haiku - Hey, Samual Spade, what kind of tree is this?

As a joke, I ask

Sam to identify an

ivy covered tree!

OneWord - So Little Time [detritus]

I looked around my new office with a sigh. It was littered with the detritus of its previous occupants. There were old mugs with contents only slightly less old, disposable containers that had not been disposed of, newspapers more ancient than my car and, most distressingly, every file that had ever gone missing from every other department!

* * * * * * *

Another very good word, LeftUnsaid27! Thank you for the vote of confidence, Bea! I hope I didn't disappoint!

The Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

Since www.oneword.com has still not updated, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. The first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

haiku

Vegetables are so

pretty, but how much sweeter

when in the salsa!

haiku (for LeftUnsaid27)

I find some of the

best things in life are still the

secrets left unsaid.

OneWord - So Little Time [mollycoddle]

"Well, far be it from me to mollycoddle anyone," I shrugged, planting my boot in his armored backside and shoving him into the melee already in progress. After whirling around in confusion for a few moments, the young squire finally remembered the mace clutched in his gauntleted hand. He swung it wildly at first but then calmed down and settled into a sort of rhythm: swing, spin, connect, reel, recover, swing again. That boy just might survive this tournament!

* * * * * * *

I think that's another candidate for the List Of Words That Are Fun To Say, LeftUnsaid27!

The Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

Since www.oneword.com has not yet resumed updating, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. The first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

haiku (for SBS)

I learned the one thing

my garden needed was a

place for me to grow.

TwoWords - So Little Time [vodka/Aquarius]

"So, what's your sign?" Asked the cliche tall, dark and handsome stranger as he handed me a vodka tonic.

I toyed with the idea of telling him, "Slippery When Wet," but in the end I chickened out and replied, "Aquarius."

"Really?" he queried, an eyebrow raised. "I would have said 'Dangerous Curves!'"

* * * * * * *

You be careful there, SBS! That vodka can be tricksy!

The Ongoing Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

www.oneword.com has not yet resumed updating. I am therefore having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. So, once more, the first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

haiku

I see Templeton

the rat skulking across the

litter strewn fairgrounds.

Magnetic Haiku (for Captain Jean-Luc Picard)

55 Fiction Friday

Iris pulled a yellowed sheet of paper from between the center pages of a battered, leather bound volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales. The address it bore was burned as vividly on her mind as it was inked on the page in her hand. She stared at it nonetheless, trying to determine how best to proceed.

[FIRST] [PREVIOUS] (to be continued...)

OneWord - so little time [rainbow]

I sighed with satisfaction as I wrapped my tongue around a delicious bite of rainbow trout. The crunch of the kartoffelpuffer that cradled it and the warm creamy comfort of the cheese sauce perfectly comlplemented the tasty fish.

* * * * * * *

I can always count on a good word from Captain Picard! Of course, now I'm hungry! This is a dish I haven't had in far too long!

The Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

Since www.oneword.com is still on the fritz, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. So, once more, the first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

Friday's Feast

Feast One Hundred
& Six

Appetizer
Tell about a toy you remember from your childhood.

When I was a little girl I had a Raggedy Ann doll who was missing an arm. I kept constructing prosthetics from rolled up Kleenexes which would wear out and need to be replaced. She had a key in her back which wound her up to play music. She contained a small music box. It bothers me now that I can’t remember what the song was. I think it might have been "You Are My Sunshine."

Soup
If you could make one thing in the world absolutely free for everyone, what would it be?

Internet Access! Healthcare! Love!

Salad
Approximately how many times per day do you think about your significant other?

I dream of love quite frequently.

Main Course
What is something you believe in 100%?

Myself! (Not really, but I’m working on it!)

Dessert
Name one thing you have done this week that you would consider a "good deed."

I let another driver turn left when I had the right of way.

HRM Elizabeth I

This is Elizabeth I, the resident female ruby-throated hummingbird. I don't know if she's Buckingham's mate as I've never seen them together. I did see her imperiously dismiss another hummingbird today, but it all happened so quickly I couldn't make a positive identification.

Magnetic Haiku (for Floots)

OneWord - so little time [wrinkle]

Thinking to add an old wrinkle to a new festivity, I suggested constructing a maypole in the center of the First Annual Gathering of People Who Just Don't Give a Darn How Weird the Rest of the World Thinks We Are. My suggestion was greeted with huzzas, cheers and not a few sounds that there are no words for. Motion carried!

* * * * * * *

You know, Floots, at first I thought you said winkle. That would have been a different post entirely! Then I looked more closely and realized there was nothing fishy about your comment.

The Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest Continues...

Since www.oneword.com has again failed to update, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. So, here we go again! The first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

Tally got a haircut! Tally got a haircut!

Tally has to be groomed from time to time, mainly because his feet get so fuzzy he can't make it across the kitchen floor without looking like Bambi on a frozen lake! Besides, he loves the attention from his groomer! He looks so handsome in his new neckerchief!

Magnetic Haiku (for Pat Paulk)

OneWord - So Little Time [petrichor]

photo: "Window on Rain" Pittsburgh, PA - July 24, 2006

I stood in the garden, contentedly breathing in the petrichor, my bare feet nearly as grateful for the recent rain as the now muddy, formerly cracked and dry earth that was squishing between my toes.

* * * * * * *

Wow! Thank you Pat Paulk for teaching me a fantastic new word! I never knew there was a word for that! It's one of my favorite smells! I had to cheat and look it up before I started the timer for this post.

Wordsmith.org defines petrichor as "The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell." [From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). Coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas.] "Petrichor, the name for the smell of rain on dry ground, is from oils given off by vegetation, absorbed onto neighboring surfaces, and released into the air after a first rain." Matthew Bettelheim; Nature's Laboratory; Shasta Parent (Mt Shasta, California); Jan 2002.

The Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

Since www.oneword.com is still out of order, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. So, once more, the first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

haiku

Sometimes I find shapes

in the clouds. Today I see

possibilities.

haiku (for Paperback Writer)

Words trip, delighted

from her pen, so pleased that they

could come out to play!

One Word - so little time [lasagna]

"Just how much does this weigh?" asked my mom heaving the deep-dish lasagna pan into the oven. "Hmmm, not sure, " I replied nibbling on a scrap of parmesan. We decided to find out. I took the lasagna out of the oven and carried it to the bathroom. Holding the lasagna, I weighed almost 15 pounds more than I did without it! When I make lasagna, I don't fool around!

* * * * * * *

This is a true story. Tell me, Paperback Writer, did you comment before you ate lunch by any chance?

The Pick Osquer's OneWord contest...again...

Since www.oneword.com has once more failed to update, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. So, once more, the first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

haiku

The hooded cobra

may be found lurking in the

most peaceful places.

Magnetic Haiku (for Samual Spade)

OneWord - So Little Time [cute]

"Cute, " I said, "Real cute." As I stood there with silly string and raspberry Koolaid dripping from my green died hair to the papier-mache clown shoes that someone had constructed on my feet, I vowed never to get drunk with my friends again.

* * * * * * *

I can always count on you, Sam to put a smile on my face! This is the sort of thing I could imagine happening if I ever went out drinking with you!

The Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

Here we go again! Since www.oneword.com has once more failed to update, I am having another contest to pick a word for me to write about. So, once more, the first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got my sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

magnetic haiku (for SBS)

One Word - So Little Time [tofurky]

I was a little nervous about having Thanksgiving dinner at my new neighbor's house. I didn't know when I accepted the invitation that they were vegetarians! Thank goodness I brought green bean casserole instead of pork tenderloin! As I resigned myself to a giblet free evening, I hitched a smile onto my face and helped myself to a heaping serving of tofurky.

* * * * * * *

You win, SBS! I hadn't heard the word tofurky since last Thanksgiving when it made the comic strip rounds. I may have to add it to my list of words that are fun to say! I'll post your haiku as soon as I think of one!

haiku

I'm startled to find

denizens of Wild Kingdom

in my own garden!

The Return of the Pick Osquer's OneWord Contest...

Okay, kids, here's your chance to pick what I write about! Since the folks at www.oneword.com have not posted a new word today, I need one of you to choose a word for me. The first person to post a word in the comments wins. The prize is that I will use your word for my OneWord post. I will also write a haiku especially for you! I've got a sixty second timer set to go. Someone give me the word!

haiku

The daisies' gaze is

constant as a Summer's day

and just as welcome.

www.oneword.com (one word - so little time) [hay]

They say that serendipity is looking for a needle in a haystack and finding the farmer's daughter. If that's all it takes to be found, give me a pair of daisy dukes and point me toward a haystack to hide in! I may not be a farmer's daughter, but I'm a coalminer’s daughter's daughter. Does that count for anything?

August 5, 2006 02:08 PM (17:08 EST)

55 Fiction Friday

Iris finally set foot on English soil again, still apprehensive after the scare of meeting Jeffrey Graham and relieved that he was not, indeed, after her. No one could have found the corpse of her mentor, even though she had left him lying on the library carpet. Any visitors to the chateau were extremely unlikely.

[FIRST] [PREVIOUS] (to be continued...)

haiku - for Pendragon

There's something on your

camera lense. I'll get that

for you...oh, it's me!

haiku

Summer heat begins

warming nature's palette which

warms my appetite.

haiku

Dueling crickets

battling TV volume...

Bugger merchandising!

www.oneword.com - one word, so little time [altered]

Getting input from outside sources certainly has altered my perspective about my own writing. Strangely it is often the little things that came off the top of my head that get the most attention. Maybe they work better because they pop into my mind almost fully formed instead of having to be manipulated and mutated into some sort of sense.

August 4, 2006 08:07 AM (11:07 EST)

Friday's Feast

Feast One Hundred & Five

Appetizer
Name an actor or actress you think is totally underappreciated.

The remarkable Scottish actor Ken Stott is starting to get some recognition. As is Bill Nighy. Oh, and what’s Peter Dinklage doing these days?

Soup
Impress us by using a big word in a sentence.

“I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request.”

Oh…okay.

She was considering in her own mind, as well as she could, whether the exploitation of a big word justified the rationalization in this particular happenstance.

(Gotcha!)

Salad
What is something inanimate that you've given a name to (such as a pet rock)?

Hmmm. I guess dragons and garden gnomes don’t count. My car’s name is Indy which is short for Indefatigable. I named it after the ship captained by Sir Edward Pellew in the Horatio Hornblower adventures.

Main Course
What color would best represent your personality and why?

“It’s not easy being green!”

Dessert
Fill in the blanks: ____________ is so ____________.

It is so effing hot outside!

haiku

The sun's been in my

garden, leaving traces on

yellowing peppers.

www.oneword.com - one word, so little time [unicorn]

"If you had been waiting to see a unicorn as long as I have...It would be the last unicorn in the world if it came to Molly Grue." I love the movie "The Last Unicorn." When I was a little girl I tried to find the right formula to attract a unicorn (be a virgin, sit under a tree and sing) the door to Narnia (haven't found it yet) and faeries at the bottom of the garden (They do tease so, allowing a brief glimpse before transforming into a suspicious looking leaf or blossom. You know how they do.)

August 3, 2006 08:06 AM

haiku

The water chuckles

at the children as they run

shrieking through its glee!

www.oneword.com - one word, so little time [flap]

I don't know what all the flap is about. Really, if she wants to try to fly, let her. Just because the physics don't add up doesn't mean she won't succeed. Look at the bumble bees. The only reason they can fly is because no one told them that they can't

August 2, 2006 08:25 AM

haiku

Only my mom can

understand how four little

peas could mean so much.

www.oneword.com - one word, so little time

I waived my rights goodbye which was difficult with one hand tied behind my back and the other juggling all of the lies that I was expected to swallow along with the sword of Damocles and the fires of eternal damnation. Still, as long as I believe everything the government tells me, all will be well, right? Who's running this show, anyway?

August 1, 2006 09:41 AM (12:41 EST)

Yeah, I know what it looks like...

This is a yellow tomato from my garden. Yeah, I know what it looks like. Go ahead. Let the comments begin...

haiku

Neighbor Joey helps my Dad cool off.