Encouragement from Other Bloggers

I hadn't posted anything to the other blog, my fictional short story one, since last November, and I'm not sure why. Stories keep popping up in my mind, demanding to be dusted off or written for the very first time. Maybe all it took was a little encouragement from another blogger. A few weeks ago, writer E. J. Wesley left a nice comment on my last post on Big Bend Over Easy in Florida, so I figured it was time to add another story. Here's a link to a very-first-time story. 

Landscape Looting, Sweat Equity, and a New Way of Living

One day not long ago, a pair of walkers packed up all of their worldly belongings and set off to find their fame and fortune in Tallahassee. They thought that their modest home and garden near Pensacola would be in good hands with an experienced property manager watching over them. He promised that the tenants he had found would take care of and cherish this landscape the walkers considered was truly sweat equity.

Would it be okay if the tenants were to add a few plants of their own? They love to garden, you say? Well, then, what's a few more plants?

Oh! We see (courtesy of a concerned neighbor and friend). They've moved--among many things--mature, fruit-bearing trees during a drought to make room for their "few more plants." And they promise to change it back to the way it was if they decide they don't like it here. Nice thought! It would require way more than "seven maids with seven mops" (see below) to accomplish that feat.

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand:
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year,
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear...

(excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, 1871)

The same weekend that the pair of walkers were packing up all of their worldly belongings to seek their fame and fortune in Tallahassee, their pride and joy (Son and Daughter) were graduating together from Pensacola State College. No bitter tears shed here.

By the time all that pomp and circumstance was said and done, though, there weren't many dry eyes in the place.

 Brother and sister graduating at the same time. One more step, completed together.

SAM has taken to the new way of living on a lake like...well, a fish takes to water! The landscape here suits him just fine.

This walker, for as long as she's allowed, will follow the eldest Oyster's example and stay put for a while. And this latest "oyster-bed" will not be disturbed. Even if she could afford "seven maids with seven mops," no sand sweeping (landscape looting) is necessary or desired.

A to Z Reflections Post

Funny thing. I only missed two letters during the April 2011 A to Z Blogging Challenge. They vanished in the middle of the month when we moved out of the apartment and into the lake house: N and O. Together, they make a word that's not welcome in my vocabulary anymore. I am not sorry they are MIA.

For some reason, Lawrence Welk's goodnight song is getting mixed up in my head with a tune I learned as a Girl Scout:

Good night!
Sleep tight!
And pleasant dreams to you!

Make new friends, but keep the old...

Make a wish
And a prayer...

One is silver...

That all your dreams come true...

And the other's gold!

And sooo, till we
Meet again...

Adios!
Au revoir!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Good night!

Thanks to all of the fine folks who visited, paid their respects, and wished us well during this Challenge. We appreciate each and every one of you.

Thanks to Arlee Bird and the other hosts who made it all possible. Just in case you missed the long list of Challenge participants that I provided a link to with nearly every post, at the end of this post there's a blog hop with links to other bloggers who survived the Challenge and lived to post about it.

Go ahead and jump! Oh, no. Now, I've got this song stuck in my head. Someone, help, please! Give me some other music to think about, or I may be trapped in the 80s for who knows how long...

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Z is for Zippity Do Dah

Z is for Zippity Do Dah

The sun was shining through the window this morning, and I could hear the birds outside singing. SAM asked me what I was going to post for Z today. This is the first Z thing that popped into my head and out of my mouth. It's not that I'm ecstatic because the Blogging Challenge is at an end :>)

I hope your day has been a Zippity Do Dah one!

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Y is for Yclept Yeager, Dr. Robert

Geoffrey Chaucer, 1343-1400

Y is for Yclept Yeager, Dr. Robert

I like to give credit where credit is due.

That the credit is late doesn't (shouldn't?) matter to you.

You taught me from texts with English archaic

My papers, at first, you considered prosaic 

The poets you said you admired were dead,

But you brought them to life with a nod of your head

The books that you held in the palm of your hand

Transported the class to Ye Olde England

It was magic you did, to this day I will claim

"Chaucer, Shakespeare, Sidney"--You invoked them by name

And the words that they wrote were revealed to me

As though they were living and fluid and free

No longer confined to the books that were bound

Their words that you spoke from your lips became sound

And the poetry written all those centuries ago

Could reverberate now in tones high and tones low

It was quite like a dance or a symphony or play

And the students were part of the show every day

We were not just your audience to admire your teaching

But expected to act and with our own words be reaching

The high expectations you set then before us--

They were never forgotten, though they now need a chorus

Of voices reminding to make those words written

Daily on keyboard and not intermittent

If now I complain there's too much on my saucer

I know you would say remember Geoffrey Chaucer:

The Knight "bigan with right a merye cheere

His tale anoon [meant now, not soon!], and saide as ye may heere..."  

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for links to more "Y's" posted by Challenge hosts and other writers.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: X is for Railroad Crossing Sign

 X is for Railroad Crossing Sign

Just about anywhere in the world, you will find railway crossings. They are a sure sign of progress, or at least they used to be, in the United States. Now we have automobiles to ride in and roads on which to travel. Once upon a time, there were just railways to bring goods and carry people across vast distances. They opened up new territories to the settlers who built this country's small towns and big cities.

Those parallel lines--a sign of the changing times--laid across hills and valleys, tunneled through mountains, and suspended high above rivers and bays inspired writers like Stephen Crane to describe a special milieu. It was instantly recognizable to anyone who traveled by train and paid attention to what was happening around him. Certainly, majestic vistas caught the eye, but a sense of being hurtled into the unknown, which could be dangerous, was for many people also part of the experience. The old, familiar way of life appeared to be vanishing right before their eyes:

The great Pullman was whirling onward with such dignity of motion that a glance from the window seemed simply to prove that the plains of Texas were pouring eastward. Vast flats of green grass, dull-hued spaces of mesquite and cactus, little groups of frame houses, woods of light and tender trees, all were sweeping into the east, sweeping over the horizon, a precipice... (Stephen Crane, "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," first published in McClure's Magazine in 1898.)

Anymore, we don't usually associate trains with something bad happening like falling off a cliff since most of us rely on other modes of transportation. And therein lies a real danger. Is it a lack of sensibility or too much complacency that's the crux of a potential problem? Railroad crossings--where the modes intersect--and motorists who fail to pay attention to signs are not a good combination. It can't be that the warning signs aren't recognizable. They really haven't changed much over the years. A simple crossbuck or crux decussata (the Roman numeral ten) with the words "Railroad Crossing" clearly lets you know that there could be a train about to cross your path. You would be smart to stop, look, and listen for it, especially if there are no warning lights or mechanical arms descending to block your path.

It's estimated that a 150-car freight train traveling 50 miles per hour takes 1.5 miles to completely stop. So why do people ignore the warnings and take chances? I found an interesting site developed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) that chronicles with video some near-misses. Some of them will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. They'll make you wonder if those drivers got their licenses from Cracker Jack boxes.

Please visit A to Z Blogging Challenge for more "X's" posted by Challenge hosts and other writers.