W is for Wisdom

My grandfather wasn't much for borrowing money.
He kind of believed that you should only get what you can afford, that you should pay your own way in the world, and that you shouldn't be beholden to anyone.

He had a saying he used to use from time to time. He'd  tell us "You can't raise this year's crops with next year's rain."

Another saying he used a lot,  when we suggested,  attempted,  or wished for something futile,  he would say "Might as well try and hold back the wind with a pitchfork. "

He'd  use this line frequently when somebody would say something like they wished their puppies would stay little forever or they hope that winter would not come so fast.

Time is like the wind through the pitchfork - it just keeps going and there's nothing we can do to stop it; and so here we are at W.

This is the last time my words will appear on an intro here.

It has been wonderful working with all of you and getting to know so many amazing fascinating and talented people all over the world I'm going to miss you all.

I want to wish you all  good luck in your future endeavors.

TROY

And now it's time to go and see what words and works The Winds of time have wrought on your window of the World Wide Web this wonderful Wednesday

Note from Roger: You can follow a new iteration of ABC Wednesday after this round at https://abcwednesday.wordpress.com/>
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Introduction W.

 I introduce this letter because  my maiden name starts  with W. I saw Roger do this game, when the G was having its turn.

1.Family name? Wouters! This is also my maiden name. In the Netherlands the family name of the husband comes first, followed by the maiden name of the married lady. In my case it'll be:"Francois-Wouters".

2 First name? Wilhelmina. At the time when I was born we had a Queen Wilhelmina,  I was not named after her but after my grandmother.

3 An animal?A wolf, spelled the same way in Dutch and English.

4.A boy’s name:Wim ( short for Willem, which is William in English)

5 A girl’s name:Wil, Wendy, Winny, Wanda,etc...

6. An occupation?:A watchmaker, a weaver....

7. A color?White...

8 Something you wear? Wellingtons

9. A beverage? Whiskey

10. A food?Water-melon

11. Something found in bathroom?Warm water  (same spelling in Dutch or English),a wash basin.

12. A town? Washington

13. A flower? Wistaria

14. A country? Wales, a Celtic country in the United Kingdom

If you join us, please show us a photo, poem or article beginning with W, and mention this meme in your post or in the sidebar. We like to welcome you in our bloggingcompany.

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An InLinkz Link-up

W is for The Waltz.

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I love the Waltz,  It is the most elegant of dances and the first ballroom dance I learned as a child.

 

 

Sadly, through the fifties and sixties ballroom dancing was replaced by The Jive, the twist, the shake etc.  This was a rebellion of youth and I feel, stated  'We don't want to dance like our parents, we want to do our own thing.'  Anyone who indulged in Ballroom dancing was considered 'square' !

Who can forget the immortal scene from the wonderful musical 'The King and I', where Anna, the governess to the king's children, teaches him to Waltz,  in readiness for a forthcoming ball to be held at The Imperial Palace.

There is a more obscure musical by Rogers and Sondheim called, 'Do I Hear a Waltz'.

The story line was about an unmarried American secretary of a certain age, goes on vacation to Venice, where she falls in love with a married man, who has no intention of ending his happy marriage and family life, to be with her.

 

'Might it be better than never having loved at all'?

 

The title song of the film was recorded by many famous American singers including Peggy Lee and Eydie Gorme.

 Sadly after several stagings and the film, it was never the success it was hoped to be. Such a shame as it had a good story line, fine actors and the greatest writers of all time.

Quite some time ago I was in a ladies choir and we used to sing many songs from the musicals including 'Do I Hear a Waltz?' I must confess to not knowing this song but our conductor had an uncanny knack of introducing us to quite a few obscure pieces which we grew to love, including this one !

We had a wonderful soloist called Edith who would sing 'Do I hear a Waltz'. She had a fine mezzo soprano voice and sang this song with such clarity and feeling that I often wondered if there was more to it than we knew, You see, Edith was a lady 'of a certain age' and had never married! We knew little of her private life as she was a very private person, who lived alone in a fine apartment with her much adored cat. Enrico.

I'd like you to read the lyrics of this most enchanting song and tell me if you hear a Waltz ?

 

Do I Hear a Waltz?

 

Do I hear a waltz

Very odd but true

There isn't a band

And I don't hear it at all.

 

Oh my Lord, there it goes again!

Why is nobody dancing in the street

Can't they hear the beat?

 

Magical, mystical miracle,

Can't it be?

Is it true?

Things are impossibly lyrical

Is it me?

No it's you!

I do hear a waltz

I see you and I hear a waltz-

It's what I've been waiting for all my life to hear a waltz

.

Do I hear a waltz?

Oh my dear don't you hear a waltz?

Such lovely Blue Danubey music

How can you be still?

You must hear a waltz

Even strangers are dancing now

An old lady is waltzing in her flat

WALTZING with her cat.

 

Roses are dancing with peonies,

yes it's true!

Don't you see?

Everything's Viennese,

Can't be you!

Must be me!

Do I hear a WALTZ:

I wan't you to share it 'cause

Oh boy, do I hear a WALTZ.

 

What I really wonder is.....

 

Did Edith hear her waltz and did she dance in her flat,

Waltz with her cat, ?

 

I heard my WALTZ when I had my first date with my husband Ian, I wasn't long divorced and had no intention of looking for somebody else. We went to our local WI Annual Christmas Dance, we had been introduced by mutual friends.. we chatted most of the night then,  the band struck up....would you believe, a WALTZ.. we danced all night and have been together now for 33 years...Yes........ and I still hear a WALTZ!

My apologies for such a long piece but I really couldn't leave anything out without telling the full story!

 

My sincere thanks to the WONDERFUL Denise for devising ABCW and the WORDSMITH Roger for his hard WORK in the admin of ABCW.

 

 

 





 

  

 

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An InLinkz Link-up

Introducing W

When I was a child I was always teased because of my name : Wil(helmina) Wouters.Often I was asked, when I said my name, : "Wie weet waar Willy Wouters woont?", meaning

                                                   Who knows where Willy Wouters lives?.

Well that was not funny, but   ...thinking of it, I must admit, that it was actually not bad at all.

I mean it was like introducing a letter that doesn't exist in many languages and hasn't got a proper name: in English it is double u(uu) , in French it is double v(vv), in Spanish also, and in Italian probably the same, in the Scandinavian languages it is the initial letter of loanwords or.. doesn't appear at all in the dictionaries. In my language and in German it is a proper and independant letter and pronounced as W. So here I am trying to introduce this weird letter

 

Windmills  in a wet country

I live in a very wet country, where the wind is strong, therefore we have windmills and sailing boats.

 

Windjammers

There is a lot of water and if we are fortunate enough, it freezes in winter so that the skating fans can go out on the frozen waters of the waterways.

 

 

 Worse luck! Guess what! We have no real winters any more, even if we are ready for it with warm woollen wrappings and hot wine.

 With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with W.

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An InLinkz Link-up

W for Wow Wednesdays

Welcome !! Today brings another theme.Being a W Week, I would like to personalize this theme to all you bloggers. What did you or plan to do this Week?

Wifey and I Went on a trip to this quiet and peaceful lake which was also known for its Wildlife and birds (no maneaters of course)After an hour of Wows and sighs and photography this took a turn for the Wacky when a couple of forest officers came and chased us out With all sorts of Warning. It was a place frequented by elephants and apparently the lake was their Watering hole.  Who Would have known? Weird because there was absolutely no information and no WARNINGS in the area.

Well what can I say When the going gets Wild, the Wild can get Weird: Wise man saying

For a While now this song has been playing in my head repeatedly and no its not because of the theme !

I can hardly Wait to see the Witty, or Wise blogs that you all come up With. What's keeping you?. Let's get started and get to Work. Link your blog below. .... On another note, please remember to link to your particular post for this Week and not to the blog itself.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  

We

Welcome to W Week

In the wake of one of the worst tragedies ever, it's hard to imagine that one of the most joyous days of the year - Christmas - is next week!  While we who are safely ensconced in the warm embrace of family and friends, may we all remember those who are suffering so terribly right now after losing their loved ones, especially innocent little children. Try to remember that they were all in the process of celebrating the reason for the season - the birth of Christ Jesus.  Even if you are not a "believer," I'm sure all are believers of love, friendship, freedom, and peace for all mankind.  Here at ABC Wednesday, the team would like to extend warm wishes for the holiday season and the best for a happy new year. I'd like to share with you my favourite song of the season, sung by CeeLo.  Hopefully, it will wash away our sorrows in  this time of senseless brutality and give us hope for the future. 

ABC Wednesday

W.......is for

from all of the ABC Wednesday team we Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Well, well, well! We are already to W!

Wow, we are whizzing our way through the alphabet!  Welcome to another week on ABC Wednesday, the week of W, the double “u,” actually double “v,” letter.   Don’t be a worrywart!   No whining!  You do not have to be a wunderkind to join the weekly ABC meme.  Just walk on in and whisper or shout out your favorite word beginning with W, no matter how you say or spell it – double yew, dubya, ve.

The where, and why, and, of course, The Who are what you can write about when working with W words.  While away a wee minute or two, working your way through to a wise or witty but never wimpy contribution to ABC Wednesday   Did you have some winnings this weekend playing whist?  Maybe you have read Wuthering Heights?  When did you last enjoy a whiskey sour?  Were you watching the US Open golf tournament, all the while wishing you could golf as well as Rory McIlroy?   Do you love the Wookies of Star Wars?  Are you interested in World War I or World War II?   Of course, you can find something on the world wide web!

You can brainstorm and it is always worthwhile to wander through the dictionary.  Looking at words that begin with W in my American Heritage Dictionary, I was struck by the lack of words with a single “u” following the double “u.”   It made me wonder why.  There are a couple minerals, some rivers, a mountain range and cities from China and Germany and then just  four words – wunderkind, wurst,  wushu and wuss.  The first two are German in origin, wushu is a Chinese martial art, and wuss is modern slang whose origins were sometime in the 60’s or 70’s of the last century.  (an aside: doesn’t it sound weird to be talking about the last century?  For most of my life, it meant way long ago!)

So it was time for me to hit the web and check out another modern phenom, Wikipedia, and its submission for W.   It turns out that only central western European languages from Cornwall to Poland had words that used the “w” and beginning in the 7^th and 8^th centuries Old English and Old High German writers began to use the double “u” to represent the “w.”  For much more on the evolution of W,  please consult the OED  or Wikipedia. 

I am not just whistling Dixie here!  I am wishing you the wonders and wisdom of the world of W!