Saturday Centus 166

Watching the lightning grateful for the cool and enjoying the scent of fresh rain we spoke of past weather and the effects.

A huge multi-limbed wild animal of lightning ran across the sky followed immediately with deafening thunder. We knew the sound of lightning striking but we didn't know what it had hit.

Come morning we traveled the hilltop to check. Not only had the lightning struck and split a huge oak tree, it has also killed eight cattle who had rested under it.

The herd bull, in death, leaned against the tree as if scratching an itch in life.

Join Saturday Centus and Jenny for some entertainment and fun.

Saturday Centus 155...The Horrid Dr. Baker

“Dr” Baker began a cancer healing center in Eureka Springs in the Crescent Hotel.  It was a ruse to take money and experiment without restrictions.

We were told of a “quiet room” where patients were kept for their treatments. The Rooms were sound proofed so the screams could not be heard.

“This will just pinch a little” as the loaded syringe with a cocktail containing carbolic acid was injected into the patients five times a day.

The screams echoed unacknowledged and unheard by love ones who sent money.

I imagine the patients are in charge now as they treat Norman daily while his screams remain unheard.

Saturday Centus Happy Ground Hog's Day...

It's time for Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus.  Join the fun.

The prompt this week is this question.   What happens to Punxsutawney Phil when he retires?

 Number of words:  100.   You do NOT have to include the words of the question in your story.

Style of writing: Any

Additional Pictures: Any 

GROUNDHOG MEAT PATTIES WITH TOMATO SAUCE

1 groundhog
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup ground onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 eggs
3 tbsp. fat
1 cup ketchup
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Clean: remove meat from bones and grind. Add 1/2 cup crumbs, onion, salt, pepper, 1 beaten egg, and 1 tbsp. melted fat. Mix thoroughly. Shape into patties and dip into 1 beaten egg, then into 1/2 cup crumbs. Fry until brown in 2 tbsp hot fat. Add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and bake in a slow oven (325 degrees F.) for 1 hour. Makes 8-9 patties.

Challenges...

Saturday Centus 144 by Jenny Matlock

To know light
Mighty dark must rear it’s head
Tread the ground around you
Too full of itself to care
Fair days are over
Oh, how darkness hangs around
A funny thing of darkness
Dark also mutes the sound
Round the bend are Macs
Stacked full of darkness waiting to unload
Unaware of the need for anyone
Any person to light one light
Might there be someone
Some hope of match to light
Tightly held in a Believer’s hand
Standing for the light
Right the familiar darkness seems
Beams catch my light-starved eyes
I see a tiny pinpoint
Peeking around the dark side of the stars.

Saturday Centus 143, Six Word Saturday, Tall Tales,

Jenny Matlock with her challenge, any style of writing but must be 100 words exactly!  I did it!!!  Also providing another link to the man who grows plants and animals in North Wales.  Hope you enjoy the tall tale, John.

Time for the Trelawnyd Annual Garden show. John standing with Chris couldn't contain his excitement.  He’d won the Best Flavored Tomato title the past five years.

All the villagers’ tomatoes rested on the correct bench for entry. The judges sliced a tomato from each entry because they were judged not only for beauty but also flavor.

John waiting anxiously with Chris waiting to hear the judges’ opinion. Chris said, “John, you have won every year. Don’t worry so.”

Purple ribbon…John!

When asked his secret of growing delectable tomatoes, he just smiled.

No one would ever know his tomatoes were carnivorous.

For Six Word Saturday at Show Your Face....Doing six words for a picture, not my life.

Refuse round rusting remnant resting ruefully.

Saturday Centus 141 Spinning...

 This week's Saturday Centus with Jenny Matlock is a picture prompt, first person, one hundred words exactly.

Have fun.  Enter.  Read others.

If I were in charge of this new year
I’d hold the world in my hand
Spinning and creating
As if I were God’s Vice President
In charge of changes

Spinning
I’d place rain where needed
I’d slow the rain when there’s too much
I’d make the wild plants grow for wild things
And tame plants grow for the civilized
Spinning

Spinning
I’d grow all children perfectly
Complete when they’re born
Instruction book included
With diagrams for the parents
Spinning

Spinning
I’d throw all bad things
Away
Hoping we’d learn this year
To love, to share, to live
Spinning

Spinning...

Saturday Centus 138 Thirteenth Day of Christmas

Saturday Centus Time with Jenny Matlock.  A wonderful Christmasy challenge 106 words for The Thirteen Day of Christmas.  I surprised myself.  The words flowed easily and counted 106 exactly.  Hop by Jenny's place and read all the tales.

The thirteenth day of Christmas
The stockings weren't found
The house was messy
The tree falling down

I wore my lovely sweater
My husband wore his ties
One thing made it better
Everyone said Goodbye

They took their presents
They left the mess
I hope they’re happy
I’m left with stress

Although it’s all over
The gifts are hauled away
Guests seemed to have forgotten
The meaning of the day

Christmas is about giving
Oh, so very true
Not mounds of senseless presents
But the gift of you.

So next year please
Keep your presents in your car
We’re having a real Christmas
Following The Star

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERY ONE!

Saturday Centus 136

Was it just last week the words rolled out
so smoothly and tastefully I could shout
The words won’t come they hide from me
How can I write something anyone would read?
There’s always time when the blank page cries
Out to be filled and nothing comes. The fingers lie
Softly against the keys,
Oh why won’t they work for me?
Lines of nonsense, words of no value
Lay on the page just for you
So I backspace
Replace
Words that appear
Nothing worth reading here
Thanks to MS Jenny there will be many more
Who have mastered this prompt
Without it being a chore.

The Collector...Saturday Centus

Jenny Matlock at Saturday Centus leaves us a sweet little challenge.  This week I'm "pushing the envelope"

THE COLLECTOR

The first had names of months
Like a calendar of cries
Like a calendar of lies
They left me lacking, wanting more

Ran outta months so I chose days
My week of cries
My week of lies
They left me lacking, wanting more

Winter, Summer, Autumn, Spring
My seasons of cries
My seasons of lies
They left me lacking, wanting more

Thirty days hath September…April June and November
My year of cries
My year of lies
They left me lacking, wanting more.

All the rest have thirty-one
My proof of cries
My proof of lies
My book is full…I am done

Courtesy of The Web

Saturday Centus 131...And Then There Were None

Welcome to week ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE of Saturday Centus with Jenny Matlock.

She says she's obsessed with fall.  I think we are all ready for cool relief from this forge hot Summer we have experienced. 

Ms Jenny says, "The prompt this week is the picture above.   I promise next week I will come up with a dastardly written prompt.  Number of words: EXACTLY 100 words.
Style of writing: Any  The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other entries, any style or genre of writing you prefer. Please display my link button or just a hyper-link back to Saturday Centus. Be careful to link your SC URL to the Linky and not just link to your main blog.


Five little pumpkins
Sat on a wall
They clung carefully
So’s not to fall.

In came a family
To garden so fair
Looking for Pumpkins
Oh, look there!

A boy picked one
And in his mind he saw
A Jack ‘O Lantern
Spooky enough to scare them all..

The second family boasted
Best carvers under the sun
They chose three
Then there was one.

The afternoon was slow
People chose different things
Like tall corn stalks
And Halloweenie wings.

The last one sadly sat
Through the setting sun
Heard a voice say, I want pie
And then there were none.

Saturday Centus 130-Art For Inspiration

Ms Jenny is getting into the swing for Halloween.  Her prompt this week is pictorial.  PROMPT: 100 words based in this bizarre picture  WORD COUNT: Not to exceed 100  STYLE OF WRITING:  Any
PICTURES:  Any additional

Let's scare up some words for Ms Jenny.  Join the fun and stop by Saturday Centus to read the creative contributions.

Death By Chocolate  

Driving until my eyes wouldn’t stay open I stopped at a motel for the night. Entering my room I tried to settle in but I couldn’t shake that uneasy feeling that I was being watched.

I checked then rechecked the lock, the deadbolt. No one was getting into my room.

In my rush to leave I hadn’t eaten so I ordered something chocolate, my cure for anything.

“Room Service!” was muffled by the thickness of the door. Through the peep hole I saw the eye.  No more chocolate pie for me I thought as the door crashed to the floor.

The Leaves Crunched...Saturday Centus 129

It's time for Saturday Centus with Jenny Matlock!

PROMPT: "The leaves crunched under my boots until they didn't."

WORD COUNT - Not to exceed 109 (including the prompt)

STYLE OF WRITING - First person

PICTURES - Any additional 

The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other links, please.

The cabin was still standing. That surprised me a little. I’d expected it'd be broken like me. It was built in the back of beyond so isolated it seemed only we were left on this world.

That fall the first days were romantic and tender.

I soon discovered he was always watching me. Nothing I did was right. Writing in my journal or even sketching pictures of the cabin became a personal insult to him.

When he hit me I was shocked but every day became the same.

The ax was the answer. I did it.

I walked away and the leaves crunched under my boots until they didn’t.

Six Word Saturday and Saturday Centus 128

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does with their entries.

ON REDECORATING:

Painted, caulked, bruised, but not bleeding.

Time to have fun with Jenny Matlock with her Saturday Centus.  PROMPT: "How beautifully leaves grow old."   WORD COUNT - Not to exceed 105 (including the prompt)  STYLE OF WRITING - Any

PICTURES - Any Additional   The regular restrictions apply: PG, no splitting of the prompt, play nicely and visit the other links, please.

No one knew

No one really cared

No one missed the jerk
That lived upstairs.

A little girl was missing
They looked every where
The only thing ever found
Was her doll upon his stairs.

He watched children closely
Carried candy in his pocket
Just talked to them mostly
But ended up on the court docket.

I knew the girl
She’s mine you know
I’d seen them talking
Days in a row.

The rules are no body
Criminals can’t be bound
Not guilty the verdict
Upset the town.

I the executioner
Was secretive and bold
The body won’t be found
How beautifully leaves turn old.

Sometimes You Bend, Sometimes You Break...

Saturday Centus prompt by Jenny Matlock  

Every week Ms Jenny gives us a writing prompt.  The rules are the same only the prompt changes. 

PROMPT: "Sometimes you bend. Sometimes you break."
WORD COUNT - Not to exceed 106 (including the prompt)
STYLE OF WRITING - Any
PICTURES - Any Additional

Once upon an autumn day

Harry Tarantula came to play

Border Collie noticed the arrival

Didn’t consider it a threat to survival

As he reared to scare her away

Lil turned another way

The lesser experienced arrived on the scene

Had a discussion and thought Harry was mean

Lil tried to convince them to just stay away

But it’s a danger, Lil said, “No way”!

They jumped back with fear

While Lil just watched with upright ears

Her job was to train the upcoming team

"You need to assess what’s good and what’s mean.

Sometimes you bend, sometimes you break

Important thing is don’t make mistakes."



SC 126 Blah, Blah, Blah...

Oh, how I wait for Ms Jenny's writing challenge each week!  Loads of fun with few rules.  You must  use the number of words assigned, including the prompt words.  You can even add your own pictures.  We can never plan ahead because the prompt is assigned on Saturday.

Join the creative fun at Saturday Centus.

She talked all the time. He wanted silence.

He had tried all the standard things to ignore her, tune her out, daydream about something else. He listened to her incessant talk, useless words she thought he wanted to hear.

Did she really think he wanted to know that the second cousin on her mother’s side had to be committed to the loony bin?

He had explained how the noises, her very words, drilled through his head but she never listened.

The first strike of the hammer slowed her words. The second made them sound like blah, blah, blah. The third finally brought silence.

SC 123...Words

Jenny Matlock  presents a wonderful challenge weekly.  Regular rules today not to exceed 109.  Since I am an old person, the famous songs "Words" came into my head by the Bee Gees.  I am presenting their words instead of mine...I can't get the song out of my head!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JECTUQVrvzE&feature=em-share_video_user
Amazing by removing one repeat course, the words are an exact count.  Why should I even try when the Bee Gees said it so well?

WORDS

Smile an everlasting smile
A smile could bring you near to me
Don't ever let me find you gone
'Cause that would bring a tear to me
This world has lost it's glory
Let's start a brand new story
Now my love right now there'll be
No other time and I can show you
How my love
Talk in everlasting words
And dedicate them all to me
And I will give you all my life
I'm here if you should call to me
You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say
It's only words, and words are all
I have to take your heart away

May you enjoy some "Oldies but Goodies" today.

Saturday Centus 122...The Dark Side of Football

Jenny Matlock likes to challenge us each week with a little writing prompt.  Any style, mine fits, 106 words exactly.  Strange I couldn't find a picture to fit with my scene.

The Dark Side of Football

The man worked into the night

with the tools that he had

Separating so delicately

The body from the head

Oh, he thought, I can recreate

the beauty that was there

He smiled lovingly

As he combed her hair

No more would he have to fight

To gain control of the remote

He ended that argument

When he grabbed her by the throat

He began to preserve her

Each piece handled with care

He needed someone

To sit in the other chair.

He carefully rejoined the pieces

The head was last of all

He smiled at his wife and asked,

“Are you ready for some football"?

Saturday Centus 115 Funky!

My sister calls me “funky”

I can’t protest.

I do have strange tastes but

The chosen have passed my test.

 Alex’s art and a cobbler’s stool

Do the mantle grace.

A giraffe holds my purse

Everything has it’s place.

 A elegant fox lights my path

While lace hangs behind my bed

I’m not a psychopath

But who knows what’s in my head.

 Momma’s button bracelet on a glass dog

Guards my painting and watches the door

You think I’m finished…

Wait! There's more!

 There’s Buddha in Depression Glass

With a fringy lamp on top

The antique yellow doily

really makes it pop.

Did the best I could Jenny.  Join Saturday Centus and have some fun.

Saturday Centus 114 He Said,

He said, “My dear, you are looking quite divine.”

She said, “I think you’re admiring my behind.”

“Oh, darling, you’re not being fair.
I’m admiring the beauty of your wings
and how they slice the air.”

“I am not sure I believe you.
After all you ARE a male.
I think you’re just buttering me up
to get a piece of tail.”

“Would I have stayed this long
if it were only for some tail?
The beauty of your eyes is indescribable.
I love the grace you display as you sail.”

Moving a little closer, she said, “How sweet.”
He grinned at his deceit.

Join Jenny Matlock and Saturday Centus for some fun.  Thanks, Jenny!

SC111-Has it really been a decade?

Time for Jenny Matlock's Saturday Centus.The prompt this week is: 'Has it really been a decade?'

Number of words: 100 plus the 6 words of the prompt. 106 total.  Style of writing: Any  Pictures: Any you want to share.


“Has it really been a decade?” he asked while brushing and braiding my long hair. I wondered why. I was thirteen. I knew what a decade was.

I didn’t remember Mama but Paul talked a lot about her. He asked me to call him Paul since Daddy made him feel so old. He would always laugh when he said that.

We moved around a lot but that was okay. “It’s just you and me, kid," Paul always said.

Learning a new phrase that morning, Age Progression, I stared at myself on the milk carton.

Then Paul asked, “Kitten, are you ready to play our little game?”