Tag: week 2

The Big 5 – “How” do you relax? – Week 2

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Call the Midwife … 'We don't go out on bikes.'fits and starts between bites of toast

We are not big television watchers. Not having 536 cable channels might have something to do with it but we compensate our viewing pleasure in other ways and our recent thrill (after marathoning Downton Abbey) is Call the Midwife. Being a dedicated multitasker, the small screen usually finds us doing something else at the same time but the late Jennifer Worth’s memoirs fleshed out with the BBC’s knack for colour continuity and period detail have proven that there are some things worth putting down your knitting for. This runaway hit about “women’s issues” and the field of midwifery pre-contraception in London’s East End in the 1950s has proven compelling – the characters are affable, the scenes range from the bittersweetly comic to the tragic and the plotlines broach all manner of “tough” subject without a moment’s hesitation. It is, as some have said, “magnificently subversive drama” that plays out with all the unexpectedness of life itself. We are fully engaged and the better for it.

It’s not hard to see ourselves reflected in the bits of dialogue between the nursing Nuns of Nonnatus House. Much like 90 year old Sister Monica Joan’s dismissal of the Dewey Decimal system as “altogether too earthbound” in favour of an arrangement more distinctly eclectic, we too have been known to shuffle tomes and “put Plato here, next to Freud, so they can be companions in their ignorance…” Well aware of the oddly calming effect of placing books where we think they should be, rather than where most libraries would have them, we pull and replace, urging the Noir Style to rub shoulders with Strange Days, Dangerous Nights and squeeze the Explorers next to a mint Maharaja just for good measure. This methodology works as well for us as it did for the aged sister stacking volumes on a makeshift bookshelf until someone jams an action-thriller into 1001 Kitchen Organizers and we are forced to do triage once again.

After all that, the Big 5 Challenge is ready to put its feet up, watch another episode and ask this fortnight…

“How do you relax?” – with a good book or crashed on the couch, watching a mindless movie or birds in the park, fixing the old or creating the new, hiking up that mountain, running a mile, window-watching or sight-seeing… We would love to know how you recharge and restore.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this challenge can be found here: Need more info, want to browse past themes or get the badge for your blog? See 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.

The Big 5 – “Who” did you listen to? – Week 2

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cookbookSomewhere a Grasshopper and Ant are in lively discussion

Advice, whether good or unwanted, seems to be measured out much like ingredients in a recipe – either in pinches or tablespoons, pennyweights or pounds. Sometimes freely given, often with a price, this form of guidance can restate the obvious, impart the wisdom of the ages or make us wonder where it originated and much like cooking, depends on the messenger’s knowledge to have decent results.

Things that once seemed problematic like “Drink 8 glasses of water a day” (What? Who has time? Where am I going to get 8 glasses in this office? Really?) in retrospect and according to many an esthetician, make good healthy sense.  Others, like “Buy it! Everyone’s wearing neon this year!” should be avoided like the plague affecting the fashion victim uttering it.  Are the hundreds of recommendations we seem to be overwhelmed with actually helpful or even useful? Are they what we need to hear or are they what the bearer knows we want to hear? We could fill a book with all the well-intended bon mots heard over a lifetime and put Napoleon’s words along with a suitably witty illustration on the frontispiece:

Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas (There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous).

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge hears the voice of the past in these few simple phrases handed down over the last two centuries that apply to more than just domestic issues:

Learn how things are done properly, for if you marry a rich man you will need to know whether your servants are doing their jobs as required and if you marry a poor man, you will be doing them yourself…

“Who did you listen to?” – Parents or peers, punk or piano, the beat of your heart or steps in the street, politicians, revolutionaries, strangers that you’d meet… We would love to know who influenced your youth.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this challenge can be found here: Need more info, want to browse past themes or get the badge for your blog? See 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.

The Big 5 – “Where” are you from? – Week 2

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where are you from

When Across the Bored was little, the world was a very big place where letters came in envelopes delivered to the door and telephones only transmitted the sound of our voices. News was listened to on the radio, watched (once a day) at 6 in the evening or read about in the paper and much that happened outside of our immediate communities was digested pretty much after the fact.  If anyone we knew was lucky enough to travel we gave them a hug, tearfully wished them godspeed and au revoir, consoled ourselves with something sweet and then patiently waited for a postcard and their return.

Today, we spend a lot of our time in transit, our work and leisure takes us back and forth between neighbourhoods, cities, countries and continents. We tend to multitask at every available opportunity on all sorts of devices, convinced that the need to know what everyone is doing and how they are at any given moment is crucial. Maybe… or maybe not. Although we may feel some relief to find out that yes our loved ones did arrive safely at their destination, when batteries drain, lines of communication fail and links go “offline” our anxiety increases exponentially.

With the world seeming a much smaller place, and the ability to pinpoint where we all are right now at the touch of our fingertips, the question of where we began becomes moot. This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge has been reminded that we don’t always need to, or want to go back, that there is some truth to the phrase “You Can’t go Home Again“.

“Where are you from?” – City or farm, present or past, pedigrees and bloodlines, in the future or lost in time, adopted country or birthplace, Venus or Mars… We would love to know where you feel connected to.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this challenge can be found here: Need more info, want to browse past themes or get the badge for your blog? See 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.

The Big 5 – “What” are you reading? – Week 2

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bisquick

Surfing around the other day (and no, we stupidly didn’t bookmark it for future reference), we came across the following phrase: “Dialogue is the civilized form of Monologue”. Succinct and quite brilliant, it epitomizes what this still new challenge is really about: sharing with others, creating a discussion, venting, exploring and creating something out of “nothing” – putting out there what was previously ours alone, concretizing and verbalizing through our posts so that we may get something back or get something off our backs.

In retrospect, and from the variety of entries, we may not have completely thought this through but as with most things Across the Bored, chaos theory prevails and gives that bonus of the delightfully unpredictable and unforeseen – there are as many ways to respond as there are answers and who are we to quibble. We discovered new bloggers, received posts that answer each one of the Big 5 categories in relation to the question itself, unravelled acrostics, bantered fun replies in the comment box and even got reviews on books we suspect we may own but haven’t read! The least we can say is thank you… And that brings us round to this fortnight’s Big 5 Challenge where we hope that something more interesting than the back of the waffle mix box is occupying your time.

“What are you reading?” – A trashy romance, a book about dance, on a smartphone or tablet, as homework or habit, magazine, query, a newspaper, even the dictionary… We would love to know what you are poring over this week.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this challenge can be found here: Need more info, want to browse past themes or get the badge for your blog? See 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: Habit – Week 2

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teamaker

A man who can’t bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them
Stephen king

The slow slipping back into consciousness at the start of each day signals that, like it or not, we must get up and get on with the business of living. Although the sequence of events may have changed ever so slightly over the years to accommodate different age requirements, in our digs it has remained consistent with some of us doing much the same things in much the same order that we have for far too many moons. Unless we are on vacation, away on business or out of our own cozy nest for one reason or another, this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme – Habit – would be the one word to describe how our household gears up every morning.

Last week, Across the Bored had inquired “What does your habit look like?” Is it something simple or complex, the velvet hat and crop you don to ride a horse, the path you take when walking the dog, a dirty ashtray or morning smoothie, a Friday night activity or the subject you can’t seem to stop photographing… 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.