Seasonal Pics (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, the prompts are being provided by Elephant’s Child.     

This week's prompts are a selection of phrases relating to love and/or relationships.  You can use some of them, all of them or add your own.

  1. Out of sight, out of mind

2. Absence makes the heart grow fonder

3. Puppy love

4. Love laughs at locksmiths

5. Love is blind 

6. A face that only a mother could love

“I heard an old friend of yours is back in town!”

Silence was not the answer she expected when she breezed through the door and said that.  A closer look at her sister’s face stopped her in her tracks.

“Something’s very wrong, isn’t it.”

“I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t go tonight.”

“Why in the world not?”

“It’s been too many years, lots of water under both of our bridges.”

“Too many years nothing.  ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.’”

“Or forgetful.  After all, ‘out of sight, out of mind.’  What makes you think he’s going to care if I’m there or not?  All those years ago, it was a case of puppy love — if it had been anything more, we wouldn’t have let the miles and years separate us.  And then losing Steve in the fire, and ending up scarred with a face that only a mother could love...”

Sigh.  “Look, sissy, this isn’t just about him.  It’s about you!  You have one scar left, and it’s not that prominent, and nobody minds it at all.  True love, like the love of all your friends, is blind.  This is about getting you out for a bit, with the people who care about you the most, all of your friends who’ve been your friends for years.  It’s about getting your life back!”

“I know, I know, I shouldn’t hide, I need to do more, I’ve heard it all, and I don’t know if I’m ready!”

Deeper sigh.  “Sissy, every person at this reunion knows you.  Roger came back in town not just for this reunion party, but he’s looking for simpler times and old friends, too.  His wife died of cancer two years ago, and he told both Anna and Justine that he came back, in part, to see you.”

“Now I want to lock myself in my room!”

“Love laughs at locksmiths, I’ll kick the door in and you won’t be able to hide.  Doggone it, sissy, I want you to come, and everyone who will be there wants you to come, you need to eat and talk and laugh and drink the champagne toast to old times...”

“You know I can’t have bubbly, it goes right to my head.”

“Maybe you need for it to!”

There was a long silence.

“Okay, I’ll get ready.  Promise I can leave if things get to be too much?”

“I’ll bring you home myself if that happens.”

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Today is:

Alcyone -- Ancient Greek Calendar (kingfisher goddess; date approximate, but during the Halcyon Days)

Bill of Rights Day -- US

Cat Herders Day -- for those whose job or life is like trying to herd cats; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Centipede Boot-Making and Shoe-Repair Season begins -- Fairy Calendar

Consualia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Festival for Consus, god of graineries, with games and races in the Circus Maximus in his honor)

Coonskin Cap Day -- debut of "Davy Crocket" on TV's "Disneyland" in 1954 (and the original Davy Crockett hated the things, by the way)

Homecoming Day -- Alderney, UK

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Pvorusleikier -- Spoon-licker, who tries to steal all the wooden spoons he can find

Kasuga Wakamiya on-Matsuri -- Nara Prefecture, Japan (dates to the 12th century, to pray against plague and for a good harvest; through the 18th)

Koninkrijksdag -- Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba; Sint Maarten (Kingdom Day)

National Lemon Cupcake Day

National Regifting Day -- be careful here!

Navidades begin -- Puerto Rico (traditional Christmas celebrations that last through Three Kings Day)

Setagaya no Bori Ichi -- Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (a two day flea market that dates back to 1578)

St. Nino's Day (Patron of Georgia)

Thorn Cutting Ceremony -- Glastonbury, Somerset, England (a sprig from the tree supposedly planted by Joseph of Arimathea is cut, with great ceremony by the eldest child of St John’s Infant School, and sent to the Queen, to decorate her table on Christmas Day)

Trivial Pursuit Day -- honoring Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, who created the game on this date in 1979

Zamenhof Day -- International Esperanto Community

Anniversary Today:

Sylvester Stallone marries Brigitte Nielson, 1985

Birthdays Today:

Adam Brody, 1979

Garrett Wang, 1968

Helen Slater, 1963

Nick Beggs, 1961

Don Johnson, 1949

Dave Clark, 1942

Tim Conway, 1933

Edna O'Brien, 1931

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 1928

Uziel "Uzi" Gal, 1923

Jeff Chandler, 1918

Stan Kenton, 1911

J. Paul Getty, 1892

Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, 1859

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel,1832

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Gone With the Wind(Film), 1939 (Atlanta only, general release Jan. 1, 1940)

"Song of the Forests"(Shostakovich Op. 81), 1949

"Charlie Girl"(Musical), 1965

Today in History:

Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron, 533

Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia, 1265

Bartholomeus Diaz returns to Portugal after sailing round Cape of Good Hope, 1488

The State of Holland grants patent on a windmill with crankshaft, 1593

The first US law school is established at University of Pennsylvania, 1791

The first Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published, 1810

The first street-cleaning machine in US is used in Philadelphia, 1854

The King of Hawaii becomes the first reigning king to visit the Us, and is received by President Grant, 1874

The London Underground's Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens, 1906

Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, is lost over English Channel, 1944

Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida; four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7, 1965

Samoa becomes a member of the United Nations, 1976

U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and cut off all relations with Taiwan, 1978

The 3rd reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down, 2000

The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean, 2001

Boeing's new Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington, 2009

The Mayor of Flint, Michigan declares state of emergency over contaminated water supplies amid calls for a criminal investigation, 2015

Egyptian Archaeologists announce the discovery of a 4,400 year old tomb of Fifth Dynasty priest in the Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo, 2018

Protests erupt across India against the new citizenship law that excludes Muslims, 2019