This blog is for all who desire to create with words and images.
You are encouraged to participate in any way that is meaningful to you.

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All prompts beneath the photos are only suggestions.
You are free to use the photo to be inspired to write any way you desire.
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There is no deadline on posting,
you may offer your writing to any prompt anytime.
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Write and you are a writer.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Distorted View


Photo by Chercheur de bonheur
For links to both his blogs visit his Profile.
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Suggested prompt...
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Really take a look at this dark window looking out to the light.
Use this image creatively in your writing today.
Something about a distorted view, about frost, about light and dark,
or any other way it inspires. It is all yours to open your imagination with today.


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I was back in the house of my grandmother. She had passed away and now I was back inside the house I remembered from that winter we were snowed in. I sat by the window again, remembering what I had thought back then:

'Snowed in? Dang it! What could I do trapped in this dark house with nobody but my grandmother. She's so boring!' I had wanted to spend these couple weeks with my friends in the neighborhood. My parents were off at a conference and my brother had gone to California to visit Aunt Jemma.

I had looked over the crystallized snow stuck to the window to see the snow-covered trees outside and I'd sighed thinking, 'How long will this last anyway? How long does it take for this much snow to melt away from our doors and windows? We definitely had enough food for the next decade if we needed it.' I rolled my eyes. 'Or for the next century. Grandma collected canned foods like my little brother collected rocks.'

The day was going by so slowly! I was sure my brother was having a blast in California with Aunt Jemma. Why had I thought this would be more fun?

I remembered it so well. It was late afternoon and I still hadn't done anything but read a boring book from off Grandma's shelves.

"Katie? Come here for a minute."

I walked in to Grandma's room to see a bunch of old photo albums open and scattered. Grandma was holding two photographs. She gestured for me to come sit next to her. When I did, I noticed the photos in her hands were of a beautiful young woman dressed up like a model. I asked her who it was and she responded.

"Me."

The rest of the afternoon and following days were filled with more than I could have imagined. Grandma told me stories about modeling in her younger days. She dressed me up in her old vintage costumes for modeling. We had our own little photo shoots. We laughed and talked about her younger times. I never knew what an interesting person my grandmother was.

I will never forget those couple weeks spent with my grandmother in the darkened house covered with snow. Now I gather the albums and costumes that she had left to me. They will also remind me that anything is possible.

~
Dani




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14 comments:

morganna said...

Sometimes
The window is clouded
You can't quite see out.
Is it frost on the windowpane?
It will soon go away,
You will be able to see out.
What if
You were seeing
Thick clouds on the horizon,
Mistaking them for a frosty window?
What if
It was the windowpane,
A permanent, fundamental problem?

Dan Felstead said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dan Felstead said...

A Window is a great metaphor for how our outlook on life is filtered by our frame of mind. As I look at this window, through the frigid, frosted glass...it tells me not to go outside for only a bitter cold and frozen landscape awaits. However, if this window was looking out towards the southern exposure where the warm, winter sun is reflecting off of the snow covered hills leading down to the quiet valley below - that quiet and solitude that only a fresh winter snow can bring...I would want to go out and enjoy the beauty that remains behind after the storm has passed. Same weather...just a different point of view.

Our outlook on life is the same, it just depends on the inner filter we use to view the outside world. The same world can be inviting, invigorating and inspiring or it can be threatening, deceitful and hostile.

Dan

Unknown said...

TEMPERED GLASS

I'm so distorted and wavey, not at all serene
My thoughts are captured like the curves in tempered glass
Frosted over, trapped in dark, trapped in light
Always my own, and trapped inside my head

Why can't others see as I do, the rapidly changing world
The dangerouse times in which we live
Hazy waves of violent hostilities, destroying the fabric of life
Leaving us in staggered amazement and full-gale trepidation

When will peace prevail, or at least a steady calm
A breath of tranquil kisses in the face of all alarms
I send a prayer onto the wind to blow a gentle wish
Then I'll remain like tempered glass as hazy as my fears

Ana - The Writer Today said...

I can't see if he is coming. He said he would come for me, but it has been so many years. I wish I could see out this window better. I can see my life, from a child to now. Always waiting for that special person, that I read about in fairy tales. Does he really exist? I strain to look again out the window....could it be? I rub my eyes, and look again, yes! It is he, that has come finally for me!

TVTommy said...

The window to my mind is (too) often a one-way glass which not only keeps outsiders from seeing in, but filters the images that I see. It is not a lens of objectivity, but rather one that is tilted to refract some images into a rainbow of realities and reflect others, keeping me from seeing them at all.
I've tried to open the window, but I can't.

Dani said...

I was back in the house of my grandmother. She had passed away and now I was back inside the house I remembered from that winter we were snowed in. I sat by the window again, remembering what I had thought back then:

'Snowed in? Dang it! What could I do trapped in this dark house with nobody but my grandmother. She's so boring!' I had wanted to spend these couple weeks with my friends in the neighborhood. My parents were off at a conference and my brother had gone to California to visit Aunt Jemma.

I had looked over the crystallized snow stuck to the window to see the snow-covered trees outside and I'd sighed thinking, 'How long will this last anyway? How long does it take for this much snow to melt away from our doors and windows? We definitely had enough food for the next decade if we needed it.' I rolled my eyes. 'Or for the next century. Grandma collected canned foods like my little brother collected rocks.'

The day was going by so slowly! I was sure my brother was having a blast in California with Aunt Jemma. Why had I thought this would be more fun?

I remembered it so well. It was late afternoon and I still hadn't done anything but read a boring book from off Grandma's shelves.

"Katie? Come here for a minute."

I walked in to Grandma's room to see a bunch of old photo albums open and scattered. Grandma was holding two photographs. She gestured for me to come sit next to her. When I did, I noticed the photos in her hands were of a beautiful young woman dressed up like a model. I asked her who it was and she responded.

"Me."

The rest of the afternoon and following days were filled with more than I could have imagined. Grandma told me stories about modeling in her younger days. She dressed me up in her old vintage costumes for modeling. We had our own little photo shoots. We laughed and talked about her younger times. I never knew what an interesting person my grandmother was.

I will never forget those couple weeks spent with my grandmother in the darkened house covered with snow. Now I gather the albums and costumes that she had left to me. They will also remind me that anything is possible.

Anonymous said...

"How far are you from...your neighbors?" Chloe asked hesitantly. There was nothing but unbroken white as far as she could see, no distiction from earth and sky save one lonely tree. "A quarter mile, so I wouldn't exactly call them neighbors." Said her host distactedly. She bit her lip and turned to the window again, "You said its January..." her voice was hopeful, "When does this snow melt? March?" She could feel him looking at her quizically, "Not til April, and that's with good weather. Don't you remeber -anything-?" She closed her eyes, and saw a window much like the one in front of her. She could see thing things outside it- shapes and colors- but they were distorted and flited back and forth, too quickly for her to see, to get a hold of with her mind. "Almost." Chloe whispered.

septembermom said...

Distorted Marriage

Another's eyes caressed his form
as he walked across the floor.
Wife's suspicions confirmed
as he smiles knowingly to another.
Married heart frosted over
as he asks for wife's hand.
Vows clouded through
as disregarded wife empties all.

Heather said...

Awakening to another day but somehow this one felt different. I got out of bed, slowly making my way to the coffee...mmmm, the warmth as it fills my body so early in the morning; coffee.

The air is different today; I can feel it, the quiet. I walk toward the window and open the curtains to find that we are half filled with snow. I had no idea that it was even suppose to snow. We never get snow, and if we do, it's a bit of a dusting; not at all like this.

But something inside of me leaps; and I run to the door. As it opens, snow pours onto my feet. I know, you'll think I'm a bit loopy but I just sat in it; my coffee and I. I made snowballs and a tiny little snowman. Yes, the door was open but I didn't care. There was no one here to tell me I must shut it.

Today was my day of freedom; I became a child again.

~ Denise ~ said...

Jenna peered through the window and saw that day was turning into night. She paused to take in the landscape outside and noticed the snow pushing coldly against the window pane.

As nature imitated her being, she felt the weight of her loneliness pressing her heart into an even icier and colder place than outside.

Tears began to trickle down her cheek as she acknowledged that night was imminent.

..and she was alone.

Sarah said...

I heard rumor a giant marshmallow man was marching across manhattan reeking havoc. I ignored it.

And now, I am kicking myself.

Had I known, I would have bought chocolate and graham crackers.

Tracy said...

I glanced at the window and could not help but offer up a guilty smile. I am 36 years old, I should not enjoy a "snow day". I should not dance gleefully through my kitchen because a no-unnecessary-travel warning has been issued to the city and we are forced to hunker down and stay in for today, maybe tomorrow too. Instead I should be a grown-up. I should worry about those people I do not know who are waiting for a delivery of oxygen to their homes, or about someone without electricity or heat.

When did this happen - this switch from innocence that only understands that "I don't have to go anywhere today and I won't get in trouble for staying home"? When did this happen - the move that brings anxiety over an in-box that will continue to grow, despite of the "snow day" and responsibilities be damned?

But today I am going to dance through my kitchen, and brew another pot of coffee. I may cuddle a cat, or read a book, curled up by the fire. And, I won't feel guilty.

I won't.

Even though I'm 36... and I should really dust. And maybe clean out that closet. After all, it's a snow day.

Dani said...

WOW I'm so touched! There was all these other such wonderful writers for this post and I'm humbled to be chosen! Thank you.