posted this provocative photo
of "a dog I saw in Petra, Jordan when walking up the hill to the Monastery"
source: Daily Pet Photography - 🐶 So tired after running all day 🐶
at 
Look at that sleepy dog, the abandoned city: #Petra!
Imagine the stories this photo could inspire.
Petra "the rose-red city"
It is not known precisely when Petra was built, but the city began to prosper as the capital of the Nabataean Empire from the 1st century BC with tombs and temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs, earning its nickname, the "Rose City."
Petra was chosen by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 28 places (think #BucketList) you should visit them before you die.
source: visitpetra.jo
In my childhood, I was obsessed with "Petra, the Rose-Red City" emerging from the rocky face of a cliff. On some kind of subliminal level, this obsession seems to emerge in my freewrites, especially the "Mom's Cousin Lenna" series.
Today, Mom's real-life cousin is in the hospital at age 83
and may not make it home this time. (Yes. I'm writing around the pain. Dodging it. She's been in some far-off Arizona hospital since Thursday, and I cannot even phone her.)
The tired dog in 's photo has all the more impact,
I think, because of my Grand-Canyon-loving, dog-loving penpal who wrote lively, descriptive letters to so many people over the years. I posted news of her latest hospitalization at Facebook (because I am a jerk, to be sure, but mostly because I wanted to hear others reminisce about her). E.g.,
Cousin Martha:
I remember her from reunions when we were kids. She really was adventurous. We corresponded over the years. After blindness set in, she tried to write. Words were all over the paper and hard to decipher but she still tried to keep up our contact.
Cousin Rod:
I use to get a card from for every month telling me about all that had been going on out there. Even every birthday.
My mom, replying to Rod:
She was so good about that, I sure miss her letters
Our penpal is now paralyzed on one side, post-stroke. I don't want to think of the end, her ashes being scattered in her beloved red-rock country, but not wanting to think about it doesn't make it any less real.
"I'll talk to you later on down that long dusty road."
That was her favorite closing line.
"Wispy clouds coming in like angel wings.
I bet we get rain in the night, which is just fine. Hope we get lots of snow this winter."
"It is a large puffy-white clouds perfect temp's type of day.
Probably a monsoon coming in by late afternoon. I really don't mind them."
She doesn't mind monsoons, or snow - she took her five children camping and hunting, because her husband didn't - signed them up for gun safety classes but they never killed any animals, because she loves wildlife - what a grand lady!
She always sounded as young, sweet, bright, and upbeat
(over the phone) as she looked in this 1955 photo:
In Other News, Friday Freewrite Favorites
reminds us of how much good writing goes on at Steemit every week in response to prompts posted by 
My question: how many people read and nominate freewrites?
****How many of you read the Friday post listing the favorites nominated by fellow freewriters?***
Sorry, no, that image isn't hyperlinked. (Or centered.) But if you wish, you can click on this one to learn more or to see who 
You'll notice the same regulars week after week reading and nominating. Thank you, 
Giveaway and winners
is something you see in all
Neoxian city is full of generous citizens, people who love the art of giving wholeheartedly. Everyday in the city, we have cheerful givers and fantastic winners. Below are prizes that was given out for the day.
INSIDE NEOXIAN CITY — 29/09/2019
Farewell for now, as I head back (in my mind) to Red Rock Country,
to my mom's cousin-- our penpal-- and her assorted daily adventures-- one lonely woman in the desert making the best of things. She would hate all my short stories, especially the ones she inspired. :)
But her honesty is one of the things I treasure most.
So, if 's photo works for you as a story prompt,
and you care to share the results, I will read, upvote, and resteem your efforts.
Who knows: I might even host a contest.
If even a half-dozen people even read/comment on this post.
Feedback
can be the thing that keeps some of us writing. Maybe true writers can stay in a vacuum and never give a second thought to whether or not anyone reads or cares about what they've taken time to write...?
Look For The 5-Min #FreeWrite Daily Prompt On @MarianneWest’s Blog