The Deck-Something to Smile About

by Penny Wilson Writes, posted in Uncategorized

First of all, Thank You to Trent, who continues to remind us that there is always something to smile about!  Please take a look at his wonderful Weekly Smile HERE. 

It sure makes me Smile to see something like this finished!  My deck, pictured above is just about my favorite place to hang out.  I love to watch the different birds that come to visit and watch my little dog, Rocket enjoy His Turf.  My deck has been needing a good cleaning for quite some time.  I have also wanted to stain it. So I decided that this past weekend was the perfect time to do it!

 

The weekend mornings were blessedly cool.  So I was up bright and early putting my back into it and giving my deck a good scrubbing.  Not the best picture above.  But if you look at the color in the top part of the pic, you’ll see the beginnings of my efforts.  The deck had begun to take on that grey/black color.  Yuck.  After a good scrub, the boards looked like new!  It’s been quite warm in the afternoon, so I decided that if it was dry the next morning that I would stain it.

 

The next morning, bright and early again, I went outside and looked at my lovely, dry, clean deck.  So I set about staining it.  I chose a pretty redwood color.  In the picture above, you can see the difference between my recently cleaned boards and the new color of stain.  This is me cutting in around the edge.

And the picture above is the finished result!  It’s still wet here, but it dried nicely.  Isn’t it pretty?  I’ll just stay off of it for another day or two and it should be good to go!

This project definitely made me smile!!  So What Made You Smile This Last Week?  Come on, share and then let Trent know on his Weekly Smile post found HERE.

Copyright (C) 2020 Penny Wilson

Eureka! The Humble Thesaurus

by Penny Wilson Writes, posted in Life, Poetry

Why is the thesaurus so great?  This is resource that will expand and improve your creativity in ways you never knew!  This common tool is something that I had overlooked for YEARS!

I’ve been blogging for several years now.  5 or 6, I think.  My blog has changed and evolved a few different times.  Right now, I mostly focus on poetry.  I now write my poetry with a minimum of 2 tabs open on my computer.  One to actually WRITE the work and another, my new-found Best Friend, the thesaurus.

If I am trying to convey a feeling and I don’t seem to be able to find the right word for it, I always jump over to the thesaurus.  In poetry, you want what you are trying to express to flow in a way that is pleasing to the reader.  If it doesn’t, your work will fall flat.  One word can make all the difference in the world.

I’ll give you a few simple examples.  If I want to say that I’m angry in a poem or story, rather than use the word angry, my thesaurus suggests fury, indignation, rage, passion and many more.  I find these much more creative ways to express anger.  Don’t you?

Another example.  If I want to express that I am sad, my trusty thesaurus suggests the words bitter, dismal, wistful and many others.  Sound better?  I think so too.

To me, using the thesaurus can make or break a poem or story for you.

In the tiny Elfchen below, titled A Splash of Starlight, in the 4th line, I used the word illuminated rather than the boring word, lit.  A much more eloquent way of expressing the same thing.

a
splash of
starlight bathed the
night and illuminated our
love

My revelation of the thesaurus, described above, may be something Old Hat to many of you out there.  But to many others, this may just be the thing that unlocks that creative inner voice that has been trapped inside you!  You can find Thesaurus . com HERE. 

So, tell me, what revelation in writing have you discovered that helps you?  Please share!  

Copyright (C) 2020 Penny Wilson

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Slivers

by Penny Wilson Writes, posted in Poetry 

Slivers of heart
carved away

each
minuscule
and

hardly missed

over time
cleaved

then
resume their place
try to fit

now
a new heart

a different
heart

a little worse
for wear

flesh
now calcified  

each wound
hardly perceived

Copyright © 2020 Penny Wilson

 

Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay

Loud

by Penny Wilson Writes, posted in Life 

Does the world seem louder to you these days?  It certainly does 
to me. Although I want to stay up on current events, just in case, 
by some miracle, the powers that be have something worthwhile to 
say.  I try not to watch too much of the news.  It's awfully easy 
to get sucked into the sink hole that is our nightly new these 
days.  

I find myself wanting to escape it all.  I'm sure that I'm not the 
only one that feels this way.  The world has become more complex, 
crowded, dirtier, and louder than ever before and I wish to close 
it off, turn it off, at least for a little while.  

I feel bombarded each day with one more thing, and one more thing, 
and one more thing.  Don't you? 

My mom used to say "The world's gone to Hell in a hand basket."  
Now, I don't know why there had to be a hand basket involved, 
but she would not believe what our world has come to.  

I do plan on taking the 1st week of September off work. IF I 
can hold out that long.  So I need to work on a creative way 
to have a Staycation. 

I hope that the rest of you are fairing well.  I guess I just 
needed to rant.  

Be well and stay safe, My Friends. 

Thank you for joining me on this journey. 
Penny <3 

Copyright (C) 2020 Penny Wilson

Image by skeeze from Pixabay 

Poetry of My Heart

by Penny Wilson Writes, posted in Poetry, Writing 

The poetry 
of my heart 
spills 
onto the page 

in blue ink 
and fervent sighs

The poetry 
of my heart 
is written 
on the wings 
of dreams

and nights 
of longing

The poetry 
of my heart 
negate shadows
of terrors 

not voiced

The poetry 
of my heart
stands tall
against 
this
world

Copyright (C) 2020 Penny Wilson
 
 Photo by Alex Azabache from Pexels