Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Succinctly Yours Weeks 241 and 242: I Spy with My Little Eye

Thank you to Grandma of Grandma’s Goulash for hosting Succinctly Yours! Participants are invited to step it up and tap out a story of 140 words or 140 characters or fewer based on the photo. Life has been beyond crazy lately, so I am combining Week 241 (bonus word, “autonomous,”) and Week 242 (bonus word, “parse”). I invite you to parse the preceding sentence. Would you place the period where I did, or inside the last set of quotation marks? Grammar-obsessed minds want to know.


They had won the vote at last. Still, she found it hard to believe women were becoming more autonomous when they were still bound by the feet.  116



Evelyn was known to hide and parse the neighbors’ eating habits in minute detail. She was sure they weren’t washing their food properly.   114
Aim for success, not perfection.  Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. ~Dr. David M. Burns

19 comments:

  1. The second one especially made me laugh, since those silly creatures like to wash off their food.

    However, the first one made me think of how women ARE "bound" by their shoes these days. Those high heels are killers...

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    1. Yes! And those of us who are savvy enough to purchase Crocs and Skechers would of course know this. But what really cracked me up about the photo was those frowny faces! Mom and Dad look like some of those shoes are emitting foot odor powerful enough to penetrate the display window, don't they?

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  2. Hari OM
    Both spot on - grammatically and in their observations! YAM xx

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    1. ... oh, and also your sentence! We were taught (at GRAMMAR school) that the period only goes within parenthesis where the entire sentence is therein contained... &*>

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  3. I agree with your punctuation. That raccoon Mrs. Kravitz needs to chill. And the shoe-shopping family gives me the willies.

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    1. They give me the willies, too! Your comment about Mrs. Kravitz made me laugh. I used to know a woman who closely studied everyone else's eating habits when they were guests at her table, and then delivered her analysis. I was told I salted too much (ironically untrue, but that's beside the point), and another woman I know was duly labeled with an eating disorder because she doesn't like red meat. LOL.

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  4. Both of these gave me a chuckle. You are brilliant at this, Tammy!

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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  5. So glad to see you back. I re-opened last week's photo and entered your link, since no one (including myself) played last week. Enjoyed both your entries, but the first really spoke to me. I haven't worn high heels for more than twenty years now and have enjoyed every minute of freedom!

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    1. Oh, thank you so much for doing that! Sorry I was late. Tis the season for all of us, I guess, though I loved your raccoon entry. I used to think heels were okay as long as they were short and on a "comfort" shoe, but more and more I'm noticing how good I feel when I don't wear them at all. And these days, I'm all about feeling good!

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  6. The first one is so close to the truth, and the second one made me spit out my tea as I laughed.

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    1. Thanks, Linda! Though I feel certain Evelyn would have something to say about tea-spitting as well....

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  7. Both are wonderful, as usual, Tammy! You are so good at this! I would punctuate your intro sentence just the way you did. And I love the quote!

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    1. Thanks, Theresa! I love that quote, too - especially the part about how being wrong allows us to learn new things and move forward. So true, but so easy to forget.

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  8. A double balm to ease the worldly troubles this week. Thanks for the smiles.

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    1. Sorry to hear about any worldly troubles, Lisa, but thanks so much for visiting!

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  9. You always nail these... and the quotes are great too!

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