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In the heat of the day It was the hottest day of the year, the temperature reached 42 degrees and there was little relief in sight. I had come to Kangaroo Island hoping to escape the heat on the mainland only to find it as intense here and without sufficient air-conditioning in this stone cottage by American River, it became stifling and almost unbearable. I wet the sheet and hoped the fan would give me relief. This was day five of temperatures over 40 degrees and it was taking its toll on me. I felt exhausted already early in the morning an...
Weekly Contest #314
CW: Mentions of animal injury and physical trauma A tiny mitten for Nancy I knew instinctively as soon as I woke up, this was going to be an exhausting day. The smell of smoke was in the air, sifting through the levers in the bathroom and when I looked out there was a haze in the distance over Adelaide. Days on end with soaring temperatures over 40 degrees left little chance for the bushfires in the hills to subside and now with the increasing northerly wind the roads shut to the public. People evacuated from their homes so that only rescue ...
Weekly Contest #313
The scent was earthy, damp, and musky as I held the sticky wet clay in my hands. I threw the ball on the wooden block to begin the wedging to make the clay smooth and pliable. It felt hard and I pushed my arms against my body forcing the strength down to the heel of my hand to flatten and fold. Kneading and shaping the clay until the shape of a “ram’s head” appeared. I pushed my fist and folded repeatedly to remove any air bubbles. I waited for the elasticity to begin, and I knew it was ready now to be put on the wheel. But was I?Some days e...
Weekly Contest #308
A midsummer dance Midsummer, the longest day of the year in Sweden. Eva was busy preparing the lunch celebrations at the country house. This tradition had started as a small gathering of family and friends but as the family grew bigger so did the number of guests. This year there would be at least twenty-five people around the table sitting under the trees in the garden and she wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Her younger sisters Lina and Nora were busy in the kitchen as food was an integral part of this celebration. Hot food was ...
Midsummer in The Enchanted ForestThere is a place in the northern part of Sweden where the forest is dense and full of life. They call it the Enchanted Forest because it carries so many secrets and people have said it is a place of magic. There is one day of the year when the sun sets for barely an hour before it rises again. It is called Midsummer Eve, and it is a special day in this part of the world. It is the time of the year when you welcome the summer which is short but intense and the people who live outside the forest prepare for a l...
Weekly Contest #306
Kangaroo Point, April 1983We are about to leave Kangaroo Point in Brisbane and continue our journey north. The nights are getting cooler now and the sleeping bag is not enough. We need extra blankets. I let the sun warm me as I sit on the step outside the flat, sipping tea and looking out at the frangipani and paw paw trees where the fruit bats have done a raid through the night, leaving half eaten fruit all over the ground. We have spent almost four months in this old wooden collection of buildings from the 1920s, built on stilts to keep th...
Weekly Contest #304
Dear Leyla,No, it was not Simone de Beauvoir that made me travel to Paris. You are wrong there. I know you used to joke about “The Second Sex” as it hid in the shadows for so long and then when it finally came out into the spotlight, we both read it, hoping to find out what the secret was. You said it was all too complicated and people would be happier if they could live a simpler life. And we both agreed Simone de Beauvoir lived far from a simple life. I think sometimes of how far ahead she was of her time. She did not have to find a lifest...
Weekly Contest #301
The pelargoniums were flowering bright red in the terracotta pots on the small blue tables outside the shop. Ursula, who loved flowers, did not have to coax Richard to sit down for a cold cerveza. There was still forty-five minutes to go before the last bus was leaving for town and they deserved a break after walking around in this small village in the Spanish mountains here on the island of Gran Canaria. Besides, it was stifling hot now in the afternoon sun.- We close soon, but you still have time for another beer.The lady from the shop wip...
Weekly Contest #300
We watched JoJo as she moved gracefully, like a grey cloud under the water. She came so close to shore that we could have touched her. The water was clear, and she looked like she had a smile on her face. It was then we noticed she was not alone. Three stingrays followed closely behind. They were probably the males as they are always smaller in size. I had seen her here before, a number of times. She frequented these shores and was a popular visitor for the locals. We returned to our spot on the beach and laid our towels on the warm sand. I ...
Weekly Contest #292
The honey-coloured light trickled through the plantation shutters and over the windowpane. A half glass of shiraz and inches away a slightly dried paintbrush laid on the bench illuminated by the new day. The candle had burned down to find its inevitable end.- Let’s go walking, maybe we can spot a dolphin or two, he said.- Did you sleep? Leyla asked.- Ah, who knows, what is sleep? A dark well full of runaway dreams.He smiled to himself.-But I think I did something rather interesting.She laughed.- It’s too early to get philosophical.There were...
Weekly Contest #289
It was Sunday afternoon at the wine bar. People had lined up outside the door to get a good seat at one of the tables or barrels near the stage and the place was quickly filling up. This was a popular spot at the trendy suburb on the edge of town and it was not only the locals that liked getting together for a glass of wine while listening to a live band. People came from everywhere, even interstate. Kirsten had helped her husband to set up the equipment on the small stage and was now taking a break in the little courtyard out the back. She ...
Weekly Contest #285
The phone box smelled of cigarettes, dirt, and metal. Besides, it was terribly hot in there. I tried to keep the door open with one foot as I inserted the coins in the coin slot, but the traffic was loud, and I had to close it. I stared at the green phone trying to imagine the scene at the other end where my dad would be sitting in his black leather chair with a cup of coffee and the pipe resting in the ashtray. I heard the signals go through and eventually the coins dropped into the coin box as his voice answered.- Hello.- Hi, it is just me...
Weekly Contest #277
It is the end of November and the darkest time of the year in the Northern part of Sweden. The snow has fallen, and the trees are dressed in their white coats for the long winter. People are getting ready to celebrate Christmas and the village is alight with a pageant of pretty lights. There is a scent of gingerbread and mulled wine in the air, where people gather at the market to buy those little trinkets that end up as a gift under the tree. Towns people have been busy handcrafting wooden toys, knitting jumpers and hats, making candles and...
Weekly Contest #275
The road between Quorn and Hawker seemed to go on forever and the persistent rain on the windscreen did not help to break the monotony of the scenery outside. There was nothing out there except dried-up saltbush and dead trees standing as a reminder of how harsh this landscape could be and how hard it was to survive out here in this bleak and barren land. George and Elsa had passed the ruins of an old homestead closer to town and wondered how anybody could make a living out here. It was not for nothing they called this area the Outback and t...
Weekly Contest #271
Alicia loved beachcombing whether it was on the local beach near where she lived or on one of the more remote tropical beaches she visited while on holiday. The windowsill in her living room was filled with unusual objects and when the light captured them in the late afternoon the colors flickered and danced across the room. There were colored glass bottles, broken pieces of crockery, well washed by time, rounded into interesting soft shapes. A dried seahorse hung from a nylon string in the window and sea urchins and shells filled the bench ...
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