NEW~"You're Out Walking"
I'm reading "Do Try To Speak As We Do" (it is so good--I want to own this one) and there is a word game in the book, played among the characters; I immediately thought of our blog.
There are 5 questions. When at least 5 of us have answered these questions, I'll post the interpretive meaning of each question.
1. You're out walking. You come upon a house. Describe the house.
2. Inside, there's a table. There are three objects on the table. What are the objects?
3. Outside you see a bear. What do you do with the bear?
4. You find a cup. Describe the cup.
5. What do you do with the cup?
Can't wait to see what you all write! Chrissy
(image from www.alfeldstein.com)
posted by Chrissy @ 6:50 PM
7 Comments:
1. The house is made of stone, hues of coral, gray, charcoal and there is at least a partial second floor. I don't see a porch. The center of the door is made of stained glass, heavy and opaque. Morning glory climbs the trellis against the wall and wild roses grow near the peppled walkway. There is a lilac bush somewhere close, I can smell the flowers. Oh, look, violets in the lawn!
2. A framed photograph of a mother holding her one-yr-old baby girl, a book--open, title not visible, and a china bowl of drying rose buds.
3. I quietly step outside and make eye contact with the bear. I sing to him.
4. The cup is a small coffee thermos from a Starbucks spring collection. Although the lid is missing, nothing seems cracked.
5. I take the cup home and wash it by hand. I'll use it tomorrow.
OK...I purposefully did NOT reread the interpretation of the questions. So, my answers are truly spontaneous!
Chrissy
1. The house is a small cedar shake Cape cod style cottage. It is light tan, bright from the sun, with red flowers in pots on either side of the white door.
2. There are a vase of hand picked daisies, an apple and a yellow legal pad on the table.
3. The bear stays outside, but I watch it from the window until it moves on.
4. The cup is a hand-painted ceramic mug, blue with white polka dots. It looks clean but inside smells faintly of milky coffee.
5.Since it is not my cup, and smells of someone else's drink, I'll leave it where I found it.
Can't wait to see what this turns up! Cool idea!
Since I'm hoping to join you all, I think I'll start by playing along...
1) It isn't a house so much as a one-room shack. It's fallen into disrepair - broken windows, the front door doesn't close, the porch sags - but you can tell that it was well-made long ago.
2) There's a plate, chipped and dirty from the rain that's come in through the broken windows, on the table. Next to it is an empty box of matches. I wonder if the last person here used them to light a warming fire in the small stone fireplace or to light a cigarette that I see the butt of on the floor. Lastly, I see a letter. It's dirty, sealed and looks like it was never mailed. I put it in my pocket to read later.
3) Holy crap! A bear! I take a photo and try not to make enough noise to let it know of my presence.
4) The handle of the cup is broken off. It matches the plate on the table, which I find strange. This doesn't seem like the kind of place where the occupants would have been worried about matching sets.
5) I finger the cup and set it on the table near the plate. I think they are happy to be together again at last.
Fun!
Oh, can't wait to be shrinked on this!!
1. The house is an old victorian. It looks abandoned, without windows, paint fading, cracking and peeling, the front door still in tact and cracked, inviting me to explore its history.
2. On the table is a rose in a vase and a diamond ring. Lovers lived here, I dream that the old ring belongs to the lady of the house, that her widowed husband brought it back here with a rose to remember her.
3. I run screaming. Unless I am still in the house in which case I just watch the bear until it goes away.
4. Are we still inside the house? The cup is a crystal wine glass, or what used to be a crystal wine glass. It's shattered remains sparkle on the floor near the hearth of the fire.
5. I grab the elmers glue that I carry with me all the time and sit for hours painstakingly reconstructing it.
4.
1. A beautiful old victorian with a wrap around porch and flowers all around.
2. A flower arrangement, a bowl of candy and some mail.
3. I give him some of the candy that was in the bowl on the table.
4. It's a teacup that was brought back from Japan by my grandfather. It has a dragon as the handle and when it is empty, and you hold it up to the light, there is the face of a beautiful Japanese woman in the bottom of the cup.
5. I hold it up to the light and stare at the woman in the bottom.
1.As I’m walking along a path, deep in the woods, I can smell the sweetness of honeysuckle growing. I then look up and notice that its growing along rails of a porch. The house is a purse shade of white, glowing in the spotlight of the sun that gleams through the break in the trees. A beautiful porch surrounds the magnificent lower level, going all the way around, even to the rear of the house. On the front and back sides of the house, porch swings made of cypress hang from the roof of the porch, and rocking chairs the color of indigo flank the ornate front door, which is the color of crimson. I peek through the windows which go from the floor to the ceiling it appears, blocked from the inside with lace shades. The windows disappoint me, and are bordered with shutters that are held back by tiny iron clamps to keep them in place. I am overwhelmed by the house and its grandeur.
2.I push on the door, and it surprisingly opens. As I walk in, there is a cherry wood table against the wall of the foyer. A mirror sits above and a lamp shines in the corner of the table, varied colors of stained glass from its shade cast tiny little balls of light on to the radiant walls of the foyer and a sitting room. The sitting room is empty with the exception of a soft, aged wingback chair covered in dust and paisley, next to a small end table. An old and tiny little golden key sits on the table. Not a regular key, but a key that looks as if it’s waiting to open up a secret. Beneath the key, lies a leather bound diary, held together by a delicate golden lock. I hold the book up to my nose, breathing in the distinctive smell of old leather and paper bound together by years of memories and thoughts.
3.I hear a noise and look up through the opened door. There is a bear, in the woods, looking up at the house. I hurriedly slam the door shut, and startle the bear back into the woods.
4.As I walk toward the sitting room, I see an ivory tea cup and saucer also sitting the old end table, weathered with peeling red paint. The cup is dainty and simple, just a piece of ivory porcelain, with tiny cracks in its glaze, showing it’s age. Dried tea leaves sit in the bottom, with a ring of tea stain in the middle of the tea cup.
5.I hold the cup in my hand and sniff the tea leaves, taking in the soothing scent of Earl Grey and mint. I then look at the diary and wonder… who was the person who left so much behind?
Okay, it took me forever to get to this, but I'm tired of hiding my eyes and skimming past the interpretation, so I better do this before I forget and read the answers. :)
1. The house reminds me of the one my grandparents lived in when I was a kid. It's big and white, with columns on the porch and lots of big open windows flanked by cheerful blue shutters that stay open. It's two stories and has ivy growing up one side. I smell the raspberry bushes that grow in the yard.
2. On the table in the hallway I see a small brass lamp, a package of Oreos, and a novel.
3. Oh look, some child left their bear. I pick him up and dust him off, hoping to take him home and give him away to somebody in need of cuddles.
4. On the porch I see a ceramic white coffee mug, like the kind they have in IHOP. It's mostly empty, although there's a ring of leftover something in the bottom, and a bug is stuck there.
5. I leave it there. It's not too clean.
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