Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by Lee and can be found here.

This week's words are:

1. stellar
2. resourceful
3. frivolous
4. revelation
5. catastrophe
6. perspective

and/or:

1. potential
2. embodiment
3. euphoria
4. jeopardise
5. unite
6. groundswell

Here is my story:

The euphoria that accompanied Gloria’s stellar rise to fame was closely followed by the frivolous lifestyle most new young stars live. Partying, spending, more partying, more spending.

Gloria woke up one morning to a revelation. Such a lifestyle could not continue. Her agent had called several times in the previous week, but she had been too busy partying or nursing a hangover to take on the jobs he’d been offering. Taking this road had the potential to end in catastrophe. How many times had she read the society pages and seen so-and-so who had once been famous but was now an alcoholic wreck, broke, no longer beautiful and unable to find work.

“That’s not for me”, she decided. “I refuse to jeopardise my future like this. From this morning, I have a new perspective. I am resourceful, I will find a way to move forward. Already the groundswell of my one-time fans, famous themselves for being as fickle as the winter sun, have moved on to the newest glittery star-in-the-making.”

Opening her windows to the sun and pouring a cup of coffee, Gloria sat at her new kitchen table with her diary and telephoned her mother.
“Mum, how are you? I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch, I’m really, really sorry. There’s been so much partying going on, I’ve barely had a moment to myself, but this morning I realised I don’t want to live this way. I’m calling my agent this morning and tell him I’ll read every script he brings me, I am ready to work.”

Checking through the diary, Gloria found a week pencilled in with ‘visit Mum and Dad’ and made sure to ring it in red, to keep it free for the visit. She needed to re-unite with her family and friends from home. Her lifestyle from now on would be more mature, she would become the embodiment of elegance, reliability and punctuality. No more turning up late for the day’s shooting, no more demanding this or that for her dressing room. From now on, Gloria would style herself on her idols, those famous women who worked for years in character roles, never minding they weren’t first on the playbill, just content to build a career in the business they loved.

“And Mum? I’m going to buy a house too. Can you make me an appointment with a financial adviser that you and Dad trust? I don’t want to use anyone attached to the film industry that might just want to rip off any money I might make.” 

She smiled at the picture of Dame Judi Dench in the magazine beside her cup.

hereafter known as The Hippie

I'm typing on my backup laptop, not my favourite machine by a country mile. I actually hate this thing, but in the middle of doing something on the Toshiba, the screen went black, the battery was flat. How could this happen? I charged it this morning!

Anyway, here I am on the HP, hereafter known as The Hippie, which also has not much power in the battery, but after searching half the drawers in the house, I found the power cord for Hippie and plugged him in, so I can keep doing what I was doing.  If only the brain interruptions would stop. There is too much happening lately and I'm not in a good place mentally.

Everything that Needs To Happen seems to be happening this week and next week isn't looking any better, with five days booked out of the seven for Things That Need To Be Done. 

Yesterday, Tuesday,  I had a day to do almost nothing, a couple of loads of washing were scheduled, but at least six times people came knocking on my door, so there went several hours, add in taking my old printer to an electronics drop-off point for disposal and Tuesday was over.

Today, Wednesday,  I had someone coming to install a pet door, so Lola could come and go from the back porch without me having to keep the screen door propped open. The door was successfully installed hours ago, but she seems confused by it and when I go to show her how to push it open, she runs away. She will just have to work it out on her own.
I also made a trip to the bank, did a bit of shopping, (I was out of eggs and bread) and now it is after 4pm already.

Tomorrow a building inspector is coming around (at 8am!) they're doing a check on building structure and also taking photos inside and out of any changes that have been made since moving in. He will ask if I put up the curtain rods (yes) or were they there when I moved in (no) and other stuff like that. He'll probably photograph the cracks in the walls and ask if they were there when I moved in. Did I install the airconditioner? Well, no. Not personally, I'm not that clever, ha ha. I've heard from others who have already had this inspection that EVERYTHING gets photographed. I'm going to have to ask him to not photograph the family photos on the wall.

Tomorrow is my usual Friday away from home, Monday ditto.

Tuesday next week I have to do a fasting blood test to check how the cholesterol is going, that means a trip to the clinic, two buses, and two buses to get home again. Day over.

Wednesday, two buses again to the clinic to see the doctor and discuss the results of that blood test. Then two buses home again. Day over.

Thursday, a "Home Visit" is scheduled. A housing officer comes around asking questions and taking notes. How are we? Are we coping alright? Do we have any issues about living here? Do we need help with anything? and so on.

There's other stuff going on that I'm unable to talk about, family stuff...

All of this is in my head going round and round and I'm unable to settle to any one particular task.

My calm has vanished and taken my serenity with it. My multitasking gene is dead and buried.

Time for a nice hot chocolate.

on this date one year ago,

my Angel disappeared and has never been seen since. 
Somewhere on my computer I have the last photos I ever took of him, and I can't find them... 

I still miss him terribly, although Lola has helped ease that heartache a bit.

Sunday Selections #384

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

"when there's something new, in your neighbourhood..
Who you gonna call.."
the girl with the camera of course

there are three of these new gardens along the footpath by my home

they are rain gardens! I knew that as I watched them being constructed

you should be able to read this if you enlarge it

this diagram shows how it all works

the plantings are all still small and hard to see in bright sunlight

the grasses are easier to spot

here you can see the patterns left by water flow from the last rain we had

there are openings along the gutters to allow the water in so the gutters don't flood across the road

we also have new tree plantings along "my" side of the footpath

there are no labels, but the leaves indicate liquid amber and if you know anything about trees you'll remember liquid ambers grow wide and tall, very tall

which could be a future problem, because...

on either side of these new trees are the gums that have been there for years, where the rainbow lorikeets gather to get the nectar from the flowers, and straight up?

overhead power lines, which mean future butchering trimming for the new trees as they reach significant height  😧

Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by Lee and can be found here.

This week's words are:

1. attitude
2. uphill
3. insight
4. lessons
5. upheaval
6. canopy

and/or:

1. patience
2. engage
3. humility
4. strategy
5. fortitude
6. forbearance

here is my story: a little trip far into the future:

“Girls!” Miss Sandringham clapped her hands to get their attention, then asked them all to please be quiet and pay attention.

“Allow me to introduce you all to Mrs Trudi Pedersen. She will be conducting your lessons in Home Management and General Deportment within Society. 

During the next two years you are all expected to learn everything you need to know about being a married woman once you leave these four walls. For some of you it will be easy, others will face an uphill battle, but it is hoped you will all gain at least a modicum of insight as quickly as possible. 

I’ve taught you as much as I can about the cooking and cleaning that will be expected of you and now Mrs Pedersen will take you through the strategy you will need to be a proper wife. I would prefer you all to take heed and learn quickly, no one needs to partake in an attitude adjustment class, those aren’t fun, believe me. 

The committees responsible for this ‘House’, have spent the last five years searching the earth for suitable, marriageable men for you all, and even now, those young men are undergoing similar lessons in how to be husbands and good businessmen. I’ll hand you now to Mrs Pedersen, if you would all please follow her to the Rose Garden canopy, where you will have the afternoon to introduce yourselves and get to know each other before lessons begin tomorrow.”

As one, the girls turned towards Trudi Pedersen and followed as she led them to the Rose Garden. Once they were all seated, she asked their names and conversations began. “I’m a little bit scared, Mrs Pedersen, I’ve heard that being married is like being a slave. Will we have to be locked in our houses and only allowed out when our husbands say so?” asked Jemmy.

“No, not at all”, said Trudi. “That did happen for a while in the Dark Days, but things have changed and wives are allowed to live more normal lives now.”

“I’ve read about those Dark Days,” said Lucille. “There’s a couple of books in the Library that tell about the 25^th to 27^th centuries.”

“I’ve read those too,” said Kristen. “They’re pretty scary. Every wife was expected to have at least four babies to help repopulate the earth. I hope that isn’t still expected now.”

“Let me reassure you all on that point right now. Babies are expected, but not immediately, unless you want them right away, and you don’t need to have four, again, unless you want to. In the long ago past, 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries, many women had large families, as many as six or eight babies, but that was in unenlightened times and we know better now. If you want to have four it is allowed, but not expected.  We don’t want the same catastrophes that befell the overpopulated past.”

“So what will you be teaching us?” asked Megan.

Trudi said, “We’ll begin with a little sex education, to get that out of the way, you need to know how the babies come along; then there will be lessons in how to engage politely with people from all races, rich and poor alike, you will need to learn forbearance, how to show a little humility when necessary and of course how to invite guests to your own home as well as how to behave in a mannerly fashion when invited to others homes. I must add here that I had hoped there would be more equality now, less of the rich and poor classes, it is the 29^th century after all.”

“Please Mrs Pedersen, what is forbearance?” said Prudence.

“Forbearance is just a fancy word for patience. Fancy words sound more impressive sometimes and that is one more thing we will cover in the next two years. You need to be able to speak them naturally, not as if you had just read them from a dictionary. They need to become part of you, to show that you have been properly educated here at Marsh House.”

“Does that mean we have to sound like the snobs we read about, from the 18^th century I think, going about all uppity and pretentious?” said Alyssa.

“Not at all,” said Trudi. “The whole point of learning them early is so they come naturally into your speech so you don’t sound like you are “showing off” but simply showing knowledge and understanding. Now I know it may be hard for you to leave here after these final lessons are learned, some of you may go out strongly with confidence, others may face more upheaval and will need to develop a little more fortitude. That’s what I’m here for. To see you all through and safely married.

OMG Facts

It's been a while since I put up a few of these

1. any free-moving liquid will form itself into a sphere in outer space because of its surface tension.

2. a duffle bag is so called because the thick wool originally used to make the bags came from the Belgium town of Duffel.

3. 'Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself."
      -Actor/writer Tom Wilson

4. spoons are a millennia older than forks.

5. The word "robot" comes from the Czechoslovakian word "robotovat" which means "to work very hard"

my favourite here is #3 

Sunday Selections # 383

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

a multi-themed post today:

beginning with a few of my neighbour V's things:

V has one of those coffee tables made of "books"

it's lightweight and she put the castors on by herself, they don't come with wheels.

I love these book tables and would love to get one, anyone know where?

this is one of V's cats, I think the oldest one, who has been unwell lately and I successfully diagnosed a thyroid problem. This old boy is now getting well again.

here are two of V's spinning wheels, another is in another room with the small loom. Notice the rug in the bottom right corner? and a few in the picture above with the cat, V makes those herself from cat hair and alpaca hair.

Here's a few photos of Lola doing what cats do best:

on the couch

on the fleecy blanket

on the chair

oops, she caught me :)

much more relaxed now than this frightened girl I collected from the animal welfare shelter almost a year ago

here's an unusual sight for Adelaide

FOG!

I haven't seen any for several years, not in the city anyway. I often look towards the hills and see fog.

I couldn't see the end of the street

nor past the little roundabout just at the end of my block.