Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Yes, It Has (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     






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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    


This month, i am providing the prompts.  You can write your story on your blog and leave a link here, or write your story in the comments, your choice.


Use all of the prompts, or some, or use none.  The whole point is to get us writing, so please have fun with it!


This week's prompts are:


thanks

preparation

hypothesis

gradual

island

calf


and/or one or both of the following phrases:


short end of the stick

goody two-shoes



Frank sat staring more through than at his computer screen as the image underwent the GRADUAL changes from ISLAND to mountain to a cow in a meadow with her CALF and on and on.  


His thoughts were going 'round and 'round on this whole investigation, similar, he finally perked up and realized, to how his computer image was changing.  With a sigh, he grabbed the mouse and his desktop came up.  He decided to distract himself from his thoughts by checking email, but the first one had as the subject line, Hello, GOODY TWO-SHOES, and he thought, great, my brother must be back in the state.


Frank and his brother, Mort, both thought that, genetically speaking, they'd gotten the SHORT END OF THE STICK. Frank thought so because he didn't have Mort's good looks and the flair for comedy that made him able to spend his life making the rounds on the club circuit.  Mort thought the same because he didn't have Frank's brains, especially his brains for figuring out thorny problems, like this latest case.


Well right now, Frank thought, I have a HYPOTHESIS, and I need to figure out why the widow seems to be making PREPARATION to leave town, but meanwhile, I need a distraction so let's see what my brother has to say.


Mort was indeed back in town, and would be doing a show that night.  He was inviting Frank to be his special guest.  Frank knew what that meant; many of the jokes would be at his expense, but it was all in fun.  He and Mort were night and day but they were brothers and had each other's backs, always.  He fired off a reply accepting the invite with a bit of sarcasm he knew would draw out a joke or two that evening, but he needed a laugh and some time not thinking about this case.


His grandmother would have told him to put it on the back burner and let it percolate while doing something different.


He knew, THANKS to Mort, he'd be able to do just that.



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Today is:


Apple Day -- U.K. (to inspire local orchard revival and celebrate local varieties)   


Antillean Day -- Bonaire; Curacao; Saba; St. Eustatius 


Armed Forces Day -- Honduras (Dia de las Fuerzas Armadas; traditional date, now usually celebrated earlier in the month as part of Morazanica Week)


Babbling Day -- an internet generated day for Blatherskites


Caramel Apple Day -- US (leave it to the US to add sugar to a delicious, nutritious snack!)


Count Your Buttons Day -- whoever came up with this one needs to count his marbles maybe?


Egyptian Naval Day -- Egypt


Garbanzo Bean Day


Global Iodine Deficiency Disorder Prevention Day


Hagfish Day -- a day to celebrate the uniqueness and necessity of even the ugliest of sea creatures, like the hagfish


Humble Yourself By Having Your Picture Made Wearing A Bicycle Helmet Day -- no comment


Hurricane Bebe Day -- Funafuti, Tuvalu (commemoration of the destruction by this hurricane in 1972)


Independence Day -- Marshall Islands(1986)


International Day of the Nacho -- Mexico; U.S.


Jailhouse Rock Day -- Elvis' song hit #1 today in 1957


National Nurses Day -- Thailand


National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day


National Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day -- US


Overseas Chinese Day -- Taiwan (Republic of China)


President Ndadaye Day -- Burundi


Reptile Awareness Day -- hooray for snakes and turtles!  and lizards, don't forget lizards, and gators, and...


Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar


St. John of Bridlington's Day (Patron against complications in childbirth)


St. Ursula's Day (Patron of educators/teachers, holy death, schoolchildren, students; British Virgin Islands; Catholic education, especially of girls; Cologne, Germany; University of Paris)


Trafalgar Day -- British Empire (noted, but no longer an officially holiday)



Anniversaries Today:


Juan Peron marries actress Evita (María Eva Duarte), 1945



Birthdays Today:


Jeremy Miller, 1976

Ken Watanabe, 1959

Carrie Fisher, 1956

Benjamin Netanyahu, 1949

Elvin Bishop, 1942

Judge Judy Sheindlin, 1942

Frances Fitzgerald, 1940

Ursula K. LeGuin, 1929

Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford, 1928 

Celia Cruz, 1925

Joyce Randolph, 1925

Dizzy Gillespie, 1917

Georg Solti, 1912

Edwin Myers "Ted" Shawn, 1891

Will Carleton, 1845

Alfred Nobel, 1833

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Butterflies are Free"(Play), 1969

"Orphee aux enfer/Orpheus in the Underworld"(Offenbach operetta), 1858



Today in History:


Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea defeats 1st Crusaders, 1096

Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg., 1512

Ferdinand Magellen arrives at Tierra Del Fuego (Pacific Ocean), 1520

Sea battle at Dunes, Lt Admiral Maarten Tromp defeats Spanish Armada under De Oquendo, 1639

First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America, 1774

US Navy frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston, 1797

Battle of Trafalgar, Adm Nelson defeats French & Spanish fleet & dies, 1805

The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia, 1816

Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement (Yorkshire England), 1824

Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb, 1879

First transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris, 1915

Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time, 1945

Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun, 1965

The European Patent Institute is founded, 1977

The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second, 1983

Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz, 2003

The European Parliament awards Cuban Dissident Guillermo Farinas the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, 2010

Kateri Tekakwitha is canonized as the first Native American saint by Pope Benedict XVI, 2012

The Parliament of Canada confers Honorary Canadian citizenship on women's rights and education activist Malala Yousafzai, 2013

Oscar Pistorius is sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 2014

The Spanish government suspends Catalonia's autonomy in the face of a deepening political crisis over the region's push for independence, 2017

Excavations at an 8,000 year old site at Marawah Island, near Abu Dhabi, UAE, uncover the world's oldest natural pearl, 2019

19 comments:

  1. Your story is so good! I do like it when brothers have each other's backs, no matter what. Not like the back-stabbing I've seen in some families. I'll work on my story tomorrow.

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  2. I love your story. And wish that more families had that golden rule.

    If one more goody two shoes told Peter to give thanks for all he had instead of wanting more he didn’t know just what he would do, but it wouldn’t be pleasant. He could see the sense in their hypothesis, but some days it was just wrong.
    Perhaps he could magically transport them to a beautiful deserted island, well stocked with coconut palms, but also ensure that they were allergic to the fruit.
    Or maybe their golden calf could take against them, kick them in the calf and run away.
    No, he had it. In his perfect scenario they would be watching a rainbow spread across the sky, marveling at its beauty. As it formed they would gradually realise that it was going to land right beside them – and they would find the pot of gold.
    And they would. The pot of gold would be heavy, laden with treasure and it would land not beside them but on them. Knocking them out and allowing others to profit.
    He was completely certain that their positive attitude was no preparation for finding out just what it meant to be given the very short end of the stick…

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    Replies
    1. Oh, poor Peter. But a rather depressing story. I hope it's not too much autobiographical.

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    2. Not autobiographical at all. I am very grateful for so many things. I do worry about the insistence on positive thinking though. Sadly some people blame illness on its lack, which is yet another example of 'blame the victim'.

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  3. Great comment in your picture.

    God bless.

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  4. That sign is so true! 2020 has been a never ending Halloween.

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  5. That sign is very apt at the moment :-)

    Have a signtastic safe week 😷😷😷

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  6. Be kind is right. Love that sign.

    I love your use of the prompts. Brothers indeed. Well done as always.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. ♥

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  7. That sign is perfect, unfortunately, and should be posted all over the world.

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  8. Yes indeed. 2020 has had some scary moments and I am afraid that the upcoming election will be the scariest of them all. Regardless of who wins, there is likely to be discontent spilling into the streets.
    I could celebrate National Apple Day several times a week. A caramel apple would be a welcomed occasional treat and I would cherish a slice of Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake. Have a blessed day.

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  9. Oh nice. Bringing the story on, while still leaving us with this cliff hanger. I hope your words next Wednesday will bring the story rolling again.
    I have let the words inspire me, and come up with this: Words for Wednesday

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  10. Truer words were never spoken. xoxo

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  11. That was a good story and that sign is so true!

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  12. That sign says it all ~ ^_^

    Live each moment with love,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  13. hoping between frank and mort they can figure out just how that dood died.....sum thin fizhee bout that wife az uz tabbies say..... ~~~~~~~ ;) ☺☺♥♥

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  14. the second wave is starting and in a pandemic it is usually the 2nd wave that kills the majority of people. You baby boomers are all going to die of corona-virus and finally the world will be able to make progress when you boomers are all dead

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  15. Great story- I hope we get more next week.

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  16. Oh great stories and always a pleasure to be here. Thanks for sharing. HUGS and LOVE

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  17. You're so right. 2020 has been scary enough!
    Love your little story. Love it when brothers love each other. There is SO MUCH of the opposite in today's world!

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