Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
PHOTO PROMPT © DALE ROGERSON
Ma
That was the year it snowed in September.
Ma stood at the back door, hugging her dressing gown around her shoulders.
“My, oh my, look at those roses – poor souls!”
She rummaged for her large scissors. A wisp of powdery snow crept in on the breeze from the door. Ma trotted down the garden path, slippers slapping, her bird-like ankles peeping from under her flannel nighty.
Some quick snips and she had seven stems, each carrying a beautiful, bronze-coloured bloom.
“We’ll soon have you indoors and looking your best,” she told them.
They looked fine in her crystal vase.
Autumn Leaves 
Very sweet character
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Thank you, Josh.
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I liked the descriptive passages, particularly of the snow blowing in
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Thank you for your kind comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the description.
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Excellent imagery! Enjoyable read. ❤
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Thank you for the kind comment, Susan. I’m glad you liked the imagery.
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I could picture her out there snipping the roses. Lovely warming tale for a cold picture!
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Thank you for your kind comment, Iain. I’m glad you could picture Ma snipping the roses.
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Wonderful take on the prompt photo, Penny. Saving those lovely blossoms was the thing to do. They make wonderful potpourri also.
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Thank you for your kind comment. You’re right – it would have been a shame if the last blooms of the year hadn’t been rescued.
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You’re very welcome.
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Dear Penny,
You make me sorry I never met Ma. From your apt descriptions and storytelling, she sounds like a dear lady.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you for such a delightful comment, Rochelle. I think we all have a dear lady – friend or family – like Ma.
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I love this so much! Very vividly painted, the fondness and the care, the carelessness and the homeliness and the unanticipated surprised. Love it! Nice, Penny. So very nice!
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Dear Na’ama, that is a lovely comment – thank you so much. I had a very clear image of Ma as I wrote.
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And … it was communicated as if alive. Loved it! 🙂
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This was a pleasure to read. Gotta love Ma 🙂
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Thank you for your kind comment. I’m glad Ma’s character came across so well.
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A caring act for a piece of beauty
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Dear Ivor
Thank you for your kind comment. Ma was that sort of person – caring for everything that seemed to need a little love.
Best wishes
Penny
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😊🤔🤗
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A sweet story beautifully told, Penny.
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Thank you for your encouraging comment, Keith. I enjoyed writing this story!
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Is she in the habit of treating flowers like people?(‘…Poor souls’, ‘….Looking your best’ Nice personification
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Ma is the sort of woman who can feel empathy for all sorts of things! She saw the beautiful roses and knew the cold would quickly ruin them, and that felt wrong and cruel to her. So she ‘rescued’ them.
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We had roses blooming in December, but they’d gone before our February snow.
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Thank you for commenting, Liz. We hardly had any snow down here in heavenly Devon.
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I love it that she rescued the roses:)
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Linda. Ma was that sort of person.
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One minute they’re freezing in the snow, the next someone slices them up with a pair of scissors. It’s not a great day for the roses 🙂
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Teehee! Love your comment! 😉
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Oh this is wonderful, Penny! I can so picture Ma as well as see her doing everything you described. She sounds like the one person everyone wish they had in their circle.
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Dear Dale, Thank you for such a kind comment. I’d certainly like Ma in my circle of friends! Actually, when I think of my friends I can think of several whose empathy and practical love are somewhat like Ma’s. I’m very blessed.
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You know… now that you mention it, I might have (or even be 😉 ) some Mas in my circle…
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I love your descriptive details. As usual you make us see in living color a beautiful moment in time.
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What a lovely comment, Dora. Thank you so much!
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You’re most welcome, Penny. I enjoyed it. 🙂
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great story-telling. i could picture her in my mind as she went about her business.
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Thank you for your kind comment, Plaridel.
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I saw Ma and heard her walking down the path. Great descriptions. Plus, I felt her kind soul.
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Thank you for your lovely comment, Lish. I’m glad the descriptive writing worked for you.
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I love the ordinary life in this story and how Ma becomes so focused on the fate of her beloved roses.
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Thank you for your thoughtful and empathic comment, James. So much of the heart of our community life is down to women like Ma. They are part of the glue that holds society together.
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In so few, very well placed, words, I have a lovely image of ma, despite the frigidly cold morning, saving some of her beloved rose blooms. A beautifully written snippet of life. So well done, Penny!
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Dear Brenda,
Thank you for such a lovely comment – it’s very encouraging!
With best wishes
Penny
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I am glad mum did not trip in her slippers
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