%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |   The simplicity of my day to day. |
|
This is where I write my thoughts, feelings and my daily trials, tribulations and happy things
|
Prompt: Weave us a tale about an opal heist. Although I’ve never been to Cooper Pedy, all Australians know about this weird and desolate place. Today’s prompt made me smile as I wrote a short story about an Opal heist of sorts in February last year for a contest, but I’m unsure which one. I really don’t think I could do better than the hours I spent on writing that. So if anyone is remotely interested in reading The Last Vein this is the link.
|
BCoF smaller prompt is about Australian literature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_literature Scroll through the different sections and discuss things you know about authors and the topic they wrote about. I didn’t arrive in this ‘sunburnt country, a land of flooding rains…’ until I was twenty eight years old. I brought with me an ingrained Britishness and barely had time in those early years to appreciate my new home. It was so different from ‘home.’ I’d been raised on English literature and authors. Truth be told, I felt as if I’d been taken back in time, as if I’d stepped on a plane at Heathrow and dropped in a backwater. I’d even left colour television and reverted to black and white. And once or twice we experienced racial discrimination. Poms we were called as were our children. Often said in jest but with an undercurrent of ill will and doubt as to why we had come and even told ‘maybe it would be good if you went back to where you came from.’ So I clung on to my Britishness, our superior novelists, our great classical authors, for many years. My children were brought up on Enid Blighton, Noddy and Big Ears and all the Tales of Peter Rabbit. So it wasn’t until my children learned poems by Banjo Patterson and others at school, I even gave them merit. I’ve not ever been a great reader of Australian authors until very recently. I loved Cloudstreet by Tim Winton and Breath by the same author. Tim lives very close to where we live and is an anvid environmentalist. My son, who was born here, said to me yesterday how thankful he was that his Dad and I uprooted ourselves from our family and everything familiar which allowed him and his sisters to grow up and raise their families here. Good to know😂 So I read mostly Australian contemporary authors now. Stories of Australia as it is today. I love nothing more than listening to Bush poetry written by those masters of the craft like Banjo Patterson, who tell of life as it was when this country was being pioneered by people of every race and creed. Of course the Australian Aboriginal people are the oldest continuous race in the world. Hopefully their Dreamtime stories will live on forever. ‘ |
| Please use these fun words in your entry today: reactor, sorcery, reality, tension, nuances, patronize, and forfend, (In case you're wondering forfend relates to some kind of real or pretended danger. Sometimes in comedic writing it appears as heaven forfend as a substitute for heaven forbid.) Have fun! In Australia although we mine and export uranium there are no Nuclear Power Plants. Although there is a push to build some as another source of energy in this overheating climate. I don’t understand how they work, it’s like sorcery to me. All I know is the reactor is at the heart of the power plant and it’s when it overheats that can forfend danger. The reality is we will eventually have to rely on Nuclear energy in the future. I’m sure there are still Climate Change denyers everywhere, but I’ve found it’s best to not get into political discussions with anyone. For instance, people may say they agree with one’s point of view, but you can tell by the slight nuances in their tone they are only being patronising and one can feel the tension in the air. |
BCoF smaller prompt: Let this quote inspire your entry: “ i had a dream when I was 22 that someday i would go to the region of ice and snow and go on and on till i came to one of the poles of the earth”― Ernest Shackleton Have you ever dreamed about seeing one of the poles? Where's your ideal dream place? This entry needs to be minimum of 100 words. I’ve always had a dream that someday I would travel from wherever I may be to see Niagara Falls. Ever since I was a very small child I’ve been overwhelmed by huge bodies of water. Large waves would scare me and until this day I can’t turn my back on the ocean. So when I discovered a place such as Niagara even existed and heard the stories of bravado or stupidness of the people who would dare to go over the edge in a barrel, I couldn’t believe it. The power of endless water, a never ending amount of water suddenly coming to the edge of its journey and falling, falling down to the river below still terrifies and thrills. When we married so many years ago I expressed my desire to one day to go and see Niagara Falls for myself. It was a pipe dream, we hardly had enough money to feed ourselves. But it’s always been a one-day. dream. So many of our compatriots have been. We’ve seen their videos and photographs and I’ve been envious. This may sound like a strange destination to desire so much as most of you who read this are at least in the right hemisphere but from here in Australia it’s a mighty long way. Anyway needless to say after nearly sixty years of marriage we still haven’t been to Niagara. I don’t think it will happen now. But I still love waterfalls and may have to be content with the ones more accessible. |
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth, Let's choose executors and talk of wills” ― William Shakespeare, Richard II Planning for the unknown is never easy but are we ever ready? Do we trust a family member or a friend or a lawyer? How ready are you? Don’t you just love Shakespeare? What a way of saying it’s time to write your will! Wills can be the cause of many a family upset. A few years ago I was executor of my mother-in-laws will. When her husband died a few years earlier he’d expressed in his will that everything was left to his wife but after she died their youngest son was to get everything. Now my husband is the oldest of the five children and neither he nor any of the other three were mentioned, it was as if they’d never existed. Anyway their mother had other ideas and left everything equally between the five of them. Of course the youngest wasn’t happy and said her will wasn’t valid. How horrible it was. Eventually her will was recognised but none of the family now have anything to do with the youngest brother. There should be no such difficulty with our wills. Three kids, equal shares. But there have been so many instances of people I know of who didn’t leave a will and the mess they leave behind because of this can be devastating. The moral of this story is: Make a will people, and pay a lawyer to be executor, that way there’ll be no family squabbles. |
Let this quote inspire your writing “The scariest moment is always just before you start." ― Stephen King I didn’t know this quote existed before today, but it seems that I’ve lived my life according to it. I think of so many times I’ve tried not to think too much about something and gone in, feet or headfirst, knowing if I gave it too much thought I would talk myself out of it. The biggie was leaving home. Not just home, my brothers, friends, my house but my country. Huge decision made and executed in three months. Scary as hell. Abseiling. I was the first to go when asked, “so who’s going first?” That would be because if I left it and watched others do it first then I would talk myself out of it. Scuba diving: same scenario. I think the most scared I’ve been in recent years of beginning something new was when I joined my local writing group. I thought I didn’t belong there. Everyone was better than I was. Who was I kidding? Yes life is scary, but we need to take a big breath and just Do It. |
Use these thoughts to write the worst structured poem you possibly can. Venting, ranting, or complaining about something, sickness or bodily dysfunction. Have fun! Crutches! They’re such a Pain. No hands free Even to go for a wee Is not easy. Struggling, muddling through. The days seems longer and I’m not Feeling stronger. Hey! stop your moaning and groaning. What are you? A wimp? Toughen up, sunshine, you’re not alone. Grow a bit more backbone. There’s always someone worse. That’s true I don’t even need a nurse Tomorrow’s another day Ain’t that what THEY say? Whoever THEY may be. So I’ll pick up my sticks and walk the walk, Or at least I’ll shuffle and talk the talk. Oh, dear crutches, soon I’ll be out of your clutches. |
prompt: " an old dog never learns new tricks" its a saying I've heard since I was a kid.is it a truthful thing to say? can us old dogs really not learn new tricks? or do we just not want to? write me a story, poem or rant about it, please! This prompt made me literally think of an old dog story. Our daughter had a puppy who we were going look after for them for a month. Now we’d had this lively little thing before and she’s what I’d call an in and out creature. No sooner was she in than she’d want to go out. I’d be up and down constantly. No rest with this dog. So when I found out we were expected to have a month of this, then we put in a dog door. However we have an old dog of our own. She’s happy to stay inside most of the time, so we’d never needed a dog door for her. So at ten years of age we tried to sell the concept of a dog door to her. She hated it, was scared of it. It led to me crawling through it myself to show her how it was done! Along came Gigi the Labradoodle. She came with her luggage, bed and toys to stay while her mummy and daddy went on vacation. She took to our doggy door like a duck to water and Lucy, our ten year old dog, watched on. Eventually she attempted to follow Gigi outside. She put head through first, then retreated. Next she went halfway through. Of course there’s no coming back from that, so a push on her bum saw her through. Nowadays Lucy loves her door. So you can teach an old dog new tricks. |
Day 3466: April 8, 2024 Prompt: Begin your entry with "What if..." What if the world was a kinder place? I’m not religious but I’m sure who or whatever envisioned and made this place, which is outstanding in its beauty, endless bounty and has everything a population of human beings could possibly need, surely has to be beyond disappointed. We are more informed than at any other time in evolution. We’re supposed to be more clever, more knowledgeable. We can cure illness and disease. But we aren’t kinder, thoughtful or more peaceful. People fight for land that isn’t theirs. There are multiple wars, children are being killed without a qualm it seems. I realise it’s a sweeping statement to make, but on the whole we as a population are slowly but surely ruining the world. In my country we have the Great Barrier Reef. The coral is being bleached at such a rapid rate that before too much longer it will be a dead zone and no one will want to visit. The sea turtles are being choked by micro plastics, caught up in discarded fishing nets and the crown of thorns starfish is proliferating because of the rising temperatures of the ocean and is killing whole coral reefs. It’s beyond sad. Rainforests are being felled in greater numbers each year and as the earth warms further, fires and floods are increasing. So what if nothing is done to stop the warming trend? I know the best minds are working on a solution but is it too late. What if it is? You know, there is something to be said for being old. That way I don’t have to witness the devastation of my beautiful planet Earth. 287wors. |
Use these words in your entry today: mystery, small, determine, escape, sailboat, storm and a bullet casing. A bullet casing counts as one word in this instance. It’s a mystery to me how I’ve got the energy to even write in my blog. Todays been very tiring as I’ve been helping my granddaughter and four great grandchildren move house. But I’m determined to at least have a crack at incorporating these words into this tale. It never fails to surprise me when I see all the ‘stuff’ people move from house to house. There were so much of the ‘stuff’ that will simply get ‘stuffed’ back in a drawer or cupboard until the next upheaval. I’m pretty sure there is such a thing as a man drawer in everyone’s home. It’s the drawer that holds dead batteries, screws, bullet casings, coins and old phones. There was one such drawer that I simply emptied into the garbage and just hoped for the best that no one ever looks for the ‘stuff’ ever again. I eventually escaped the storm and the turmoil which was her new place at five pm this afternoon. There was still a mountain of boxes to empty when I left with the promise I’ll come back soon.😂 (my fingers were crossed behind my back) Their new place backs on to the river which is almost dry as we’ve had no rain for almost four months, so I wouldn’t have been able to use my sailboat even if I owned one! I came home desperately in need of a glass of wine unable to even think what we were going to have for dinner and bless his heart my husband placed a glass in my hand and a plate of delicious stew he’d made. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
Though I hear there are amazing waterfalls in Australia. 
