Saturday July 31st, 2010

The exercise:

A four line poem about: the wedding day.

Note: I'm getting married today, so I hope you'll understand that this post was written a couple of days ago.

If everything goes as planned, I'll have been officially married about two hours before this post is scheduled to go up, not long after Kat came walking towards me while this song played:

I'm totally cheating with mine - I wrote this poem for the wedding invites we mailed out months ago.

Mine:

Let us gather in the garden,

Let us dance along the rows;

Let us celebrate their union,

Let us help their love to grow.

Friday July 30th, 2010

The exercise:

Four lines of prose about: sunflowers.

Note: this is a scheduled post. I'm a little busy getting ready for my wedding tomorrow.

Mine:

Sunflowers are going to be playing a pretty major part in our wedding. We've got the driveway lined with about eight different varieties, they will be used for the centerpieces on the tables for the reception, they'll make up Kat's bouquet, and she'll be wearing one in her hair.

It was touch and go as to whether or not enough would be blooming in time for the big day, but thankfully the last week of heat has really brought them out.

I'll leave you with a few pictures (oh man, that is a weak fourth line - I must have other priorities at the moment...):

Thursday July 29th, 2010

The exercise:

Write a bit of poetry or prose that takes place: in the kitchen.

Today I'm working on getting prompts scheduled to post from now until Tuesday, so I'll be going radio silent from now until after the honeymoon. I'll get to the comments that you guys post over the next few days eventually (See? I've learned not to promise a specific time.)

Take care and I'll see you in a few days as a married man.

Mine:

The muffins are in the oven,

Smelling like heaven's creation,

While my angel browses cookbooks

And I wait for my salvation.

My eager stomach growls loudly,

Jealous of my nose's pleasure,

So I silence it with a sip

Of this bottled liquid treasure.

The timer at last sounds the end,

Of both baking and my torture,

So I grab the biggest muffin

And get burned by the damned scorcher.

Wednesday July 28th, 2010

The exercise:

Your word today is: manicured.

We've got a pretty full house over here now - Kat's brother and his fiancee showed up last night, and a couple of aunts and an uncle arrived tonight. Along with a heck of an impressive thunder and lightning display. 

I gave up trying to get a picture of a bolt and took a video of it instead - I'll have to figure out how to edit it and put it up here. But for now a picture of the sky over the lake will have to do:

Mine:

As a final treat before the big day, and to get us both out of the house for a little bit, I took Kat for a surprise visit to a nearby spa this afternoon. With all the work we've been doing in the garden, and the upcoming focus on our fingers, I thought it might be an idea to get us both a manicure.

I've never had one done before (neither had Kat, but I only learned this while we were there) and it was pretty nice. My hands are nice and smooth, the lady managed to get almost all of the dirt out from underneath my fingernails, and I successfully escaped the spa without getting polish put on my nails.

Now to just do a bit more garden work tomorrow without ruining the great job they did on both of us and we're all good...

Tuesday July 27th, 2010

The exercise:

Two haiku about: the scarecrow.

Inspired by a suggestion to create a scarecrow for our garden, made mostly in jest. I think.

The car came home today, three weeks after the accident, and looking just fine. It's good to look out the kitchen window and see it again.

Four more sleeps!

Mine:

Full of yellow straw

and wearing my old shirt, the

scarecrow just scares me.

*     *     *

Sitting on my head,

the crows eat corn. I'm just not

much of a scarecrow.

Monday July 26th, 2010

The exercise:

The word of the day is: repairs.

Finally going to Penticton tomorrow morning to get the car back. It'll be good to have it around again.

Five more sleeps!

Mine:

I didn't see it coming,

I was totally unprepared;

The words have been spoken,

This damage can't be repaired.

No action can heal this wound,

No apology will do.

For this bitter betrayal,

I say goodbye to you.

There will be no second chances,

One was more than you deserved;

I'm walking away right now,

While my dignity's still preserved.

Sunday July 25th, 2010

The exercise:

Today, on this 777th day in a row of Daily Writing Practice, your job is to pick one of the seven deadly sins and use that as your prompt. Don't worry about using the same one I or a previous commenter chose, just go with the one that inspires something creative in you.

Another day at the beach today. This time I brought back a picture:

Mine:

Greed

He'd been telling his wife for years that he would quit as soon as he'd made enough for them to live out the rest of their lives in complete comfort. She knew it was a lie, that they could have afforded a plush retirement already, but she played her part with smiles and sweet, murmured understandings.

It's a powerful thing, the knowledge that you do something extremely well, perhaps even better than anyone else on the planet. That sort of self-confidence is impossible to replace, which only makes giving it up that much harder.

But his desire to go on had more to do with a thirst for more money and, more specifically, the sort of things that money could buy. He liked to sample life's perks, the more exotic the better. And the truth was that there would never be enough money to retire with if he insisted on spending what he made at such a frenetic pace.

Then came the day that his wife knew would eventually arrive. The job went sour, the cops were tipped off, and suddenly the most prolific bank robber since Dillinger would be spending the rest of his days behind bars.

This, needless to say, was not the sort of retirement he'd been talking about.