Five Photos Five Stories – Day Four

Photo by Jaxon Espinosa

Shared Abundance

Wake up to the glowing sun
Live and breathe the fresh new air
Harmonious rhythms sing through veins
Delighted breezes sway
Dancing in time to melodic beats
Floating through the joyful day
Blissful sighs melt into tinkling laughter
Igniting shared abundance
I bow my head in delicious wonder
My divinity to yours

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Here are the rules for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

As I mentioned in the first post, my son, Jaxon, took the photos I am using.

Today, my nomination goes out to Willow.

Five Photos Five Stories Challenge – Day Three

Photo by Jaxon Espinosa

Desert Heat

Dusty footprints pave a path
A destination unknown
The sun beats down on weary shoulders
Sweat dripping to the ground
Tumbleweeds roll slowly by
Driven by an arid breeze
Daydreams of moisture
Glimmer in the air
An oasis of hope wavers amid
Charred edges burning
Succumbing to the desert heat
All signs of life slowly fade away

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Here are the rules for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

As I mentioned in the first post, my son, Jaxon, took the photos I am using.

Today, my nomination goes out to Nortina Mariela.

Five Photos Five Stories Challenge – Day Two

Photo by Jaxon Espinosa

Lonely Exchanges

A distorted sun beats down on heavy hearts
Colors fade to gray
Familiar faces come and go
Strangers in the end
Fake smiles warp fleeting moments
Shrill laughter cuts through the wind
Shattered figures sharing shards of glass
Lonely exchanges under a colorless sky

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Here are the rules for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

As I mentioned in the first post, my son, Jaxon, took the photos I am using.

Today, my nomination goes out to Just Fooling Around with Bee.

Monday’s Finish the Story – Sammy’s Pain

He thought he found the perfect hiding spot, but boy is he wrong. I bolt into the kitchen, tongue flapping, tail wagging, almost missing him in my excitement. Fortunately, I glimpse his paws sticking out from under a curtain and I bark my head off. No one could possibly mistake Gruff for a smart dog, but me? I’m Sammy, destroyer of worlds, or something like that. You’ll have to ask Mom. She’s the one who named me.

I run over and start sniffing at Gruff’s paws, growling and biting. He took my bone and I want it back!

“Sammy! Settle down or I’ll put you outside.”

I stop in mid-growl and peek over at Mom. Does she even understand? I don’t think she understands. I whine and bark again, just to let her know my pain.

“Sammy!”

Okay, fine. I’m a good girl, after all.

Flopping to the floor, I bury my head and wait for my chance.

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Monday’s Finish the Story is a unique flash fiction challenge where we provide you with a new photo each week, and the first sentence of a story. Your challenge is to finish the story using 100-150 words, not including the sentence provided. Click on the froggy link to read other stories or upload your own.

This week’s story is coming in at exactly 150 words. If you want more Sammy stories, feel free to click this link and find them on my Flash Fiction page. Also, I took some liberties with the picture since I’m pretty sure that’s a cat under that curtain, but once I think of a Sammy story, it’s hard to get it out of my head and a cat just doesn’t fit into that world. Besides, I think photos work as prompts and don’t necessarily need to be taken literally.

Five Photos Five Stories Challenge – Day One

Photo by Jaxon Espinosa

 Nature’s Rain

Silky showers tumble from bursting clouds
The wind heralding its arrival
The world arises with a thunderous shout
Leaves rustle, branches snap
The aroma of damp earth permeates
Around the lazy curl of soft petals
Dew drops bead on velvet surfaces
Arms outstretched, face turned up
Greedily drinking in the torrential downpour

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A big thank you to Prajakta for nominating me for the “Five Photos Five Stories” challenge. It’s only taken me about a month to actually do it! Here are the rules: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.”

I am lucky enough to have an amazing son who has taken up an interest in photography, so all the photos I am using were taken by him.

Today, my nomination goes out to Catastrophe Jones.

One-Liner Wednesday – Now

“Focus your attention on the Now and tell me what problem you have at this moment.” – Eckhart Tolle

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One-Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Click the link, read the rules, and play along.

 

Mondays Finish the Story – Revelations

The petroglyphs told the story of an unusual event – one that Detective Jones was quickly interpreting as he stared at the well wall.

“How long do you think it took?” He asked his partner.

“I’m not sure I want to think about it,” Rands said with a visible shudder.

Jones glanced over at his partner then back at the wall. “We’ve seen worse, but this one’s kicking my ass too. Just the thought of someone living through that fall… and then to have the determination to… Well, at least we know exactly what needs to be done once the body is identified.”

The techs continued their work, removing bones and snapping pictures.

It won’t be long now, you son of a bitch, Jones thought.

As he walked slowly back to the car, Rands trailing silently behind him, he couldn’t help but wonder why construction sites always found ways to reveal the dead.

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Monday’s Finish the Story is a unique flash fiction challenge where we provide you with a new photo each week, and the first sentence of a story. Your challenge is to finish the story using 100-150 words, not including the sentence provided. Click on the froggy link to read other stories or upload your own. My story this week is coming in at 143 words. I hope you enjoy.

 

Quote Challenge – Day Three

Thanks again to Nortina Mariela for nominating me for this challenge. I’ve enjoyed sharing my love of music with you all. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well.

The choice of my last song was a bit tougher. This band showed up on one of my play lists and no matter which song I listened to or read the lyrics for, I couldn’t quite decide which song to use, so I went with one I’ve loved for a while. I’ve only ever heard it on the radio, though, and when they moved on to newer songs, I stopped hearing it. When I found it again, I was ecstatic and am happy to say it is now part of my music.

Once again, I grabbed the lyrics from AZLyrics and I’ve linked to YouTube so you can check it out if you are so inclined.

More than any others I’ve heard or read, many of this band’s lyrics come across as poetry to me. I don’t have a whole lot more to say other than I love this band!

“I Will Wait” by Mumford & Sons

Well, I came home
Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of dust
Which we’ve known
Will blow away with this new sunBut I’ll kneel down,
Wait for now
And I’ll kneel down,
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So break my step
And relent
Well, you forgave and I won’t forget
Know what we’ve seen
And him with less
Now in some way shake the excess

‘Cause I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

Now I’ll be bold
As well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart
So tame my flesh
And fix my eyes
A tethered mind freed from the lies

And I’ll kneel down,
Wait for now
I’ll kneel down,
Know my ground

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
And bow my head
Keep my heart slow

‘Cause I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

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Okay, so part of the challenge is to pick three bloggers. The downside is that I’ve been pretty absent on my reader so I have no idea who has participated and who hasn’t. I’m just going to pick three and if you’ve already done it, take it as a huge compliment from me to you and just move on. If you haven’t done it, though, it’s well worth it!

Here are the rules again, just in case you missed them:

• Post one quote for three consecutive days which can come from your favorite book, author, song, role model, etc.
• Nominate three other bloggers
• Have fun. Try not to make this challenge “forced”

And my three nominees:

Her Headache

One of Them Ladygoats

Prajakta Athavale

One-Liner Wednesday – Getting Lost

“If I was so sure I knew where I was going, how did I get so lost?” – Dexter

The boyfriend and I started watching Dexter last night. How the hell did I allow myself to go this long without watching good shows? First Game of Thrones (we finally got caught up a few weeks ago) and now this. *Sigh*

I suppose I should just be happy that I am now watching them… or… well… happy might not be the right word.

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One-Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Feel free to click the link and join the fun!

Teaser Tuesday – From the Corner of His Eye

Another Dean Koontz novel for me and I’m not sad about that at all. The only thing I’m realizing is that I should probably pick shorter books if I’m ever going to reach my goal of reading 50 books this year. (If I’m really truthful with myself, I will realize that 50 probably isn’t going to happen, but I’m well on my way to reading more books this year than I ever have, so yay!)

I’m not far enough into this book yet to really get a feeling for what is happening or what is going to happen, but as always, Koontz spins a masterful tale, including a holy-shit villain that came out of nowhere and knocked my socks off.

Without further ado, the teaser for today comes from page 35 of From The Corner of His Eye.

“The beetle-green Pontiac waited in the driveway, with a shine that tempted nature to throw around some bad weather. Joey always kept a spotless car, and he probably wouldn’t have had time to earn a living if he had resided in some shine-spoiling climate rather than in southern California.”

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Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Feel free to click the link and read other posts or join in the reading fun!