Category: Challenges

Posted in Challenges

Fire in the Hole

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Honey, I want you to be really careful. This is your first solo trip in the car.”

“Dad, I promise I will follow all the rules of the road,” Gail responded.

“That’s not enough. You have to drive defensively.”

Gail got in the car to go see her friends.

She zoomed out of the driveway. She saw a stoplight ahead and realized she was driving too fast. She didn’t look behind her and had to slam on the brakes. The car behind her hit her and, since the engine was in the back, the entire VW went up in flames.

Photo Prompt by Kent Bonham

 

Posted in Challenges

Going Home

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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She knew she was lost. She had wanted to tour Scotland and she had finally made it at 57. She had seen this interesting sign and stopped to look at it. When she turned around, the tour group had vanished. Where could they be?

The writing was dim on the sign. She couldn’t read it. She started to climb the stairs, but her chest hurt and it was hard. She persisted. She was at the top and looked out before her.

What was her hometown doing in Scotland? There was her mother. She ran toward her.

 

Photo Prompt by J.S. Brand

Posted in Challenges

One Liner Wednesday

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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One line from my upcoming novel:

“Amy, my father, Miles Meyer, is married to a woman who won’t let me or my brothers visit him and we are very worried he is ill or that something else is wrong with him.”

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Song Lyric Sunday – You Don’t Bring Me Flowers 7/16/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

The Song Lyric Sunday theme for today is “duet” and one of my favorite duets of the late 1970’s is the song, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. The story behind the song is interesting. It was never meant to be a duet but rather two separate songs that got mashed together by a programmer in Louisville, KY.

Barbra Streisand

You Don’t Bring Me Flowers(With Neil Diamond)

Barbara
You don’t bring me flowers
You don’t sing me love songs
Neil
You hardly talk to me anymore
When I come through the door at the end of the day…
Barbara
I remember when you couldn’t wait to love me
Used to hate to leave me
Now after loving me late at night
Neil
When it’s good for you, babe
And you’re feeling all right
Barbara
When you just roll over and turn out the light…
And you don’t bring me flowers anymore
Neil
It used to be so natural
Barbara
It used to be…
Neil
To talk about forever
Barbara
Mmm…
Neil
But used-to-bes don’t count anymore
They just lay on the floor
Till we sweep them away
Barbara
And baby I remember all the things you taught me
Neil
I learned how to laugh and I learned how to cry
Barbra
Well, I learned how to love and I learned how to lie
Neil
So you think I could learn how to tell you goodbye
Barbara
So you think I could learn how to tell you goodbye
You don’t bring me flowers any more…
Both
Well, you think I could learn how to tell you goodbye…
Neil
?Cause you don?t say you need me;
Barbara
You don’t sing me love songs;
Both
You don’t bring me flowers anymore…

I want to dedicate this Song Lyric Sunday’s choice to someone who loves Barbra Streisand, from whom I would have loved flowers, who I remember all the things he taught me, and who I never learned how to say goodbye to until 35 years later.

 

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#weeklysmile 80

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Trent’s World, one of the blog’s I follow, runs a weekly challenge called the #weeklysmile which is……well…….just what it says! The participants talk about the moments during the week that make them smile. I could use a dose of that so here goes my first contribution. Here is my first #weeklysmile:

IMG_0718Her name is Hanna (pronounced Hannah) and she is four months old! She is definitely worth the #weeklysmile as she is one of the funniest dogs I’ve ever owned! Since I recently lost my dog, Hanna has been a dose of good cheer. She is a mixed breed but not very mixed. She is half Havanese and half Lowchen. She walks around on her back legs, seems miraculously housetrained, and is already living freely in the house. Hanna is smart! She can’t yet climb steps, which seems to be her only deficiency. She seems able to come down them, but she mostly falls down them.

Hanna is terrified of crates and I’ve always crate-trained my dogs, so I have no idea where she is going to sleep tonight. I fear it is in my bed and I only hope she really is housetrained. She is twelve pounds, will grow to about eighteen pounds, and I fear she is planning world domination.

I hope all of you have great weekly smiles as well.

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#SoCS – 7/15/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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The Art of Letter Writing

I have many books on my desk, most of them have to do with writing and novels. I do have one novel by Annie Proulx called Postcards. When I saw that novel’s title, I was reminded of a conversation a friend and I had some time ago. We discussed the lost art of letter writing. Baby boomers, like my friend and I, have written a lot of letters, on paper with a real pen, in our time, though perhaps not for a number of years. If you are a millennial, for example, you may have never written a letter except electronically. Maybe I’m doing you a disservice? Maybe you have written traditional letters? I would love for you to comment if you have!

Back to the subject. One of my first experiences with letter writing was when I was under ten years of age and had a pen pal. Francois lived in France and we wrote each other as soon as one received a letter from the other through high school. I often wonder what happened to her. As I grew up and went through undergraduate school, I wrote various cousins, boyfriends, and friends. By the time of graduate school, it was the early days of the Internet and everyone was fascinated by email. Letter writing for me was gone. It’s been gone ever since.

Life got busy. Electronic communication was quick and easy. In its defense, I would not have had time to keep up with many of the people I have without it.

I do, in some ways, miss letter writing. It’s a very personal way of communicating. You have to choose your stationery. Some people prefer to use a fountain pen, which you have to fill with ink. The person on the other end of the letter gets to see the person’s handwriting and feel their emotions more distinctly. New forms of electronic communication – email, messaging, texting, social media, chat rooms – aren’t nearly as personal. That, in fact, is why emoticons and stickers were developed. They try to convey the emotions that letter writing used to convey.

Reach out and touch someone by writing a letter. They will appreciate it!

#SoCSBookTitle

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The White Light

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Is this all that’s left?” Grace wondered as she surveyed the contents of her late mother’s bedroom. After her mother died, her sisters had ransacked it before Grace had arrived. The closets and dresser drawers were open. Her mother’s jewelry box was even gone.

Grace walked over to the table where the jar her mother used for her crystals stood. Clear quartz crystals. Grace’s mother had believed in their healing powers. Her sisters hadn’t taken those because they laughed at that idea. Grace picked up the jar to take with her. There was an explosion of white light.

Photo credit @ Janet Webb

 

Posted in Challenges

Jumping Into the Fire

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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“Kid, get out of the way,” Rafe yelled. “You’re going to be in the line of fire.”

The police department was chasing a criminal who had escaped from the medium security prison outside of town. This young kid had just climbed to the top of a wall the policeman feared the criminal would try jumping over. The police were stationed at strategic points below the wall.

“You’re chasing Ryder, right? I have something to tell you,” the kid cried out.

The police looked at each other, not knowing what to make of that. One of them asked the kid what he was talking about. The kid was only about 15 years old.

The police officer said, “What are you referring to?”

“He’s not the only one at fault. He’s my friend and I helped him rob those houses. Please don’t hurt him.”

As the kid climbed down the walls toward the officers, Ryder jumped over the wall and shots rang out.

 

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Song Lyric Sunday – Black Magic Woman

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

The theme for today’s Song Lyric Sunday is “magic” and what better song to illustrate the theme than Carlos Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” from 1970. What a song!

“Black Magic Woman”

Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman

I’ve got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I can’t see
That she’s a black magic woman
She’s tryin’ to make a devil out of me

Don’t turn your back on me, baby
Don’t turn your back on me, baby

Yes, don’t turn your back on me baby
Stop messin’ around with your tricks
Don’t turn your back on me baby
You just might pick up my magic sticks

Got your spell on me baby
Got your spell on me baby

Yes you got your spell on me baby
Turning my heart into stone
I need you so bad – magic woman
I can’t leave you alone

 

Song Lyric Sunday

 

 

 

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#SoCS – 7/8/2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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Unconditional love is a thing I’m not sure we humans know. Maybe we do. I think we think we feel it more often than we actually do. There is a bond, as old as time, between a person and their dog and a person’s dog loves him/her unconditionally. No matter what we do. We can ignore our dog. Abusive people can even abuse their dog. The dog still loves their person unconditionally. I’ve always thought it was a miraculous thing. This unconditional love between a person and their dog.

Some of you may know that, recently, my dog has been sick for a while now. I’ve written about her in a couple of articles, “Tender Betsy” and An Update About Betsy.

On July 4, 2017, just three weeks after Betsy was diagnosed, she passed away.

I’ve had many special dogs in my life. They are all, indeed, special. They all give me a chance to know that I can love unconditionally. Betsy was at the top of that heap. I have been inconsolable.

In a few weeks, it will be time for me to decide whether or not to get another puppy. I’ve never been without a dog. I feel sure I eventually will. I will never forget the dog from the movie I saw so long ago, “Lady and the Tramp.” Betsy looked just like Lady. She was beautiful, inside and out. She made me laugh and later, cry. She comforted me. She was my constant companion. As the veterinarian put her to sleep, she went to sleep licking my face. Betsy was only four years old. I’ll never forget my little spaniel. She was a very loving trooper.