2023-06-19 —  Share Your World

2 Replies

2023-04-03 —  Share Your World

1. If you could reinvent yourself, how would you like to be?

…and I’d give myself wings. Why not, I think it would be cool to soar above the earth under my own power. Looking down on everyone the size of ants below.

2. Would you like to be a pet in your household?

Considering how often I end up in the doghouse I am not sure I could do it full-time…

…on the other hand, the fluff ball who currently lives with us is treated like a king!

3. How many house moves have you had as an adult?

i) Lived with my girlfriend on Cedarglen Gate in Mississauga.
ii) Broke up with my girlfriend and moved back in with my parents on Dorothea Court in Mississauga.
iii) Got back together with my girlfriend got married and moved in with my inlaws. Actually, they moved in with us on Perivale Road in Mississauga.
iv) Moved into our brand new home on Trudeau Drive in Milton. No inlaws!
v) Separated and moved into a townhouse on Costigan Road in Milton.
vi) Landlord evicted us illegally during COVID but my current wife and I purchased our own home in Waterloo, Ontario before the eviction took effect. We are still here.

Note: The first four were when I was still in school and were not included in the list of adult homes.

4. What was your favourite home?

My favourite house was the property in Milton but my favourite home is the one I reside in now. It is filled with love and family although I wish my two older kids from my first marriage came around more often. I miss and love them both.

Gratitude:

Credits and Additional Information

I Didn’t Do It

2 Replies
Image: Unknown | Graphic Design: Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative.

I Didn’t Do It

It had been a long night. The club manager demanded she stay, a plaything for some VIP clients who were looking for more than drinks and dances. Saying “No” was never an option, at least she’d earn some extra cash but it meant her boy would be alone. The sitter couldn’t stay any later, she had to get to her own job in the morning. Hopefully, he’d sleep in and not notice she was missing.

Tired, sore and feeling dirty and used she pushed on the small door that swung inwards revealing the tenement flat she called home. Exhausted, she stepped inside and as she approached him, fear flashed in his eyes. He dropped the gun on the sofa and told her he didn’t do it.

Strewn across the milk crate coffee table and old worn couch she’d salvaged from the dumpster out back lay her old photo albums. The pages were torn and set adrift in a sea of unwashed dishes, an overflowing ashtray, and other shit. Every picture had been removed and hot-glued to the furniture and walls of their one-room prison. Surreal, the scene played like a 3D movie around her. Their tiny life illuminated in the orange and yellow glow of sunrise streaming in bands through the bars of the apartments only window.

“I know,” she said. How could she be angry with him, it wasn’t his fault. Her knees buckled as a wave of guilt and shame crashed into her, taking her breath and making it difficult to draw another. She wrapped her arms around her seven-year-old miracle and began to sob.

He squeezed back and said, “It’s going to be okay Mommy. Please don’t cry.”

Credits and Additional Information

Five Word Weekly Challenge (2325)

5 Replies

Welcome to Five Word Weekly. Each Monday, I will post five random words to Greg’s Blog at 5:00am Eastern Time (Canada/United States). Your task is to craft prose or poetry using any or all of the word prompts. How you participate is entirely up to you. Your work(s) can be a single piece, a series of stand-alone projects, or an epic serial. Let the words be the inspiration that takes you wherever your imagination leads.

Here are your prompt words for the week of June 19th, 2023:

fedora | kindle | queasy | voluminous | bellow

Be creative and have fun. I look forward to reading what each of you conjures up. Don’t forget to show your fellow bloggers some love -❤️- take some time to read, like, and comment on their responses.

Click here for full rules and guidelines

2324 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

3 Replies

2324 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Happy Father’s Day.

While there has been a trend in this country to eliminate gender-specific holidays I believe it is important to honour those who brought us into the world. Many schools and school boards have stopped the practice of celebrating Mothers and Fathers for fear of not being inclusive. This of course is about as ridiculous as it sounds.

As such my son did not have a hand-drawn tie or some other cute kid artwork for his Dad this year. I have to give him credit though, he knew it was Father’s Day and trumpeted in the occasion with a loud and boisterous Happy Father’s Day at 7am as he jumped on me in bed!

My Dad will celebrate his 84th in September. We didn’t always see eye to eye when I was younger. I remember making him feel like crap as a teenager because I was smarter and going to go places his blue-collar life could never have gone. Of course, I was wrong. My Dad was a great father and provider for our single-income family. We lived within our means but my sisters and I never wanted for anything. He and my Mom raised us the best they could and they did a great job, with my sisters at least. I’m sure they lay awake at night wondering what they did wrong with me. In all seriousness…

Thank You, Dad.

My Dad with most of the Grandchildren / Greg Glazebrook @ GMGPhotography

Father’s Day got me thinking about my favourite Dad song and the George Strait classic “Love Without End, Amen” was the first to come to mind.

And for all the ladies celebrating their Daddy take a listen to the Holly Dunn classic “Daddy’s Hands.”

The week in review…

Layer of Lies
A colourful take on a layered Poem by Paula at Light Motifs II. Now I’m hungry for cake and rainbow sprinkles!

Ripped Pages Out of My Diary
A work exploring the weight of hopelessness and despair written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Backwards
A time caper complete with a twist at the end written by Sadje and Keep It Alive.

Florian Schneider via Unsplash

4 Line Fiction
Four lines that perfectly capture the emotion of the image written by Nicole Smith at Momoetry.

It’s a Living
Fandango at This, That and the Other captures the lament of every subway busker ever.

Subway Tunnel Guy
Christine AT Stine Writing reminds us of the joy and satisfaction of doing something just because you love to do it.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

What Are the Chances? | A hitchhiker warning written for Sadje’s “What Do You See?” prompt and Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

Dad’s Lesson | A Father story written for Carrot Ranch’s #99words challenge.

Dystopian Sunset | Phone photography taken during the smoke storms caused by the Northern Ontario /Quebec wildfires.

Around the Blogosphere…

Allium Stipitatum White Giant | A beautiful image by Vova Zinger’s Photoblog.

Try New Beaver Slap | Couldn’t stop laughing reading this gem by Joanne the Geek.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction and some new T-Shirt Wisdom, Have a great week everyone,

Credits and Additional Information

T-Shirt Wisdom – Father’s Day Edition (2323-2)

2 Replies

Q: What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie?
A: Sofishticated.

Welcome to a special Father’s Day edition of T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday. This normal bi-weekly feature that appears on hump day has gone all Dad for this special edition. Check back every other Wednesday (bi-weekly) for another graphic that is funny, poignant, witty, honest, crude, toothsome, with bite, or just plain old ridiculous.

I have a joke about chemistry, but I don’t think it will get a reaction.

My little guy loves Dad jokes, laughing his @ss off when his Dad, ME, drops one. Such a joy to see him laughing although someday he will probably make fun of me!

Q: How does the man in the moon cut his hair?
A: Eclipse it.

When two vegans get into an argument, is it still called a beef?

Suggestions are always welcome. If you come across something you think is worthy of being pasted across someone’s chest and paraded around publicly jot it down and send me a message. If it makes the cut I will whip up a graphic design template and use it in a future post. Any suggestions used will include a shout-out and link to your blog on the week it posts.

Q: How does a taco start grace?
A: Lettuce pray.

Credits and Additional Information
Greg Glazebrook @ GMGPhotography

Dystopian Sunset

This image was shot over Lester B. Pearson International Airport near Toronto, Ontario at the peak of the northern wildfire smoke cloud that enveloped large portions of the Eastern Seaboard in June 2023. The image itself is an underdeveloped mess that despite its obvious flaws conveys an ominous window into a dystopian future.

Image was captured in June 2023 near Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Mississauga, Ontario
Equipment: Google Pixel 7 Pro (Rear Camera)
Settings: 19mm | 1/853 sec. at ƒ/3.5 | ISO11.
Additional processing via Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop.

Credits and Additional Information

Dad’s Lessons

2 Replies
Unknown / Post-processing by Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative

Dad’s Lessons

The summer of ’63. Jinny and I talk about running off in that old Sharknose Ford. God knows what we’d have gotten up to in the flatbed. Me, a sixteen-year-old life support system for a boner and Jinny completely smitten. Nothing good could have come from two teenagers high on the hormones of youth.

“Patience,” he’d say gripping the keys in his dirt-stained hands. “You’ll be the driver someday.”

God knows where we’d be if he’d let us run wild. Dad’s gone but Jinny and me still look something spectacular sitting in the front seat of that old truck.

Unknown / Composite image created by Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative
Credits and Additional Information

Four Line Fiction (2324)

4 Replies

Welcome to Four Line Fiction, a pix-to-prose challenge. Each Tuesday, at 9:00am Eastern Time (Canada/United States) I will post an image I have captured myself, featured from another blog or plucked from one of the Interweb’s many royalty-free image sites. You as the writer are to use that image as a point of inspiration to craft a masterpiece of fiction in four lines.

I posted this image last week and got no responses however it such a great image I thought I’d try again this is week…

This week’s monochromatic image depicts a man busking on a subway station platform as a couple of people wait for their train. In the background, a train crossed through the image in a blur of motion.

Florian Schneider via Unsplash

Be creative and have fun. I look forward to reading the tales you spin. Don’t forget to show your fellow bloggers some love -❤️- take some time to read, like, and comment on their masterpieces.

Click here for full rules and guidelines

What Are the Chances?

5 Replies
0fjd125gk87 via Pixabay

What Are the Chances?

“Turn off the transporter beam Umek, and put this thing in cloak mode,” Temu said while shielding its six eyes and looking away from the lonely soul standing on the side of an old Earth road.

“What don’t you think he can see you?” Umek shot back, “You are a humongous moron.”

 “Whatever, just get us the hell out of here!”

“Awwww, come on, he looks like he needs a lift and we could use some company. Besides, if he turns out to be a dick we can just drop him off at the next galaxy.”

“Are you nuts, we ain’t no bleepin’ Galactic Uber service. Did you not read the sign we passed about a parsec back?”

“What are the chances…”

“…that he’s a bloody axe murderer! I’d rather not find out.” Temu interrupted.

After a brief pause, Umek continued, “…where is your sense of adventure, aren’t you getting sick of being trapped in this tin can with me yet?”

“You have no idea…”

Credits and Additional Information

2323 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

2 Replies

2323 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Wildfires dot the northern landscape, dry conditions and an abundance of debris on the forest floor fueling burns that are raging out of control. Hundreds of miles away the sun is all but blotted out and the smell of smoke hangs heavy in the suburban air…

Sounds like one of Fandango’s story starters but it isn’t. It was actually the scene over many eastern cities from Toronto to New York as some 200+ wildfires burned across Northern Ontario and Quebec.

As the hellfires raged on it became increasingly apparent that the response from our cities and towns in the path of the smoke may have been blown out of proportion. That seems to be the norm in today’s world. For example, Nate’s baseball was cancelled on Tuesday, the first wave of the smoke storm to pass through, due to air quality concerns however by Thursday all the hype had died out and even though the air quality was worse than Tuesday the games went on. Even a joke I shared about the cancellation on the team chat drew gasps from outraged parents. Really, all I said was,

Like all things, the smoke blew over and everything returned to normal.

This week in music I’ve headed back to 1984. The Human League was known for lush synth-pop tracks with 80’s staples like Don’t You Want Me and (Keep Feeling) Fascination. I’ve reached back for something that was less successful but arguably stands the test of time better than the band’s more commercially successful works. It was rumoured that the band had a no-guitars rule, it was the 80s and they were a synth band after all. Whether that was true or not I don’t know but if it was, breaking that rule was a great idea for this week’s track – The Lebanon. The song was written about the civil war that raged on in Lebanon in the early 1980s.

The week in review…

Brand Management
The future of A.I. from Paula at Light Motifs II. Hope there is a wife model too!

In the Music Which Touches My Mind
An exploration of the connection between emotion and music by written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Our Party Platform
A fitting piece by Fandango at This, That and the Other considering the planet appears to be burning to the ground! Probably pie in the sky to think politicians will change though.

Inkwell
A powerful poem written by Rebecca at Is It Real or Fantasy

A Thorny Problem
Maybe they used the same A.I. Generator for the campaign idea? Written by the business-savvy Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Florian Schneider via Unsplash

No responses to this great image. I am going to keep it up/ reissue it for another week and see what happens.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday | You’ll need your wits about you for this one!

Creative Writing Monthly (2307) | The inaugural post for the new Creative Writing Monthly challenge. Get your submissions in before the end of July.

Empire In Decline: The New America | Some observations of America post-Trump, from an outsider!

Around the Blogosphere…

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction, Have a great week everyone,

Credits and Additional Information