 For this challenge I decided to reverse the roles of the prince and the princess and re tell the story from one of the other main character’ s point of view.
To say that I was disgruntled is an understatement! There I was developing nicely in the nursery garden, my lovely green sweetness ripening, when I was plucked, nay tweaked, twisted, tugged, and pulled out of my cosy bed just to be swept away into the dark gloomy room of the palace kitchen. I left behind the light bright sunshine and my fellow bed-mates. Once inside I was washed, swirled, twirled nay whirled around under a stream, gush, nay torrent, of icy cold water. “Would this torture never end?” I agonised, as my round plumpness began to swell. I was placed onto a cloth and laid out in all my nakedness for all to see. There were quite of few of us I must say, drying off in the confines of the steamy kitchen. I had given up all hope and was just about ready to expire when suddenly, there she was! The most brilliant light in the world. A mess of golden curls, blue piercing eyes like dewdrops from lavender bluebells. She glided over the roughhewn cobblestones bringing magic and breathlessness with her. She paused and elegantly bent over the dazzling array of green and then quite unexpectedly, she clapped her delicate porcelain hands together and squealed with joy. “Oh, this is the one I must have!” she said, her voice tinkling with moonbeams across the crowded kitchen. Suddenly, there was hustle and a bustle as favoured underlings hurried, nay scurried, to do her bidding. I had been given the honour of being selected to accompany this vision of ethereal beauty out of the dismal, dingy abode. I was placed reverently into a golden bowl and raised, lifted, nay elevated up and carried with all pomp and ceremony out of the kitchen towards my destiny. I shivered, quivered, nay vibrated with joy and excitement as I was transferred to my lovely’s apartments. They were sumptuous, luxurious, and here I was to remain. My princess spoke again and as she tenderly caressed me, her gentle hands stroked, and her sweet breath hovered over me. She lay me down inside a soft hollow of warmth. “Night, night, my saviour!” she whispered. “Please do your job well.” And as I relaxed and basked in her afterglow, I felt the first sense of fear, as a heavy cloud descended over me, locking out the light. I was stilled, subdued nay banished into a grey world which deepened as heavier and heavier clouds were loaded nay heaved upon my fragile spherical body until all the doom and gloom in the world shrouded my existence. It was quiet and I could hear muffled sounds from up above. Time passed slowly but every now and then I could hear her charming voice and my spirits were raised but then to my utter dismay, there came the first night of pounding. I could hardly breath, as above me, the clouds, turned, twisted, nay rumbled making my body swell and roll as I tried desperately to dislodge the heavy weight which had trapped me and held me down. I was uncomfortable so I spun, somersaulted, jiggled, and wriggled until the weight lifted and I could breather again. Time after time this happened until I had been flattened, crumpled nay squashed, and crushed. My soft green skin was bruised and battered. I ached with the nightly strain. Fortunately, a glimmer of hope occurred. My love had once more visited the bedroom and had sat on top of the topmost cloud. Her voice was still pretty and sweet and she laughed. However, she left quickly, and I prepared myself for another night of terror. But lo and behold fairy godmothers do exist in this world of ours, and mine had finally woken up. The lightest of touches hit the clouds, and this continued all night long. Not once was there a time when I felt the weight bear down on me. A stillness so pure and righteous filled my sleep and in the morning, lo and behold once more the tinkling laughter of my beloved could be heard. I waited and waited in aching anticipation and then finally, the clouds lifted, from me revealing a blinding light as sunshine filtered through the windows of the bed chamber. There was my vison! My loveliness! My princess! Standing tall, aglow in the rainbow light. All my frustration, my aches, my pains simply vanished in her saintly presence. “Take it away!” she commanded, and I was rewarded by the sight of the heavy clouds being disassembled and carried out of the bedchamber. A deep yet melodious baritone reminded me that there was another person accompanying my beloved. Laugher filled the room. I was happy, nay elated when I was picked up and held close to by beauty’s lips. And then with a wave of her delicate hand, she tossed, threw, nay, flung me into the arms of a waiting servant. I was taken from her forever, creased, crinkled nay wrinkled. My lustrous green shine had disappeared, and an over ripe, crusty craggy brownness had taken its place. I was discarded later that day and fell, tumbled, plunged nay, plummeted into the pig slop bucket forever to be forgotten, until one day I would be immortalized by Hans Christian Andersen in one of his classic fairy stories but that is something you will have to wait for!
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 I tackled this challenge in two ways. First, I took the title, ‘Poem of Love’ and added a poem about my daughter Alison when she was first born. Dear Daughter Mine. She smiles and… a polar ice cap melts. She laughs and… a thousand people are uplifted. She cries and… a nation is saddened. She is the sun, the moon and… as my love orbits around her I am overwhelmed by the pulsating glow of motherhood. Sue Westcott (C.)2021  Then, I read the brief which was to write a poem about the things that I love about myself! Well, that was indeed a challenge! So here is my acrostic effort:
Supportive (often) Understanding (generally) Enthusiastic (frequently) Wife (46 years) Easy going (normally) Story writer/teller (daily) Trustworthy (reliably) Caring (always) Observant (usually) Trusting (mostly) Teacher (retired) Sue Westcott(C.) 2021 Today I had to make a sculpture using 5 objects found in my home. Once this was completed I had to rearrange the objects to form another sculpture which may or may not have relevance to the first one! I had the battle with Covid in my mind! My first sculpture is called TOWER OF HEALTH!  I rearranged the objects. This is called Attack Formation!  And finally a third arrangement! This is called Defeat!   Pause.
I recently watched a film based on the life story of Helen Reddy, a female singer trying to break into the music industry in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. It was called I Am Woman after a song that she released of the same title. It was released at the same time as when women in the USA were demonstrating for equality with men in the work place and within the law. This song became their anthem and since watching the film, whenever I have felt down, depressed or overwhelmed by something I think of some of the lyrics which are; I can do anything I am strong Strong! I am invincible Invincible! I am woman!. And I feel better!  My group's challenge today was that a picture is worth a 1000 words. This scene was painted by my talented husband. Hopefully it will remind people to think more about following the lockdown rules. REMEMBER COVID KILLS!
PS You can find more paintings on my husband's website- Philip Westcott - Home  Although I'm not signed up for this group's challenge, it caught my imagination and brought back memories of my teaching days. The challenge was to create a bird. I remembered doing something similar with the children in my classes using tangrams. You can find these puzzles quite easily on the internet and can download free PDF templates if you and your children wanted to try them out. Not only can you make birds, there are many other animals and shapes you can create. I know that the children in my classes enjoyed doing them. So over to you.   We all have good days and bad days, so today’s challenge was an interesting take on this concept. I had to imagine a character that represented these different kinds of days and then write a conversation that they might have had with each other. My choices were a little unusual. My good day was Road Runner from the Wiley Coyote cartoons and my bad day was a sloth! Here is my conversation:
RR—Good morning. Just look at that sunshine. It might be a little bit cold but hey fresh air didn’t hurt anyone! S—I…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. RR—I don’t know about you, but I feel that a good breakfast to start the day is important. After that I’ll wipe down the kitchen, raid the freezer for tonight’s meal and whip up some homemade soup for lunch. Oops! I just need to straighten out the cushions in the living room first and I’m good to go. What about you? S—Don’t……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. RR—I’m so glad I decided to shower rather have a bath. It does sav time you know. I’m ready to go for my essential shopping. I need to visit my Dad first and collect his shopping list, stop off at the dry cleaners and post a parcel at the post office. No rest for the wicked! Ha! Ha! S—Feel……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. RR—How’s your morning been so far? I’m on a roll. I met a friend and chatted for what seemed like ages, socially distanced of course! Now I’m back for lunch. Would you like to join me? (SLURP! SLURP!) That was delicious even though I say so myself. A quick check at the lunch time news and finish the next two chapters of my murder mystery. I think I know who the murderer is, but I’ll have to wait and see! What are you reading now? S—Like……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… RR. Mmm! Let me see. I need to check my list of jobs for this afternoon and organise myself. I’ll change the bedding and put the sheets into wash. Then I need to sort out that bathroom cupboard. I might as well- clean the bathroom whilst I’m in there. The office could do with a wipe down as well and then after that I’ll have a cup of tea and listen to some music. A 20-minute breather does wonders doesn’t it? I know I’ll write down my list of ‘to-do’ jobs for tomorrow. What have you got planned? S—Doing……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. RR—Goodness me is that the time! I need to get a move on. Are you staying for tea? I hope so as it is one of my favourite dishes. Did you say something? Sorry but I must dash I can hear the kitchen timer beeping. S—Anything…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. I hope you get the picture! Sue Westcott.(C.) 2021  My challenge today was the dance challenge (see Day 18 part one) but there are two other groups who have different challenges to my group and today one of them had to find hidden faces. This intrigued me, so, on my daily exercise walk my lovely husband and myself set out on a mission to see if we could find some for ourselves. We were amazed at how many we found. Here is a selection of them.  If you are feeling gloomy, sad, or just down-in-the-dumps then this challenge will help set you right. Today, all I had to do was choose a song and simple dance to it as if no one were there. I also had to think about how it made me feel. Well obviously, there are so many songs that would fit the bill and I did spend a few minutes stressing about this but in the end decided to choose the first CD in the cupboard which was ‘Now That’s What I Call Country.’ I looked over the list and chose number 9 and number 10 from CD 1. Number 9. Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyprus This made me feel happy, light-hearted and I soon lost myself in the song and the dance. I thought about my holiday in 2019 when my lovely husband and myself spent three weeks in Texas. This line-dancing song made me remember our visit to Fort Worth where we saw, cowboys, stagecoaches, dance halls, cowboy hats and boots, longhorn cattle and a rodeo show. As I ‘sloshed’ (a type of line dance) my way through, I added grapevine and a couple of 'dosey doe’s' to my routine and was a little disappointed when the song came to an end. Undeterred and feeling the groove I decided to dance to the next song. Number 10. Dance The Night Away by The Mavericks Suddenly, I was whisked away to Puerta Vallarta, which is a holiday resort in Mexico. We enjoyed our last holiday in 2020 just before the pandemic hit the UK. We came back to empty shelves and the spread of the virus. However, this song remined me of the enjoyable two weeks we had there. Every Saturday night in the town square, the locals held a dance evening for all ages who dance the night away with Salsa’s and variations on this theme. I have learnt a few salsa steps and so for the next few minutes I was transported back to that place, which was a brilliant motivator and fun. I also added a few of my signature aerobic moves into the routine so that I could say that I actually did some exercises today! Yea! LOL A really fun challenge. Maybe I will make this a regular challenge to start the week off- Dance Mondays!   Today I had to think of finding the light. My first thought was how in awe I am of artists who can use light so effectively in their work. So, I did a scroll on the internet to find some examples. |
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