Friday, February 12, 2010

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge, Week 99



This is week 99 of the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Hard to believe that next week will be our 100th episode of wordzzles. Wow. I apologize for next week's words. I just puts em down as they come into my head. Blame the muse and please accept my apologies.


This week's words were:
thermometer, Pandora, vivid, langourous, Saturday, pancreas, apple dumplings, watch tower, lichen, sparrow and for the mini: rigid, spiritual, ribbon, web cam, vitamins



My mega:


Pandora Jones had always had a curious mind and a wonderfully vivid imagination. As a young girl she had spent langourous summer afternoons reading under the shade of the big oak tree at the creek's edge where she would explore the equivalent of cloud patterns in the lichen forming on the stones and watch sparrows, squirrels and other wild life with a mix of scientific and imaginative interest. On days when the thermometer said it was too hot for such pursuits, she would stay in writing stories about her dog Saturday, his bunny friend Apple Dumpling and their friend Ribbon, the cat. She would go into the attic play room call it a watch tower from which she waited lovingly for her prince (or her whaler husband or the king or...) to come home to her from the wars or the sea or... Unfortunately as she got older, this same wonderful imagination turned on her and she became a master hypochondriac. Her current obsession was her pancreas and she was making herself sick imagining the worst. No one could dissuade her from her rigid and determined belief that she was dying. In desperation her husband and family finally hired a spiritualist to talk with her. They set up a meeting via web cam. The woman was brilliant and though it took some persuading, finally talked Pandora away from death's door and into a vitamin regimen and a writing project. The result? Pandora wrote a best-selling children's book and lived to be 105.




My 10-word:



So much for langourous summer days, he thought. Frank didn't have to look at the thermometer to know that Fall was in the air and that their lazy summer weekends at Saturday Farm
were about to fade into winter memory. It was time to cover up the beautiful new pancreas shaped pool (ok... so it was kidney shaped... that wasn't one of the words) until next year and bring in the deck furniture. He loved summer at the farm. There were magical walks in the woods watching sparrows and vibrant red cardinals and blue jays flitting around and looking for mushrooms that his wife Pandora would cook up for one of her magnificent dinners. In summer, they loved collecting rocks and plants and discovering all the different kinds of lichen on the rocks and tree trunks. Fall brought crisp cool days, vivid color and the crunch of leaves under foot. But winter at the farm had it's wonders too: curling up in front of the fireplace in the watch tower room as they called it and looking out at the deer in the snow-covered woods and fields or the thousand stars of a winter night. And then there was the anticipation of Spring and the re-emergence of life. And in every season there were Pandora's wonderful apple dumplings (made with apples picked from their own trees) and wonderful garden fresh salads. They both looked forward to the day when Saturday farm would be their every day home, but for now they counted every minute they spent their as a special blessing.



And the mini:


After the horrors of her rigid born-again religious up-bringing, Margaret felt so blessed that she had discovered a new spiritual home with the Reverend Rupert Ribbon and his Church of the Web Cam. She had only been taking his wonderful divinely blessed vitamins for a few weeks and she was already feeling so much better. It was a miracle. God was good.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Words for next week's 10-word challenge are:
transfixed, treachery, basics, fragrance, sampler, pregnant, cartoons, lark, spartan


For the mini: rapid, camping, blandishments, transitory, plug-ins




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!!!!!






6 comments:

DawnTreader said...

I can't believe I'm first this week!

I had a good laugh at your mini! In my opinion web cam was the toughest word this week.

Judging by first glance at next week's words I'll probably never be able to sew my story together...

Argent said...

Pandora Jones! What a great name for a character! And you 10-worder painted such a warm rich picture for me - I could almost taste those apple dumplings! The pancreas comment made me laugh. "Chruch of the Web Cam" I bet there's already one of those, although I wonder if they do blessed vitamins - I could use some! You made it look effortless again. I struggled with the words again this week but it's doing me good!

Argent said...

PS Just looked at next week's words and: Eeek!

MommyWizdom said...

Raven, my favorite was the mini! That one was fun!

I played, better late than never, right?

Have a great week!

Connie T. said...

Raven, loved your wordzzles. I wrote my yesterday, but typed it today. I did just the mega challenge.

Stephen said...

I liked your mega story, and the interesting names given to the animals. Also, I used to find pictures in patterns on ceiling tile and other things when I was young, so I can understand her finding pictures in patterns in lichen. The 10 word story was very nice, and had lots of interesting descriptions of outdoor activities in the area around the farm. My favorite, though, might be the mini story, with the Church of the Web Cam. If it doesn't exist already, it probably will soon.

I'm running very, very late, but I have my stories up now.

Stephen from Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
http://stephen-has-spoken.blogspot.com/