Since people have spoken or met singularly or in groups, the word "Welcome" has been used as a greeting, with multiple meanings attached.
It is brilliant when it works and disastrous when it fails and is rebuffed.
We welcome you, to try to express some occasions, when this word has meant something to you good or bad.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
Shoe shuffle, shoe shuffle, slide away and glide.
Shoe shuffle, shoe shuffle, wriggle left and right,
Shoe shuffle stop, and bend down low,
Shoe shuffle, shoe shuffle, off we go
Tippy toe, tippy toe, tippy toe.
Shoe shuffle, hold your partner, slide away and glide.
Shoe shuffle, lead her in a wriggle, left and right.
Shoe shuffle both, gently bend down low,
Shoe shuffle, shoe shuffle off we go.
Tippy toe, tippy toe, tippy toe.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by julio andres rosario ortiz on Unsplash
Cooler weather is on its way.
Warmer clothing was brought into play. Summer favourites are to be folded and put away.
Warmer, heavier shoes brought out to wear, tucking away my comfortable flip-flops.
Raincoats rainproofed, with hoods: mine slips over my eyes; not good.
I might walk into something hard while blinkered, a challenge I must tackle if I do not want to sustain an unexpected injury.
Hot soups, prepared and frozen, ready for a quick snack before or after a winter stroll.
Brooms and green bags for swept-up leaves, dead flowers and bush pruning.
Bird feeder and drink preparation for the delightful birds who provide much-needed winter entertainment.
Time now to tuck into my cosy dressing gown and sip a warming, pleasurable cup of tea, while mulling over the summer's passing.
We are wishing everyone a safe, happy, and friendly time ahead.
Remember to spread a little kindness and watch it grow.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by alex geerts on Unsplash
2024
- Women in Business Forum, Kingston upon Thames
- Storytelling with Penny Wobbly, WI event, Chessington
- Business Breakfast event, Hampton Court
- Storytelling in the Garden hosted by Penny Wobby
- BIG Creative & Digital Innovation Cluster
- Business Breakfast event, Kingston
- Networking for Women in Business Lunch
- Non-Stop Comedic Cabaret by Man & Boy
- Coffee & Connect, Kingston
- Kingston LinkedIn Networking Evening.
- Creativity is Intelligence with Sujata Paul, Mary Lynn Luiz and Rawle Iam James.
- Women in Business Lunch, Kingston
- Business Breakfast Event, Kingston
- Storytelling at Chessington and Kingston
- Storytelling at Rustington Convalescent Home
- WobblingPen Stories on Motivational Strips
- New Facebook Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
I woke up with a smile on my face.
No matter what the weather might bring, I am determined to switch a smile into place, coming from the joy within, sharing life with the man I love.
Each day is different, it is true; not all covered in a rosy hue.
Life throws some unwanted curve balls. One headed our way last night.
Yet we batted it away, with worries and plans shared.
No need to frown with tears dripping down. Very few like a misery, a moaner, a groaner around.
So, with a smile, I am ready to face any bump in the road. With the strength of the warm love supporting me.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Two ladies who first met through the wonders of the internet and instantly made a connection of mutual admiration and sharing of life stories.
Their lives so far cover a similar time scale, starting in the UK. They had pretty normal family lives and (almost) shared a common family surname. They both had a desire to help others and became nurses. Once qualified, they independently headed abroad, one with Save the Children fund, and the other to a family in New Zealand. It was then their very different adventures began.
This year, 2024, they decided to meet one another in the flesh and share their amazing life experiences. Their names are Anne Watts and Penny Wobbly. The visit was arranged for 5 September 2024.
Penny Wobbly
I could not wait to meet Anne, someone I have admired for a while. We had exchanged emails, phone conversations, and Zoom meetings, where her lovely personality, sense of humour, and practical, no-nonsense approach to her amazing life experiences intrigued me.
I longed to meet her and today we did. I was like a teenager awaiting the appearance of her pop idol. Everything was ready for her arrival.
My husband set off for his dental appointment. I was going to walk to the station to meet Anne once she had notified me she was on the train. The call came and I put on my coat and collected my three-wheeler, ready to set off, when a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning announced the arrival of the forecast yellow storm. The rain thundered down, pounded on the roof and bounced off the ground in monsoon fashion. My heart sank. I couldn’t walk to the station in this, and we would most definitely not be able to walk home together either.
Rapid implementation of a cobbled-together Plan B: I rang my lovely carer and asked if her husband could run me to the station on his way to pick up their children from school, as my young man was out at the dentist. He so very kindly agreed and, on arrival, he had to back his car through a newly formed lake. I told him not to leave the car. I would manage to skirt the lake and hop in. The rain fell in stair rods, an old-fashioned description; however, once in the car, we set off on the very short ride to the station. I leapt out; well, it might not have been as swiftly as that.
Hobbling down thirty stairs to the platform, I gazed into the distance, having been told by Anne that she was at the back end of the train and wearing a bright jacket. My cataract vision was put to the test in the dull rainy light. There was a flash of bright colour heading left out of the station; if I had blinked, I would have missed her. Oh no!
I headed for the thirty steps back up to the station entrance, speeding my dot-and-carry leg action, to meet what would definitely be a dripping Anne, as the route she took was out in the deluge.
As I reached the top, she appeared around the corner, dragging her case. We hugged, and laughed; two soggy ladies, delighted to have at last been able to meet in real-time, without pens in our hands. I was in seventh heaven but had to send for the help of my young man to whisk us home when his dental visit ended.
Suddenly, the traffic snarled into an almost unmovable mass as the school day ended and parents, who normally left children to walk home, arrived to try to keep them dry.
My husband appeared and, once we settled in the car, I looked at him: he was absolutely soaked. He too had been caught in the deluge on leaving the dentist and rushing to his car up a nearby street.
What a welcome! Yet, in spite of everything, it will be remembered for a very long time by us all.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
The roar from the TV made me sit up and take a look.
A football match was in full flow, with players running about on a pitch.
An unexpected goal was scored, against the pundits’ call.
Who is playing? I struggled to see: it was Arsenal and Wolves.
Arsenal players were in despair, allowing a goal in just as the end was near.
Wolves were madly celebrating.
Arsenal picked up their spirits and the ball, heading for the spot, arranging themselves in playing order. No time to wait at all.
Hardly had the whistle been blown then the ball was in the back of the net.
Arsenal fans roared their delight, but their players returned the ball to the spot at speed.
Their determination was to score again to cement their claim to the game.
Once more, a few touches of the ball were applied and the same player scored.
Not satisfied, they placed the ball on the spot again.
No time to spare.
Dodging Wolves defenders, into the goal it flew.
As Wolves crumbled in disbelief, Arsenal fans and players roared.
And the whistle used by the referee blew and blew.
Game over.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Gurdain Bharj on Unsplash
The withering and dropping have started, and as the season steadily increases, so have the changes.
The bright colours of the flowers silently fade before the eventual downward plop.
The Earth awaits to embrace and absorb them once more.
A process of renewal carried out year after year since it began its mysterious wake-up time.
This year has been very stressful for all the inhabitants and soil of this precious land.
Let’s hope next year, when these beauties start to appear, we have a better, shared, and safer future planned.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Enes Gundogdu on Unsplash
The fairies are approaching with feather dusters,
To flick away worldly concerns, keeping them safe
’Til you awaken, refreshed, to review them on a new day.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Mamun Srizon on Unsplash
I have a phone, smarter than I am, much of which I don’t understand, with messages arriving without my command.
We are told not to press buttons that appear unrequested.
Some are disguised and colourfully presented to look like those we love.
Yet they are created deliberately to entrap and attack us, with cruel, malicious, daylight robbery and uninvited calls.
Yet, conversely, we cherish our phones for emergencies, too, for communication, information, research, photography, for instant heritage and memory recall.
For every evil attack delivered to our phones, we have security barriers to contain the damage.
To repair them or produce new ones with more information we have to understand.
Working furiously to repeal and help keep us safe. Yet we have to take care to keep our curiosity in check.
Keep our fingers away from the talk button, to stop allowing viruses a way to start their attacks.
Perhaps we have to return to handwritten letters and no internet once more, however, I would find it very difficult without spell check.
I love my phone, yet I worry about the future. I hope I am wrong.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
My husband was grumbling, "Do you remember those blueberries I planted?" I nodded in reply.
"Well they have masses of berries and some are blue, but every time I go to pick them, none are ripe enough. What a waste of space they are!"
I noticed a while ago that he had netted them to protect them from the birds.
With my interest alerted, I began to take a closer look at the blueberry bushes.
Suddenly a flurry of black feathers landed on the net, it was a blackbird.
I sat quietly watching and caught the thief at work.
He looked around to see if it was safe to start his robbery.
He pecked at the blueberries through the net, as it was a tight mesh net he could not pull the berries through.
That did not stop him from picking the fruit.
How silly is that I thought to myself, to just destroy the fruit?
Then he flew down to the ground and there laid out before him was a carpet of juicy blueberries.
He quickly crushed and swallowed them, staining his yellow beak blue in the process.
My husband decided, he would have to be up very early to beat the blackbird to his Blueberry breakfast.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
Staring out the windowpane, looking at the rain, wondering when normal service would be resumed again.
No friendly ringing, no poems or stories to enjoy, just silence hanging heavily no joy.
Hands reach out to tap the keys, to creatively dance the words upon the screen.
Yet no matter what I tap, there is nothing to be seen.
At last, the knowledge I did have to accept, no internet connection could I expect.
A flash of communication appeared, you have no internet connection.
I thought that was plain to see! I just want to know how you can return it to me.
A voice from a distant part informed me it was fine on their end. All is well for them but what about me, silence still reigns.
I am an old customer, yet service to me does not extend.
Firmer action is needed for the voices on the other end.
Or this long-standing relationship will sadly have to terminate.
As I go searching for a much more supportive, helpful unseen connector.
To join in reconnecting me to my so wonderful internet friends.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
Shop, shop! Oh quick stop, stop! I was on my way to buy food when I lost the shop I was going to.
It's amazing but one by one they have put up their shutters and closed for good. At first, it did not dawn on me as there was always one more on the corner around our way you see.
Then horror upon horror my options started to shrink. Now there is no shop there for us to pop out to buy our food or our drink.
I'm old and a car is a luxury we can't afford and buses here have stopped calling, ‘All aboard!’
So open your eyes. Stop the rot, or the superstore will have closed the lot!
Stop, stop! Use your local shop.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Edward Howell on Unsplash
If you owned a caterpillar and had to buy him shoes, you would use up all your pocket money and have none left to buy your chews.
However, once he became a butterfly, three pairs would be all he’d need to wear.
Because by then, he’d have grown two lovely wings to help carry his weight and prevent holes from rapidly appearing through the bottom of his shoes.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Sonika Agarwal on Unsplash
Iris on moving into a new area was invited by a new friend to her house.
The lady said ‘I am having a coffee morning, and will ask some of my neighbours to come round to meet you. It might help you, to feel more at home here.
Iris was delighted and accepted the invitation.
On the appointed day, she swung into her friend's shared drive, took a fit of sneezing, and ploughed through a row of Mail Boxes.
‘As of course, you shut your eyes when you sneeze, don’t you!’
What a way to make new friends. However, all was redeemed by the new friend, who happened to have, a handyman, working on her property at the time and he quickly repaired the damage.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Hiroshi Kimura on Unsplash
Darkly silently it glides in feet first, before retracting it’s wings to maintain a balance.
The deadly work then begins.
Poking, snapping, devouring, young frogs from their underwater dwelling.
I know it is nature and we should not interfere.
However, our frogs are becoming rarer and now need saving.
I’ve deepened the pond, and rigged up preventative fishing line, to stop their ease of access.
It will not totally prevent the crow's raids.
Just decrease their killing spree.
So frogs will still come to my pond at mating time.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Crow Photo by Chris Linnett on Unsplash
Frog Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash
The Fish Pond Photo by Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Just 15 minutes slots you have been paid to spend with me.
No time to chat or you might forget to wash my feet, along with my body.
Clothes off! Clothes on!
Quick we have to be!
Ouch, take care that hurt!
Just time for food to be put in front of me.
Pills, hot tea and drink, whichever is my choice.
Then off you go at speed, to achieve the next timed deadline.
No time to chat, though that is the care I hunger for the most.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Three young birds, feathers all shining and new, stood by their mother, admiring the view.
Their mother said, ‘Please follow me all of you and do as I do.’
She spread her wings and gently flew to the branch of a nearby tree.
‘Come on now, don't be frightened, just do what I showed you.’
They seemed a bit scared, so back to the roof she went.
Once more she called to the little birds, ‘Come on darlings, do what I do.’
The birds watched once more, and then one of them was tempted by his mother's call.
He landed on the tree with a bit of a wobble and shouted, ‘It’s great, come on down you two!’
The others would not be outdone, so they launched themselves into the air and found it was such fun.
Mother bird said, ‘You know, we are the lucky ones, as only feathered birds can fly like us. Humans need a ticket, sometimes a passport, and have to wait for hours at an airport, to fly in a big airbus.’
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Maurice Schalker on Unsplash
When first I set eyes on you,
I knew you were the one.
We will always be together,
Loving, helping and having fun.
Where I lead you follow,
Making friends along the way.
Our bonding is complete,
And when out together on our feet
We are treated as one.
We both have our times of freedom,
When I run free and play rough and tumble.
It is you I watch out for.
You are my night and day,
I really love you unconditionally,
There is no other way.
This may be my last word, so remember,
At the time of our parting which will surely come
My spirit will be there beside you
To help and guide you
I love you, I do, I really do
Woof Woof Woof Woof
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Donna Cecaci on Unsplash
A golden wedding band went missing somewhere in the coral sand.
It was found by a passing mermaid and worn upon her hand.
At first, she felt the sorrow its loss must surely bring.
She knew there would have been great searching and wondering.
She’d like to tell the owner, she’d wear it now with pride, it would be her connection to the world, up beyond the tide.
Her wish for the replacement would be, to give it once again with love though in a slightly smaller size.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Daniela Silvia Serban
The needs of most of humanity are simple: a dwelling, however fragile, to call their own; steady, clean water, sanitation and food supply; clothing; good friends, love, family and a sense of belonging, with access to education and health services in a community setting.
Only a small minority of humanity seek and demand more, much more, using terror, pain, death and destruction of what the majority hold dear.
Why?
We enter this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing, not even our bodies.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash
Early one morning I made my way to my railway station, and on crossing the bridge over the railway line I looked down for a moment to see if there was anyone on the platform.
To my amazement strutting along the railway line, pausing every now and then to pick up some tasty bite to eat was a beautiful Cockerel.
The sun shone on his feathers and showed his plumage off to perfection. The wonderful orange and coppery colours on his head and body ended in a swirling waterfall, of curling glossy black feathers.
His upright bright red comb crowned the top of his head, and two alert black eyes and a bright yellow beak completed his handsome appearance.
For a few moments, I marvelled at him, then suddenly I awoke to the danger this lovely creature was in. He continued along the line unconcerned nearer and nearer to the station platform.
I rushed down the stairs, thinking as I went, ‘The train is due at any moment, I have got to chase him off the line.!’ Once on the platform, I looked down onto the line and he had gone!
Then I saw him again walking totally unconcerned up the slope onto the far platform which as the station was a terminus was never used these days.
I spoke to him and asked him to go home which was the worst thing I could have done as he thought, as all fowl do, that I was offering him something to eat.
‘Oh no.’ I quickly turned my back on him, as I could now hear the sound of the approaching train. I held my breath till the train stopped and I hurried on board so that I could rush to the far window to see what had happened to my friend the cockerel.
He was nowhere to be seen, I just hoped he had run the right way back the way he had come to the safety of the farmyard he had escaped from.
If he was foolish enough to continue his adventurous walk he would be entering the territory of a family of foxes who lived at the far end of the platform.
They too, I am sure, would have, been watching him strutting nearer and nearer their dens not with admiration at his beauty, but in anticipation of an early tasty breakfast served right on their doorstep.
I am however quite confident that he escaped back to the farm and the hen house, to tell a sceptical flock of hens how he had escaped from an absolutely huge scary monster.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
I was meandering my way to breakfast, dropping off and collecting things I needed for the day. I walked into my lounge and was startled by screams coming from outside the glass door, and the sight of two teenage cubs, fighting over what looked like black and white feathers.
Lily was lying flat, tail level with the floor, and the fur on her back raised in battle mode, nose on the glass. It was then I realised what I was looking at was the remains of a magpie. Poor thing!
Suddenly, in pad the mother fox, as thin as possible, with her teats looking like a depleted milk bar. Obviously, the cubs were still looking to her for backup food. She raced about, hoping to find a morsel to satisfy her hunger. There was nothing left, just the long wing and tail feathers.
I longed to feed her but I knew it would be wrong to do so, or Lily, the older cat who has become mine, might also become breakfast or supper.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Jeremy Hynes on Unsplash
The rain was pouring down, and on the top of my neighbour’s roof sat a pigeon. He was soaked by the heavy rain. I thought what a silly pigeon!
Slowly he tilted his body over to the right allowing the rain to soak under his wing. What a way to have a shower, just like us. Otherwise, the underside of his wing would never have had a proper wash.
Having washed one side, he lowered his wing and raised the other to do the same. Next came a head-to-tail shake and ruffle of feathers, followed by an all-over good preen. (No soap or deodorant, though). He’d had a proper bird shower.
After a final shake, he flew up under the eaves to dry off. He slowly preened himself again all over before snuggling down, with his head tucked under his wing to go off to sleep.
Goodnight Mr.Pigeon!
If there is no rain, birds have a dry sand (or earth) bath. While sitting on a dry patch, they flick, fluff, and shuffle the sand or earth up through their feathers.
This is done to get rid of mites that live in their feathers and make them itch. I feel itchy just thinking about it, don’t you?
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Daniela Silvia Serban
I make my call to the young ones, it’s to them I am appealing. We need your youth and your vigor, along with your sense of fun.
Come to join us in the struggle, to help, the old and the young. To all the youth just listen, follow me and we’ll have fun.
Follow me and we’ll have fun!
We rely on your work on computers and challenging political puns.
We need your strength and protection, and your sense of fair play. To steer us into the future, in a successful way.
I make my call to the young ones, to them I am appealing. We need your youth and your vigour, along with your sense of fun.
Come join us in the struggle, to help the old and the young. To all the youth just listen, follow me and we’ll have fun.
Follow me and we’ll have fun!
I make my call to the young ones, to them I am appealing.
We need your work on computers, we need your strength and protection, along with your sense of fair play.
To steer us into the future, in a successful way.
In a successful way!
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
Is this the first you have ever written?
Now compelled to share once you have thrown onto the page in triumph or despair.
Maybe it’s been extracted, word by word, conjuring up sentences discarded, never to be heard.
It is done, the decision made to send, yet still paused.
You leave it sitting waiting, while another cup of tea is poured.
Days later, you cast a glance once more only to be tricked into changing a word, or a line.
Send it, send it now, courage calls; it is launch time.
Your finger hits the button; too late you wonder, does it all rhyme?
It is gone!
Gathering your thoughts once more, you write your next poem, with more confidence this time.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
I am grateful for the dawn approaching.
For the warming sun of the day.
I am grateful for my husband awakening beside me.
Ready for the chores to be tackled jointly and tidied away.
I am grateful for the rain showers, gentle and refreshing.
For the dog’s energetic greeting for a walk, and food it is true.
I am grateful for the cat’s more gentle reminder of hunger.
And for permission to parade outdoors.
I am grateful that children wake from slumber.
To hug and listen to for the rest of their lives.
I am grateful for the home we own, arranged and filled with love.
And work we walk home from without the cost of a train ride.
I am grateful for the garden and the vegetables grown at the end.
The cut flowers were brought inside, giving such a lift to the spirits.
I am grateful for the scent and colour when you walk indoors.
The chatter and laughter at the table over events of the day.
I am grateful for the moments of relaxation before saying to all “Goodnight. God bless”.
Lights out, as darkness of the night settles and we are very grateful for the many things left unsaid.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash
I want to be kind
I want to be caring
I want to be friendship-sharing
I want to be fun, a laughter maker
I want an occasional hug
I want to be a secret sharer
I want to be a quiet listener
I would love someone to be there when I need any of the above.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Jumping Jack the goldfish lives in my fish pond!
He is golden and sleek with a swift turn of speed.
When I turn my water pump on, the water starts gushing and bubbling out, he is there in a flash, splashing, leaping and rushing about.
Up in the air at times he hangs, for a second suspended, when down with a splash into the dark depths, quickly vanishing, his great jumps ended.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
What would I do without you and you without me?
It is a time I hope we never see.
I hope our lights go out together, so neither of us would be lonely, losing laughter, love and touch and cuddles in the dark.
What would I do without you and you without me?
Life would take on a different meaning.
There would be no welcome key in the door, as you would not live here anymore.
You would miss my silly stories and cosy natters when I am invited to depart.
What would I do without you, and you without me?
Let's hope it is never put to the test, as it is so hard to contemplate.
Squabbles we have had, lasting only minutes; making up so important to do, showing how much being together has meant.
Don’t leave me and I will not leave you.
If we have to separate and there is a heaven, let us promise to meet there, keeping the earthly connection, turning it into a heavenly one.
Love like ours should never ever die.
You should never be without me or I without you.
2024 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
