Day: December 27, 2019

Five Lines or Less — Brother and Sister

Fandango3 Comments

07E4208C-88C3-411F-859A-7A6CB74EB845“My sister and I have had more than our fair share of difficult exchanges about politics, and it’s a real shame that we just can’t seem to see eye-to-eye on anything,” Ted said.

“Your sister is one of the most popular girls at school,” Eric said, “so maybe you should give her the freedom to be herself.”

“You’re right, Eric,” Ted said. “I’ll give her some time — a decent interval of time, anyway — to see if we can get through it without arguing.”

“I’m sure, in the aftermath of the current political chaos,” Eric said, “you and your sister will, once again, get along famously.”

5 linesWritten for the Friday Five Lines or Less prompt from Patricia’s Place. The idea is to write a story or poem of five lines or less. This week’s word is “exchanges.” Also for these daily prompts: Daily Addictions (sister), The Daily Spur (shame), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (popular), Word of the Day Challenge (freedom), Your Daily Word Prompt (interval), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (aftermath). Photo credit: Bonorganik.

#writephoto — Welcome to Purgatory

Fandango20 Comments

C32E9638-7188-462B-89A1-1DD256BFD3A3I was one of a group of half a dozen rather unworldly-looking beings, almost ghostly in our appearance and seeming to be without material substance. I had no memory of how I got here and no knowledge where I was. But I knew that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

It was very dark and I could see nothing other than a blueish glow emanating from my companions and me. They all seemed to be as confused and disoriented as I was. I tried to speak but, I could produce no sound.

Without warning, an apparition appeared before us, emerging from the darkness and literally gliding into view. She had the appearance of a woman with long, flowing red hair and she was carrying some sort of bowl in her hand, in a fashion as one might when making an offering. She possessed an ethereal look, translucent and pulsating in such a matter that made it seem as if she was, at the same time, both there and not there.

In a voice that was soft and delicate, yet lilting, she said, “Welcome to Purgatory, my friends. Each of you has died in God’s grace, but you are still imperfect and must undergo the process of purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”

“Damn,” I thought to myself, since I was unable to vocalize. “It seems that I bet on the wrong horse when I was alive. I believed neither in God nor in the afterlife.”

The apparition floated over to me, took the bowl she was holding, lifted it over what once would have been my head, turned it upside down, and emptied the contents of the bowl over me, causing me to experience a pressing sensation on my chest. “No,” she said, “you are right where you belong.”

Then I heard what sounded like a cat’s purring and as I slowly returned to consciousness, I discovered that I was in my bed and the pressing sensation on my chest was from my cat sitting on my chest and kneading me.

Written for the Thursday Photo Prompt from Sue Vincent. Image credit: unattributed.

Fandango’s Friday Flashback — December 27

Fandango30 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of you earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember?

Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 27th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on December 27, 2009 — exactly one decade ago on my old blog. I honestly don’t remember why 2009 was such a bad year for me, but I do remember that 2010 was, indeed, a much better one.

It’s About Friggin’ Time!

Happy New Year 2010I am so glad that this year has finally come to an end. What a lousy, awful, miserable year it was. I can’t think of very many really good things that happened in 2009. Yes, I managed to stay alive for another full year, but beyond that there just aren’t many remembrances of 2009 that I can reflect back on fondly. In fact, when it comes to 2009, most memories make me wince.

And so it is with open arms and some high expectations that I welcome 2010 as I say a not-so-fond farewell to 2009. I am bound and determined that 2010 will be a much better year than 2009 was, and that just over 365 days from now, I will be able to look back on the year and say, “Thank you, 2010. I’m sorry to see you go.”

FOWC with Fandango — Popular

Fandango18 Comments

FOWCWelcome to December 27, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “popular.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.