Saturday Centus - Week 153

 

 

Welcome to week ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE of Saturday Centus.

If you celebrate Easter, I hope yours is lovely.

This week I thought I'd go a totally different direction.

I hope it's a direction that challenges you.

The first sentence of your SC this week is:

"OUR FINGERS ENTWINED LIKE RIBBONS OF LIGHT"

From that compelling beginning, please write 100 words.

So..

The first seven words of your story will be the prompt...

...and then write in your usual creative and amazing style.

It will be interesting to see what we each come up with starting with the exact same sentence.

 

Perhaps the Easter egg dye has gotten to my brain, but I think this might be fun!

 

 

Number of words:  107 total

Style of writing: Any

Additional Pictures: Any

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer. Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to link up any time between now and next Saturday...

Bring on the deviled eggs, please!

This little poem is linked to week 152 of Saturday Centus!   We actually did this today with some of our Grandlittles!  Oh what fun!  To read other links using this picture prompt, just click here.

 We cover the table carefully…

The kitchen smells sharp and vinegar-y…

We fight for the colors…

…and fight for the dippers…

“Who has the white crayon!”

“Whose egg is just sitting

here in the purple!  

Hey! Pass me the green!”

All through the years

it’s been the same scene.

No matter how many I boil

there is never enough.

We fight over the last two!

Things can get rough!

But  after…

The after…

Can be so sublime…

Pickled and deviled and egg salad so fine!

“Hey, quit hogging the blue!”

It’s just about Easter!

and the egg dyeing's not through.

Ahhhhh...Easter Traditions

We have a lot of them here.

 

You know.

 

Decorating the house, having people for dinner, dyeing eggs and making Easter sugar cookies.

 

Etc.

 

However.

 

There is one tradition that I am not so fond of.

 

It involves Easter eggs.

 

Each year I invite anyone over that wants to dye eggs.

 

I buy a lot of eggs.

 

On sale.

 

I usually buy NINE OR TEN DOZEN!

 

Gasp!

 

Apparently this is an obscene number of eggs.

 

Or so says Mr. Jenny.

 

Each year, he wanders out to the kitchen where he sees my huge stock pot bubbling away on the stove filled to the brim with eggs.

 

 

Every year, he gasps in horror.

 

"Geez!   That's a lot of eggs!   What are you thinking?" He says.

 

I say, "Yes, it's a lot of eggs, but everyone takes some home AND I make deviled eggs and egg salad."

 

And every year he looks pale and says, "It just looks like a LOT of eggs."

 

And then we have our traditional Easter argument.

 

I an annoyed voice I reply, "I buy these eggs AND the dye AND the vinegar for under twenty bucks!   Where else can you go and have at least an hour of fun with the family for twenty BUCKS!"

 

Mr. Jenny retorts, "You don't have to rip my head off.  I was just asking.   Geez."

 

I sigh.

 

And sigh again.

 

And say sweetly, "Seriously!   Every year we have this conversation.   You'd think you'd remember what I say."

 

And then I add, "So, just don't eat the deviled eggs and egg salad and then I won't have to make so many next year."

 

And Mr. Jenny sighs.

 

And sighs again.

 

And says as he does every single year, "I was just commenting.  You don't have to get so huffy over the Easter eggs."

 

Ah.

 

Traditions.

 

The stuff families are made of.

 

The magical act of weaving forever memories.

 

I can picture it now...

 

Me...

 

...on  my death bed...

 

Mr. Jenny leaning in sweetly...

 

In a sad little voice he will whisper, "I just want to confess in these final moments that I always thought you made too many Easter eggs!"

 

YessireeBob...

 

Traditions just warm the heart...

 

AND...

 

I'd totally invite you over to help us dye eggs today, but Mr. Jenny already ate two and I think I might not have enough.

 

Sigh.

Nothing could be sweeter...

 

Than your feet are when

they're all dressed up

for Easter...

Nothing could be finer

than a sideways garden growing sweetly

in the morning...

 

 

Butterflies all flutter up and kiss each

baby apricot at dawning

Nothing could be sweeter

than orange blossom scented spring in the desert...

 

Unless it's splashing with my grandgirlies

when the pool is warming up in the spring time...

 

...or loving on new Grandsons

 

...near or far...

...from morn 'til nighttime.

 

If I had Alladin's lamp for only a day...

 

I'd make a wish and here's what I'd say

 

(other than please keep our oldest Grandlittle away from the snakes she found a few weeks ago in Oregon...)

 

Nothing could be finer than to be

in Arizona in the morning.

 

My sincere apologies to Dean Martin for butchering his classic song.Carolina in the Morning.

 

This strange little post is linked to the letter S for Alphabe-Thursday.   To read other "S" links, just click here.

 

 

Alphabe-Thursday Letter S

Good morning class.

Welcome to round six of Alphabe-Thursday! Today we will be studying the simply sensational letter:


Please link directly to your Alphabe-Thursday URL (if you don't know how to do this let me know!) and please continue to visit the five links before and after your link and leave a comment. Minimum of 10 links visited please. You can visit more if you like, of course.

I also want to let you know that each week I visit every blog. If it appears I haven't visited your blog by the following Saturday morning, please let me know!

If you have any difficulties with your link, please make sure to include the number of the link when you e-mail me. It is really difficult for me to find you easily otherwise.

If you have any questions about Alphabe-Thursday or problems doing your link just post it in a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll do my best to help you as quickly as I can.

The McLinkey will be live from 1:00 pm MST time Wednesday afternoon in an effort to assist our lovely "friends across the pond" and continue through 10:00 am MST time Friday morning!

And remember.... link back to this post, you need to be registered as a follower of my blog, PG posts only, and you must visit at least 10 other posts...perhaps consider starting from the last posts and work backwards. The links will stay live after the final post deadline has passed so you can even wait and visit over the weekend or whenever you have more time.

Please link your silly or somber S link now!

If I had to choose between...

...fatal attraction or just the annoying kind...

...to be honest...

I guess I'd choose the annoying kind, even though I've only brushed against the other kind once.

It was my English high-school teacher.  I'm  pretty sure he was into the whole fatal kind.  Or perhaps stalking and ambushing a students car at night was just a teacher being really, really conscientious.

Shudder.

Wait a second, okay?

I have to lock my office door.

Yeah.

I know it was like forty years ago but you never know when those mysterious powers of attraction may come into play again.

Shudder.

BUT...

I wasn't planning to go into the fatal attraction thing with this post.

I was actually wanting to talk about attraction of another kind.

A super, super annoying kind.

Okay.

Are you ready?

It's this stuff.

 

Every year I tussle with this attraction.

 

I'm not sure what's in my physiology that makes this stuff stick to me like glue...

 

It's probably the same thing that causes me to scream and jump from electric shock every time I touch a shelf in a store.

 

But Easter grass.

 

Yeah.

 

It's annoyingly attracted to me.

 

I spend some time each year making little 'long distance Easter Egg hunts" for family and friends.

 

The 'hunt' involves a bunch of plastic eggs filled with random sugar-filled stuff and sometimes a little cash.

 

 

To be honest, though, I don't think it's much of a challenge for the recipient ... sigh...

 

But...

 

The 'hunt' involves ME filling a box with Easter grass and filled eggs!

 

Finally throwing a card into the filled box, I attempt to seal it. 

 

The attraction part makes the sealing part pretty frustrating.   Grass sticks to my hands and arms and any other body part that comes in contact with the filled box. 

 

Elbows. 

 

Knees.  

 

Eyebrows.

 

Hey.   Don't look surprised.   I am a full-in kind of packing girl!

 

The more I try to push it off me, the more it sticks.

 

The more it sticks, the more annoyed it makes me.

 

The more I get, the more the grass is attracted to me.

 

It's a vicious cycle.

 

I'm feeling like there should be a support group for this.

 

I can see my first meeting now.

 

"Hi, I am Jenny.  I allow myself to be victimized by Easter Grass.   All colors.   Even the weird yellow grass."

 

Maybe that would help lessen the grasses attraction to me.

 

Or maybe it would just make me look even weirder.

 

Regardless...

 

I am finally done packing the boxes.

 

The grass is sticking out here and there from the tape.

 

I can see it want to start wiggling toward me.

 

Sigh...

 

Time for Mr. Jenny to make a post office run.

 

And time for me to get out the tissue paper to wrap everyone elses Easter basket stuff.

 

Man.

 

Must life always be so complicated.

 

(mwahahahahahahaha!)

"I think it's going to be the trip of a lifetime..."

Mr. Jenny said!

 

His eyes were as round as a kid in a candy store.

 

Okay. 

 

I'll be honest.

 

His eyes were as round as MY eyes in a candy store.   Godiva to be exact.

 

Have you ever gone in one of those stores?

 

OM DIEDANDGONETOHEAVEN G!

 

They have these raspberry ones covered in dark chocolate that are...

 

...

 

...

 

ummmm...

 

blush...

 

Sorry about that. 

 

Sugar rudely interrupted my train of thought for a moment.

 

Ummm...

 

So...

 

As I was saying, Mr. Jenny was pretty excited.

 

Mr. Jenny has a 1949 Jeepster. 

Mr. Jenny loves his Jeepster.

 

Some dark day when I'm totally bored and don't have 47,603 things on my to do list, I shall tell you the tale of how he acquired it.

 

In the interim, just know that he loves it.

 

It doesn't run very well right now.

 

Something about a transmission thing-y and an over-drive thing-y and some other mechanical thing-y's that I pay no attention when he's blathering on and on about them.

Oh.

 

Oops.

 

Did I write that out loud?

 

Some Jeepster person contacted Mr. Jenny and asked him if we might like to participate in a drive from the east coast to the west coast early in 2014.

 

In the actual  Jeepster.

 

Over something like 3 weeks.

 

Mr. Jenny thinks that will be the trip of a lifetime.

 

"Ummmm.  Do you mean like driving all the way?"  I asked fearfully.

 

"Yes!  YES!   Look, here's the schedule.   We drive like 200 or 300 miles a day and then..."

 

"Ummmm," I interrupted.  "200 or 300 miles a DAY!?!   Are you out of your mind?   We can't even go around the block without all those transmission thing-y's acting up."

 

Mr. Jenny looked very offended.   "This will be fun!  You need to be excited!  You need to be positive!   It will be the trip of a lifetime."

 

"Ummmmm," I tried again.   "But...200 or 300 miles a DAY?!?   We can't even go to the park without the over-drive thing-y making that icky noise."

 

"Don't worry about it," Mr. Jenny said smugly.   "I'm having the Jeepster towed later in the week to start some work on it!"

 

I don't know if this will actually happen.

 

There's a bunch of things going on with the planning and certification to participate.

 

But it might happen.

 

And we might be able to drive longer than the imaginary trips our Grandlittles take in the Jeepster in the garage...

And it might be the trip of a lifetime!

 

And maybe there could even be a Godiva chocolate store along the route!

 

Count me in!

Easter Alchemy

It's so cool that if you take two of these elements...

 

 

 

...and add  imagination...

 

...to a plastic bin filled with plastic Easter Eggs...

 

...and a desert landscaped front yard...

 

...you can create an Easter Egg River...

 

 

 

...that sparkles in the sun!

 

It's not quite transmutation of  base metals into gold...

 

...but it is a neat transformation!

 

Happy Monday!

  

Painted Alphabet Letter R

I have three R's to share with you this week.

Technically, two are painted and one is a miracle!

My Grandlittles say this a lot.   I'm not sure if I actually like this sign, but it makes me smile.

This sign is 24" tall and 10" wide.

And this sign is one I've done before.   But I've customized it for someone special in our lives.

 

16" x 15"

 

This double R sign is for the new Grandlittle in our lives.  

 

Remington Franklin

 

 

7 pounds and 5 ounces x 19"

 

...and, oh, what a sweet little R he is!

 

Signs are hand-painted and available in my Etsy shop...you can see the mini link at the top right of my blog or click on any picture for a link!  No stickers...no stencils...my designs.

 

The baby.   Geez.   Not available at any price!   But isn't he gee whiz cute?

 

This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's Letter R.   To read other R offerings, just  click here.

 

Saturday Centus - Week 152

 

Welcome to week ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO of Saturday Centus.

 

It's a picture prompt this week.

 

Hey.

 

Don't be a hater.

 

It's almost Easter, so do with this what you will.

 

 

 Number of words:  100

Style of writing: Rhyme

Additional Pictures: Any

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer. Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.

E-mail me directly with ???'s or ask your question in a comment and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Feel free to link up any time between now and next Saturday...

PS.  I totally love devilled eggs.  Just thought I'd mention that little piece of trivia.

Have ever been...

...just kinda/sorta minding your own business...

 

...and all this...

 

ummm...

 

STUFF!

 

... comes along and seems determined

 

(quite determined)

 

to get INTO your business...

 

and you tell yourself that the only thing you can control is yourself...

 

...and your OWN business...

 

...but it's hard...

 

so...

 

... you start getting sucked into the vortex of everything going on around you...

 

GOOD and BAD...

 

...and suddenly you realize

 

!!!!!

 

Holy cannoli...

 

what did I do with my own life...

 

so...

 

... you take a deep breath

 

and you decide that you need to keep taking deep breaths...

 

...until you

 

REMEMBER!!!!!

 

how to breath automatically...

 

...and to not let life suck the oxygen out of you?

 

Gosh.

 

Was that the longest run-on sentence EVER in the world?

 

And, no.

 

That hasn't, technically, happened to me.

 

I was just asking.

 

Blush.

 

A sentimental Saturday Centus

This little story is linked to week 151 of Saturday Centus.   To read other offerings click here.  The prompt and picture this week reminded me of messages hidden in books and the backs of pictures.   Often when I scrapbook, I write in pencil on the back of the pages.   I hope someday my Grandlittles or children finding these messages.  I hope someday they read something at a time they need it.   Wouldn't that be an amazing gift for 'someday'?

 

I ran my thumb over the lightly penciled letters.

The writing seemed shaky.

When had her trembling, gnarled fingers written these words?

Tired of the fabric frame that had carefully protected the photo for decades, I had been astonished when the glass and cardboard had been removed.

I re-read the words of her favorite psalm again. “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy”.

How had she known these words would speak exactly to my soul?

Through my tears I raised my eyes to heaven. “Thank you Beryl for writing these words for me to find someday,” I said softly.

Alphabe-Thursday Letter R

Good morning class.

Welcome to round six of Alphabe-Thursday! Today we will be studying the ridiculously radical letter:



Please link directly to your Alphabe-Thursday URL (if you don't know how to do this let me know!) and please continue to visit the five links before and after your link and leave a comment. Minimum of 10 links visited please. You can visit more if you like, of course.


If you have any difficulties with your link, please make sure to include the number of the link when you e-mail me. It is really difficult for me to find you easily otherwise.

If you have any questions about Alphabe-Thursday or problems doing your link just post it in a comment or send me an e-mail. I'll do my best to help you as quickly as I can.

The McLinkey will be live from 1:00 pm MST time Wednesday afternoon in an effort to assist our lovely "friends across the pond" and continue through 10:00 am MST time Friday morning!

And remember.... link back to this post, you need to be registered as a follower of my blog, PG posts only, and you must visit at least 10 other posts...perhaps consider starting from the last posts and work backwards. The links will stay live after the final post deadline has passed so you can even wait and visit over the weekend or whenever you have more time.

Please link your "R" post right now:

Painted Alphabet Letter Q

I have two quirky q's to share with you this week.

I'm not feeling gloomy, but I wanted to try my hand at this quote.  There is a little acid yellow in the raven and the letters have that tint, too.   I'm actually weirded out by Ravens...and quite often by Edgar Allen Poe, so this sign is going to stay in the garage for awhile.   ha!

This sign is 10" tall and 24" wide.

This sign is just sweet.   Sweet and deep.   Exactly how I like my iced tea.

 

Blush.

 

 

15" x 16"

 

Hand-painted and available in my Etsy shop...you can see the mini link at the top right of my blog or click on any picture for a link!  No stickers...no stencils...my designs.

 

This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday's Letter Q.   To read other Q offerings, just click here.

 

Thanks for quietly  stopping by!