PICTURE IT AND WRITE ~ SAGE ADVICE

Posted on Apr 12, 2016 by John Yeo | Leave a comment

This is a latest Picture it and Write prompt from Emilia’s blog ~10th April

https://ermiliablog.wordpress.com

Image supplied and credited by Emilia

SAGE ADVICE

by John Yeo

Look here youngster, I may be ancient, old fashioned and decrepit, but I have been along the trail and I survived. I got through the pitfalls and the side issues by trial and error, using my head and ignoring the wayside temptations.

The trail is made up of a series of stepping stones, a well worn path that is bordered by much beauty and new experiences. The waysides of the main trail can easily lead the traveller along life’s road, astray.

You are young, and you have a long way to travel.

Examine the stepping stones along life’s highway. Each is different, and has been worn in different areas. This represents the changing fortunes and broken hopes and aspirations of the journey. People leave, pass away, pass on, nothing is forever, eventually you will be travelling alone, exactly as you started. Nourish and nurture your close relationships, these will be important to you along the way. Eventually there will be nowhere else to turn to, and your closest friend will have been with you all the time, all the way.

The wayside can be an attractive place, new experiences, new excitements, new challenges. By all means youngster, stop and watch the flowers grow, there is no hurry to get to life’s next stepping-stone. Take advantage of your dynamics, take chances, but always take care of what you have, that which is important to you. Your fellow traveller, your closest and most enduring friend who cares for you and will continue to care for you every day of your life.

I know without thought, everything comes easy, the well worn path can be a boringly safe trail. There is more to life than you realise! There is no hurry to get to the end of the trail, another worn stepping stone will always be looming up on the horizon. Enjoy the journey, but take good care along the way. Smell the flowers and enjoy life’s nectar.

A prompt response for INSPIRATION MONDAY ~ “UNSTATEMENT”

Posted on Mar 24, 2016 by John Yeo | 5 Comments

Image © Copyright John and Margaret

A prompt response for INSPIRATION MONDAY ~ “UNSTATEMENT”
http://bekindrewrite.com

DOUBLE JEOPARDY

by John Yeo

Rod and Al were the best of friends, they met at public school, and were star pupils in their year, both obtaining above average grades. A bright future was predicted for these two privileged students The two friends were both studying Law together at University. Carefree days that seemed to be stretching out forever. Rodney’s father was a Member of Parliament and Alastair came from a wealthy family of landed gentry.

Before long they were courting and sowing their wild oats, they both enjoyed substantial allowances from doting proud parents. Money was no object and the fine wine flowed, good food was savoured, and love blossomed and died many times. In spite of this, their studies were going well and they were on track to obtain very good results when they graduated.

Then out of the blue, along came a phone call from an old friend of Rods, an ex-girlfriend Geraldine. The tearful call was an urgent cry for help, and went something like this.

“Hey Rod! Gerry here! How are you? I’ve just discovered I’m pregnant. You will be a Father in July. We must get together and discuss what we’re going to do about this. You have always been the only one for me!”

Rod was stunned at this and immediately got on to Alastair who ridiculed the whole notion, actually referring to Geraldine as an easy ride, who was in the process of trying to take him for a ride.

Rod was too ashamed to ask for help from his Father and approached Geraldine demanding proof. Geraldine just laughed in his face and demanded money from him in an attempt to blackmail him into paying for a private termination.

That night Rod and Al went out on the town together, and after a long pub crawl they were heavily under the influence of alcohol when they were approached by two police constables on foot.

Al then drunkenly made an unwise statement. “I smell bacon!” There was a few minutes silence as the effect and the dual meaning of this remark sunk in to all present.

Soon they were both under arrest for being drunk and disorderly in a public place, and were shown into a cell at the local police station. They were interviewed and huge repercussions would surely follow, as this arrest could jeopardise their careers, if they were charged and their parents were involved.

Al immediately apologised to the police officers involved who decided this was an out of character remark, and advised them to stay out of trouble. Rod explained the background to the story and received a sympathetic response from the lady Constable behind the station desk.

Then another surprise awaited them as they were leaving, Geraldine was led into the police station. Rod was shocked to learn the so-called Mother of his unborn child. was a hooker using her wits to pay her way through University.

As they left the police station, Rod and Al shoved all the folding money they were carrying, into a charity box marked, “Police Widows and Orphans Fund.”

In spite of the ‘Unstatement’, that Al had erased, and Geraldine’s ‘Unstatement’, of impending motherhood exonerating Rod. The two young men became top lawyers and went on to enjoy successful unblemished careers. Geraldine went on to become a very wealthy celebrity model.

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Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 18th December 2015 ~ TAKE CARE

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

Take Care

Image © Copyright John and Margaret

Take Care
When you’re unwell, do you allow others to take care of you, or do you prefer to soldier on alone? What does it take for you to ask for help?

HAVE A CARE

by John Yeo

“Take Care” is a fond farewell greeting nowadays as people take their leave of each other. The obvious meaning is to be careful as you proceed onwards in life, carefully avoiding the pitfalls and dangers that can be apparent as you travel the unknown road ahead. “Look after Yourself.”
In the present context to ‘Take Care.’ refers to the way one takes care of oneself, or alternatively should one allow others to take responsibility for their care, in the event of illness or a sudden indisposition. My first inclination would be to look after myself, and allow others to become involved at the very last possible minute. I think the up-to-date method of taking care, is to fight any illness wth the self medication that is available everywhere over any Pharmacy counter. There is much advice available to begin to understand the onset of a minor illness, and fighting on alone is the only way to proceed. However the time to ask for help is when the symptoms do not clear up and fear for your personal health sets in. This is the time to ask for the professional help and advice from the trained medical personnel.

Have a Care!

THE FIRES OF LIFE

Posted on Mar 10, 2015 by John Yeo | 6 Comments

Each week on Tuesday Pen’n’Tonic will post a word, a phrase, a picture, or an idea that will constitute a prompt from which to submit a poem, a flash fiction piece (not longer than 250 words), an original photograph, an original artwork, or a combination of these things that you think applies to the week’s theme.

“This week, I give you one of my own original photographs. I can’t wait to see what you have to offer this week. Enjoy!”

Bonfire. © penntonic.wordpress.com

https://penntonic.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/creative-expressions-13-bonfire/#comment-2026

FIRES OF LIFE

by John Yeo

We will let the fires of life burn out and in the dying embers we will sit and dream.
We will remember the fire that burned through our bodies when we fell in love.
Then the fire of ambition when we first started college, the knowledge that added fuel to ignite our dreams.
The fires of protest, when we held firm beliefs and we were prepared to die for our feelings.
The fires that burned fiercely in our minds as we aged and ignited the fires of freedom in the minds of our children
Proudly we have shared the fire and watched our children ignite the flames in the next generation.
Dreamily as the fires of our lives glow and the embers burn out we make our final decision will it be Cremation. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust?
Suddenly a shout of joy as our Great Grandchildren run towards the dwindling bonfire. “Come on Great Granddad and Grandma, wake up and come inside before the fire burns out.”

Death Chimes ~ Velvet Verbosity ~100 word challenge

Posted on Dec 28, 2014 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

Velvet Verbosity is a 100 word challenge. Today’s word is CHIMES

http://www.velvetverbosity.com

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DEATH CHIMES

by John Yeo

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The family had heard the chimes, chiming for them six times.

Mary and her family lived in fear of the death chimes.

Many neighbours and friends were dying and it was very difficult to avoid leaving the house for food.

People were fleeing fast, moving away from the area, spreading the plague.

There were robbers, looters and killers, very few police were alive.

The biggest fear of everyone was to hear the bell on the death cart.

The bodies were piled high on the death cart as the loaded cart left for mass graves.

The bell may chime for thee!

(100 words)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

First 50 Words~The Filing Cabinet

Posted on Jul 19, 2014 by John Yeo | Leave a comment

HARD COPY

Deep in the recesses of the fiing cabinet, covered in the cobwebby dust, I turned to the section marked “L”. I pulled a folder with the word LIFE on the cover. Very tattered and very thick, I started to read. Did I really do all that? I swelled my chest, smiled, and I thought, YES!! I pushed the unfinished folder back and closed the drawer.

Written by John Yeo ©

The Light Bright Reflection

Posted on Jul 14, 2014 by John Yeo | 1 Comment

BLACK AND LIGHT MIRRORED

This is the latest picture it and write prompt from Ermilia’s blog

As usual the image is provided and the credits are acknowledged by Ermilia

Picture it & Write

MIRRORED MYSTERY

My beautiful blue mirror is hung in place,

The reflection is my window behind me.

The open red curtains with a red chair to match.

I stand looking and admiring my home in the background.

As I look, the room in my mirror gets dark.

Jet black, nothing is visible, although it is still

Light, in the middle of the day.

I blink and the original view returns.

This startles me. How? Why?

The reflection is still true to life.

What could have caused my mirror to go dark?

Witches, Hobgoblins, Devils or Ghosts!

My mind goes through many twists and turns,

With supernatural reasons and answers.

Did I imagine it, or is there a Ghost,

On the other side of the glass?

Am I about to be approached

By beings from the other side?

Suddenly the mirror goes black, once again.

Black as black! Everything is black.

Then my wife Margaret is beside me.

“Are you all right? You stumbled.

I think you had a blackout!”

I look at my friendly, mirror again,

Reflecting our beautiful home.

I look and think, I love my life.

As I reflect on how lucky I am.

JUNE 4, 2004 Writing 101, Day Three: Commit to a Writing Practice

Posted on Jun 4, 2014 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

Today, celebrate three songs that are significant to you. For your twist, write for fifteen minutes without stopping — and build a writing habit.

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Three songs that have made a huge impact on me during my life? Obviously the songs that come to mind are the important songs that have made an impression on my life. All music that I have enjoyed,has come in phases, during the popular phase I remember, “Que Sera Sera, Whatever will be will be” sung by Doris Day. I was a young man during the time this song arrived on the scene, and her voice and the words made a big impact on my mind. It was also a firm favourite of my late wife, Sophie.

The next song I can distinctly remember was linked to a girl friend who lived in the USA, I live in the UK and we last met when she was on a holiday here. This song is, “A bridge Over Troubled Water” sung by Simon and Garfunkel, I love the words and the tune to this.

The final song would be an Operatic Aria, “One Fine Day” from the opera Madame Butterfly, This turned my tastes firmly in the direction of the music and production of Grand Opera. My wife, Margaret and I both love this type of music and we have enjoyed several Operas together.

I find this selection of my favourite songs, very mysterious as they are all songs that have had a significance in my life and they can all be linked by circumstances.

“Que Sera Sera” is a philosophical song, that is a direction to follow in the future.

“Bridge Over Troubled Water”, is also a reminder that I met my wife Margaret on the water during a cruise, at a very troubled period in my life.

“One Fine Day” is the finale of this troubled period when Margaret and I decided to get married. We have enjoyed a second chapter of our lives for the last ten very happy years.

I will now download and put these three songs together on my computer as I never realised they had such a significant impact on my past and present life.

JUNE 2, 2014 Writing 101, Day One: Unlock the Mind

Posted on Jun 2, 2014 by John Yeo | Leave a comment

To get started, let’s loosen up. Let’s unlock the mind. Today, take twenty minutes to free write. And don’t think about what you’ll write. Just write.Keep typing (or scribbling, if you prefer to handwrite for this exercise) until your twenty minutes are up. It doesn’t matter if what you write is incomplete, or nonsense, or not worthy of the “Publish” button. And for your first twist? Publish this stream-of-consciousness post on your blog.

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The basic feeling I get when I am confronted by a writing challenge, is how to put the words to match, into some semblance of order that will make sense and have some relevance to the prompt. I sometimes find this quite difficult, I have an overall picture of what I want to write but I have to try really hard to unlock my mind to get a semblance of what I want to say. There are many subjects I can play with in my experience as I am pretty well-read and I can usually conjure something to match the prompt out of the inner recesses of my mind.

I am actually looking forward to this Word Press, daily post challenge and I hope to find time in the next 20 days to keep up with the prompts and publish something on a daily basis. This is the first time I have participated in this sort of writing challenge and I hope to improve my blogging skills, by comparison and meeting other writers on-line.

There many areas of thought that I would like to explore as I write poetry and I am quite literate. I love reading many forms of literature and I am sure I will be able to incorporate many themes of thought into this wonderful challenge. I am entranced with the beauty of Nature and all things natural and I am sure some of this will come out in my posts. This will go a long way to improving my blogging skills and this will help me with my gardening blog that I already sporadically keep up to date. I am positive this will add to my creative skills and unlock the hidden depths of my mind.

Picture it and write~ The Second Coming

Posted on May 25, 2014 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

This the latest picture prompt from Ermilia’s blog

Picture it & Write

THE SECOND COMING

By John Yeo

A round globe, a moon that spins gracefully in the emptiness of space. A light that dreams are woven from at nightfall.

A solidity that is taken for granted by association with the physical moon that lights up the night sky.

A moon-like entity came closer and closer to the planet causing uproar and panic among the dinosaurs all over the earth.

The round moon-like entity, composed of a strange substance, drifted to earth and landed among the high rocky mountains.

Then a lava-like substance, the life-force ,that had travelled across the infinity of the universe, just melted into a river.

The river of life then flowed gracefully to the sea, where new life took up residence in the waters that gave birth to all life.

Time passed and new life-forms crawled from the depths of the oceans to take residence on the land.

Credits for Picture provided by Ermilia ~

	John Yeo on Spring Flowers
	John Yeo on Just Because
	ladyleemanila on Just Because
	notestowomen on Spring Flowers
	John Yeo on HAPPINESS