Thursday May 31st, 2012

The exercise:

All right, after reading Greg's comment on yesterday's post I couldn't resist. The challenge today is: the crossover.

Take two (or more, I suppose) characters from different stories (yours or someone else's) and bring them into a scene together. Per Greg's inspiration, I bring you Josie (from yesterday) and Henri (click on the label if this is your first encounter with this fine gentleman).

The day off was glorious, by the way. Should take one more often.

Mine:

Standing outside the smudged glass doors of the lonely motel, Henri breathed cigarette smoke out of his nostrils and considered his options. They were, in short, not very good.

He either had to get a room here or sleep in his rental car. Seeing as he was stuck with the convertible his secretary had booked for him and the local weather idiot was calling for a torrential downpour overnight, he stepped inside the lobby with a muttered oath.

"What exorbitant amount must I pay for the privilege of a room in this ghastly dump?" he asked the bored woman behind the counter, his words clear despite the smouldering cigarette between his lips.

"You're going to have to check that attitude at the door if you want an answer before the sun comes up," she replied without looking away from the TV set up on the counter to her left. From what Henri could tell it was tuned into a sports match of some sort.

"Judging by the number of keys on your board back there... Josie," Henri said as he squinted at the name tag attached to her shirt by some unseen and weakening force, "you're not in any position to turn away a paying customer. So I'd suggest playing a little more nicely."

"I bet you'd like me to play nicely with your miniature package," Josie said, eyeing him up and down with naked distaste. "But this ain't that sort of establishment and you do not want to see what happens if you insist on pressing the matter."

Henri regarded her in silence, blinking away the fumes from his cigarette while he tried to decide what to make of this woman. The only thing he was certain of was that he'd never, in his extensive and miserable travels, met a motelier anything like her before.

"How much for the night?" he asked at length.

"Fifty for a single, seventy-five for a double. Though you should know that all of my rooms are non-smoking."

"And you should know," Henri said as he slapped a fifty dollar bill on the counter between them, "that all my rooms are very, very pro-smoking."

Wednesday May 30th, 2012

The exercise:

Let us see what we can do with: the rate.

The deck is done! Well, the decking is basically finished (we need like, a third of a board to reach the edge). Now we need stairs and a railing. And eventually we're going to connect around the front of the house to the front steps.

But for now, it's done!

Not only that, but I'm actually taking tomorrow as a day off. I honestly don't remember the last time I had one of those.

Mine:

Josie reached for the remote and turned the TV volume down when she heard the lobby door jingle open. From her stool behind the reception desk she watched the man approach, silently calculating whether he had more oil in his hair or mustache.

"Evenin' sweetheart," he called out, smiling widely enough to display his sparkling white teeth. "How much for the night?"

"Fifty bucks for a single, seventy-five for a double," Josie replied after a brief pause, during which she contemplated telling him the motel was full up. For the rest of forever.

"And what, dear angel, are your rates?" he asked, leaning a forearm on the desk and blessing her with a conspiratorial wink.

"I just told you," she said with her best imitation of a welcoming smile. "Fifty for a single and -"

"Oh goodness me," the man cut in before laughing too earnestly. "I do believe you failed to understand my question. You see, lovely lady, what I meant was how -"

"I understood you just fine, sleazeball," Josie said, her smile vanishing as she pulled the shotgun out from under her chair and leveled it at the man's mouth. "Now either pay for your room and get your key, or get the hell out of my motel."

Tuesday May 29th, 2012

The exercise:

Two Haiku Tuesday would like you to discuss: patience.

The deck is slightly closer to completion. We had to pause to figure out where the stairs would be going in and get a couple of supports drilled in before we covered them over with decking. Maybe tomorrow we'll finish it off?

Spent the morning in the garden with Kat, doing some much needed weeding. It'll be good to put the deck behind me (underneath my feet?) so we can finally focus on the farm.

Mine:

It's fine. Take your time.

What's the hurry? There's... no... rush...

Come on! FINISH IT!

*     *     *

If you wait for it

true love will enter your life;

trust in the process.

Monday May 28th, 2012

The exercise:

Write about: the circle.

For the life of me I cannot remember what inspired that. Oh well.

We now have about two-thirds of a deck. Would have more but I ran out of screws this afternoon and didn't have the time to go to town for more. I'll take care of that tomorrow and then hopefully we'll finish it off in the evening.

Saw a beautiful orange bird by Kat's parents house this afternoon, pretty sure it was an oriole. I think I've found my new hummingbird.

Mine:

Ryan sat behind the wheel of his rented convertible, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited for the light to turn green. Across the intersection from him a woman was waiting to turn left in her minivan, a cellphone pressed to her right ear. She vanished and reappeared over and over again as traffic flowed between them.

The radio in the rental was stuck on an oldies station, so it had been turned off shortly after he'd left the lot. Ryan preferred the music in his head, to which he began nodding his head. It was a useful distraction from the task at hand.

From what he could gather, the phone call was not going in the woman's favor. The hand not holding the cell began cutting the air with violent slashes, the distance between her lips grew with every shouted word. Ryan's fingers began to ache from the beating they were giving his steering wheel.

At last the light changed, each direction receiving an advance turn signal. Ryan waited for the minivan to present its passenger side to him and then slammed his foot on the gas pedal. As his front bumper smashed into the woman's vehicle he couldn't help wishing that there was a less messy way to join The Secret Circle.

Sunday May 27th, 2012

The exercise:

The word of the day is: finally.

Because:

Full explanation in a moment. First though, I just wanted to say we managed to get slightly more than half of the decking done today. Which was enough for Kat and I to eat dinner out there this evening. Progress increased significantly once Kat's dad and I silently agreed that it wasn't going to be perfect and that good enough is exactly that.

If all goes well it should be done Tuesday night, at which point I shall share some pictures.

Mine:

I saw my first hummingbird in Osoyoos shortly after we moved here, which is coming up on two years ago now. We were living with Kat's parents at the time and a couple of those speedy little birds enjoyed frequenting the flower garden at the front of the house.

After a while I realized they came by around the same time every day, so I started trying to get a picture of them. Thing is, they only ever stayed for maybe five or ten seconds each visit, so if I wasn't there waiting for them with my camera ready I didn't stand a chance.

So I camped out a few times, hoping my timing would work out. I think it did once, but by the time I raised my camera it was gone. Needless to say, that first summer here passed without a single picture capturing their beauty.

Last summer I saw them around the property several times, but we'd moved in to our place by then so I never tuned into their schedule. Plus it was a cooler year and the hummingbirds didn't seem to care for it, as they didn't stick around for long.

So, again, no pictures.

But today, at long last today, I finally got one. We suspect they have a nest in the horse chestnut tree, which is not far from our new greenhouse. I probably would have succeeded in my efforts sooner, but whenever I was heading up to water our plants my mind was strictly on the task at hand. Today was the first time I remembered to bring my camera with me.

I practically ran back home afterward, I was so excited to load the picture on to my laptop.

Anyway, it took almost two years to get a picture of one of those guys, but I'd say it was worth the wait.

Saturday May 26th, 2012

The exercise:

Write a four line poem about: trust.

We had a better than expected market this morning. It was certainly a beautiful day, but we were surprised to find ourselves so busy. Plus we're still selling mainly plants (tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, squash, and the start of our peppers) and we keep thinking people will have filled up their garden spaces by now.

Happy to be proved wrong.

Mine:

I trust my abilities,

Surely first place lies in store.

Second place!?

I guess he trusted his a little more.

Friday May 25th, 2012

The exercise:

Write four lines of prose about: guilt.

Didn't get to bed until almost three last... er, this morning, so I slept in until after ten. Kinda screws with your whole day when you do that.

Anyway, we're ready for another market tomorrow morning. And our decking is sitting beside our house, waiting for Kat's dad and I to descend upon them with hammers and screwdrivers and such.

Mine:

Shortly after I pulled the car out of the driveway last night to take Kat to the hospital, she admitted to feeling guilty for dragging me along to have something checked that could very well turn out to be nothing. Never mind that it could also have been something very bad.

So I told her how I saw it: I would be perfectly happy if the whole trip turned out to be a total waste of time, because that would mean that both her and the baby were fine.

I'm glad to be sitting here tonight, having confirmed that to be true.