To feel invisible,
Is never to belong.
My soul stripped bare.
And still, I can’t turn that corner.
I’m not even close.
The black surrounds me.
No home for laughter,
Put my spirit in hiding.
Can I skip out?
Ask my doppelgänger to take over?
Like paper thin cardboard,
I slowly tear…
By Sarah ©2018
Prompt: The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 353, Words – invisible, close, skip, belong, corners, strip, hiding, put, laugh, cardboard, black, home; and also, Daily Post Daily Prompt – Doppelgänger
Today’s Daily Post Prompt “rube”, immediately got me thinking about the one and only, cartoonist and inventor, Rube Goldberg and those fantastic Rube Goldberg Machines.
A Rube Goldberg Machine is a deliberately complex contraption, in which a series of simple devices perform simple tasks to link together and produce a domino effect (e.g. activating one device triggers, the next device which activates the next etc. in a sequence).
I first remember watching them in action on Sesame Street, in various formats.
Whether it was learning the alphabet in that crazy, apartment filled with nonsense…
…or being fascinated, watching that little red ball unearth a delight at the end of its travels…
…or giggle as Kermit’s attempt miserably fails!
In later years, I enjoyed a Rube Goldberg Machine in the form of the board game, “Mousetrap!”
Of course we never did actually play the game properly. We just loved the chain reaction part and did it over and over again.
As an adult, my favourite Rube Goldberg Machine, is by one of my favourite bands, OK GO. (On a side note, if you haven’t checked out their songs or film clips before, you MUST!) The film clip for their song This Too Shall Pass, is AMAZING and I often use it as a brain break with my class. I never tire of it…
If you google “ultimate Rube Goldberg machine”, several noteworthy ones are showcased, including this one that lights up a Christmas tree
And this one that that produces music…
Cheers to the man who started it all! Thanks Rube!
Prompt: Daily Post, Daily Prompt – Rube
Image credit Dawn Miller
She couldn’t believe it! Such bad luck breaking down in the middle of nowhere. She should have stuck to the main road; not risked the shortcut. She slammed her door and kicked a tyre, releasing frustration. She checked her cell phone, knowing it would be pointless. No signal.
Great! Just great! she thought.
She could either wait it out until the next car came along, or walk to the nearest house and get some help. Weighing up her options, she began trudging along the dirt road. Thankfully, she didn’t need to walk too long before she saw a letterbox. She memorised the address and began walking up the driveway.
The grass grew long and she mentally chastised the owners. Didn’t they know it was a fire hazard? She drew closer to the house, and something began to nag in the back of her mind. It seemed so familiar here.
She rounded the corner, took in the front door, and noticed, standing to the side, three cups resting on posts. One that was too big, one that was too small, and one that was just right.
She realised she had been here before; many years ago.
Goldilocks turned and ran…
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Sunday Photo Fiction, August 27th 2017; and also, Daily Post Daily Prompt: memorise
Image credit Mrs White
Travelling alone can be amazing. No restrictions on when/where/what you do! You can please yourself and indulge your every whim. However, it can, at times, be very lonely and that’s when a smile, a hello, or an inane observation, can simply be magical. Forging human contact when we most need it!
People we meet while travelling – they become our new best friends…at least for an hour or two; a day; a few days; or longer. For a brief moment in time, we embark on the same journey, stepping up to see the same shoreline. We are friends tethered together by circumstance, or opportunity. (And it’s always nice to have someone to take photos with YOU in them).
But then as suddenly as the friendship began, they’re gone – taken flight to their next destination. Sometimes you cross paths again, sometimes, that’s it. And after a while, you don’t even remember their faces, or even their name…just the time spent holding each other’s hand during your mutual travels of the world, and loving them for it.
Thanks for the memories, my fairweather friends.
Author’s Note: Dedicated to: Laura and Nehl (Tastes of Waiheke Island Tour, 2/7/17) and Michael (Waiotapu and Hobbion Day Tour, 4/7/17), the lady at Kiwi As Guesthouse who kept me company in the evenings, and the English bloke who wandered with me through Waimangu Valley.
Prompt: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #172, Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: tether
Standing on corners,
writing Haiku while I wait.
Here’s the bus! Must dash!
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: dash
Walking across the street in Auckland is fun! Not only does the little green man actually walk (and moon walk at that!) he also counts down how long you’ve got to cross once he starts flashing!
This morning I approached the crossing and noted there were 10 seconds to go. I had this, I thought to myself and broke into a scamper. Halfway across the intersection a Maori man, approaching from the other direction, had done the same thing.
He made a funny little victory cry complete with fist pump, grinned at me and said, “We’re gonna make it hey?!”
Yes, my man. We were…and we did.
Such a simple yet intimate interaction with this stranger made my day! I smiled the whole way down to the pier to catch my ferry.
Then I caught a glimpse of my reflection and stopped. People might think I was up to something!
By Sarah
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: scamper
My two dogs Archie and Bella, though not related, have an uncanny synchronicity.
Synchronised staring
Synchronised sleeping
Synchronised couch topping
Synchronised seeking
Synchronised moping (probably because of those jackets. What was I thinking?!)
Synchronised snacking.
Weirdos.
🐶🐶💜💜
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: synchronise, snack
Image credit Natalia Fadejeva
She was of this world, yet not.
Lying somewhere in the in-between.
The call of the birds in the sky,
the rustle of crimson leaves,
and sensual smell of the soil,
Not enough to draw her back to earth.
Silken water, caressing milky skin,
the perfume of floating petals,
with promise of peace in the darkness,
Not enough to take her under.
Family murmur their words
to coax her back to consciousness.
But she is trapped in her box.
She’s not the first person to be buried alive in her body.
She won’t be the last.
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Photo Challenge #171; and also, Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: bury, soil
Image credit Eden Hills
My wings stretched out
I soar the open skies
The wind beneath my feathers
And carrying my cries
I squawk to my friend
Signalling stop for a while
I land upon a fence line
And listen with a smile
I hear the breeze rustling
The long grass at my side
The crickets they are chirruping
I hear them far and wide
The metal on the fence post
Makes a lightly scratching sound
Faintly echoes the howl
Of some far off mournful hound
Beside me runs a river
Though slow, the water flows
There’s the sensual slosh of liquid
As over the rocks it goes
Out of the corner of my eye
I see a snake slither and hiss
Time to go, lest he makes me his meal
I take off; blow a farewell kiss
Beep beep beep beep
I awake in confusion
It’s just my alarm clock
Shattering the illusion
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday’s Mix – 24 June 2017, and also, Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: illusion
We are committed to our commitment but look like we need to be committed in this photo!
Image credit John Mitchell Photography
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: commit
meddling in
everyone’s affairs.
don’t you have anything better to
do with your time?
licking the spoon after you stir the pot,
enjoying the chaos and confusion.
really? you’re just sad.
By Sarah ©2017
Prompt: Daily Post Daily Prompt, Word: meddle
It’s been three years this week since my beloved car ‘Big Red’ made the acquaintance of a kangaroo, whilst driving to work in the early hours of the morning. Continue reading “Big Red Kangaroo”
The Paragon Cafe in Goulburn, NSW is a long standing paragon of Greek cafes and milk bar paragons.
The prompt today made me think of an old post from my retired blog.
By Sarah 