Wednesday, October 31, 2018

A Great Idea (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 


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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 that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton, with some pictures by her friend Bill Dodds, and are posted by Elephant's Child.                      

This weeks prompts are:

  1. Sully
  2. Chagrin
  3. Funambulist
  4. Heavy
  5. Lowering
  6. Sand

And/or

  1. Ablutions
  2. Wasting
  3. Saucy
  4. Perpetual
  5. Moonstruck
  6. Cigar


“Will you stop WASTING so much water on that elephant!  You bunch would do better to up the quality of your own ABLUTIONS!”

He didn’t notice one of the workers giving him a SAUCY face, but he didn’t have to.  He knew they would be making fun, and much to his CHAGRIN he knew he deserved it for taking his ire out on them when none of the current trouble was their fault.  As he stalked angrily into his tent,  LOWERING the flap that served as a door with a hard yank was not nearly as satisfactory as slamming a real one closed, but it would have to do.

Being the owner and ringmaster of a small tent circus was what he loved, but on days like this it was a HEAVY load.  His wife, who had been MOONSTRUCK in her tender years and run away with the circus for real, knew his moods and loved him, whether because of or in spite of those PERPETUAL mood swings no one could fathom.

She silently brought him a fresh CIGAR, a match, and the plate of SAND he used as an ashtray.  Without a word, he sat at the table and lit the cigar, taking a puff or two before turning to the woman he knew held him and this outfit together in more ways than anyone ever admitted.

“Why did you ever SULLY yourself and get mixed up in this life?” he asked her, and as she always did she answered, “Because I love you and you love this circus life, and I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“Where in the world am I going to find a new FUNAMBULIST?  The tightrope act and the elephant are our two biggest draws, and the new touring season starts in a month.  A month!  I’ll never be able to replace that vagabond so quickly.  I should have known he’d bolt to a competitor at the first opportunity.

“Lilly, what in the world am I going to do?”

Rubbing his shoulders to ease his tension, she said, “You are going to have some supper, then you are going to get a good night’s sleep, and starting tomorrow, you are going to use the great talent you have to either train someone here in tightrope walking, or you will come up with another big draw act from the people you have, or you will find some other solution.  You’ve done it before, you can do it again, I have faith in you!”

Looking up at her, he tried to hide the mist in his eyes by asking, “Want to learn to walk a tightrope?” and they both laughed as she pretended to threaten to choke him.  He knew they’d pull through this, too.


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Today is:

Admission Day -- Nevada, US

Allantide -- Cornwall, England

All Hallows Eve -- Christian

Apple and Candle Night -- Wales

Books for Treats Day -- San Jose, CA, US (give gently used books to kids, not candy -- feed their brains, not their cavities!)

Chiang Kai-Shek Day -- Taiwan

Day of the Seven Billion -- day in 2011 the UN declared the world population to have reached 7,000,000,000     

Dias de los Muertos -- Mexico, esp. Michoacan and Oaxaca (through Nov. 2; ceremonies, sand sculptures, decorated altars, and parties through the nights in the cemetaries)

Dookie Apple Night -- Newcastle, England

Duck Apple Night -- Liverpool, England

Feast of Sekhmet Bast Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of Inner Worlds -- Pagan (fight between the old and new year)

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show -- Ft. Lauderdale, FL, US (hosted at the "Yachting Capital of the World"; through Sunday)

Founder's Day -- Girl Scouts of the USA (Juliette Gordon Low's birth anniversary)

Ghostwriter's Day

Hallowe'en or Beggar's Night

Hawaiki Nui Va'a Race -- French Polynesia (spectacular three-day open water outrigger canoe race from Huahine to Raiatea to Tahaa to Bora Bora; through Friday)

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day -- originated in England in the 19th century, some celebrated on the 30th

King Father Nordom Sihanouk's Birthday -- Cambodia

National Candy Apple Day

National Knock-Knock Joke Day
    Knock, Knock
    Who's There?
    Police.
    Police who?
    Police stop telling knock-knock jokes! 

National Magic Day -- Society of American Magicians (in honor of Harry Houdini, who died on this day in 1926, and who was president of the SoAM)

National UNICEF Day — US

Nut-Crack Night -- England; Scotland

Old Celtic New Year's Eve

Out of the Broom Closet Day -- Pagan, Heathen, and all earth-based and ethnic religions

Reformation Day -- Protestant Christian (trad.)
    Official Holiday -- Germany; Slovenia

Samhain (northern hemisphere) / Beltane (southern hemisphere) -- Druids, Gaels, Welsh peoples, Neopagans, Wiccans (begins at sunset)

Scare a Friend Day -- just not so much that he/she isn't a friend any more

Senior Absurdity Day -- Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY, US (a day the kids look forward to each year)

Sneak Some of the Candy Yourself Before the Kids Start Knocking Day

St. Quentin's Day (Patron against coughs)

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon's Day (Patron of apoplexics, carpenters, paralysed people, stroke victims; Regensburg, Germany; against apoplexy, paralysis, stomach diseases, strokes)

Thump-the-Door Night -- Isle of Mann

Trick or Treat Night

Vetmaetr -- Norse Calendar (Winter Nights; beginning of winter, the New Year, and the start of Odin leading the Wild Hunt)

Youth Honor Day -- Iowa, US



Anniversaries Today:

Mt. Rushmore is completed, 1941
Nevada becomes the 36th US State, 1864


Birthdays Today:

Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, 1967
Adam Horovitz, 1966
Dermot Mulroney, 1963
Rob Schneider, 1963
Peter Jackson, 1961
Larry Mullen, Jr., 1961
John Candy, 1950
Jane Pauley, 1950
Deidre Hall, 1947
Stephen Rea, 1943
David Ogden Stiers, 1942
Ron Rifkin, 1939
Michael Landon, 1936
Dan Rather, 1931
Michael Collins, 1930
Barbara Bel Geddes, 1922
Dale Evans, 1912
Ethel Waters, 1896
Chaing Kai-shek, 1887
Juliette Gordon Low, 1860
John Keats, 1795
William Paca, 1740
Jan Vermeer, 1632


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Car Talk"(Radio), 1987 (national debut, ten years after their start as a local show in Boston)
"Jamaica"(Musical), 1957
"Capricio Espagnol"(Rimsky-Korsakov Op. 34), 1887
"Tamerlano"(Handel opera, HWV 18), 1724


Today in History:

Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites after their return to Jerusalem from exile, BC445
First All Hallows Eve observed to honor all the saints, 834
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, 1517
Georg Ludwig van Hannover is crowned as the English King George I, 1714
Execution of Girondins at Paris during the Reign of Terror, 1793
Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents the miner's safety lamp, 1815
A standard uniform is approved for US Postal workers, 1868
A tropical cyclone hits Bengal, about 200,000 die, 1876
John Boyd Dunlop patents the pneumatic bicycle tire, 1888
Arthur Conan Doyle publishes "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", 1892
Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across United States, 1913
The Battle of Beersheba of WWI marks the last successful cavalry charge in history, 1917
The first of 160 consecutive days of 100°F + temps at Marble Bar, Australia, 1923
World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress, 1924
Mt. Rushmore sculptures are completed, 1941
The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal, 1956
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards, 1984
EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board, 1999
Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted, 1999
Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station, which has been continually crewed since, 2000
Surfer Bethany Hamilton loses her left arm and 3 liters of blood in a tiger shark attack; within a month she would be back on her board, and competing again within the year, 2003
The NYSE reopens after its first weather related shut down since the late 19th century; the two-day closure was due to Hurricane Sandy, 2012

16 comments:

  1. Love is SUCH a powerful and supportive force. Yet another lovely story.

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  2. Well done! Tough words to have to incorporate.

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  3. Love it trickless but treatfull heheh!

    Have a trickortreattastic week :-)

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  4. If they had had Books For Treats when I was a kid, I would have required several changes of costume. (So I could loop, don'cha know?!)

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  5. Its been a long time I have not been to a circus!

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  6. Mimi,

    I agree skip the tricks and go straight for the treats! :) I love the story you're word prompts inspired!! Great job. Have a safe and spooktacular day!

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  7. Happy Halloween Mimi. It is raining at the moment and if the rain doesn't stop these little goblins, monsters and princesses will get drenched. See ya.

    Cruisin Paul

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  8. Love that sign and I hope everyone can bypass the tricks and get the treats.

    Love your prompts and your story. You do these so very well.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday and Halloween. ♥

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  9. Fun sign for today ~ and great story ~

    Happy Halloween,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  10. Great story. I had to look up two words :) Happy Halloween!

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  11. Delightful use of words ~ Happy Halloween to you ! ^_^

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  12. Oh!! You have something from my city of Ft Lauderdale in your list today!!!

    Thanks for sharing!!

    - Lisa

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  13. I've been on board for the treats for weeks. I had to go and buy some more candy today for the trick or treaters.

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  14. A happy ending to a nice story. I've always been moonstruck by circus, yet I never ran away withone - only almost, then it went bankrupt.

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  15. A very lovely story! I enjoyed this very much!

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