Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

“The Sun’s trail from the earth to the sky.”
(Landscape format)
The bottom third of the scene is the beach. The middle third is the sea. The top third is sky. And above all these thirds, out of view but nevertheless dominant, is the sun. This is a photo taken standing on a small sand dune, looking out to the ocean. Technically, it’s looking out over Block Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. To the right middle of the horizon is Long Island.

Well, you have Friend of the Doctrine, Pat B to blame for this week’s…pastiche (aka Doctrine writing-style train wreck lol). Granted, I was on the fence as to the approach to this week’s TToT. (New Readers/Participants? Each week Josie Two Shoes organizes and opens the door to the TToT bloghop. As the name implies, the theme is gratitude and the ambition is ten (items that serve as illustrations or examples of what ignites a feeling of gratitude). What Josie provides is that sense that it’s all about the good intent and not the rules or standards or format of presentation.

Good thing, too. As I was saying in my lead-in. I had a couple of ideas for this week, but they were starting to feel like they might be pushing the bounds. Then I got a Comment from Pat on this week’s Six Sentence Story that spoke to the idea that many of us use these bloghops as opportunities to practice our writing and try things out, writistically-speaking, “...If it were not for those in this blogging world who are so accepting of those who try.” And, of all the ‘hops I participate in, the TToT is the most refrigerator-magnet conducive to those of us who get a kick out of writing for the fun of it.

Hey! That not only should be Number one this week, but it’s totally a prompt for a photo!

1) refrigerators as: galeries d’art amateur et de littérature

Refrigerator Art.
(Landscape format)
A black refrigerator. The view is of the top quarter which is pretty much the freezer door. The angle of the photo is such that we see the right side of the refrigerator as well.
The black metal finish is reflective, and since we are looking at it from the right, the reflection is of the opposite wall to the left. Stuck to the front are two note pads (held in place by magnets). On the right side we see enough detail to realize that the collection on that wall is made up of photos.
A light-brown oak cabinet door is to the upper left of the photo.

Well, one of the things I thought I’d try this week was to write some Grat Items in the style of the pulp detective stories (a writing style I really want to learn).

2) Una. “The file said, ‘Chodský pes’ and if I’ve learned one thing from my years as a gumshoe, its that slashes over letters usually spell trouble. My client and I stood at the window as the black SUV ate it’s headlights off the gravel driveway and parked in front the house. We thought we could hear barking.”

3) Phyllis “There’s a saying, ‘a person who needs people is luckiest person in the world’, well, in my line of work, those are clients. Lucky is not usually how they feel when they pay my fee. This one was different. The people in her life were the lucky one. I still cashed her check.”

4) Work The photo at the top of this week’s post is from yesterday. I have clients looking for something on the water and so… the pain of being a real estate broker. lol.

5) Treehouse: Although a legitimate ‘standalone’ grat, the treehouse serves as an example of Phyllis’s (Item 3) capacity for wonder and (her) immunity to the forces that insist we all grow up and leave the childhood world behind.

6) Houseguests

A football with feathers.
(Landscape format)
A turkey stands in the lower left quarter of the photo. It is facing left. It’s like, totally an Egyptian turkey, ’cause there seems to be no dimensionality to it. Both legs, (we’re guessing they’re legs, because they’re on the bottom and don’t appear to have feathers).
The main body is totally football-shaped. The color is shiny grey and black. And there are variations and gradations in the color that, given that we know what it is, we’re inclined to identify as the wings and tail feathers. The head is decidedly vulture-looking with a downward-hooked beak and a totally beady eye. The Egyptian motif does not extend to the head. Thank goodness. That would be way creepy.

Not the brightest of birds in the world. That said, we didn’t see a single turkey until yesterday, a full week after Thanksgiving.

7) the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules) (“I was still on the force, paid by the week to obey someone else’s rules, when an old flatfoot by the name of Shaughnessy gave me advice that I’ve never forgotten. “Kid, it ain’t the procedures that ya gotta worry about. It’s the secret rules. Thems the ones that get made up by the guys that don’t need procedures” I heard he lived all of a week after hanging up the uniform. Too much change can kill a guy.”)

8) the Guest Room/ Guest Grat.  (this space reserved for anyone who might have a Grat Item but not the time to do a full-on TToT. Send it in and you can be a guest of the Wakefield Doctrine this week. (… yeah, you might want to talk to some of the other writers, the less… outré  lol they’ll give ya the scoop)

9) the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

10) Secret Rule 1.3

This way to the Ten Things of Thankful midway