Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for July 19, 2017

Mother, do you ever polish the silver to a mirrored shine?

Thanks, Mommy Dearest. I’d hate to hear what other self-esteem builders you have for your daughter.

No, mother, I will not look into your mirror and meet with The Sons of the Bird.

“The Bird is Cruel!_” she shouted at her mother, who covered her face…

It’s the long shreds of green in her teeth.

She loves her seaweed salad, but won’t check for unsightly bits of comestibles before leaving the house.

Until the day her mother said, “You look like a slattern goat maid”, though her appearance was the same as it had ever been.

That was the day she realized that her mother just said mean things.

It took twenty years, but her mother was eventually committed to a local bedlam, and Wilhemina began to wish instead that she had done this years ago.

She recognized this as the same mad cruelty that possessed her mother, but took it as being poetic justice.

Don’t become overwhelmed, Wilhelmina, polite society shall always be there for you through their subliminal cruelty and impolite undertones..

“We call that a looking glass, mother. A looking glass!”

After all, her Mother kept paper sacks beneath her bed.

Why dressing like that she appears to have gone native and therefore unfit for polite society.

Polite society is over rated. FREE DOGSNIFF

“You look like nobody owns you.”

A surfeit of dental occlusions appears to be the consensus among the impolite citizenry of Froglandia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamina,_Oregon

My mother told me I was going to be named Wilhelmina if I had been a girl. Thank Mogg for small favors!

Do you dillydally at the mirror?

@Space Captain: Or perhaps she dallys with Dilly?

Polite society too often is anything but.

Wilhelmina does not have spinach, seaweed, or any green matter between her teeth. She is the unfortunate offspring of a highly critical mother who is worse than a bully. Parents who are not loving and supportive can be devastating to the lives of their children. (Perhaps Wilhelmina’s mother had a mother who treated her much the same way; she never had a proper role model herself. Then again, she could just be a cruel woman who takes life’s miseries out on her young, beautiful daughter.) Some people should not be parents.

Wilhelmina click on the social network and the heels in oz.

Lavender and sage aromatherapy is used to promote peaceful sleep and to soothe the soul.

I love Teresa’s eye for detail. I’m sure I only ever get a small fraction of the symbolism, but it’s always interesting to try.

My only narcotic now: a cigarette.

Doe, Ray, Blue, Ray? Now a days.

Everyone can use a little bit of Positive Reinforcement from time to time. I wish Wilhelmina well, and hope her mother shapes up and polishes her Nurturing Mommy skills!