prompt

Prompt – Pack a Bag

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I’ve been going to town reading a ton of library books. Most recently I finished Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman.

I’m sorry to say that I had never heard of Elizabeth Bisland, whose birthday was a few days ago. It sounds like, as unexpected as her voyage was, she had a much better time.

One of the jabs against Nellie Bly going around the world was that it was impossible for a woman to travel lightly, carrying all kinds of steamer trunks and hat boxes. However Nellie Bly did it, in not only less than eight days, but carrying ONE BAG, a sturdy gripsack (pictured below).

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Photo of Nellie Bly, public domain

Today’s prompt is just that:

you’re traveling around the world, and can only carry one bag*. What would you bring?

*I’ll be as generous as the airlines: one bag (any size but you have to be able to carry and lift it for storage) and one personal bag.

The Last Picture I Took: The Mockingjay

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Simply, I took this photo because I was writing a post about the book/movie Mockingjay (Movie, Part 1) and I needed a photo for the post.

That particular mockingjay was an impulse buy at a huge Toys R Us sale. It had that as well as a couple of amber stones and a bow with two arrows. Two Thanksgivings ago, I lost my silver bow and arrow that I’d had since the 90s, from when I was studying archery in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). I wanted the bow and arrow, and I’m a fan of archers – Robin Hood, Merida from Brave, Hawkeye from The Avengers, Green Arrow, Katniss; all of them. Soon after I finally watched the Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and I was drawn to those movies in a way that I hadn’t enjoyed a movie since Harry Potter. My son and I couldn’t wait for the Mockingjay movie to be released (as I’ve mentioned before) and I really got attached to the character and the symbols. At another sale (this one at FYE), I found what looks like a convention pass with a larger Mockingjay coin-like charm; trinket.

I am lover of trinkets.

Talismans.

Stones.

Medals.

So while the picture itself was really a simple thing, the overall meaning for me is the balance that a related photo or drawing brings to my writing. It brings in the more visual readers, and I’m also a big fan of symmetry; duality. Sort of like the blending of the jabberjays and the mockingbirds that give us the mockingjay.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

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Today is the feast day, celebrating the solemn belief by Catholics in the immaculate conception of Mary, mother of G-d and mother of the Church.

My home parish is one of many in the US whose patroness is the Blessed Mother, specifically honoring the immaculate conception by taking on the name. (*)

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Today is also the tenth anniversary of my own mother’s death.

She was 61 when she died. Despite her health problems, it was still a shock when I received the phone call. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her or miss her. I still pick up the phone to call her and it is awful to remember that she won’t be at the other end of the line.

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(*) I have no idea how churches choose their patrons or names.

If anyone is looking for a prompt today: Mothers