Month: February 2022

Not All That Glitters

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RDP Friday: CHUNK

Among chunks of stone, sand we sometimes find treasure:

On 26 November Carter, with Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn and assistant Arthur Callender in attendance, made a “tiny breach in the top left-hand corner” of the doorway, using a chisel that his grandmother had given him for his 17th birthday. He was able to peer in by the light of a candle and see that many of the gold and ebony treasures were still in place and a sealed doorway between two sentinel statues. Carnarvon asked, “Can you see anything?” Carter replied: “Yes, wonderful things”

Photo By A.M Moscoso King Tut final Tour 2012 Seattle WA

I do wonder what the archeologist said when they  found some of the victims of Mount Vesuvius behind a wall that hid an ancient boat house.

They weren’t Pharaohs or their Queens and they weren’t surrounded by gold but their story was a real treasure – ask writers and anyone who can’t unsee this photo:

Remains of people who were buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the forcini, or boathouses, at the ancient beach of Herculaneum, Italy, Aug. 2, 2012. A pair of studies published Jan. 23, 2020, offer new evidence for how the Vesuvius eruption killed some of HerculaneumÕs people. (Gianni Cipriano/The New York Times)

Not all that glitters is gold.

Flashback to 11:59

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Fandango’s Flashback Challenge asked us to post something we had written on February 11th.

I had a few things to chose from but I went with this story because it’s about 2 people trapped in one moment of time- so it fits the flashback challenge perfectly.

11:59

First Published on

February 11, 2021

” What do you think the end of the world is supposed to look like? ”

They were two strangers waiting for the noon day bus and it was better, they both silently agreed , to say something to drown out  the roaring  of the dark and heavy silence around them.

One commuter was carrying a pink backpack and the other wore eye  glasses with tortoise shell frames  that sat crooked on her nose.

Behind them was a diner, an empty deserted diner with one table  leaning against the far wall, a counter top minus it’s top and an ice cream machine covered with plaster and mold.

The woman with the backpack  turned and looked at her fellow traveler and shrugged.

” Go on, take a guess”

” I suppose the sky would  be red.”

They  looked into the diner.

” Did you ever eat there? ”

” I did, a long time ago. ” Said the woman with the glasses, not only were they crooked one of the lenses was cracked and the other was missing.

” Was the food any good?”

” No. But the ice cream was.  They served it in little cones. I wonder why they served it in those little cones that?”

They both turned away from the diner and looked up and down the empty street for their bus and they did not wonder if it was running late or if it would be on time or exactly how long they had been waiting for it.

The woman in the glasses looked up into the sky. ” I was sure,  you know,  that the sky would be red.”

 

Little Windows

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I think this is why I write-

quote from Vincent van Gogh:

“Art is to console those who are broken by life.” – Vincent Van Gogh

I’ve posted two of my hands down favorite Van Gogh paintings and a clip from Doctor Who that I think was the best moment on DW ever.

In this scene Van Gogh over hears a tour guide give not an academic reason for why he

admires Van Gogh’s work, but a human one. It really is a great tribute.

Vincent van Gogh Almond Blossoms 1890

Vincent van Gogh The Church at Auvers 1890

Why?

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RDP Wednesday: PERPLEXED

When my Dad passed away some of my friends reached out to me and told me how

much he had meant to them.

He encouraged one of my friends to see the world- travel to England and Scotland

he encouraged a few of them to go to college and

he even helped a few of them with their homework.

 

When I said I had plans on doing the same thing, he would smiled and told  tell me

not everyone could cut it in college, that going to the U.K was expensive.

It was a nice dream wasn’t it? But I had a great job in a t-shirt store ( when I was in

Highschool ) at the Mall

and that I should be proud of that.

 

The next Summer after that conversation my Dad took that trip to the U.K.  and a few

years later my friend and her pals from College went too.

 

So. Yeah. I never went to the U.K. I never went to college and I worked retail for more

then half of my adult life- FYI it’s not a job, it’s a sentence. You know, like the sentences

they hand out to convicts.

 

This is what I remember about my Dad ‘being there ‘ when my friends needed a

parental figure to encourage them along-

 

I remember one of my friends standing there when my Dad said that college wasn’t for

everyone and that going to the U.K. was out of my reach and that I had a real future in

selling t-shirts.

In one breath he encouraged one girl to the hilt  and in the next breath

simply-  he did not.

 

Years later when she told me,  ‘ that he was one of the good ones ‘

my brain sort of locked up and I really didn’t know what to say to that.

 

I still don’t.