Thursday, June 8, 2017

Lifts and Limits: Six Sentences and Good Fences



"Who was the young lady dropping you off?" his mother asked the moment he got into the house, proving that he was right and she had been watching through the window slats, and that their caution to not hug good-bye hadn't been in vain.

"It was just my friend Annie, she wanted to give me a lift home is all," he said, hoping she would accept the word "friend."

She smashed that hope to smithereens when she said, "I hope you aren't wasting your time taking up with some girl when you should be about your practice!"

"No, mother, she's a friend, and she has a car, and she lives not far from here, so she wanted to give me a ride is all," he said, and before she could say anything else about it he added, "and my instructor wants me to put in some extra time on one piece so I'm going to go do that right now!"

"That's my good boy!" she said, reaching out to pinch his face as she did when he was little, at which he squirmed and said, "Aw, mother!"

They smiled at each other because he knew her love was true if misguided, and as he headed down the stairs he  wondered how she ever expected to have the grandchildren she said she wanted someday if he was never allowed to "take up with" a girl.

Linking up with Zoe of Uncharted Blog, hostess of Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Lift.


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Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit others to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.

Grandma and Grandpa have had quite a time with Lulu the dog.  To keep her from ruining the garden, they've had to resort to some fencing:

It's flexible fencing that hugs the contours of the garden.

Lulu had a hard time seeing it at first, and ran into it.

It doesn't look like much, but it works and that's what counts.



Today is:

Best Friends Day -- as declared by the ecard people

Bounty Anniversary Day -- Norfolk Island (celebrates the arrival of the Bounty descendents from Pitcairn Island)


Coal Miner Days -- Sparwood, BC, Canada (festival and fun! through Sunday)

Feast of Bona Mens -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of right thinking, the personification of the mind)

Glenn Miller Birthplace Society Festival -- Clarinda, IA, US (come celebrate the music of an era; through Sunday)

Judgement Day -- Fairy Calendar (The Good and Evil are given their just rewards)

June Bug Days -- Baldwin, WI, US (music, tractor pull, free outdoor movie night, and more; through Sunday)

Lindisfarne Day -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (commemorating the Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793)

Name Your Poison Day -- just another wacky holiday with no explanations

National Caribbean-American Health and Aids Awareness Day -- with events all over the US 

National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day

Primoz Trubar Day -- Slovenia (birth anniversary of the author of the first Slovene language books and consolidated the Slovene language)

St. Medard's Day (Patron of brewers, captives, imprisoned people, mentally ill people, peasants, prisoners, vineyards; for good harvests, good weather, and rain; against bad weather, imprisonment, sterility, and toothache) related event:
     Festival of the Rose -- Salency, France (on St. Medard's Day, and supposedly begun by that saint before the year 545)

Superman Celebration -- Metropolis, IL, US (only in Metropolis, right? through Sunday)

Upsy Daisy Day -- the day to remind people to get up joyfully and gratefully each morning (tell that to my sleep-til-noon family!)

Vacuum Cleaner Day -- Ives W. McGaffee obtained a patent on this day in 1869 for the first carpet cleaner that worked on a vacuum principle  

Watch Day -- the sign that you are over 30, you still wear a watch!

Winnipeg International Children's Festival -- The Forks, Winnipeg, MB, CA (a premier family festival with incomparable entertainment and activities; through Sunday)

World Brain Tumor Day -- International



Anniversary Today:

Christopher O'Neill marries Princess Madeleine of Sweden, 2013


Birthdays Today:

Kim Clijsters, 1983
Kayne West, 1977
Julianna Margulies, 1966
Keenen Ivory Wayans, 1958
Scott Adams, 1957
Tim Berners-Lee, 1955
Griffin Dunne, 1955
Kathy Baker, 1950
Sara Paretsky, 1947
Boz Scaggs, 1944
Don Grady, 1944
Andrew Weil, MD, 1942
Nancy Sinatra, 1940
Bernie Casie, 1939
James Darren, 1936
Joan Rivers, 1933
Jerry Stiller, 1927
Barbara Bush, 1925
Robert Preston, 1918
Byron Raymond White, 1917
Francis Crick, 1916
Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Trading Places(Film), 1983
Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter(First "dime novel", Publication date), 1860


Today in History:

Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England, 793
Richard the Lionheart's Crusade begins with his arrival at Acre, 1191
American attackers are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec, 1776
The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine, 1783
Mr. Hall of NYC advertises the first commercially made ice cream, 1786
Ives W McGaffey of Chicago patents the first vacuum cleaner, 1869
Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punched card calculator, 1887
Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value, 1906
Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures, 1912
Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater, 1948
The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons, 1953
The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992
The first Transit of Venus since 1882 takes place, 2004
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years, 2007

Australia bans live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months in response to reports of cruel treatment at Indonesian slaughterhouse, 2011

17 comments:

  1. Just stopping by to say g'day. :)

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  2. Such a heart warming story , Mimi.
    Smiled as I read about the Upsy daisy day . 😊😊

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  3. and, of course, they're both right!

    (nice fencing, in the photos...we have something similar, green vinyl coated to blend in and not be all big obstructing fency)

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  4. Possessive mothers are a problem. He has to be strong and show her that he makes his own decisions or or the girls he really fancies will drift away!

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  5. We mothers must know when to let go and not continue to treat our children like little kids or else they never grow up. I like the garden and the soft fence. Have a great day!

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  6. She needs to get over it now, because it's going to happen. Good job

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  7. Mothers eh? Who'd have them? It's watch day! I've got 20 which I alternate. That makes me over 600!

    Click to visit Keith's Ramblings

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  8. This story is really coming along. Great job!
    Some dogs sure do like to dig, glad the fencing helped. :)

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  9. Mother's have a hard time letting their offspring spread their wings. I've seen this time and time again. We can't live our kids' lives. It's a hard thing for some.

    You write so very well. I always enjoy reading your offerings.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  10. Nice little garden you have there and the fencing looks really good.
    As always it's fun to read your writing, it keeps my attention.

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  11. I thought sure he was going to sneak out again to be back with his "friend" Annie. I wonder if children actually do realize parents are doing what they do out of love and not just to be controlling and mean. Sometimes kids rebel under too much helicoptering, if you know what I mean. I do like your story, it certainly brings lots of thought on my, the reader's, part. PS. I didn't notice the fencing at first so I can see how Lulu took awhile to get used to it.

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  12. Heartwarming story we can all relate to.

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  13. Sadly, I don't think most children can realize that parents do what they do out of love. All too often they see it as restriction, hovering, whatever. Poor mom will have to face the reality that her son will leave one day. Better to be positive about it than fight the inevitable.

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  14. Mamas have to let those babies grow up, even though it's sooooo harrrrrd!

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  15. Good story... Ive been reading but unable to comment. Finally catching up! I gotta say this mom is irritating me... sign of good writing!ivy/zoe

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  16. Sometimes a mother's desire to protect her child from dangers is too overbearing and prevents them from learning through experience and proving that they can be trusted to behave in an appropriate manner. She cannot keep her boy safe from all harm forever, instead she needs to teach him how to make good choices!

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