The Finale! A2Z Challenge–X for Xenophobia

Margo may well be a little late in finishing her A2Z challenge for April. She may have gone a little bit out of sequence, but, my goodness, she certainly saved the best ’til last.
Check out this fabulous commentary on the scourge of modern society. Just how can people be carried along by such hatred, such unfairness, and such sheer malice.
Let’s join Margo’s revolution and refuse to accept even a hint of xenophobia.

that little voice

Finally I have finished the A2Z April Word Challenge that was to end on April 30. A month + past the deadline is not too bad, some would say, and I will agree. You can read what others said about words from the letters of the alphabet at a-to-zchallenge.com.

X for Xenophobia

Admittedly my vocabulary is not classified as abundant, and I don’t race around adding words willy-nilly to my limited supply of verbiage. However, in today’s world, new words seem to find their way to my mouth’s attention more often than just a few years ago.

One of those surprise additions is Xenophobia, meaning chauvinism, racism, nationalism, prejudice, racial intolerance and dislike of foreigners. The word has been around for many moons, but it had not crept into my consciousness until the last Presidential campaign.

Suddenly it became a household word, at least to a segment of my friends. Xenophobia was…

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Alone With My Bike

I’m shamelessly reblogging this because I added a little verse to the comments, and I rather like it. Also, if you haven’t ever read any of Colleen’s posts then you are missing out on some very wise words, some selfless, and often moving, observations, and the chance to get to know more about a lovely lady. I think Colleen should be prescribed to everyone as a pick me up!

The Chatter Blog

I got on my bike.

To be alone or so I wouldn’t be alone.

I’m not sure which.

Along the way I received waves,

Hellos,

Good mornings,

Thumbs up,

and

A few things I couldn’t decipher but they were said with smiles

So I accepted them with delight.

I met Judy who was on a bike for the first time in 15 years.

She was grateful for being on the bike and determined to resume her joy of biking.

I was appreciated her smiling face and her sharing her story with me.

I stopped to watch a muddy river.

It wasn’t so much roaring as it was rumbling,

I enjoyed the sound of it.

On the way back

I saw a damn snake.

And with that adrenaline I nearly flew over the next five miles.

There was no poetry to my day,

But maybe the rhythm of it lent to…

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Special Bonds

Spare a few minutes to view this delightful story posted by Bridget, The happy Quitter. Smiles guaranteed, oohs and aahs are optional!

The happy Quitter!

Animals never fail to surprise me. I work in animal rescue for many years, and always when I think I have seen it all, along comes a story that touches my heart and makes me smile for days.

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Countin’ Sheep

Having trouble sleeping?
You could do a lot worse than popping along to Kat Myrman’s place and reading a few of her magnificent tales (and they’re not just lamb’s tails!)

like mercury colliding...

Now I know you like countin’ on the likes of me, but I gotta warn ya’

If I was countin’ on me I would never be able to sleep at night ’cause I’m a follower, I tell ya’; can’t think fer m’self and I’m liable to lead ya’ somewheres ya’ might not want to go…if ya’ foller what I’m sayin’.

But if it’s nightmares yer lookin’ fer, then I’m yer sheep; jus’ don’t say I didn’t warn ya’.

~kat

A Three Line Tale prompted by the photo above by Sam Carter via Unsplash. Thanks Sonya for hosting!

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Life Lessons learned from a 2-year old

An interesting, and informative article from Daniel Rattner, via Bridget, The happy Quitter. If you head back to Daniel’s original post there are some interesting pictures of Ilya.

The happy Quitter!

I often babysit the neighbor’s kids or they babysit me -however you want to look at it and there is a lot I learned from watching babies, toddlers and yes, even teenagers.

I wondered if I am the only one who looks at it that way. Does not being a parent make me more of a pushover or perhaps more observant?

Yesterday, I found by accident an article that made me feel good and of course, I have to share my finding with all of you. Here you go:

To start, I’m not a parent. I opted into a commune-style Brooklyn home I found on Craigslist, and I live with a young couple and their two-year-old, Ilya.

I’ve now been living there for one year and I can confidently say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Because in my time living with a kid, I’ve come to…

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Dream On, Dream On

John David Ray, who was not born with that name, has a dream, and a great talent.

I would like you to share that because it is very worthwhile.

Do read this, and John’s other posts, I’m sure you will enjoy them.

John David Ray

 As your bony fingers close around me
Long and spindly
Death becomes me
Heaven can you see what I see

Hey you pale and sickly child
You’re death and living reconciled
Been walking home a crooked mile

Paying debt to karma
You party for a living
What you take won’t kill you
But careful what you’re giving

There’s no time for hesitating
Pain is ready, pain is waiting
Primed to do it’s educating

Unwanted, uninvited kin
It creeps beneath your crawling skin
It lives without it lives within you

Feel the fever coming
You’re shaking and twitching
You can scratch all over
But that won’t stop you itching

[Chorus]

Blame it on your karmic curse
Oh shame upon the universe
It knows its lines
It’s well rehearsed

It sucked you in, it dragged you down
To where there is no hallowed ground
Where holiness is never found

Paying debt to…

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Twittering Tale #67 – “The Tree” – 16 January 2018

It’s time again for Kat Myrman’s wonderful challenge to tax our creative souls. Just take her photo prompt and write a story, inspired by it, in 280 characters or fewer.

Here is this week’s prompt and my contribution. Check out all the fabulous entries here.

OK you pesky elves, someone is having a laugh.
That middle tree is upside down!
I want you to dig it up and plant it the right way.

We can’t do that mister, it’s getting dark.

Never mind about that, just get it done.

No, we can’t do that! It’s against the new rules for elfin safety!

(279 characters)

It rather spoils the tale but, on checking, I find that what is “Health and Safety” in the UK is “Occupational Safety and Health” in USA, “Workplace Health and Safety” in Australia, and any number of other descriptions in other countries, so my tale falls a bit flat! Put it down to age!!

Best Choice|بهترین انتخاب

A lovely story that is international, although, in this instance, comes from Iran.

A Voice from Iran

Three old men knocked on a door.

A young woman opened the door.

The Three old men said: “We are hungry and tired, could you help us?”

She responded: “My husband and son are inside the house and we would be glad to help you.”

One of the old men said: “My name is WEALTH, that one is SUCCESS and the other one is LOVE. Only one of us can come in. Go and ask your husband which one of us should come to your house.”

She walked back inside and told the circumstances to her husband and son.

Her husband said: “Let the wealth in. We need that. We can do anything with wealth.”

She said: “Why not to let the success come in. We can have wealth if we’re successful.”

Their son said: “We should let the love in. A home is home when it is full of…

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The not so Old Girl and The Sea

A reblog of a reblog.
A long post but really worth the read.

Tales from the Romulan Neutral Zone

It started with a Hashtag.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, the tributary streams of our modern world flowing into the big river of awareness. Then the conventional media outlets caught on and before we knew it, the Weinstein dam broke and it was Land Under in Hollywood.

I’ll admit, my brain went into ‘white noise’ mode after the first few hundred Tweets. It seemed yet another sad, frustrating déjà vu moment in history – I’ve already seen this, and not once but twice, three times … it’s like we’re forming a brave bucket brigade on the Titanic, shouting encouragement to each other while that sad, lonely SOS echoes over the frozen Atlantic. If anybody out there really gave a damn, wouldn’t they have answered by now?

So, I was resigned to have another talk with my teenage girls about why life isn’t fair,

about politics and the legal system, and that there…

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A Christmas Story

I saw this last year and thought it delightful. A second viewing is even better, and I thought more of you would like to see the beautifully told Christmas story.

Nan's Farm-Inside Out

“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas, perhaps,  means a little bit more!”  ~ The Grinch

And in a meagrestable bare the little child was born.

For a number years,  I taught Religious Education alongside computing.  At the time there was a lack of child friendly resources, so I improvised and created my own video library of Bible stories.

As the season of the school nativity plays comes to a close, it seems a perfect time to re-blog and share my own version of the Nativity, a video that includes beautifully illustrated pictures from my daughter Sophie.

“He who has not got Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”  ~ Roy L Smith

©Sue W-nansfarm.net 2017 In response to the word prompt Meagre (meager)

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