Challenge #199 week of 1st February 2016

Before we begin, just another gentle reminder to make sure you come back here next Monday for a whole week of fun and inspiration to celebrate 200 Whimsical Musings prompts. There's a flurry of activity in the background going on as I coordinate some special guests and there might be a prize or two...

Back to business ... this coming Thursday marks the beginning of the end of the Carnival season here in Germany which started back in November at 11.11am on 11th of the 11th! "Karneval" is particularly popular in the towns of Düsseldorf, Cologne and other cites along the Rhine. And when I say popular, I mean that they are Carnival Crazy! In other parts of the country and Austria you might find it called Fasching and of course, other countries also celebrate carnivals in various traditions early next week - on Rose Monday or Shrove Tuesday (as we call it in the UK) before Ash Wednesday and Lent begins.  There'll be long, colourful parades on Rosen Montag and everyone will be in costumes ready to party party party. Well, not me, but you know what I mean!

But on Thursday, it's known as Altweiber or Weiberfastnacht when women "storm" the town halls to take over control!.There's plenty of silliness including the cutting of men's ties (many come to work in really ugly ones so that this isn't too painful for them!) and lots of partying in the evening.

I think you see where I'm going with this prompt....

This week, I'd like you to be inspired by woman power!

Of course, you could also take the carnival route but I'm all for empowering women so that's my main direction.

Who are the strong women in your life or in your history?

Or a particularly strong relationship you have with someone - your bestie?

You could talk about the changes women have seen over the years, the fight for equality or what characteristics make us strong! Or even a woman in the public domain you are particular impressed by - a female role model. As always, I really think there's a lot of scope for interpreting this prompt and I can't wait to see where you take woman power this week.

As always, we love to see your creations so don't forget to share over at our Whimsical Musings Flickr gallery here along with the tag WM#199.

See you next week!