Heat - Magpie 72



Image Courtesy of Tess @ Magpie Tales



This week's image from Tess @ Magpie Tales is 'wheat field with rising sun' - Vincent Van Gogh 1889 - so here is a short fictional piece of prose called 'Heat'

To read other contributors to this prompt visit HERE

Heat  

It is August and hot, voices from the car radio fill our silence.  My brother Gerard looks out the back window, as if his eyes might take him somewhere else, out into the meadows with the rolled-up hay. I sit behind Mam. Being seven, my legs are shorter than Gerard’s.  Below the hem of my dress, my legs stick to the leather seat, making a peeling sound like sellotape when I lift them off. 

     We should be going someplace nice, we should have a boot filled with summer things, sandwiches, flasks of tea and club orange; but we have none of these.

     No one speaks. Mam sleeps; her stick arms resting either side of a sleeveless blue dress.  She wears Indian beads and a flowered scarf, covering her bald head.

     ‘I want to pee,’ I say.

     ‘Shut up,’ mutters Gerard below his breath.  He is angry, and I wish I didn’t know why.

     ‘I want to pee,’ I say, louder then.

     Mam groans between her world of sleep and our world of the car.

     Through the driver mirror, Dad stares at me, the whites of his eyes coated in their red trim.  I say no more, and hold myself.

     I don’t expect her to turn, but she does.  She looks tired, soft, and smiles, and as if by magic, she looks like Mam again, and we’re back at home, laughing, playing, washing dishes in the kitchen sink. 

     Reaching up, she removes her beads, handing them to me, like a present.  I close the clasp around my neck, and through them, I feel the heat of her on me.

     ‘Emily,’ she whispers before falling back to sleep.

     ‘Mam,’ I say, not expecting anymore.

*      *     *

     Now I warm the beads beneath my pillow.  Her heat will never leave me.

What I know about Twitter Lists

Firstly, I'll put my hand up and admit that I love lists, I use them all the time, not just for shopping, but for planning, prioritising, the list of lists is endless! 

This inclination means that when it came to lists on twitter, I figured they might be something I would be interested in.

In my humble opinion everyone on twitter should use lists and here's what I've learned to date, and why people should use them:

Firstly they lend themselves to the divide and conquer idea, because if you put someone in a list, instead of browsing through miles of tweets everyday, you can read them in a logical format.  For example, if you follow a number of News sites, you can put all of them in a list called 'News', this makes looking through the news tweets easier than when they are mixed in with other tweets.

You can also read your tweets in a manner of their importance to you - lets say you put all your blogpals or friends in one list, or have a number of favourite writers, again you can create 2 more lists marked, 'blogpals/friends' & 'favourite writers' list.  This means that if time is short you can log in, and in an instant see what people in these two lists have tweeted over let's say the last 24 hours.

A note of importance here, when you create your lists, you can have them as public lists, or private lists.  At the moment, I have all my lists as private, but this will probably change.  Like for example, if I change my list marked 'Irish Writers' to a public list, then others can follow it.

The other thing that I have decided about lists, is that it is better to allocate followers to a list from the get go, because it sorts out having to do a lot of housekeeping later.

You can also have someone in more than one list, they can be in a list called 'thriller writers' and also in a list called 'writers who blog'.

You can also have someone on a list and not be a follower.  Once you put them on a list, their tweets will appear, whether you follow them or not.

You can change your listings at any point, so a follower could start off in one list, for example 'Art' and end up being in 'pals/friends'.

So finally, this is how you can create a list, and place your followers/people you follow in them.

If you click on a follower, then you will see their profile etc on the right. To the right of the 'Following Button' you will see a link button with an envelope on it, and to the right of that, a link button with the top of a person, (head and shoulders) - click the dropdown arrow and click on 'Add to list'.  If you have a list created already and you want to place this follower in it, just tick the box beside your list title.  If you haven't got a list created, or if you are only starting to create lists, after you click 'Add to list' - then click on 'Create a list'.  Once you choose this, type in the name you want applied to this list, type in a description if you want one.  Your list will automatically be created as a public list, but if you want it to stay private for now, under privacy, just click on the 'private' option, then save list.

All very easy.  Just to note here, this is not an extensive post on all about lists, because there is a lot about them, I still havn't figured out yet, but when I do, I'll let you know all about it.

Welcome Back

When I left, I thought there was no going back.  As that last day froze in my memory, I somehow thought, the house, the contents, and the people in it, would remain unchanged.

To most it was an ordinary house on an ordinary street, but they would not have known the life which I had lived in it.  

Funny now, this day of my return, is just like that final afternoon.  The January snow rests underfoot, gleaming on rooftops, barely teasing the barren branches of the trees.  The large oak outside my attic window looks taller, telling me it stayed, even though I ran away.

Did the roots of the tree follow me, become touchingly close?  Did it witness my new life, the one without this home?

My father’s angry words tried vainly to catch flight in the breeze, as I slammed the front door shut, leaving for streets that I had never known, for people that spoke differently to me.  Thinking I was moving on.  

It has taken me a while to understand, that the past can overrun the present.  No running away was ever going to change what was left behind, for as I slammed the front door shut, hoping to put the past behind me, I did the very opposite.

He is an old man now, frail I believe. It took many miles for me to get here, but standing now looking at the old house, the journey back has taken more than distance.

I touch the tree before I climb the steps; feel the tough grooves in it's trunk, knowing the roots spread further than the eye can ever see.  The window frames have chipped paint, the glass dirty, but the house knows me, and no matter what he might say, it is welcoming me back.

Thought for the Weekend - Hilary Mantel & Erica Jong

Okay, because I'm in a particularly generous mood today, I'm going to give you not one but two 'Thoughts for the Weekend'

Have a great Weekend!

If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.

- HILARY MANTEL -

All writing problems are psychological problems. Blocks usually stem from the fear of being judged. If you imagine the world listening, you’ll never write a line. That’s why privacy is so important. You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.

- ERICA JONG -

Are you Guilty?

Following on from:-

When you think about childhood, what toy comes to mind?
                                    &
When you were little, what did you dream of becoming some day?
                                    &
When was the first time you fell in Love?


We now reach the Guilt Zone!   We have all been there I expect.  You know the procedure, you do something, you regret doing it, then you are burdened with guilt!

I am pretty sure I started doing things WRONG from a very young age, after all it is all part of growing up, but when I think about the first time I remember doing something wrong, there is no doubt in my mind as to which event wins the prize.

I figure I was about five at the time, could be wrong give or take a year.  My Mam had given me 2 coins to put in the Gas Meter, a bit like an early 'pay as you go' system.  Anyhow, there I was with the 2 coins, and my logical brain immediately figured out that there was no way ANYONE would know if I only put 1 coin in the meter and put the other one in my pocket!  And so I did.

And guess what, my logic was right in part, except for one small detail - the ANYONE, included me.  I knew I'd done it, and though even now, I have no memory of what I spent the money on, the GUILT took hold and stayed in my five-year old brain, and stayed and stayed. 

We didn't have a lot of money growing up, and I may have been only five, but I knew that much.  I also knew, that I had betrayed a trust.  Now, I am not saying I articulated it to my brain exactly like I'm telling you now, but I know, I didn't have a good feeling inside me afterwards.

In the general scheme of things, it is not a big deal, but it stayed with me, and maybe on reflection it has turned out to be a good thing; because although, I have often done things that I have felt guilty about afterwards, I think in the main, I learned something really important at a very young age.  I learned that the prize isn't always worth the price, and if you think you are going to do something that will cause guilt afterwards, think again, because guilt really ain't a good thing to have in your life.

Now I know all of you out there are PERFECT, but if you happen to remember a tiny incident, or even a mad big one, and it has stayed with you from childhood - like the first time you remember being tempted - Did you do it, or did you not?  Spill the beans, you've come to the right place to share!

ALSO - I need to come up with a LABEL/TITLE for these posts, I can't keep listing off previous ones to explain what's going on - so if you have a suggestion, hit me with it.  I was thinking about 'WHEN YOU WERE SMALL?'

How Times Have Changed? - Dr. Who -What -How?

Okay more than a little tight for time today with my multi-tasking skills being pushed to the limit, today's post will be short and hopefully sweet, or if not sweet, full of smoke!

Gone are the days when we used to say 'An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away' -and we are certainly more aware and educated about healthy eating habits and lifestyles than ever before.  Despite the latter though, obesity in children and adults seem to be on the rise - probably a kick back from our changing lifestyles, meaning, we do more sitting down at PCs than out doing physical exercise.  (Note to self - start back walking as of today!)

Anyhow, I digress, but perhaps I might return to this subject again.  In the interim, because I know how much you have been enjoying these Vintage Advertisements, here's one to get you thinking about how times have changed! 

Also will read everyone's blog posts this evening - thanks!

Tech Support - Husbands/Boyfriends

Some of you might have seen this before, but men out there, please do not take this as a slight on your wonderful qualities - This link was sent to me by Hubby - so blame him!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend to Husband and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend.

In addition, Husband uninstalled many other valuable programmes, such as Romance and Personal Attention and then installed undesirable programs such as Rugby, Football, Sailing and Continuous TV. Conversation no longer runs, and Housecleaning simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

.................................................................................................

Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend is an Entertainment Package, while Husband is an Operating System. Please enter the command: 'http: I Thought You Loved Me.html' and try to download Tears.
Don't forget to install the Guilt update. If that application works as designed, Husband should then automatically run the applications Jewellery and Flowers, but remember - overuse of the above application can cause Husband to default to Grumpy Silence, Garden Shed or Beer. Beer is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband.
In summary, Husband is a great system, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. It also tends to work better running one task at a time. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food and Lingerie.

Good Luck,
Tech Support

Where have the last 3 Hours Gone?

Awake since dawn, and having just spent the last 3 hours writing, I wondered where did the time go to, and even more important, what did I actually achieve?  The fruits of my labour seem very small indeed, which reminded me of a comic strip from Calvin and Hobbes.

If you enjoy this, I guess I've achieved something!

The Strand - Magpie Tales 71

Image Courtesy of Tess @ Magpie Tales

Above this week's visual prompt from Tess @ Magpie Tales, which reminded me of colourful fish and then the sea.  So here's one from an early childhood memory - Visit Here - for some wonderful takes on the prompt, or even better have a go yourself!


The Strand

I am three years old,

the tide’s coming in,

new sights and sounds,

of an unknown place.

The breeze batters my ears and face,

filling my hair with knots and sand.

Against sea and sky he stands,

trouser legs rolled up,

white chalk skin, unforeseen.

He turns to the sea, his back to me,

I am cold,

the wind cutting out all other sounds.

As he walks away, the blue waters eat his feet,

my mother's hands grip mine,

‘No,’  I roar.

The strand is huge,

swallowing my sobs,

‘shush,’ she says holding tighter still,
as my father turns,
coming back from the sea,

into memory.

Reading @ The Irish Writers Centre

The Irish Writers Centre will be having an evening of readings this Thursday 30th June 2011 @ 7 o'clock.

It is their Annual Reception celebrating the end of term - and as yours truly will soon be finishing a course there, I will be one of the readers! And if listening to me isn't enough for you - there will be vino and music on the night as well!

Irish Writers Centre - 19 Parnell Square Dublin 1