Why Is There a Flamingo in the Cat Shelter Fridge? (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Catsynth, Keith, 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 words/prompts are supplied by Hilary Melton-Butcher and can be found right here at River's blog.

This week's words/prompts are:

1.smoking  

2.culture  

3.popular  

4.decade  

5.soft

and/or:

1.consumption  

2.stretch  

3.ripen  

4.fields  

5.cavern

and an extra set of words:

1.jumper  

2.multiple  

3.oven  

4.disprove  

5.support

6.bound  

7.rural  

8.swathes  

9.poverty  

10.pop

use any list or all, or mix and match, just have fun.

Charlotte's  colour of the month is Razzmatazz

She stood at the OVEN with her Razzmatazz pink apron on, gloved hands ready to remove the MULTIPLE dishes in which was supper, when it hit her.

With SMOKING hot pans of good smelling meats and veggies being shuttled out and the bread being shuttled in was a terrible time for her writer's block to break.

Like SWATHES of RURAL POVERTY sweeping over a landscape between bustling cities, her block would come on on her and sometimes STRETCH for hours into days.

The list of words she went to for inspiration would leave her flat.  She'd immerse herself in the CONSUMPTION of POPULAR CULTURE for a time until she'd feel she could go a DECADE without bothering with it again.

The CAVERN of emptiness, where ideas just don't come, would lead her to do MULTIPLE things to end it, BOUND and determined it wasn't going to get the better of her.

Sometimes she'd go to the library and read children's books, or try to learn enough math to DISPROVE a theorem her husband would throw at her.  As a scientist, he'd try to show SUPPORT where he could, and he figured distracting her literature brain with higher math just might do the trick.

Eventually, though, with a SOFT POP, her dry bubble would burst and her mind would be like a swirling FIELD of grain which had decided to RIPEN at just this exact moment.

Standing in a hot kitchen trying to put together a meal was about the worst time for it to happen, though.  She set the hot dishes down, grabbed the pencil and grocery list from the side of the fridge and scribbled notes frantically so as to catch every last bit, and then, with a lopsided grin of triumph, called for her husband and kids to come eat.

Once supper was over, they would clean, she would write.

(Note:  I could not for the life of me think of a story for today, so i got online and looked up a site offering short story ideas.  One was, "You have a writer's block breakthrough at the worst possible time."  Bingo.)

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Today is Cat World Domination Day!  They've already taken over the internet, they're going to finish their takeover of the whole world as soon as they're done with their naps.

Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.         

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Today is:

Araw ng Maynila -- Philippines (Manila Day)

Bannockburn Day -- Scotland (decisive battle of the first Scottish War of Independence, led by Robert Bruce)

Burning of the Lamps in Egypt at Sais -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar, a celebration of Isis and Neith (date approximate)

Calcio Fiorentino -- Florence, Italy (reviving 16th century style football in period costumes, through the 28th)

Carabobo Day -- Venezuela (battle commemoration)

Cat World Domination Day

Celebration of the Senses -- Wellcat Holidays urges you to enjoy all five (six?) of your senses today

Countryman's Day -- Peru (one of Peru's three Fiestas Patrias Peruanas)

Day of the Caboclo -- Amazonas State, Brazil

Feast of Rahmat (Mercy) -- Baha'i

Flying Saucer Day -- anniversary of Kenneth Arnold's 1947 sighting, while flying near Mt. Rainier, of 9 metallic, circular objects he could not identify

Fors Fortuna -- Ancient Roman Calendar (rites and festival for the goddess of good luck and fortune)

International Fairy Day/Faerie Day -- day for collectors, believers, and artists to share their love for the little folk   

Museum Comes to Life Day -- another fun and funny day someone came up with

National Creamy Pralines Day

St. John the Baptist's Nativity Day and related Midsummer celebrations (Patron of baptism, bird dealers, converts, children with convulsions, epileptics, farriers, French Canadians, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors; against convulsions, epilepsy, hail and hailstorms, and spasms; Patron of over 60 cities and countries around the globe)

    Inti Raymi -- Peru (Incan Sun Festival)

    Jaanipaev -- Estonia

    Jani -- Latvia

    Jónsmessa -- Iceland (feast of St. John the Baptist, considered a magical night when cows can speak, seals take on human form, finding magical stones and herbs is propitious, and rolling naked in the dew is healing.)

    Macau Day -- China (celebrating the defeat of Dutch invasion forces in 1622 and paying homage to St. John as the port's Patron Saint)

    Midsummer Day -- England

    National Holiday -- Quebec, Canada (Sant Jean-Baptiste)

    Saint John the Baptist Day -- Andorra

    Saint Jonas Festival or Jonines -- Lithuania

    San Juan -- CT and GA, Spain

    Surinal -- North Korea

    Zuni Buffalo, Corn, and Comanche Dances -- Zuni Native Americans (for fertility of land and people; Vespers is also observed, as San Juan is their Patron Saint)

Swim a Lap Day -- just for fun!

Swing a Kid Day -- if swimming isn't right for you, go play on the swing set

Anniversaries Today:

Eton College is founded by Henry VI, 1441

Birthdays Today:

Sherry Stringfield, 1967

Joe Penny, 1956

Nancy Allen, 1950

Phyllis George, , 1949

Peter Weller, 1947

Mick Fleetwood, 1947

Ellison Shoji Onizuka, 1946

Jeff Beck, 1944

Michele Lee, 1942

Claude Chabrol, 1930

John Anthony Ciardi. 1916

Phil Harris, 1904

Jack Dempsey, 1895

Roy O. Disney, 1893

Ambrose Bierce, 1842

Henry Ward Beecher, 1813

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Catch-22(Film), 1970

"Hopalong Cassidy"(TV), 1949

"American Mercury Presents:  Meet the Press"(Radio), 1945

Today in History:

Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces, takes place, 972

A sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion, 1374

John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland; the first European 

exploration of the region since the Vikings, 1497

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founds Manila, the capital of the Republic of the Philippines, 1571

Samuel de Champlain discovers the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present day city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1604

The colony of New Jersey is founded, 1664

Kingston, Jamaica is founded, 1692

The Premier Grand Lodge of England, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England), is founded in London, England, 1717

The first republican constitution in France is adopted, 1793

The decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain, the Battle of Carabobo takes place, 1821

First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français, 1880

The first exhibition of Pablo Picasso's work opens, 1901

Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract, 1916

The first airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto begins, 1918

Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Pibulsonggram, the third prime minister, 1939

The Soviet Union makes overland travel between the West with West Berlin impossible, 1948

The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government, 1963

Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud completes his first mission, becoming the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist, 1985

John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history, 2010

The last known Pinta Island Tortoise, Lonesome George, is found dead in the Galapagos Islands, 2012

British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns after the UK votes to leave the EU, 2016

Saudi Arabia lifts its ban on women driving, 2018

The US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, 2022

According to the UN, Sudan has the largest number of displaced children in the world after a year of civil war, 2024

NATO summit takes place in The Hague, Netherlands, with all 32 NATO members expected to attend, 2025