Friday, March 21, 2008

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 5


It's week 5 of the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge and I'm delighted that a number of new people are planning to join in the fun. As I get the names I'll add them into the text of this post so that their wordzzles will be easy to find and enjoy.

As a reminder of what the words were for the current challenge:

Words for the ten word challenge were: horse shoe, antique chest, marigold, lunatic, science fiction, Oregon, previously, 10 billion, google, tree hugger and for the mini challenge: pardon me, feather duster, gathering storm, furthermore, magnolia blossoms

We've had another brave mega wordzzler this week - another email entry - this time from Rich. He sent me his submission in email so I'm not sure if he's planning to post it on one of his blogs. I'll post it here for now.

Just once in this Google world of 10 billion tags about tree hugger, science fiction, lunatic, horse shoe throwing, idiots from Oregon I'd like the previously drunken son's of marigold sniffing mothers to go to their antique chest and pull out the feather duster of all feather dusters and stick it where the sun don't shine. Futhermore if you will but pardon me for a moment I'll pull the windows closed against the gathering storm of thoughts and impressions which I can only liken to magnolia blossoms blowing through my mind.

Jay Cole Simser sent another offering this week. As the inventor of the mega wordzzle, I guess he felt compelled to wow us again this week. Here's his great paragraph.

The bouquet of magnolia blossoms and one marigold flower looked as if it had been arranged by a lunatic demon tree hugger. Previously 10 billion people from Oregon had been using google to gain information about the gathering storm. Pardon me, said the science fiction author, I have been looking for a horse shoe to place over the door to my wordzzle storehouse and furthermore I am in favor of using a green feather duster to clean the top of the antique chest which has become filthy with pollen from the marigold.

Others who have already posted their contributions - as I find them - this week are:

Snoopmurph
Dianne
Kim
Akelamalu
Jay
R.E.H
Pirate
Diana
Elena Jane
my aplogies to elena jane... I missed her post...
her wordzzle is wonderful and I hope people will discover it


Here's my 10 word wordzzle for this week:

Marigold Magnolia Morton (her lunatic tree hugger mother loved flowers) was born on a commune in western Oregon in 1969. She couldn't really complain about the names. It could have been way worse. Her parents, who had previously been Sandra Michaels and Larry Lutz had changed their own names to Starflower and Moonrider (can you believe it?) and were the kind of fanatical super hippies who had "gone back to earth." They grew their own pot and vegetables and lived off the land. Their particular commune had even eschewed motorized transportation and Moonbeam (she was not allowed to call him father) had been selected by the community to be their blacksmith. Some of her earliest memories involved sitting on a large antique chest in the corner of the barn watching him at the anvil, muscles rippling, sweat pouring down his body, horses wickering quietly as he attached horseshoes to their huge feet. The horses had responded to his gentleness. She remembered that too. Her parents may have been crazy wierdos, but there were worse ways to be crazy, she guessed. In her desire to escape her parent's odd, lonely world, she had run 10 billion miles in the opposite direction. Science fiction was her passion. Living in the middle of nowhere in Oregon, she had seen her share of UFOs and her imagination (without TV it was amazing what the imagination could get up to) had invented wondrous worlds in outer space. Eventually she had written them down into a dozen or more very popular books chronicalling the history of the planet Zamphoria which existed beyond the outer limits of the Horse Nebula. Google Venus Moonstar, her pen name (agh, she was her parent's daughter after all) and thousands of links came up. She had grown up to be famous, filthy rich and as urban as they came. Still, she had not escaped the hippy curse completely and she had spent part of her millions to buy her parents a small ranch (they refused to accept a big one... still hippies at heart) in the greenest part of Oregon. When city life and outer space got to be too much for her - as they sometimes did - Marigold Magnolia Morton went home to her past to feed her spirit and refuel her imagination.

And my mini wordzzle:

Franklin Culover stared out the window of his once grand mansion and watched the mangolia blossoms swirling around in the breeze that was the first warning of a gathering storm. Behind him, his daughter, feather duster in hand, muttered about the clutter and mess and the inconvenience of looking after him. "Furthermore, Dad," she was saying, you need to get rid of some of this junk. "Pardon me for living," he wanted to mutter, but it felt too close to the truth, so he remained silently looking out the window and his daughter never noticed his tears.

I'm adding this late, but I felt I had to try the mega wordzzle... here goes:

Marigold Swanson, Horseshoe Falls Oregon's famous lunatic tree hugger huddled nervously in the upper branches of the huge oak apprehensively looking out at the gathering storm. She was uncertain what to do. She was a proud fanatic, ready to give her life to save this tree - or she had thought she was until she saw the lightning and the dark clouds and felt the ferocity of the wind already blowing even though the storm was still so far away. She had begun to feel uncharacteristically frightened. Furthermore, at 60, she was not as young as she had once been and oddly life seemed more, rather than less precious. Previously (you could check this out on google), she would not have let anything stop her - not rain, snow, forest fires - even an offer of ten billion dollars, though that had one had been tempting, if unbelievable. Previously she would have pulled her slicker tight around her shoulders, and distracted herself from her fear with a good science fiction story. Today, though, the heart that beat in her antique chest felt less sure - like magnolia blossoms or a feather duster in the wind. And when she saw the loggers, sturdy fellows all, anxiously heading for their trucks, she crumbled at last. "Pardon me, Mr. Logger," she called out, "Do you think you could help me down?"

My vanity (old stuff nobody will ever read unless I share it this way) offering - whose words anyone can use as an alternative to this weeks if they prefer is: snowdrop, palate, boomerang, soft, mushroom, tongue, belt, oblique, fortuitous, lounge

Rich tastes of mushroom and spices and gravy and tender meat rolled across her tongue and boomeranged off her soft palate, caressing her taste buds, but more than that, touching something deeper in her being. This meal had not been casually prepared, nor was it just some fortuitous mix of fine ingredients well prepared. It was a work of art, a work of divine inspiration. She cast an oblique, sidelong glance at Antonio. He seemed such a puffed up buffoon as he lounged idly across the love seat, his overly simple clothes adorned only by the huge and ornate belt buckle, the little white kitten which he called SnowDrop nestled in his arms. She wanted to detest him - the arrogant fool - yet each bite of this glorious meal dragged her deeper under his spell, and by the time she had sipped the last drop of her coffee, she knew that she would follow him anywhere.


NEXT WEEK'S CHALLENGE

Words for next week's ten-word challenge are: arbitration, music, salamanders, frankinsence, trojan horse, balderdash, bottomless pit, fantastic, pugnacious, Trivial Pursuit

And for the mini challenge: maniac, video store, telephone pole, flute player, windy day

Anyone who wants to emulate the amazing megawordzzlers can try merging both challenges and make another megawordzzle. I still don't think I have the courage, but go for it if you think you can.

I would LOVE to have suggestions for words/phrases from other participants. Also any advice/suggestions on how to make the process easier would me much appreciated. I'm new to the blogosphere and still clumsy at navigating it in some ways.

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

19 comments:

Richard said...

Katherine,

Thanks so much for posting my entry. Sounds like you've had a busy week.

I launched a commercial site called the on-line Cussing Jar.
If you get a litle testy, come by and cuss.

Rich

Oh, here's the link

http://thecussingjar.blogspot.com/

Linda Murphy said...

Oooh, I like the mini wordzzle one with Franklin-very powerful little paragraph.

Okay, I am going to try and post tomorrow for the new wordzzle. A megawordzzle might overtax my brain though! Kudos to Jay! WOW!

Akelamalu said...

Those are all fantastic! I love the way different people use the same words to create a story. So glad Dianne introduced me to Wordzzle. Mine's up now. :)

Unknown said...

Very cool...great job. I'm already figuring out how to incorporate next week's words!

I've posted mine for this week.

maryt/theteach said...

Would you like to do a tag called "Links Around the World?" Come visit and see what it's all about at Answers to the Questions :)

maryt/theteach said...

Raven, I want to try this...I'll let you know when mine is up. :D

Jay said...

Raven, I've been reading other's Wordzzle entries for the last couple of week and decided that I would play along too.

I really enjoy reading everybody's stories. People are so creative and clever. Your's are great!

Anyway, I played and posted mine over at my blog.

http://cynicalbstd.blogspot.com/

R.E.H. said...

It is really interesting to see just how different every story is from one another. I am enjoying this little challenge.

Yeah, mine is up!

Raven said...

Hi everyone - richard, snoopmurph, akelamalu, kim, jay, r.e.h. - your entries are wonderful and thank you for playing. I've added your links into the text.

the teach - looking forward to your link. Just dropped by your site and it's lovely. I'll check out your Answers to the Questions.

Raven said...

Thank you to Jay Simser and Richard for the mega wordzzles... I finally tried my hand at it and added it late to the post. Fun.

The Pirate said...

Hello Raven, I picked up on this game from Jay. VERY cool idea:) Love the stories and decided to try my hand at it despite being in a somewhat poor mood.

http://amaih.blogspot.com/

cheers

Linda Murphy said...

I posted my MEGAwordzzle this morning!

Raven said...

Argh, Pirate... ye posted a well done dark tale.

Snoopmurph - you are brilliant and a week early with the Megawordzzle... But who cares, it's so concise and yet it makes wonderful sense.

Dianne said...

Wow Raven, you're attracting a crowd! I have so many wordzzles to go read.

I loved yours, especially the sweet and sad mini one. I really felt for the older man.

Rich's mega rocked!!, just rocked and ranted - I loved it and have to go check him out.

Jay S was even more concise this week than last, I don't know how he does it.

Off to read more before company arrives!

Diana said...

Phew! Got it in under the wire this time!

http://hightechsurvivor.blogspot.com

Now I can finally go and read what other people have written....

Raven said...

Well done, niece of mine. An excellent wordzzle. Thanks for joining in.

I Love You,
Aunt Kathie

maryt/theteach said...

I'm sorry Raven, when you get to my blog called Answers to the Questions scroll down to "Links Around the World" a meme that I've tagged you for.

~ej said...

mine went up on saturday too...not :)

elenajane.blogspot.com

Raven said...

elena jane - I'm so sorry that I missed your post until today - Tuesday. I've added your name to the list. Sorry I'm so late doing so. Hope others get to enjoy your delightful contribution.