Good afternoon, my faithful readers! Yes it is Wednesday-Friday! Time for Friday Fictioneers. This week’s photo is courtesy of J.Hardy Carroll, a fine writer to be sure. Our hostess is über-talented Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who, without fail, shows up weekly with a new challenge. ‘Twill be most interesting to see what the 80-odd other writers in this challenge come up with. If you should care to check it out, please click on Monsieur Frog right below. Maybe you have an idea of your own? Then do join in! It’s free! It’s fun! It’s a great way to learn how to ‘cut the fluff’ from your writing…
I have been macerating this post for months… more like years. Okay, for so long that much of the programming has changed! I decided I better do it now before there are more changes!
I started listening to Canada’s CBC Stereo, as it was called at the time, some time in the late eighties. It was a mostly classical and jazz channel at that time. And I originally mostly tuned in during my drives into and from work. I had grown tired of the local rock station and the endless annoying banter between the two or three morning hosts and the never-ending commercials. I have liked classical music since grade 6 when we went to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) to watch, listen and learn. I still remember the conductor (I thought it was Charles Dutoit but after Googling and trying to find info on these afternoon educational classical experiences, I found out he didn’t become conductor until 1977 and I finished grade school in 1976 – talk about aging myself!) At that time, I didn’t admit to liking it, of course! Mind you, my sister and a few friends got violin lessons from one of the violinists from the MSO which I was refused to have. Hmph! My mother knew me well…
At this time, Tom Allen was the morning host of the aptly named Music and Company and I loved his little snippets of information about such and such a piece of music and will never forget one morning when he said: “And after this short commercial, we’ll listen to Freddy Mercury.” What? Had he lost his mind? This was classical time! Of course it was the Barcelona Olympic theme song with Montserrat Caballé…
Then, of course, come 3:00 p.m. we had the entertaining, and sadly, late, Jürgen Gothe
who hosted the Disc Drive show. As soon as I heard the opening music, I knew it was 3 o’clock!
His melodious voice and love of telling stories (often made up) of food, wine, music and cats (in no particular order) removed all the seriousness that classical music is “supposed” to be. He would mix up Mozart with Garrison Keillor. I’ll never forget when he played the “In and Out Cat Song”…
The late Bob Kerr‘s two-hour show Off the Record from 1-3 pm was mostly interesting because he wasn’t shy about playing whole symphonies and ballets – though at times, that was a bit much for me. And forget Thursdays. Thursdays were “Organ Thursdays”… I was not a fan. One tune, maybe a second… two hours? Non merci! No offense to the fans! He did, however, close his show with Pachelbel’s Canon, and that is always a good thing.
Times changed and so did CBC Stereo. With the changes, came new hosts and programs and suddenly, I found myself listening to CBC Radio 2 from 6 am till midnight on week-days (ok, not ALL the time!) Always in my car, so I’ve discovered other programs.
I am very happy to say I am typing this from a real computer, not an iPad, at my desk, surrounded by boxes and boxes and boxes… Seriously. How many books and bobbles do I have, already?
Instead of “doing the right thing” and emptying said boxes and placing the books I shall be keeping into the bookshelves, I find myself much happier writing my little memoir and sharing it with you, lovely readers. A huge thank you to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting this party, coming up with fabulous stories herself (sometimes two!) each and every week. As well, we cannot do a photo prompt without a photo, so, shout out to Kent Bonham for this week’s pic.
To participate, just click on the blue frog and you will be brought to the lineup of a bunch of fabulous writers, each one give us a different story. Try it, you’ll like it!
“The stupid signs for the 417 have disappeared! Now, where do we go?”
“Hang on, lemme see…”
“Dammit! I’m stopping to ask for directions again.”
“We have stopped three times already. I cannot believe we get lost every single time we drive through Ottawa! This is ridiculous!”
I watched Mick wipe his brow with the back of his hand. It was minus 37ºC, the car window was open and he was sweating like a horse.
“You are ridiculous, you know that? We could never participate in Amazing Race! Every time we’d get lost, you’d freak out!”
“I know, Rog, I know.
***
Mick could not stand being lost. I teased him mercilessly about it. Once, I went on a “by-myself-weekend”. When I came back, I told him: “Know what I did while I was out in the Townships? I took a road that I had no clue where I would end up!” Needless to say, he responded with a “hardy-har-har…”
I never thought I’d manage to play this week. I have no access to my computer as the damages caused by my water woes are finally being fixed! Woot! A brand-spanking-new floor is being installed as we speak. Furniture is hanging out in a truck somewhere and I could not watch TV if I tried as it’s way too noisy. So, while I’m sitting in my backyard I am plugging away at this with my ancient iPad. So how addictive is this Friday Fictioneers business, eh? Thank you always to Rochelle for keeping us interested and this week, thank you to Janet Webb for the use of her lovely photo.
Genre: Humour
Word count: 100
The Seance
Everything was set up just right. The jar full of magical sparkles was the key, according to Madame Lespérance. How serendipitous her name meant “hope”. Judy felt it a good omen. She would be able to contact Stanley for sure!
All she had to do was wait for sundown to light the candle and start the special incantation.
Dusk finally arrived, she closed her eyes and recited “Oh great spirit, help me find Stan–”
“Judy! What in the name of hell…?”
“Stanley! My spell worked! You’re here!”
“For the love of God… I told you I’d be back for supper…”
Frank, over at A Frank Angle, a wonderful blogger and expert in getting his readers to participate in various challenges, has created yet a new one. Write a 150-or-less word story on the image below. Well, as an avid participant of Friday Fictioneers, how could I resist? Plus, an extra fifty words – What?? The rules and regs are quite simple. We all get the same picture and must title our story: “Footprints in the Sand”. Frank first mentioned the challenge on July 2, explaining just how this whole party works. Go ahead and join in on the fun!
Genre: Contemplation
Word Count: 150
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND
It was early. Way too early for the regular folk and she loved it that way. Alone with her thoughts, she felt peaceful, almost meditative. As she gazed across the sand into the indigo of the ocean, she noticed a set of footprints.
They reminded her of her late friend, Roxanne. She still carried the plasticized card with that biblical “Footprints” poem. She couldn’t remember when or why Roxie gave it to her but she had kept it all these years anyway. She wasn’t the praying kind nor the church-going type but that card definitely had a special place in her heart.
She never thought she was being “carried by Jesus” when she lost her son, father, husband over the years. She was resilient. Life was tough sometimes and you just had to deal with what came your way. But maybe, without focusing on it, she’d had a little help?
***
For those of you who’ve not read the poem, here it is:
Howdy my friends! Welcome to Friday Fictioneers, where participants start participating on Wednesday! Just one of those things that started way back when, who knows why but has become the status quo. Kinda like how expressions get twisted over time and have nothing to do with the original meaning! The important thing is, we gather ’round the weekly photo prompt to come up with some kind of interesting (we hope) or different (we really hope) story in 100 words or less. Must be a good challenge because we come back week after week! Should you wish to join in on the fun (read: addiction), click on Rochelle‘s name – yes, the name you just read – she is our fearless leader and official cat herder. She explains the whole howzit of this game. Or, if you are still to shy, but want to see what others have come up with, click on the blue frog to see who did what! Thank you to Claire Sheldon for supplying this week’s photo – bet you were surprised to find yours here, eh? He he he…
Word Count: 100 – always and forever. It’s doable, you should try!
Hamster Wheel
She sat at her desk and stared into space. So. Much. Shit. To. Do. Laundry, vacuuming, toilet-scrubbing (blech!), window, weeding, groceries… the list never ends, is on repeat with more added! Day after day, same crap, different pile. Is this all there is? How the hell do I get off this redundant hamster wheel?
Her gaze dropped to the clutter that was her desk. She grabbed pens and paper and started drawing (best she could, she was no Rochelle), cutting and pasting ideas, creating a vision board.
Just because this is today’s reality, doesn’t mean it has to remain so!
A fellow blogger (and one who is dear to me) has issued this challenge. Of course, I cannot but help myself and will definitely participate. How about you joining in? We have until July 10th to come up with 150 words… easy-peasy, right?
Long-time visitors to my little corner of the world know that writing fiction isn’t my thing. With over 1,900 posts, I’ve written one fiction post. Actually two because the original post did turn into a short story challenge that involved me changing my original story.
Not that I’m changing my format in on these pages, but what the heck – let’s try it again!
1. Write a short story based on the image below in the genre of your choice.
2. The story must be 150 words or less.
3. Publish your story after I post mine (Monday, July 10th @ 12:15 am Eastern US) AND link back to the post with my story (not this post).
