A Random 13
1. 
We’re going to take a little intermission from my Iceland trip because I’m just feeling too random today.
2. The picture under #1 was in Borgarnes behind the Settlement Center.
Suzie’s House 507 : Brother’s Keeper
Ben bit his lip. The video was good. Real good. He could see how it got the way it was, but it wasn’t really what he and Lisa had planned. A part of him wanted to argue. But they weren’t really co-authoring it in the first place. She just wanted to talk about it with him. So the two of them had sat around throwing around ideas. Several times. But Lisa had done it all herself. So really. He had no right to complain,
The video began with a the same moving frame on the band playing in the back yard as the original video along with the instrumental start of the song. Everyone looked totally cool in their band clothes. Emma in particular wore a black outfit with matching black mask that made her look mysterious. She leaned into the microphone and sang.
From Reykjavik to Stykkisholmur
These trips tend to cover a lot of ground quickly. The first day we arrived in the airport, then toured the city, met up for dinner, and had a meeting in which everyone introduced themselves and we talked about the trip.
On the second day we did all this:
A Thousand Words Unsaid
Marge didn’t feel like waiting for her laptop to finish booting before she went to the bathroom. When she came back out, Jane sat at the little hotel desk, staring at the screen saver.
“Is this from the eclipse? Wasn’t that something? A bunch of us flew in to Idaho for it. There were tailgate parties everywhere, but I don’t remember seeing anyone set up a tent. I wish I could take pictures as good as yours.”
“That isn’t one of mine.” Marge took the laptop back.
“Well then, who took it?”
“Microsoft.”
The Challenge: Write a story in 100 words or less
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The Photo Credit: Jan Wayne Fields
Breadcrumbs: If you leave a link in my comments to the post where you rose to the challenge, then I will be sure to comment. If it’s hard to find you, I’ll assume you don’t want a visit
Inspiration: The wallpaper that came with my new computer features a lit tent at night much like the provided picture.
Suzie’s House 506: … Of Minds
Lisa caught herself biting her lips and made herself stop. These were her friends. They might be a little strict about how the video came out – kind of like before when Tracy wanted something more even though she wasn’t real clear just what – but they wouldn’t be nasty about it.
Which only made it all the worse if they didn’t like what she had done. She sat at the dining room table in Ben’s house with her laptop loaded and all the members of the band standing behind her. One finger hovered over the left-click mouse button.
“Wait!” She pulled her finger back. “Ben helped a lot with the storyboard. He should be…”
Stykkisholmur Hotel
My Fictioneer’s post this week really is fiction, but there’s an element of the autobiographical. Marge and Jane, two of my regularly reoccurring characters, are entirely made up. The person who fell off the bed was me.
It happened at the Hilton in Reykjavik. I got wedged with my feet on the bed and my back on the wall, laughing so hard I couldn’t get up. This was probably quite dangerous with my total hip replacement having happened a mere four and a half months earlier. I was a bit stiff, but otherwise suffered no damage.
All the beds we stayed in for the whole trip were a bit on the small side. Not really short, but a bit narrow. The narrowest was in Greenland, where the accommodations were all very humble. At one point I looked around our room and realized that I’d been in yurts that were more luxurious.
As to the bathtub issue – that is also real. There was one in our room in Reykjavik, but all the rest of the trip were only showers. We were directed to a public bath across the street at one point. You have to pay for it – about what you’d expect for using a public swimming pool.
The accommodation I found most intriguing was this shower in Stykkisholmur. It doesn’t show in the picture very well, but there’s an arching glass door that swings across the wall out of the way, and acts as a shower stall wall when swung away from the fixtures. Otherwise it’s like one of those wet shower bathrooms in a camper.
This might all sound like our rooms were uniformly unimpressive. This was not so. What they might have lacked in size or bathroom fixtures, they made up for in interesting and luxurious details. Get a load of the lamp to the right. It’s made of Eiderdown. It was our ceiling fixture in our room in Stykkisholmur.
Helgafell
Toward the end of the day we hiked up Holy Mountain – also known as Helgafell. I didn’t get my act together fast enough. I missed whatever the guide might have said on the hike up and down the mountain. Just as well, as my pen was out of juice. So this is all based on memory.
After a Very Long Flight
“We were lucky! We got the fanciest hotel room in the city!” Jane looked smug as she threw her suitcase on the only luggage rack in the rather ordinary looking place.
“I’m beat,” Marge muttered. “I just want a long, hot soak in a tub.”
“Tub? Oh.” Jane backed away from the bathroom door. There was only room inside for a tiny shower. “They don’t really do tubs in Iceland. You’re supposed to go to a public bath.”
Marge flopped onto a bed, too tired to deal with it. Half asleep, she rolled over, and fell off.
The Challenge: Write a story in 100 words or less
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The Photo Credit: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Suzie’s House 505 : Meeting …
Lisa already had the music video loaded up on her laptop by the time the members of the band arrived at Ben’s house. She’d rushed over even before Ben, then ended up sitting in the dining room with Miranda.
“They’re late.” Miranda had her own laptop up and loaded.
“Not really. I got out of class a few minutes early and came straight over. Shouldn’t you be at work?” Lisa tapped her fingernails on the table next to her laptop and leaned into the palm of her other hand.
“This is work. I have another meeting across town in an hour. How much longer….”
Snorri Sturluson
After the lava falls, we stopped off to visit some land Snorri Surluson owned.
Snorri Sturluson was a poet/historian/politician. Back in his day (1179-1241) it was kind of all one role. History was kept in the form of poetry. Lawmakers referred to history in their decision making. And Snorri was in the thick of it.
He was a major land holder with seven chieftainships, five profitable estates, and an harbor. His first wife was an heiress.
Vacation
“Do you have to go?” Fred eyed the growing mound of paperwork.
“I lost the bet.” Marge finished printing off her flight confirmation. “Believe me. I don’t want to travel with Jane anymore, but what can I do?”
“Did you have to make the bet?”
“If I won… I really wanted that mask….” Marge looked thoughtful for a minute, then grabbed her flight bag from under her desk. “I’ve won so many bets; reached the top of the Rock of Gibraltar; found small steps in the temples of Indonesia. Who knew there aren’t any non-volcanic rock in Iceland!?”
The door closed behind her before he could offer overtime.
The Challenge: Write a story in 100 words or less
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The Photo Credit: CEAyr
Suzie’s House 504 : Giggling with the Girls
“Are you sure it’ll be alright?” Katy kind of smirked a little as she asked. She already had her backpack full of school books slung over one shoulder.
Alisha smirked back, but Kate didn’t have the heart to play along. Instead, she focused on putting away the pens and notebooks and stuff on her desk.
There was a band meeting tonight. She knew she should go, but did it really make a difference? It wasn’t like she’d speak up even if she ever actually did have an opinion on anything the band did. Still, to skip out entirely made her feel a bit like a good girl playing truant. Like she was somehow in the wrong.
“Right. Will your boyfriend really let you play around like this?” Alisha’s smirk got sharper.
“What?” Her boyfriend? It took Kate a minute to remember she had one.
