Friday, February 20, 2009

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 51


This is week 51 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. As you'll see from my 10-word, I had a bit of a struggle with this week's words, but I have a feeling I may be lynched for next week's collection. I just put them down as they come into my head and I try not to censor them.... but maybe I should have. They are really awful. When you think of killing me, remember that I have to work with them too... and I'm really, really sorry.



The words for this week's ten word challenge were: spring fever, coyote, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, birds of a feather, broken camera, artificial flavoring, cane, garage, ask and it is given, gay Mini Challenge: glorious, sugar and spice, premature baldness, gargoyles, campaign trail




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



“Bah humbug,” Raven muttered bitterly. “Ask and it is given my ass.” Although she knew that this was Spring fever speaking, it did not lighten her mood, which was anything but gay. If she had been a coyote she would have been howling. As it was, she felt like a cranky old curmudgeon wobbling around with her cane in search of somebody to dump her negativity on. “Birds of a feather,” she muttered with no idea what exactly she meant by it as there were in fact no people around… or birds either for that matter. “Who came up with these stupid words?” she ranted on…. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Garage? Broken camera? Artificial flavoring? Stupid, stupid stupid! There ought to be a special place in hell… Oh, wait… it was me, wasn’t it,” she realized. "Damn. Well, there probably still ought to be a special place in Hell… but hopefully there isn’t. Damn, I hate being cranky."




And here's my mini challenge:



She was in love and it was glorious. Truly glorious. Love made Samantha feel all full of sugar and spice. Nevermind Max’s premature baldness or the fact that he looked like a gargoyle. He was a good man, intelligent, funny and profoundly honest. It was wonderful being on the campaign trail with him. His every word was inspiration and gave her hope for the future, her own and the nation’s. Life was good.




And for the mega challenge:


Photo-journalist Harold Hudworthy was not having a good day. His Spring fever was so bad he felt like howling like a coyote, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at the edge of the cliff – only without horses. Stress was causing premature baldness; his glorious head of rich wavy hair was falling out in massive clumps and he felt hideous as a gargoyle. His much anticipated sugar and spice cake had tasted bitterly of artificial favoring and his garage was empty of his beloved but now repossessed roadster. To make matters worse, his apparently broken camera hung useless around his neck and his back-up camera had been towed away in the aforementioned roadster. His editor was going to kill him (or fire him, which would be worse). Around him other cameras clicked away as Willie “ask and it is given,” Carmody blazed a new path on his faltering campaign trail, waving his elegant cane with dramatic flare. Desperation had clearly taken hold. Referring to his opponent’s openly gay campaign manager,” his voice redolent with the dreadful implications of what he was saying, Mr. Carmody announced grimly, “birds of a feather flock together. Alas, instead of the hoped for gasp of horror from the crowd, Carmody’s words were greeted with hoots of laughter. “Well,” Harold muttered to himself, “even the worst ever day has it’s up side.”



~~~~~~~~~~



Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: Netflix, mortgage, skunk, flagrant, the New York Times, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, perpendicular, geometry, crabby, shoveling snow


Mini Challenge: pragmatic, crystal ball, laundry, safflower oil, Gregorian chants


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!!!!!




12 comments:

San said...

I love it when glorious love fills one with sugar and spice and attraction for the right stuff. Like Beauty and the Beast. But will Max turn into a handsome prince? I think not. And that's even better.

A special place in hell. The sign says, THIS TABLE RESERVED FOR WORDZZLERS.

Finding Pam said...

OK, I am ready to post my story. I think you will be forgiven for those words next week. Good writing as always.

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Good Morning. My post is up... and it is now time for me to go down. It's 2:06am here and if I don't go to bed I'll either fall asleep here or will get a second wind and be up all night. The later being the most likely. Sooo, I will return to read your stories when they would make more sense to me than they would now, lol. Night.

Dr.John said...

Three great and very different stories. The first one was cute. If you don't like the words who does ?
Then love. I love love. But love with a balding politician . I'm not sure that will last.
The last story was the brest. In a world where nothing seems right at least something good happens.

Lu' said...

Those word helped to make you cranky I am sure. Heck you even did a mega with those bad boys :)

bettygram said...

You get a lot of stars for your stories. I almost did not do this weeks because I thought I couldn't. Next week will be another challenge.

Dianne said...

there is no hell, don't worry :)

we both had a Max this week
your Max made me think of Dennis Kucinich and his wife

Richard said...

Came late to the party today; had drinking to do last night and some moving to do this morning. Loved the Cranky Raven story, I like her.

Rich

HeatherK said...

Like Richard I am late for the Party. It has been a while since I have taken part. Hope I got it all typed in right/ Saturdays are not my own.

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Hi... finally back, haha. I really enjoyed reading each of the three very different stories. They're all well written. It sounds like you may have been having a bad day. I hope all's well now... or better yet, that it was all fiction.

Unknown said...

Just as in space, no one can hear you scream--in the desert spring is eternal. We have had people around here with symptoms of a fever and cough. But we also have the occasional coyote in the headlights at night on certain sidestreets. Many of the homes could easily serve as a shooting location for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid--a film Steve McQueen almost made with Paul Newman. We have ample birds of a feather, no broken camera on my end, and the artificial flavoring is only from artificial people--yup we have em' here too. Fortunately for my health, my cane is hung in the closet since I don;t have a garage. Saw the new Clint Eastwood movie where "ask and it is given" meant something. Otherwise (as the old saying goes) it's a gay old day!

KUDOS TO THE RAVEN'S 51ST WORDWZZLE!!! :D)

Chatty said...

Now I'll dream of a bald gargoyle on the campaign trail - I have a vivid picture of him in my mind! I hope the love affair lasts. Bald gargoyles need love, too.
I have been far to lax about submitting wordzzles lately, and vowed to do better - so I came to get the words and found THESE. Yikes! Well, at last I can feel better about the words I submitted a while back and found almost impossible to work with!