Crimson’s Creative Challenge #75 – Crisp and the Rowing Boat.

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Michael

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My aged companion, Crisp, and I spied the old rowing boat.

“When we were kids,” she said, “my family rented a house that came with a rowing boat. Ours was called ‘Misery’ and for a good reason. Dad loved to fish, and each day he’d gather us kids, up and off we’d go. One day he announced we were going out to the third peg. The pegs were actually navigation markers to keep you away from grounding your boat. Dad always made a point of rowing, wanting to get there and into the fishing. We kids on the way back got a go. We ranged from incompetent to mildly incompetent.

One day out on the lake, a southerly hit. We had to row back against it. This was when ‘Misery’ lived up to her name. We struggled taking two strokes to make any progress, and by the time we reached shore, we were exhausted. Dad grabbed his bag of fish and was off to show it off to mum.

 

Written for: https://crispinakemp.com/2020/04/15/crimsons-creative-challenge-75/

 

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Tale Weaver – #271 – Fairy Tale – What The Fairies Think

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Michael

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“I don’t get what is happening,” said Pip.

“It’s unnatural,” said Tot.

“What do they think they are doing?” asked Pip

“Got me flummoxed,” replied Tot, “only yesterday Dot was all but stepped on by one of the oafs.”

“Yes, she was beside herself, she went all red in the face, fluttered her wings and exclaimed ‘I’m feeling violated’.”

“It’s a dreadful state of affairs, what do they think they are up to?” asked Tot, “the middle sun is our time. We have free range of the place, and now we find these creatures invading our space, it’s just not right.”

“It’s disrespectful is what it is. Why only yesterday Madam Cof and the Kinders were almost skittled as she took them down to the creak to do their natural science lesson.”

Pip and Tot were getting quite hot between their wings, and they were steaming for a fight of some kind. As far as they were concerned, the fairies owned the back yard and how dare the humans, or as they referred to them as the giant creatures, infiltrate their space.

Word had spread around the fairy community that it was the same everywhere, in every house, the giant creatures we not going out. This was a worry as the giant creatures were not the brightest of beings and the fairies wondered what mischief they might cause them.

They seemed to be taking an unhealthy interest in things they normally avoided or neglected, like mowing, gardening, sitting around in the garden and listening to music the fairies found abhorrent to their ears.

The fairies were forced to go to ground, to change some habits, and do all they could to avoid contact, not that the giant creatures were smart enough to recognize a fairy if they saw one.

Madam Cof and the Kinders started night lessons, Mistress Tuf started running her Fairy Wing Treatment Salon in the interval before sunrise. Fairies were always very adaptable, and they liked that they were.

Meanwhile, around them the giant creatures continued to hang around, often unsure of what to do, having no place to go and given to reoccurring bouts of boredom.

Hof the wizard fairy came up with a solution, a spray designed to put the giant creatures off. It was used if the giant creatures came to close, and the effect was to make the giant creatures feel they needed to go back to where they came from and have a cup of tea.

All the fairies in the back yard breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to the superior skill of Hof, the wizard.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/tale-weaver-271-fairy-tale-what-the-fairies-think/

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What do you see # 25 – 13 April 2020 – One Bunny to Another.

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Michael

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“Oh, my goodness,” said one to the other, “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I was just down at the supermarket, it’s very busy this time of year.”

“Oh, isn’t it just?”

“Mayhem I would say. All these people buying for the Easter weekend when it’s a stay at home holiday for so many.”

“Yes, it’s going to be different isn’t it?”

“Do you think we could give each other a cuddle? I mean I know we are supposed to be six feet apart.”

“I can’t see anyone around. Let’s do it. I’ve so wanted to feel my arms around you.”

“Hmmmmm, you are the best.”

“Happy Easter, brown bunny.”

“You too, browner bunny.”

 

Written for: https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2020/04/13/what-do-you-see-25-13-april-2020-3/

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Sunday Writing Prompt “Collage” – On The Way To Work.

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Michael

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It didn’t seem likely that a red-haired girl complete with raspberries would have any sort of influence on my day.

As it was, my mind was focused on the day ahead, another wrestle with the Lower Year Nine’s, the program was calling for a lesson on the use of rhetoric, which in my opinion was way over their heads and of little value to their lives which for the most part would be served either in goal or on the streets.

The girl entered the train and made her way down the aisle, took the seat next to me and looked exhausted. She was dressed, quite stunningly, in a bright red dress, her pale skin accentuated against the colours she wore.

She breathed out, looked from the window and gave me a polite smile. In her lap was a basket of raspberries.

She didn’t say anything but hummed as the train moved off. She took a raspberry from her basket and popped it into her mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was savouring the flavour.

My trip to school was usually uneventful, and this girl was far more interesting than any thought of the Lower Year Nines.

“Want one?” she asked as we pulled up at a station. She moved the basket towards me, and I accepted a raspberry, giving her my thanks.

“I had a big night; the raspberries are payment for services rendered.” This was said with an air of derision, and I suspected it hadn’t been a night to remember.

“You ever been on a blind date?” she asked.

“No,” I replied.

“Lucky you,” she said, popping in another raspberry. “Sorry I’m not much company, but it was a shit of a night. Old bloke, demanding, ungrateful, rude, and basically disgusting.” It was then she shivered and got the full sense of how bad her evening had been.

It was one of those situations where the less you know, the better as I was not one to offer her any advice as my life had been sheltered, hiding away in schools, teaching the unteachable and getting by day to day.

As the next station came into sight, she got up and said this was her stop.

“Good luck,” I said to her as she headed off.

“Gonna need more than that, the old bastard wants me again next Saturday, good thing he pays well. Those raspberries will give you a bit of a boost for your day, the Lower Year Nine’s will be more bearable today.”

With that, she disappeared, leaving me wondering how she knew anything about me let alone the Lower Year Nines.

But she was right, the raspberries energised me and my day flew by, the Lower Year Nine’s sat up and paid attention, I taught my best lesson that day and hoped the girl would reappear in my life sooner rather than later.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/sunday-writing-prompt-collage/

 

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Thursday photo prompt: Bells #writephoto – Bell Birds

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Michael

Can you hear them?

As we travel through the bush, stop, listen, they’re up there.

Bell birds.

The tinkling is unique.

It’s their way of communicating and what a magical sound it is.

There’s silence among us, we strain to hear,

Through the wind moving the leaves, the sway of the branches

The silence is broken by the twinkling

At first above us then from every direction

We are mesmerised,

We look at each other, our grins huge

Wow, who’d have expected such a melodious ringing?

I’ve carried them with me,

As I move through every forest,

I long for the uplifting bells to come tinkling through the canopy.

 

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The Australian Bell Miner

 

Written for: https://scvincent.com/2020/04/09/thursday-photo-prompt-bells-writephoto/

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Reena’s Exploration Challenge #130 – Once in a Lifetime.

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Michael

Once in a lifetime

You’d only want it to happen once in your lifetime. The call from the doctor to say your recent pathology test results are in.

You know when they ring the news is never going to be good. I’ve yet to have a ‘once in a lifetime’ call telling me I am well, fit and healthy. I think such sentiments are taken for granted.

As we age our ‘once in a lifetimes’ centre around family and if we are lucky the opportunity to travel. Not around receiving news, you could easily find yourself sinking into the depths of depression as my friend says to me: if she was me and got the news I got she’d go to her bedroom and feel sorry and sook for the rest of time.

But I look at it as I can wake up each day, eat and do things, go out, though in recent times that is very irregular, I can speak to family and friends, and in so many ways my life doesn’t change.

It’s a worry though when the doctor says your numbers are dropping, where I’d love to be operating at 100%, but then wouldn’t we all? Fate or genetics is playing out a different scenario for me.

I tell myself there is much to live for. Yesterday we made salmon patties for my daughters. It’s an Easter thing for them and yesterday was a labour of love, we had a lot of fun spending the day cooking, shaping, frying and then packing them for the respective daughters, along with a small gift of Easter eggs for themselves and kids.

In some ways, I see each day as a ‘once in a lifetime’. It’s like what comes along I deal with, I move forward and look for the joy in living.

 

Happy Easter to you all, stay safe and remember to keep your distance.

 

Written for: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/reenas-exploration-challenge-130/

 

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100 Word Wednesday: Week 133 – The Neighbours.

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Michael

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“Those people in that house through the trees, they’re spies,” said Mum as we sat to dinner.

“They are not,” replied Joe, “what makes you say that?”

“They’re shifty,” stated Mum, “I’ve been watching them. They come and go at all hours, and they drive a Lexus.”

“A Lexus? How dare they,” announced dad, “what sort of people must they be?”

“Rich ones,” I replied.

“Your mother is right, we have to watch them, never know what they might be up to,” said dad.

With that, mum and dad were at the window, binoculars at hand, in their sticky beak element.

 

Written for: https://bikurgurl.com/2020/04/08/100-word-wednesday-week-133-2/

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Crimson’s Creative Challenge #74 – Crisp and the Diving Tower.

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Michael

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Crisp, my aged companion, looked at the towers and I thought she was stumped for something to say which would have been a first.

“When I was in Year 10 at Our Lady of the Immaculate Virgin I entered the diving competition at our school swimming carnival. There was the normal diving board and then there was the tower and only a few brave and experienced girls were allowed to dive from there. I convinced my teachers I was experienced and very confident. I think in hindsight they let me go up there just to let find out how incompetent I was.

My first realization was how many steps I had to climb, I was puffed by the time I reached the top. My second realization was how far I was going to fall.”

Crisp gave a shudder before adding: “Let’s say my effort was a talking point for some time after.”

 

 

Written for: https://crispinakemp.com/2020/04/08/crimsons-creative-challenge-74/

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Tale Weaver – #270 – Escape – 9th April

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Michael

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There was a small window of opportunity.

Harley had messaged me to say he and the boys were meeting tonight under the bridge at 10pm.

We’d been in isolation for the past three weeks, and it was driving us nuts being locked up at home and sharing the house 24/7 with parents and siblings.

We were all aware of the constant advertising telling us to stay home, especially as we were now into the Easter weekend, and there was only so much Netflix and or streaming you could stand. There had been moments when I considered reading a book, but I wasn’t sure my parents could cope with me and a book spending time together.

Mum and dad had been strict about enforcing the social isolation. They stressed time and time again why we had to adhere to the policy. But my mates and I knew if we could get together once over Easter, it would make the weekend bearable.

At 9.30, I got myself ready, unlocked my bedroom window and was silently grateful I had a room to myself. Earlier I had ‘borrowed’ a six-pack from my dad’s bar fridge and was all ready to go when I heard the staccato beep from Harley’s VW.

Once in the car, I high fived him, and with a sense of adventure and excitement, we headed off in the direction of the river.

There was very little traffic as most people were observing the stay at home edict. We were on the watch for the police as they could pull us up and question why we were out.

As luck would have it, we saw no one and arrived at the river. We parked well away from the bridge and made our way along the riverbank. Under the bridge, there was a small fire burning, and around it was huddled, Casey and Todd.

We joined them, and soon we were enjoying our beers and catching up, not that there was a lot to catch up on.

After a few drinks what usually happened was, we got a bit louder. That was our undoing.

Next thing we knew there were lights, voices, commands and flashing lights.

“Well boys,” said the policeman, “not much social distancing happening here, lighting a fire on public grounds and disobeying the stay at home order. I’m sure you’ve got a good explanation?”

Our plans to escape, if only for a while, had been thwarted.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/tale-weaver-270-escape-9th-april/

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Tale Weaver – #269 – Confinement – 2nd April. – Stuck at Home

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Michael

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It had been a week, and by now he was getting more bored by the day.

He noticed a path being worn into the carpet as he had paced each day in an attempt to exercise.

The virus was taking a huge toll on people, loss of jobs, being stuck at home as a measure to stop the spread of the infection.

He was supposed to log in each day to his work place, then under whatever pretence ‘work from home’ was what they called it.

Most of the time he fiddled on the computer, played games, wrote a few emails, read the newspapers, missed the sport he enjoyed and as time went by with little sign of any letup he knew he was growing more and more depressed.

Where was this going he asked himself? The news each day was growing in the bleak of reports of illness and death.

He was lucky he told himself, he didn’t have children nor a wife. The rates of domestic violence would grow, he knew as that had been expressed in the media frequently.

He liked the notion some sharp-witted person had written that if the virus continued as it was at present, a parent somewhere would discover a vaccine long before any scientist might.

Being confined had its advantages. He got to stay home, he didn’t have to engage with anyone in particular his neighbours and his relatives. His niece had rung to ask if he was ok. That was nice, and he appreciated the call, but he wished they might leave him alone.

The beauty of the internet was he could read the newspapers, watch the news programs on You Tube and keep up with all the depressing news from around the world.

Today there as a book he wanted to read, four more episodes of a mindless serial on Netflix and then the prospect of cooking a ‘Tangy Beef Curry’ for dinner, one which would last for at least three nights.

Looking out his window, he could see the lawn needed mowing, and that would get him outside, he suddenly felt excited by the prospect. Which was odd as he didn’t like mowing all that much.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/04/02/tale-weaver-269-confinement-2nd-april/

 

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