Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week Thirteen

This is week 13 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Sorry to have posted so late. I wrote these at 3:00 am, so who knows what they say. I look forward to seeing what others have come up with.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: sergeant, lunatic, peanut butter and jelly, cyber space, flattery, musician, auspicious, cardinal, paprika, flowering plum tree

And for the Mini Challenge: sinister, magazine, American flag, rain storm, chess board

Here's my ten-word offering for this week.

The exquisite red cardinal sat singing in the flowering plum tree that was right outside her window and Mary hoped it was an auspicious sign. She made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, moved quickly to her desk and logged on as Paprika Pettifeather, her favorite cyber space identity. Maybe today would be the day she met her man, she mused.. She really had only three simple requirements that had to be met. Her man had to think Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club band was a great, if not the greatest album in history – and that the Beatles were incredible musicians whose genius remained unparalleled, he had to be able to flatter without it seeming like flattery, and he had he to – there was no way around this one, recognize that a criminal was currently playing the role of Commander in Chief and ought to have been impeached long ago. She might be willing to leave flattery and musical genius open to debate. But anyone who didn’t recognize that the lunatics were running the asylum was not for her.

And here's my mini challenge:

Joseph Woods, looked up from the magazine which had held him thoroughly absorbed, distracted first by the flapping sound of the American flag in the increasing wind. He then noticed that the chess boards at the nearby tables were being rapidly packed up as the players scurried to find shelter. And finally a glance at the sinister sky told him that there was something more than a rain storm pending. Lucky for him he was a sprinter and he made it to shelter just as the first golf-ball sized hail stones began to land.

And the mega challenge:

Quickly checking the magazine of his gun, the young sergeant looked at the American flag fluttering in the breeze and then at the sinister clouds on the horizon. Maybe the storm will put an end to the fighting he thought hopefully and then chuckled bitterly. Yeah, sure. War cancelled due to inclement weather. “Heavy rain storms,” the headline would read, “led to the end of hostilities today in Iraq. Both sides decided to pack up their guns and go home.” Lord how he missed home: he missed Monday evenings chatting across the chess board with his father, listening to his favorite musicians whenever he wanted to, spending all day Saturday and Sunday exploring cyber space on his computer. He missed peanut butter and jelly. He missed baked potatoes with paprika. He missed kissing Miranda under the flowering plum tree and her auspicious smile that foretold she would say “yes,” when he had asked her if she’d marry him. He missed the flattery she used on him to get her way. He missed peace and normalcy. He missed going to the Cardinals games at Busch stadium. Alas, that last thought reminded him of another Bush - the lunatic who stole the White House … and as if to punctuate that thought, the unhappy soldier was met with a storm of bullets instead of rain drops. There would be no truce today.

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This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: Tiddleywinks, mauve, throbbing bass sound, fortuitous, barnacle, hoist, topiary, finicky, turtle

Sitting on a large mauve cushion next to the large turtle shaped topiary, Tiddleywinks, the very spoiled and finicky Pekinese belonging to Mrs. Blandersmythe stared disdainfully at the sautéed hamburger meat which had been placed in a crystal goblet at her feet. She had just decided to attack the unfortunate gardener who had been unlucky enough to get the job of feeding her when, fortuitously for him, she was distracted by a loud noise. The gardener spared, she now bared her teeth menacingly at the wildly dressed young man who had just entered the property with a large boom box hoisted high on his shoulder blasting at full volume. The throbbing bass sound was so loud that Tiddleywinks could feel the ground under her paws tremble and vibrate. She was outraged. She was a Blandersmythe, after all, and a Pekinese besides. This young man simply had to be dealt with. And she was about to lunge when the most delightful aroma seemed to emerge right from the direction of the aforesaid young man. “Here you go, dog,” he said, pulling a greasy bag labeled Barnacle Bill’s Good Eats from his backpack and laying it in front of Tiddleywinks astonished nose. “I will bite him later,” she thought to herself, and dug in with gusto.

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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: flamingo, monster trucks, Darth Vader, cucumbers, sugar-free, banking, determinate, thurible, sarcasm, drums

And for the Mini Challenge: procrastinate, memory lane, alley cat, argument, Florida

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

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!