Play - playthings

This journal prompt is particularly for parents and those with small children in their families.

If you have a child – watch their play. What do they say? How do they play? What’s their favourite plaything of the moment?

If you haven’t a child to watch, think about yourself as a child – what did you enjoy playing with? What was your favourite plaything?

~~~ Scrapbooker’s journalling challenge ~~~

Find a picture with a plaything on (or take one!) and create a LO with an account of why that plaything was liked and how it was used. If you haven't one of yourself with a plaything, find a picture on the Internet of one you remember.

~~~ Scrapper’s journaling challenge ~~~

Travel: the journey

Travelling and journeys is such a big area to write about – and if you’re a journaller or a scrapbooker you’re bound to have notes and/or photos from your past trips.

Dig some out and think not about the PLACE you went to but how you got there. Was the journey exciting? Relaxing? Part of the holiday? Or was it a nightmare, you took 2 days to get Los Angeles, had the meeting, turned round and came home?

Write about the journey and what you remember most.

Travel: the list

Our subject matter for the daily writing prompts this week is travel and today’s writing prompt is about: what you take with you on a journey.

What do you take? What’s essential and what’s not

Here’s some on my list:

An Englishwoman can’t go anywhere without tea, so the first thing I pack is my teabags. Sometimes I’ll pack milk in a thermos to keep it cool and a teapot as well, especially if going abroad where teapots aren’t usual.
I always take a picnic kit too. It’s much cheaper to buy the makings of sandwiches than the made sandwiches, but you invariably need a knife to cut up the bread, and picnic plates, paper napkins etc. are all very useful for a successful family lunch out.
I take a small towel and/or teatowel – someone’s bound to get wet the minute the family goes near the sea or water of any kind
Anti-mosquito spray and suncream are absolutely essential as I react badly if bitten (and am allergic to most antibiotics) and since I got badly sunburned in Pompeii one year, I never tan, just come up in heat bumps, so I need a high factor suncream….

Gadgets – best buy

What was the best household gadget you ever acquired? Why was it such a success?

Gadgets that don't work

Everyone at some point has had a duff gadget, that seemed like a good idea at the time but never worked...

Do you have any gadgets that never worked the way they were intended?

I had a slow cooker that was the rage when I first got it. It was a wedding present in the early 1980s. The idea was that you popped a selection of food ingredients into it and lo and behold when you came home from work your dinner was all ready and cooked. The trouble was it didn’t work – there was a good 10 hours between leaving for work and arriving home and that was too long for most of the programs. And who wants a meal that has been cooking on a very low heat for ten hours anyway? The slow cooker – I really should unearth it from that cupboard and just throw it away!

Gadgets

What are the gadgets you can’t live without?

From electric toothbrushes to broadband dongles, think about the gadgets that surround you. List them? Why are we so dependent on gadgets?

This should be a general survey of gadgets that surround you – we’ll look at specific ones later in the week!

Emotions: enthusiasm

When were you last really enthusiastic about something?

What was it and why did it make you feel enthusiastic?

It was really great to see Robert Kubice win the Canadian Grand Prix - not
that he's a big hero of mine or anything, but it was nice to see someone work
hard and get the result he deserved. In a race that was a big disappointment for Lewis Hamilton fans - because he managed to crash in the pit lane AGAIN, it was also great to see David Coulthard on the winners' rostrum again.

Colour - synaesthesia

There’s a condition called synaesthaesia in which people have their senses mixed up – they can “see” sounds and “hear” smells, “taste” colours…

How do colours taste? smell? feel?

blue - the moment just before waking, but also the pain of pulling my hair
red - the sharpness of cooking tomatoes, and heels stumbling on cobbles
yellow - Yorkshire cheese, the sound of a ship's horn in the muggy fog
brown - mother-love, buttered mushrooms and Guinness
white - the sound of silence, nothing but the ringing pulse in my ears
black - proud and strong, the tautness of chain, a clear bell chime
midnight blue - velvet to touch and deep knowledge of a lover
green - breezes gusting, and squirrels jumping from tree to tree

Take a colour – think about what it represents – jot down a few ideas…Write down each colour on a separate line and complete it as I did...

Colour - the way we see

Colour is not an property of what we are looking at – it is something created in the brain as a result of the way your eyes interpret wavelengths of light. Colour is an invention of the human brain. Without our eyes, there is no such thing as colour – so everything must be in the equivalent of greyscale. Were there aliens, colour might not be one of their senses and they might have an additional sense or completely different senses from our five…

What would it be like to see colours differently? Or not see colour at all?

Colour - flowers

What is your favourite flower colour? Why?

The Journey - words in support

What are the words that encourage you on life's journey?

What would you have liked someone to give you in the form of five simple words to keep you going through the rough and smooth of life?

For example

There is always:

• hope
• compassion
• laughter
• delight
• companionship

Stop at the five words, if they are meaningful enough.
Or write more about why those words are the important ones.

The Journey - virtual journeys

Here are some links to virtual journeys.

If you could see a virtual journey on the Web, what journey would it be?

Imagine your journey and write about it.

Spain
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/explore/journey/spain/spindex.htm
France
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/explore/journey/france/frindex.htm
San Francisco ChinaTown
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/chinatown/intro.html

The journey - where would you like to go?

Todays' prompt is "Wish I were there..."

Where do you wish you were? Can you find a photo? Why is it your ideal place?

The journey - food for the journey

If you are going on a journey what would you need to take with you?

What food would you need for the journey?

This might be as simple as a picnic - and describing your picnic food. BUT it could be more than that. What about the "spiritual food" you need for a journey? What are the attitudes and characteristics that you would need to make a success of it? Determination, bravery, persistence, patience to wait for the bus? A sense of wonder?

The journey - your daily journey

Do you commute? Do the school run? Do you have a journey that you do daily, or at least regularly - the trip to the shops even?

Next time you take that journey be more aware of it. Keep your wits about you and lok around you rather than being lost in your thoughts, head down, scurrying...

If you drive you can't exactly look around - but you can get out of that "auto-commute" feeling and take notice of what you're driving through.

Now write about it. It's an important part of your life, and something worth capturing.

Today on the motorway I was amazed to notice the fields either side covered in a layer of frost. Having had just a taste of summer in the last couple of weeks it's grim to think we're back to winter - or perhaps it's just a typical spring! Monday can be a busy day on the roads as weekly commuters like myself head off for their week's work. But on a sunny morning when they other drivers are being careful, it's not the worst drive in the world - I could describe some nightmare commmutes and one of the worst was the nearest to my home - 45 minutes to go 5.5 miles!

The journey - theme for the week

This week's theme is "The Journey"

The journey can mean many things, from your daily commute to the journey through life.

Today - simple prompt

What does the word "journey" mean to you?

If you're a scrapbooker there are loads of great papers and embellishments on this theme. Start collecting them together for a fruitful week!