“I love this and that.”
We often declare lightly.
Love is everything.
kat ~ 9 February 2017
For Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge, prompt words Love and Light.
Category Archives: Challenges and Writing Prompts
Along the Selchie Shore
There was a legend told of old by fisherman who ought to know…
“To find yourself a bonnie bride, when the moon is full, high in the sky, get thee to the northern shore to spy the selchies sleeping on the rocky shoal. They lay their her heads upon soft beds of silky skin that they have shed. Choose the lass most beautiful and hide her pelt before she wakes. Forevermore she will be yours unable to return into the deep.”
Some townsfolk swear the legend is true. And if you doubt it they’ll tell you this tale.
One stormy evening at a local pub, a young lad named Benjamin overheard a few old salts prattling at the bar about this and that and the selchie legend. He decided to see if it was true. On the very next full moon night he set out for the selchie shore with a shovel and an empty satchel.
Glistening in the pale moonlight, not one but four maidens slept upon their silken hides. Benjamin crept silently from one to another to the next and the next, his heart racing with indecision. Each one was more radiant than the former and he feared the witching hour would pass before he chose his bonnie lass.
So Benjamin did what any young lad would do when faced with a such a choice and nothing to lose. He gathered all four pelts, stuffed them in the satchel and rushed inland to bury them.
He returned to the shore, as the sun was rising with cloaks to cover his lovely maidens. One by one they stirred awake and when they set their eyes upon his face, each was overcome with pure devotion.
It was a young man’s dream. Benjamin swelled with pride as he led his harem into town to his simple stick-built shack. Never was a man happier than Benjamin on that day and the many days that followed.
But as the blush of new love faded, each selchie maiden became jaded, not happy to share their Benjamin with the other. They came to see that being human was not at all what they dreamed it would be. Oh, how they longed to return home to the freedom of the sea.
Together they devised a plan to rise before the cockle doodle, while Benjamin was fast asleep, to search for their pelts along the selchie shore. They would never find their treasure, and Benjamin, who had become accustomed to having four-fold attention, never gave away his hiding place once he learned of their scheme.
Alas, these poor selchie maidens four were immortal, yet cursed to a life of human misery. Benjamin eventually died an old man with a secret and they continued to scan the beach, some say, even to this very day.
You might even catch a glimpse of them there, by setting out before the dawn, just as the amber sun is cresting along the selchie shore.
-kat – 7 February 2017
A tale for Jane Dougherty’s Microfiction Challenge based on the painting above by Frederick Leighton.
Twittering Tales #16 – 7 February 2017
About the challenge: Each Tuesday I will provide a prompt photo, and your mission is to tell a story based on that prompt in 140 characters or less.
If you accept the challenge, be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale. A final note: if you need help tracking the number of characters in your story, there is a nifty online tool that will count for you at charactercountonline.com.
I will do a roundup each Tuesday, along with providing us a new prompt. Have Fun!
Here is the roundup of last week’s creative twittering tales based on the photo below. If I missed your story, please let me know so I can add it to the line-up.
Photo from Pexels.com
Gayl from her blog of Words, Photos and Art started us off with three wistful tales bring us full circle.
Leaving Home
With a lump in his throat he took one last look.
Saying goodbye was hard. Determined, he turned away.
He’d do his best and make them proud.
(137 characters)
The Big City
Big city awaits
Scary for this country boy
A new place and job
Her letters charmed him
For the first time they would meet
Would they hit it off?
(139 characters)
Coming Back Home
Would anyone recognize him? 16 years had passed!
Still, it was home. At least his mom would welcome him with a hug.
He was nervous but happy.
(139 characters)
Pat from BlackCatAlley wrote about rites of passage.
Look left at what’s left behind.
Right holds no purchase yet
A shadowed place of regret
Black ashes fill your mouth
Rite of passage will out.
(character count: 138)
Michael at Morpethroad wrote a tale that really tugged at the old heartstrings with a cliffhanger! Grab a tissue.
Will he be there?
What will I do if he’s not?
I’ve nowhere to go.
He said he’d be there.
I can’t turn around now.
Please be there.
I love you.
(136 Characters)
Kathryn at AnotherFoodieBlogger gave us a cautionary tale about what happens when one does not pay attention. I have to admit she got me. I completely misread the ending!
With his Beats on full blast, he didn’t hear the “assume crash position” command in the final minute before touchdown. All survived but one.
Lady Lee Manila penned a tale of pondering and acceptance in her twitter poem.
Endured the pain
Summer came
Was there a flicker of hope?
Did I overcome the storm?
When the flame died down
I had to accept
No place like home
(137 Characters)
Di at Pensivity101 wrote about the high price of overcoming a phobia.
She wondered if it was worth it.
Ten thousand bucks to look out of a window.
That was the cost of addressing her flying anxiety.
(126 characters)
Joy at Poetry Joy shared three poetic tales tucked into a lovely essay about home.
He feels a tug to look back
calling him homeward
His eyes realize how vast
the universe can be
He aches to stay as he
breaks the cord to leave
(139 characters)
A window seat is a way
to see more clearly, get
a fresh perspective, because
home is anywhere at all
No more or less than
a place to lay his head
(140 characters)
“Are you ready for this?
He nods, gulps back tears, turns to take another look outside, where home shrinks small while he faces new horizons.
(140 characters)
Peter at Peter’s Ponderings wrote a chilling, dark tale that I’m guessing did not have a happy ending!
For maximum casualties from the full load of fuel, the bomb would explode as the plane reached 100 feet.
Just time for one final prayer!
(136 characters)
Willow at WillowDot21 took us on a whirlwind tale of regret that ended in relief! Whew!
Had he done wrong?Too late now!It had seemed an innocent request. Panicking he open the bag, it was just a scarf the label said.Love to Mum.
{139 Characters}
Sonali at Howling with the Wolf was moved by the gray tones in this week’s prompt, giving us a sad tale.
Weren’t your friends supposed to be on this trip?
She smiled forlornly.
“They couldn’t make it.”
Abandonment was a bitter pill to digest.
(137 characters)
Lorraine at her FrillyFreudianSlip took a whimsical look at the mind of a worry-wart.
did I water the fichus?
did I turn off the stove?
did I unplug the heater?
did I lock the door?
did I leave my keys in the door?
did I . . .
(136 Characters)
Nicola from SometimesStellarStoryteller gave us a futuristic view of a world unraveled by a political ideology. I do hope it’s not a premonition!
I often rode the train to gaze on history, aching for a return to the life replayed here in grayscale, before Trump cremated the surface.
(137 Characters)
Newcomer this week, Paul at LifeAt17 took us on a liberating journey of letting go and hope for the future.
“Finally, I am venturing forth into a new journey away from the shackles of past, away from toxic people and situations sucking me dry.”
(108 Characters)
Irena at Books and Hot Tea wrote about starting over and new beginnings.
Window introduces me to my new home. Leaving was hard, though I had nothing to leave. Arriving is harder, with everything to win or lose.
(137 Characters)
Leara, another newbie to the challenge, of LearaWritesAndTakesPics also told us a tale about new beginnings.
The Tracks
Watching the past pass away with its lights and shadows, I leave it all behind. I leave them all behind. Down these tracks, a new life waits.
(141 Characters)
The Bag Lady carried the new beginnings theme home with a tale of leaving.
Joanne looked out and silently said goodbye to her past. She had to look only forward now. A new life, new job, new destination, success.
(137 Characters)
And starting you all off, here is my tale about going back home…
Home
It had been years. Everything had changed, new buildings and faces. But one thing remained. Home was there, smaller than he remembered.
(135 Characters)
_________________________________________
I just have to say, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! What a great group of twitter tales this week! I love that each one is unique. Even if the theme is similar, it is so interesting to hear your unique voices adding to the narrative. And Bravo y’all. You are masters of brevity, telling your stories, one and all, in 140 characters or less!
Are you ready for this week’s prompt photo? Here you go. Have FUN! 🙂
Photo from Pexels.com
Morty
Morty roamed the halls of Shady Grove growling at anyone who got too close. But it was well-known if he liked you, your days were numbered.
(139 Characters)
-kat – 7 February 2017
Uh Oh…Someone’s in Trouble
Henry
When your mother blasts
your first, middle and last name,
you know she’s not pleased!
kat ~ 4 February 2017
For Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge, prompt words: Blow (blast) and Please.
Cloudland – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku
Hello Word Fans! You’re going to love today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day. It is “Cloudland”. It literally means “the sky” or a region of unreality, imagination, etc.; dreamland.
“Hmmm. Okay Kat. I guess it is an oKAY word, but worthy of love? I think you might be stretching it a bit.” (I’m smiling as I play this imaginary conversation in my head.)
Well, you don’t think I would leave you with such a bland, blah, blah, blah definition without giving you some juicy rest of the story info to write home about, now…do you? That would just be mean. And besides, I guarantee you will learn to love this word! (not to mention it is February the month of LOVE! :))
Being a Gemini, an air sign, and a bit of a word nerd, I am often accused of living in Cloudland; not specifically of course, but in oh so many words. Ah but, I digress. I do that a lot, hence the Cloudland references. I do think I would love living there. In Cloudland, that is, because it is actually a real place in the upper Western corner of Georgia. You probably didn’t know that, unless of course you are a nature-loving, canyon-hiking, waterfall-scaping, spelunking, yurt enthusiast. Then you might know all about Cloudland Canyon. Here’s a LINK if you’d like to visit Cloudland one day. 🙂
Oh, but there is more! Cloudland entered the English language in the early 1800’s but it has a distant Greek cousin based on the word, Nephelokokkȳgía, which means CloudCuckooLand. Its origin is traced to Aristophanes’ 414BC comedic play, The Birds, referring to the realm which separates the gods from mankind. It’s an interesting political allegory that includes such things as building walls, religion, power struggles, the creation of self-serving laws, and ultimately, the fact that a perfect world does not exist. In fact, it is said that anyone who is naïve enough to believe in such a place is a “Cloudcuckoolander”!
In the 20th and 21st Century cloudcuckooland has been used quite liberally by various politicians and big thinkers to include: Margaret Thatcher, Newt Gingrich, Paul Krugman, Imran Khan, a Pakistani sportsman turned politician, Henry Wallace, US Secretary of Agriculture in the 1930’s, and Yuri N. Maltsev, an Austrian economist and economic historian. Read more about it HERE.
So there you have it. I must admit I wouldn’t mind being a cloudlander myself, sans the “cuckoo” part. I’ve always fancied the idea of flying like the birds. I could use a bird’s eye view these days. The view from the ground lately rather cuckoo!
Dreams of Cloudland
In my wildest dreams
I sprout magnificent wings
and take to cloudland.~kat – 3 February 2017
Have a happy weekend. 🙂
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like mercury colliding... 