writing prompts – Page 3 – Mrs. Kelly Love

Chocolate healing.

My son told me an interesting fact this weekend, and I verified it on the ‘net:

4. “Illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box of candy weighing less than fifty pounds.” I don’t know, this might be a smart law, not a silly law. Yes it would be expensive. Yes it would be heavy. But what woman wouldn’t like to get fifty pounds of chocolate! Talk about being able to pick and choose your favorite pieces!

From: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1523712/idaho_laws_top_five_silliest.html?cat=17

That begs the question: What wife or girlfriend became so angry at her cheap husband/boyfriend that she decided to get the required signatures and petition for a new law to be put on the books? Okay, aside from finding this fantastic writing prompt, the real reason I’m writing about chocolate this morning is because I owe people. A lot of people.

My friend stepped in for me BIG TIME yesterday. My other co-workers always have my back. My husband went back to the store for ME when he was already home because I was too tired. This morning, a heavy bronze crab sculpture I have in my bathroom fell (yes, I am the owner of a heavy bronze crab sculpture) and my husband asked me if I was okay.

I was kvetching that no matter what I do, I don’t get it all done. I still didn’t finish training myself on a new reading program I must start today. I still didn’t get everything I needed from the store. I still didn’t have time to clean this morning. What I really needed to do was just shut up and consider how lucky I am.

It should be a law that I must reciprocate with no less than 50 lbs. of the best, smoothest, most delicious chocolates for all of these people in my world I cherish, love, and appreciate. The best I can do for now is to say, “I love you, and I am so grateful for you.” And I’ll try to throw in a few Hershey’s kisses, too.

Myth-of-the-Month Club: Janus

My fellow bloggers out there in the technosphere have taken up the challenge to write a post-a-day on their blogs for the month of January. (“I can do that!” Mrs. L thought to herself.) So what if there’s laundry to do, meals to prepare, and holiday decorations to take down? I can do this! Or can I?

And like any good resolution, which is also part of the “resolve” word family (resolution, resolve, resolute) I am going to give it my best.

But I needed a theme. I love themes. Those are the universal truths and connections among all cultures, societies, time, and beliefs that allow us not to float away, untethered, distracted, or isolated.

Don-da-da-da! (That’s supposed to be trumpets blaring): The theme for January is the “Myth of the Month Club.” Each day I will feature a myth, legend, folktale, deity (remember? polytheism? deity? gods…goddesses…demi-gods, etc.? Come on…you remember, right?) And what better or more appropriate way to start off January with that two-faced deity himself, doesn’t know if he’s coming or going, looking back to look forward, JANUS!

Roman god of doorways, gates, and transitions, who faced forwards and backwards. The name January comes from the name of Janus. Janus statues show twin faces. – http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/religionmyth/ig/Greek-Mythology/Janus.-_Qs.htm

Janus imitates its two-faced Greek god namesake by catching light on two sides.

The brighter side of Janus is lit by the sun while light reflected off Saturn dimly illuminates the rest of the moon and reveals the non-spherical shape of this small satellite.

This image has been scaled to twice its original size. This view looks toward the leading hemisphere of the Janus (179 kilometers, or 111 miles across). North on Janus is up and rotated 22 degrees to the left.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 12, 2009. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (621,000 miles) from Janus and at a Sun-Janus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 112 degrees. Image scale is 6 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

Janus is one of Saturn’s (the planet) satellites (moons). Remember, Saturn is, in mythology, the old man who grunts and grumbles at Baby New Year. It is no accident that French astronomer Audouin Dollfus who discovered this tiny, two-faced moon in 1966 named it Janus. Janus and Saturn are connected to the same myth: that time turns, we look to our past, and to our futures, all at the same time, in the present moment.

Here is another thought about Saturn:

Vouet completed the piece “Father Time Overcome by Hope, Love, and Beauty” (1627).:

(I’m not sure if time can be overcome by love, beauty, and hope. That’s what is advertised to us. If we buy wrinkle cream, we HOPE that we will still have BEAUTY and we can keep LOVE.)

In any case, Happy New Year. Like Janus, I think it’s important to honor the past, learn from mistakes, and appreciate the experiences we’ve gained, while simultaneously looking forward to the future.

Silent treatment.

What if you want to talk to someone, but they’re far away, or maybe not even around anymore? What if you don’t know what to say? What if you know they can’t or won’t talk back to you?

I imagine a conversation between this tree and the moon – what do you think they would say?

(Okay- I’m being sneaky. See how easy that was? I love to look at images and just let my mind take over, and write. But what if you can’t think of ANYTHING to WRITE ABOUT and you are FORCED TO and you want to SCREAM because your mind is as silent and blank as the moon? Check this out: Ralph Fletcher’s Writing Website. )

Got Imagination?

Smith’s book, How to be an Explorer of the World, is a feast for the mind and soul. Don’t live in a world of grays and browns – wake up and smell the creativity!

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Explorer-World-Portable/dp/0399534601

You know me. I like to be creative. Think. Make art. Write. Read. I really appreciate what Keri Smith put together in her book about exploration.

For example, on page 144-145, she writes:

Thought Experiments: Einstein used “thought experiments” (questions that can only be solved using imagination), on a regular basis. He actually formulated the special theory of relativity by asking the question, ‘what would it be like to travel on a beam of light?’ It is interesting to conduct these thought experiments in the midst of everyday life.

Some thought experiment starters:

what if all my neighbors had secret lives?
what if the newspaper held all the secrets of the universe in some kind of code?
what if all leaves had secret messages embedded on them?
what if little elves lived on the roof and only came out at night?
what if my house were a playgroun? a blank canvas? had secret powers?