Hope Springs Eternal (Wordless Wednesday) and Words For Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, 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 Sandi and are being posted by Elephant's Child.           

This week's prompts are:

 

• Reflection
• Mirror
• Deception
• Air
• Heir

And/or

 

• Seeds
• Planting
• Harvest
• Forget
• Due

 

 

And/or

 

And/or

 

I am going to continue to add a further challenge to the mix.  Charlotte(MotherOwl)has assigned a colour to each month of the year.  This month it is pine green and if you can include it in your Words for Wednesday contribution each week in January she and I would be very grateful.

Jane looked up from washing the breakfast dishes with a smile.  The gentle strains of a hymn floated in through the kitchen window from the porch where Grandma Bea sat shelling peas and singing.  "Poor, Wayfaring Stranger" was one of Grandma Bea's favorites.

Jane shook her head.  Grandma Bea was getting more and more forgetful, the doctor was talking about her "going senile," but Grandma didn't FORGET the words to any of the hymns even when she sometimes couldn't remember if Jane was her daughter or granddaughter.

Once done with the dishes, Jane had to get to the rest of her chores and was thankful Grandma Bea would sit content on the porch for a long while.  When her friend Amy's grandfather had "gone senile," they'd had a terrible time, having to watch him every minute of the day and night.  Grandma Bea was content to sit on the PINE GREEN cushions of her favorite rocking chair, sometimes with her hands busy, sometimes just with her old, worn Bible in her hands.  It was a blessing.

The AIR was thick and heavy with the threat of an approaching storm.  All the rest of the family, from the eldest uncle to the youngest son and HEIR, were out in the fields getting in the HARVEST.  Wasn't it just PLANTING time? Jane thought to herself. Didn't I just the other day celebrate that the SEEDS I'd special ordered from the catalog for my kitchen garden had gotten in on the train just in time?  It seemed a blink.

Now here the crops were coming in, the sale of which would pay the next installment on the mortgage when it came DUE.

Jane wrung out her wash rag and hung it up, leaving it draped over the kitchen pump handle and the breakfast dishes in the rack to finish drying on their own as she raced down the hall toward the back door.  Stopping to pull on her garden work boots, she noticed her REFLECTION in the MIRROR.  In this back part of the house, where the light was dim, the face peeking back at her looked a bit younger than it really was.  She knew it was a DECEPTION of the light, but she enjoyed looking in this mirror anyway whenever she had the opportunity.

As Jane headed to the kitchen garden, she hoped the rain would hold off until the men were done in the fields.  She caught herself humming the tune Grandma Bea had been singing and smiled.  It was another busy day on the farm.

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(The character of Grandma Bea is based on the grandmother of a friend of mine.  My friend's grandmother got dementia and would forget her own name, her children's names, everything, but remembered her love for Jesus and would sing hymns and quote scripture.  My friend always said, "She remembered the Person who mattered the most.")

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Today is:

Banquet of Fairies, Goblins, Pixies, and Elves -- Fairy Calendar

Burning of the Clavie -- Burghead, Scotland (ancient ritual to ensure good luck through the year)

Carmentalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of the goddess of childbirth)

Cuckoo Dancing Week begins -- in honor of Laurel & Hardy, whose theme song was "The Dancing Cuckoos"; watch some of their fabulous material this week, and introduce it to a new fan

Designated Hitter Day -- the American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule on this date in 1973

Feast of Sokar -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Independence Manifesto Day -- Morocco(1944); Western Sahara(1944)

International Thank You Day -- as declared by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith

Juturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of prophetic waters festival)

Kosrae Constitution Day -- Micronesia

Milk Day

National Hot Toddy Day

Secret Pal Day -- no info found on the origin, it's a secret!  do something nice for someone, secretly.

Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day -- just don't do it to your secret pal

Sts. Paldo, Taso, and Tato's Day (founders of the monastery of San Vincenzo)

St. Theodosius of Cappadocia (Patron of file makers)

Tattoo Pride Day

Birthdays Today:

Amanda Peet, 1972

Mary Blige, 1971

Kim Coles, 1962

Stanley Tucci, 1960

Ben Crenshaw, 1952

Christine Kaufmann, 1945

Naomi Judd, 1946

Jim Hightower, 1943

Clarence Clemens, 1942

Jean Chretien, 1934

Rod Taylor, 1930

Grant Tinker, 1926

Alice Paul, 1885

William James, 1842

Eugenio Maria Hostos, 1839

John A. Macdonald, 1815

Alexander Hamilton, 1755

Theodosius I, 347

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Daktari"(TV), 1966

"Have a Heart"(Musical), 1917

Today in History:

Prophet of Islam Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 Muslims to conquer Mecca, 630

The first recorded lottery in England is drawn in St. Paul's Cathedral, 1569

Isaac Newton is elected a member of the Royal Society, 1642

Mt. Etna erupts, 1693

William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, the moons of Uranus, 1787

An earthquake in Martinique destroys half of Port Royal and results in about 700 deaths, 1839

Charring Cross Station opens in London, 1864

Milk is first delivered in bottles, 1878

Martha H. Cannon becomes the first woman state senator in the US, in Utah, 1897

The Hudson, the first sedan type automobile, goes on display at the 13th Auto Show in NYC, 1913

The first use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient occurs in Canada, with 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, 1922

Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, California, 1935

The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles, California, 1949

United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking nation- and worldwide anti-smoking efforts, 1964

The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened, 1986

The government of Ireland announces the end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on the IRA, 1994

Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois' death row based on the Jon Burge scandal, 2003

Forty-six people are killed and 12 are missing after a landslide buries a village in the Yunnan province, China, 2013

In China's first significant #MeToo moment Beihang University in Beijing fires a professor for sexual misconduct, 2018

Taiwan re-elects Tsai Ing-wen for a second term as president by a landslide, 2020