Tag: two cents tuesday challenge

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Cities

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the a and p

Sherbrooke Street: no edit, no filter, no cropping – just like real life

I can’t number the times I’ve walked this stretch, watching it change with the seasons and the years, taking on the vibrancy of the good times and the pall of the bad, rush hour busy or Sunday morning sweet and quiet. It always calls to me of my own embedded past, reminds of a very fluid present and whispers that it will still be here even if I am not.

I owed someone a photo of my city and while this one may not be the first thing a tourist would think of, it does say much for what the island has come to represent. Mark Twain, who visited in 1881seeking a copyright for his literary works, is often quoted as saying that it was the first time he was ever in “a city where you couldn’t throw a brick without breaking a church window”.

Very much a City of Spires, today despite what detractors might say, it has grown to be more representative of the multitude of languages, religions and ethnicities than ever in its colonial incarnations. The banner on the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul (or the A&P as some of us nick-named it) above says it all: College, Church, School, Faith, Nursery, Friendship, Worship, Tradition. No matter who you are, you can come to Montreal and make something of yourself, find a place for your family. It won’t be easy but it will be interesting.

The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge puts forward that this is what makes it home to many, opens our eyes to the wide world, and keeps us discovering just what it is that makes us stay. Even just for a little while…

“What is your corner of the world like?”  Feel free to leave your two cents about one or many of your favourite Cities in the comments…

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. 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: Events

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blog birthday

they say it’s your birthday

August already? It must be, for the back-to-school flyers are arriving in multiples and the stores seem busy clearing too much summer stock to make way for the dull beiges and murky browns we are all supposed to be eager to throw on any moment. We are only half aware of the change, our concentration sadly focused almost exclusively on the seasonless virtual world of our computer screen, mindful only of the minutes that pass like seconds in the countdown to looming deadlines.

Sometimes one can work too hard, become too wrapped up in projects so that we don’t see the bigger picture clearly anymore and the details fuzz out and become lost in too much tweaking. Across the Bored was definitely suffering from a case of monitor-induced vision impairment yesterday: solution – shut it all down. Step away from the keyboard. Take a breath, indulge in a cup of coffee at a streetside table, eat Tiramisu…

Today is the 2 year anniversary of this blog – we had planned something big and shiny awhile ago but then promptly got distracted by more pressing issues only to be reminded this morning by a lovely little icon in the notifications. In a sense, we celebrated the previous afternoon playing hookie, watching the real world roll by and, as usual, gathering more material to keep on keeping on. It was, like much else for Across the Bored, a turn of – Events – that turned out to be fortuitous indeed.

This fortnight “Show us your events” – big or small, happy or sad, with balloons and streamers, blaring brass bands and thronging crowds or alone on a kayak, blue skies or grey, any kind of day that it might be…

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: Expectations – Week 2

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shoe expectations

a running shoe for every occasion

Our city of the perpetual pothole takes great pride in its public transit system and we availed ourselves of the services today (at $3 a clip I might add) to get to a months-long-awaited dermatologist’s appointment. It is still cheaper than parking in a lot where the valet figures our ride is a better choice for doing a few quick errands than that new Mercedes and a good way to force ourselves to sit back and find out what is really going on in the world. The only thing that seems to have really changed since we used to do this on a daily basis is that everyone is either plugged in or glued to a small device. Those who weren’t looked dazed and tired – maybe it was the time of day or perhaps just the times.

The return rush hour trip entailed a quick scramble to make the connection and we were lucky enough to park ourselves quite comfortably in one of the last available seats. End of day commuters, students, shoppers and old people all filed in silently, anxious to get home. Our urban melting pot gets a lot of visitors starting around this time of year and many arrive without much more than a basic knowledge of either official language: this makes deciphering our unnecessarily complex ticketing system problematic. Doing so with kids in tow is even more of a party game.

We watched two very small children wander up and down the aisle, twice. It didn’t seem to phase them that they couldn’t see the parent for the knees and we could hear the driver trying to explain that only one ticket was needed (under-sixes ride free) before a woman made her way back with her charges. The thought of them swaying back and forth, with her trying to hold onto both without losing one to sudden stops and swerves was just too much. I got up and offered her my seat. She shook her head to decline but we prevailed and could see the visible relief on her face.

The crux of this tale lies not in doing the right thing ourselves but in how many people don’t. The man with the good tie and mediocre suit years younger than us could easily have gotten up before us or even offered the mother his own seat so she could sit beside her two children now crammed into ours. Looking around we realized that there were any number of people who could have stepped up, but they didn’t. So we hung off the strap like the well-seasoned traveller we are until the unconscious hordes thinned out and we could sit down again. This fortnight the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge realizes that sometimes our – Expectations – what we think is a given in society about how people should act, actually have no basis in reality. We can only hope that our own actions may have made them think.

“What do expectations represent for you?” – A quick response or satisfying result, respect for an effort made or just a gentle thank-you, the bloom of a spring bulb, bark of a dog at the postman, the sun to come up in the morn or the stars to shine at night…  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: Lost – Week 2

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lost 2

when every step leads further away from where you started

Everyone misplaces stuff. The old joke about Grampa looking for his spectacles when they are perched on his head isn’t the material of urban legend, it is a fact: our own mother uses her sunglasses as a headband and then asks straight-faced where they may have gotten to. Such are the vagaries of age but they are also a greater indication of a pre-occupation with other things at hand that might be more interesting, important or just distracting. It is a given that the more stuff one has, be it material or what we carry around in our heads, at some point or another we are going to drop bits without even knowing where or when. Our metaphysical file cabinets can get so jammed that the drawers don’t close anymore. Remember that really significant, sentimental, valuable (insert appropriate adjective here) thing that suddenly loomed large, clear as day, in foggy 2AM insomniac brain wanderings?

Gone.

So you retrace your steps to the source. Or try to, but sometimes it has been a very long journey indeed since said thing has been reassigned to a new location. Organizational skills aren’t very helpful in this kind of situation, in fact, they can be a huge hindrance for what seemed like a really good idea at the time can make no sense at all later. Oh, I’ll just put it here and no, I don’t need to write that number down – I’m positive they said 4pm… Thankfully, many of these quandaries can be solved with a little detective work. Like Jack and Victor looking for the disappeared scone (oh, here it is next to the phone…) they can end in success  – or the sad realization that, like the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge, they are irretrievably – Lost. 

Last week we wanted to know “Have you ever been lost?” – In a great book or symphony, in love or grief, in the magic of a sunset or the gaze of a newborn, in traffic or far from home…

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: Abstract – Week 2

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ear art 2

I did this with my ear and thought you might like it

Across the Bored is sure that at some point in all our lives we have looked at our pets and wondered what was really going on in their heads. We look at people and think the same thing so it’s not much of a stretch to extend it to those furry partners we wander through life with.  Reams of paper have been filled with wise words and theories about the nature of the way we reason, be it concrete or logical, creative or emotional but the subject of animal cognition is still a subject of debate.

We know for a fact that our own smelly dog wishes he had squirrel superpowers – we can tell by the way he stares wistfully out the window when they taunt him from the lawn and the way he leaps up the side of the tree when in hot pursuit. Such desire is evident in the way his paws flex and rotate in very undoggy-like fashion when he lies dreaming upside down in our favourite chair.  If he had opposable thumbs things might be very different around our house and that he forces us to stop what we are doing and stare deeply into his eyes until we know exactly what he wants would certainly indicate that there is more going on in his fuzzy noggin than “eat, sleep, bark, pee, eat, sleep, chew on something…”. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight, therefore, puts forth that – Abstract – thinking is not solely the realm of those who stand upright. 

Last week we pondered “What is abstract for you” – A concept or theory, an artwork or query, a math problem, a description, philosophy or music, the very universe  …

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: Grateful – Week 2

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watches for grateful

it’s all relative

Thanks goodness there is finally a reprieve from the longest winter ever with the delivery of the first thunder and lightening storm of the season. We usually moan about heavy rain and how it adds that extra bit of fun to the logistics of getting out and about but April showers are actually a blessing in disguise for city dwellers. One day of unseasonably warm weather reduced the last of the nasty frozen black detritus on our front lawn to a mix of gravel and unmentionables, relieving us of the temptation to go at it with a pick-axe and revealed in the flower beds where our procrastinating green thumb had turned brown late last fall. Most unkempt and while there is not much to be done about that but get out the shears and gardening gloves and hack down the offending mess, it remains a blatant reminder that we will be spending some time en plein air and off the keyboard. Then the rains came…

Mother Nature must feel much the way we do – that everything is looking a bit sad and worn around the corners, dusty, fingerprint-tagged, dog-nose snuffly window smeared and in need of a good scrub. The outdoor inundations wash away the mess of the passing seasons on a grand scale, too bad it’s not as easy in our little nest. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight, therefore, is – Grateful – for the excuse to stay indoors and pass a few hours putting things in order.

Last week we asked “Are you grateful”? – For socialized medicine, healing rotator cuffs, a like on your post or tribulations tough, family, friends, the children next door, muddy paws of loved dogs that muck up the floor …

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: Bliss – Week 2

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happiness is

it used to be just that simple

When we were very young, Charles Schulz was very much the epitome of truth-sayer: he had grasped all the important bits of being six, summed them up in very few words and then illustrated the profound with the relatable. In our mind, he knew very well what he was talking about because he had given Linus glasses (we shared his pain) and had concluded that there was not much that was better than ice cream. The Peanuts Gang had its trials and tribulations but on the whole they lived in a universe where having 18 different colours in a box of crayolas was very close to being in heaven.

Today Across the Bored wonders whether our capacity to be content has become tainted; not the “that’s nice, we’re feeling pleased, so happy to see you” range of emotion but rather that all-encompassing warm and fuzzy, push all other thought out of our heads feeling that happens less often as time goes by. Over-satiated by information and input, overwhelmed by emotion, experience and the seemingly endless drama of living life often at full-tilt for too long, simple joys appear to be hard won. Is it that we are too full of too much or is it just a 21st century version of the grass being infinitely greener on a larger monitor?  Some of us have to work longer at it than others, some make a life’s work of making others happy, there are a few who seem to float smiling along in their own rapturous bubble, lucky them. Perhaps we are looking too hard or in the wrong place and, like they say of love, should stop looking for it altogether and let it come to us unbidden. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight suggests that – Bliss – is much like treasure, find it where you may.

“Describe your own form of bliss” – In a box or under the sun, in a soft smile or sweet song, in a bath full of bubbles or a night on the town…

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: T-shirts – Week 2

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stupid t

misery loves company

Chances are that if someone has said it and someone else laughed, it’s probably been printed on a t-shirt. With over 2 billion of the little suckers being churned out a year,  everything from the sacred to the profane has became graphic fodder. From Buddha and Obama to Cookie Monster and Death’s Heads, alma maters, slogans and superheroes, corny catchphrases to the downright rude, anything in fact, can and probably has been screen-printed onto that otherwise innocuous garment.

Across the Bored will admit to breaking up at some of the funnier ones but certainly wouldn’t be caught dead wearing clothing with a message having a big enough problem already with those who do not understand when we “use our words”. Putting our ideas on our chests would seem to be inviting trouble, after all, one has to actually be willing to hold forth if a topic is brought up in the first place. Some say that the most popular print ever, one that has achieved an iconic pop-culture status, probably started the trend towards text abbreviation and is produced to this day, was derived from the longest running and successful marketing campaigns of 1977:
“I♥︎NY”  – well yes we do, but we’d look idiotic wearing that to the grocery store considering how much trouble our own politicians are stirring up on a daily basis… Is there a happy medium? Probably. Is it age specific to the wearer? Maybe it should be but as with most things, it is a matter of choice most of us being old enough not to be told what to wear. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight – T-shirts – clearly illustrates how the message can sometimes become easier to digest depending on where we see it.

“Do you have any favourite t-shirts?” – White or bright, graphic or plain, with a strong statement or silly message, baby Ts or oversized gangsta…

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: Shoes – Week 2

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flying-shoes

Roger dodg’em

If you have an afternoon to spend in leisurely pursuits of the completely unproductive kind, go on google and search as many different modifiers as you can to the word “shoe”: Shoes in history, bizarre shoes, shoe houses, shoe cartoons, new shoes, old shoes, even a timeline of shoes. A “shoes in politics” search will indubitably result in some of our favourites, with the famous George Bush shoe attack and Nikita Khrushchev’s shoe-banging incident topping the list. Can’t say we have never felt the same –  many are the time that throwing a good-sized boot would have given some relief and smacking a 4-inch stiletto on the dinner table would surely calm surly guests bringing out-of-control festivities to a quick end. Type in those four little letters on the keyboard often enough and by the time you are finished you may wonder why it is spelled like it is and google that leading to another slightly more educational pop-up.

They are everywhere: when they aren’t keeping our feet from the elements, they are populating our hallways and cupboards, overtaking the streets, multiplying in stores and luring us from magazines, posing in books and being immortalized on the web. Footwear has staked its claim in history. This fortnight, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Shoes – shows us that a pair of shoes cross all cultural borders and can even help us learn more about each other.

“What do your shoes say about you?” – Are they practical and sturdy, coquette with a heel,the pair that won’t be thrown out or a baby’s first, memories of your own or being put into someone else’s, wellies, waders, golfers with spikes, mountaineers, runners, ugly ones no one likes… 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: Loyalty – Week 2

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barbara-smaller-here-s-to-even-lower-expectations-in-the-new-year-new-yorker-cartoon

tell me it’s not just me…

February in the icier regions of the northern hemisphere is a sore test of just how much many of us are willing to put with: the rosy glow of the holidays is long gone, Punxatawney Phil didn’t even bother coming up for air in our neighbourhood, Valentine’s is either boom or bust and the hours don’t seem to be getting any longer no matter how close daylight savings time gets. Tempers, like sunlight, are short and our capacity to tolerate much of what are typical daily annoyances is sadly reduced.

It is not that we expect the extraordinary but it would be nice, just once in a while, to be surprised by a quick response, a straight answer, no BS, a good word, a helpful hand, a brief acknowledgement that someone, somewhere out there that actually should be is paying attention. And that’s just people, never mind products or services… It makes one wonder why we should even bother and like Archie (in Still Game) we become quite content to seclude ourselves, the desire to be Oot having been greatly diminished.

One surmises that with an overwhelming amount of information flooding our consciousnesses every day that we have no choice but to be more selective but this can be problematic in itself. Having limited ourselves to less we desire better. It doesn’t seem much to ask but apparently it is and like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, our – Loyalty – can become strained by what society construes as good enough.

“What does loyalty mean to you?” – A pledge of allegiance, personal devotion, a philosophical concept or biblical notion, a dog to his master, the bond between friends … 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: Painting – Week 2

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painting 2

way smaller – better or worse or just the same?

When pondering on just what we will post about for these bi-weekly challenges, we usually start with an image. The one above had a very different bit of content slated to accompany it until we opened the reader this morning: many of you will already have had a peek at our reblog of Aperture 64’s eye-opening reveal of just where our images wind up and it finally gave us the impetus to take a final sad step with our precious pictures.

Being a high-resolution junkie doesn’t seem to be a good thing when it comes to getting your own work out there – bigger, in this case, is not better and has become one of those pleasures to be indulged in on the privacy of your own screen or to be shared with a select few. We had already started to diminish the size of our images in an effort to speed up the loading time of the site for our far-away friends but such a reduction also carries with it the bonus of making them less appealing to those who would like to borrow or appropriate them without going through the proper channels – guess some out there have not read the “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT” in the sidebar. Either that or they just don’t care and think we won’t find out.

Out of curiosity, do these smaller images make any difference for your viewing pleasure? Please drop us a line in the comment box to let us know, complain about copyright infringement or rant about your own stolen pix.

In other times it might have been simpler just to paint a picture, but then we wouldn’t have as many friends that we want to share it with… This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Painting – has led us in all sorts of directions, “What does painting represent for you?” – Graffiti on a wall, framed flowers in the hall, a masterpiece old or abstract bold, the sides of a house, finish on a car, commercial or couture … 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: Cook – Week 2

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cook

not so easy as it looks

In another century (yes, literally) snack foods weren’t quite as common as they are today. It was a big deal if a small bowl of cheesies or plain salted potato chips were put out and one must have been a veritable angel of a grandchild to get a tall glass of ginger ale on the side to sip politely. These nibbles were usually the accompaniment to an occasion, not a filler because we were still hungry or craved something sweet or salty, and as such they were treated differently. Both our stylish grandmothers played bridge or canasta or whatever card game was in vogue at the time on a round table set up with dainty linens in the living room. The delicacies that accompanied their soirées seemed much more soigné than the peanuts thrown back by their cigar-smoking husbands playing poker or shooting pool in the basement…

A trip to the movies, then and now, is often a good excuse to eat popcorn. Salted or not, slathered in butter or caramel, everyone has their preference and according to statistics, the average American eats about 51 quarts annually. That’s 16 billion quarts of popped popcorn each and every year – probably enough to fill up a decent-sized football stadium! When we were young, this treat was occasionally made on top of the stove in a sizzling hot, covered pot and required considerable upper arm strength to shake without it all burning. It made Ed Sullivan that much better… In the 70s Harry Blackstone, the magician, touted Jiffy Pop popcorn in television commercials – “the magic treat–as much fun to make as it is to eat.” We all clamoured for this taste sensation and it was, for many consumers, the beginning of the instant food revolution. Orville Redenbacher struck gold with this trend; the odd-looking but seemingly trustworthy and likeable character whose obsession was creating the ultimate popcorn also appeared around this time and in the 80s he perfected microwaveable bags, bringing the treat into homes for good. Fast forward to the 21st century and there are more brands of popcorn available than toothpaste – junky, weird flavours popped or not, gourmet, organic, non GMO, packaged or bulk – there’s something for everyone’s taste and price range.

It brings us full circle to this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Cook – where we find our our own Miss Z refining the art of piping hot, golden perfection popped on the stovetop. Last week we asked “How do you cook?” – On a griddle, on a grill, on a Bbq in winter still, like a short-order guy, fritters, fish or fry, vegan or carnivore, a little less or a little more…  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: Wishes – Week 2

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christmas wishes

for friends everywhere

And so another Christmas Eve is upon us. Did we get all that we had hoped to accomplish done, make everything as perfect as we had envisioned or perhaps cut back, refine, rediscover those simpler things that we had lost sight of? As we celebrate over the next few days our hope is, as always, for a most excellent coming year for everyone – Best Wishes for Health and Happiness –  the rest is just icing on the cake!

This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Wishes – is simple, it is whatever you want it to be. “What are your wishes for the coming year?” – Peace on earth, good will to men, more fun, more sun, more hours in the day like way back when, less noise, no batteries in toys, clear sailing or a new adventure …  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: Paths – Week 2

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crossed paths

Ronald searle – never a path untrodden

Some of our earliest memories involve art – the back studio where a big work was always in progress, inky-smelling magazines with weird abstract sculptures highlighted on the thick pages, compilations of odd cartoonists work, the seemingly constant to and fro of scraggly painters, artists models, ad execs, copy-writers and their hangers on coming into the house always, it seemed, around supper time and staying late into the night. Long past our bed-time we would steal into the living room, ducking dangling cigarette ash and navigate between the elbows and cocktail glasses to the coffee table piled high with Horizons and New Yorkers. A small, pyjama-clad child with an armload of magazines wasn’t of much interest and didn’t warrant much more than a raised eyebrow.

It is no wonder that we have wound up here with such childhood influences. Perhaps if the pages turned by the glow of a flashlight had been filled with the wonders of Arctic exploration, the miracles of science or how to rebuild the engine on a ’55 Chevy, life would have been considerably different. Not to say that those things don’t fascinate us but they don’t inform our daily work nor have they become as integral, in the long run, to the way we see the world. The choices we made along the way made us veer off on tangents, brought us back to the main or sent us off on wild goose chases but this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Paths – reminds us that we were set on the road to who we have become far further back than we might like to think.

Across the Bored noticed last week that everyone today seems to be going somewhere in a hurry – “Where do the paths lead in your world?” – Round in circles, up steep hills, through the countryside or urban jungle, away from family, back into a lover’s arms, down the road to perdition or happily forward into the future …  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: Writing – Week 2

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the-versatile-blogger-award

just pondering… not forgotten!

There aren’t enough hours in the day for Across the Bored to get even half the things we desire accomplished – and don’t even think of asking to cut back on the necessary luxury of a seven-hour beauty rest – for there are always those little ideas that need more thought, the bits and pieces that need fixing or filing, scrubbing or tossing, editing or revising. This stuff of life gets in the way of reading all those unopened novels, penning that prize-winning book and getting in shape – activities that ensure we don’t wind up as curmudgeonly as our DNA would like to have it. Would we had those extra minutes to scribe a few eloquent lines on the marvellous things we see on others’ pages and answer all their comments with more than just a “thanks!” –  so interacting with and especially thanking all those who follow and visit our little space in virtual reality comes in measured, but precious, doses.

We don’t know how some of you do it – we can barely keep our head above the bloggy waters let alone swim back to all the visitor’s corners of the world, as much as we long to. This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Writing – gives us that chance to reach out and today’s post is dedicated to Fill the Empty Spaces. Ideafill has a lovely clean blog filled with little gems of music and art, bits and pieces of pretty things and neat stuff we would gladly trade our clutter for. She has nominated Across the Bored for a Versatile Blogger Award for which we are most delighted!

Here are the basic rules for this award:
1. Display the badge on your blog
2. Write a post and link back to the blogger who nominated you
3. Nominate 15 bloggers (not going to happen, sorry – I’ll spring for 6) and inform them of the nomination via comment in their site
4. State 7 interesting things about yourself

The nominees that inspire us, make us smile and think are:

Abandoned Kansai
Diplomatic Dog
Hello Fig
Life: A Scot in Norway
Nylon Daze
Paris: People, Places and Bling!

7 interesting things about Across the Bored, not necessarily in any sort of order…

I would like to learn how to ride a motorcycle;
Have lost those 40 extra baby pounds gained 18 years ago in the last 9 months;
Can now fit into Miss Z’s cast-off jeans – whoopee!
Dyed my hair red just like in 1976, probably to my mother’s chagrin;
Need to learn how to travel lighter, both metaphorically and actually;
Enjoy speed-editing iphoneography;
With that said, and as much as I hate to admit it, cannot live without my iPhone…

Why not send us something interesting in return? To come full circle, last week Across the Bored put forward – “What form does writing take for you?” – Feather and quill, a typewriter still, texts and tweets, parking tickets in the street, a child’s first scrawl or graffiti on the wall … 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: Birthday – Week 2

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our dog’s gifts are not quite as sophisticated…

In Across the Bored’s house most celebrations are fraught with some sort of melodrama. Whether it be a particularly challenging guest list for a dinner party, the extra-special nutritional requirements of very young or very old or just the general long and hard organization of an event we had hoped to keep secret but are being wheedled into revealing, things never seem to work out quite as planned.  The store where we had hoped to pick up last minute items debit machine is out of order as we stand at the counter cashless with an armful of purchases that took half and hour to pick out, the incredibly sugary, stroke-inducing icing being slathered on the cake melts unforgivingly under the halogens, invitees bail at the eleventh hour even though they had insisted their schedules were free when asked to attend one month in advance – So it goes.

We should know by now just to wing it but our OCD would sometimes have it otherwise. We stand in the middle of the mall or at the kitchen counter covered in dishes, close our eyes and remember – breathe deeply. It will be all right, there is a solution, no one will know the difference, we are our own worst critic. And if it does turn into a right fiasco? Blame it on the dog… This fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Birthday – reminds us that no matter what, there should always be something to celebrate.

Seven days ago Across the Bored asked – “How do you envision birthday?” – With cake and candles, far from home, by the light of a fire with an ancient tome, kiddie balloons or grown-up winks, doggie treats or a nice cold  drink … 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: Wonder – Week 2

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wonder2

there be dragons in tom’s garden – an iphoneography collaboration

Once upon a time, we stated rather emphatically that we didn’t see what the big deal was with fancy cel phones. As long as reception wasn’t tinny and the numbers on the keypad were large enough to see without changing glasses, everything was about as good as it could get. Texting was for kids who didn’t care about the nuances of conversation – we needed the very clear and easily decipherable tone of voice to let us know whether the response to our being late was fine or fine. The no-frills phone did its duty, suffered being dropped, stolen by the dog and left overnight in a -20C car but it eventually outlived its usefulness. Said device was unceremoniously passed to our elderly mother-in-law (who was more than pleased that she could now ring us from the aisles of her favourite grocery store) and replaced, much to Miss Z’s chagrin, with the then-latest iPhone. We were doubtful about the hype but soon smitten by its charms.

We now tell anyone who’ll listen that this phone is the best ever. Not because of the quality of pictures it takes or the fabulous editing apps, instant access to alarm clocks and weather reports, messages and colour-pickers, translators and maps or even the built-in dog whistle. It has let us become connected in ways we would never have thought possible, made us more productive in a spontaneous way, given us the tools to create every single day and most importantly, to share our vision with people all over the globe in a fraction of a second. We even use it to call home once in a while – such is the miracle of modern technology. Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, every time we swipe onto the homepage we – Wonder – where our little portable universe will take us.

Last week, Across the Bored enquired – ““What shape does wonder come to you in?” – Swirling leaves and sunlit skies, the grasp of a hand or babies’ sighs, lions that play as cats or cats who would be lions, fireworks, roller coasters, neon signs … 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: Harvest – Week 2

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harvest2

here and there

Summer is gone. The air has changed bringing that tinge of frost to darker mornings and earlier nights. In the city, we judge how far into the season we are by the bend of wilted perennials and the gradations of leafy colour quickening along the avenues.  Nature seems to keep pace with the rhythm of the urban environment, never stopping to take a breath or ease into the season but leaping headlong in some frenetic rush to finish autumn before the snows come. The romantic in us longs to be out in the country, tromping about in big boots and woolly scarves, kicking around the edge of new-mown fields or just sitting on a fence taking in the glory of it all but we must content ourselves with more virtual views for the moment.

October reminds us it is time to make sure we are set for the duration, to check that all the plans we laid in spring, all the projects dreamed about on sunny afternoons and languid August nights, are in place and ready to be realized. It is as much about reflecting on what has been accomplished as it is to looking forward in hope, setting larger goals and taking the first steps towards the new. Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Harvest – we reap what we have sown.

Last week, Across the Bored asked – “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, 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 – Week 2

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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: Words – Week 2

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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: 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: Clean – Week 2

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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: Bold

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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

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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

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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

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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.