WQ #8: February 22: BELOW/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES/WOTY
“I’m from Santa Monica, which was an awesome place to grow up. You’re very spoiled being from California. When it’s below 70, you complain. When it rains, you talk about it.”
Alexis Ren
It’s supposed to snow again tomorrow and Thursday after we enjoy wind gusts slightly below 60 MPH tonight. My internet went off mid-post. Hopefully, I found most of the 16 revisions WP said I made. 🙂
stood under cover transfixed by unfettered rain stream instantly flowed © Marsha Ingrao haiku
Happy Wednesday and welcome to WQ. Below is a word of many quotes: below poverty, below one’s status, below the birds, below the surface, and below zero on the thermometer, just to name a few. How does the word below inspire you?
Below: at a lower level or layer than, extending underneath.
Last Week’s Featured Bloggers On the Grid
A lot of conversation ensued on the topic of “grid” last week mostly about the electric grid worldwide. Does anyone have too much electric power?
- KEEP IT ALIVE – BREAKING FREE OF THE GRID
- LOVING LIFE – GRIDS GALORE!
- NOW AT HOME – TROUBLED GRID IN S. AFRICA
- PICTURES IMPERFECT A FABULOUS BUILDING WITH AND WITHOUT GRIDS
- SECOND WIND LEISURE – SNOW GRIDS YOU WON’T MISTAKE FOR CANDY!
For More Thoughts on Below
Your post link goes here.
- BUSH BOY’S WORLD – PEARL DROPS OF WATER
- KEEP IT ALIVE – “So below the grand magnitude of our spirit“
- LOVING LIFE – ESPECIALLY WITH GRANDKIDS UNDER-FOOT
- NEW2WRITING – A SUCCESSFUL LEADER’S IMPOSED POSITION
- PICTURES IMPERFECT – A PENGUIN AT WORK BELOW THE SURFACE
- SECOND WIND LEISURE – BEAUTIFUL BIRDS LOOK BELOW FOR FOOD
While WordPress deal with the current pingback problem, if you are linking to any of my blog posts, please copy and paste the URL address of your post in the comments section. To read more about this problem and how to get around it, click to read Hugh Robert’s post.
Below Clowns
Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.
John Steinbeck
I love having a reason to write several times every week. But I never realized how low my status as a writer was until I read Steinbeck’s quote!
Below the Surface
“I want to be a man (woman) who serves my family, a man who increases justice in my community. I want to be all of those things, and yet it is just below the surface that I want to strangle somebody when they cut in front of me on the freeway. “
Dean Jones
We couldn't look down. sharp cliffs on the right, truck left breaths held till we passed. © Marsha Ingrao 2023 Senryu
Below the surface markers noting birth and death What happened between? ©Marsha Ingrao 2023 Senryu
“I’ve always had a duck personality. Calm above water, feet going crazy below.”
K. Flay
These ducks are showing their personalities. 🙂
Looking Below
“I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking round with astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous tracts below.”
Daniel Boone
In January I visited friends in California. This view from the top of a foothill always inspires me though I took it years ago. It looks much the same today.
Looking below gives us the overall picture and may obscure the details. Sometimes we don’t need to see or know all the details.
“The West begins where the average annual rainfall drops below twenty inches. Water is important to people who do not have it, and the same is true of control.”
Joan Didion
Sweet Views Below
Over the years colorful and artistic sweet views have dominated my photos and thoughts. I’ll close letting you gaze at the sweet cakes below and link them to Terri’s Sunday Stills.
Upcoming and Ongoing on Always Write
- WQ Page
- WQ #9: March 1: ORDER/ARRANGED
- WQ #10: March 8: RARE/PRECIOUS/UNUSUAL/GREEN
- WQ #11: March 15: A BRIDGE/TO BRIDGE
- WQ #12: March 22: SPRING/VIVID
- WQ #13: March 29: CHANGE/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES
- #DICKENSCHALLENGE started February 7th. Join Yvette Prior, Trent McDonald, and me in reading ONE – not THREE Dickens’ novellas by June 9th.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
61 responses to “WQ #8: Below What? Where?”
your creativity really shines through in these posts,, Marsha
I enjoyed the quotes and images and ideas al conveyed here with color and a nice energy
oh and so glad you are on the down side of moving
🙂
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Thanks and thanks, Yvette. I’m on my third novella now, Chimes. We are done moving things until March 5th or so when Cindy moves out. She got called for a low income place, which is wonderful and we are all excited. After that we will find a place for all the things we still NEED to keep. I’ve been able to part with a few more things each time we move. LOL. Hopefully, I’ll be back to blogging more soon.
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Hi Marsha – I can really relate to NEEDING to keep certain things – because some things really are important – I might even write about this topic some day because I often ponder this area – hmmm
🙂
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We have been living that life since November when we decided to put our condo on the market. We are all done with that now, and Cindy is moving this week, so we are going through everything AGAIN! Eventually things will settle down. I’m about 1800 words into my chapter. I’ll send it to you as soon as I’m finished to see if I’m close to the mark as to what you are looking for.
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take your time with the draft of your chapter – and I look forward to seeing it
XX
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I will. It will probably morph a lot before I send it, but I wanted to get started.
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🙂
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Fun. Steinbeck sure keeps us humble. Lol.
Thank you for recognizing those who served. And I am so with you on your California photo. A bench would be nice in the place you took the photo, if there isn’t one. I could sit there all day.
Glad to hear your move is moving along. Stay warm.
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Thanks, I was sitting on my friend’s porch at the time, or somewhere close to it. That was their barn which they remodeled and turned into a one bedroom apartment. One of their grandsons lives there now – the one that was about 8 when I took the picture. LOL time flies!
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Sure does.
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These are some fantastic quotes and images, Marsha. I did do a pingback to mine but Hugh has released a post saying these aren’t working at the moment, so you might miss a few people this week (I did with my latest #writephoto challenge). Hopefully WordPress get it sorted soon. Anyway, I hope you like my entry:
https://new2writing.wordpress.com/2023/02/25/purpose/
Take Care,
KL ❤
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Thanks, KL. I can’t wait to read your entry.
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Awesome choices again Marsha..I loved your own writings and the top photo of two photographers is awesome. I included a few quotes in my weekend coffee share post since I had grandkids all week and couldn’t really focus.
https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2023/02/weekend-coffee-sharecome-sit-with-me_25.html
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Hi again, Marsha! I know you are a busy bee this week. I’m adding my SS post into your comment section since pingbacks are not working for many bloggers this week. I may change my theme this week. It is snowing AGAIN today. And the rest of this week. Darn that groundhog anyway! https://secondwindleisure.com/2023/02/26/sunday-stills-time-to-feed-the-birds/
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It’s snowing here, too! Vince went to shovel the walk at Blooming Hills. We should be able to get everything out today. Everything has to be done by Tuesday morning. Then we just have to find places for things here. Cindy may have a place to move soon, so that will help. Friends are moving and they may use some of the excess furniture! Yay! Can’t wait to see you in WARMER April.
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Wow, snow is everywhere! Glad you are getting things done! People here are telling us that we may get snow here in April! I can’t wait to get south a for a few days!
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We are looking forward to it. Can’t wait to see you. Donna has a whole list of things for us to do!
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I just got over to your post. It’s so inspiring. You put so much time into each picture and even your signatures with birds at the beginning and ends are so cute. We just got our house cleaned out and cleaned up about an hour before the new owner’s walk-through. Boxes everywhere at home. No time to hunt birds. I’ll call you tomorrow.
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You’re up early. Let’s chat after 12 today or when you can. Thank you, I had fun with these pics, Marsha! 4 inches of snow overnight!❄️
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That’s a lot. You are going to have a wet spring. I’d love to see the Spokane River this spring!
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I’m hoping for an AZ super bloom while we’re there!
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I’m sure it will be with all the snow and rain we have had this year.
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Hi Marsha, I do enjoy the quotes in these posts and your haikus. Great pictures.
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Thanks so much, Robbie.
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Hi Marsha,
Here’s my post
http://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2023/02/25/wq-8-february-22-below/
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You know that’s what I call a grand finale, Marsha. All those cakes below the counter.
Great quotes and haiku.
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I know! Sweet! I realized after I found that picture that I had already found plenty of sweets for Terri’s challenge. Who can resist another piece of cake??? Not I!
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I had 2 portions of apple crumble and some fruit cake at a friend’s this afternoon. She did say that she didn’t want anything leftover because she’d eat it! Ha!
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That sounds yummy, Jo. Fresh apple crumble!
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Up here the real Maple Syrup is running hard and oh so good. 🙂
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I bet! I have never had it right out of the tree. My grandpa used to talk about it. Sounds yummy!
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Delish I love the dark amber the best. 🙂
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Have plenty for me! 🙂 Grandpa used to talk about making snow cones out of it.
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Yes, they do that in the hills 🙂
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Yummy! Enjoy the syrup. We have the snow. 🙂
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We do too 🙂
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I am awake in time to add my link
http://bushboy.blog/2023/02/23/shine-on/
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So much fun in here Marsha 🙂 I agree finding just the right quote is the hard part.
I have scheduled my post and now realise that it may not appear. I hope I am still awake and can add it when it is posted
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🙂 No worries. It looks great!
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What is that thing on the back of the truck? It looks like a giant banana. 🙂 And is the other truck photo on our Road to Hana trip?
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The truck on the freeway was carrying one propeller from a wind machine. It was shocking to see how huge it was. We see them at a distance and they look big, but this really put it into perspective. The other truck was the one we met on the Road to Hana. What a scare for a less experienced driver. 🙂
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I thought it was our Road to Hana trip.
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Good memory!
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Hi, Marsha – for some reason, your posts weren’t showing up in my Reader – but I’m still subscribed… that’s weird… I’m glad I just checked!
❤
David
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There are so many glitches, follows that get unfollowed, links that never showed up, friends that end up in spam. We all discover and then like little gremlins they disappear again. I’m glad you’re still subscribed. I check your, too. I don’t rely on Reader too much.
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oh I loved this Marsha.. you are so right.. how dare we can complain in Cali but well.. lol 🤣
Love your well devised poem my friend. I know the feeling of revisions…
Oh i love your inspiration on below… and all of your awesome pictures! 💞
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Thanks, Cindy – mutual admiration is a great thing for friends to have in common.
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Oh you’ve given me a great idea with my upcoming “Feed the Birds” theme and integrating below, Marsha! Let’s hope I have a good image. Love those cute ducks and all your quotes. I’ve seen those massive wind turbine propellers ambling down the road (Hwy 84)! We lived through a snow squall last night. No one knew what they were so I googled it. Sideways snow for hours, whipped by the strong winds, coming from the north. We had to shovel both back doorways to get OUT of the house this morning–a foot of snow accumulated against the doors and covered the deck. Wild! Pingbacks are not working on my site still! This will be a problem this Sunday 😦
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Not getting pingbacks is a huge problem. One of the good things that having a partner helped. Cee often caught entries that I had overlooked. Now I go through my comments several times before I publish. However, today as I was experimenting with tags, and we have to talk about this later, I came across one of Robbie’s posts, and I did not get her link. It’s not so hard to check multiple sources when you have a small audience, but yours is getting pretty big! Good luck on Sunday.
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I’m asking bloggers to leave a comment with the link, so I can find it. I looked at tags, too, in the reader, but found very few for Sunday Stills. Not everyone tags correctly. Hopefully this issue will get fixed sooner than later. Colleen was saying we are operating on classic themes which could also cause glitches. WP needs to get this stuff fixed!
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I think my theme is getting old, too. I forgot who told me that it’s not an option anymore.
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I love the duck with the punk hairstyle! He is a real Donald, I think.
And I adore the quote by Steinbeck about writers. I get it.
I didn’t find a good quote for below but there is something below my subject: https://picturesimperfectblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/22/why-not-indeed/
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You can use one of my quotes! The duck one fits, but they named it wrong! 🙂
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Thank you. But you know… pride 😄
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Yes, it goes before a fall. That penguin better not even think about falling. 🙂
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😄
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I love the quotes and photos you have chosen Marsha.
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Thanks, Sadje. It was hard to pick quotes. Hope you have fun with this challenge.
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I’ve already picked up my quotes.
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That was the hardest part, other wise I would have had pictures from on top of hills and from planes. 🙂
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Cool.
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