Wednesday's Words on a Friday, late but here after all.
I'm feeling MUCH better, so here it is:
The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems.
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 to read it and add a few encouraging words.
This month the words/prompts are supplied by messymimi and can be found here
This week's words/prompts are:
1. convince 2. education 3. slice 4. decide 5. craft 6. family
and/or:
1. beating a dead horse 2. on the ropes 3. wake up call
Charlotte's colour of the month is mouse grey, which I haven't used this week.
Here is my story:
Having finished his
slice of pie, Grandpa Joe went back out to the workshed, where he was working
on turning a couple of table legs from a tree trunk cut down by a neighbour. Two
finished legs already sat on the side table. Joshua followed his Grandpa after
rinsing the pie plates and putting them in the dishwasher.
“I agree with what
Grandma said, trying to convince some people is like beating a dead horse,” he
said. “Yep, she’s usually right,” said Grandpa, “no amount of education can
make up for common sense sometimes.” Joshua said, “but we can’t decide for
them, they need to learn for themselves even if it takes a wake up call of drastic
proportions.”
“Like this business of
mine,” said Grandpa, “this family has been making furniture and household goods
for centuries now, and it’s becoming a lost craft with all the veneer covered
MDF furniture being made quickly and selling cheaply. People want cheap and don’t
realise it doesn’t last as long nor look as good as properly seasoned and
finished wood.”
“And you can’t make
nicely turned table legs and chair backs from MDF either,” said Joshua. “And
those gorgeous salad bowls you gave Anne and me for our wedding, you can’t
fashion those from chipboard.” “I’ve seen some from plywood,” said Grandpa, but
they won’t last. Yours can be handed down through the generations, which brings
me to my next project. Grandma told me the happy news and once this table is
finished I’ll be starting on a crib for that baby you and Anne have coming.”
Joshua grinned and hugged
his Grandpa. “Is it okay if we name him Joe after his Grandpa?” “What if he’s a
girl?” said Grandpa. “Anne likes Mary, after Grandma, and it will be a good
plain name amongst all those fancy names with weird spellings when the child
begins school,” said Joshua.
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I am convinced some "groups" or "families" need to be forced to let their kids have education, to decide for a better, more understanding life.
ReplyDeleteCraft always helps too, be it art or building something "useful".
Ingo did not beat a dead horse but 50 frozen sausages are on the way. I kid you not. After 8 Aussie pies arrived today, also frozen.
A wake up call for Ingo to talk to me before ordering (I´d let him know!).
No one get´s on the ropes for that, though (yikes, In Freo prison when I saw the rope I had to get out, I got sick).
OK. And fun!!! You start with pie-what a coincidence!!!!
And so YES on - if can afford it - support real craftmanship.
Though. My MDF-PC table sits here faithfully since 2001. Looks shabby, but works 100%.
YES also to no silly names! And to re-name. My Dad just took care of the first letter with my Brother, which is "H", as his own as his Father´s.
But then. "Hugo" would be a strange name today.... Whereas "Helge" is often mistaken as "Helga" and he ended up with girly presents from customers often, poor dude that.
Clever story again, thank you.
Iris; thank you. It's true that all kids need education, but sometimes even highly educated people don't have much common sense. The pie in my story is apple pie, a dessert pie usually or sometimes just for a snack.
DeleteYou ordered 50 sausages?? What kind of sausages? I hope there is room in your freezer.
Hugo is not such a strange name, Helga I know is a female name, so I would realise Helge is the male form, but some people need to be told as they don't know the difference. Like with Polish surnames, anything ending in "i" becomes an "a" when applied to the female. My birth surname ends with "ski" and if I lived in Poland, maybe Germany too, it would become "ska" indicating that I was female, while my brother would retain the "ski"
River, hmmm, yes. I had one colleague, oh, we called him as#..... no common sense at all.
DeleteMy Mum was still healthy and my Brother took her to Braunschweig for my Birthday. We went to a pub ad had Apple Pie with vanilla ice cream. Despite I don´t like sweets much, ... i loved it for the company!
Ingo by accident ordered 100 sausages, but they luckily understood it was a PC-problem, so yes, "only" 50.... Horse-sausages.
We usually only get them at the Christmas-market, butt hey now sell them frozen online. 50...
My Dad made and sold hearing aids so many people were like really old and simply assumed the newspaper printed wrong and it´s "Helga", Boy, he was frustrated and I had to try not to laugh!
I didn´t know about those surname-endings, but I sure am glad I kept my name marrying Ingo. He always, despite "by accident" he kept his ... uses mine.
The pie yesterday (Chilli-Cheese) was not at all like from Jesters. A disappointment...
Iris Flavia, very good use of the prompts, and that's a lot of sausage.
DeleteI'm with Joshua and the plain names. It's nice to have something different but some children are given such outlandish names these days.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're feeling better now.
jabblog; the weird spellings bother me more than outlandish I think.
DeleteNice story R. Well done.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D; thank you and now it's time I got more sleep.
Deletethere is some good writing up there! I can't try it this week. My hand has informed me that I am doing careless things.
DeleteSusan Kane; thank you. Take care of that hand, wear a brace if you need to while doing heavier things.
DeleteI am so glad that you felt well enough to write and post your excellent story. Common sense isn't common at all. I am with you about the weird names and weirder spellings too. Reading the birth announcements often has me scratching my head.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child; thank you. Still coughing and napping but clear in the head which is the best part. Sadly, our local paper, The Advertiser, no longer prints birth notices.
DeleteHappy to hear you're feeling better and agree with your story, but I am also one terribly old-fashioned craft-loving Owl.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte; I remember your love of crafting and you do things from the very beginning, growing the plants, spinning the yarn and dyeing it. My mum bought supplies for her knitting and crochet work, she did embroidery and tapestry too. And sewed clothes.
DeleteIt been a while since I head the saying "Beating a dead horse"
ReplyDeleteDora; I haven't heard it for a long time either, I think that's why messymimi gave it to us this week.
DeleteGood for Grandpa, making a crib for the baby. It can be handed down after Grandpa is gone, with memories and the fine workmanship. Reminds me of my grandma making quilts for our weddings, and baby quilts as the great-grandkids came along.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are feeling better. Hick always looks inside drawers and cabinets to see if they are real wood, or just pressed wood. That said, you get what you pay for, and we have our share of not-real wood furniture. Like the marred coffee table, where Genius laid my birthday present of a mouse pad, and picked up the top layer of wood with it a few moments later!
Val; that's the idea, to hand it down through generations, like the fruit and salad bowls and the table grandpa and Joshua are currently making. Almost all of my furniture is not real wood, a couple of chests from Ikea are cheap pine, which is real wood at least and a couple of secondhand chests are also real wood.
DeleteIt's great to have you participate, I'm glad you are better.
ReplyDeleteNice use of the prompts, and I gave my children names after family members, the kind that wear well in the wash and don't fade, then told them if they want a crazy nickname to get it from their friends. They have all thanked me for it, too.
messymimi; I'm glad I could play again this week. I didn't name my children after family as they all have German names and I didn't want my kids laughed at in school like I was. My brother eventually legally changed his name to the nickname he got in highschool, a proper name, not something silly like twinkle-toes.
Delete