WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY

This meme was started by a lady named Delores a long time ago.  Words for Wednesday are now provided by a number of people and, it has become a moveable feast.

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given a choice of prompts, which can be words, phrases, music or an image.  What we do with them is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem or treating them with ignore.  We can use some or all of the prompts.

Some of us put our creations on the post and others post on their own blog.  I would really like as many people as possible to join the meme, which includes cheering on other participants (definitely the more the merrier). If you are posting on your own blog, please let me know so that I, and the other participants, can come along and applaud.

This month it's my turn for "Words for Wednesday".  Please do join in the fun!  Fun is what it's all about!

1.  Physical                                                 7.  Bearing

2.  Partial                                                    8.  Accomplish

3.  Performance                                          9.  Deficient

4.  Melee                                                    10.  Hullabaloo

5.  Odyssey                                                11.  Concrete  

6.  Amplify                                                12.  Cultural

After the unnecessary hullabaloo, which had absolutely no bearing on what they were trying to accomplish, the group believed they would not only be deficient in common sense, but in the cultural sense of what they were trying to achieve, as well, if they allowed the melee to amplify and become physical. 

From the performance of some within the tumultuous, uninformed mob it was feared heads and bodies would hit the concrete footpath, meaning people would get hurt if matters weren’t brought under control...and brought under control immediately in a calm manner. 

Violence emanating from ignorance was not wanted. Violence was not part of the group’s spiritual, intellectual odyssey.  It never would be tolerated.  So, it had to be nipped in the bud now, not later.

To have to deploy even partial protection from the police was not what the group had envisaged, or wanted.  Once that happened, in their opinion, temper temperatures would rise. Turmoil and protests were not what the group were about; not what they desired.  Such disruptive behaviour never solved anything.  Unfortunately, it appeared some police protection would have to be applied before they could move forward...peacefully.

NEON KALEIDOSCOPE

The title is a fitting, not exaggerated description of my mind’s activity the other morning....early morning. 

Around 3.15 am I was rudely awoken by Nature calling.  The call came not on my landline, nor via email, if you get my drift.  Once impatient Nature’s  (“She” who cannot be ignored) needs had been attended to, I hopped...well...not quite hopped...back into bed; drew the covers up; apologised to my two unimpressed furry bedfellows for disturbing them, and then shut my eyes. 

Immediately upon doing the latter, the lights in my mind switched on.... technicolour neon lights a-blazing.  There were enough bright lights illuminating my mind to light up this whole plateau on which I dwell...and the valley below!  Even the Gold Coast would have noticed the illumination lighting up the western skyline.

Becoming more frustrated as each minute passed, I waited, and waited...and waited... for sleep to take hold again...for my mind's shutters to close.  But, no...there was no chance of that happening.  Sleep had packed its bags and left town.  Sleep had broken the self-isolation restrictions.  It escaped, with no intention of returning. 

Have you ever had one of those nights/early mornings when once having woken, the mind stays awake and alert, refusing your pleas to shut down? 

Like a misbehaving, tantrum-throwing two-year old, during those wee small hours of the morning my mind refused to settle. No matter how I tried to quieten it... to dull it; to shut it down and off... my mind just wouldn’t shut up, or switch off!  It was a hive of activity.  A full-blown party was going on up there!

For whatever reason, my mind flew...not drifted...flew back to my time spent living and working in various northern regions of this wonderful state of ours known as “Queensland”.   

During my time spent in the north, I not only had two cats, Pushkin and Rimsky, but I also adopted my brother’s dog when he was unable to keep his pet at his new home base.  Without a doubt, Missy, a black and grey cocker spaniel was the Dame Edna Everage of the dog world.  Missy was in my life...and the bane of Pushkin and Rimsky’s lives...for five years. 

She was lovely old girl, who really didn’t deserve the whacks across her nose she was given every now and then by the feline duo. Pushkin and Rimsky wanted to make sure Missy understood who ruled the roost, and for her to know her place on the ladder.

I’ll cease my ramblings, and return to my early morning mental roaming that stopped me from falling back to sleep....

The managers of the motel/restaurant, in which I was the cook/chef at one stage, not only had a cuddly cat named “Tiger”, they also had a dog...a lovely Irish setter.  And, he was the cause of my mind getting bogged in the deepest mire. 

For the life of me, during my early morning mental activity, I couldn’t remember the dog’s name.  I could see him as clear as day!  I loved that dog.  We were the best of buddies; but his name escaped me.  No matter how or what I tried, his name deserted me.  The more I tried the more awake I became, and the more frustrated.  I tried my oft-used method when trying to recall a name. I began at the beginning of the alphabet, letter by letter, from A to Z.  Failed!   I was at an impasse.  

Out of the blue, around 5 pm that afternoon, many hours later, the dog’s name came to me.  “Bundy”.  My sandy-gold Irish setter mate, the same colour as “Jimmy”, the beautiful Border Collie who lives across the way...was named “Bundy”. 

One day while I was staying at the motel, looking after Bundy and Tiger, I jumped in my car to shoot back to my abode to check on my own pets.  

As I was driving down the road, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. 

Turning my head, I came face to face with Bundy's smiling face staring eagerly and excited at me!  He wanted to come along with me.  I stopped the car, opened the passenger side door...and let him in.  Bundy was a very happy, contented passenger, more than pleased to go along for the ride.

After my early morning neon light, kaleidoscopic frustration, that night, after finally remembering my Irish Setter mate's name, I slept through, undisturbed, until the sun had risen way above the eastern horizon. 

No mental neon lights a-blaring; only happy memories of “Bundy!

Avo-Go Eggs & Bacon:  Preheat oven, 218C. Cut 1 medium avocado in half; remove seed. Scoop out a little flesh...just a little to make room. Crack 1 egg in each half; sprinkle with a little grated cheese; season; top with cooked  chopped bacon; cook in oven 14-15mins.

Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Beans: Combine 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1tbs hot-smoked paprika, 4tbs dried rosemary, pinch of salt and 4tbs olive oil. Slash 1x2-1/2kg lamb shoulder all over with a sharp knife; rub in the mix; marinate up to 24hrs, but not essential. Heat oven 150C. Heat 1tbs olive oil in roasting pan over med-high heat, add 2 roughly-chopped onions, 4 roughly-chopped carrots and 1 garlic bulb, cut in half; sizzle 5 mins until onions and carrots are softened. Pour over 500ml chicken stock; bring to boil. Nestle lamb in pan; cover, then transfer to oven; roast 2 hrs. Uncover and transfer lamb to a plate. Stir into the stock, 3x400g cans drained and rinsed butter beans, 460g jar drained, roughly chopped roasted red peppers, and 300g jar pitted black olives.  Sit lamb back on top; return to oven, uncovered, for 1 hr 30 mins. Transfer lamb to a board; shred using two forks. Stir 4tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley through beans; serve. 

Bananas & Rum Syrup: Put 2tbs butter and 3tbs brown sugar in pan over low heat; stir until sugar dissolves and begins to bubble. Simmer 2mins; add 2 bananas, cut in half, then sliced lengthwise; continue to simmer; turn bananas; simmer a minute or so. Add 1-2tbs Bundaberg rum; stir; remove from heat. Place scoop of ice cream into 2 bowls; top with banana; drizzle with syrup. 

WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY....

This meme was started by a lady named Delores a long time ago.  Words for Wednesday are now provided by a number of people and, it has become a moveable feast.

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given a choice of prompts, which can be words, phrases, music or an image.  What we do with them is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem or treating them with ignore.  We can use some or all of the prompts.

Some of us put our creations on the post and others post on their own blog.  I would really like as many people as possible to join the meme, which includes cheering on other participants (definitely the more the merrier). If you are posting on your own blog, please let me know so that I, and the other participants, can come along and applaud.

This month it's my turn for "Words for Wednesday".  Please do join in the fun!

1.  Faultless                                         7.  Literally

2.  Anticipation                                   8.  Privilege

3.  Quota                                             9.  Perpetual

4.  Development                               10.  Refresh

5.  Sculpture                                     11.  Platform

6.  Transform                                   12.  Ply

Albeit nervously, Maggie waited in eager anticipation of what lay ahead.  

She read through her notes once again...for about the hundredth time...maybe more...to refresh her memory of what she needed to say.  There would be no second chance. She knew her presentation had to be faultless.  It needed to be flawless, without error...in a word...perfect.  The privilege Maggie felt having made it this far, she didn’t treat lightly.

Her verbal submission was literally as important as the wood sculpture she had presented two days earlier.  It was already on display on a platform in the main hall, along with the creations of others who were also hoping for a place in the visual arts course.  The college had a firm quota system in place for the selection of the right young people for the master classes. The teachers were there not only to teach, but to encourage and inspire the development of the chosen students.

Maggie knew being accepted would transform her life...her future...forever.  If she was accepted she would learn to ply her chisels, and other tools, like those of the masters...the experts.  

Maggie believed she would be in a state of perpetual bliss if she was successful in being accepted.

Taking deep breaths, she held her head high as she entered the office of the dean and the teaching sculptors who were waiting to interview her...ready to put her through her paces.

“Here I go!  Don’t blow it!” Maggie told herself, smiling confidently at those before her as she sat down.