well done with your take - cheers Hilary
DeleteAlex sat with his elbows resting heavily on the casino table.It had been months since he had any luck at BlackJack but each time he played, he would think what he would do with all his winnings. Money! Money! Money!
ReplyDeleteVisions of grandeur? He could imagine floating down a canal in Venice, or the court ordered financial support he could finally give his ex-wife, in spite of the way she had always mocked his belief that a big win was just one hand away.
Unfortunately that day was not his day, just like it was not for most of the population frequenting casinos all over the world. The odds were always stacked in favor of the house. So after losing his last 50, he stuck his hand in his pocket, grabbed his remaining change and headed to the annex next door. It had nickel slots and he knew he was just a few pulls away from
Lady Luck in a pretty flower pink tutu arriving. Yep! He could feel it.His luck was about to change!
Anne in the kitchen: Love it. Sadly it is also very true. Australia has a HUGE gambling problem. Needless to say the governments of the day are reluctant to attempt to tackle it.
DeleteAnne in the kitchen: Why he should think he will be lucky again is, I guess, a gambler's thinking, sad but true.
DeleteHave a lovely.
Loved it so much, nice story.
ReplyDeletenassah: Which one? There are several excellent stories on this post.
DeleteI'm a bit late but here's my take on the prompts: Fiction: A Stranger of Home.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have missed a lot of the previous prompts but I'm happy to particpate again. So thanks for hosting. And for David M. Gascoigne to provide the prompts this month.
Have a lovely.
lissa: I have read and enjoyed your tale. I am always happy when you are able to join us.
Delete