Cockeyed
I tend to take weird pictures. You only see a fraction of them. That’s because most of my weird pictures don’t make sense to anyone but me. They are often blurred or out of focus. I take them because I see things that are not where or what I’m expected to be looking at and think it’s interesting. It’s really hard to make a camera focus on the distant hills or ocean when there are trees whooshing past.
I think a lot of my writing tends to be that way, too. I know very well that the point of a particular scene may focus around someone’s pain or jealousy, but those things don’t interest me, so I’ll latch onto an irrelevant detail and run with it. I’ve lost a lot of critique partners over it, so I try to keep it in line, but I still do it.
Anyway, I just want to thank my readers for putting up with it.
Cue Ball
Jack: I thought we were going out to play billiards.
Mike: Yeah. Bill. Yards.
Jack: What is that? Is that even a thing?
Mike: Sure, it’s a thing. You take a ball and…
Jack: What ball? We don’t even have that.
Mike: Well, you’ve got a cue ball head. We’ll just use you.
Jack: Oh, that’s rich coming from you.
Mike: Well, we’ll let Raoul decide.
Jack: Who’s Raoul?
Raoul: That’s my cue.
Previously in Jack and Jill: Bill Yards
The theme for this week’s Jack and Jill is “cue” as suggested by Brian Miller
Want to see what I can do with a word or phrase? Make a suggestion.
Full Cycle
There are times when right can not be made.
Petty injustices trail a trivial edge along the wall
of indifferent ineptitude.
Cords break, mechanics fail, great endeavors
leave a wreckage of humility in their wake.
There are times.
It feels personal. The world must surly be out to get you.
Yet there are no conspiracies.
It is merely your timing off.
The wheel of fortune has turned
just enough to show how bad things could really get.
Ride it out. In time, your visions will clear.
Simple things become simple again.
Easy things bring ease.
Your chance to redeem yourself comes
and you can once again hold your head high.
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Photo credit: Rachel Bjerke
13 Random Thoughts
1. It’s always when I should have already gone to bed then remember I don’t have a post ready that I’m most random.
2. I haven’t checked yet, but I bet I mention sleep in most of my random T13s.
3. I still read way too much manga.
4. My ability to feed my manga addiction might be coming to an end.
5. The fifth web site where I typically read it was closed last night.
6. I often wish I could make donations directly to mangakas (people who make manga)
7. There are some who might have a site set up for it, but I’ll never know because of the language barrier.
8. I find a lot of great music on youtube.
9. I think it helps keep me young. At heart.
10. My hips are ancient.
11. I’ve had arthritis most of my life. They first found it on ex-rays when I was a teenager.
12. Lately it’s gotten out of hand.
13. I’m about ready to give up and have the surgeon deal with it.
For more lists of Thirteen, visit Thursday Thirteen
Suzie’s House 398 : Walter’s Nightmares
Walter woke up screaming. It had happened so many times over the years that no one bothered to check on him anymore. He lay in the hushed dark, panting and in a cold sweat, but not so much as a shadow flickered. Still, he reached across the bed with one hand, seeking a wife who had died long ago.
I Am Not a Robot
I’ve been clicking the little box for all I’m worth, but sometimes I wonder. Am I wrong?
Bill Yards
Jack: Whoah! Look at that!
TV: Touch down! And the the Buffalo Bills move into the lead.
Mike: I bet I could have done that.
Jack: No you couldn’t.
Mike: Sure I could. Hey, I’m in the mood for some Bill Yards. Wanna get together Saturday and play?
Jack: Sure, sure. I’m up for anythings.
Previously in Jack and Jill: Dis- Still- Ation
The theme for this week’s Jack and Jill is “billiards” as suggested by Brian Miller
Want to see what I can do with a word or phrase? Make a suggestion.
Groans are welcome.
Spring!
Finally, Sally got to claim her own little piece of land for a kitchen garden. It seemed silly to her that the family raised acre after acre of wheat, yet had to go to the store for cucumbers because no one wanted to deal with it. Finally, at the beginning of March, her parents said she would use the old garden plot next to the house. It was up to her what she did. She bought a bunch of seeds. The first chance she got she went to plant them, but couldn’t. The ground was still frozen.
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Photo credit: Sandra Crook
13 More Diet Facts
Hey, I’m learning a lot. Mostly about fat, but I guess that’s to be expected.
1. The serving sizes listed on food packaging have nothing to do with nutritionist recommendations. You have to eat an appropriate amount, then do some math to find out how many fat grams and/or calories you’re eating.
2. The formulas looks like this: Fat grams you ate = Amount you ate / Amount they claim is a serving X Fat grams per serving. One of the ladies in our group was very proud to come up with that.
3. I don’t even have to look up the fat grams for vegetables. It’s either 0 or gets counted as a starch.
Suzie’s House 397 : Just So We’re Clear
“Can I get a glass of water from you?” Drew used it as an excuse to follow Walter into the kitchen, but he really was thirsty.
“Yeah, sure.” Walter opened a cupboard. “You must think I’m a total idiot. Crawling out a window without my pants. So lewd.” He shook his head sadly. “I don’t remember that at all.”
“It’s no worse than some of the things I’ve done,” Drew assured him.
“Yeah, well. Drugs will do that to you.” Walter ran the tap.
Veggies
This week’s focus in my diet program is on adding more fruit and vegetables to your diet. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I was just starting to despair over getting enough verity in my diet to keep me going because of all the foods I’ve had to drop. (cheese – sniffle, sniffle) As if all my food allergies weren’t enough.
So anyway, in a couple of days I ended up cleaning out every item in my food crisper. This called for a trip to the grocery store.
I got the usual – bananas, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, etc. Then I thought I should branch out a bit. I got Napa cabbage. I got it mostly because it’s pretty. I assumed at first that I would be treating it the same as a head of cabbage. And I probably will. But in the process of prepping it for the steamer I noticed it seemed pretty tender. So I gave it a taste. Yep, it’s going to end up in my salads, too.
I didn’t stop there. I found something in the vegetable section I didn’t recognize. Considering I can recognize stuff like leeks and collard greens on sight, I was impressed. So I bought it. My mother would be proud.
That was a challenge considering I used self check out and their system didn’t have it listed at all. After too many attempts to come up with something, the machine called in a human for me. Who knew it could? The human plugged in the code for me.
So…. anyone know what to do with flowering kale?
Dis- Still- Ation
Theodor: You’ve been a lot more active since the time stream was altered, however I can not say I approve of any of the endeavors you have taken on. Are you sure you won’t help me rebuild the time machine so I can return to the moment when your mother-in-law prevented her own existence?
Jack: From what you’ve said about my mother-in-law I’m better off not helping you out.
Theodor: But what of your wife? You loved her very much when she existed.
Jack: I don’t feel like I’m missing out.
Theodor: But….
Jack: Look. Forget it. When it comes down to it, the crux of the matter is that I won’t help. You’re on your own.
Theodor: You attached that hose wrong. Let me fix it.
Previously in Jack and Jill: Strangled Moonshine
The theme for this week’s Jack and Jill is “Distillation” as suggested by Novroz
Want to see what I can do with a word or phrase? Make a suggestion.
An Adventure
Two young fairies left the confines of their magic mushroom circle to see the world.
“What could this be?” The first fairy put his hand on the surface of something big. “It’s like a tree, but dead.”
“Could it be a wall?” The second fairy nearly fell over from leaning backwards in search of the top.
“It’s too big to be a wall.”
“The elders always said the world is much bigger than we realize, and that there is a danger call ‘human’. Could this be human?”
The first fairy pulled his hand away. His eyes widened in fright. “The world is TOO big. Let’s go home.”
“Yeah.”
The Hub: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Photo credit: Erin Leary
