Saturday, August 30, 2008

Bridging The Gap and Raven's Wordzzle


Bridging The Gap between the old.....

....and the new.
The old wooden flatboats used to carry cargo down the river and now heavy steel barges do the job.

Last Wednesday afternoon in rainy weather we were out looking for hoses for a garden tractor and any new bridges for this meme when we came across the Sternwheeler Museum in Marietta, Ohio. Even though it was raining I had to take a look around. I liked the footbridge taking us from the sidewalk to the flatboat. A little further up the river I found the barge anchored in front of yet another bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia. It was wonderful to find both of these in one day.

I have enjoyed the bridge meme with Alice and want to thank her for being our host this week. Although today is the official last day of the meme; you will see at least one more bridge from me on Tuesday.

Be sure to click on the icon at the beginning of the post to visit Alice and the other participants.

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Each weekend Raven hosts her Wordzzle Challenge where she gives us words to put in a complete paragraph.
This week I decided to try the mini challenge of five words and eh ten word challenge. The words from Raven are the blue words in my paragraphs below.
Be sure to click on the icon and go over to Raven's and check out her and other participants Wordzzle - she is GOOD and so are they!
Here's my offering for the mini challenge:

Elizabeth sat at her potter’s wheel trying hard to throw out at least something resembling a reproduction of a Native American bowl. The TV in the corner was running through a movie CD of PBS Special Moments. Out of the corner of her eye Elizabeth could just make out an opera singer with a toothy grin and what appeared to be very swollen ankles. The eye shadow, rouge, and lipstick worn by the rather hefty guest looked like it had been applied from a palette of oil paints rather than a makeup case. As her hands manipulated the clay Lizzy’s voice erupted in a high pitched soprano…"Be very quiet, I’m molding clay, I must be patient, I cannot play…." Doubling over in laughter at herself the clay fell in a lump. She’d have to start all over. It was a good thing she actually made money making pottery. Singing was NOT her forte!

Here's my offering for the ten word challenge:

It was four months until Christmas but his Grandma didn’t have to be a psychic to know what Billy wanted to find under the tree come that December morning. He had written his list on a small piece of paper as legibly as he could:

Dear Santa,
I want a pogo stick, an ant farm and a little baby turtle. And can you please bring Grammy a new surge protector for her computer? I’ve been very good.
Thank you, Billy.

He had asked his Grandpa to put the letter in a little tin box that was kept in the wall safe behind the painting in the living room. It would be safe there until it was time to mail it to the North Pole.
Grammy assured herself that neither the arthritis in her knees from the ravages of time nor the threat of pneumonia in the coldest of weather would keep her from seeing that Billy got what he wanted this Christmas. She would see to it with everything she had. It would not; would NOT, be her Waterloo!

29 comments:

Raven said...

Very much enjoyed your flatboat - how cool is that little house made out of a boat and bridge information.

As for your wordzzles! You are so good at this! These were both great. I loved the grandma one. Brilliant way to get rid of all those tricky words like pogo stick and turtle and... very clever.

As for my Pogo Stick puppy. I hadn't thought of him as having three legs. Would add some extra depth to the story, though. Probably I was visualizing the little Jack Russel Terrier across the street.

Anonymous said...

Great bridge finale. I enjoyed the old building and the flatboat.

Your first Wordzzle offering is wonderful! I love the makeup applied from an oil paint palette line. Very, ewww, visual! And the Santa letter in your second one was inspired. I'm playing this week. Mine will go up at midnight Hawaii Time.

Gattina said...

Thanks to you I noticed that I had published my Sunday critters already today ! I saved it now for tomorrow !

Carletta said...

Raven and Quilly have me thinking I should clarify about the flatboat.
The photo is of an actual wooden flatboat. It is a reproduction of one that would have floated down the river carrying cargo. The bridge was so you could walk over to it and look down in.

MaR said...

Love seeing that old building and the red flatboat!

Enjoyed reading those short stories!!
I am happy you liked my picture, I have a small collection of hearts myself :)
Happy weekend!

Gattina said...

you were really lucky to be able to take pictures of these bridges. Very interesting !

maryt/theteach said...

Great bridge post, Carletta! And that's not my dental bridge but a very generous friend's... Ha! :)

Akelamalu said...

The first one made me LOL and the second one was just so sweet I almost cried!

You did a fantastic job.

I loved your bridge post too. :)

Rose said...

We had a cousin that used to work on the river barges...Neal always wanted to go with him.

dot said...

Very good post with your little story and the pictures. I especially like the flatboat photo. You are a good writer!!

Richard said...

I enjoyed the flatboat article and your stories.

Rich

Melli said...

BRAVO! BRAVO! LOVE the two wordzzles! You are sO clever! A Santa letter! Wow! Mine is up now too!

The wooden bridge to the flatboat is really cool! But I love the red boat too - against that wonderful bridge backdrop! Very nice!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Carletta: Really enjoyed your first photo of the walkway to the pld building.

Pappy said...

Thanks for always having clever and entertaining posts with great photos. I may move you to the top of my list. Pappy

juliana said...

this is a wonderful way to end the bridge meme, and i have really enjoyed the wordzzles.

Dianne said...

that first flatboat is so beautiful!

Your mini was funny. I love people laughing at themselves.

and the 10 word was touching.

great job!!

Jeff B said...

Awwww, the ten word was just too darned sweet.

Anonymous said...

Those are great bridges for the last day of the challenge and a good post to go with them.

Jientje said...

yes, you ARE clever, I agree!
I had never seen a flatboat like this one before! That's why these photo challenges are so great, you get to see all kinds of things! I'm really looking forward to my door challenge too!

Dr.John said...

Loved both the bridge picture and the story.

Kimmie said...

Oh the ten word just tugged at my heart strings! Nice job on both of them. :-)

Hugs,
Kimmie

Janice Thomson said...

Gosh that was really interesting Carletta - I had never heard of flatboats before. Super photos. Really enjoyed your Wordzzles too!

Anonymous said...

Very nice story - I wish my kids were this simple - my daughter wants a million things for Christmas!! Great job! :-)

Anonymous said...

Well done, Carletta. I love the way you bridged the gap between the old and the new... and even through a bridge in. Great job!!

Thanks so much for joining in and helping with BRIDGING THE GAP. I've so much enjoyed all the photos you posted. It's been a lot of fun.

Anonymous said...

Whoof!! I like that old flat boat. It wood work real good fur some kinda critter house. Mom would like that, arf, arf, arf.

JunieRose2005 said...

Carletta,

This is a very interesting post and the pictures are great! I enjoyed it very much.



Junie

SMM said...

I loved Gramma's resolve that it will not be her WATERLOO

George Townboy said...

Fantastic post, what a coincidence with the barge I shot in Stuart. Very cool.

Minkydo said...

Very interesting. Great shots. Thanks for sharing :)