We are the....

Delores at Under thePorch Light provides some amazing challenges:  Six unrelated-topic words and/or a sentence prompt.  Click on the train tracks in my right sidebar to see other writers' ideas.

I could not resist the sentence prompt!  Usually those crazy six words send me winding down some road.  But this time she wrote

…spinner of tales…teller of dreams…

In school, I was the ultra-obedient student, altho my mind was not.

So taking these fragments I will give you instead a Gene Wilder spin on them with this:

...we are the music makers...we are the dreamer of dreams....

Gene Wilder is such a perfect actor for this role.

Delores, you are amazing.

P.S. Tomorrow my post will attack the six words.  Check back here!

What's in a Name?

It makes perfect sense, doesn't it.

Well, apparently your name, the year of your birth, and the statistics related to such are highly significant.

Are you a Kenneth?  Chances are good that you are between 38 to 65 years old.  Or, maybe a Dorothy?  You are probably between 64 to 77 years old.

Here are some other name:

Barbara:  56 to 74

Ashley:  17 to 26

Fred:  53 to 74

Herbert: 52 to 74

Faith: 7 to 24


The years when Disney Princesses hit the screen definitely changed the scale.  
With the young male ages, it seems that names that end in -en, -an, -in, and -on seem to be popular.  Oddly enough "Oliver" had a quite a run long after the movie was released.

Sooo, where are YOU?  "Susan" is between 47 and 58.  I'll take that.

Are you brave enough?  Can you take this step?  Check out this site!

P.S.  Betty is between 62 and 80+


What is in a name?


If the font is too small (and sometimes they are), Press "control and then +" and see if that helps.  Delores told me that.  She is brilliant.

Living Life through Generations to generations

Our trip to Switzerland allowed our three grown-up children and their off-spring to be together.  Like proud parents, we stood back and enjoyed their interactions.  They have grown so much, accomplished more than we or they expected, and become successful adults.

Even in our glowing observing, we could not help but notice that WE were also be observed. 

Sitting in the family room (me on the floor) while we played cars and trucks with our grand kids, these three (with their spouses) leaned in closely, talking in low voices.  

Occasionally one would glance our way and then turn back to the group.  One would point at us.  One would indicate some body part where we were currently experiencing pain.  

All were serious.  Sympathetic. 

My husband suggested,  “They have great senior facilities here…”

I looked at my husband and him at me.  “You know,” I whispered, “Euthanasia is legal here in Switzerland.”

We looked back at our precious adult children.  They quickly looked away and moved to the kitchen.  

Then we resumed play with grandchildren.  Life is good as grandparents when there are Legos and toys available, and the children who have a glow about them.

Wednesday Words: The Creation of Spanx

Spanx official site...Please oh Please check this out.

Calamitous events start with someone’s ambitious plans, at least in the creation of Spanx.

With just a fraction of a brain, Glen envisioned a glittering future with his new creation: the ultra-female girdle.  All lumps, bumps, and globs of middle fat would magically disappear when one wore this new girdle.

“This will be indispensable for most females!” He declared to his wife, Ginger.  “Here, try it on!”

Ginger managed to pull it up to the thighs and got stuck.  Glen rolled it down to her feet, and she kicked him out the door. Some colorful metaphors were exchanged and Glen stayed in the garage for a week.

Thus the Spanx was born.**

**No actual truth can be attached to this telling.  Plus Melissa McCarthy uses no profanity in this Ellen episode.  

Each week, Delores at Under the Porch Light tosses 6 words out, and suggests participants see what can be created in either prose, poetry, etc.  Please access her site by clicking on the lonely railroad tracks in the upper right bar.  This week she tossed in "Spanx".  Really?

Band of Pianos and St. Crispin's Day

Source

I loved the nobility and passion of Henry V/Kenneth Branagh’s rousing speech in which he extols his men to remember that battle on St. Crispin’s Day.  Band of Brothers…reminding them how dear this relationship would always be.  Still gives me goosebumps.

What do we hold dear?  Many things throughout the stages of our lives are dear to us.  For me?  I cast back to the age when I was eleven years old and wanted a piano so much, so very much. Any piano, even a toy piano with a measly fifteen keys.
   

Amazon

This thought now leaps from Henry V to piano to Mythbusters, a program for nerds and physicists, like my family. I know, right?  Bear with me here...

A recent episode recently had the three younger ‘Busters address some question sent in by a viewer about:  An exploding piano

I will tell you this.  My heart broke each time they blew up a wonderful piano.  NNNNOOOOOO! I cried each time. 

Each piano, the noble band of treasured and worn pianos, splintered into pieces every single time.  The pianos would never know how dear they once were, how hard they endured through many practices, but they felt the music.  The worn and scarred keys declared their courage.

Henry V and the band of pianos.  Hard to make that leap, but I see it in my mind.    

A huge upright grand piano was moved into our house when I was 13.  It was so heavy that it took six strong farmers.  How I treasured it.

Intelligent Design

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It is obvious that 1970s "ranch" houses were designed by men.  In a rush to churn out neighborhoods like ours, blueprints were stamped and approved; wood framing, fiber board walls, wall-board, stucco, and roofs were thrown up, and painted. 

I know the houses were designed by men for two reasons: kitchen cabinets, and placement of the bathrooms.

See the corners? 

If pots or cook ware are placed in the bottom shelf of the cabinets, they will creep further and further back into dark cavernous corners from which nothing emerges.  

A female or child must take a flashlight and crawl in to retrieve the damn things. (My husband closed off those corners and who knows what lives back there right now.)   Also, placement of the appliances of the U-shaped kitchen makes working in the kitchen with two people difficult.

Up the stairs, to the left, and over the living room...

Bathrooms?  The main 1970s ranch-style house bathroom is off the hall and next to the living room, dead center of the house.  Anything that goes on in the bathroom is heard by the whole house—seriously.  Archie Bunker, re-enacted. Newer houses have these bathrooms next to the dining room and kitchen. Again, is that intelligent design?

No female architect would have allowed houses with these designs off the drawing table.  

For anyone whose house design resembles the above, no offense is intended.  Our house is in serious need of re-modeling, and has all the design flaws listed.

Wednesday Words: Warts and All

Source: wikipedia. org.

Just the idea of a clandestine meeting thrilled Grace, whose life had been devoid of romance.  Living in a small town like Creeping Cove gave her few men options.  

Oh, there had been Stanley, whose discovery of a mastodon ten years ago had garnered moments of fame, but the mammoth warts on his nose and his face made him too garish and ugly for serious consideration.

Source

As Grace climbed down the stones to the cove, a familiar voice called out to here, “Over here!”  Grace followed the voice where a couple walked hand in hand. 

“Stanley?....” Grace gasped as she came close to the handsome man.

Stanley smirked, irony dripping with each word, “After the mastodon, I went on to discover other incredible finds.  The money allowed me to have several surgical procedures.  And this is Alice, my surgeon and my wife.”  

He paused.  “I just wanted to thank you for your kindness to me before my success. If only you could have accepted me, warts and all..."

Alice and Stanley walked away, wart-less and happy.

Grace climbed back up the rocks, cursing all the way.


Delores at Under the Porch Light faithfully posts 6 words (sometimes very odd words) as a prompt for a genre of your choice.  This week Delores also provided "...under the mat and off the grid" AND a photo.  You really must visit her site by clicking on the lonely train tracks in the right side-bar.

You will never know what you create.

Brave Friendship

Source

Intellectually, all people understand friendship, how essential it is for relationships.  Being unable to be a friend leaves one bitter and alone.

Children bounce from friend to friend, like balls in a court.

Instantaneously BAM!  A friend is made.

But to describe friendship and what it entails, especially when confronted with two students, steamed and red-faced, pointing fingers at each other?  Sigh.

A movie on friendship is “The Brave Little Toaster”.  One has to accept anthropomorphism, old-fashioned animation, dark scariness, and the corniness that comes with talking appliances.

The intrepid appliances

Synopsis:  A family vacation cabin has stood unused for years, but its appliances continue their duties, while longing for the Master (a boy named Rob) to return.  When it appears that the cabin will be sold, the appliances begin an epic journey to find the Master in the city. **  

It is during this daring quest that the appliances learn that friendship is vital to their survival.  More than that, friendship binds them together.  Why is the movie entitled "The Brave Little Toaster"?  

Because it is the toaster who leads the way and who gives the most to each appliance.

With hurdles faced, dangers avoided, and possible destruction diverted, huge questions hang over the appliances literally:  Will the Master remember them?  Will he search for them as they have searched for him?

Can the appliances maintain this bond of friendship, even though destruction is eminent?

**This was made in 1987,and released a few years later. Its obvious presage to "Toy Story" is clear.  

It was an opening foray into a whole new world of Animation known as Pixar.  It was considered horrible back then, but is now called "a cult movie".

I loved this movie way back when it was a new movie, and I love it now.

Word Wall

Yes, it does look exactly like this.

After three weeks of total immersion in European history, castles, towering Alps, rain and more rains, and most of all, family:  My brain has crash-slammed into a Word Wall.  

Every single thought stumble, slams, and stutters.

Once the grey cells unclog, maybe a lucid and original few sentences will emerge.  Maybe on Wednesday?

Until then, grant me grace.

Sweet, so sweet baby boy!

Leaving Switzerland

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They ran, oh, how they ran.

 

Would they catch the plane in time?  Oh God Help Us!

Through Security checks. More Security checks.  And more.

We are traveling with small children and their grandparents!  Look at them!  They may pass out…

Finally through the boarding gate.  Finally to the seats.  

Looking out the window to watch the land grow smaller behind them.

Source

Going home is hard, saying good-bye is harder.

Parchment Unrolled

The parchment unrolled in Ruth’s hands.  An aroma of cinnamon and incense rose from the ancient document as Ruth deciphered the cryptic writing. 

…Nothing is cast in iron…all burn in a wood fire…

This is a post from back in 2011 from Delores  when she first began the Wednesday Words.  It was fun then, and it is fun now!

Click on the right sidebar gently flowing stream to access her site and other participants!

Roll in ze hay

Another re-post, but edited.  How we loved this show, these actors....

One of the best and probably defining movies of my generation was the brilliant version of “Young Frankenstein” with Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Terri Garr, Madeleine Kahn, and Marty Feldman.  Even now, some almost 40 years later, my husband and I quote phrases that we remember and we chuckle.

“Roll in ze hay”  or  

“Franken-shteen!  Not Franken-shtine!”

The one that I remember today is “Oh! Sweet Mystery of Life, at last I’ve Found you!” sung by Madeleine Kahn.  I won't post it, but it is great.

Strangely, anyone of the generation before us know nothing about this gem. Nothing of Silverado, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...movies we of the 1960s remember and can quote line by line.

But then, we know nothing of Stranger on a Train, Dial M for Murder, 42nd Street, Broadway Melodies....

Perspective is the issue.

What would you do??

Source

Stretched out on the bed, ******* wondered if life could get much more boring than this.  

Anything…almost anything…would be better than this.

Every last vegetable in the garden that could be canned had been canned. In fact, the garden was a pile of pulled weeds. Yard was mowed.  Siding washed down.  Fence wire repaired.

The hogs were wearing down in the heat.  Which is why ***** was at home: to spray water over the hogs to cool them down.  

The slightest sound brought **** almost to the point of throwing furniture down the stairs or ripping down the laundry line.  

Is this what it feels to be insane, to lose my mind?

The parents were at a church committee meeting.  The older brothers had taken the truck to somewhere.  

That point seemed rather vague.

Lightening blew out the transformer yesterday, taking all the electricity with it.  No TV.   No one to phone.  No radio.   Nothing.

What do you think a bored teen (boy or girl) would do in this situation??  What would you do?

Courage Begins Here

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Quick!  You can do it!

James heard Dan’s voice.  He trusted his friend and followed him blindly.  Whatever Dan said was the law.

Dan shifted from foot to foot, his breath coming out quickly.

  “Come on!  We gotta go!  Just do it!”  Dan watched as the backs of the pack of boys disappeared around the corner.

Source: Allen West Republic

James hesitated.  He heard Dan hiss, “Coward!”

James stared up into Dan’s eyes.  Without breaking contact or even blinking, James took the loosened edge of the band aid.

Rip!

We all been there.