100 Words for Grownups Week 12

The prompt for this week's 100 Words for Grownups is ... euro meltdown fear... written in a journalistic style. My fear was so great I nearly did not have a go. Today, I got brave and had a go - here it is.

UK not to blame!

Europe stands petrified as the euro meltdown fear creeps across it like volcanic lava and UK financial gurus can sigh with relief. Whatever happens about Greece, or indeed Ireland, the fact that the UK did not join the Euro is to be applauded.  Undoubtedly as billions of euros are poured onto the terminal embers of the Greek economy, the rest of Europe wonders how it will end.  The money has to come from somewhere, but does the reservoir of the European Central Bank contain sufficient to prevent the fires of insolvency from spreading further and further? Only time will tell.

Going back the way you came...

I went blackberrying recently, the day I made a big decision. I worked my way down the lane to the river, spotting and picking the berries as I went. Some were big and juicy and I tried to work out why others were so much smaller. I never did come to a sensible conclusion. I'd had it in my mind that there would be lots of berries across the river, past the old watermill and up the lane to the adjoining village. As I walked up the lane I was disappointed to see there were no brambles in the hedge at all. I retraced my tracks and to my surprise I spotted lots more blackberries, that I had missed first time round.

The fact that I saw more berries on the way back, set me off thinking about hindsight. It is always acknowledged that hindsight is always 20:20, absolutely perfect. We can always spot what was wrong, what went wrong, and why things went wrong. Conversely, hindsight can also reflect that we were entirely right to do what we did.  On my blackberrying day, I looked back in my life as well as retracing my physical steps. I realised that although I have not always picked the best, or always the right way to do things, I am very glad I did those things because I'm in a good place. This may amaze some, who look at the last few months of my life, saying that I have had a hard time. I have had a hard time, but I have come through it. That is a blessing. Mr G and I have weathered a long stormy spell, but now we are back in the sunshine again.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with my son, his wife and my little granddaughter. We had a glorious time. R, my granddaughter is just two, and sucking up learning every waking moment. We had an hilarious lunch time. She loves tomatoes, but prefers the juicy seedy bit to the flesh. I had one piece of still juicy tomato on my plate, whereas she had sucked the seeds out of most of her share. With a lightening move, she removed the juicy piece from my plate and replaced it with one of her sucked clean pieces. It was probably good that I spotted it, or I may have eaten her piece! We all laughed, she will eventually learn not to do that, but in her little mind, my tomato was so much better. This observancy continued all afternoon. She spotted a helicopter ('topter), a kite being flown nearby, the slides, the swings, the roundabout, her very pregnant mother's chocolate, Mummy's juice and Grandad's ability to play ball with her and to play exciting games at the tea table. She jumped, she ran, she slid, she climbed. As I watched her, drawing every bit of fun to be had into her life, I reaffirmed the vow Mr G and I have made. We are going to live our lives to the full. We aren't ever going to mark time and miss chances to do things. Like R, we are going to get ALL we can out of life.

          Dance as if nobody is watching,
          Sing as if nobody is listening,
        Live every day as if it were your last.

100 words for Grownups

The starter for  100 words for Grownups. this week is ...out of the mouths of babes.... , this made me smile as children are so often funny and /or poignant in their sayings.

All in a day's work.

 All was quiet in the room, the sound of scratching pencils, the murmur of voices, the occasional squeak of table or chair. Gradually the noise began to rise, as it does. The relaxed atmosphere was spiced with a pinch of ... something going on. She gave the room a cursory glance, then turned back. She issued gentle directions and suggestions. The hint of something going on became stronger. She looked across the room. She started with revulsion. She saw two small boys with pencils sticking out of their nostrils. “Darius, made me do it!”  Out of the mouths of babes...

This actually happened yesterday!

Tiredness...

There appears to be a veritable epidemic of tiredness these days. In small children this leads, quite often, to appalling behaviour and an early night much to the relief of all parties. Then there is the tiredness of extreme ill health. A bone weary, utter exhaustion, to which there is no quick fix, but resting in bed brings some small relief.
 This:

Main Entry:	tired
Part of Speech:	adjective
Definition:	exhausted, weary
Synonyms:	all in, annoyed, asleep, beat*, bored, broken-down, burned out, collapsing, consumed, dead on one's feet, distressed, dog-tired, done for, done in, drained, drooping, droopy, drowsy, empty, enervated, exasperated, fagged, faint, fatigued, fed up*, finished, flagging, haggard, irked, irritated, jaded, narcoleptic, overtaxed, overworked, petered out, played out, pooped, prostrated, run-down, sick of, sleepy, spent, stale, tuckered out, wasted, worn, worn out

shows us how many words we could use. However a number refer to the notion that we ourselves are not tired, but that we dislike or have ceased to favour the item or the person.

Over the past year, I have literally been sick and tired. Now I am recuperating I am occasionally drooping, fatigued and dog tired. This is entirely to be expected and is remedied, as in infancy with an early night, and normal service is resumed.
The 'tired' to which I refer I think stems from an overly stressed or demanding life or even lifestyle. I have been there myself, but my recent reflections have led me to believe that we often say we are tired when we are unwilling to elucidate on how we really feel. The unwillingness to further explain may stem from not wishing to offend or, indeed, from laziness at better expressing ourselves. We may say we are tired when we are actually prevaricating about that which MUST be done. We may say we are tired, when we have NOT done that which needed doing. We might say we are tired when we actually think we are being burdened with tasks that we genuinely feel are most unfair. I think sometimes we say we are tired when we are bored!

                        Sooooo tired...

After my big thinks, I made a deal with myself. I'm not going to say I'm tired unless I really am. I'm going to say I'm struggling if I have too much to do. I'm going to get on with the inescapable tasks BUT I'm going to make darn sure that I don't say I'm tired when I've lumbered myself with jobs within my control and of my own volition - like blogging or clearing up craft things or helping with the fish, I agreed we should have.
I'm not going to hide what I really feel by saying I'm tired.

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups – Week #10

Hours and hours wasted.

I simply don’t believe it. Hours I have spent, nurturing, tending, caring.  All for what?  It’s nothing short of a travesty.  They looked beautiful, tumbling like brightly coloured hair.  The different colours blending like an earthbound rainbow.  I cherished my little ones, spared them from pests and diseases, never letting them go hungry.  I placed them with love, ensuring each had enough room to grow, to reach their potential.  I used all my skill, my years of experience, I gave them my all. All for this, my babies chopped and shorn, to make a living statue.