Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 231

Posting on time this week! It's a miracle! My theme seems to revolve around generosity for some reason. Funny how the words take us (well me, since I'm the only one who plays these days) in specific directions some weeks.


Word for this week's 10-word challenge: King Arthur, seriously, pigeons, spectacular, opening, languish, regulations, paper, generosity, snow   And for the mini: fragrant, emeralds, twisted, strife, pearls

My mega:

The sound of a pair of pigeons cooing on the window sill had drawn his attention away from the pile of papers and regulations with which he had been deeply absorbed. Looking out the castle window, King Arthur gazed at the gnarled and twisted branches covered with snow and thought that Winter had it's own spectacular beauty. Even so, he seriously longed for the fragrant beauty and generosity of Spring and Summer when his people were relieved of some of the strife and struggle of simply surviving the cold and hunger. His father would  have found it un-kingly of him, but he and Gwenivere struggled with a significant guilt that they languished in such extravagant comfort, dressed in warm robes covered with emeralds and pearls and dined on lavish meals. It was on one particularly chilly night, that Gwen had come up with the idea of opening the castle to 100 citizens two times each winter for a small feast. They had struggled with a system for selecting guests which would be as fair as possible and not breed discontent in those who could not attend. In the end they had come up with a system which honored 10 specific peasants for acts of kindness or deeds which honored the kingdom. Those 10 could invite four guests each and then the remainder of the guests were chosen by lot. The event had been a great success, giving the people something to look forward to and allowing the King and Queen to know and learn about the citizens of his kingdom. Many in the aristocracy were horrified by this breach of traditional social norms, but Arthur did not care. He loved his people... and he loved his wife, who was made happy by this small sharing of the abundance which came with being royalty.


My mini:

It wasn't that Jack Jones didn't love the beauty of emeralds and rubies and diamonds and pearls. He found them awesomely beautiful. As a young man he had visited the Tower of London and - somewhat against his will - been dragged to see the Crown Jewels. He remembered wishing he could stand and stare at them forever. They seemed alive to him and for part of his life he had dedicated much energy to acquiring such treasures. But when he learned the twisted tales of violence and strife that went into mining and marketing these exquisite objects, he lost all love for them - well he lost the love of acquiring or even possessing them. Though their beauty still delighted his eyes, they now had a fragrance of blood and death about them that he could not get over. With a mixture of pain and gratitude, and after much thought, he donated his collected gems to an organization that worked on behalf of those victimized by the blood diamond trade.


And the 10-word:

Arthur King - whose friends lovingly called him King Arthur because of his penchant for taking rules and regulations rather too seriously for their taste - was also known for his spectacular generosity. He had not been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth, but through a mix of good luck and hard work had amassed an enormous fortune manufacturing artificial snow. Some might have languished in idleness and or horded their assets, but Arthur looked for every opening by which he could share his good fortune. He helped one young woman start up her own business designing wrapping paper and stationary and backed her not only with cash but with moral support and encouragement. Hearing his neighbor's daughter expound on her love of golf, he helped her mother open "Pigeon Putt," a miniature golf course that served the community. Since Arthur had always loved miniature golf, there was come consensus that this was less generosity on his part than a way to give himself a big present and make someone else happy at the same time. Those were only two examples. Anyone who came to him with a dream, had a good chance - albeit with a hefty dose of rules and lessons on how to run a good business - had a good chance of getting a leg up from this kind man. Almost all of them succeeded, offering Arthur a return on his investment which he then passed on to some other new dreamer.  When he died at the age of 100, the community mourned his passing and declared his home a landmark, renaming it Camelot in gratitude to a man whom they considered to be their own "once and future king."

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  wishing well, truck, chicken, coaster, flowering tree, bacteria, matches, colorful, port

And for the mini: swirl, bear with me, stretcher, muffin, gratitude

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 230

Oh, my!  I completely forgot about wordzzles. Since it's very late at night, I will just post Mr. Linky, etc. and do my exercises tomorrow.

Saturday Afternoon Update: Not feeling well... may have to wait until tomorrow.... maybe later. Not sure. Sorry.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON:  Finished at last. The last one is an introduction (of sorts) to Angel's new "friend" (not so much), Chloe.

Words for this week's 10 word challenge: growling, mercurial, flakes, purgatory, forward, careful, glowing, orderly, passionate, working   And for the mini: brigand, bluff, buttercup, fabric, feature


My mega:

Brigand and thief, Francois Flakes, was brilliant, charming, mercurial and totally unpredictable. Young barmaid Buttercup Benedict thought he was magnificent. She looked forward to his visits to the inn with passionate intensity, in a kind of purgatory of hope and despair. The anticipation of his glowing presence and handsome features made working at the inn more bearable. When she tried to understand the depth of her attraction to him, she was somewhat puzzled by it. It wasn't just that he would sometimes bring her flowers or fancy gifts. It wasn't the rich fabric of his clothing or the lavish way he spent money, though it was always lovely to be on the receiving end of his generosity. It wasn't even his growling ability to call the bluff of bigger, gruffer men who often viewed him with a mix of envy and admiration. In the end, she concluded that what drew her careful, orderly, cautious self to Francois was his intelligence and his free spirit, which sang a siren song to something inside her that longed to break free. She would have been flabbergasted had she known that Francois had seen and been drawn to her secret self and was doing what he could to quietly free her from the propriety in which her spirit had been so tightly wrapped by her parents and the society in which they lived. Several year later - when he asked her to marry him - he would share with her the joy he had taken in watching her blossom and would paint for her a vision of a life worth living. And in the days and years to come he made it so... gave her a life rich in adventure and joy and learning and most importantly, love.


The mini:

Brigand Francois Flakes, laughed with delight when the shopkeeper brought out the exquisite gown he had ordered for his future wife - well, if she accepted his proposal, that is...  The fabric was patterned with buttercups as a tribute to his beloved's name, something he hoped would delight her as much as it delighted him. He wanted the proposal to be as romantic as possible so he planned to take her for a picnic on the bluffs. The occasion would feature a lavish meal (served in a big tent), a troubadour to sing her praises, the presentation of this dress, a ring and his smitten heart. He was dreadfully nervous, something he wasn't used to feeling, but he need not have worried; Buttercup already adored him and the thoughtful creativity of his proposal was the stuff of fairy tales. She was his. 


And the 10-word:   This is a somewhat ungracious introduction of Angel's new companion whose name - at the moment - is Chloe.

Alphonse Smith was working through the mystery of how a normally orderly and careful person like himself had ended up in a miserable and seemingly endless purgatory with this growling, passionate and mercurial cat he had adopted after his sweet girl Flakes had died. For himself, he would have been content to move forward alone with Flake's sister, Snow, but she had seemed so lonely and unhappy that he had felt it would be selfish to force her to live with only him for a companion. His friend Fred had offered such a glowing description of the newcomer... "She's very sweet and loving. Seems truly gentle.'  On what planet, Alphonse asked himself... and then had to admit that she was fundamentally sweet.  A bit wild. Young. Everyone said it would work itself out. He hoped so. Meanwhile, everything felt very unsettled and he felt guilty that he was not loving this newcomer as he should. He still missed Flakes. He missed his peaceful kingdom. He missed his vision of himself as kind and loving. This too shall pass he told himself and hoped that it was true.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  King Arthur, seriously, pigeons, spectacular, opening, languish, regulations, paper, generosity, snow

And for the mini: fragrant, emeralds, twisted, strife, pearls

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 229

Sorry about the extra week off (without even politely mentioning that I was going to take it). I have not been at my best on multiple fronts. Slowly crawling out of my Self-Pity Pit.  New kitty has not been at all open to making friends with Angel, though we seem to have had a breakthrough last night. They spent much of this morning chasing each other around with minimal hissing. A good sign and at least Angel isn't bored. New kitty is named - at least for the moment - Chloe. Her middle name is probably/possibly Marigold. Still to be determined. I might also call her Gloria instead of Chloe, but...

Not sure if I will do this now or tomorrow. I thought I'd post the bare bones so I have no choice but to do them at all. Computer is acting squirrely at the moment. My screen jumps around every so often for now apparent reason. Now it has stopped again. Sigh.  I will post this much and come back later today or maybe tomorrow and do my exercises.


Saturday, 6:30 PM:  Finally finished. Not too thrilled with these. A bit out of practice.



Words for this week's 10 word challenge: children, drastic, guns, preparation, moved, knit, spare, lesson, blanket, wink   And for the mini: escape, plastic, gravity, sarcasm, giggle


My mega:

Raven's heart was breaking and she was moved almost beyond her ability to bear it as she watched children - who should have been laughing and giggling, playing and learning - instead standing in the cold wrapped in blankets and parents weeping over the deaths of 20 children and 7 adults.  She was impressed by the people of this peaceful close-knit community, who- thought they had not been without preparation against intruders - had not even conceived the idea of something as drastic and unfathomable as a boy with semi-automatic guns shooting his way into a grade school with the intention apparently of letting none escape, of sparing no one. She couldn't help but wonder what would of the mind would let someone do such a thing? Was he seeing children? Was he shooting at something else because his mind was sick? She was moved by the gravity of the President's response, by his clearly genuine intense grief. Would the country finally learn a lesson or would they/we let the plastic shills on FOX News and the NRA sell fear and stupidity to the minions whom they kept in a state of constant paranoia. Seemed to Raven that they were the truly evil ones in this story. It seemed impossible that they believed much of the nonsense they spewed and she was sure they winked at one another off camera, amused by the effectiveness of their personal pact with the Devil. She was grateful for the brilliant wry sarcasm with which Jon Stewart called them on it and only wished that he was not mostly preaching to the choir. Still, this time things seemed different. Maybe we would finally draw the line of "tolerance" at a body count of 20 six and seven year-olds. Maybe there was hope.
 


My mini:

It was with a mix of irritation and good humor that Principal Johnson addressed a group of giggling 13-year-olds and their science teacher.  It has not escaped my notice," she remarked
soberly (but with a twinkle in her eye) that you have been doing practical experiments on gravity using plastic bags full of water dropped from the roof. While I appreciate your enthusiasm for learning - would that it happened more often - I suggest that future experiments include safety precautions to protect innocent passers-by. I know," she continued, with just a hint of sarcasm, " that you would never have intentionally targeted someone who could give all of you detention should she so choose." Turning to the young teacher who was torn between laughter and terror, she said somewhat curtly, "See me in my office at your next free period."  Then, turning on her heel, she said, "Good day, children," and headed to her office to dry herself off.



And the 10-word:

"Spare me your left wing drivel about how learning to knit sweaters and blankets and sing kumbaya  is better life preparation for our children than gun lessons." Kitty Wink, shouted at the assembled parents who had gathered to discuss safety after the recent school shooting. Knitting her brow in angry frustration, she continued, angrily, "This situation calls for drastic action. We meed armed guards - and I think our teachers should carry too. What's wrong with you people, that you don't care about protecting our children, What's wrong with you? I just want my girls to be safe," she said finally, moving from anger to the edge of tears. "I just want my kids to be safe."  "So do we all," her neighbor Jenny Sanders, replied. "We just don't agree about how to accomplish that. I don't want guns around my children. That doesn't seem to me to be the way to keep them safe. I understand your fear. I'm frightened too. I just believe that if we work together, we can find a better solution than turning our schools into armed camps. Let's use our imaginations and our common concern and look at all possibilities available to us before we just leap at one that seems to me to be the most risky. Can we do that?"  "I don't see the point," Kitty replied tiredly, "but I assume I have no choice."  Although the gathered parents remained divided, they all appreciated the calming tone that Jenny had lent to the conversation and the meeting proceeded in a more amiable and productive way. Eventually, they formed a committee to study security and came up with a number of solutions that didn't require guns but that left even the most fearful parents feeling more secure about their children's well being.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  growling, mercurial, flakes, purgatory, forward, careful, glowing, orderly, passionate, working

And for the mini: brigand, bluff, buttercup, fabric, feature

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

Happy Holidays

I WISH YOU JOY!

and today's Neale Donald Walsch....

On this day of your life, dear friend, 

I believe God wants you to know...

...that the reason so much of humanity commemorates

this day is that so much of humanity seeks to give and

receive love.

During this holy time, know that all times are holy, that

every religion holds truth, that each tradition is sacred,

and that it is in the simple sharing of love that we make

our beliefs come alive, and our dreams come true.

Let this Christmas Day remind us that Christ came to

invite us to offer love to all humankind, and to open the

door of God's kingdom to every soul.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Love, Your Friend....

How Many Killings is Enough?

Christmas Eve in America, firefighters ambushed fighting a fire. A week earlier 20 children and 7 adults gunned down in a school in less than 3 minutes. This is really what some people think the Founding Fathers dreamed of, lived and died for? I don't think so.

Happy Holidays

I have decided to take the holidays off from doing Wordzzles, so I will be back in January. Meanwhile, I wish you all happy holidays. I meant to put that and not Merry Christmas on my card, so I hope any  non-Christmas folks will forgive me for forgetting.  May the holidays be joyous for you and may the New Year bring peace and wisdom and kindness to us all.  I had to shrink the card pretty small to get past the fact that I'm out of allotted photo space. 

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 228

Almost forgot that it's Friday. I will post my exercises tomorrow. Very sad about the school killings in Connecticut. Very tired in general.

UPDATE:  Angel is getting a new companion this morning - rather unexpectedly - so I may not be able to do my exercises until tomorrow... hopefully then. Very anxious and not feeling very well. Apologies for the delay.

SUNDAY 5:00 PM - well, I almost forgot. Just starting now and my heart isn't in it. Kitty introductions did not go well yesterday. New kitty is secluded in back bedroom. Angel is pretending she doesn't exist. Me too, really. She is being very quiet. She has food and water until my friend can come and put a screen door so they can see and smell each other without actually interacting.  I don't have a good feeling about it, though.  Anyway, I'm tired, anxious and not feeling very well, plus listening too much to the coverage on the sad killing of so many children in Connecticut.  Just looking at the words and I think I repeated pregnant from last week or the week before. Sigh. Hate it when I do that. Thinking I may take a break for the holidays and start again in the New Year. Nobody but me plays in any case and now people will be busy with the holidays as well.

6:16: Done.  I will keep my non-readers posted about whether or not I take a break for the holidays. 


Words for this week's 10 word challenge: caution, spinach, heat, pregnant, carved wooden box, blaggard, garbage, bellow, effort, sapling    And for the mini: charcoal, turtle, impulse, shaft, exaggeration


My mega:

The blaggard who had gotten her pregnant had seemed like the perfect man when she met him, so much so that she had thrown caution to the wind. It was no exaggeration to say that he had seemed capable of reading her heart, of being the healer of all her wounds. Early on he had given her a small carved wooden box which he had told her contained his heart. That it was empty when she opened it, might have given a wiser woman pause, but she had felt no impulse to run, only gratitude for his effort to comfort and nurture her. He had lavished her with praise and poetic gifts - a sapling planted in the yard to be nurtured and grow with their love. Hah. If only she had known. He was the classic abuser. Once she was roped in and pregnant, it all turned to garbage...his attention became destructive, his compliments turned to bellowed cruelty, the heat of his rage so wild she sometimes felt like even her skin (not to mention her heart) was singed by it. Initially she had tried to be a turtle, to pull into a shell of denial and self-protection. At first she had swallowed his poison like some kind of perverted spinach... it was for her own good, he always told her. She dreaded being a single parent, but she knew that the baby growing in her womb was, on some level, her guardian angel, for she had guided her to Dr. Shar Kohl (pronounced like charcoal), who had read the signs of her abuse and pulled - one by one - the shafts of her demented abusers arrows from her heart. Dr. Kohl had persuaded her to seek treatment and the counselors had found her a safe house in which to heal and find herself again. She dedicated her life to healing her own wounded psyche so that her baby would grow up safe, nurtured and strong in spirit.


My mini:

Jason Shaft had purchased the charcoal drawing of the giant turtle at the local flea market on an impulse. He was inherently frugal and not given to such impulses, and his wife - who often went without things that she wanted - was (no exaggeration here) rather irritated by his purchase. She got over it, though, when a few months later, they discovered that the small drawing on which Jason had lavished the extravagant some of $15 turned out to be worth over $100,000.



And the 10-word:

Donna's friends and family were deeply opposed to her about her addiction to hunting through garbage to find lost treasures, some of which she used in her art work and some which she simply rescued from being lost to the world. It was the source of many heated arguments. Her mother cautioned her that it was dangerous and that it was unbecoming a lady. Her father bellowed at her that no man would ever want to marry her. They could not see that her efforts were for her creativity like Popeye's spinach.  The hunt was pregnant with seeds and saplings of artistic inspiration. And sometimes she just found small personal treasures. Her favorite ever find was a carved wooden box with the word BLAGGARD ornately etched into the wood. That little box had helped her work out a lot of anger and those who knew her work knew that you could often find the world blaggard hidden in the curves and shadows of almost every painting or work of art she created. It took 20 years, a loving husband and a great career for her parents to come around to her way of thinking, but eventually - when her first painting was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art - they did.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  children, drastic, guns, preparation, moved, knit, spare, lesson, blanket, wink 

And for the mini: escape, plastic, gravity, sarcasm, giggle

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 227

Well, it's Friday yet again. Time goes by faster and faster the older I get.  Probably I will wait until Saturday to post my exercises (seems to be a pattern now), but wanted to make Mr. Linky and next week's words available just in case someone else has been inspired to play.

6:05 Saturday:  Late as usual, but finally done.


Words for last week's 10-word challenge were: whisper, rest, carrot cake, pregnant, robot, pressure, play, sloth, category, needy   And for the mini: challenge, cramped, particles, spice, pastoral


My mega:

Amanda was not entirely enjoying the challenge of being pregnant. The doctors had put her on bed rest and she felt cramped and restless and needy lying next to her husband in bed. For his part, Robot (his name was Robert, but his patient attendance to her demands had earmed him the new nickname Robot) was being remarkably patient and attentive. They were fortunate that even with the pressures of his pastoral duties, he had a lot of flexibility in his schedule as well as a church full of devoted and well meaning congregants eager to play nurse to the coming child's mother. They had a kitchen full of carrot cakes, spice cakes, home made pickles and a sampling of goods from every possible category of craving satisfiers. As she poked him gently and whispered his name, he rolled over, half asleep and said groggily? "Ice cream? Pickles?" "Neither, beloved," she beamed happily, "Your son wants to play with you. I don't think we need to worry about him being slothful. He is a very energetic kicker with not a particle of compassion for his poor Mom's tummy or need for sleep." Feeling her husband's strong, gentle hand on her belly and watching the delight in his face, as he felt his child kicking in her womb, Amanda thought herself possibly the luckiest woman on earth. "I love you Pastor Robot," she smiled. "What a father you will be! You have calmed our little kicker right down with your touch and his mother too."  "I love you too," he replied, watching her eyes flicker towards sleep. In the womb, the child, wrapped in their love of each other and himself, floated in happy anticipation of his arrival into the world.


The mini: 

Leonard Patterson, really regretted having taken his girl friend's challenge to spend a week in this stupid, cramped cabin with no electric or heat or... other important things. She had said that the experience would spice his life up and had described the god-forsaken hell he was currently entombed in as "a beautiful pastoral setting."  The worst part of it all was the out house which smelled awful and left his butt covered with particles of dirt and who knew what else. The up side of the adventure was that he had plenty of time to think of a way to take revenge on that blighted woman. If she had wanted to break up with him, he thought, she could have just said so.


And my 10-word: 

Putting the finishing touches on her famous Christmas carrot cake, Jenny dreaded facing the pressure from her family about why she was not yet pregnant. They meant well, she knew, but it was time to put the whispered speculations to rest. It was not sloth in effort or a lack of desire to be parents. It seemed that she and Josh were in that category of people who could not get pregnant. Even as she thought about it, a range of emotions played through her. Anger.... it was nobody's business. They were not robots who should be commanded to reproduce to please others - followed by feelings of needy jealousy. Why should Carla have twins and while she was barren?  And at the last - shame for those thoughts and grief for the loss of what she couldn't have.  It did not turn out as she had expected, though. The family had received the news philosophically and her sister had pulled her aside and telling her not to give up hope and sharing the secret of her own struggle with the same problem - and how she had come to be the proud mother of twin boys. It was the best Christmas gift Jenny could have hoped for... well except for the baby girl she held in her arms two Christmases later.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  caution, spinach, heat, pregnant, carved wooden box, blaggard, garbage, bellow, effort, sapling 

And for the mini: charcoal, turtle, impulse, shaft, exaggeration

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 226

Well, at least I remembered that it's Friday and have got the words ready on time this week. Alas, I am short of energy. Had a friend in crisis today, Angel in kitty torment because she wants to play and then doesn't want to play and I myself am just tired in that yucky way that is part physical part depression. Anyway... unless I get a burst of energy later on, I'll just post the words and Mr. Linky and so my exercises tomorrow.


6:25 PM Saturday:  I struggled with these words. Not very happy with the results, but so it goes. The Lone Wordzzler soldiers on and does her best.


Words for this week's 10 word challenge: festive, bright red, hugs to all, macaroni and cheese, grief, obstreperous, fortune, mistake, zebra stripes, alphabetical   And for the mini: your choice, drastic, hood, sparkling, smelly


My mega:

Sabrina Smelly loved her extravagant home. Although she reduced to living on macaroni and cheese  and almost everyone she knew gave her grief over what they termed the "mistake" of spending a fortune on decorating, she didn't care. Fred, her husband, would not have minded the expense so much if her taste had not been what he decreed in one particularly obsterperous pre divorce debate - "beyond hideous... Your choice of bright red walls and zebra stripe accessories for our bedroom, for example," he had gone on, "is the so comically bad it could be featured in a bad design magazine, especially when you put the purple and pink wallpaper in the en suite bathroom adjacent to it. It's like moving from one nightmare into another. Then there's the sparkling alphabetical letters theme in the den and the chartreuse hood on the stove and the drastic contrast of the pumpkin colored walls. Some onlookers had been somewhat puzzled by the almost festive "hugs to all" attitude with which she had embraced her husband's departure from their marriage. "The house is yours," he had said in the divorce settlement, "I never want to see it again."  Six weeks later, when her "decorating consultant" moved in and what turned out to be rented decor was quickly removed, she was overheard telling him, "We need a new plan, Jason, darling.  I'm not sure how much longer I could have stood the ugliness. But he house is ours now... I'm quite fond of this one. Maybe it's time to retire."  Unfortunately, for Sabrina and Jason, the person who overheard their conversation happened to be a cop on the vice squad, who did some checking into Sabrina's past, which turned out to be quite a checkered one. Fred, it turned out, was not the first victim of this particular pair. Fred got his house and most of his money back and Jason and Sabrina got jail cells to decorate for a significant period of time.


My mini:

Food critic, Joseph Hood, called the young chef to his table and greeted him warmly. "Your choice of sparkling wine and this odd, smelly cheese initially struck me as a drastic miscalculation, but I am pleased to tell you that I was mistaken. You have created a culinary masterpiece and taught and old critic some new tricks. My review will be a rave. Congratulations.


And my 10-word:

Although early on, many of her friends had thought that Jane's marriage to her obstreperous and eccentric artist husband was a  mistake, over the years, they had come to love him and his odd blend of contentiousness and "hugs to all" behavior. Thirty years later, when he died too young after a short illness, she had decided that the best way to honor his memory would be to swallow her grief and throw the festive "going away" party he had always told her he wanted. Mourners were asked to wear bright red and something with a zebra stripe - to match the decor of the deceased's coffin, which he had custom created for himself many years earlier. They drank wine, feasted on macaroni and cheese (his favorite meal), and shared memories of their late host. Much to the surprise of all, each guest - in alphabetical order. as per her late husband's instructions - was given with a signed painting or other work of art. "I want you to know," Jane told them, "that he himself chose who would receive which painting and he put great thought into it. Some of you have received lesser works because he thought you would love them and for a few he chose items that are potentially worth a fortune, because he knew you were struggling financially. He hid the bigness of his heart from strangers, but you who are gathered here knew it well. Before he died, he managed to create one final work - an homage to each and all of us here. I don't know if I am seeing it through the eyes of my grief, but I think it is his greatest work. It was his final gift to me and I wish all of you to be the first to see it." So saying, she uncovered a painting which was indeed a masterpiece - not just of art - but of love so moving that not one of them could refrain from weeping. It was a remarkable evening and each person present left feeling enriched in spirit and with a renewed commitment to watch over Jane for the rest of their lives, which they did, although her husband's final masterpiece left her quite well provided for all by itself.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  whisper, rest, carrot cake, pregnant, robot, pressure, play, sloth, category, needy 

And for the mini: challenge, cramped, particles, spice, pastoral

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

O America

PBS had a Celtic Women program on last night. I'm not all that fond of them... or at least I blow hot and cold, but I had never heard this song before and I found it beautiful and moving. My inner patriot got all stirred up.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 225

I forgot again.  Between the disruption (sort of) of Thanksgiving and my continuing sadness about Tara Grace, I just completely forgot it was Friday and Wordzzle day. Needless to day, since it's after 10 pm, I won't be posting anything until tomorrow. I do apologize for being so consistently inconsistent and late.

3:30 Saturday:  Done. I seem to have gone all serious and gloomy this weekend. Sorry. 

Words for this week's 10-word challenge:  humor, loss, marijuana, weekend, cold, wrist, Hercules, danger, mouse, disconnected,   And for the mini: girls, movies, compromise, tremendous, chalk


My mega:  

Hercules Montgomery - he had spent a lifetime paying a heavy price for his parents sense of "humor" - took another drag of his marijuana joint, knocking the ashes into a nearby ashtray with a deft flick of his wrist and shivered in the cold darkness of his home. He sat in front of the dark computer screen, mouse in hand, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was disconnected. It was only with tremendous effort that he pulled the frayed strands of his thoughts together enough to remember that it was his weekend to have custody and that and he was supposed to take his girls to the movies. The   herculean (no pun intended) efforts of his lawyer to get his ex wife to compromise and give him any access to their children would now be a total loss. She had warned him over and over of the danger his addictions posed and he had refused to listen. How ironic, that only now - when he had thrown away everything - could he truly hear her voice. He grasped a cup of cold coffee and drank it down in one gulp. It tasted like chalk, but it woke him up enough to push away some of the torpor of drugs and booze. Then, with shaking hands, he took his stash out of the desk drawer, headed to the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet. Next, he poured all the alcohol down the drain. Then - the hardest part - he dialed the phone and said the words she had prayed to hear all during their marriage. "Babe, I need help."


My mini:

 During the months of his rehab, one of the things that kept Herc Montgomery going was the desire to see his girls again and to redeem his broken promise to take them to the movies. His ex refused to compromise on the need for him to stay clean and sober for a full year before he could see the girls again. Years later - in retrospect - he recognized that her stubborn insistence and been a tremendous motivating force holding him firmly on course to recovery. The day when he did not react to those words like the sound of fingers on a chalk board, both he and his counselor knew he was truly on the road to recovery.



My 10-word:   

One of the best things about being recovered, Hercules thought, was that he had found his sense of humor again, although he had not recognized it's loss while he was actively in the thrall of his vices. In fact he had though himself the funniest guy in the room. That was perhaps the greatest danger of addition - the distortion of reality. Despite his heroic name, he had spent most of his life feeling more like a mouse than a man and had used drugs and booze to mask that pain. The irony was that marijuana and whiskey had in reality produced quite the opposite impression to others. That had been one of the greatest revelations during recovery. There had been a painful weekend at the clinic when his friends and family confronted him with the impact of his behavior on their lives. His wife and his parents had shared their devastation as he had become increasingly cold and disconnected.  The most devastating moment - the one that would be seared on his heart forever - was hearing his 12-year old daughter talk about her dread of hearing the words "you don't have to twist my wrist," which had apparently often preceded a major bout. Nothing he could ever do would take away the hurt he had caused these people - people he loved deeply - but he had known in that moment that he would spend the rest of his life doing his best to atone.

.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  festive, bright red, hugs to all, macaroni and cheese, grief, obstreperous, fortune, mistake, zebra stripes, alphabetical 

And for the mini: your choice, drastic, hood, sparkling, smelly

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

Hmmmm......

As the person who sent this to me said, I don't know if this is true of not...  I never believed the Ohio vote in 2004 and this story makes a lot of sense to me. There's a lot I don't really like about Anonymous, but if this is true, I like them a whole lot more than I did.  If this is true, we really need to do so me work on how we cast our votes so that we make sure no future elections can be stolen.  It's worth noting -which this story doesn't mention - that the voting machines in Ohio were purchased by a company with connections to Romney's son and to Bain Capitol.  Anyway, it's an interesting video.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 224

Needless to say, it has been a difficult week and I completely lost track of what day of the week it is, so I am behind schedule as usual but with a better excuse this week.  I think I'll just post the words and Mr. Linky for the moment and do my exercises tomorrow if all goes well.

5:30 PM:  This week's exercises are a series of pretty lame tributes to the late Tara Grace. I'm not sure the last one makes any sense. I was tired by the time I got to it. Sorry about that.


Words for this week's 10-word challenge were:   school, letter to the editor, service, turkey, furnace, weeds, trading, rambling, crass, forgery   And for the mini: general, affair, color, laughter, pepper


My mega: 

Raven sat reading through a long, crass and rambling letter to the editor which had been penned by some moronic, ignorant turkey of a "citizen"  (not that she was biased) about Obama's birth certificate being a forgery and how school children were in danger of being indoctrinated into socialism and Islam (no explanation given as to how two such divergent and incompatible systems could be meshed together). She peppered her reading of said letter with language which her mother would not have found acceptable. Generally, she tried to meet those who engaged in racism and hatred with laughter - it seemed the best medicine and what such nonsense deserved - but today her mood was colored by grief and she was trading sorrow for crankiness. She was grateful for the purring furnace (hey -that's a pun!) of Angel's little furry body in her arms. The hugs were like a healing service they offered to one another to stave off the weeds of grief and loss. Mourning was a strange affair, full of complex and confused emotions. Like the murder of her sister, this death had caught Raven off guard, both because it was unexpected and because sometimes we don't recognize the depth of our love for another until they are gone from us. Who would have thought that 4.7 pounds of shy, stubborn gray sweetness would leave such a gaping emptiness behind her?  "We will be OK," Raven whispered to Angel. And she knew it was true. "We will be sad for a time, but only Tara's body died, not her love. That's forever."

My mini:  

When Tara Grace first came into her life, Raven never imagined that it would be the start of a love affair (not that kind) that would touch her so deeply. Who would have believed that the sad, skinny, gray creature who was afraid to even come near her - would evolve into a source of laughter and head butts and such deep and tender emotions. Not Raven, to be honest. She has felt her heart ache with grief as Tara would sit herself 4 feet away and look with what could not be mistaken as anything but longing for affection mixed with fear and dread of receiving it. She had wondered in those early days if she wasn't making a mistake. But it hadn't been a mistake. Tara had turned out to be a gift that kept on giving, a riddle wrapped in a mystery, a complex and inspiring spirit who had come through suffering and abuse and retained her gentleness. Tara was a mix of contradictions as well. Loving her might have been frustrating to someone who wanted desperately to be able to pick her up and hug her, but she was anything but boring. She played like a ballerina, dancing around the room, batting some toy or other, but when that delicate ballerina spoke she had the raspy voice of a long-shoreman and it sounded like her words were peppered with language that might be described as colorful. Demure and delicate much of the time, she could also be like a general marshaling the troops when she was ready for her bed-time crunchies, and for all her fear of touch, she had compensated by curling up on Raven's hip during the night. In the end, Raven had discovered that that tiny, skinny little body had held a Spirit of enormous size. She had left a strange kind of quiet behind her. Not that she had been a noisy cat. She hadn't. (She had sneezed a lot and talked from time to time she was not a loud presence.) Even so, that was the best description Raven could come up with. It might be that emptiness was a better word. Whatever words you used,  huge tiny presence was gone... and she was missed. Raven was grateful to have been touched and changed by Tara's wise, gentle and loving presence in her life.

And the 10-word: 

Although she never sent it, Raven had briefly pondered writing a letter to the editor on the subject of stray cats.Here was how it began:  Like many rescued animals, in the school of life, Tara Grace suffered much, learned much and taught much. She spent part of her life hiding in the weeds, rambling in the woods, maybe trying to sneak into some basement somewhere trading the "safety" of freedom to steal a night of comfort by from a warm furnace. It was clear that my Tara was brutalized at one time by some crass bully whose manhood was a forgery, some sadistic turkey who hit and starved her to make himself feel more important. Despite that, Tara never lost her gentle spirit. We pay so much lip service in our lives to love and compassion, to our reverence for life. Then we don't spay our animals and we send them out to breed with others and leave those off-spring to fend for themselves or be killed. We treat them like toys we can ignore when we are busy and play with when we are bored. We talk about being good Christians, we talk about love and generosity. We have so much to learn from these animals we abuse - sometimes actively, sometimes by indifference. But they have so much to teach us. Their capacity to love and forgive is more profound than that of most humans I have met. My cats have taught me more about life and love than any humans. I wish we as a society would take action to more actively protect them. Each of the 4 cats who has come into my life has enriched it beyond measure and made my world a better place. 

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  humor, loss, marijuana, weekend, cold, wrist, Hercules, danger, mouse, disconnected, 

And for the mini: girls, movies, compromise, tremendous, chalk

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.

In Memoriam: Tara Grace

Thank you to those who have sent good wishes and hugs and prayers for Tara Grace. She remained stubborn and sweet to the very end but died very quickly. I didn't betray her trust and hold her until after she died. She hated being held, so I allowed her that dignity until she was gone from her body and then the very kind vet allowed me to sit and hold Tara in my arms for about 15-20 minutes before she had to leave and go to her next call. She said she thinks Tara was probably almost 19 and that she had been living on borrowed time for a very long time. She is at peace now and no longer in pain. Me... I'm crying a lot. 

Unknown - November 14, 2012

Prayers for Tara Grace

Tara Grace - also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Congestion - has taken a downturn over night. We could use your prayers and would very much appreciate them.

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 223

Oops.  Started this in the afternoon and then got a phone call and then got involved in something else and completely forgot about finishing it up.  Sigh.  I should never write these this late because it takes me forever and I keep digressing to other things. Sign. It's 10:30 and I just finished the mini. I kind of like that one. It's a love story. The mega is kind of stupid, if I do say so myself. Now I still have the 10-word and less than no enthusiasm. But I must persevere. 11:00 pm. Finally finished. Not my best, but it's done. 


Words for this week's 10-word challenge were:  horrors, family, ginger, relevant, center, cheaters never prosper, flag, twine, mayonnaise, he's got my vote,  And for the mini: books, pressed, off the wall, anchor, lavender


My mega: 

Identical twin sisters Lavender and Ginger Twine, were passionate about politics, but the similarity ended there. Ginger was an arch conservative, while Lavender was an equally fervid progressive. To make the situation even more bizarre, each of them anchored an opinion spot on rival news stations and the networks, smelling ratings gold, made sure that the sisters aired at different hours so that viewers could tune in and delight in two identical faces uttering totally opposing views on the horrors of one candidate or another. Ginger was prone to recite complex collections of talking points and often closed her segment by saying, "He's got my vote," while waving a small American flag. Lavender, on the other hand was inclined to more cerebral conversations with authors of relevant books on various political and social topics. This approach was partly just the natural bent of liberals as a collective but was probably also a response to being the only liberal in a family of rather stodgy conservatives. The Twines were Republican royalty of sorts and considered Lavender with her compassion for the poor and for animals - she was a vegan of all things! - to be rather off the wall.  She had spent her teen and college years pressed to defend her every decision - from volunteering at a Health Care and Abortion Center that catered to the poor to eating vegan mayonnaise - from derision or ethical challenge. "Cheaters never prosper," a family mantra and they aimed it at her as though compassion for the poor was a crime rather than a display of goodness. It was a matter of significant satisfaction to her, therefore, that while her sister won the family battles, her programs won both the ratings wars and awards for excellence in journalism. That said, sweet as that revenge was, she would have traded her public acclaim for a little respect from the family that seemed incapable of loving her.


My  mini: 

Megan loved the Off the Wall book store. She loved the smells and the people and the odd old volumes she found there which sometimes held delightful surprises. Once she had pulled a book about anchors off one of the crowded shelves only to find an old love note ans a sprig of lavender pressed between two of the pages. And she had met George there. How could 45 years have flown by so quickly? They had visited old hole in the wall store often and the owner had become one of their best friends. She had rather dreaded returning to their old haunt, but in his will George had told her he had left something for her there. When she had arrived, she was surprised to feel a sense of comfort as though George was watching over her. When Jack - the owner - handed her a sealed envelope, she had opened it with trembling hands. It read, "Beloved wife, how I have loved you. I know when I am first gone, you will need a purpose, so I have left you 11 (your favorite number) surprises here at our favorite book store. Not even Jack knows where they are, but I know you will find them and when you are done, you will know for sure that I will never really leave you or you me. I love you always. George."  Laughing, she showed the note to Jack before tucking it next to her heart. "Even from the grave, that man knows how to make me happy. I'm sure he will have made it a challenge. I think I'll start in the poetry section, Jack. I really feel his presence. Don't you?" And she was off on her quest. It took her almost a year to find all of his notes and pressed flowers, but she found them and with each one, she found her husband again in a new way. When her own time to leave this life came a few years after that, she embraced death with the faith and knowledge that George would be waiting for her. Their children, who were present when she died, all swore that they could feel their father's presence and the power of their parents' love.  And many years later, their youngest granddaughter wrote a book about it which she called, Pressed Flowers and Love Notes Off the Wall.


My 10-word:

Jane Relevant was exhausted but happy. The President had been re-elected and she felt like her country had escaped the great peril that his opponent embodied.  It had been a difficult campaign, though, full of such ugliness, vitriol and an assortment of horrors. The worst had been a strange package tied with twine and hidden in the rest room at campaign headquarter and even though it wasn't a bomb, it had turned out to be a dripping pig's heart and a note written in blood that said "cheaters never prosper." The police had had evacuated the whole shopping center, which for some reason many people blamed on them rather than on the perpetrator of the threat. Then there were the flag-waving (and sometimes gun toting) crazy people who shouted racial slurs or called them socialists and told them to stop ruining America and get a job. That said, there were precious memories too. Many of those she called were so excited about the election and the President and before she said two words would pronounce happily, "He's got my vote." The best thing, though, the thing she would never forget was the evening when the first family stopped by with pizza, cold cuts, bread and big jar of mayonnaise and making sandwiches for the five of them... even sending someone out to get some fresh ginger, which the first lady promised (correctly) would help settle Jane's upset tummy. And the President himself had hugged her and thanked her for her help and he and his wife had takne pictures with each of the volunteer. It had been awesome and had renewed their spirits and made them work even harder. He had won and she had helped him do it. She would sleep well tonight.


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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  school, letter to the editor, service, turkey, furnace, weeds, trading, rambling, crass, forgery

And for the mini: general, affair, color, laughter, pepper

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.