Fire in the Sky for SL-Week One

Photo Challenge by SYLVAIN LANDRY
A response to Sylvain’s challenge theme of Fire
Photography /Poetry /Tales /Humour

Fire in the Sky for SL-Week

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning”

The Sky is Falling

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“The sky is falling upon us…”
The peasant screamed
As he ran towards the small village
Horrified, like woken from a bad dream
Panting heavily, before the sentence he could finish

“There will be no tomorrow”
The village elder retorted
As he looked into the horizon in sorrow
But hoping for one more day to borrow

As the flaming rays of the sun
Aptly, were the smoking gun
Had painted the skies red
Scaring the villagers under their beds

Sitting on the porch
Lit by a flaming torch
Was a little girl with courage
And eating her porridge
Looking up at the sky
As an evil smile her face passed by

“Oh, you foolish elders
Looking for a coward’s shelter
It’s not the end of the world as we know it
But a nature’s game of wit
No need to go all bananas,
Just relax and try enjoying
The beautiful painting
On the sky’s canvas”

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Red Sunset for Daily Photo

Posted in Daily Photo
Photography /Poetry /Tale /Humour

“Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second” Mattie Stepanek

Red Sunset for Daily Photo

“Fire, fire!”
The natives shouted in a dire
Pointing at the late night sky
Worrying if the world was about to die

As the big bright ball
Made its fall
Darkness soon to follow
Leaving the village cold and hollow

“Fear not my ignorant friend”
The village elder was on the fend
“For tomorrow the bringer of light,
Will us yet another day delight”

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Four Options For Coffee (TBT)

Posted in the Throwback Thursday weekly series
Poetry, photography, tales and things that nature!

“Coffee – the finest organic suspension ever devised. It’s got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it”Captain Kathryn Janeway

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The Four Options Of Coffee

1) Good
2) OK
3) Drinkable
4) Yak

How to recognize bad coffee:

1) Looks like tea, doesn’t taste like tea and certainly not like any coffee you’ve ever tasted!
2) Sticky gooey stuff sticks on your tongue: Looks like tar, tastes like tar!
3) Your face twitches in a funny way: Not funny good, but funny bad.
4) Coffee with milk: Except when it’s ice coffee, with lots of coffee, a little ice and hardly any milk.

You know it’s an excellent cup when the coffee is:

1) Black.
2) The spoon melts in it before you manage to stir.
3) You have a burned after taste in your mouth for several hours after your last cup of the day.
4) It’s ten o’clock in the evening and you are still drinking it.

Note: Why you would actually stop drinking coffee at any hour is beyond me!

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Lilies of the Valley for Daily Photo: Two

Posted in Daily Photo
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Tale

Lilies of the Valley for Daily Photo

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“I would far rather have two or three lilies of the valley gathered for me by a person I like, than the most expensive bouquet that could be bought!”

― Elizabeth Gaskell

 Lilies of the Valley 

She’s a Lily of the Valley
You, may call her Sally
Better not get to pally
Or out you will dilly-dally

Soon, the others Sally will rally
There will be quite a tally
They will gather in the alley
Then go for a beer to O’Malley’s

The tallest tale ever spun verbally
When Sally recounted her tally
Singing, dancing in a few galleys
Some say, it was so loud, they heard it in Cali

This will be the finale
Of a tale of a Lily called Sally
I heard she moved her locale
Last seen, in Napa Valley

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Monday, Another Bloody Monday

Posted in Daily Incidents
Tale /Humour /Horror

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“This has been such a Monday! I wish I stayed in bed, and I wish that yesterday had never happened” Lisa Mantchev

Monday, Another Bloody Monday

Couldn’t sleep
So I woke up early
Still oh so tired
Logged on to my computer
Surprisingly, nothing worked
Tried and re-tried
Booted, hooted, shouted
Unfortunately to no end
The whole network was down
I was cut off,
From the world!
Another bloody Monday
Has just reared its ugly head…
…again

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Monday, Bloody Monday

Posted in Daily Incidents
Tale /Humour /Horror

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“Why is Monday so far from Friday, and Friday so near to Monday?”

Monday, Bloody Monday

Monday, bloody Monday
It is certainly not my fun day
Still five days until Friday
This could well be my die day

My calendar filled with meetings
No time for eating
Feeling like cheating
When trying to catch a break for peeing

No use in struggle or fighting 
Almost worse than being struck by a lightning
Dealing with the disappointment
Because there is no ointment

Another working week has started
From my leisure time I was parted
Doing my best to survive
Just wishing to keep in the drive

Tell me, do I really hate Mondays
Or is it just the illusion of a fading Sunday?

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Serially Lost in Fiction (TBT)

Posted in the Throwback Thursday weekly series
Poetry, photography, tales and things that nature!

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“Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.”

Serially Lost in Fiction

Writer’s note: This content is the work of pure fiction and is in no way associated to the writer ;P

The best guideline for any writer is to read, read and read some more. With all available resources, carrying a “book” around is easy as pie and you can read anywhere. There is a downside to this though and I found that out the hard way: I got caught between the realm of reality and fantasy.

It started slowly, reading a short story here, another there. Then things started to escalate. I was hooked up on longer stories, even sequels and serial ones. It had gotten to the point where I was reading on the bus stop, in the bus, at lunch, on coffee break. When I got home from work I could not wait to rush through my daily chores and emerge myself in more stories.

Feeling like the children who found Narnia, I was devouring all kinds of the stories. Re-enacting some of them in my sleep. Even taking part in conversations with my imaginary new friends in my head.

Staying up until late hours, reading, reading, reading. Sleep was scarce, almost non-existent. Drinking lots of coffee was the only remedy to somehow muddle through my work days. Even during the day fantasizing of the time I was back home and able to fully concentrate on my reading.

Then I got a wake up call. It was in the form of an intervention from my family and friends. I was on my way from work like usual and happily thinking on my next read. And there they were, sitting in the living room, waiting for me. Not a tablet, laptop, book reader nor an actual book in sight!

They sat me down gently and told me in no small way how my constant reading was affecting them.
I could not believe they would dare confronting me like this. After all, I was only reading for leisure.

Bewildered and utterly distraught I dwelled in self pity for a few days. Locking myself in my room and reporting in sick. I decided “to hell with it” and emerged in even more reading. For four days and four nights apart from potty breaks I read anything and everything.

After those days, I guess something got me thinking. Could have been the sleep deprivation, could have been the fact I had hardly eaten, but I realized I was in over my head. Then and there I decided it was time for a change.

 Next stop: Reality? Who’s Brilliant Idea Was That?

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Reality? Who’s Brilliant Idea Was That? (TBT)

Posted in the Throwback Thursday weekly series
Poetry, photography, tales and things that nature!

Part Two of Serially Lost in Fiction

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“Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth”  Ludwig Borne

Reality? Who’s Brilliant Idea Was That?

“You really need to pull it together and clean up your act!”

The words still echoing in my head from the intervention. The whole thing had made me extremely angry. But after my initial tantrum had subsided, I was willing to admit I had a problem.

So now, I needed a plan, but it was going to be hard. I had two choices, to gradually wean myself off of all that fiction and fantasy or go cold turkey. I estimated it would take around two to three weeks or so either way. I chose the latter option. I did not trust myself, suspecting the gradual way I would only make excuses and not read any less.

The options at hand would be then to:

a) Get rid of every single piece of technology or readable book.
b) Lock myself in an empty room at home.
c) Travel to a far away place, preferably a cottage in the middle of the forest somewhere without any creature comforts.

I chose plan c. It seemed the best option, since my family owned a cottage some hundred kilometers up north. There was no electricity, no running water, basically nothing but survival against the wilderness. Well, to be honest, the nearest shop was only five kilometres away, so not a god forsaken place after all.

Since the margin of me running off mid process, my family opted to drive me there and I would then have a bike to use for my trips to buy groceries. And that being my only option of transportation, it would be highly unlikely I would run off on a bike.

So it was agreed and I was on my way to the cottage in the woods with only my necessities.

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Next stop: Time for a Reality Check?

Time for a Reality Check? (TBT)

Posted in the Throwback Thursday weekly series
Poetry, photography, tales and things that nature!

Part Three of Reality? Who’s Brilliant Idea Was That?

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“It is strange because sometimes, I read a book, and I think I am the people in the book”

Time for a Reality Check?

So there I was, in the middle of the woods, all by my lonesome. No where to hide, no where to run.
I was in for a challenge. Not only because of me detoxing from the fiction I was greatly hooked up on at this point, but also living in an archaic house without any creature comforts.

I watched the car drive off, and then I was finally alone. Time to start the battle with the demons!
I went inside the wooden cabin finding a layer of dust settling on the surfaces. Sighing deeply and thinking ‘Welcome to the labour camp’. Placing my rucksack on the chair closest to me, I rolled up my sleeves and started cleaning up.

Windows and door open to get the air circulating. Making do with an old broom to swipe the floors. Luckily I had brought some cleaning wipes with me. Those would come in handy while dusting the surfaces.

A few hours later I looked around and the place was spick and span clean. It was time for the evening meal and I was unpacking my bag. I had several cans of food, some crackers and a juice canister. Now all I needed was water and wood!

The rest of my day went pretty much doing chors like cutting wood and hauling water from the well.
A few more hours went by and I was inside getting the wooden stow started. When the fire was burning nicely, I opened one of the cans, pea soup of course, good for any camper!

It was night fall and I had my little oil lamp burning and the fire was going keeping me warm. It had been a little bit of an effort, but luckily some smart Alec had written instructions now hanging on the wall next to fireplace.

So there I was without a care in the world, my stomach full with soup and juice. I was wondering how people managed to get anything else done in the olden days. Most of the daylight hours seemed to be wasted on cleaning and gathering necessities for meal preparation.

Then I realized I needed to use the facilities. Unfortunately there was only an outhouse and it was a bit tricky to navigate there in the dark. I had my torch with me so that helped a little. I just hoped no wildlife were close by feeling peckish and thinking I was food.

The routine for the two week period was pretty much the same every day. Get up at dawn, because the birds were screaming in the trees, hunt and gather for nourishment. The cottage grounds actually had a pretty good assortment of various berries and luckily it was the season for most of them.

In the end, I did not even miss reading, anything, fiction or otherwise. I didn’t have time, when the real life hit me hard, and using a log to do it!

Let’s see what happens when I finally get back home, where all the temptations await me!

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Yellow Mini-marine for SL-WEEK 42

Photo Challenge by SYLVAIN LANDRY
A response to Sylvain’s challenge theme of Car

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“Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It’s the only way to live
In cars”
Gary Numan – Cars

Yellow Mini-marine

We all want to drive a yellow Mini-marine
A yellow Mini-marine, a yellow Mini-marine
Life is fun in a yellow Mini-marine
A yellow Mini-marine, a yellow Mini-marine
I also wanted one for me
A yellow Mini-marine, a yellow Mini-marine
But turned out there was a larger fee
For a yellow Mini-marine, a yellow Mini-marine
So instead I went out to ski
Instead of driving a yellow Mini-marine, a yellow Mini-marine

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