The exercise:
Write something that takes place in: the flower shop.
Pretty good first day back at work. Other than the smoke that arrived around 9 this morning and hung around for the rest of the day. More wildfire smoke from south of the border, apparently.
Today is my seventh wedding anniversary, so I grabbed some flowers for my lovely wife on the way home from work. Going to try to have a proper date with Kat during my next set of days off.
It's going to be a hot week. Not thrilled about that, but at least I'll have air conditioned offices to clean every day. I walked into Town Hall this afternoon and was like... yeah, I'm just going to stand here for a minute and enjoy this.
Mine:
"I need a bouquet of flowers, fast."
"What's the occasion?"
"What? What does it matter?"
"Well, we carry different arrangements for different circumstances. You know, birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, funerals. That sort of thing."
"Don't care. Just pick one and I'll take it. Quickly, please."
"I'm... I can't... I'm not really comfortable with that! What if it's completely inappropriate?"
"That's not your concern! Come on, man! Flowers! Pronto!"
"Fine, fine. I just don't understand why you can't tell me what they're for..."
"You really want to know?"
"... have I not made that clear?"
"Fine. Just remember that you asked for it."
"I'd say I very nearly demanded it!"
"They're for my girlfriend..."
"Aw, that's sweet!"
"... to apologize for getting her mother pregnant."
Sunday July 30th, 2017
The exercise:
Write about: a break from technology.
Camping was generally good. Did a beautiful hike to a waterfall, swam in the lake, ate good food, and... had a horrible night's sleep.
So, you know, camping.
Plus...
Mine:
After dinner last night Papa took Max and Natalie (who ended up staying the night, sharing a tent with Max and Papa) down to the lake to do some fishing. He said they'd go for about 45 minutes (which I knew wasn't going to be accurate with those two).
When it started getting dark I took out my phone to check the time and... hmm. Blank grey and black screen. Couldn't get past it. Couldn't turn it off. Ended up setting it aside overnight and by the time I got up this morning the battery was dead.
Great. It's been showing signs that it's nearing the end of its life but this was definitely the most dramatic yet.
This morning Max and Natalie were riding their bikes around the road that goes through the campsites and Miles was chasing after them. I thought I'd get a couple pictures with my camera. Took one. Took another. Wanted to have a look at the second, so I hit the display button and... nothing. Well, not nothing. It said busy. For a very long time.
So I shut it off. Tried turning it back on again. Couldn't view the picture, couldn't take any more pictures.
Great.
The good news is that after we got home I got both of them working again. Charged my phone and got it mostly working (had to power it off and then on again in order to get the timer/alarm/ringer sounds to work again... which is not at all worrying for tomorrow morning). I don't trust it anymore though so I'll be going to purchase a new phone on my next day off.
I also charged the battery on my camera (which wasn't dead but I didn't know what else to do). When I put it back in the photo I was trying to look at this morning showed up as a corrupted file. Deleted it and everything seems to be fine now. Kinda forced to trust it as I'm not going to be buying another camera again anytime soon.
Anyway. If someone had asked me if I was looking forward to taking a break from technology this weekend I would have said yes.
... and this would not have been what I meant at all.
Write about: a break from technology.
Camping was generally good. Did a beautiful hike to a waterfall, swam in the lake, ate good food, and... had a horrible night's sleep.
So, you know, camping.
Plus...
Mine:
After dinner last night Papa took Max and Natalie (who ended up staying the night, sharing a tent with Max and Papa) down to the lake to do some fishing. He said they'd go for about 45 minutes (which I knew wasn't going to be accurate with those two).
When it started getting dark I took out my phone to check the time and... hmm. Blank grey and black screen. Couldn't get past it. Couldn't turn it off. Ended up setting it aside overnight and by the time I got up this morning the battery was dead.
Great. It's been showing signs that it's nearing the end of its life but this was definitely the most dramatic yet.
This morning Max and Natalie were riding their bikes around the road that goes through the campsites and Miles was chasing after them. I thought I'd get a couple pictures with my camera. Took one. Took another. Wanted to have a look at the second, so I hit the display button and... nothing. Well, not nothing. It said busy. For a very long time.
So I shut it off. Tried turning it back on again. Couldn't view the picture, couldn't take any more pictures.
Great.
The good news is that after we got home I got both of them working again. Charged my phone and got it mostly working (had to power it off and then on again in order to get the timer/alarm/ringer sounds to work again... which is not at all worrying for tomorrow morning). I don't trust it anymore though so I'll be going to purchase a new phone on my next day off.
I also charged the battery on my camera (which wasn't dead but I didn't know what else to do). When I put it back in the photo I was trying to look at this morning showed up as a corrupted file. Deleted it and everything seems to be fine now. Kinda forced to trust it as I'm not going to be buying another camera again anytime soon.
Anyway. If someone had asked me if I was looking forward to taking a break from technology this weekend I would have said yes.
... and this would not have been what I meant at all.
Saturday July 29th, 2017
The exercise:
Write a four line poem about: the camping trip.
Writing this after we got back makes this a bit odd to write. But let us pretend for a few moments that I wrote this before I left, okay?
Spent last night packing up most of the things we'll need for our one night stay. I don't think it would take much more stuff to stay for a week, but here we are.
Kat and I will be driving up with Miles while Max is catching a ride with Papa. Becky, Adam, Natalie, and Emerysn will be meeting us there.
Here's hoping for a good day (and a bit).
Okay, done pretending now. Will get Sunday's post written and posted as soon as I can.
Mine:
We went out to the woods today,
To see what we could see.
We found dragonflies, clear blue skies,
And a clear thought or three...
Write a four line poem about: the camping trip.
Writing this after we got back makes this a bit odd to write. But let us pretend for a few moments that I wrote this before I left, okay?
Spent last night packing up most of the things we'll need for our one night stay. I don't think it would take much more stuff to stay for a week, but here we are.
Kat and I will be driving up with Miles while Max is catching a ride with Papa. Becky, Adam, Natalie, and Emerysn will be meeting us there.
Here's hoping for a good day (and a bit).
Okay, done pretending now. Will get Sunday's post written and posted as soon as I can.
Mine:
We went out to the woods today,
To see what we could see.
We found dragonflies, clear blue skies,
And a clear thought or three...
Friday July 28th, 2017
The exercise:
Write four lines of prose about: ready, set, go.
All right, finally caught up with posting again. And I can say with complete confidence that... tomorrow's post will be going up a day late.
Because tomorrow night we'll be camping at Conkle Lake.
Adam, Becky, and their girls will be joining us for the day before heading home for the night, and Kat's dad will be camping overnight with us.
Should be fun. Fingers crossed, anyway.
Mine:
We're at the starting line now, all lined up nice and neat. Everyone is ready to race, but they all know I'm the one to beat. The audience is out of their seats and are in for a treat.
Hey, Charlie's running already... that sneaky little cheat!
Write four lines of prose about: ready, set, go.
All right, finally caught up with posting again. And I can say with complete confidence that... tomorrow's post will be going up a day late.
Because tomorrow night we'll be camping at Conkle Lake.
Adam, Becky, and their girls will be joining us for the day before heading home for the night, and Kat's dad will be camping overnight with us.
Should be fun. Fingers crossed, anyway.
Mine:
We're at the starting line now, all lined up nice and neat. Everyone is ready to race, but they all know I'm the one to beat. The audience is out of their seats and are in for a treat.
Hey, Charlie's running already... that sneaky little cheat!
Thursday July 27th, 2017
The exercise:
Write about: the no-show.
Picked blackberries for local orders this morning. We managed to get 41 pints, which is pretty good. We had orders for 43 though, so not quite good enough. Kat did get a pint of raspberry to make up for one customer being shorted, and the other customer ended up getting extra peaches to make up for it anyway.
Not exactly a restful day, but part of me appreciated getting to be out on the farm doing a different sort of work.
And the rest of me just wanted to nap.
Mine:
No-shows are my least favorite part of doing local orders. By. Far.
On our first one this year, the last customer to show up arrived at 5pm. I waited until 6pm for the final customer to arrive and... he never did.
On our second one the last customer came at 5:30, which left me waiting for another half hour for... someone who never came.
Today, on my insistence, we shortened the pickup window from 4-6 to 4-5:30. If I'd fully had my way, it would've been 4:30-5:30, but whatever.
I didn't notice when the last customer arrived, but it doesn't really matter. Because this time there were *two* different customers who never came to collect the produce they had ordered.
Produce that we had taken the time to pick and prepare for them. And now have to spend time making additional arrangements for them to get.
Or, you know, forget them and their order and never take orders from people who no-show on us (without good reason) ever again.
I will let you guess which option I currently prefer.
Write about: the no-show.
Picked blackberries for local orders this morning. We managed to get 41 pints, which is pretty good. We had orders for 43 though, so not quite good enough. Kat did get a pint of raspberry to make up for one customer being shorted, and the other customer ended up getting extra peaches to make up for it anyway.
Not exactly a restful day, but part of me appreciated getting to be out on the farm doing a different sort of work.
And the rest of me just wanted to nap.
Mine:
No-shows are my least favorite part of doing local orders. By. Far.
On our first one this year, the last customer to show up arrived at 5pm. I waited until 6pm for the final customer to arrive and... he never did.
On our second one the last customer came at 5:30, which left me waiting for another half hour for... someone who never came.
Today, on my insistence, we shortened the pickup window from 4-6 to 4-5:30. If I'd fully had my way, it would've been 4:30-5:30, but whatever.
I didn't notice when the last customer arrived, but it doesn't really matter. Because this time there were *two* different customers who never came to collect the produce they had ordered.
Produce that we had taken the time to pick and prepare for them. And now have to spend time making additional arrangements for them to get.
Or, you know, forget them and their order and never take orders from people who no-show on us (without good reason) ever again.
I will let you guess which option I currently prefer.
Wednesday July 26th, 2017
The exercise:
Write about: litter.
Very busy in town today - had to drive by Lions Park three times before I could find a parking spot so that I could restock the washroom this afternoon. Happy to be taking a break from all the traffic for the next four days.
Sorry for all the late postings. Sleepiness combined with lack of inspiration.
Hoping to get back to catching up on comments tomorrow.
Edit: sigh, never mind.
Mine:
What's that lurking in the shade of that maple tree? Ah, just another kiss between you and me. I remember how young I felt then, how happy and free.
And this piece of paper, crumpled up in the grass? Just one of many love notes I wrote for you in class. No wonder it took three tries at History for me to pass.
Look, over there - two empty bottles of wine. One was yours and one was mine. I can still feel the tingle that ran down my spine as we crossed a line that no one had bothered to define.
Not for me at least. But then I was never very good at listening to my priest.
Memories of us litter the landscape of my dreams. All the whispers, all the stutters, all the screams. But nothing here is really as it seems.
For you are not here, just what you left behind. Trust me, I've looked all over the hills and valleys and forests and beaches of my mind. Just bits and pieces scattered about, fragments that only serve to remind me of ties that no longer bind.
Write about: litter.
Very busy in town today - had to drive by Lions Park three times before I could find a parking spot so that I could restock the washroom this afternoon. Happy to be taking a break from all the traffic for the next four days.
Sorry for all the late postings. Sleepiness combined with lack of inspiration.
Hoping to get back to catching up on comments tomorrow.
Edit: sigh, never mind.
Mine:
What's that lurking in the shade of that maple tree? Ah, just another kiss between you and me. I remember how young I felt then, how happy and free.
And this piece of paper, crumpled up in the grass? Just one of many love notes I wrote for you in class. No wonder it took three tries at History for me to pass.
Look, over there - two empty bottles of wine. One was yours and one was mine. I can still feel the tingle that ran down my spine as we crossed a line that no one had bothered to define.
Not for me at least. But then I was never very good at listening to my priest.
Memories of us litter the landscape of my dreams. All the whispers, all the stutters, all the screams. But nothing here is really as it seems.
For you are not here, just what you left behind. Trust me, I've looked all over the hills and valleys and forests and beaches of my mind. Just bits and pieces scattered about, fragments that only serve to remind me of ties that no longer bind.
Tuesday July 25th, 2017
The exercise:
Write two haiku about: the lifeguard.
Had a brief visit with a high school friend who was passing through Osoyoos today. Wonderful to see her and her daughter (who is about a year older than Max) again, and it's always a treat to share our produce (in this case, blackberries, apricots, and peaches) with an old friend.
One more day until my weekend.
During which there will be much hiding in the shade.
Mine:
I watch people swim
and, sometimes, drown - I'm not a
very good lifeguard
* * *
I get bored some days.
That's when I like to yell 'Shark!'
and watch them scatter...
Write two haiku about: the lifeguard.
Had a brief visit with a high school friend who was passing through Osoyoos today. Wonderful to see her and her daughter (who is about a year older than Max) again, and it's always a treat to share our produce (in this case, blackberries, apricots, and peaches) with an old friend.
One more day until my weekend.
During which there will be much hiding in the shade.
Mine:
I watch people swim
and, sometimes, drown - I'm not a
very good lifeguard
* * *
I get bored some days.
That's when I like to yell 'Shark!'
and watch them scatter...
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