Sailing, sailing
Yachts at Goolwa, South Australia
I have never had too many opportunities to travel on ships or boats and especially sailing on yachts. I have only ever been sailing on a yacht on a handful of occasions. I certainly would have liked to have had far more opportunities, but they didn’t present themselves.
Perhaps I don’t mix with the right kind of people – or I need to find new ways of making far more money so I can afford a nice yacht. Trouble is, people like me (of a certain age) are probably too old and decrepit to learn how to sail. Perhaps I need to make a lot of money from my writing so I can afford to buy a yacht and employ someone to sail it for me.
On the other hand, I have often watched yachts sailing, admiring their beauty as they press through the waves, flying along on the wind. More than once have I wistfully wished to be one of those on the boat. From time to time I’ve even caught myself dreaming about sailing my own boat to exotic destinations.
Writing prompts:
- Write an account of a time when you went sailing or boating.
- Turn your non-fiction account into a fictional story, letting your imagination full rein.
- Write a poem about the beauty of sailing ships and yachts.
Good writing.
The photo above was taken several years ago of yachts near the mouth of the River Murray, Goolwa, South Australia.
It’s beginning to look like Christmas
Gingerbread House
My wife and I are currently staying with our son and daughter-in-law in Sydney. We plan to be here for Christmas and look forward to sharing Christmas with our two little grandchildren, ages 5 and 2 and a half.
A few days ago we all chipped in helping to decorate the Christmas tree. Not one of those artificial ones bought in every shopping centre. No, we have a genuine natural tree bought from the local Scout Group who made them available to the local community.
Then the family gathered around the dining room table to make gingerbread houses. My almost two and a half year old granddaughter decided that it was far more interesting to eat her house straight away. Waiting for over a week to eat it is far too long for a little one.
Five year old grandson however, despite being an extremely active young boy, sat for over an hour with great determination to make the house shown above. We were all so proud of him – and I think he was too.
Writing prompts
We don’t have too many special traditions at Christmas time, but I know that many families do.
- Write about the special things you do as a family at Christmas.
- Relate a true happening when everything went wrong.
- Imagine a truly wonderful Christmas; make it into a story or poem.
Good writing.
Freshly baked bread
“I do not have to eat freshly baked bread to love it. The scent is nearly as delicious, nearly as much the satisfaction as the thick slice of bread slathered with butter and homemade apricot jam.”
Julia Cameron in The right to write.
One of my most enduring memories of freshly baked bread occurred during a holiday in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. My wife and I, accompanied by our daughter and her little dog, headed off to one of our favourite camping spots towing our caravan. After a long day of travelling we set up camp overlooking the magnificent southern edge of Wilpena Pound. We could look out of the window or sit in the sunshine next to our van and admire the full beauty of the range.
Because we didn’t know how often fresh bread was available in the small park shop, we decided to take our bread making machine with us. To wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread in the small confines of the van was like sleeping in a bakery. Then to top off the experience we had homemade apricot jam to enjoy with the fresh bread. I think we probably had homemade peach and pineapple jam as well. Heaven.
As I remember, there was a downside. On the first day I came down with a heavy cold. I survived – probably only because to the fresh bread baked every day.
WRITING PROMPTS
- Write about your encounters with fresh bread.
- Write about baking homemade bread in your home when you were a child.
- Write about special food you enjoyed on a holiday.
- Write about a holiday spoiled by illness.
A Creative Journal
A Creative Journal is a blog about writing, especially journal writing. It include ideas for writing, hints, tips, inspiration and writing prompts.
Several recent articles have some interesting writing helps. In one such article called Doodle Journal the author suggests that writers could benefit greatly from “doodle writing” – similar in content to doodle drawing. The suggestion is to write in a stream-of-consciousness style as a writing exercise or a warm-up to one’s major writing project at the time. Sounds like fun and is never meant for publication, only ever for an audience of one.
Another article of intrest to me is called Journal Writing as a Learning Tool.
Teachers are constantly looking for ways to make learning easier for their students. One technique gaining more attention recently is journal writing.
I have to disagree with the author. Journal writing has been a part of good classroom practice here in Australia at least, for well over a decade. It is not a recent idea. I used the techniques to great effect in my own classroom just about every day for the last 15 years.
To access the site click here.
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