Wordle #136 “January 2nd, 2016” – Her Ice Heart

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Michael

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This week’s words: Leavings  Insular (of or relating to an island or islands: dwelling or situated on an island: forming an island: detached; standing alone: narrow-minded or illiberal. Pathology occurring in or characterized by one or more isolated spots, patches, or the like.)  Cryophilic (thriving in low temperatures) Melody Radio Fetal Pity China (the material)  Headlights Promontory (A high point of land or rock projecting into the sea or other water beyond the line of coast; a headland. A bluff, or part of a plateau, overlooking a lowland.) Spell Fizzle

I’d picked the wrong girlfriend I knew it from the moment I first held her hand. Cold hands, cold feet and worst of all a cold heart. She was a cryophilic, living and breathing through the frostiness of her personality. She loved nothing more than an icy morning frolicking in the snow that had fallen overnight or to my absolute horror a cold shower each morning. Her cryophilic ways were most disturbing and I did begin to wonder what had attracted me to her in the first place.

I could feel all attraction beginning to fizzle out as she subjected me to another of her whims, an ice bath. That was the final straw. She suggested a visit to the promontory and I looked forward to exploring this part of the world. It was a cool day with the wind blowing in off the ocean having previously visited the Antarctic so I was rugged up but she was in a t-shirt and shorts loving every minute of the cold casting its spell over her.

Up until I had met her I had led a very insular life. Being withdrawn and happy in my own little world entering hers had been like a rabbit in the headlights. Big eyed and very vulnerable.

Our relationship had been as if like a bull in a china shop with everything and I mean everything tried out in the first week. She left nothing to the imagination leaving me in no doubt as to her attraction to me.

As we neared the end of the promontory she spied a rock pool. It still had its ice covering and she jumped at the chance to get into it. Urging me to join her she stripped off and plunged in. I am sure there was an element of pity in her voice that day as she took in my reticence at having my body assaulted by the cold that awaited me.

I have to say she looked extremely appealing in the pool, her naked body glistening with the icicles dripping of her pointy bits which were very pointy at that stage. I knew if I entered the pool I was more likely to curl into a fetal position more from embarrassment as I knew my bits wouldn’t be pointy as hers were.

And I was right!

Needless to say as we left the pool after my short stay, shivering and trembling while she did cartwheels of exhilaration illustrating her cryophilistic personality, she left me feeling her body sang a different melody to mine. How could we co-exist like this?

As we drove away that day the radio played what was to become a favourite melody to us: Your Ice Heart is Melting My Will Power.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/wordle-136-january-2nd-2016/

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#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – Jan. 2nd/17 – Time

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Michael

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I just don’t have the time to do this today. There are appointments, people to see, places to go and the cricket begins today: the third test Australia and Pakistan.

To make it worse I need to start cleaning out the spare room for painting.

Sometimes there is not the hours in the day to get everything done. But as my kids tell me I don’t do anything these days so I should have all the time in the world to get nothing done as they put it.

As it is there are prompts I want to write today. My favourite is the wordle which does take some time to write as I have to shape whatever story I commit to.  In the time it takes I do like to play with the most difficult word and see how many different ways I can use it. So today’s challenge for me will be seeing how many ways I can use the word ‘Cryophilic’ meaning; thriving in low temperatures.

Time will tell and since I like the time I have I shall now go and have breakfast and see where my creativity takes me.

Time to go!

 

Written for: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/02/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-2nd17/

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Writing Prompt #193 “A World Apart Part 2” – The Karyls

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Michael

elf-female

Describe in detail one or more of the sentient races that inhabit your world

Race: Karyl

Species: Potential Angelic, Potential Satanic, Potential Agnostic…governed by geographic location

Genders: 2 (male, female)

Gender Equality: Split by vocal abilities, males = low notes, females = high notes

Lifespan: 90 – 100 years

Alignment: passionate about their place in the world

Height: 2.2m-3m

Build: males are often paunchy and the females big busted…. reflective of their large lung capacity….

Language: Medieval Melodic, noticeable for the range of words and sounds depending on their tonal abilities…some words when sounded by the females can appear to have multiple vowel and consonants stretched across them…

Skin Tone: Black, white and brown depending on geography

Body Hair: Hairy underarms often to absorb sweat generated by group activity, large heads of hair, hairy legs stretching from the pubis to the ankles….

Hair: Depending on geography and location, can vary but always each species is well endowed with this feature.

Hair Colour: Depending on Geography….

Eye Colour: Blue, green or brown

Pupil: Wide

Nose: often proboscis in shape….

Ears: varying from male to female, some of the Potential satanic can have long elongated ears but among the Potential Agnostic they have a philosophy: “all the better to hear you with” …

Mouth: All Karyls have big gaping mouths they love to flap about

Fingers and Toes: Males have short and stubby fingers the females long almost talon like claws…

Distinguishing Features: lack of any sense of humour, an attitude there is only one way to do this.

Anatomy Extra Info: Oversized lungs as they enjoy holding their breaths a long time and speaking without breathing for as long as they can….

Genitals Male: Swing high swing low is their attitude, love to banter as to who has the biggest one….

Genitals Female: tucked neatly away but upon activation can create a scene any male can either go for or run from…

Sexual Maturity: Life long, or so the males like to believe…

Reproduction and Mating: various mating rituals ensure the selection of only the best breeders….males can mate at the drop of a hat or a semi quaver for that matter……females need to feel they are in harmony with their male suitor, his size, although impressive and his enthusiasm, won’t always guarantee a successful mating…Females once fertilized become extremely sensitive to their environment and will require the males attention far more than he realizes resulting in nesting becoming an issue when his mates call for a round or two of neighbourhood fraternization.

Sexual Orientation: Males are very attracted to the females and begin courting and acts of bravado from an early age. Females love to feel the male’s attention but need to be won over before allowing any liberties of a sexual nature. After all, when she mates the high notes make all the difference.

Family Life and Child-rearing: The Karyls live in groups called Quires. Much time is spent learning the art of Quire living. Children are usually seen and not heard. Most Karyls are proud of their children, especially if they know their place.

Special Abilities: Able to hold a conversation for a long time, they communicate thru prolonged sounds sung usually in a bizarre way often in the language of another group but they are born with the innate ability to understand all dialects.

Latent Abilities: very little creativity, most perform what has been the stable repertoire for the past thousand or so years…originality is frowned on generally.

Eyesight: 20/20

Smell: yes, especially after several hours of quire practice in a closed room…

Taste: Yes, a bit like chicken.

Hearing: 20 octaves

Weaknesses: fear of water and bad quiring habits

Diet: Whatever is put in front of them…

Hierarchy: Karyls depend a lot on those elected to lead them…. they look to them for direction at every turn…

History Brief Overview:  Karyls have been around a long time. They belong to an ancient order of sentient beings who muddled their way through history before anyone wrote it down to reveal their muddlesomeness.

With the advent of writing and tribal order the Karyls evolved into the beings they are today. The smarter ones amongst them developed a way of recording their tribal practices. It was a crude method but one that they embraced. Over time the distinct races emerged and they in turn developed their own particular language and customs.

The Potential Angelic race developed a series of tributes to the God they believed was responsible for their actual existence. Hence many of their tributes were about Angels on High, Praise the God our creator and so there was a lot of harking in their language along with fights over who might be a herald and who wasn’t. The conversation among the Potential Angelics was always lively.

The Potential Satanics too developed a language of their own. Theirs was in tribute to shepherds and kings lost and found, of reindeer dashing through the snow and of people suffering from being unloved…one of the Potential Satanic’s achievements was the publication of their famous December Karyl which depicts the miserable existence of a man who doesn’t believe in karyling of any kind until confronted by the ghosts of his past.

The Potential Agnostics were so caught up with the here and now, that their language was one of singing and song, hence there was a lot of jingling and bells being rung as they each had a thoroughly good time every time December rolled around. That is not to say they didn’t enjoy the rest of the year they did as they spend a lot of it trying their best to produce more fun loving folks like themselves.

To this very day the Karyls still live their distinct lives adding to the quality of life they each endure. They provide a service to themselves and each year as they bring in a new year they greet each other with a statement like: “Not much has changed.” And they like that.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2017/01/01/writing-prompt-193-a-world-apart-part-2/

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#JusJoJan Daily Prompt – Jan. 1st/17 – Spider

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Michael

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I found cause to kill a spider today…It was in the bathroom and as I was standing there, as we gentlemen do, and I spied him on the wall. Now in itself that is ok for a spider to be but the issue for me is that when I come back later he will have spun a web across the bathroom and I will find myself tangled in it.

It’s that time of year around here when the spiders spin webs across things like footpaths and so often you don’t see them until you are tangled and then worried that you have a giant spider crawling on your back about to sink its fangs into you.

When I walk at this time of year I have taken to carrying a stick with me to ward off the webs if I see them.

You see a lot of webs around this way. I admire them so long as they are not in my path. They are a marvel of nature are they not?

In a way it’s their way of survival isn’t it.

Humans go out to work to earn money to survive. Their work enables them to buy the food they need. The humble spider works to spin a web so as to catch the food it needs to survive. It’s all relative isn’t it.

Anyway I thought I’d jot that down.

 

Written for: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/01/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-1st17/

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New Year’s Eve Flash Bash

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Michael

I hope you don’t mind but I feel the urge to submit two pieces, yes I know it’s being greedy but the fare you present is so tempting…

shultz-and-dooley

All photos: (c) Lorraine

Flash One: In 25 words or less: Using one of the photos provided, write a story in 25 words or less. Beginning, middle and end.

 

My neighbours were very ordinary. One played violin the other double bass.

On New Year’s Eve they jammed. Auld Lang Syne never sounded so good.

 

Flash Four: Traditional Fare: Using one of the photos provided, write a story of 100 to 150 words.

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Haggatha hated all things Christmas, New Year and birthdays. Birthdays she found particularly irksome. The numbers she sensed were deliberately set against her.

So each year she was the scrooge of her street. She frowned and mumbled ‘humbug’ a lot. She didn’t decorate, she didn’t buy gifts for her neighbours, she didn’t bake and she didn’t make, anything.

Rather she sat in her house of misery and scowled a lot.

She wore her drabbest clothes on Christmas day and wasn’t afraid to be seen in such. She kept her best expressions on that day, her face twisted in dislike as though she’d eaten crab apples instead of pink ladies.

On Christmas morning she found a package on her front step.

 

Merry Christmas Miss Haggatha

Have a lovely day

Amanda (Next Door)

 

Inside was a small Christmas Tree. So moved someone thought of her she hung it on her front door.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2016/12/31/new-years-eve-flash-bash/

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#SoCS Dec. 31/16 – “first/last.”

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Michael

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Firstly, she pointed out the need to write something substantial. I was reminded that there was an expectation that on this occasion there would be a first and last word on the subject and I was determined to have the last word as well as the first.

I had been asked to speak on the topic of sleyination as I was the world’s expert on the topic even though I had more than my fair share of critics. Namely the ones purporting that I had made the whole up.

My address would put paid to all the naysayers, the doubters and detractors.

Firstly, I pointed out the sleyination was a word used to define the art of guiding a sleigh through the snow whilst being pulled by eight reindeer one of which had to have a red nose. After exhaustive research I had come to this conclusion and invented the word to describe the art of guiding said reindeer through the snow, sleet and heat on any given Christmas night.

My audience sat spellbound to my address. You could have heard a pin drop when I produced video of a sleigh being drawn by eight reindeer and leading one with a red nose.

I sat down as the scattered applause thundered around me knowing I had settled the matter at last.

 

Written for: https://lindaghill.com/2016/12/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-3116/

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December 29: Flash Fiction Challenge – Cosy Yet?

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Michael

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December 29, 2016 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a cozy story. What is it to be cozy, to experience Danish hygge? It doesn’t need to be culture-specific, but it can be an interesting point of comparison or contrast. A character might long to feel cozy, or you might describe the perfect cozy scene. It may or may not include Prosecco.

 

With the winter wind doing its icy best I huddled, shivering under the blanket she had given me. I had come from the south where it was summer and hot and you needed little in the way of clothing. Here I couldn’t find enough layers to put on. Sensing my discomfort, she came towards me with a steaming cup of hot chocolate, snuggled in against me and wrapped her arm inside mine. As I sipped the warm brew I could feel it warming my insides. She’d rested her head against my shoulder asking me if I was cosy yet.

 

Written for: https://carrotranch.com/2016/12/30/december-29-flash-fiction-challenge/

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Thursday photo prompt – Time #writephoto – Under the clock tower NYE.

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Michael

time

We were to meet under the clock tower New Year’s Eve.

It was still early but the lights were glowing the celebrations under way as groups along the street huddled together in the cold night air soaking up the end of year festivities.

I found a seat not far from the clock tower where I could see the approaching revellers thinking she would be along any minute.

She had been so keen about meeting me and had rung several times during the day to ask if I was on my way and still enthusiastic about meeting up.

There was no way I was going to not be there. My attraction to her was clear in my mind and this opportunity was one I wasn’t going to let go by.

She had said she’d be there by 8pm. By 9pm I began to worry. I sent her a text. No reply. I tried to call her. Nothing.

I began to think I had been set up and half expected my mates to emerge from the crowds laughing at my expense.

By 10pm I knew something must have happened. I sent her a message to say I was going home and to call me.

I walked to the bus stop just beyond the clock tower and waited. There was a bus due any minute and I so didn’t want to be hanging around looking any more stupid than I was feeling.

I was so disappointed; I had had such expectations. I should have known better.

The bus approached just as a hand slipped into mine. There she was. There’d been an accident and she was involved in the rescue. Too busy to answer her phone or message me. Thinking I had gone home she’d run across the square looking for me and at the last moment spied me at the bus stop.

We caught the bus.

 

Written for: https://scvincent.com/2016/12/29/thirsday-photo-prompt-time-writephoto/

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Tale Weaver #98: December 29th – Celebration – New Year on Grimace Street.

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Michael

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Image © Mara Eastern used with permission

With the new Year approaching preparations for the annual Grimace Street New Year’s Eve party were well under way.

In recent years much of the prep was done by the inhabitants of the street who joyfully embraced the start of a New Year with untiring enthusiasm.

The reason for their enthusiasm was the fireworks display that Miss Marble at No 46 presented to the locals each year.

She was as excited as everyone else. After all, pyrotechnic skill, was something everyone possessed. She had learned the skill from a travelling pyro technician many years before, a Chinese gentleman very keen to learn the secrets of her life potion and in exchange for Miss Marble’s potion he taught her the secrets and skills of a good fireworks display. Miss Marble didn’t part with her potion secrets to just anyone but this man from the east who dressed and spoke so differently had gained her trust and so the exchange took place.

He went away with her life potion and she looked at the mass of fireworks he left for her to play with. Like all witches though, it was one thing to part with a potion it was another to ensure it always worked. Miss Marble was a cunning witch in that most of her ‘special’ potions had a limited life. The formula would only last a certain time before needing to be changed. She didn’t tell the China man this as she knew his life was limited and so by the time her potion had reached its use by date he would be an old man and soon to die.

But she took to pyrotechnics with a passion. The first year did result in some accidents. She learned it wasn’t a good idea to stand too close, nor allow too big of a crowd to gather too close either. There was a lot of trial and error associated with letting go a few firecrackers.

For this year, like all previous years in modern times, she had developed one surprise display. This year it was the Big Ben. Upon ignition the rocket would rise into the air and upon explosion Big Ben complete with clock tower would appear in a thousand tiny lights before exploding once again as the clock struck twelve bringing in the New Year. Miss Marble loved fireworks and the bigger the better.

So with the occupants of the street assembled outside her house, all manner of tables laden with the cooking efforts of every household the New Year’s Eve street party began. It was a coming together of the street dwellers and Miss Marble would sit on her veranda and chat to this one and that as they wandered past.

At 11.45 everyone gathered in front of her house. With the click of her fingers the fireworks began.

There followed a series of explanations, of wonder and amazement as the sky was filled with lights, explosions and colours of every hue. Then came the finale. All waited in expectation for the ultimate display. As always they were not disappointed at the bells rang the hour of midnight, the pyrotechnic Big Ben exploded in twelve ear shattering rings.

Then it was “Happy New Year” greetings all round as the Grimace Street folk wished each other well, gathered their belongings and headed home to begin the new year.

January first was like any other day on Grimace Street. People went about their business oblivious to the fact that the night before they had witnesses an unbelievable fireworks display. It was Miss Marble’s way of keeping it within the street. The special display was also a potion to make them forget, at least in the present to what they had seen so as not to allow word of the display to spread beyond the street.

Miss Marble liked her neighbours and they liked her.

What happened on Grimace Street always stayed on Grimace Street.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2016/12/29/tale-weaver-98-december-29th-celebration/

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FFfAW Challenge-Week of December 27, 2016 – Horse-Riding

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Michael

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Photo: thanks to Iain Kelly.

She announced that this Christmas/New Year she’d give him a gift that was a part of her childhood. She was going to take him horse-riding. Her glee was obvious. His apprehension equally so.

The big day arrived and off they went. She had dug out her old riding attire and was proud to announce it all fitted still. He knew he looked out of place in his faded jeans but he knew this meant a lot to her.

After a few basic lessons, like mounting and holding reins, she took him on a walk to familiarise him with the horse and its movements.

Within no time she was feeling confident of his progress and off they went.

To say hanging on for grim death was a polite way of saying that was how his day went.

After he had never experienced such pain and discomfort a saddle rash. No wonder cowboys walked bow–legged. He wondered if he’d ever recover his manly functions.

 

Written for: https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/fffaw-challenge-week-of-december-27-2016/

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