What a Wonderful Day!

My friend Jan and I encourage each other to stretch our “writing wings” once a week by choosing a prompt and getting to it, over sugar-free lattes, of course. Today this was harder than usual. This was our day and how we chose our prompt.

After perusing books, books and more books on the shelves at Borders, we finally settled on a prompt from an old children’s novel. “I live in the white cottage at the north end of the lake…”

Oh, to actually live there. I love flowers, so the little white cottage would be surrounded. I really like the water, so I’d have a pier that I could go out on and sit. I could dangle my feet in the water off the end of my wooden extension. I could sit in the old plastic lawn chair out there and fish, or I could dive face-first into the cool refreshing water. What to do… I’m only dreaming.

Back to that white cottage that I’m supposed to write about. Now, inside its humble doors, there would be a half-tidy kitchen, one where the smells of cinnamon and jelly-making would mix with the airy fragrance of the honeysuckle and alyssum that flew in through the open windows past the weathered lace of the faded curtains that hung there. It was a friendly space, known only to one. That’s me!

Let’s explore that simple abode. Only four rooms, counting the tiny bathing room, made up the whole cottage. The bedroom would have a thick, comfy bed made up in the softest of colors and covers. It would be neatly made, but always turned back inviting my sleepy head to nap contentedly anytime my heart so desired. The colors would be pale aqua, the lightest of pinks and well-worn muslin.

A lumpy old couch would give the living room its guest seating. A favorite, worn wing-back chair by the window marks the spot most used. It sits right next to the window looking out on the lake with a table and a lamp residing to the right of it. Reading glasses, a purple pen and a journal would be there, dusty because of the summer winds, but inviting just the same.

Oh, to really see the lake. The ducks would be out playing on it, bobbing heads-up/heads-down all day long. You could hear them honking out their sounds of delight when well fed and their bursts of displeasure when their neighbor got the fish that got away from them.

The buzzing of the bees in the flowers hummed along softly, muting the noise of the water fowl. I love bees! I’m so happy to have a garden full of them. They work hard every day to make sure that my flowers have seeds and my trees bear fruit for the jellies, jams and preserves that line the kitchen shelves.

I just love my cottage at the north end of the lake! Thank you my writing friend for giving it to me, if only for the moment. Daydreaming can be so comforting, especially by the lake when the desert awaits outside. Sweet dreams!

READ JAN'S STORY HERE: