Take Seven June 11th

It’s Friday!

Welcome to my Take Seven compilation which incorporates all 21 words (or derivatives) from the Three Things Challenge for the past week.
You are most welcome to join in using as many or all of the words too. Just pingback to this post and then leave a link to your post in the comments so that I can see it and respond directly.
As always, have fun, and I hope you enjoy this week’s effort.

Our words were:
amusing, blessing, box, bus, choice, cinema, curse, fare, file, hang, hysterics, journey, kid, mass, peg, pretend, school, shelf, shrunk, steering, tall.
As a kid, being tall for my age was a curse and a blessing. In some instances I could pretend to be older than I was and get into the cinema on my own and in others the bus conductors didn’t believe I was a child and charged me full fare.
These days, I’ve actually shrunk an inch and a half from my school days, and it shows when reaching for things on the top shelf in the cupboard or trying to hang the washing on the line (luckily the weight of the peg bag brings it within reach).
One of the disadvantages of the I10 was that it was low and getting out of it after an hour’s journey was difficult, painful and to some, probably amusing to watch.
The C3 is miles better because it’s higher and so we can put our feet on the pavement and rise with little discomfort or effort.
However, although it’s good to have a higher vehicle, it’s not that much fun getting in and out of a high one.
Our friend had a Shogun, and my legs would not reach the floor trying to get out, so Hubby made me a box. This led to mass hysterics from the men every time we went out in it.
When I worked for the bank and was responsible for the company car expenses file, one Director would not be done out of the car of his choice and had optional stepping bars (aka running boards) installed on the vehicle at an additional cost of £200.
It was indeed a very funny sight to see a man of less than five feet in height getting in and out of a 4×4 that he could only just see over the steering wheel of to drive.

Three Things Challenge #626

Welcome to The Three Things Challenge.
Below are three things that may, or may not, be related. Simply read the prompt and see where your creativity takes you.
You can use one, two or all three words in your post, there are no restrictions regarding length, style, or genre apart from keeping it family friendly.
You can use 3TC, #threethingschallenge or TTC as a tag and my logo if you wish.
Invite us along by creating a pingback to this post, then leave your link in the comments so that other people can read your writings and I’ll see it to respond to you directly. You might like to check out some of the other contributions while you’re there.

I schedule the challenge to go out around 6.30 am UK time, but pingbacks have to be approved manually so might not show immediately. This could be because I’m late accessing my blog or due to time differences, but I will get there, I promise!
I look forward to reading your responses, and as always thank you all for your continued support.

Your final three things for this week are:
STEERING
JOURNEY
SCHOOL

Scratch, an FOWC

Fandango has given us Scratch as our word challenge today.
Now is this as in you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours which seems to be the way of ‘getting on’ in politics, business or a career, or is it a vindictive rival threatening to scratch the opposition’s eyes out for looking at her man funny?
Or is it an annoying itch that you just have to scratch and can’t leave alone (like I had when I had chickenpox and had spots I didn’t even know I had places….. I was 32!), or making a meal from whatever is in the cupboards as I did with my makeshift pizza, the first meal I ever cooked for Hubby , though he wasn’t then, obviously.
Then again it could be what the nurse says when she’s about to either give you a shot or take blood ‘ Just a little scratch…………’.

For me these days though, it’s card making and trying to make them from scratch as these were without preprinted designs.
This one was my favourite that day and made up of scraps left over from other items.

Writephoto 10th June: Tunnel

KL Caley is now our host for the Thursday writephoto originally inspired by Sue Vincent.
You can find out more here

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a tunnel made from trees, branches and grass. Towards the end are 2 ducks.
The Tunnel – Image by KL Caley

Under the coolness of branches,
Hidden from the scorching sun,
Gladys and Muriel wander,
An adventure for them just begun.
Their pond is far behind them,
They absconded to pastures new,
Bored with the flock pecking order,
This was so much better to do!
They knew not how far they traveled,
Or the distance it was from home,
But as their bellies rumbled,
Perhaps it was not good to roam….
Cool water and grass now seemed favourite,
Time to turn feather and find
The way back from whence they had come from,
Once forward was now left behind.
Open space beckoned ahead now,
They recognised this part of the way,
They’d suffered from tunnel vision
Which had taken up most of the day!

Today is Thursday 10th June

It is 3.30 in the afternoon and I have just accessed my blog.
Hubby had an INR this morning and is still in range. He had a ‘discussion’ with the current nurse who wanted to reduce his dosage unnecessarily as it could have sent it the other way and he’d be back on tummy jabs. He has to go back next week, though will see another nurse as this one is on holiday. Our regular and efficient INR nurse is still off, and it is unclear if she will actually be coming back to our surgery. Bummer that.

He has spent the majority of the morning fixing our neighbour’s gate as the hinges had dropped. All workmen here do a grand job, that is it costs a thousand pounds for whatever you want done. Hubby replaced rusted screws, realigned the hinges then rehung the gate and all is good.

I was going to make some cards today but it is too hot and stuffy here in the lounge where I’d have to work at the table. The fan would blow everything everywhere, so I’m holding fire until a cooler day.

We had corned beef hash today for lunch followed by ice cream. We’ll have the last of the stew for our final meal around 4 pm.
On a finishing note today, I’ve counted 65 buds on the Ancient Mariner and this is what it looked like this morning:
Isn’t it fabulous?

Take care everyone, and keep safe.

Three Things Challenge #625

Welcome to The Three Things Challenge.
Below are three things that may, or may not, be related. Simply read the prompt and see where your creativity takes you.
You can use one, two or all three words in your post, there are no restrictions regarding length, style, or genre apart from keeping it family friendly.
You can use 3TC, #threethingschallenge or TTC as a tag and my logo if you wish.
Invite us along by creating a pingback to this post, then leave your link in the comments so that other people can read your writings and I’ll see it to respond to you directly. You might like to check out some of the other contributions while you’re there.

I schedule the challenge to go out around 6.30 am UK time, but pingbacks have to be approved manually so might not show immediately. This could be because I’m late accessing my blog or due to time differences, but I will get there, I promise!
I look forward to reading your responses, and as always thank you all for your continued support.

Your three things today are:
SHRUNK
HANG
FILE

Armed and dangerous

I’ve always said I could be dangerous when I get some ideas, and there are a fair few rambling round in my noggin at the moment.
I wake up some mornings and my head is throbbing with things to try on the card making front, some of which I’ve attempted lately which didn’t actually work too well.
As I’ve said in previous posts, the trimmings I usually buy have either been discontinued or cannot be sourced, so rather than use those in reserve I already have, I’ve been thinking outside the box and trying to make my own.
I’ve come unstuck with silhouettes as the black paper is black on both sides, so I cannot see my outlines to cut out. My 3D petals sort of worked, though I hadn’t realised that this particular card was only coloured on one side when I did my first flower and didn’t take well to rubbing out my pencil markings.

FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER: 2021: WEEK #23

Roger Shipp hosts the FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER: challenge. This week’s picture  is selected from UNSPLASH … Taylor Murphy.

It had been an interesting two years since Jax came into their lives.
He had enriched it in so many ways, but it was so hard to let him go.
They had found him, lost and abandoned, and taken him home, where he became the son they never had.
They realised Jax was special way before he let them share his secret. Trust was built on both sides, and when they discovered just how privileged they were that he had chosen them, well, all three of them cried.
Now the time had come for Jax to return to his roots, so here they were at the same spot where they had first met.
They stood back and listened as Jax called to the sky. His heavy set collar began to glow and he turned to his loyal friends and companions.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘ If my race could love, I have felt it being with you. Adopting the form of a canine seemed the most appropriate way to blend in with humans. I am honoured to have known you and saying goodbye makes my heart heavy. I cannot stay, but my doppelganger will be waiting for you when you return, though obviously he will not be vocal as I have been. I know you will look after each other for a good many years to come.’
He closed his eyes, and with a wag of his tail was transported heavenwards.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #121

For this week’s provocative question, Fandango is going with more fun than provocative.

Let’s say you found a fancy bottle, rubbed it, and a wish-granting genie was released. This week’s provocative question is this:

What three wishes would you ask the genie to grant you?
Thinking about Poe’s The Monkey’s Paw and the adage ‘Be careful what you wish for’,
this is perhaps not as straightforward as it sounds!

My wishes though:
I would like to go back in time to May 8th 1996 for just five minutes to hug my Dad and tell him how much I loved him.
My second wish would be to be with my Mum on 18th January 2018 when she passed away.
My third wish would be to banish Hubby’s pain.

All personal I know, but I have no need for riches, fame or material things as I already have what is most important.

 

Friday Fictioneers 11th June

Rochelle is our wonderful host for the Friday Fictioneers challenge.
Click here to find out more and join in.
This week our photo is provided by Dale Rogerson

Jill pulled sharply into the parking lot, turned off the engine and ran up to the counter.
‘Gin to take away please,’ she said.
‘Sorry?’
‘Gin and orange.’
‘Erm, we don’t sell alcohol ma’am.’
‘You don’t? I was told this was the place to come for the best cocktails. My friend said I couldn’t miss it as it had a huge orange as its trademark.’
‘Ah. I think you need the bar down the road. We’re an indoor crazy golf course.’

81 words.