MULTIPLY Creative Challenge #35: Colourful

What is more colourful than a rainbow. We were taught in the school that the sentence "Richard of York gained battles in vain" was the clue to the colours. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet when you taking the first letters of the words in the sentence. So here is a little story which is unfortunately true. I cannot resist a rainbow when I see one and I just have to take a photo.

One evening in Spring I was driving home from work after a shower of rain and saw the rainbow in the photo. I always have my camera with me and just could not resist taking a photo. I was driving on the private road surrounding our castle. I have permission to use the road as I live in the village. Here is the castle.

You can see a road leading towards the right. I had to drive up that part to park my car. As it is a dead end I had to drive backwards to park. You see the piece of stone at the bottom on the right hand side of the stairs. Well, I didn't. Two women were frantically waving their hands and I wondered why until I felt a bump in the car. Then I knew why. This was the result.

The stone had cut into the bumper of my car. I thanked the women for warning me, although I could not hear them calling as my radio was running. There was not very much I could do, so I decided I could at least take a photo of a rainbow and the result is above. We never did bother to get the car repaired and since we have traded the car in for another. Colourful is nice to see but it also has its disadvantages.

Creative Challenge #35: Colourful

MULTIPLY Writer's Block - Challenge #53 - And they lived happily ever after

“Hi Cinderella, fancy meeting you here. I thought that Princesses had servants to do the shopping.”
“I could say the same for you Snow White. I just couldn’t stay in that boring castle any more, the walls were closing in on me and had to get out for some fresh air. At least there is something going on in town. How’s your husband Snow White.”
“I was just going to ask you the same Cindy, although my prince said he saw your prince at the local jousting tournament last week.”
“Let’s not talk about that” said Cinderella. “Princes might be wealthy, but not always wise. Mine didn’t get home until early in the morning and he was so drunk he slept with his crown on his head.”
“I know what you mean, mine wasn’t much better. He arrived home just as I had finished breakfast. He fell down three times before he got to the bedroom and woke the children up with the noise he was making. Sometimes I think it would have been better if he had not found me sleeping in that glass case. At least I had my peace and quiet there. After all the stepmother was not as bad as we thought. She might have cracked a few mirrors, but she saved me a lot of trouble giving me that apple. Well look who’s coming.” Cinderella and Snow White greeted another one of their Princess friends.

“I must ask how she is keeping, you know, she married a frog.”
“You mean she found a French prince.”
“No Silly, she kissed a frog”
“Hello girls, talking about me”, and another princess arrived on the scene.
“Snow White said you kissed a frog. What part of France did he come from” Cinderella asked.
“If he had come from France I would feel a lot happier. No he was a real frog as green and slimy as they come. In the meanwhile he has lost the green colour but the slime; well let’s not talk about it. Promised me something special, I cannot even remember what it was, if I kissed him and what did he turn into – a prince, and of course he was at the tournament as well. Instead of coming home afterwards, he decided to take a walk to the pond to see his old colleagues of the day’s gone by, before he had his transformation. Didn’t come home until daybreak and soaking wet he was. Climbed into bed smelling like a pond; typical frog prince.”

Our three princesses did not seem to be very happy.

“You know it was all very easy for Fairy Godmother to wave her wand and send me off to the ball. I regret the day that my husband found my foot small enough for that glass shoe. Should have kept it on my foot or thrown both away on the way home. What do I have for it now? a husband that spends all day in bed recovering from his excursions in the evening. I have to look after the kids and believe me his sons are developing into real princes just like their father; spoilt and lazy.” Cinderella was really annoyed.

“I know what you mean Cinderella.” Said Snow White “I have told my children to steer away from dwarves if they ever take a walk in the woods.”
“And I thought I was playing safe kissing a frog.”
“That was typical you, always wanted to do something different. What do you have for it now.”
“Well to be quite honest” said the frog prince’s wife, “I am thinking about suing for divorce under grounds of cruelty.”
“Really” said Cinderella and Snow White together. “I thought we were all supposed to live happily ever after.”
“Is that a joke? Try living with a frog prince. Sometimes he doesn’t even walk when I call him, but hops. His children are a right mixture. Two of them croak instead of talking and his daughter has green hair. He finds them beautiful children and you can imagine how they get laughed at in the school. I have had enough of this fairytale life. “
“Exactly” said Cinderella. “Sometimes I give up hope as well. When I think back to the days where my only work was to clean the fire place. My prince is never at home and I think he has something going on with one of my stepsisters. I mean if he wanted it that way he didn’t have to bother finding a foot to fit the shoe. He could have just taken what was available without all that song and dance about a glass slipper. Imagine how my stepsister is laughing at me.”
Snow White joined in the conversation
“My husband sleeps all day and I don’t think he even knows what his children look like. I spoke to him about it once, but he just gave the answer if I can sleep for nearly one hundred years, then he can sleep for a few hours during the day.
And so the conversation carried on.

In the meanwhile the three husbands had met in the local bar.
“Three pints of mead” said the Prince Charming, and Snow White’s husband with the frog prince took their seats at a table with Prince Charming.
“I am glad to get out of that palace” said Prince Charming.
“Where’s the wife” asked the Frog Prince.
“Said she was taking a walk into town. Glad to get away from her, nagging all the time.”
“Know what you mean” said the frog prince “mine is always getting on at me for visiting my friends down at the pond. After all I grew up with them. It’s the only place where I can have a few intelligent conversations. My wife is always on at me to wipe my feet when I come home, to wash and dress in clean clothes. She finds I smell of swamp. After all she didn’t have to marry me. All I wanted was a kiss and not a marriage certificate”
“We do have problems” said Snow White’s husband. “How I wish I had never found her in that glass case. She really looked pretty, so white and peaceful. Gave her a kiss and have regretted it since. She woke up and I don’t think she has slept since. She never gives me any peace with her constant nagging. Funny thing was before I found her I met seven dwarves and they warned me to just ride past if I happened to find a woman fast asleep. Now I know why. They were mumbling about at last having peace and quiet at home since she started her sleep and said her stepmother did them a favour.”
“I even heard that stories have been written about us” said Prince Charming. “All about the romantic way we met our wives and the happy marriages we all have. Seems we are all living happily ever after.”
“After what?” said Snow White’s prince.
“After the deluge” answered the frog prince.
The three men then finished their drinks and left the bar. As they walked down the road they met their wives.
“”Hello darling” said Prince Charming to Cinderella. “How nice to see you, looking as beautiful as ever.”
“Snow White, my most wonderful wife” greeted her husband
“Oh my love, how glad I am that you rescued me from that amphibian life I was leading” said the frog prince to his princess and they all walked home to their castles and lived…….. happily ever after?

MULTIPLY Pictures to Words #1 The Wall

„What do you think, Hilda Bug? This is really the ideal place for a nice comfortable home for the Summer. My mum and dad always said if you can find one of those walls constructed with loose stones, it is the best you can have; shelter from the rain, fresh air circulation, but plenty of nooks and crannies for keeping the food supply.”
“You are right Fred, I am glad I met such a nice intelligent bug as you are. I had to organize the earth to make a comfortable nesting place for when the children arrive, but that was no problem. It is so nice to live in peace and quiet in our own home with no interference.”

And so the bug family was happy. As summer went on, other families found the wall was a solution to their home problems much to Mr. and Mrs. Bug’s dismay.

“Hilda we must really do something about that ant mob. Things cannot go on like this. There we were living alone with no bother from outside and Queen Ant had to move in with her tribe. At the beginning I could put up with a few ants. They are tidy creatures and clear the mess away that the others make, but now things are getting out of hand.”
“You are right Fred, the family gets bigger every day. They have now completely taken over the stones in the middle of the wall and with only one queen. I hate to think what would happen if another queen and her groupies moved in. I even found two ants in our food chamber yesterday. You will have to have a word with them.”

So Fred Bug made his way up the wall, as he was living on the ground floor, to talk with the ant colony.

“Excuse me ant, but I have a problem.”
“No time for solving problems” said the ant “I have to milk some aphids and gather food for our queen to keep her strength up.”
“Ant, I think your queen has enough strength. Since she moved in with the tribe she has been producing infinite amounts of children and we will hardly have any room for our children eventually.”
“Mr. Bug that is your problem. We ants are not here to look after the worries of a common bug, but we are here to reproduce, grow and make sure that everything is under control and well organised.”
“Ant, it will become your problem eventually when the ant family expands so much that we other bugs and insects will have to defend ourselves.”
“Well said bug” and Mrs. Snail arrived. “We may not be the most agile insect, but we like to take some shelter in a stone wall such as this, especially when it starts raining; makes all my sticky stuff come undone, the rain. But this wall is getting more crowded every day; can’t sleek anywhere without an ant blocking the way. I had two of them stick to my foot yesterday and that was a mess until I got rid of them. Ants do not belong in this wall, so find somewhere else to live.”
“Snail this is our wall, just ask any other ant you might meet and he will say the same.”
Mr. Bug was getting annoyed. “Of course he says the same, that’s the trouble with you ants. Many ants have one opinion; you just cannot think for yourselves. Mrs. Bug is expecting our eggs any day now, but you do not see over a thousand bugs waiting for them to arrive and feed them. At least our children are independent when they arrive.”

These remarks made no impression on the ant and he turned round and went back to the nest. The snail slithered off and Fred Bug went back to Hilda.
“Did you manage to get rid of them Fred?” she asked.
“No chance Hilda. I spoke to an ant but he wasn’t interested in our problems. Selfish people they are, mumbled something about milking aphids as if that was the most important thing in the world. “
“Well I have a surprise Fred, while you were dealing with the ant problem I laid my eggs. Looks like it will be a nice bunch for the first time. “
“That’s wonderful Hilda. Our children are so beautiful, much nicer than a baby ant, and they are so independent.”

So time went past in the crevices of the wall and the families grew. Then one day in Summer it started to rain. Not just a few drops but a deluge. Mr. and Mrs. Bug managed to take cover under a large stone in the wall. The ant family had now grown to such proportions that they hardly had any room and had started moving into other parts of the wall.

“Look Fred, some of the ants are getting washed out of the wall.”
“And about time too, now we can spread about a bit.”
“But leave some room for us as well” piped up a squeaky voice.
“Oh big deal” said Fred, “now we have a centipede family moving in as well. Just keep your legs to yourself. I remember the last time I had centipedes living next door, crawling all over the place. Couldn’t relax anywhere without standing on someone’s feet.”
“Typical bug” said the centipede. “At least we don’t stink.”
“I beg your pardon” said an irate Fred Bug. “We bugs do not stink, we have our own perfume that we tend to spread around sometimes and my Hilda is the best smelling bug you could meet.”
“I think we centipedes will move towards the top of the wall in that case, we don’t want smelly bugs trampling all over us” and the centipede family moved upwards.”

Suddenly Hilda turned a bit pale under her black coat.
“Look, Fred what’s coming. A mouse.”
“OK Hilda, now just keep quiet and go to the back of the wall. Hide between those two stones over there. Where are the children?”
“They are back on the leaves on that plant over there. I think they will be ok as the leaves are quite high. They are now independent enough to find their own way around.”
“Good Hilda, I will hide with you. Mice are so unpredictable. You never know when they want to improve their diat with a good looking bug like us.”
This time Fred and Hilda managed to hide themselves from the mice and so life continued in the stone wall. The ants decided to move into the ground and build themselves a hill. The centipedes were happy on the top floor and even the snail slimed past now and again. She would just cling to the wall as she had her house with her and did not have to build one in between the stones.

Soon Winter came and one by one the insect families left their homes. Fred Bug made sure that his children were settled in for the Winter near the wall. He himself would not be around for the next year and him and Hilda would be in the etnernal bug hunting grounds, but he told his children that there was nothing more suitable for a Summer home than a wall constructed with loose stones.

Pictures to Words #1 The Wall