SHARE YOUR WORLD 1-27-20

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SHARE YOUR WORLD 1-27-20

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  What age would you like to live to?

• What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to?
• Does absolute power corrupt absolutely?
• What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to?

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What age would you like to live to?

I would like to life to be 120-years-old. By that time, cars will fly, drinking water will be free again, all phones will be visual phones, and there will be 80 states in the United States of America. Just so you know… Here are the new ones

• • Washington, D.C.
  • San Francisco to Los Angeles- remained California: The northern and southern lands seceded from the original state.  
  • American Samoa
  • Guam
  • Puerto Rico
  • The Virgin Islands
  • The Bahamas
  • Haiti
  • The Cayman Islands
  • Honduras
  • Jamaica
  • Mexico- divided into three states
  • Canada- each province a state: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • Australia- divided into four states
  • Two MOON states
  • One oceanic state
  • One state on a yet undiscovered planetary body.

What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to?

Are The Loch Ness and Bigfoot real … ?

Does absolute power corrupt absolutely?

Of course. Why do you think people say that if it isn’t true!

What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to?

Napping under the trees

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Written for Share Your World 1-27-2020.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE

Amazon

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NOTHING TO SEE HERE

Kevin Wilson

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I have a new FAVORITE AUTHOR!

Lillian and Madison (girls from the opposite sides of the streets) become unlikely roommates in an isolated upper-class prep-school. Lillian is coerced by Madison’s father to ‘befriend’ her roommate and ‘take a fall’ so that a boarding school scandal can be resolved. Their codependent friendship continues through letters.

Several years later, Lillian gets a letter from Madison seeking assistance once again “from the only person I can truly trust”. Lillian is hired to babysitter Madison’s stepchildren. The stepchildren happen to have an unusual gift- they spontaneously combust.

A touching story, yet hilariously funny!

Once you start the book, you won’t want to put it down!

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Written for THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERS. 

SHARE YOUR WORLD: 1-20-20

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SHARE YOUR WORLD: 1-20-20

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• Where do you get your news?
• What ‘old person’ thing do you do?
• When was the coldest you’ve ever been?   The warmest?
• Do you eat food that’s past its expiration date if it still smells and looks fine?

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Where do you get your news?

The news ain’t what it used to be… Waking up in the morning and enjoying a grand breakfast means it’s going to be a good day.

What ‘old person’ thing do you do?

I wasn’t sure what ‘old people’ things were, so I had to google: OLD PEOPLE HABITS  

From the Top Ten, I was guilty of FOUR! (FYI: I have been doing those four my entire life- NOT ‘old people things’!

• • Leave a voicemail– NOPE! If you don’t answer, then you’re busy. So am I.
  • Eat dinner at 5:00 pm- ALWAYS. Then there is time for another meal around 9:00 pm.
  • Wear a jacket even if it’s not cold. – NOPE! What’s a jacket?
  • Take pictures of people and things besides themselves. – Yes! Of, Course. What kind of conceited snob fills their blogs up with selfies? (Pretend I’m not talking about you?)
  • Obsess about the weather– Yes. I don’t drive in the snow. Snow is for play time!
  • Go on a cruise– NOPE! Can’t swim… Don’t want to.
  • Drink tea– Who in their right mind would have tea over other, far more palpable, drinks!
  • Use Facebook– NOPE.
  • Ignore the GPS– I already know where I’m going and how to get there. It’s just two lanes down from the big red barn. Turn left, and in fourteen mailboxes, you are there. Easy… Peasy.
  • Play BINGO. NO. Noo. Nooo! Maybe Monopoly, or RISK, or PHASE ONE. Maybe even put a puzzle together. People cheat at BINGO!

When was the coldest you’ve ever been?   The warmest?

I have no idea what the extremes in temperature fluctuations I have had to endure in my young life. As a youth, it was a game. The ‘loser” went inside first. I don’t know what the winning ‘degree variants’ happened to me. (FYI: On one camping trip, the temperatures dropped going to the site. We decided it would be fun to see ‘who was the man’. We took off our shirts and cut the air conditioner on high. We had to stop to de-ice the windshield on the inside twice. I won! There was no prize except for the satisfaction of personal power. Of course, maybe that was really a dream and I am not that shallow?)

Do you eat food that’s past its expiration date if it still smells and looks fine?

No…Noo…Nooo…Noooo! I have to rely on the knowledge of others for ALL food stuffs. While in college, I had the privilege of breaking my nose twice. Then during my first two years teaching, I broke it three more times. (Two times within the same month!)

I can’t smell. (Well, not actually true. I can smell pleasant and yuck. But once I have the initial odor, I have no idea what the smell is I have noticed… Is it a good smell? Is in nasty? I am not one to be trusted with identifying the odor!!)

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Written for Share Your World 1-20-2020.

JUST PLANNING AHEAD

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JUST PLANNING AHEAD

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“Why do we always get ten little peeps every time?” Suzy was excited about getting to pick the baby chicks to watch grow.

“Every March and every August,” inserted Adam. “Grandma likes her peeps for the holidays.”

Mom gave Adam her phone to play a game on. “Grandma likes the number ten,” Mother cautiously responded.

“Is that why she always gives Adam and me each five cookies at snack time? Five and five is ten.”

“That’s right,” said Mom.

“I wonder why she doesn’t give me ten sodas at a time.” Adam smiled.

Mother gave Adam that motherly don’t-you-cross-that-line look. “So which ones should we pick?” She looked at Suzy.

“That one!” Suzy pointed to the larger one in the corner.

“That’s a good one, Suzy. Let’s call that one Jingles,” said Adam. “Now, I’ll pick out Jangles.”

“Are we going to name the rest of them the same names? Dasher and Dancer and all the other reindeer names?”

“We sure are. Grandma loves her reindeer,” said Adam.

“We always give the summer chickens to Grandma on our Thanksgiving visit.” Suzy seemed deep in thought. “Why aren’t any of them there when we visit at Christmas?

“Oh, they’re there,” Adam smiled. “They’re just incognito.”

“Incog… what?” asked Suzy.

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Written for FANSTORY. 

IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER

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IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER

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Not a great start to the New Year

If only I hadn’t remembered

I had hide spare keys

under the back fender.

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Written for FANSTORY.  The 20_Syllable New Year’s Contest.

Photo from KCRA3 News.

According to the Chicago Manual Style, ‘hadn’t’ is a 1 syllable word. I hope I picked the right reference. Other dictionaries had varying opinions.

THE ZOO: A CONCRETE POEM

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The ride to the zoo has taken forever.

I’m not sure what Mom and Dad were thinking

when they thought I would enjoy a six hour trip.

(I’m seven. Almost seven and a half.

I know that if it takes six hours to get there,

it will take even six loonnngggeeeer hours to get home.

 

  Finally ….”Look, there on the sign. There’s monkeys and tigers. Even a giraffe.

Mom says that even the snakes skunks are kept alive here. “Are there alligators”

    Elephants .   .   .   .   Pandas .   .   .   .   .Gorillas .   .   .   .   .  Hippos

    Monkeys .   .   .   .   . Spiders .   .   .  .   .  Frogs .   .   .   .   .    Tiger

    Alligators .   .    .   Crocodiles .   .   .   . Lemurs .   .   .   .   . Zebras

    Orangutans .   .    . Meerkats .   .   .   . Sea Lions .   .   .   .   Tapirs

    Penguins .   .   .    . Tortoises .   .   .   Chimpanzees .   .   .  Otters

    Rhinoceroses .  .  Wart Hogs .   .   .   .Anteaters .   .   .   .  Sloths

I’ve never seen so many animals at the same time! I even got to feed pygmy goats.

So much better than a circus. Sure, there are no clowns… Did you see that monkey

show off his bright red butt                      Mom says it’s time to leave.

      I’m so tired, bet I sleep                             all the way back. Mom 

                       Dad … Don’t                                                  wake me ’til

                              we’re                                                            home.

 

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Written for FANSTORY. I have never written a concrete poem before. As a teacher, I loved to use them as teaching tools, but I always felt the creation of them was a little beyond my grasp. I had the idea of a zoo trip from personal, previous experiences. I hope when I hit ‘save’ the formatting allows for a concrete poem? (The ‘save’; button ruined the concrete poem, so I had to be creative.)

Fix Two: I tried the … … … And that was better.

Fix Three: Then, the great ideas to bold my carnival cage…

I hope you still enjoy it!

Photo was from UnSplash: Nikolay Tchaouchev

GOODBYE. FOREVER.

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GOODBYE. FOREVER.

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This is goodbye. Today. Forever.
A healthy life requires it so.
Chester, the Cheeto, you were so clever.
But, I’m sorry, you must go.

Memories of you. Your taste. Your touch.
Delicately removed from fingers kissed.
From hutch to bowl, you were my crutch.
You will be greatly missed.

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Written for FANSTORY.  Write an ode to anything you want as long as it is not about a person or an animal. Comparison can be made to people or animals. It can be funny or serious. Personification allowed. Rhyming or not is up to you. The subject is up to you, please keep it clean. Pictures and author’s notes allowed.

CHEETOS are a name brand for ‘cheese-flavored barrel-shaped chips’.

I tried to mimic the traditional Horatian ode with the four line stanzas.
Horatian odes tend to be about moments of personal growth and reflection.
*** from literarydevices.com ode

This was a passionate goodbye necessary for a new healthy lifestyle resolution.