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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.
Pick words from one list, or both, use them all, or use none. The whole point is to get us writing, so please have fun with it!
The words for the week are:
mile
coverage
corner
throw
monarch
dump
and/or
paragraph
reduce
gate
confine
cruel
shiver
This week i am also adding the following archaic words which you may use or ignore:
mooncalf (a foolish person)
orts (scraps or remains)
fandangle (a useless or purely ornamental item)
"Whatcha doing with the binoculars, my little MOONCALF?" Gramps knelt on the couch next to the boy and peered through the window.
He was leaning on the back of the couch, the lacy curtains bunched aside so he could see. "I'm watching the MONARCH butterfly over there by GATE where we planted the milkweed. See, I told you if we planted some, they'd come!"
"Let me look...well, you are right! And here I thought they were so locked into always going back to the same place that they wouldn't care to wander a MILE to come from the neighbor's patch to ours."
"I knew they would. Now maybe we should plant other things to get other butterflies here. Why CONFINE ourselves to just attracting one kind?"
"You sound like Grams, and like your mama. Never knew a young one like you to be so interested in butterflies!"
"Well, I do want to grow up to be an entomologist," the boy replied very solemnly.
Gramps, who tried never be so CRUEL as to laugh when the boy used such fancy words, limited his mirth to only show in the crinkle in the CORNERs of his eyes.
"That you will, as long as you study hard," he said. No way was he going to THROW cold water on the boy's dream. "Speaking of study, don't you have a PARAGRAPH or two to write for homework?"
"Yes," with a big sigh. "But I don't like my word I was given."
"What word were you given?"
"I have to use the word 'FANDANGLE' in a short essay. What kind of word is that for a future entomologist to use? My friend Billy is lucky, he got the word 'COVERAGE'. He said he's going to write about how defense coverage works in basketball."
"I thought you didn't much care for basketball," Gramps said, again only letting his eyes crinkle.
"That's not the point," the boy patiently explained. "At least he doesn't have a sissy sounding word!" he added with a SHIVER.
"Do you even know what the word means?" Gramps asked.
"Yeah, it's like all the fancy stuff Grams has over in the parlor," he said, rolling his eyes thinking of his least favorite room in the large, rambling old farmhouse.
"So how about writing about that room and that fancy stuff? That ought to make it easier," Gramps suggested.
"Sure, I'll try," the boy answered, but without much enthusiasm.
"Well, it's time for me to DUMP the ORTS into the bucket so we can feed the pigs," Gramps said.
"I'm coming," the boy said, turning and reaching to pull himself off the couch and into his wheelchair. Then he perked up a bit. "Can we go past the gate and let me see if the butterfly laid any eggs while it was here?"
"Sure," Gramps said. Then in his thoughts he added, anything you want that will expand your world, boy, and not REDUCE it. Not in any way.
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Today is:
Abolition Day -- French Guiana
Alcoholics Anonymous Founders Day
Army Day -- Jordan
Ball Point Pen Day -- date, in 1943, Biro patented one of the early models of a ball point pen (it was as awful as the other early ones, though!)
Celtic Tree Month Duir (Oak) commences
Dia de Portugal e de Camoes -- Portugal (National Day)
Herbs & Spices Day
Holiday of the Wan Thing -- Fairy Calendar (the Wan Thing arrived in Fairyland this day and has sat there looking wan ever after, so the Fairies decided to give it its own holiday)
National Black Cow Day
National Iced Tea Day
National Time Out Day -- US, sponsored by The Association of Operating Room Nurses, which wants everyone involved in surgeries to take time out before the procedure to verify the surgery site, type, and patient and decrease OR errors
Rape of Lidice/Lidice Memorial Day -- Czech Republic and Slovakia/New Jersey, US (in one of the most-remembered atrocities of WWII, the small town of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, was invaded by Nazi troops who murdered every man, burned every house, and sent all the women and children for "reeducation.")
Reconciliation Day -- Republic of the Congo
St. Brigid of Ireland's Day (Patron babies/infants/newborns, blacksmiths, boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, cattle, children whose parents are not married, dairymaids/dairy workers, fugitives, midwives, nuns, poets, poultry farmers, printing presses, scholars, travellers; Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Ireland; Ivrea, Turin, Italy; Kildare, Ireland; Leinster, Ireland)
Where the Wild Things Are Day -- birth anniversary of Maurice Sendak
Anniversary Today:
Alcoholics Anonymous is founded, 1925
Birthdays Today:
Joey Zimmerman, 1986
Tara Lipinski, 1982
Leelee Sobieski, 1982
Hoku Ho, 1981
Shane West, 1978
Doug McKeon, 1966
Elizabeth Hurley, 1965
Linda Evangelista, 1965
Jeanne Tripplehorn, 1963
Michael Burger, 1957
John Edwards, 1953
Jeff Greenfield, 1943
F. Lee Bailey, 1933
Maurice Sendak, 1928
Nat Hentoff, 1925
Judy Garland, 1922
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 1921
Saul Bellow, 1915
Frederick Loewe, 1904
Hattie McDaniel, 1889
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"Tales from the Crypt"(TV), 1989
"Paperback Writer"(UK song release), 1966
"Tristan und Isolde"(Opera), 1865
Today in History:
Frederick Barbarossa drowns leading his troops across the Saleph River to attack Jerusalem in the Crusades, 1190
The first American log cabin is built, at Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware, 1639
Bridget Bishop becomes the first person hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef, 1770
A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China, 1786
The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris; a year later, it becomes the first public zoo, 1793
The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place, 1829
Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered, 1838
The first class of the United States Naval Academy students graduate, 1854
Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and destroying the famous Pink and White Terraces, 1886
Americus Callahan of Chicago patents the window envelope, 1902
The inaugural service for the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches, is held in Toronto Arena, 1925
Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson, 1925
Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire, 1967
Apple ships its first Apple II personal computer, 1977
The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, 2003
Twenty inches of rainfall in Escambia County, Florida damages roadways and bridges, and leaving parts of the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama under water, 2012
German authorities are forced to evacuate 10 villages as heavy rains swell the Elbe River, breaching its banks, 2013
Heavy monsoon rains cause the collapse of a partially-finished building on a residential block in Mumbai, India, 2013
Juan Felipe Herrera, age 66, is named by U.S. Congress as this year's national poet laureate, the first Latino to be given the title, 2015
According to a DNA study published in the science journal “Nature Plants”, grapes grown for some types of wine in modern France are genetically similar and in some cases identical to grapes grown 900 years ago, 2019
That sounds like the very best kind of Grandpa to have.
ReplyDeleteI put my W4W on your post of yesterday - but like you more positive approach much, much better.
I love your story so much, what a wonderful Gramps and of course the butterflies will come when you plant the right things.
ReplyDeleteAnother lovely story. I always look forward to reading them.
ReplyDeleteLOL That's quite a good idea :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice story mimi you never fail :-)
Have a safetastic week 😷😷😷
One must be really tall to reach the toothpaste up there.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I hope he becomes an entomologist eventually, sweet story about a nice Grandpa.
ReplyDeleteCoffee in the shower is a bit crazy. We have a friend who eats her cereal in the car because she doesn't get up early enough to eat before she has to go to work.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting conversation between a grandson and his grandpa.
ReplyDeleteBwahahahahahaha on the coffee cup in the shower. I've not done that, but I've had some tough starts in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI love your story. I didn't see the wheelchair coming at all. I love Gramps.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥
That's quite the coffee shop and a really good story!
ReplyDeletehappee day two ewe St Brigid ♣♣♣♣♣♣ ~~~~~~ ♥♥♥♥♥
ReplyDeleteCoffee in the shower- I haven't been that desperate yet :) That was a sweet story, I love the twist at the end.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, black cow...
ReplyDeleteThey need to give one of those to the Wan Thing - that'll perk it up!
Fabulous story! Made my day!
ReplyDeleteGreat story, interesting words, and I love the coffee cup in the shower pic, that's something I'd do.
ReplyDeleteAnd here am I for this week...part fact...part fiction...my story, that is. I'm actually factual! :)
ReplyDelete"The local dump...called “tip” by some...is well over a mile from where I live,
Showing patience I wasn’t aware I had, I waited at the entrance gate the other morning. My arrival was a couple of minutes before the opening time of 9 am. There was no way the gentleman standing a couple of metres away from me on the other side of said gate was going to open it before the designated time.
He looked at me, and I looked at him, I decided to throw him a smile as I told myself to keep smiling; to not let my imaginary cruel intentions toward him show. A shiver went down my spine. I would not let his over-lording behaviour reduce me to an angry shrew! I would confine my feelings to myself.
So wait I did, as the fellow fiddled with his mobile phone.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement over near the trees and shrubs to my left.
To my amazement, a multitude of Monarch butterflies, known mostly here in Australia as “Wanderer” butterflies, hovered about the flowering shrubs. The sight held me in awe. Suddenly, I was glad the stubborn fellow had waited to open the gate.
The following day, our little local paper gave the rare phenomenon front page coverage. A lengthy, descriptive paragraph, accompanied by colour photographs told the story, and showed the beauties in their glory to the rest of the mountain’s inhabitants."
Beautiful! Your patience was richly and rightly rewarded.
DeleteI am so glad that he was a rude and arrogant piece of work - and allowed you to see the ephemral magic of the flutterbyes.
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DeleteMessymimi, your story is heartwarming...and it brought a much-needed smile to my face. :)
ReplyDeleteI tried drinking coffee in a shower once and no matter how much I drank, the mug stayed full - it just got weaker! Nice photos, great story.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for the deleted comments above - I am having trouble with my Google account. MessyMimi - I love your contribution, and knew it would be a hard act to follow. Lee - A cloud of butterflies is a rare and wonderful sight, and you painted such a good picture. I wish I had been there.
ReplyDeleteMy first attempts were pieces on butterflies, but nothing seemed to gel, so Here is something different. Despite strenuous paring back it is still a little long - sorry!
King Frederick was fed-up. He drummed his fingers and kicked his heels against his chair. Seemingly a mile away at the far end of the dining table, Queenie rattled her newspaper. She was trying to read the same paragraph for the third time. “What is the matter with you, Fweddy?” The king pricked up his ears. Had he really heard what he thought he had heard?
“I am bored.”, he complained. “You will not let me throw orts at the yokels, and my shiny new guillotine has been reduced to some weird fandangle in the ornamental garden” he sulked.
“Fwederwick!” Queenie blinked, startled. She tried again. Fwed… Fwed…”. Surreptitiously she covered her mouth with her hand and slid her tongue over her dentures. Something peculiar was happening, but what was it?
“It is not easy being a merry Monarch when you will not let me play pranks on the oiks”, Frederick continued.
“Fwederwick!” the queen snapped. “Thwowing orts at the peasants is not funny; it is cwuel. If you are to thwow orts at all, you must confine yourself to thwowing them TO the animals and not AT our people.” Queenie’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. Frederick, who was now pacing the hall, turned abruptly to face the corner, in order to hide his growing smirk. However, the sharp-eyed queen glimpsed an undoubted tremor of his shoulders.
“Fwwwwederwick? Are you laughing at me?”
“No , dearest, it is just a shiver. There is a slight draft at this end of the room.” His shoulders started to shake again. His latest midnight wanderings were bearing fruit. As he gazed out of the window their feeble butler entered to clear the remains of the royal breakfast.
Frederick beckoned to him. “Mooncalf”, (for that was the poor unfortunate’s name), “Is that fellow on the lawn our new gardener?” Mooncalf confirmed that it was. “Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that?” The butler repeated his affirmation. Frederick snorted and then quickly pretended to sneeze.
Queenie eyed him beadily. “Pollen.” Frederick snuffled. “I want a word with that new man” he wheezed, and hastily made his exit.
Queenie sat ruminating over the breakfast shenanigans, covertly watching Mooncalf as he continued his duties. Then quietly she summoned the butler who obsequiously crept to her side. Queenie stared hard at Mooncalf’s face. “Mooncalf, she whispered deliberately, “Have you got my teeth in?” Mooncalf worked his jaw nervously.
“Yeth, Your Majethty.”
Outside the hall in the corridor a bulging wall hanging was shiverwing like a jelly. Oddly, there was no dwaft.
SpikesBestMate: I love it. And hope that Fwederick gets his just deserts. Soon. Re your comment on my piece. There are two distinct schools of thought about the monarchy here too. Some love it, and others think it is time we stood on our own feet.
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