Getting Back to Normal, One Step at a Time.

http://weheartit.com/

I am taking baby steps as I get back to blogging.  The A-Z challenge took a lot out of me.  I am just now starting to get back to reading all the folks that I now follow.  I have been looking at the writing prompts from WOE and Trifecta for a couple of weeks now and just cringe at the idea of trying to write anything.

This morning's Today Show, has all sorts of bad news from Washington.  Obama is having a difficult second term, with many scandals that will be his fault, as they came to light under his watch. 

XENOPHILE and Proud April A to Z

Posh Mom

Xenophilia means an affection for unknown/foreign objects or peoples It is the opposite of xenophobia  A xenophile is person attracted to that which is foreign, especially to foreign peoples, manners, or cultures. It also extends to fictional themes found in science fiction, which explores the results of love and sex between humans and  extraterrestrials, particularly humanoid ones. Think of Spock's parents.

I Can Write Good-April A-Z

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Words to live by...Since I have started this blog I have dredged up everything I learned about writing from school.  I read all the writing pointers, that my fellow bloggers shared with me before starting this challenge.  I think I write well enough, but this list of rules that I originally found as a posting on mlkshk, (a really fun place to visit.)* They are really rules that I need to remember when I write.

Forsaken-WOE

http://imgur.com/a/D9iDC

 

The wind blows, scattering the wreckage,

Of a world shattered.

Sand drifts through, to fill the stage,

Left empty of all that mattered.

Allowed to decay,

Forsaken by love,

Abandoned to the elements.

A dwelling place no more,

Dead.

Aire and Skye Alchemy-Trifecta

Part 6 of Ariadne's story- See tab above

 Count Reiner strode into the courtyard with his courtier, who began probing about the garden. When Reiner bobbed his head in her direction, every pleasant buzz and bird song stopped. The sun moved behind a cloud, turning the garden shadowy and ominously silent.

My HOMESTEAD'S Front Doors April A to Z

My House-Commonly know as the Homestead

Our house, built in the mid to late 19th century (we have plans to check it out), has 2 front doors. Many of you know, we inherited this house from Mr BC's mom, and since she has owned it, we have noticed a lot of houses here in the mid-west that share this architectural oddity. 

Maelstrom - Write at the Merge

www.fanpop.com 

 I hear the cacophony of disaster
I raise my head to the churning maelstrom
Fear and wind propel me forward
To the descant sound of
The hammering cellar door.

   

This week, one of your offerings is the phrase “cellar door”. “Cellar door” is considered a perfectly euphonic phrase, some say the most beautiful in the English language. Also we could use the word propeller and write at the merge of both those prompts.

BAROUCHE-April A-Z

Transportation in the 18^th and 19^th century was especially interesting and I have always loved the idea of carriages, I think it is a hangover from wanting to be a princess. One of the reasons that I watch royal events is because of the carriages. As a Jane Austen fan I first became acquainted with the Barouche in Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Gatewood, boasts that her brother owns his own barouche, and Mrs. Elton in Emma drops the fact that her brother owns a barouche into every conversation. I love the word Barouche, it curls off the tongue.

Moments-Trifextra



Photo credit: Bérenger ZYLA / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

 

One moment, empty space,

The next, occupied by astonished souls.

Essences, wandering imprecisely,

Concerned By the business of being.  

Now, playing a strange game of mirrors.

Aware, only of time and space anew.

 

This weekend we're asking for exactly 33 words inspired by the following photo. Please remember that if you use the photo on your own blog, you must give proper credit (with clickable links).

On Live Oak St.- Mama Kat's

It has changed very little, except for all the walnut trees that have been cut down over the years.

I was born in July 1947, my folks moved into this house, just the month before. Seven years later my baby brother came along and we four lived there, until I married in 1967.  It was a typical post war neighborhood.  Lots of kids. Lots of fun. 

99 Problems-WOE Surprise Prompt

She opened an eye and looked around. She had taken a hit to the chest and shoulder, making it a struggle for breath. She tasted the copper of blood in her mouth and swallowed. Taking inventory, she carefully moved each extremity, legs... check, arms…. check, ouch, she seemed to have broken fingers on her right hand. Well that’s a bitch she thought. She pulled herself up to her knees, and her head started to swim. She crawled toward the pile that was once her dresser and looked into the broken mirror, appalled that her left eye was swollen , and the blood she tasted was from a split lip. She dug through the debris that was her bedroom, looking for her cell phone. She thought she might have internal injuries from the damage she sustained. She needed to get to a hospital. She needed be conscious. He might return.

Aire and Skye-Trifecta and WOE

Later that afternoon, Ariadne sat in the courtyard, looking at her mother’s book. She was frustrated that her spell had not worked. “How am I going to protect myself from grandfather, if I can’t concoct a workable spell?” She wondered aloud. “This is the same as imprisonment.” Exasperated she tossed the book into the flower bed, raising a flurry of dust, scattering insects and birds.

“Ow, Arie, that hurts!”

Startled, Ariadne saw coming from under the book, a glowing orb, growing larger amongst the jasmine. It burst open and Ariadne saw, a beautiful creature rubbing her head in pain.

Heart of Stone-Trifextra

 

Your heart, stone.

I grind away at the granite

That is your nature.

I fail again

Sharpening the ache.

You crush me

To fine particles,

I am not defeated.

Only scattered by gentle winds. *

Audience - Trifecta/WOE

Desktopnexus.com

Ariadne awoke to Tilde shaking her vigorously. “Lady, lady, the Duke commands you to join him at court this morning, you must get up!

Still somewhat groggy from her efforts last evening, she gazed around her chamber, hoping for a sign of success. Walking to her balcony window, she stepped back as she realized there was a bustle of activity below. “Tilde, what is going on?

“I'm not sure; riders arrived in the night, and they have been closeted with the Duke, since,” she replied.

Restless-Trifextra



Mikhail Nesterov

Restless, finally I sleep.

On waking, I expect a difference.

I labor to breathe,

Secretions wash over me.

 My body spasms.

 Reaching for your comfort,

 YOU sneeze.

 God no! I am not alone.

Magic Spell \ Write on Edge/Trifecta

Magic Spell-Forever Arts

Feigning a headache; Ariadne sent regrets to Grandfather about missing the evening meal. Dismissing Tilde, she worked alone in her chamber, gathering the elements needed for her spell. The evening is warm, fearing that Grandfather’s allies and cronies might be about the courtyard below, she moved to close the window.

No Embellishment Here-Trifextra

For this weekend's challenge, Trifextra is asking us to include some hyperbole in our piece. It doesn't have to be the whole piece, but it needs to be in there, and we're looking for 33 words, as usual. Here is mine.

We are apart;

I feel a hole in my heart, only they can fill.

Then I see them again,

 

   Only the most beautiful children in the Universe?

This is a Grandma’s humble opinion.

 

 

TRIFEXTRA

This weekend we are venturing into uncharted territories once again. This Trifextra isn't so much a writing challenge; it's more of a reading challenge. We want you to scour through your favorite pieces of literature and give us the best 33 words you can find.

You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.  I offer myself to you again with......
Captain Wentworth, Jane Austen's Persuasion

The Enchantment-Trifecta Writing Challenge

photo credit: Claudio.Ar via photopin cc

 

The fire is fading. Light still flickered around him softening the ancient features of a face recently twisted in anger, the softness, only illusion.

His words still echo, “Ariadne, you will! It is your duty!”  

She answered softly, “I don’t love him.”

“That is of no consequence,” he thundered!

“Yes, Grandfather,” whispering as she retreated into the shadows.

Ariadne did not choose this path; it was a consequence of life, thrust upon her by her birth and sex.

The Characters in My Life

I chose MamaKat's prompt: Your life is being turned into a movie…who will play your cast of characters?

Of course my life is so exciting that Hollywood is bound to come knocking for the rights to my story.  All of the big names would be lining up for the various rolls, however, I would insist on having final say on casting this extravaganza!

 Starting with my parents since they had such an influence on who I turned out to be, I would want  Wilford Brimley and Betty White.  Dad might have actually out curmudgened Brimley and they both were bald and had a droopy mustache.  Mom reminds me a little of the Rose character Betty White played, not the maneater roles.

My brother would be played by Tom Selleck, we have always said he reminds us of Tom, from the smile to the mustache.  But not the hair. Maybe Tom would look good with a shaved head?  That smile in the picture...that is my brother's smile.

Now Mr BC would have Laura Linney play DD1 because she reminds him of DD1  Since I am picking someone to play her, it would be Reese Witherspoon, based her blue eyes, girl next door looks and on her body of work, although DD1 is a more convincing lawyer.

Zooey Deschanel would play DD2.  She is quirky, funny and a little exotic, just like DD2.  In her new role, she is offbeat and she can sing just like DD2

Now for the male lead in my life I am going to have to go with Dustin Hoffman.  put a pair of glasses on him for just the right touch.  He displays just the right amount of humor, and vulnerability and he is cute just like Mr BC.

And the star of my life would have to be Kathy Bates.  She could play me at any age.  She is such a great actress, funny, wry, an everywoman in charge of her own life. I love her in everything she does, except Misery, She scared me in Misery. 
There you have it the cast of a Blockbuster!