PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook
Each fall for thirty years they dredged the lake bottom. Pungent deposits, once dried, became super-soil they used to grow dahlias, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and the rest. Money earned from the produce sold at market was enough to keep their lakeside cabin warm in winter.
Spring 2020, gale-force winds clenched planted rows of seedlings with great handfuls of black gold and hurled them into oblivion first. Then it grabbed the roof whole and ripped it loose. It never was found.
The old ways of hard labor and counting on the blessings of nature were over. They moved to the city.
[100 words]
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the dependable host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
After that, I’d move, too. Great story!
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Many thanks!
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I was going to say you’re the first story that’s made the seaweed a blessing rather than a problem. I thought this was going to be an optimistic one, until you ripped the roof off
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ha ha Great comment, Neil, thanks.
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not a total loss, i’d say. at least, they were lucky to be alive.
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Very true, Plaridel, thanks.
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Oh, poor things. All good things come to an end, eh?
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Mother Nature will have her way.
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Filed under another 2020 disaster! If it was going to happen any year, it would be this one.
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So true. I pray 2021 sees things on the upswing.
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They made it out, sadder, I am sure, and wiser. I hope they garden again in the city!
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I hope they do also!
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Nature’s blessings turned to nature’s fury! Hope they can return 🙂
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Maybe it can be their summer getaway (if they can at least get a roof put back on it before snow flies.)
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Haha! Yes, things can still work out 🙂
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Maybe in 30 years, the next ones won’t be as unfortunate.
I would love to see what is at the bottom of a lake.
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Of course,2020 was the one that took the roof 😫
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YES!
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The litany of woes continues in circa 2020. I see we went rhe same path. Very wonderful story.
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Thanks much, Neel.
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Yes, nature has an altogether different, seemingly malevolent side, doesn’t she?
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Yes she does, and the more we mess with her cycles, the more capricious she becomes!
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This makes me sad, the truth of it. In the past, a bad year could be overcome by good ones. Now they are all bad, increasingly so. (K)
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😦
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Since it was Spring 2020, I assume once they got to the city they were locked in a 10 x 10 room for the next six months, with no TP for the first three…
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Too true 😦 Part 2 may talk about their disillusion that city life was easier and return to their hut and take up fishing or something.
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Dear Lisa,
It has been a tough year, hasn’t it? I hope things go better for them in the city. Well written.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, indeed it has, and so do I. Thank you.
Shalom,
Lisa
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You threw me back to the days after Hurricane Irma here in my little town.
I suppose Mother Nature will do what she does despite our doing our best.
City living has to be a bit better. Fingers crossed for them. Have a great day … Be Safe
Isadora 😎
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Sorry Hurricane Irma hit your town 😦 Yes Mother Nature will have her way. Thanks Isadora!
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We’re no match for nature. That’s a sad tale, but the more we mess with Earth, the more she’s going to mess back.
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Uh huh. I don’t blame her.
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Nature reclaims. Good piece.
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Thank you, Rob.
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I suppose in the end what nature giveth, nature taketh away too. Apt story for our troubled times.
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Subroto thanks much, you’re right.
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Nature can be cruel as well as kind. Hopefully, things will get back to normal, some day.
Here’s mine!
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Ditto, Keith.
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Shame, it sounds like they were living quite cleanly and self-sufficiently.
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Yes, they were.
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What a sad story, and a lovely imaginative take on the prompt. Nicely written!
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Thanks, Penny! Like someone else mentioned, maybe they can go back to it at some point.
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Ah, the adventure and dreams of youth all dashed. The time comes, when as you grow older, you just want some home comforts and support from people around you.
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Very well said, James.
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I donno why but i feel a little sad after reading this. The life they lived is kinda my dream life post retirement. City makes me sad. Lovely take on the prompt. ❤️
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Thank you, Shaktiki. Maybe they can visit the place on weekends and prepare for next year?
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I hope they do that! 😊
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🙂
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Ah a frightful reality. More storms, more heat, more fire. I wonder where they will move after the city becomes too crowded?
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I think they have better chances with nature myself. Maybe a houseboat?
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I’d love to try growing something with that super soil. Can’t seem to keep anything alive with the regular one. 🤔
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I’d love to have some of it here also. Just remember that roots need air to grow. If soil is too compact or too wet the air can’t get to the roots…
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Ah will keep that in mind the next time I try going green.
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That’s swanage isn’t it? Must have been one big storm!
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I just looked swanage up and see it is a town? I’m not sure, I wrote my story to a prompt picture. In my story, it was a really big storm.
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At least they survived and were able to move to the city. Great take on the prompt.
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Thank you.
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What Mother Nature gives, she can also take away. Good one, Li.
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Thanks much, Magarisa.
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You’re welcome, Li.
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Comes a point you have to decide how much you want to fight!
Love this, Lisa
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Glad you enjoyed the story, thanks!
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