Happy Friday readers, writers, and friends. You made it to the end of another week and given the current state of all the things, that is no mean feat. Congrats! As usual you will find my riffing on the prompts of the day below with the prompts themselves at the end. Enjoy!

I guess it started after that huge ice storm we had four or five years ago. We all woke up to power out and outside sparkling and frigid. The weather was calling for continued freezing temps, down into the single digits at night. There wasn’t much to do but stay inside and stay warm.

Then about three days of this go by. A bunch of kids got stir crazy enough to attempt a snowball fight in the square downtown, and there it was.

A bookcase made out of ice.

It wasn’t just a bunch of flat shelves stuck together it had these floral details and solid curling feet so it stood up from the ground a bit. It had a little sign on it that said “There is always beauty to manifest.” Most of us had a sense of who it was.

But if we said anything he’d just shake his head like he was just as bewildered as the rest of us.

Anyway, it only got better from there.

Every time there was a good storm or the temperature dropped low enough we would find some new marvel sitting downtown. Different spots each time. There was a working door made to look just like decorations in Betty’s Bakery. An ice cream cart with a beautiful umbrella. All ice.

The last one was a set of table and chairs. Turned style legs, a decorative runner over the middle. And sign in the middle read, “Gather together no matter the weather.”

But after that they just stopped. Plenty of opportunity, super cold spells big storms, all of that. And everyone said it was because you know who’s wife left him. But I’m not so sure. He seems like the kind who would lean into the work to get past it. And he’s working in wood just fine, still makes the prettiest cabinets you’ve ever seen.

So we’ll probably never out, but for about five years there our little town had an ice carpenter.

There you have it. Remember that this piece is done “live” after a fashion. So you see the roughest of rough drafts, warts and all.

Today’s prompts were (to no one’s surprise): ice, carpenter. If you take these and make them your own, I would love to read the results. Feel free to put them in the comments or link in the comments to wherever you post them. Or use the contact form to send them directly to me if you don’t want the world to know of your glory just yet 😉