In an era of today’s technology, evolves neglect of writing by hand
And schools focus on futures of new projects they need to manned
We have no need of stationary, for everything goes by email
No remembrance or need of touch, to share our love through mail.
How very sad to become the robots we now have become
And forgetting the feel of love, in mail it once did come
Those of us who remember the beauty that writing can be
Can now use cursive writing as coded messages for others to see.
Anita Neal
Devereaux Frazier and Beth Amanda are currently hosting the Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge which was started by our star writer Christine Ray. We hope to offer all of you something that will spark your creativity and willingness to participate.
Today’s prompt: Write a piece of prose or poetry around the words cursive, touch, and forget
So come join in on the fun and see what your creative juices can do. And as always…remember to be kind in all you do.
“What?” questioned mom. “I thought they were with you.”
“Would I be asking you if they were with me?”
“Oh, good grief!” mom exclaimed exasperated as she walked past dad. “Grandma, have you seen the kids?
“They were headed to the edge of the forest. They haven”t been gone long.”
Mom looked at dad, “They found the tree,” she stated. And they all headed toward the edge of the forest.
As they approached the tree, a small light glimmered through the branches and giggles of joy could be heard from inside.
May happiness and joy surround you and your loved ones in light throughout this wonderful season of love. And remember to spread that love, joy and kindness where ever you go so that the ripple effect of love spreads through the world.
It started out from a fall, a simple fall, not far, but oh so painful
The elbow was shot, which got it replaced, but that itself was not helpful
The awkwardness was evident, as I fell once more, it was becoming shameful
They said it was okay, that I should be glad, but I’m not, it’s just so awful
Second fall and another elbow gone, its really becoming stressful
Guess I should be grateful, the body still works, still trying to be faithful
But I fell again, loosing both knees, becoming harder now to be careful
Then came the slide that took out my hide, now I don’t seem useful
But came a crack appeared that took out my back, replaced with a pipe, now ungraceful
Now my head shines so bright, gives others a fright, not a most practical skull
But I sit here and rest, have done very my best, and finally I am becoming peaceful.
Anita Neal
I tag Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie for the fun in creative writing. Come join in the fun and as always we thank Winsome Woods for the use of the fun photograph.
And in closing I always remind my readers the value of kindness. Everyone has a back story that needs kindness and understand to get through the day, so always be kind.
As I am literally waiting for the paint containers(face paints) to dry as I needed to clean them before heading to the church for another face painting party, I am reflecting on how busy I have been thus far for November. Not even much time to write and post here.
October was busy as well as we had to get ready for the fall parties, give the yard a last once over before it got cold not counting the ridiculous snow on Halloween which cancelled outdoor fun due to the extreme cold. Snow you can deal with but temps in the 20’s is too cold for little ones to be out begging for candy.
And of course football(college) was beginning to get interesting across the country. Unknowns rising with the foam of the Heisman search, expected candidates dropping to the wayside. Fall can really a fun time of year. Today will be a nail bitter for us as it has championship possibilities. Go Dawgs.
November brought on the usual for me of getting the plan together for decorating for Christmas, my favorite time of year. Plus my book is in process of getting printed. I received the initial press run copies so the reality of this happening is kind of overwhelming. Hopefully it will be available in stores in a few weeks. My church is throwing me a book signing party on Dec 1 so I am getting excited.
Its a story of a dog’s journey when he gets to heaven with people and other dogs friends. Its different because I want all the dogs I lived with growing up to be with me in heaven so I wrote a book making it so. LOL. I am not telling you all this to get you to go buy my book, I just want you to come along and enjoy the fun I am having. The sequel is about 3/4 written, so maybe next summer it will come out.
And as I promised when I posted the pictures of the entire village, I am periodically including a highlighted section so you can see the details.
The Mountain Cottage
This is one of the first pieces I painted. Over the years I added the trees, the pump, the well and the wood pile and this year I added the horse and the bears after the honey. I told my daughter it is spreading everywhere like Peyton Manning’s on the insurance commercial. LOL
I think it would be cool to have one warehouse size to bring in all the kids at Christmas with Santa and cookies and fun activities. That would be a fun dream. So as you smile at my fun dreams, share that smile during the season and spread the kindness it reflects.
An elfchen is an 11 word poem written in 5 lines— Line 1=1 word, Line 2=2 words, Line 3=3 words, Line 4=4 words, Line 5 =1 word. Lines 1 and 5 should not be the same word. Devereaux Frazier and Beth Amanda are currently hosting the Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge which was started by our star writer Christine Ray. We hope to offer all of you something that will spark your creativity and willingness to participate.
Since I had never heard of an elfchen, I thought I would play along and see what I could come up with. The three word choices are You, Stronger or Alive to be the first word of your poem. I accidentally used all three.
You
Dear Lord
Are the reason
I am stronger and
Alive
And as I close from this fun, I remind all to be kind. The kindness you share may be the only sunshine that person may see that day.
I am so excited to say I now have a new toy…my computer has not been replaced and man is it nice. I can open a new page in seconds instead of minutes. But I can say my old computer was the top of the line…11 years ago. So to christen it with love I will make my first post fun to help dispel the horrid weather we are still having with more snow this evening. I posted this picture a week or so ago to get ideas of a story and Shelley’s of Quaint Revival was the best. She and I are both kinda quirky so it fit my brain well. Enjoy and laugh along. If you have other short ideas about this picture, feel free to add in the comments. The object is to have fun and enjoy each others art, regardless of medium.
“You know,” muffled Officer Tin as his mouth was full, “if you would just hit the sky, we could catch this guy a lot faster.”
“Nope. Your the knot-head that was determined that I come along. You could have left the branch and me on the tree and we would have been fine.”
“I needed you help, you eye in the sky as it were.”
“Just because you wanted me to come does not mean I am going to help you look.”
“But you always help” exclaimed Officer Tin.
“Not today. I have a headache and you are not helping.”
“Well, the faster you help, the faster you can get home…but you will need a new branch, sorry.”
“Oh, good grief!”
“I think he went down in the valley,” shouted Office Tin spitting the branch to the ground.
“I see him,” the eagle muttered to himself. “Looks like Tin has help coming from the opposite direction as well. Oh, and there is lunch.”
“You have reinforcements coming on the other side of the valley. Head straight and you will corner him off.”
“Thanks. Hey what is in you claws?”
“Lunch. You are own you on, kiddo. I am outta here.”
Hope my quirkiness brought you a smile on such a dreary day. And as I always close with reminders of kindness, remember during these stressful winter times, kindness is like the warming ray of sunshine and we all need some of that. So be kind.
Go Dog Go Cafe writing prompt for Tuesday’s Challenge is : Describe about a recent world event without saying what the event actually was.
Their feet were hot with the souls of their boots literally melting with each step. The jungle of broken concrete and iron beams made it difficult to walk as the hopeless search for life continued. The billowing smoke raised ever higher shrouding where the building once stood but now lay in melted heap as the acrid smell of jet fuel still filled the air. The search dogs were horrified as this scene did not match their training. They were supposed to be able to find life but none was to be found and the sadness for man and beast alike would be a long time healing, if at all.
As humans, we show our best likeness to God when we show compassion and kindness to those affected by tragic and desperate times. Remember to be kind.
Due to the not being able to get out much this week because our weather has been soooo lovely, I was super busy this weekend and just now sat down at my computer. I was tagged by sadje of keepitalive to do a writing prompt of a picture she suggested and since I have never done that, I thought I would give it a go. Do come along and play to see all the creative juices flowing from other.
Her picture prompt I had seen before and thought it was so interesting, so…
“Will she bite me?’ he asked as they edged closer.
“No, she is a sweetheart. She was hand raised when her mom got killed.”
“But she has eggs.”
“They are not real. Come see. They are made out of concrete. She knows they are not real but it helps with her maternal instincts.”
“Weird.”
“Not really. She is the only one left of her specie and the lab is trying to see if they can play God.”
“Oh, that’s not good. You don’t mess around with His creation.”
“Yea, you’d think scientist would have learned their lesson with the disaster of the dinosaur island they tried to create.”
“Wild animals are called wild animals for a reason. They don’t understand your reasons of why you do what you do and they are protecting their area.”
As the boys turned back to the main farm area, they could hear in the distance the large waterfall as it cascaded down the mountain side bringing fresh water to large farm area of rare and exotic animals.
“I understand it could be a dangerous task under any circumstance.”
Written for Tell the Story #9
Silly stories can expand our imaginations for those who write. And those who read me know my love for animals and somewhat warped humor, so see what you can do with this. I am tagging those who I know write and those I see doing challenges. Here is my prompt for you.
In everything God creates, if we look hard enough we will still see beauty. As I went to take out the trash this afternoon, I noticed how the snow clung to my new rock wall. I thought it interesting how it clung to some areas and yet totally missed others creating another interesting God type artwork.
Hair hanging down covering eyes while someone with more hair nibbles on the ear
I am big on patterns and coming from the quality control world sometimes those patterns can let you know if something is off or not. Now that I am retired, I just like to see what pattern emerge when I look at things. I have teased Irene of Heaven’s Sunshine on her post of Dark Star telling her where my quirky visual eye saw Mary and baby Jesus in her flower of the day.
And then today I told CitySonnet on her wonderful picture of a Pansy when I could see someone in yellow shirt with white sleeves and blue bell bottoms praising the heavens.
Its a fun way to share our individual quirky art side. Some of us more quirky than others but that is why art is so subjective. Its in the eye of the artist. Even with writing. My book is now fully complete and edited so I am trying to figure out what to do about publishing it – traditional or self publish. What are the pros and cons of each. Who is good, who can you trust. It a lot to process for a newby. Plus the content is really out there unless you are an avid dog lover who truly believes all dogs do go to heaven. LOL. But we will see. I am up for any advice anyone wants to share. Until then I will continue to share my quirkiness, fun side and kindness here in the blogusphere world.
As you share with each other here or even as you go about your day, I remind you to always be kind. Kindness is the light of Christ shining through us to help lighten the darkness of someone’s day.
The screen door slammed as Jerry entered the kitchen sniffing the air of fresh backing cornbread just coming out of the oven.
“Sup, grandma. Smells great in here.”
“Sup? All that education you have had and that’s the way you talk.”
“Sorry. Good afternoon Grandmother. How are you this fine evening?” he teased pecking her on the cheek.
“Hmp, now you are just being ridiculous,” she said as she sipped in her tea. “There is sweet tea in the fridge and get out the syrup so it can be warming up a bit.”
Reaching in the fridge, he pulled out the bottle of Georgia Cane Syrup made by Johnson’s farm at the southern part of the state. He poured himself a large glass of tea and came to sit at the table across from his grandmother as she finished slathering butter of the steaming ears of corn. Reading of the bottle of syrup he noted the date on the back label.
“Does syrup get old?” he asked.
“No, why do you ask?” she said.
“It’s got a date on the label.”
“Oh, that’s a best used date, before it starts to separate,” she explained.
“Separate?”
She stopped with her hand on her hips and stared at her grandson. “Have you learned nothing from me and this farm? What is syrup made from?”
A gleam lit in his eyes knowing a good banter was in the making. “Well that depends. You have maple syrup where they pull sap from a tree, boil it down to make syrup.”
He glanced up to see the good natured scowl deepen on her brow.
“We don’t grow maple trees here in the south. We grow cane. Your grandpa had 2 full acres ever year before he passed. The sugar cane juice, sap, is boiled down as the cane is crushed. If you let it sit too long on the shelf it will turn to sugar crystals – separate. Here, take your plate and grab you some field peas and greens from the stove. Pork chops, corn and cornbread are already here on the table. How big a piece of cornbread do you want?”
“Normal size for now,” he said. “Then I will get a bigger slice to sop up remaining juices on my place before I add the syrup.”
“Yea, that’s the best part of the meal,” agreed Grandma as they settled in to a warm enjoyable meal.
Growing up in the late 1900’s gave a different meaning to the family meal. It was a time for fun shared over good food, teasing to help you grow with lots of assurance of love and togetherness. We seem to have lost that as we are rushing to the next battle to conquer. A lot of the encouragement has been lost and we find ourselves at times not knowing exactly what the next step needs to be. So I challenge you this year to try to regain some of that back. Love on you family members and friends and encourage each other. And as always…remember to be kind. Even when drawing a hard line if needed, it cane be done with love, encouragement and KINDNESS.
For the Love of 