MULTIPLY United Friends Challenge #144: The Clouds of the Gods

Spaceeagle's Challenge

Write a poem or story using the phrase "the voluminous clouds."

„Hey Jupiter, I am bored“

„Venus you are not supposed to be bored, but do your job. Make people fall in love.”

“That’s boring. They have arguments after a while and fall out of love again. In the meanwhile I have a few new lovers waiting for the big day, and then it all starts again.”

“So what am I supposed to do. I am the chief around here and what I say goes. Look at the other gods, they are not bored, but doing their job, no questions asked; typical woman.”

“I didn’t hear that one boss. I have an idea; show me how to make some clouds. You are always complaining you need a holiday and that the responsibility of the job is getting too much for you. Mercury is just going on a trip why don’t you join him? In the meanwhile I will look after the weather and the clouds for you.”

“Well I suppose it would be an idea, but who is going to do your job?”

“I told you, everyone is in love and those that were, have fallen out of love again. I think the human race can do without love for a while.”

“Yes but if I am not here, there will be no-one to organise things.”

“Then organise them before you go. Tell Mars to start a war somewhere, then I won’t have to make people fall in love and I can have fun, sorry look after the clouds. Mercury is quite fast with those winged feet and all you have to do is jump on his back and you will be off as soon as you wave your staff and conjure up some thunder.”

“Are you sure, I mean you have never really done much with the weather up to now.”

“Juppy you always said the weather does what it wants even when you tell it otherwise. Now give me your book with the instructions. No problem, you will only be gone a couple of days and when you return you will be refreshed and the weather will be glad to see you again. Go and pay a visit to those Greek Gods for a change, I am sure Zeus will be glad to see you and don’t forget to give my best wishes to Aphrodite. You could even stop by the German bunch on the way, you know how you admire Thor for his thunder bolts.”

“Well I suppose you are right. Yes that’s true. Perhaps Thor will let me have his recipe. Ok, in that case I am off. The instruction book is just behind that cloud over there with the silver lining. Don’t lose it and be careful.”

They were the last words Jupiter said to Venus before he flew off with Mercury.

“I do hope everything goes well” he said to Mercury.

“Of course everything is ok Juppy, Venus knows what she is doing. She has never disappointed me.”

“Mercury, my name is Jupiter not Juppy. You are adapting too much slang from those Greeks over on the other side. Venus has never disappointed any of the male Gods up to now, after all she was trained for it.”

“You too Juppy”

“Mercury, my name is Jupiter, and I was the one that had to train her, being the boss.
”
Meanwhile back in the home of the Gods, Venus was mixing some clouds.

“Now that’s a pretty pink colour, wonder why Juppy never uses that one. I just love those pastel colours; a little bit of white fluff, a tint of light blue and rose coloured. That will make the perfect cloud with a red dot at the tip. Now how much does the book tell me to use? One goblet of each colour, well that is not very much. No wonder the weather is always doing what it wants to. It needs at least two goblets for good measure. Juppy is getting a bit too old for that sort of thing. Those boring clouds he makes, it is no wonder everything is so dismal and dark. He is always making the voluminous clouds, but it just needs an artistic touch. I am sure I will make the best clouds he has ever seen, after all I am the goddess of love.”

In the meanwhile Jupiter was enjoying his break away from the every day chores, but it was soon time to go home. Zeus had given him a barrel of Greek olives as a souvenir to take back and Thor had given his secret recipe for thunder, so Jupiter just could not wait to arrive home and try it out.

“Well boss, we are nearly there” said Mercury. “Glad I could change the wings on my feet in Greece, the others wings were losing their feathers. Well just look at that Juppy, seems that Venus has been at work.”

“I don’t believe it, Mercury; no, not that, this is ridiculous. Wait until I get my hands on that love making goddess. She will wish she had never been born.”

“Hi Juppy, nice to see you again. As you can see I got the hang of the cloud bit. They came out a bit big, but everyone says how pretty they are. I didn’t even have to worry about people falling in love. Even Mars decided there was no point in starting a war, you know make love not war. Diana stopped hunting, well she found something much better called Mars – he he.”

“Venus stop that stupid giggling. Have you gone completely mad? Just look at those clouds.”

“Nice and voluminous aren’t they Juppy.”

“My name is Jupiter and clouds in the shape of enormous women’s breasts are not the idea for the Roman God’s heaven. Zeus is making a return visit next week, and those clouds disappear before he arrives. I want black, dark thundery clouds. Thank goodness Thor gave me his secret recipe.”

“Typical men, not a romantic bone in their body. All they think of is making noise with thunder bolts.”

United Friends Challenge #144: The Clouds of the Gods

Interesting Afternoon

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The photo is the view from the high school in one of the local villages. Spent a few interesting hours this afternoon with some of my colleagues from the village first aid group. The students at the high school had been doing their first aid course, necessary for taking driving lessons in Switzerland, and they had their final day today. My colleagues and I played the injured and they had to deal with us. There were 5 groups, per group 3 students. One colleague had fallen down the stairs and had to have her neck fixed. Another had an accident with electricity. The instructor's little boy had fallen off his bike and I had a deep cut in my hand. The village is just down the main road from our village and as you can see in nice surroundings. The view on the photo is the Jura mountains.

I was also surprised to see that the school had a pen outside containing three goats, so of course I just had to take their photo.





After all it is not every day that you see goats. Actually you can smell them before you see them.

Anyhow the complete class naturally passed their examination well. I had to keep reminding them to put their special plastic gloves on before they started messing around with my cut as I had a special bottle of imitation blood that I had to keep painting on my hand. Looked quite genuine, but then you have to use the gloves. Afterwards they had to put a pressure bandage on the wound and eventually my arm in a sling. I noticed at the end of the test that I had received five different ways of tying a pressure bandage, and five different styles of a sling, but the main thing is that the injury is dealt with.

Otherwise a fairly quiet week. I did have to go to the dentist on Monday for my eight-monthly teeth clean job. Being diabetic, it does sort of tell on your gums, so he just likes to see me now and again. He is quite a good dentist. Being French he took the French dentists exam, and when he came to Switzerland he had to go back to school again and do the Swiss exam. What I like about him is that you do not have time to get nervous. As soon as you are in the chair, it is mouth open and the instrument is doing its job. It took him about twenty minutes to clean through all the teeth and afterwards I spent another few minutes cleaning up. I looked like a vampire after he had just finished with his victim.

The dentist did ask me if I eat a lot of oranges. I thought a strange question, particularly as I eat very few oranges, and in Summer never. He said that my teeth had an orange colour to them. It got me thinking and I realised it could be the colouring from Cola perhaps. I do like a glass of Pepsi now and again, but have now decided to switch over to mineral water for the time being.

And now for a quiet evening with a book, or the television to relax from the exhaustion of the day. Yes it can be quite a tiring life when you are in retirement sometimes.

MULTIPLY Visual Aid #9: The Door

It all looks so much different today, so neglected and so quiet. As a child I would help my mother clean the rooms. The house had its own life, each room with its own character; the doors being the eyes. Evenings the rooms were lit by gas lights, the flickering flames framing everything with its light. Only at night, when I had to extinguish the gas, the house became an unfriendly world, the master ordering that it was to be my job as the youngest in the household to turn light into dark. I was sixteen years old and my mother was no longer so young. It was my mother that was the first person in the household to be busy in the mornings, polishing the woodwork, cleaning the silver and in winter preparing the fireplaces. The master found that I should be the person that was the last in the house in the evening. He had his reasons and who was I as a servant to refuse his wishes? The only visitors today are the children from the village and then it is better when I am not seen, but what am I thinking, they cannot see me or can they?...

"Come on Margaret, three flights of stairs are not so hard to climb, we have done it before."
"I know, but each time it seems to be more stairs than the last ones. I just don't know why we always have to come here in the summer holidays. My mother told me to keep away from this old house, it is supposed to be dangerous and it wouldn't surprise me if it was haunted. Awwww, yuck!"
"You can be a real baby sometimes Mags, what's the problem now? Seen the ghost of the Christmas past?"
"Ha, ha, very funny. There was an enormous spider's web at the side of the staircase and I happened to put my hand into it."
"So, here we are at the beginning of the corridor. I think it's time to take a rest" said Julie.
Julie just did not know why, but the corridor fascinated her. Since she was a child she would sneak into the house at week-ends and walk through the corridor. The only reason she took Margaret with her today, was that it also frightened her just a little bit to go alone as she became older, but she decided to keep that for herself. There was actually no real reason for it, Julie convinced herself. She did not want to admit to Margaret that she always felt she was being watched when she was there. What really made her shiver was the door at the end of the corridor which was always closed. They had played around when they were younger and wanted to open the door to see what was beyond, but it was locked, the only door in the house that could not be opened.

Julie was right; she was being watched by me. I had been waiting for many years to be able to leave this house, this room, to find my peace at last. Since that day when it happened, I have had no rest, but now Julie was here and had reached the same age as myself. She came often; if only she did not bring that Margaret person with her.

"Come on Margaret, what are you standing there for?"
"I thought I heard something move in the locked room, the one at the end of the corridor."
Imagining things again Mags; just because it is locked it doesn't mean that there is anything behind the door."
"But it feels so cold Julie. Can't you feel that ice in the air everywhere? I am going home, today is just not the day to explore corridors with mysterious rooms, especially this one that is always locked. Look!"
Margaret put her hand on the door knob and it turned. The door creaked and moved slightly."
"No, wait a minute Margaret. Where are you going?"
"Forget it Julie, this place is just not healthy. I'm scared."
Julie tried to follow Margaret, not knowing whether she wanted to hold her back or join her, but was somehow frozen to the spot. Through the slit in the open door she heard the sound of a girl crying. A strange feeling pushed her onwards towards the door which was now opening wider on its own. She saw a girl of her own age with a baby in her arms. The girl was crying and the baby was silent.

When Margaret returned home alone, Julie's parents expected that their daughter would also soon arrive, but she did not. The police were called on the same day, but after a search of the house and the surroundings no trace of Julie was found. They carried out closer examinations and found the skeleton of a girl together with that of a new born baby. The girl was found to be approximately the same age as Julie when she disappeared, but after tests were carried out, it was obvious that these skeletons had been laying in a locked room for many years and that the girl had died giving birth.

"Where am I?" asked Julie.
I told her not to worry. She was now safe with me and I would tell her all about the house and why the door was always locked, but Julie just did not want to understand why she should stay in the house. I showed Julie how to walk through walls and that the locked door was no longer an obstacle for her. When Julie discovered that she could no longer leave the house, that she had also become that what I was, she just did not want to understand. She asked me about the baby and I told her that the master was the father and that both the baby and I died in childbirth.

Now I have been found and I can go to my mother. She died before my baby was born. Julie has taken my place in the house and until her bones are found in the locked room, she will have to wait until a girl of her age again visits the corridor.

Visual Aid #9: The Door

MULTIPLY Creative Challenge #52: Peering

Stealthily opening the source
but somehow feeling the peering eyes
stabbing through my back
seeing through everything I was doing
Their ways were to clever for my simple mind
The unknown was again winning
watching and probing with their thoughts
They know everything
Nothing can be hidden
There was a time when things were different
When you could take a chance
Hope that these intellects were sleeping
but a signal from my hand and they are awake
crawling into the room and watching
peering
I remove it from the source
then it reflects in my hand and the noises are familiar
the clank and the squeal of metal against metal
Too familiar for those mysterious creatures that know everything
I carefully make an attack on the container of all answers
to their longings
A smell wafts through the air, they are mesmerised
but they come closer, their wails curdling through the air
The suspense is frustrating for these entities
These rulers of the night and keepers of the day
It is released, poured into the receptacle of their desires
And my three cats begin to eat their tuna fish

Creative Challenge #52: Peering

MULTIPLY United Friends Challenge #143: The School Experiment

Lockerridge's Challenge

Write an amusing story about a homework assignment that you had as an elementary or high school student.
Just write as if you were in your kitchen, relating the story, over a cup of coffee with good friends.

„Anyone else for a coffee or perhaps something a bit stronger?“
“No not for me thanks, but do you mind if I smoke?”
“Go ahead, no problem. I havn’t smoked since my younger years, but my husband has a cigarette now and again.”
“Do you mean since, well since that happened?”
“Go ahead and say it, I have got over it now.”
“Well I didn’t want to stir up old stories. What really happened?”
“It’s a long story, but if you have the time and patience to listen?”
“Yes please, go ahead; after all we have known each other since the school days.”

“It all started when we had a project for homework. Old Miss Jenkins, the biology teacher gave us some bird seed and said to plant it. Then we had to specify what the different plants were. Of course we didn’t have computers in those days, just a load of books full of pictures. For me there were two sorts of plants, the ones with nice flowers that you put in a vase, and the others were weeds. As far as I was concerned the bird seed was weeds. Anyhow she did give us a month to get the stuff growing. It all looked the same to me. Stalks and leaves and no flowers really. Then we had a rainy season. It rained for at least two weeks non stop, so I didn’t bother to look after the bird seed weed patch. When I eventually had a look the stuff had grown quite well. A couple of the plants were much taller than the others and smelt a bit strange. I remember my brother Joe coming into the garden to see what I was doing.
“What are you growing there?” he asked.
“Bird seed for the school; we have to be able to identify the plants and write a report on it all for the biology class, but it just looks like a load of weeds to me.”
“Well no, not really, there is only a couple of weeds there and they are growing quite well. If you like I will l give you a hand.”
Actually it was my fault, when Brother Joe wants to help his sister then his own interests are usually the middle point. Joe kept his word and wrote the report for me. Mrs. Jenkins gave me a good note and congratulated me for being the best in the class. In the meanwhile Joe was still going into the garden and looking after the plants.
“Joe the experiment is now over, you don’t have to bother any more.”
“No problem sis, those plants are growing so well, I thought it would be a shame to pull them out.”
“I suppose you are right Joe, but it seems to me it is only one sort that is growing well. They are very tall and bushy and smell a bit strange.”
“Don’t let the smell put you off. They are not the original plants. They seeded some time ago and these are growing from the seeds.”
“But Joe, I only had two of the sort, now it seems as if it is at least ten.”
“They make a nice corner in the garden. Even mum said they look nice.”
I just left Joe to it. It was about this time that he bought himself a new car. Not second hand but really new. He said he was earning extra money by working for a friend’s father. I remember he bought me a nice leather jacket and paid for a holiday for mum and dad.
One day I got home from school and there was a police car at the door. Joe was arrested for dealing in marijuana. He was lucky really as it was a first offence so they put him on probation for a year. He said that a colleague offered him money for a couple of the bird seed plants, and he thought they were using it to make rope for a school project; after all the stems were quite strong. Joe told the police he really did not know that he was selling something that could be turned into a drug. Somehow the police did not believe him, but he was young at the time so I supposed that did help in the verdict. Of course mum and dad were disappointed. How could anyone believe that such a good boy like Joey would do something like that and it must have been a big misunderstanding.
The plants were taken away and destroyed by the police. Living in such a small town The news soon spread in the school. I never forgave Joey for telling the police where the seeds came from. It was very embarrassing at school especially as old Miss Jenkins was also called in for questioning.
So that was the story of the biology experiment at school.”
“Yes I remember, you and the family were the talk of the school. By the way how is Joe. I havn’t seen him for some time. What’s he doing?”
“He moved away down South.”
“Where, Florida or so?”
“Oh no, to Columbia, South America. He married a girl from that way and they have a farm. They are doing very well.”

United Friends Challenge #143: The School Experiment

MULTIPLY Pictures to Words #19 : Poetry/Prose

Floating on air, carried by proud hands
the sun shines through
illuminations of motherhood
joyful moments shared
A moment in time trapped on a day
free space for love and care
Will these be memories of child and mother
In the years to come when childhood has gone
In troubled times will they remember
the love they shared when they were young
A mother’s love is embracing and eternal
forever existing for its child
Will this be rewarded in a far distant future
Perhaps flowers on mother’s day
A telephone call, or a card
Who knows?
But the mother will always love
She will remember the day when she took her baby
and showed it to the trees
to the sun and to the world

Pictures to Words #19: Poetry/Prose

MULTIPLY Poetry Posse - Week 30 - My Mother by Fluffy

She was soft
Had warm fur
She licked me clean
She made me purr

If I wandered
She was there
Picked me up
With so much care

She gave me milk
brothers and sisters too
I loved to listen
to her strong mew

I started walking
but never too far
She was always there
She was my star

But then I grew up
She was still at my side
I know that I was
one of the pride

I remember her eyes
So large and so yellow
She loved us all
Her way was so mellow

This was many years ago
The cat ways are set
But one thing is sure
A mother we do not forget

My Mother by Fluffy

MULTIPLY Writers Block #59 The Rival

I tried to kill her many times; strangling with a telephone wire, poisoning her morning coffee, pushing her over a computer cable lying on the floor and as a drastic means, a clean shot through the heart. Ok, now everyone stay calm, this was in my imagination, I just could not get the courage to do it properly at the time. Perhaps I should tell it from the beginning to put you all in the picture.

I was busy at work doing the job I had been paid to do for at least twenty-five years. Of course, when I started I did not really have a clue, but time makes perfect. I had been the longest in the department and there was not very much I did not know. Even the boss was glad. You cannot expect a boss to know everything, they give the orders, we have to carry them out. Things were just running well for everyone. If you did not know the answer, just ask me. The essence of being good at the job is that even if you make mistakes, no-one notices. Someone might ask something where you are at a loss with a good answer. The best thing to say is “I will have a look” and hope that the matter is forgotten, which is usually the case. If the question is remembered some time later, the problem has probably solved itself by then. So this is the cosy state of affairs. No problems, you know the answers and no-one asks silly questions. Then one fine day she arrived on the scene. Someone new was needed, I cannot really remember why. Was it a colleague that got herself in the family way, someone that found a better job, or just a marriage to someone so rich she did not have to work any more? Take your choice, but we had to have someone new. It is strange but when she arrived, little Miss Know It All, I just knew that my nice cushy safe position as alpha animal was going to be endangered.

Did she get the job – of course. One friendly smile from those baby blue eyes at the boss and the right answers to the questions, she got the job on a plate. When she started, it all seemed so harmless. Me being the helpful friendly type showed her what was expected. Then I just settled down into my nice little corner in the office and carried on as usual. First danger sign was when I heard something about further training for our new star. She had been in some foreign country for half a year to learn the language and now the idea was to give her the chance to learn even more. I had done enough of this further education myself, a little bit here and a little bit there, but she was sent on a course for a professional super top secretary with all the trimmings. The company were paying and it seemed to be quite a gold plated exercise that she was doing. Three hours a week for a year in a top school and when she passed the examination she was destined for a good position which sounded vaguely even better than mine.

Of course I was wrong. One fine day the boss called us all into the conference room for news. He was taking on more work and needed someone to take over the department. Not that I wanted the job, I had enough to do. I do not know what devil had ridden my boss at that time, but he decided little Miss Know It All would be his substitute. I did not really take this news as seriously as I should have, thinking my work is not involved, she will have her own headaches to manage. How wrong can you be? In the process of a month she had taken over all the important jobs I had and I was left with the routine stuff. I did not even have to think any more. She did the thinking and gave out the instructions. I was known as being a friendly helpful person, always ready with some helpful advice. At the end of this month I only spoke when spoken to and helped only one person, myself. I had been stamped into the floor like an ant; one of those that you do not even notice when you tread on them. I think this was when I decided to put my murderous ideas into practice and enrolled for a shooting course. I organised a licence for a gun and was soon one of the best in the course. I had a target before my eyes and decided it was now or never. I could always plead insane after the crime and life on a happy farm could not be worse than where I was working. Perhaps irrational thoughts but at the time I found them quite sensible.

I did try to save myself by asking my ex-boss for a transfer to another department. He even helped, but the director found I was in the best place for my qualifications. Life went on and the day was approaching when I would use Miss Know It All as the suitable victim for my black thoughts, but things are never as you plan.

It seemed that the chief secretary in the company was leaving and a replacement had to be found. Who could be more suitable than our brilliant spark that was giving me orders what to do and I really hoped for her (and me) that she would get the job. Of course, she applied and then the day came when the decision was made. Now this job was for the director and that was even one step higher to heaven than my ex-boss. Unknown to our leading lady, there was someone else in the narrow choice, the director’s daughter that had just finished her university education and was even more perfect that our star. Who got the job? That was clear, it was the director’s daughter. This was where things got a little mixed up. The day that it was announced who would be in the top floor of the company was the day I had decided to shoot Miss Know It All. I had progressed so well in my shooting lessons that I decided I was ready and had my pistol in my handbag ready for use.

What I did not know was that on the evening before, our aspiring director’s assistant had arrived home to find her boyfriend had left her for her best friend. She was annoyed, very annoyed, so decided to bring things in order and paid a visit to the boyfriend and his new partner and shot them both. The next morning she arrived in the office and received the news that the director’s new assistant would be his daughter. After lunch she came into the office with a gun. Of course, no-one was expecting this, but I could feel her emotions, after all I was planning to shoot her myself on that day. She walked into our office and shot the ex-boss. At least there was a lot of blood, but I could not really tell if he was still alive or not. Then she turned and looked at me. There is a saying “if looks could kill” and this would have suited the moment exactly. She raised the gun, but must have been a bit nervous as she narrowly missed me, although my computer was no longer usable. I pretended to be unconscious. She lost interest in my condition and walked on in a direct line to the director’s office where he was showing his daughter around. I decided to follow – after all the fun was just beginning. I walked past my ex-boss who was moaning on the floor, so he was still alive. My one time work colleague and woman in charge was just about to shoot the director and his daughter, when I gave her a push (she was not expecting me to appear). She fell and I jumped on her. There was a fight and somewhere in the fight a shot was released from the gun. There was deathly silence, lots of blood, but I was relieved to find it was not mine.

Little Miss Know It All had a quiet funeral. She had no family (it seemed her parents were killed in a mysterious fire at their house some years before). I attended just out of curiosity and my boss insisted on coming as well. I pushed him in his wheelchair.

Of course, I was the heroine of the day saving everyone’s life from our colleague that had decided to go on a shooting spree. My company decided to award me an early retirement with a very good pension. My boss never did recover, but now and again I take him for a walk in the park in his wheelchair. Sometimes things just do not turn out as you expect.

Writers Block: Challenge #59: The Rival

MULTIPLY Mono Monday #44 (MM #58)

In Switzerland we grow a lot of rap seed. The fields are full of the blossoms in spring. I had never heard of it before I came to live here, but it is used for making oil. On the way home from a shopping trip last week we were driving on the private road at the local castle and stopped the car so that I could take a few photos. I put this photo into Piknik and monochromed it, fiddling around with the contrasts etc. until I got what I wanted. I then put the yellow of the raps back into the photo. Eventually I did a mirror frame and here is the result.

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For a plus I used another photo of the rap seed field, this time with the farmhouse at the side and I did a second layer with the photo that I took from the plane somewhere between Switzerland and England when I visited my father. I used photo shop CS3 and did two layers. I then removed the sky and the hills in the background on my rap seed photo with the magic wand and had the following result. It was more luck than judgement, but I found the result not bad. I then put a normal frame on it in Piknik and here it is.

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MULTIPLY Images and Words #1 Pot Luck

I have the luck to live near stables. There must be at least five horses there and you can have riding lessons. I am not the horsy type at all, although have been known to sit on the back of a horse. I found out
1. They are a long distance away from the ground
2. They are warm breathe and live
3. They are difficult to mount and just as difficult to get back on the ground
In this case, I do not ride, have no intention of learning how to and am just happy watching them and taking their photo.
Last week we were driving home in the car on the private road from our local castle. There was no other traffic, so my husband stopped and I took a few photos from the car, this being one of them.
The words I have used originate from an Arabian saying.

Images and Words #1 Pot Luck