Monday, June 29, 2009

POW


Smiles Lake lived in the small island community of Harbor Bay. Harbor Bay was an ideal place to vacation in, with small shops catering to the tourist trade. Fishing was the main occupation of those living on the island. Before Smiles retired he worked as a fisherman, a hard dangerous job. His wife Leslie worked and was still working in Sweet Sues shop, which sold home made candy. The sound of the lapping water and the cry of the seagull, Smiles did not want to leave behind. For many years they rented, but plotted and planned to build their own home on the island. They managed to save enough to start building that home. Smiles had obtained enough skill as a carpenter to do some of the work himself.
Leslie ran the Sweet Sues for Sue Elder. Sue would drop in now and then but Leslie was really in charge. It was one of the favorite places to visit There were three other employees who would make the candy. People could watch the candy being made from 8:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Samples were given out.
It was just before closing time and there were three people still in the shop. One made Leslie feel uncomfortable. A gentleman , handsome, medium height, fair skin with a nice haircut, was wandering around ,but his eyes did not study any item. Leslie thought he was waiting for something. A young lady brought up her purchase and Leslie checked her out. An other customer checked out. Leslie used the store phone to call Smiles. She spoke in Finish to him hoping her last customer could not understand. Smiles did. As she turned back to the counter the gentleman had pulled out a gun and demanded the money from the till. Her suspicion proved to be true. Her hands shook as she placed the money into a bag. They did not have a security camera a fact he had probably check out. She knew her life was in danger because she had seen his face. His back to the door he was about to shoot her when the police came through the door. The message, suspicious customer get police, understood by Smiles. Small community police knew she was in trouble.
Sue was grateful for Leslie and Smiles action and she gave her boat as a reward, and took time to run the shop while Smiles and Leslie went for a boat trip.




Left the dock.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Raven challenge 69

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.
The words for this week's ten word challenge were: Chorus line, clam chowder, apples, jack-in-the-box, puddles, Iran, quarry, housekeeping, speed, letter For the mini challenge:motorcycle, grandiose, summer, flying off the handle, blue jays




The next few moments made William wish that he could bring in a chorus line to rejoice.The penguin encased in the clear plastic box sprung out of it like a jack- in box. The attitude of the penguin as he moved around the room just out of the reaches of the polar bear, was one of ah ah I fooled you. With the penguin released, the polar bear wanted nothing more to do with the panther, William and the penguin, so with great speed he departed the barn, and headed for the quarry.
William wondered what had transpired at the Toy Shop. He began his trip back, walking now, but with the panther and penguin. He was tired and didn't bother to walk around the puddles. He also became aware that he was very hungry and a bowl of clam chowder would taste great. Passing by an apple tree he reached for an apple on a lower branch, and pulled it off. As hungry as he was the bitter taste did not deter him from eating it.
Arriving at the Toy Store, he found a letter taped to the door, addressed to him. Sandy explained how they caught the multi-colored hooded sweatshirt man, and had taken him to the police station.
He went into the store noticing that it needed some housekeeping. He did not volunteer to do it, but went to the police station meeting Sandy and Stan. Sandy wanted to run over and throw her arms around her penguin, but she figured that would detract from her creditability since the officers could not see a penguin, or panther or llama. The only information that Sandy could give William about the man they caught was he was not Polish but from Iran.




Mini Challenge:

It was summer,with twittering blue jays and finches, and Terry Fox could ride his bike and play for as long as he liked. As he drove to the playground he had a grandiose day dream that he was riding a motorcycle and was Evil Knievel, suddenly the balloon he had tied came flying off the handle startling him.He lost control of the bike and he fell to the ground causing a scrapped knee. He thought to himself as he inspected his bike at least I am not going to the hospital as Evil has done many times.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The bird house

Pictured is the bird house that my granddaughter and grandson Alex help me put up on Sunday. It looks lonely with out birds, but I am happy to report that this morning I saw a bird at the door. On further investigation I saw grass or straw in it. I will try to capture the birds with my camera, but they move fast.
We did put up the bird house in the wrong direction for us to see the birds from inside our house, but the birds do not seem to care.
Because of our recent heat of upper 80's to mid 90's with high humidity my daughter and I have begun walking Maggie at 5:00 AM. Pennie is training for New Orleans making sure that we walk at least a mile. There is a mile walk there between events. For the first two days we walked we had to add distance to our usual walk. Today we discovered that what we had thought was a mile going around the soccer field two or three times did not come near to a mile.
Report on gardening. My up side down tomato plant has two tomatoes. I have transplanted my grown from seed tomatoes to a large pot and put them outside. My hanging strawberry plant has flowers. The weeds have grown very well. I weeded the front garden after Maggie's walk., also I watered all my flowers.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Father's Day Weekend

Our weekend for the most part was great. Dr John got to see all of his kids and grand kids. All except Dr John and Pete's family got to go to Monkey Joe's. It is a place to bounce around and slide down slides, all protected. There was a picture of Caleb going down the slide at the Fortress. there were games where they could win tickets and turn them in for something. There was a nice room for the adults with a large screen TV. Computers were available in that room. An aside, there was a little boy with a father in the room with us using the computer to play games, but the father was up set because he paid money for the kid to play on the bouncy things and the kid played computer games he could play at home for free. The computers played a part in the next part of our adventure.
Caleb is on a baseball team that has not been defeated. Caleb got the game ball, and his dad wanted to get a plastic box that would protect it. My daughter went on the computer and trophy stores and hobby stores or a name of anyplace we thought we could find one. It was after five an a number of stores were closed. We stopped at a hobby shop and it was a great place. It had comic books,something that Dr John has a collection of. Father's Day gifts were purchased. No train stuff however, but dragons. There also was no box for the ball, we asked where they thought we could find one and the clerk suggested just up the street. We went there next. No parking, so we pulled up into the drive was a a house next door, while my son went in. He found a box. That place had comics but old ones, that means costly.
On Sunday we went to church. Part of the money raising effort for the kids to go to New Orleans was a "Best Seat in The house" contest. A fathers name was put in a pot for a dollar, and Sunday they drew two names to sit in recliners at the back of the church and be served coffee and donuts. The sermon was good. After church we came home and had pasties I made on Saturday. We played a new game called Munchkin. Any number can play. It is a complicated game and takes awhile to understand. I was tired and I slept until it was my turn and then they would tell me what to do. I do it and go back to sleeping. We also played canasta. Dr John and I won.
The bird house got put up. My granddaughter, and oldest grandson helped me.
The not so good part is Dr John got sick and did not get to go to Monkey Joe's

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Raven challenge 68

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.
The words for this week's ten word challenge were: sow, close, console, lives, minute, polish, bass, pussy, complex, resume

For the mini challenge: bow, sewer, house, import, intern

A continuation of Sandra Shores struggles from Ravens Challenge 67


Stan and Williams plan appeared to be working. The hooded man tried to brush off the caterpillars, but the crows swooped down, and began to peck away at the caterpillars sometimes missing them altogether ending just pecking at the jacket. The crows attack slowed down the hooded man making it possible for Stan and William to become close enough to tackle him. The stuffed polar bear rolled to the ground. The invisible polar bear and llama scrambled for it. The polar bear won and ran away. The panther chased staying just behind the polar bears pace.
Subdued the hooded man was pulled to his feet by Stan and William.They pulled back his hood, revealing a stranger to them. He was dark skinned, with thick black hair.
Sandra as preplanned returned to the back of the Toy Store. She was upset over the taking of the ransom money by the polar bear. Stan tried to console her.
" Minutes are passing by and we still don't know where the penguin is," said Sandy.
" The panther is chasing him down, and he is no pussy", said Stan.
" Proving that this man is the person who caused the explosion at The Poet's Corner will be difficult. The use of the invisible animals makes it complex, but lives maybe at stake. We have no knowledge of his intention. I think the best course of action is to bring this man down to the police station. They may have something to link him," said William.
William and Sandra went down to the police station bringing in the man they caught, while Stan resumed the search for the penguin, following the marked path the panther made. The panther would make a noticeable paw print.
The police question the man brought in by Sandy and Stan, because they told the police they saw him at The Poets Corner in the kitchen area. The name he gave the police had a Polish sound to it. Stan and Sandy waited to see if they could get some information.
William came upon the panther outside of a barn on a farm. The panther had a bass in its mouth which it caught in a lake it passed by on the chase. There was a sow in a pen in front of the barn door. The panther threw the bass into the pen for the sow distracting it so that they could inter the barn. They were shocked to see the penguin in a sealed plastic box. William and the panther moved toward the penguin quietly trying not to let the polar bear see them as he was occupied getting the ransom from the stuffed bear.

This will continue next week.
I have no mini this week to it is to late and my grandkids need to sleep in the bed in the computer room.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Quilly Three Word Challenge#19


Words chosen for week 19
phlyarologist-Talks nonsense
pulchritudinous-Characterized by or having great physical beauty and appeal
summotion-Removal

Quilly click here for other posts



The room stately and eloquent showed the hand of a great designer. Every plant, table ,chair,plate ,glass, and silverware was where it should be. The beautiful people were in formal wear, and a quiet buss,and clinking of glass could be heard as all were in polite conversation as they ate.
This scene was disturbed by pulchritudinous Stan West. His voice carried through out the large room. Every head was turned toward him, the faces skewed trying to understand him. Stan became a phlyarologist. Myrah, his date for the evening, had a rose tint to her face as she tried to pull him down to a seated position by tugging on his suit coat. That action only prompted more verbiage and hand swinging. Not being able to understand him and fearing he was threatening the clientele, the manager called for security. Security summotion Stan West leaving him alone seated outside the building on the front steps.
To his credit he did not call for his car, and leave Myrah to have to find away home.
Myrah could not understand what had transpired. Stan was an excellent speaker; the reason they asked him to be there. Fighting back tears, Myrah excused herself from the table, and exited to go to Stan. She did not glance back, and catch the smirk on Helena face.
Helena had worked her way up in the social circle, but how people did not understand. Although having pulchritudinous, she was harsh and abusive to those around her. Sympathy went out to Larry Hunt her newest target of her aspirations. People knew that she would push him up to the top only to have him have a free fall to the bottom. This charity function was only the beginning for Larry. To get him known she had to get Stan West out of the way and a little black magic did that. Helena called over the director of the event, and whispered in his ear.
" Ladies and gentlemen in place of Stan West, who had to leave unexpectedly, our new speaker for the night will be Larry Hunt," The director began the introduction.
Larry gave a moving and eloquent speech, there were tears and nods of heads. The conclusion brought the room to a standing ovation. " The author of this address was Stan West. I followed Stan out and he gave me the notes of his speech. Helena was in shock. At first her face was blank then it twisted into anger.
"I am sorry Helena, but I will not hurt others to get ahead. This gather assembly must come to know you are a witch, an evil witch and I won't assist you."

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Together again

A story written by Dr John and Bettygram, alternating by sentence.



Metha was having a hard time in this new world where the songs she was hearing were not the ones she knew and loved. Even the kids hair was different as the hair of the girl in the yard across the street was a dull brown. Not the bright blue of her own, but a dull brown, which was another difference of the worlds, the colors of her world were so much brighter.
The food here was different, as well with people eating funny rolled things called Spring Rolls. She had the luxury of not having the need for physical substance. She ate at home only for enjoyment and never for sustenance.
What was that yellow contraption near the wall? Kids here rode on them and she missed the moving sidewalks that took you where you wanted to go.
As she observed those walking, there was something about the walking that was different also. They may have looked like her but they were certainly different.
She was pulled from her world in a flash, just when she was about to use her sonic blaster on the villain Nasty flying from the scene of a robbery. She had ended up on what these people called a chair though how they could sit on such an uncomfortable thing she would never understand.
She could not understand why she was thrown into this crazy world,when she was needed in her world.
Suddenly Metha woke up screaming still clutching the super hero comic book she was reading when she fell asleep.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Jeff's Photo Story June






Loti Lovely was a singer in the rock group Blue Lions by night. With a little sleep, she was on to her way to her day job.
Well it was not a paying job, but one where she volunteered from her church, Prince of Peace. She would visit the shut ins bringing an arrangement of flowers and a small meal, keeping them company.
She had not visited Mrs Schell before, and she did not want to be late. Loti's feet petaled as fast as she could. Arriving finally at Mrs Schell's home, she laid the bike against the brick wall, picking from the basket her plant with the lovely yellow flowers. She also had to carry in the Chinese egg rolls. Balancing everything made her feel like a juggler.






Mrs Schell had put on the coffee. Loti handed her the flowers, and she placed them on the small round table next to the chair. The room Loti noticed was sparsely furnished. Mrs Schell sat on the chair and Loti stood to eat. There was a small TV in the corner of the room with a DVD, it caught Loti by surprise. So she asked, "What programs do you like?"
" I like a variety. I have a DVD that you would like also. I was so happy when you arrived, and I saw who my guest was, because I can share this with you."
Mrs Schell put on the DVD, and there was Loti with her rock group. Mrs Schell sang along knowing all the words, and Loti joined in. This was a perfect match.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Raven challenge 67

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: nausea, everything is on sale, expect great things, frying pan, pledge, birds of a feather, stick, Saturday morning, liver and bacon, caterpillars

For the mini challenge: aggravation, protective, bargain basement, take me out to the ballgame, break a leg




Stan and William came to Sandy's apartment early Saturday morning to execute their plan to rescue her penguin from the man in the multi- colored hooded sweatshirt, and his invisible polar bear. Fear made Sandy have nausea and the suggestion that for breakfast they should have liver and bacon did not help in settling of her stomach. As they put the fake money into the stuffed polar bear, Stan said, " Expect great things and they will happen."
"I am really afraid for us, but I pledge to try to stay calm as I bring the stuffed polar bear to the Toy Store, but you must do all the work of getting back my penguin."
Sandy brought out the frying pan and made eggs and toast for breakfast.
Two things were noticed as they approached the Toy Store, the polar bears were not on sale, and a flock of crows was perched on telephone line going into the store.
"You know what my father use to say when something was on sale, it is a store everything is on sale."
"It looks like birds of a feather stick together. I have something for those invisible crows,"said William. William pulled out from his pocket a box, which he opened showing caterpillars. He closed the box. "but just not yet."
Sandy went in the front door while William and Stan went to the back.
"May I help you return that bear?" said a voice from behind Sandy. She turned to face the man in the hooded sweatshirt. The hood was up still hiding his face. The store clerk was in the back of the room. Sandy handed the man in the sweatshirt the polar bear. She turned and ran out of the store. The man in the sweatshirt also quickly left the store but through the back door. William was holding the box of caterpillars. He threw the caterpillars over the hooded man. The man looked startled but continued running away.

Continued next week.

Mini Challenge:

The aggravation Glenda felt at the snide remarks Marybeth , her co-worker, made over her fainting on meeting her new boss Matthew, was great, but not as much as the fact she was sure Matthew was Fredrick, her long lost love. There was no recognition of her at all in his eyes.
Glenda was protective of the fact that she recognized Matthew as Fredrick with everyone. She tried to draw him out by talking about baseball, a sport he was all into when they were dating. She sang "Take Me Out to The Ball Game" a song they would sing together. No indication or recognition of baseball or them singing together. He would talk about bargains in the basement of a department store.
Matthew joined the local theater group. Glenda joined the group also to be able to get to know this Matthew better. Matthew learned his lines quickly, but Glenda would draw blanks often. She could see the frustration on his face as she missed her lines. This acting bit was not going well for her, and it was not drawing the two together. The first performance before an audience Matthew said, "Break a leg." Although this was a usual statement before a performance wishing everything to be done well, his tone of his voice said he wanted her to do just that.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Quilly Three Word Challenge#18

Quilly

Words:
Opsimath-a person who becomes a student late in life, or learner late in life.
Obarmate-to arm against
Assiduity-1Constant or close application or effort,diligenes industry




Lena Lark an oparmath sat a picnic table, her eyes glancing between her book, a portable laptop, and her two toddlers on the preschool playground. Lena planned to obarmate these toddlers quickly by learning the ends and outs of the computer. She could not give assiduity to the youngsters, and she heard a cry for help, as Jeff her youngest got stuck in the tunnel. She ran over to Jeff and assisted him to freedom. It was at this time she noticed the sky had turned from blue to gray, and she felt the pelt of a rain drop. She gathered up the young ones, putting them in the two seater stroller, and closed up her laptop, and took the book placing them in the pocket behind the stroller. Ah well the kids won the first round.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Raven challenge 66

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: swashbuckler, heads-up, dry martini, recovery, jungle gym, whiskers, bathing suit, spade, circular reasoning, abrasive and for the Mini Challenge: butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, stagnation, chart, star crossed lovers, apricot brandy


Would a dry martini help in getting some recovery from the shock of the kidnapping of her companion from the gypsy curse, the penguin? She tried so hard to get rid of the invisible penguin, but it had become an aid, and in the solving the explosion at the Poet's Corner an necessity. A dry martini would not give her the answer to where to get $40,000 for ransom, or the answer as to whether she should even think about giving a ransom. The police of course could not be called.
She would have to get in contact with William and give him a heads-up, and even through he was no swashbuckler and a bit abrasive, he might be just the one to help.
Her mind just went crazy at this point, because she thought about William's invisible companion the Llama. She could not see the llama going against the polar bear. Maybe we could get the invisible polar bear and the hooded man by making them fall down laughing at the sight of a llama in a bathing suit, a flowered one at that." Oh come on girl,"she said to herself. "Get it together. This is serious."
Sandy called William ,he agreed to meet her at the jungle gym in the playground near her apartment. William brought along Stan who had his invisible panther. The panthers whiskers twitched as he traveled in a circular pattern around the jungle gym. Sandy felt better a panther was a match against a polar bear. Stan also was carrying a spade. Sandy was confused by the spade and even more so when Stan started using it, digging a hole in the ground.
Stan uncovered a bag and pulled it up and said," our $40,000,"
"What?" said Sandy. "We are not going to give them a ransom. "
"ssh Keep your voice down. I am hoping they are watching us and will believe that this is $40,000 I hid. They will accept that we put the money in the stuffed polar bear. We should go back to your apartment now."
Sandy had more wonderment when she saw a flock of crows fly over head.

Mini Challenge:

The words, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, smarted , and Glenda cringed. She was aware of the stagnation in her life, and how embittered she had become. The words still hurt. If she had not just over heard them in a conversation she was not included in, except she was the topic of conversation, she would have had a stinging come back.
The charts said, by those who could read them ,that she and Fredrick were star crossed lovers.
What a load of ==that was. As she sipped her apricot brandy, Glenda remembered the short romance and the long time of loneliness. She loved strongly, but he could not have. They had a lovely date. He ended with the promise to pick her up for a show the next night and he left after a long kiss. He left and never returned or called. She filed a missing person report, after she had not heard from him in a weeks time. The police believed there was no foul play. No body surfaced. That was twenty-five years ago.
She had met him at work. She was still employed at the same place of work, moving up in her career which meant a larger and plusher office and a higher salary. Apricot brandy a perk of the job. She over heard those painful words as she passed through the workers lounge.
To add to her pain was a note on her computer that there would be a new CO Matthew Lang. They had passed over her again. He was not from this office.
A knock came and a door was quickly opened and her co-worker Marybeth came in with the new CO and introduced him. He might be called Matthew, but it was an older Fredrick. She could not help exclaim "Fredrick," with a gasp. Fainting makes for a quick exit from the situation.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Quilly Three Word Challenge#17

Quilly

Words:
risab;e-1causing or capable of causing laughter
2having the ability,disposition or readiness to laugh
3pertaining to or connected with laughter




A card is what the other students called the fourteen year old Hardy Camp. The teacher had other names for him, but the other students would have said if they lived in an earlier time of Hardy he was a risable chap.
Mrs Hamilton knew of Hardy's reputation for causing an uproar during an examination, so she planned she would invigilate the exam, by walking among the students as they took the exam. If Hardy opened his mouth she would immediately send him out of the room.
On the day of the exam, Mrs Hamilton gave the explanation of her rules, making sure that Hardy knew the expectations. All was going smoothly until Hardy read the word stagnicolous and it turned on his humor button. Poor Hardy could not finish the exam.