Tag Archives: Blogging

Plein Air

She had a lot of time on her hands nowadays. Much more time than she had planned for. She had always told herself that if she had the time she would like to take up her art again. She hadn’t painted since High School when she was discouraged by one of her teachers from pursuing a career in art. It felt good to be doing it again. Once she got started painting she was in “the flow” like Mihály Csíkszentmihályi described it. She lost all sense of time and felt almost in a meditative state. She was barely aware of her surrounding except for the flower she was focused on capturing on her canvas. That was until she heard the sound from a TV news broadcast coming from the neighbor’s patio. Ashley Madison hack predicted to have impact on many marriages. It already had an effect on hers. She had endured his emotional abuse for years thinking it was wrong to get a divorce. When she saw his name on the website she knew it was time to start her new life. She moved out last week after she withdrew all the money from their savings account.

Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers

Hosted by Priceless Joy and Thanks to Graham Lawrence for the image above.

The Tree House

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“She lived in a Mango Tree,” she heard the kids shout as they ran past the house. Her husband had built the tree house when their kids were little. This was where their kids spent many hours playing and even slept there on hot summer nights. She had been spending more and more time up in the tree house lately.

As she climbed the stairs she thought she heard their laughter. They shouldn’t be up here now, she thought, it’s time to get ready for school. The caregiver came to the house later that morning. When she couldn’t find Miss Grace in the house she knew where to look. She found her asleep on the old bunk bed. She woke the old woman saying, “Miss Grace you know you shouldn’t be up here. You’re liable to fall and break your neck.”

The neighborhood kids would often sing out when running past her house, “There was an old lady. She lived in a Mango Tree….”

Mondays Finish the Story

California Dreaming Route 66

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Road trips are the best. When gas was cheap, people were able to travel all over by car. It still one of the best ways to see California. Get lost in your day dreams while looking out the window at the beautiful scenery passing by. Maybe some good music playing.

California Dreaming

All the leaves are brown

And the sky is grey

I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day

I’d be safe and warm if I was in L.A.

California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day.

(Gilliam, Michelle/Phillips, John Edmund Andrew)

Get your kicks on Route 66.

“Well if you ever plan to motor west

Just take my way

it’s the highway that’s the best

Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.

More than 2000 miles all the way

Get your kicks on Route 66..”( Bobby Troop)

Route 66 song via accebernosam on You Tube:

Ahoy Mateys and shiver me timbers! Dave Barry reminded me that Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So…

What do you do with a drunken sailor

Early in the morning….

You’re guess is as good as mine. Harrr!

My contribution for Stream of Conciousness Saturday

The Iron Gate

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PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

Friday Fictioneers writing challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The small notice stuck in a crack between the iron gate and the old concrete wall warned the water would be shut off if the bill was not paid within a few days. My Grandpa’s garden looked beautiful. An abundance of flowers and assorted edibles. I remember when this garden fed our family and most of the neighborhood. It was hard for Grandpa now to make ends meet on his meager Social Security check. After putting in so many years slaving away at that factory job, he had been laid off without pension.

The Witch

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“From her small balcony, the witch watched the world go by.” It was getting harder and harder for her to get up and down the stairs. The neighbors seemed to ignore her when she did venture out. The children would giggle and point as she made slow progress down the sidewalk. She often looked like she was lost in her own world.

“A penny for your thoughts,” said the mother to her little girl.

” I was just thinking about that old lady that lives up stairs. Some of the kids say she’s a witch! Do you think she’s a witch Mommy?” her face showing her apprehension.

“I think we should go up ask her if she needs anything from the market. It must be very hard for her to get her groceries,” the mother answered.

They quickly climbed the stairs and knocked. A strange light spilled out as the door opened. The luminous being spoke, “So glad you’ve come. I have finished my observations of this planet. I was going to report that your species is hopeless but you have changed my mind.”

Mondays Finish the Story

SOCS-Tempus Desolationis

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“Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.”

Times of desolation. This describes so much of what is going on in the Middle East right now. The extremists may think their cause justifies what they do but it does not and never will. There can never be a justification for all their atrocities. Kayla Mueller was working with aid organizations to help Syrian refugees in Turkey when she was captured by ISIS.

President Assad has dropped bombs and poison gas on his own people. Now there is talk to let him remain in power in order to “stabilize” Syria. Russia is sending in troops and weapons to try to prop him up as well.

It seems the forces of evil are very strong. I hope the forces of good can prevail in the end.

Via Powerful Scenes on You Tube:

Mordor must be defeated.

This is my contribution to : Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Under the Mediterrean Sea

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A Syrian woman posted on Facebook recently, “Under the Mediterranean, on the bottom of the sea, another Syria exists, one that’s full of life: children kicking soccer balls, teens doing their homework, women cooking, men working, and the elderly sipping coffee. If you visit the bottom of the sea, you will discover another Syria.”

In Daily Beast today “Drowning Syria to Keep Iran Deal Afloat,” (where I found the above quote) Lina Attar asks if it is worth it and just to have turned away from confronting Assad because Iran is supporting him.

The US has been the major donor to the UN for Syrian refugee relief. Other countries have shrugged off the UN request for funds. But the US has been absent in coming forth with assistance with resettlement and the silence of the President has been deafening on the recent refugee crisis. US refugee organizations are asking our government to take 100,000 refugees. From the Huffington Post:

If the U.S. wanted to admit that many people again, it could, said Erol Kekic, executive director of Church World Service’s immigration and refugee program. [ referring to the much larger numbers we have taken in in the past ] He said the U.S. has “been absent from this crisis from the very beginning — at least on the resettlement side — and that’s embarrassing, to put it mildly.”

Today John Kerry spoke with congress and stated the US will take in more Syrian refugees. No numbers were mentioned in the news report.

Iraqis Join the River of Migrants

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In the New York Times today, A New Wave of Migrants Flees Iraq, Yearning for Europe, but some talk of coming to the US.

Mr. Hattam said he hoped his journey ends not in Europe but in the United States, where, he said, “even the dogs live well.”

He explained what he meant by telling a story an Iraqi friend living in the United States had recently told him. The friend, he said, had gone to the supermarket and left his dog in his car with the windows up on a hot day. A police officer, seeing this, scolded him, and told him he was putting the dog at risk.

“That means they even respect the dogs,” he said. “Even the dogs have rights in America.”

Secretary of State John Kerry plans to brief members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees on Wednesday about how many Syrian refugees the U.S. is willing to take in.

….a spokesman for the National Security Council said Monday the U.S. was “actively considering” steps to alleviate the situation in Europe, where more than 340,000 people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia now have arrived. Beyond Syria, many are also fleeing parts of Iraq that are under the Islamic State group’s control. (AP)

Finally, there may be a glimmer of light at the end of this very long tunnel.

Kerry, Lawmakers to Discuss Refugee Crisis

What You Can’t See

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“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” —Henry David Thoreau

She was glad the rain finally stopped as she took her dog for a walk. ” It’s just a pile of rags,” she explained to her companion. Her dog strained at his leash and whined. “Calm down boy! ” she said a bit louder as they drew closer to the mound. She didn’t want to look too closely fearing…what? Why was she afraid of a pile of rags. She was determined not to let anything spoil her vacation. Tired of reading all that disturbing news. What could she do about it? It didn’t affect her. Even the President hadn’t spoken a word about it while he was on his trip. If he didn’t care why should she? She was looking forward to reading the latest romance novel that had been recommended in her favorite magazine. “Hurry up, boy! ” she almost shouted as they scurried past the little body in the sand.