Category: TWO CENTS TUESDAY CHALLENGE

Everything under the sun

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Harvest

11 Comments

harvest

couldn’t have asked for anything more
♎

This non-season always finds Across the Bored in a transitional frame of mind – we balk at putting on socks and practical shoes (or even hose and stilettoes for that matter) for it would mean summer is truly over and we have given ourselves over to autumn, brief precursor of long winter. Here in the Great White North, Thanksgiving comes unnaturally early leaving those of us who have not yet fully acclimatized scrambling for fall fare to put on the table when we would much rather just throw something on the BBQ and soak up the last of the sun’s feeble rays. Trips to the countryside to see the foliage look doubtful if the leaves piling up in our backyard are any indicator, so we must content ourselves with what the local farmers have brought to market to satisfy those seasonal urges.

Although blessed by the bounty the land brings us when you live in a climate like ours, no, we are not thankful that the freedom of hot August days are long gone. Now we have to hunker down, put up, store away, make sure that there is enough of everything to span those months when the possibility of no electricity or heat surrounded by six feet of snow are much more of a reality than any television show. Everyone around us seems off-balance, suddenly reminded that there is much to do before December’s clarion call of familial duty and forced cheerfulness – so throw in one long weekend, a turkey, too many carbohydrates and a few vices of choice and you have a recipe for interesting times.

Did our ancestors feel the same way? Did our French forebears complain about having to go out and shoot one more grouse because ma tante had decided that she was going to grace them with her presence after all? Did our First Nations brethren grumble that it really wasn’t the best time of year for Still Water and his brood to stay for a few days? Did our English and Irish pioneers rue the day they left green pastures and a good cup of tea as they looked out into the wilderness? Perhaps, and like this week’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge, they also may have been comforted by their new world’s rich – Harvest – one that, in essence, has not changed a whole lot over the course of a few centuries.

“How do you see harvest at this time of year?” – Pumpkins sweet and squash to eat, family near,the holiday blear, pilgrims and the past or things that don’t last, falling leaves or the hopes we retrieve …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Size – Week 2

6 Comments

cupid.jpg

even perugina told us to share the love big

How many of us remember being little?  We all have some moments that stand out, larger than life, be they good or bad, joyous or heartbreaking, the snippets of time and sound, smell and taste that all come together to cast a long shadow on who we have become. We colour them accordingly and they are often seen through a lens that casts a particular light – soft focus, panorama, macro even fish-eye.

No matter what our memories of being a kid are, we seem to remember an awful lot of them as looking up – staring up at adults’ odd faces, up at towering shelves in stores, up at tall trees and huge clouds and endless skies on those days when life couldn’t seem to get any better or even any worse. Everything looked so much larger than it actually was. In those days, big held the promise of better – the biggest bear to cuddle, the big birthday cake we had anticipated, even that big box of chocolates you might be allowed to have two from, but many years down the road this particular adjective has come to be loaded.

We tend to look at the enormity of something in more complicated terms and much gets blown way out of proportion when really it ought not to be – yes, it was a big mistake to not tell the hairdresser to put down the scissors when we realized he was becoming manic, no, the gigantic drama over youthful fashion dilemmas are not worth getting involved in and perhaps, just maybe, the sheer volume of what we carry with us like some great titanic baggage should just be dropped in the ocean of our experience and cast away. It might do us all good to realize that small and less is not such a bad thing after all. Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Size – it all depends on your vantage point.

Last week, Across the Bored  surmised that everything is relative – “What does size mean in your world?” – Big cats or little hats, too tight rants or too loose pants, babies in arms with teeny toes, the aristocratic line of a Roman nose, change enough to fill the sky or small wonders that make you sigh … We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Size

28 Comments

size

over 20 ounces of delicious goodness

C

When Across the Bored et alia downsized a few years ago we didn’t think that reducing our physical living quarters was a problem – in fact it wasn’t, for we were lucky enough to be able to warehouse all the stuff of life that had been collected and wasn’t immediately useful or absolutely necessary. That should have been a red flag to just deal with it right away…

Today, when our extended family is swelling and we all seem to take up more than our fair share of square footage, our concerns run to how to juggle (or at worst rearrange) what is gobbling up airspace and ideally get rid of some of it so that we can all breathe a little easier. No easy feat. The thoughts and ideas of large personalities seem to fill the very atmosphere leaving little room for much else.

Every day we are reminded of the proportions and volume of things – from the ways it affects us physically in our health and diets, to how the questionable amount of possessions we encumber ourselves with can sometimes weigh heavily, to the length and breadth of the places we visit, the scope and scale of the projects we work on and the magnitude of the concepts we share.

The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge posits that, contrary to what we have all been told – Size – actually does matter.

Everything is relative – “What does size mean in your world?” – Big cats or little hats, too tight rants or too loose pants, babies in arms with teeny toes, the aristocratic line of a Roman nose, change enough to fill the sky or small wonders that make you sigh …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Words – Week 2

14 Comments

words 2

a blast from saturday mornings past

Across the Bored makes a point of getting out on a regular basis with Miss Z to visit those places in town that are currently the rage and in doing so we often rediscover old haunts that have either softened with age much like ourselves or have been gentrified beyond recognition.  It is nice to see new blood come in to old neighbourhoods and revitalize them, making an effort to start small businesses that are not only eco-friendly but fun and interesting at the same time.  On one Friday lunch outing we caught a glimpse of vintage advertising still claiming a place of prominence on a street where new boutiques rub shoulders with old storefronts, hipsters hang alongside the homeless and the gentry come down off the mountain in search of good food and one-off fashion.

The sign reminded us of a different generation, the ones that made this area its home when they first arrived after the Great Wars, the ones that settled into too small flats with too much family, the ones that brought their food and traditions and zest for life with them from homelands that many would never see again.  Their first order of business was to get a job and make money and in order to do that learning English was top of the list.  In the factories and sculleries or on the street, making oneself understood was key. Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Words – were the only way up the ladder in the New World.

Last week, Across the Bored had inquired “How do words manifest for you?” –  Are they printed on the page, all the rage, do they make a song or string you along, in a magazine, newspaper, novel or monitor, on the wall or as a sign, manuals long or fonts fine … We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Words

26 Comments

blue tagxedo

just can’t help it

✍

Just when we think that we are Masters of our own Universes, Chaos reminds us that such a thing is not truly possible. This time last week we were feeling militant about how we were going to proceed on a variety of fronts and now, 7 surprisingly fast days later, some campaigns were successful and some, well, not so much.

On a bit of a slow-down as far as blog-related endeavours were concerned, more out of suffering from a creative drought than anything else, our meanderings did lead us to an interesting post over at Flickr Comments – Make your tagxedo – in which he provides a link to a nifty site where one can create custom tag clouds. Certainly a good way to pass a few minutes (or hours depending on how obsessive one is) and design a block of text that truly reflects either a specific blog post, archive or just a group of meaningful words, it makes text fun. Why not pay a visit to Tagxedo and whip something up for this week’s challenge?A few of our own experiments yielded radically different results, much like what happens whenever we sit down at the keyboard…

Playing with the tagxedo was the first step in reminding ourselves why we are actually here in the first place – to share a vision through images and the language they engender and vice versa, to see what and how our friends and acquaintances are writing about, how they are documenting their bit of the world for all to see and in the end, communicate. A visit to our friend Cee to check out her gorgeous photography was the capper to getting Tuesday’s posts back onto some sort of regular schedule. She also participates in and runs many challenges and mentioned that WordPress has a new feature – Blog Event Listings – for those of us who just can’t get enough of a good thing. How could we resist?

The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge was lured back in and had no choice but to put it all into – Words.

The floodgates are now open – “How do words manifest for you?” –  Are they printed on the page, all the rage, do they make a song or string you along, in a magazine, newspaper, novel or monitor, on the wall or as a sign, manuals long or fonts fine …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Out

27 Comments

acrosst the bored is out

with apologies to charles shulz

±

There is something to be said for taking a sabbatical – this may seem odd seeing that we are only two weeks in to the academic year but the idea of taking time off from those endeavours that are habitual and recurrent, the tasks that we do from some misplaced sense that they actually need to be done and that they make some difference to our daily existence, can be a good thing. This extended recess for adults can apply to anything from housework, making meals and doing laundry, chauffeur service, brushing the dog, getting dressed, answering the phone when we know it is not for us or those million things that we automatically do in the course of our jobs that we have just gotten used to and that are often taken for granted or overlooked.  The grown-ups in our direct sphere of influence can pretty much fend for themselves, in fact it might do them a world of good, so Across the Bored is (this week anyways) working to rule, not so much on strike as withholding time and effort that would be better spent on putting our own sh*t in order. 


The virtual world is no exception nor are other pursuits no matter what form they take.  When we start to ask ourselves why we are doing things, it is time to take a breath, step back and creatively refresh and regroup. 

Taking a cue from others who have done the same, for all intents and purposes, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge is now – Out.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Routine – Week 2

7 Comments

routine 2is it hoarding if it’s organized?

☍

Half of our horde has been back in the academic grind for a week now with great success.  The courses are inspiring, the professors better than expected and the schedule, well, not everything can be perfect but it is only until December when the collegial masses get a 6 WEEK break. Nice to be young. Across the Bored took the opportunity of one less body in the house to put all the paperwork lying around from the summer in order, file the bills, catch up on correspondence and get back to the arduous process of going through 20 years of accumulated boxed ephemera that has been sitting in the warehouse.  Multitasking was going relatively well until the computer stated in no uncertain terms “Unable to save – Memory scratch disk full”. What? How is that possible? Didn’t we just go through this 2 months ago?

Odd that these files seem to take up an inordinate amount of space and much like all of that stuff in the physical storage facility, must be gotten rid of.  Story of our life that we save so much that only we are ultimately interested in and then heart-wrenchingly have to dispose of like stale left-overs or unwanted houseguests. Would that there was an easy, Zen way to deal with this phenomenon and not have to wrestle with the body-numbing paralysis that sets in whenever we turn that piece of paper or fiddly bit over and over in our hands wondering “Are we going to need this 3 months after we throw it out”?   Or worse still, the dreaded terrors of not being able to find that one thing you really really needed because in a fit of disposal anxiety you didn’t do one last triage on that box you dropped off at the Goodwill….

Do we ever learn from those things that we seem to do over and over again or does it just transform into something different but similar as time goes by? Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge, we might need to change our – Routine.

Last week we asked “How does routine appear to you?” –  The drive to town every morn, that pair of shoes always worn, wake-up calls or favourite malls, superb meals or special deals, meditation, daily prayer, yoga mats or just a love of all that …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info – Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Routine

13 Comments

routine

back in the saddle

♞

At the end of June, the summer always stretches before us long and languid. The first weeks of July chafe with the heat of expectancy, vacations and moving days, summer camps and road trips all tumbling into each other as fast as can be and by the middle of August we spend the last few mild evenings either happily reflecting on vacation time well spent or wondering whether we might have gotten more on the to-do list accomplished while good weather permitted.


Back from the West coast, our garden is lush but weed-ridden and, if dust is any indication, household items have not moved an inch from where we left them. No matter – the soft light of September beckons, the air smells different, less green while awaiting the harvest and we have a new set of projects, ideas and motivations to carry forward into the winter. We try to ease back into the habitual slowly, soaking up the sun on the patio and lingering along the not-yet frantic city streets but underneath it all, and oddly enough this season, we don’t mind that it is over.


The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge puts forth that, as much as wishes for the golden spontaneity of summer are great, on a year-long time frame things would probably fall apart without our – Routine.

“How does routine appear to you?” –  The drive to town every morn, that pair of shoes always worn, wake-up calls or favourite malls, superb meals or special deals, meditation, daily prayer, yoga mats or just a love of all that …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Calm – Week 2

5 Comments

2 calm

zen and the art of the tourist

∀

Glorious sunshine after a cold, grey dawn brought out the masses along the waterfront yesterday and we decided to join them in a decidedly un-local move.  Having come to this summer destination for as long as we can remember, we have become inured to the throngs spilling off the cruiseships and the ever-changing spectacle of festivals and street shows designed to please.  There were a few faces that had been around for a while who put on a great show for families with small children and posed good-naturedly for photos with random people they would never see again and so we waited until the crowd had moved on, threw some coins into the sturdy white bucket and asked if we could take a photo. Not only were we rewarded with a smile and a bit of conversation but a couple of hugs thrown in for good measure. Just what the doctor ordered to lift our spirits.

The life of the busker has been co-opted by local government to become an intrinsic part of the summer tourist trade. Licenses for prime harbour real-estate and the bustling shopping strip now require an initial outlay of hard-earned cash; paperwork and schedules replace once easy decisions to just get up, out to make visitors to the city smile and perhaps scrape together a few bucks in an afternoon. All inclusive vacations have made it hard for those who earn a living with their talent on the streets. Once-a-year travellers don’t always understand the art of outdoor entertainment, they see it and the artists who perform as just another part of the scenery, a living, breathing bit of pleasant backdrop and rarely as people with families, dreams and often, a mission in life. Just like us.

When faced with unbending rules and regulations and those events in our daily existence that give us pause, we must, like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge and Plasterman, attempt to stay  – Calm.

Last week we asked “What does calm look like to you?” –  A placid lake or crystal snowflake, curled up cats, meditation mats, denim blues or an afternoon snooze…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info – Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Calm

23 Comments

calm

into the mystic
❈

There are certain locales on earth that have a special something, be it the freshness of the air, the glorious colour of the fields or the crisp coolness of the forest. Sometimes, they can be found in the lovely rooms of a tranquil hotel, the galleries of a museum, on a piece of driftwood by the sea or even on one’s favourite chair in the garden. These destinations appeal to an inner sensibility that longs for quiet away from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.

 

Summer seems to be the perfect time to find that little bit of respite – whether it is a conventional vacation filled with kids and dogs, relatives and friends or in the serenity of a solitary retreat, ten days or one, it is in these times and places that all the data that invades our very being gets subconsciously sorted and stowed to be retrieved when our days get back to their routine. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge asserts that everyone needs to find that moment to take a breath, to restore the balance that nourishes, to be  – Calm.

 

“What does calm look like to you?” –  A placid lake or crystal snowflake, curled up cats, meditation mats, denim blues or an afternoon snooze…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Curious – Week 2

8 Comments

the view

imagine making the crossing on horseback

✈

Many would argue that air travel has become more complicated, less glamorous and infinitely more tiresome than in the past. The glory days of getting dressed up in Sunday best to take a plane trip are gone let alone full service, real cutlery with a decent in-flight meal and unlimited baggage allowances. Now we have to weigh our luggage even before we leave home, check ourselves in electronically and bring our own provisions. Nevertheless, there is something magical in being able to wake up in one time zone and go to sleep in another.

This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge has literally flown across the continent today and in doing so have simultaneously gained and lost three hours. No matter how many times we do it, the transition from one state of being to another, no matter how familiar, is always  – Curious.

Last week we asked “How does curious look to you?” –  A silly hat or wiffle bat, Granny on her roller skates, things in bottles, painted plates, one weird shoe without a mate, urchins in the ocean deep, twisted kitties fast asleep…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info – Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Curious

19 Comments

curious

out of the primordial soup

♆

Across the Bored has decided at the last minute to shirk off those domestic obligations which can certainly wait until the weather is inclement and head west.  Vacation is too large and loaded a word to use in this case, but we have certainly made the arrangements to return to our summer spot of the last few decades with the aim of recharging our psychic batteries for the upcoming long and dreaded winter.

It seems that no matter where we go, whether around the corner or across the oceans, to places unknown or familiar, we always are struck by those things that are different, out of context, those bits of life that excite our imaginations and make us want to just show them to someone else. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge would venture that the found object pictured above is like much of what we see  – Curious.

“How does curious look to you?” –  A silly hat or wiffle bat, Granny on her roller skates, things in bottles, painted plates, one weird shoe without a mate, urchins in the ocean deep, twisted kitties fast asleep…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: It’s up to you… Week 2

6 Comments

strawberries

straight from the garden, dirt and all

☺

The unbearable heat of the last few days means that there are few hours during the day when one can really appreciate the greener pleasures of the back yard.  Out early to check whether the birds have beaten us to the strawberry patch, the tomatoes and squash look limp, the zucchini flowers have been snapped off and carted away by furry urban poachers for a 4 am snack and the weeds….. well, the weeds do very well no matter what. With temperatures soaring to the low 40s by mid afternoon, we have spent a good part of the day inside in constructive pursuits with a glance out the front window every once in a while to check for Mad dogs and Englishmen.

On one of these breaks we were awestruck by an unusual scene unfolding on the front lawn. The squirrels had come down out of the trees and were stretched out full-length cooling their bellies in the shaded grass. The utilities companies have been hacking off large parts of the local trees lately, supposedly in an effort to clear the power lines from possible breakage – in doing so they have not only mangled the greenery but removed much of what was keeping the little rodents’ homes at a bearable temperature. I am not an overly huge fan of what most cityfolk refer to as “rats with good PR” but they were very cute and seemed in need of a good cool-off.

Across the Bored’s nurturing instincts kicked in and when the little blighters had moved on we put out a bowl of water. A squirrel rest-stop as it were, if the neighborhood dogs don’t get to it first…  Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge, it is all about doing something to effect positive change in our small corner of the universe – It’s up to You.

Have a look at the previous topics covered in the challenge – “Is there a theme that appeals to you?”

It’s up to you     Toys    Clean    Bold     Random    Heritage    Special    Happy     Gifts    Graffiti     Brilliant     Funny     Habit     Resolution     Relax     Sweet    Illumination   Decoration   Morning   Style    Home   Pressure   Temptation    Manipulation    Compromise    Procrastination

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info – Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: It’s up to you…

15 Comments

Your choice

about 18 cents worth

✭

While most people see the winter solstice as the end of the year, with January ringing in a new and glorious reprieve from old bad habits, in our house it is June that is counted as year-end. The end of school, the end of those fall through spring routines, the time to wrap up business before the hazy days of summer cast their spell and make even the simplest tasks an Atlantean chore. July means the days are in flux and we try for a time where there are no set plans to see what comes to us instead. A whole chunk of life now recedes like flotsam carried by waves at the shore – recent events have inspired change, necessitating some adjustment in the way we all think and react. They have instigated various bouts of reflection, some poignant, some maudlin, some downright silly.

With that in mind, and as Across the Bored is easing its way slowly back into the blogosphere with a rather annoying case of monitor neck (related only in degree of pain to tennis elbow and carpal tunnel), something fast and easy (for us) was decidedly in order for this week’s offering. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge feels it is time for a retrospective, scroll through the archives by clicking on this link, the image widget in the sidebar or on one of the topics below and pick something, anything  – It’s up to You.

“Which theme appeals to you?”

Toys    Clean    Bold     Random    Heritage    Special    Happy     Gifts    Graffiti    Brilliant    Funny    Habit    Resolution    Relax    Sweet    Illumination   Decoration   Morning   Style    Home   Pressure   Temptation    Manipulation    Compromise    Procrastination

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Toys – Week 2

10 Comments

toys 2still making us smile

We always swore to never repeat those awful catch-phrases our mothers (and fathers) would fling out at opportune parenting moments but every once in a while we catch ourselves with very similar words on the tips of our tongues.  The platitude that sprung to mind today was “things were simpler when I was a kid”. It doesn’t take a degree to deduce how this can’t, in fact, be anything other than historically accurate as we grew up pre-electronic diversions, pre-colour television, pre-headphones, pre-pretty much everything.

Entertainment was basic but there was no lack of it. Inside or out, alone or with friends, our choices were limited by the little available on the market or what we could scavenge and throw together in a pinch. We certainly didn’t have as much stuff as children today and some of it has survived the long haul of adolescence, leaving home and starting our own families to sit in their own place of honour amongst our prized possessions.  Our own bears have seen alot of action, now they watch us compose and create, revise and revisit, like talismans of permanence in a rapidly changing daily life.

This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Toys – suggests that everybody’s got their something… 

Last week, Across the Bored was curious –  “What form do toys take for you?” –  That fuzzy bear, a game of solitaire, pick-up sticks or camera clicks, beads and baubles, stereos sweet, nail polish for toes on pretty feet, shiny cars, long telescopes to see the stars or best of all – a cardboard box and simple ball… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Toys

14 Comments

toys

to each his own

Before Miss Z convinced us to add a canine member to our already rollicking family dynamic we used to wonder about many of the peculiarities of dog “owners”.  Many of the homes we visited had designated doggy areas, special bowls and watering devices, little beds that resembled something Louis XIV would be comfortable lounging on and any number of collars and leashes.  Across the Bored’s childhood had seen pets mainly of the feline or rodent variety with the occasional stray pup arriving unannounced for a brief overnighter or two before being reunited with its rightful owner. Our animal distractions had never seemed to need a huge amount of possessions – the cats, not ones to suffer being dressed up as dollies, were happy with the occasional bit of dangling string or outside mousing and the rodents were, well, rodents – pretty much content to chew things down to mulch or run friday night races through cardboard tubes lined up on the dining room table. The whole doggy thing, therefore, came across as a little “much”….

Miss Z’s adoption of one fuzzy puppy changed all that.  Our barbet came with his own blanket, a few necessary accessories and an odd grenade-shaped object that the previous owner would fill with peanut butter to keep him occupied during the hours when she could not be at home.  When he found out that he had a whole houseful of human entertainment, he never touched it again. We did acquire balls and throw things, went through a variety of leashes until we found ones that didn’t chafe him or us, tried out a series of collars that got chewed through, learned that there are some bowls that really aren’t dog-friendly and got educated about dog car safety-harnesses because, as the man in the store so patiently explained, a flying dog will break your neck if you slam on the brakes….

It was just a matter of time before we broke down and bought that plush roadkill with the 19 squeakers. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge knows that everyone enjoys some form of amusement, so with that in mind we have done the once unthinkable and indulged our dog with – Toys.

“What form do toys take for you?” –  That fuzzy bear, a game of solitaire, pick-up sticks or camera clicks, beads and baubles, stereos sweet, nail polish for toes on pretty feet, shiny cars, long telescopes to see the stars or best of all – a cardboard box and simple ball…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Clean – Week 2

10 Comments

clean 2

not since and probably never again

Once upon a time, and it was a very, very long time ago, there was a young woman who had received a gift of more tomatoes than she could possibly ever eat in one sitting – or even four.  Being somewhat frugal and hoping to earn some brownie points in the domestic arena, the maiden (against her better judgement it must be said) consulted “she who is never wrong” for the best way to preserve the quickly-ripening fruit for the long, cold winter ahead. Complex instructions were dictated, interspersed with anecdotes of how “she of the bad temper’s” recipe was not up to snuff and why “she who never listens” methodology was questionable, amongst other digressions.

The process was supposed to be an easy one but like so many culinary endeavours that masquerade themselves as “a pleasant afternoon” spent in the quest for the authentic flavours of yesteryear, it wasn’t. It was tedious and messy, labour-intensive and messy, dangerous and messy. From knife blades sharp enough to slice a single hair lengthwise     to industrial-sized pots of boiling water threatening to erupt at a moment’s provocation, it was not fun. The young lady was not pleased but completed the task, placing the many precious jars in a very high, very dark cupboard.

Three months down the road and well before the first snow, the hint of an odd odour in the kitchen began to tease the maiden’s nostrils. She was told it was all in her head, that she had an over-active olfactory system, that it was the age of the building, the damp weather or, heaven forbid, the possibility that something had reached an unforeseen demise between the walls. The last option was not to be tolerated and so “she who always persevered” crawled up to the top rung of a very tall ladder, gingerly opened the cupboard door and discovered the unthinkable – no rotting gypsum, no black and creeping fungus, not even a nightmarish rodent corpse – worse. 42 jars of fermenting tomatoes oozing a slick and noxious liquid out from under once-tight metal caps and down their sides to corrode eighty years of paint off the shelf in perfect circles. A crucial step had obviously been omitted – or not transmitted…

Conserving a summer’s harvest is much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – it doesn’t hurt to make sure that everything is really – Clean. 

Last week, Across the Bored put forward an age-old question –  “How does clean appear to you?” –  The lines of a Countach or curve of her back, fresh laundry on the line or graphics of a sign, raindrops, old-fashioned string mops, even spinning tops, is it sudsy or soapy, stringent or strange, glossy and glassy, fancy or plain… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Clean

19 Comments

cleansometimes a little help is a good thing

Cause and effect. These are two words that usually spur Across the Bored into taking action on matters long-procrastinated upon. Not that we don’t usually have a plan, but this one hinged upon ideal climactic conditions, a reasonable amount of free time and the motivation to hurl ourselves into the infernal chasm of (belated) spring-cleaning and material divestiture. All while tidying up, doing laundry and checking emails…

Effect: suspicious cracking grout and lifting floor tile near the bathtub and shower.

Cause: clear (to us anyways) evidence of a leak, a drip, moisture finding its way somewhere that was not down the drain.  The handyman did not concur – he put the blame on our rather heavy tub not having a supporting frame – it rests atop the plywood sub-floor – something akin to an elephant sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Sooner or later, something is going to give.

This week’s sudden cold snap finally spurred us to begin the long-overdue task of garage triage. One must understand that this “room”, which is directly under the master bath and surely the reason for the cold floors in same, has never actually been used as a place for parking a car in minus 40 degree weather. Rather it had been converted into our “studio” with a nifty raised floor and held all the stuff that we didn’t use on a daily basis or didn’t fit neatly into the rest of the house. It worked well for a while, but like most things we got busy with projects that didn’t require being cloistered in a room with no view and our little studio quickly became the repository for that “which shall not be seen” and “that which multiplies tenfold when left unattended”.  Until yesterday, that is, when good intentions forced us to start somewhere – somewhere being to the stuff which shouldn’t have been lying precariously atop boxes already stacked six high not according to manufacturer’s explicit instructions.

Effect: That somewhere was damp.

Not full out rainstorm wet or someone spilled something wet but oddly just enough that something was amiss wet. Directly under the bathtub wet.

Cause: a small, water damaged crack in the conduit built around the drainage pipes that run along the ceiling of the garage (don’t ask, I didn’t build this one…). Although dry now, it must have leaked recently and begged the question when would the disaster of elephantine proportions occur?

Someone will, of course, have to come and fix it (hopefully sooner rather than later) and for that to happen efficiently all that stuff would have to go somewhere. Like a horrible game of domestic dominoes, everything that had gone in in a careless fashion was now coming out under a more critical eye – out to a new home, out to a charity, out to that garage sale the foundation is having, out of the garage studio abyss. But sadly, for the moment, out into the common room. And the dining room. And the computer room…

Now, the The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge has no choice but to wrestle cause and effect into a manageable stranglehold and make it  – Clean.

“How does clean appear to you?” –  The lines of a Countach or curve of her back, fresh laundry on the line or graphics of a sign, raindrops, old-fashioned string mops, even spinning tops, is it sudsy or soapy, stringent or strange, glossy and glassy, fancy or plain…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Bold – Week 2

7 Comments

bold 2

to boldly go where no man has gone before

We have been watching Star Trek in its many incarnations for longer than we care to admit. From the cardboard sets and shaver-communicators of the original television series to NextGen, Deep Space Nine and the many movie spin-offs and fill-ins, it has been a long sometimes upsetting loyalty to the Roddenberry’s idea of beyond, what it held and how to get there in the most exciting way possible. Not always thrilled by casting choices or certain plot progressions of the sci-fi classic’s metamorphosis, there was always some technological innovation, some snazzy new way of presenting deep space and its denizens that kept us hooked and hungering for more.

Armchair astronauts of the best kind, we fondly said goodbye to to those we had come to know and love (or hate) and learned to embrace the unknown and unexpected. Small screen or big, each director’s artistic vision gave us the characters, conflicts and very world of Star Trek much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, larger than life, bursting with energy – Bold. 

Last week, Across the Bored pondered “What shape does bold take for you?” –  A flash of chrome, the walls of home, an umbrella bright or neon light, a favourite font, fishing cat or fearless brat, challenging or conspicuous, brave or brassy … We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Bold

41 Comments

bold

a glorious gift of colour

A meal at our house where we all manage to sit down together can range from the awe-inspiring to the downright incredible – it is not the quantity or quality of food but rather the tone and variety of conversation that bursts forth as if it has been bottled under pressure and kept hidden in a cool, dark cellar until it was worth savouring.  On a good night our witty banter is a fine champagne, measured and inspiring with just the right amount of kick to keep things titillating yet civilized but on others…. discussion erupts with all the force of a can of soda pop shaken and sprayed over an unsuspecting audience by some guffawing, miscreant five-year old.

Not to say that we don’t act appropriately when the occasion calls for it but the personalities that make up this particular family unit are large, they take up copious amounts of space and if one can get a word in edgewise then the game is truly afoot. The range of subject matter and the rapid-fire pace of exchange can bewilder unassuming guests who thought they were in for a nice quiet meal. Miss Z and the Professor know instinctively that anyone they choose to break bread with better be able to hold their own and with flair, no less….

The best of shared times are like the flowers that grace our table – vividly dynamic, impressively coloured and delightfully engaging so The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge lays out it out that we are  – Bold.

“What shape does bold take for you?” –  A flash of chrome, the walls of home, an umbrella bright or neon light, a favourite font, fishing cat or fearless brat, challenging or conspicuous, brave or brassy …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Random – Week 2

4 Comments

random 2

does anyone remember what this belongs to?

There are two silver bowls that sit on our desk: one that holds that day’s rings and earrings so we won’t be searching like a wild woman for them in the morning and another that holds various small bits in need of repair, buttons waiting to be sewn back on and unthrowawayables on their way to a project.  Ioanna at life portOfolio wrote unabashedly about her box filled with “unnecessary things”, our neighbour has a garage filled with questionable objects unceremoniously dumped on her by down-sizing relatives, some of us even have warehouse space filled with the flotsam and jetsam of good intentions and plans yet come to fruition.

Everyone has an equivalent, whether it is that odd wedding gift stuffed in the back of a cupboard, the weird plant thriving in the midst of a carefully tended garden or the out-of-place addition on the renovator’s house down the street, we all own, know of or have at least seen in passing things that are right at home in this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, stuff that is – Random. 

Last week, Across the Bored inquired “How does random look to you?” –  A mess on the floor, wildly painted door, clouds in the sky or the reflection in her eyes, an arrangement of fruit or toe of a boot… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Random

20 Comments

random

waiting for the bus

In this part of the world, the seasons dictate just how far Across the Bored strays from the comforts of home. In winter, when everything is literally snowed in, we have every excuse to hibernate and apply ourselves to tasks close at hand (or keyboard) but once the sun exposes dusty corners and dog nose prints on windows those indoor pursuits are quickly abandoned. A northern climate can be intense in its fluctuations – one week we are parking-wearing warriors the next everyone has stripped down. In this city the joke runs that as soon as the temperature hits 50F (10C) everyone takes their clothes off and the first thing they do is get out and about to see what has changed since last summer.

That’s exactly what we did: one day not to any place in particular and the next to a destination decidedly more tourist-oriented but on both occasions good weather made us like a kid in a candy shop –  armed with nothing more cumbersome than a phone camera and a few bucks for a gelato and a cold drink, everything looked vividly different.  Excursions should be veritable voyages of discovery, no matter how dull the reason for going out in the first place, no matter how pedestrian, no matter how routine. We just have to open our eyes to opportunity and see things in a different light. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge throws down the gauntlet to look at your world and find things that are odd, out of context  – Random.

“How does random look to you?” –  A mess on the floor, wildly painted door, clouds in the sky or the reflection in her eyes, an arrangement of fruit or toe of a boot…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Heritage – Week 2

1 Comment

heritage 2

A flight across time and distance

Those of us with a penchant for garage, boot and estate sales are more than well aware that the bits and pieces once held dear collected over a lifetime often wind up in the hands of strangers.  It is always odd to see things coldly lined up on display, away from the groups of objects they were once a part of and, in a sense, out of context. What kind of voyage have these pieces had over the course of the years and what tales of love and strife, harmony and discord, laughter and tears would they tell us if they could?

These collectables have a monetary value based on age, rarity, curiosity, desirability and provenance but rarely is the sentimental worth taken into account. There can be no price attached to memory.  It is only when we ascribe a history to those things that have made up the backgrounds of our lives, why they were important, how they came to us, were created, found, bartered or haggled for, that they become truly interesting to those we would pass them down to, and like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, a part of our – Heritage. 

Last week, Across the Bored asked “How does heritage look to you?” –  A stately building on the street, long-lost cousins that you meet, a silver tea pot or favourite recipe, a packet of heirloom seeds or string of coloured beads… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Heritage

12 Comments

ancestors

where life took one along a narrow path

It must have been a wonderful day to let all thought of work and responsibility slide softly away on the sweet summer air, to take a hamper of cold meat, berries and pound cake, a few pints of lager and a pot for boiling tea down to the quarry, to sit in the warmth of the sun and talk of love and dreams and plans and maybe even… escape. To have the whole of time ahead spread out like a silky blanket where one could rest on bent elbow, gaze on delicate wildflowers and listen to the poet’s voice lull. For one afternoon.

Little has survived, the names lost on the lips that once uttered them freely, the homestead vanished to circumstance and the landscape to the passage of time and industry but the few photographs that remain are as clear as the day they were taken. The stories they tell belong to us and like The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge surmises, the importance we  attach to them becomes our  – Heritage.

“How does heritage look to you?” –  A stately building on the street, long-lost cousins that you meet, a silver tea pot or favourite recipe, a packet of heirloom seeds or string of coloured beads…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Special – Week 2

5 Comments

special

no dinner for you

Once upon a time we could eat (almost) anything. Of late, there are certain food groups that we love that don’t quite love us back as much but given the right conditions, we will gladly suffer.  Relationships with family are much the same: we invest, act with good intentions, try to impart wisdom or motivate but sometimes our efforts go unnoticed, ignored, unheeded and we either grin and bear it or lose it completely. Such is life with the under-twenties. Imagine our delight when things took a pleasant turn during a rather ordinary outing with Miss Z: over an espresso and noisette gelato, we both realized that, despite the occasions we would like to throttle each other, we actually enjoy each other’s company. 

These times, the little breaths of calm in between the hurry of daily life, the few moments spent indulging in quiet talk, catching up or just plain silliness are the ones we will remember fondly and like the tasty treat that is gelato, this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme is – Special. 

Last week, Across the Bored wondered “What is special for you?” –  The photo of that sandy beach, the sweet faces of those you teach, an amulet or well-worn hat, silver spoon or ancient cat, the strains on a guitar or a night under the stars… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Special

11 Comments

special

each stitch a moment in time

If you swung a cat in our house chances are that we could tell you exactly when and where each object its talons grazed came from. Some might call it an obsession but at one point everything that came through the front door, relatives and Miss Z’s friends excluded, was carefully curated with a specific idea of how it would fit into the overall scheme of things.  Times change and the need for things material seems to become less important as our attention shifts to subjects more ethereal. That and the fact that we have become loaded down with the left-overs from our ancestors that are in dire need of a physical, if not emotional, house-cleaning and purging. Some people are able to part with their stuff with ease, have a garage sale, throw it in the bin and walk away with nary a thought otherwise. For us this is an impossibility for every thing carries with it a memory, is imbued with some sort of karmic energy that will float along to the next carefully chosen owner. Well, the good stuff at least – we’re not talking tupperware and mismatched socks here.  Some pieces can never be parted with, no matter how small and inconsequential, how valuable, how old or how silly, for they have that unique quality that brings back an occasion and place, a brief bubble where the air vibrates, our nostrils fill with scent and we remember….

The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge guarantees that everyone has one thing that is – Special.

“What is special for you?” –  The photo of that sandy beach, the sweet faces of those you teach, an amulet or well-worn hat, silver spoon or ancient cat, the strains on a guitar or a night under the stars…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Happy – Week 2

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happy

happiness is sitting in your pal’s favourite chair

Once a dog who would take every opportunity to bolt like some furry escapee, our neighbour’s foxhound has mellowed somewhat over the years and now makes a bee-line for our front door – one bark and it’s in the house to polish off any stray kibble and whatever our fuzzy moppet has left in his bowl.  He loves to come and stay when his owners go out of town to pup-free zones: we can tell because he doesn’t even wait to get off the leash and charges into the living room with tail wagging. A few night’s sojourn means that his usually strict diet is a little more flexible, he can go in and out at a glance to snoop and run circles in the garden with his doggy buddy and the big bed is nothing short of an invitation to crash at the end of a long day. It is plain that our guest feels right at home and very much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Happy. 

Last week, Across the Bored asked “How does happy look to you?” –  Your mum’s mug or hole the dog dug, friends gathered round, a night on the town, a yellow sunflower or a rainbow after a shower, a pair of shoes or a new tattoo… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Happy

13 Comments

happy

any reason to be glad is a good one

The sun finally came out today and the heat seeping in through the windows promised a spring not long to follow.  Although the snow is still in great mounds throughout the city, people have that glint in their eyes that tells how relieved they are to have made it relatively intact through another long winter.  They smile and strike up conversations with strangers more easily than in the dull days of January when everyone would look away and force themselves to make only the required contact.  Urban nature is a little louder than yesterday, more vibrant – the cardinal calls to his mate and the squirrels chitter arrogantly at the dogs nosing around their territory. Even the postman has a bounce in his gait despite his heavy burden of bills, flyers and subscriptions.

There was something in the mail for Miss Z this afternoon – the thick envelope from one of the best colleges in our city.  Thanks to the wonders of technology her acceptance was already a fact but the very tangible proof she could hold in her hands, the evidence she could wave in the faces of all those teenage detractors, was the perfect way to end her day.  Lo, like a cheshire cat our court does grin at such good news and so the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge can’t be anything but – Happy.

“How does happy look to you?” –  Your mum’s mug or hole the dog dug, friends gathered round, a night on the town, a yellow sunflower or a rainbow after a shower, a pair of shoes or a new tattoo …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Gifts – Week 2

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strawflowers

everlasting

There are those who have a special bond with the earth. Our uncle – Wojek – was just such a man: stubborn and suspicious, with eyes like an animal that would size a person up in a glance, he was blessed with the ability to nurture all things green. With no patience to engage in dinner-table discussions about the state of the world or the latest styles for longer than it took to clean his plate, he could spend hours carefully twisting the branch of a bonsai, coaxing seedlings to sprout out of their cotton-wool nests or just turning over the dark, damp earth in preparation for that year’s vegetable garden.  He was our source of botanical wisdom – if Wojek said the brown withered plant held sadly in our hands was beyond salvation, we knew there was truly nothing else to be done. More often than not he would just give us the look, take it and in a month’s time have it four times the size, green and thriving in his kitchen window. Wojek had come through life like a character in a Russian novel and throughout the years never saw the need or the use of being on the giving end when it came to assorted family holidays but a passing mention about a childhood memory of strawflowers resulted in a bed of blooms as variegated as the colours of a summer’s worth of sunsets. It was just who he was.

This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Gifts – is as much about the temporal as the eternal and last week, Across the Bored queried “What is a gift for you?” -A present, a prize, the look in her eyes, a talent to sing or big shiny ring, the love of a child or something more wild, the quiet of night or just waking up, right…… We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Gifts

18 Comments

laduree

sweetly unexpected

It used to be that we would pack our bags and trot off to some far-flung destination with nary a care, now our journeys have become more defined. Time is of the essence and as much as we are still taken away from the nest for vacation, work or duty, more often than not in the recent past we are the ones to stay behind and wonder how life unfolds for our own young travellers.  Luckily, the luxury of technology lets us remain close through our devices – our phones even ring, oddly enough, in the tone of the land we are trying to reach and voices coming from across the ocean are sometimes clearer than if they were across the country. At first the days seem longer, quieter, less filled with the big, bold noise of life and then suddenly they are past and once again we are standing in an airport waiting for our missed ones return from another most amazing and enlightening adventure.

We are glad to see them back with all their appendages intact, no wallets, cameras or even worse, passports pilfered from pockets or packs and in a good mood, happy to be home.  There are enough stories and pictures to last through quite a few dinners, their experience of the world and observations of the people in it the source of much amusement and sometimes, disbelief. Our offspring have found this form of indulgence satisfying but have also learned that the little things do count, like taking the time to find a sewer-rat hand puppet for a sometimes annoying sibling.  And so, unexpected as a lovely box of macarons, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge gives you – Gifts.

“What is a gift for you?” –  A present, a prize, the look in her eyes, a talent to sing or big shiny ring, the love of a child or something more wild, the quiet of night or just waking up, right…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.