Jun21
Jun21
#ALP: Bees or Butterflies
What would you rather have in your garden, bees or butterflies? Why?
- Use this prompt any way you wish—for a poem, memoir, painting, short story, photograph, no limits. Enjoy!
- If you’d like to share a blog post (G-rated, please, and sensitive to the feelings of others—anything slightly objectionable will be deleted), create a pingback or leave a link in the comments below.
- Be sure to visit at least two other participants to see how they interpreted the prompt.
- Tag your entry #ALP (for ARHtistic License Prompt) to help others find your work on social media.
Jun20
TPC New: Baby Grapefruit
Jun20
Wordless Wednesday/ Flower of the Day: Katie Ruellia
Doing double duty with Cee’s Flower of the Day:
Jun20
#ALP: Bird
What’s your favorite bird: humming? owl? robin? parakeet? Big Bird?
- Use this prompt any way you wish—for a poem, memoir, painting, short story, photograph, no limits. Enjoy!
- If you’d like to share a blog post (G-rated, please, and sensitive to the feelings of others—anything slightly objectionable will be deleted), create a pingback or leave a link in the comments below.
- Be sure to visit at least two other participants to see how they interpreted the prompt.
- Tag your entry #ALP (for ARHtistic License Prompt) to help others find your work on social media.
Jun19
My Husband’s African Cichlids
When I first met my husband in 1972, he invited me to come see his fish.
Since then he’s had many, many set-ups: freshwater, saltwater, small, large, goldfish, guppies, oscars, catfish, angelfish, anemones, clownfish…
His current pride and joy is a 180-gallon tank in our family room, filled with fish whose natural habitat is Lake Tanganyika or Lake Malawi in Africa. They are characterized by brilliant colors, especially yellows and blues.
It’s tricky taking pictures of an aquarium. You get lots of reflections. I promise you there is no table lamp in the tank. It’s really on an end table across the room.
I don’t remember how many cichlids Greg started out with. Now there are at least 50–it’s hard to count them because they’re constantly moving.
The fish are all different sizes. The largest ones are the originals he bought maybe ten years ago. Since then they’ve multiplied continuously.
The dark fish below spends all his time excavating. He picks up gravel in his mouth and spits it out in another part of the tank. He’s responsible for all the hills and valleys in the landscaping.
Greg loves to sit and watch the fish. He says it’s like watching a soap opera. There are a few bullies who pick on the others, and the courting couples swim around each other in graceful circles. Some mind their own business, and others curiously explore. They all love to be fed and nearly jump out of the tank in their enthusiasm for frozen brine shrimp or flake food.
Greg designed the tank with lots of hidey holes. If there are sudden movements in the family room, the fish disappear. They also enter their caves when Greg turns off the tank lights at night.
African cichlids are mouth brooders. The females hold their fertilized eggs (and the hatched, developing babies) in their mouths for three to five weeks to protect them from predators. After they’re released, most get eaten, but some hide in the caves until they’re too big to be vulnerable. Greg always gets excited when he sees a new little one.
Do you raise fish? What types do you like? Share in the comments below.
Jun19
#ALP: Pain
What’s the worst pain you’ve ever experienced, physical or emotional? How do you deal with pain? How has pain shaped the person you are today?
- Use this prompt any way you wish—for a poem, memoir, painting, short story, photograph, no limits. Enjoy!
- If you’d like to share a blog post (G-rated, please, and sensitive to the feelings of others—anything slightly objectionable will be deleted), create a pingback or leave a link in the comments below.
- Be sure to visit at least two other participants to see how they interpreted the prompt.
- Tag your entry #ALP (for ARHtistic License Prompt) to help others find your work on social media.
Jun18
Monday Morning Wisdom #159
Jun18
#ALP: Favorite Song
What’s the song you’ll always associate with the one you love, or your college days, or the home you grew up in? What song always changes your mood for the better? Do you prefer show tunes, operatic arias, country and western?
- Use this prompt any way you wish—for a poem, memoir, painting, short story, photograph, no limits. Enjoy!
- If you’d like to share a blog post (G-rated, please, and sensitive to the feelings of others—anything slightly objectionable will be deleted), create a pingback or leave a link in the comments below.
- Be sure to visit at least two other participants to see how they interpreted the prompt.
- Tag your entry #ALP (for ARHtistic License Prompt) to help others find your work on social media.
Jun17
Life Lessons Learned from my Parents
This article first appeared on Doing Life Together.
My parents on their wedding day, 1951.
Mom passed away in 2004, Dad in 2013. I miss them every day.
In this season between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I would like to honor my parents by enumerating the ways they made me what I am.
My parents taught me:
To work hard. Whatever chores they assigned me, I was expected to do them well, without complaining, and be happy that I was contributing to my family. (I often disappointed them by not complying with the no complaining and happiness stipulations.) My father worked long hours and sometimes worked a second job to support our family. He worked so hard at his baking job that he eventually became a partner in the business.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
