Crimson’s Creative Challenge #13 – Juste Milieu

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Ahh Crispina.  You’ve done it again.  You have enticed me to join in on your CCC challenge again this week.  Of course, it is Valentine’s Day today.  Of course, love is on so many people’s minds, and to a certain extent, mine as well.  That Google “Remember this day” sure didn’t help by reminding me that five years ago today, my husband and I celebrated our last one together with him decorating the dining room with all things heart, making me a meal and gifting me with my camera.  On my own since December of that same year, many thoughts on what I want or don’t want have criss-crossed my mind, going from, I really hope I meet someone, to, well, how about I meet someone who doesn’t need to have me 24/7?  There is something to this doing her own thing that quite appeals, even if occasionally, it can be lonely.  Enough rambling.  To my submission!

 

Choosing Me

“You don’t need a man to make you happy”

“You’ll be lonely remaining alone”

“Don’t be so picky”

“Don’t lower your standards”

Words thrown from all directions, including internally

 

What happened to making your own choices?

Trusting your own judgment?

 

A tasty meal with the perfect wine, wonderful conversation, followed by delicious sex

Why can’t that be enough for you?

Friendship, movies, a walk in the woods, holding hands, kissing, star-gazing

Why can’t that suffice?

 

Must it be all one?

And none of the other?

Where is the “juste milieu”? for me? for you?

 

One wants it all

The other wants just some

Neither can be forced

 

So, for now, I shall remain firmly planted at that junction

Forced neither left nor right

And should someone come along that makes my heart sing

And for whom I do the same?

Then let that path open wide.

(150 words)

Who Needs Help? – Friday Fictioneers

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Welcome to Wednesday, my Readers! This very snowy day (here in Montreal) brings us rosy cheeks and tired muscles after shovelling over one foot of snow dumped on us overnight. And lo! It snows still! I canna lie, it is really pretty. But treacherous, as under that fluffy blanket is sheer ice. Let us (fellow sufferers) warm up with a little story. I’ll be interested to see if anyone sees where I got my inspiration from. 🙂

A thank you, always goes to Rochelle for hosting this weekly party and this week, J.Hardy Carroll‘s picture was lifted chosen to inspire us. Do join in the fun and tell us a 100-word story and leave your link by clicking on the blue frog below. Till then, hope you enjoy my little “out-there” attempt.

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Who Needs Help?

Head bowed, he shuffled along. Hearing a muffled sound, he stopped, cocked his head to listen intently. “Don’t! Don’t make me! Leave me alone!” Looking up, he saw what appeared to be someone’s head hanging out of the window.

“Are you okay?” he asked, not too loudly. “Do you need help?” Silence greeted his query, and without thinking things through, he found the main door and ran up, taking the stairs two at a time. The door was ajar to the apartment and he silently and carefully pushed through.

Stunned, he stopped. It was himself, alone, leaning over the ledge.

Before the Tide Rises – What Pegman Saw

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Karen (and I) could really use a vacation, which is why Pegman is taking us all to the British Virgin Islands.  Having had the opportunity to visit this beautiful island way back in 2001, I could not resist participating in this week’s Pegman, using my own image(s) (sorry my pictures are pictures of pictures).  So thank you, Karen, for choosing this fabulous place!

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to write up to 150 words inspired by this week’s location. You can use the image supplied with the prompt, or take your own tour of the British Virgin Islands using Google Maps. You’ll find a small collection of both streetview and photospheres to inspire you.

Once your piece is polished, share it with others using the link up below. Reading and commenting on others’ work is part of the fun!

Before the Tides Rise

Last stop on our cruise was Virgin Gorda.  We’d never heard of it but were stoked to visit an island outside of the regular Caribbean cruise destinations.

Bruce, a dancer on the ship and our new bestie, promised us something spectacular.  He was taking our gang to “The Baths”.

The trek to the beach was amazing.  Through caverns, up and over rocks, wading in a few inches of water, crouching here, gazing at the beach through peepholes there.  It was fun and a great work-out.

The rush of the waves tossed me willy-nilly against the volcanic rocks and as I was trying to escape the abuse, we heard Bruce yell:

“Time to go!  Tide’s coming in.  If we don’t leave now, we’ll miss the boat!”   We laughed at him.  He insisted.

Walking back, we saw how right he was.  The few inches of water was now up to our knees.

Weekend Writing Prompt #93 – Horizon

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I must be in a reflective mood today.  Or really thinking about what lies ahead.  Either way, this is the result.  Thank you to Sammi Cox for hosting his weekly challenge that I love.  The changing word-count makes it so interesting.

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Horizon

Challenge

 

It is funny how the horizon can reshape your perspective

Ever changing, ever elusive, ever within your grasp?

Stretch out your arm and your hand touches it, just an illusion

Stretch your mind and it expands, this is reality

As the scenery transforms, so does your range of vision

Circumstances evolve, and so can your perception

When we stop learning, we stop living

“There is no Final Resting Place of the Mind.”
~Anthony Bourdain

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #13 – General Truths

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Phew!  Was getting carried away with this one.  Went back to Crispina’s rules and regs and realised… oops!  Gotta cut back!  I knew I had a haiku in mind for this one.  Then decided it turn it into a Haibun. (I’m no expert here so I just might be misnaming my offering. Apologies, if I am!)

General Truths

I look at this gate or door of sorts and quotes pop into my mind:

  • “When one door closes, another opens” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
  • “If the gates are open, walk in; if the gates are closed, find a way and move in!” ~Mehmet Murat Ildan
  • “Be an opener of doors” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • “A very little key will open a very heavy door.”~ Charles Dickens

Adage, expression, axiom,  cliché, proverb… I never realised there were so many different words meaning

“a short statement expressing a general truth”

General truth. Makes sense, they didn’t ‘come to be’ out of thin air, did they? Don’t know why it’s such an insult to be called a cliché if you are happy with who you are. Why allow naysayers power over you?

Funny how the quotes that came to mind speak of breaking barriers.

Choices to be made

Doors and gates:  End? Or

Possibilities?

(150 words)

Date Night – Who Knew? – Friday Fictioneers

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Good Wednesday morning, my peeps!  The sun is shining, mostly, it’s cold outside but not that bad (for us Quebecers, that is), I’ve got a nice big cappuccino keeping me warm and this fire in the picture provided by Anshu Bhojnagarwala sure helps even if it is virtual!

Always, a thank you to Rochelle Wisoff(no ‘e’)-Fields for gathering her flock to some sort of order week after week.

Have a great day!

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Date Night – Who Knew?

You bastard! Siobhan raised her hand to hit him and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her to his hard, manly body.  She opened her mouth to swear and he slammed his lips against hers, silencing her.  His undeniable desire against her belly caused her body to respond with a burning heat that rose from her—

Betsy tossed the book aside.  Good grief!  Who reads this stuff?

Steve picked up Loves Raging Fire, “Whatcha reading?”

“Nothing!”

Ignoring her, he started to read aloud:

Riordan’s hand slid up Siobhan’s thigh to her —

“Whoa! Sexy!”

And so began a new date night ritual…

Her Way – What Pegman Saw

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Welcome to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word weekly writing prompt inspired by the photos found on Google Maps. Yep, that’s really a picture of Manhattan. Inwood Park, at the very tip of the island, is one of the few places on the island that looks as it did three hundred years ago. (I included the pic so you’d know what Josh was talking about!)

This week you can roam any or all of the five boroughs. There are a thousand stories in the naked city, so bring one back. You can also write a poem, an essay or whatever you feel like writing. Share it with the others and comment on their stories. We ask you keep it to 150 words, but aside from that, there are no rules. Have fun and good hunting.

I have chosen to go deeper into the island 😉  This Super Bowl is so bloody boring, I’ve had time to type this and make my links… and post!  Thank you, J.Hardy Caroll, for hosting this little party.  I’ve been away for a while and have been lured back…

Her Way

How is it she has been to Manhattan, New York, four times, yet still hasn’t seen what she wants?  How many times did she have to do Central Park, Times Square and Toys ‘R bloody Us?  What about Greenwich Village? Soho? Hell’s Kitchen? Washington Heights? Chelsea? Harlem? Maybe not Harlem.  Wait.  Why not, Harlem?  Can it be that bad?  She wouldn’t know because she never seemed to get out of bloody central Manhattan, barely hitting Midtown.

She wanted to visit Strand’s Bookstore, the Met, the Guggenheim. How about a Broadway play?  Hell, she wanted to play tourist, corny as it is.  She even wanted to go to the top of the Empire State Building.  So many pictures of the Statue of Liberty taken from afar but still hasn’t made the trip to see her up close and personal.

Enough.  This year was the year she would do it her way.