Thursday, April 30, 2009

Quilly's Magic Words

It is a Quilly day. Time to take Quilly’s three words for the day and write a story. The words are paladin, intransigent, & invidious

The invidious naming of George as a paladin caused the intransigent conservatives to hate him even more.

They were intransigent in their invidious decision to name Nancy their paladin.


Soon after he became the Queen’s paladin the invidious comparisons between him and the now intransigent Sargent at Arms began.


He was intransigent in his invidious comparison between a paladin and a monkey and refused to recant.

He might have been called a paladin but .he was intransigent in his refusal to take back his invidious remarks about the King.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Raven's 60

It is Saturday and time to play with words supplied by Raven's Wordzzle
This Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: preparation, tic-tac-toe, splurge, auction block, the bitter end, milk, papyrus, when the parade passes by, bill of lading, stone wall
Mini Challenge: polar bear, 20 seconds, get it together, spasmodic, antiquity

The dragons decided to try to write a poem like a great poet. The assumption is the original poet wanted to say the same thing but had to use Raven's words. So here is our version of Grief by Elizabeth Browning.

Perhaps Grief

with apologies to Elizabeth Browning

I tell you the bitter end is passionless
That only those bathed in the milk of despair
Half taught in antiquity, turn spasmodic in the evening air
Beat upward to God’s auction block in loud access
The tic-tac-toe of reproach. Full desertness
Polar bears as countries, lieth silent-bare
20 seconds under, the vertical eye-glare
Of the papyrus like Heavens, Deep-hearted man, express
Preparation for thy Dead in silence like to death
Most like on a stone wall statue set
When the parade passes by in woe
Till itself splurge in the dust beneath
Touch it the bill of lading is not wet
If it could weep, it could arise and go.

And our ten word challenge.

In the Club

Jason had joined the Polar Bear Club because as he put it “ I am trying to get it together”. Until that point his life had seemed spasmodic. He had jumped from one job to another . He had been a dealer of products from antiquity, a shoe salesman, an Engineer for Microsoft, and even a school teacher. But he felt that joining the club and participating in all the togetherness and brotherhood it promised he would get his life in order.
Twenty seconds after he hit the icy water he decided he was wrong.

If you would like to see a mega challenge in 55 words scroll down.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Friday 55-The papyrus

With a nod to Raven and Quilly



The papyrus from antiquity said the bitter end had come after 20 seconds of spasmodic preparation .


She was bathed in milk, placed on the stone wall auction block , with a bill of lading, and told to get it together as the parade passes by.




Choices!
To play tic-tac-toe ,

splurge on the
papyrus or polar bear?
Choices?
_______________________________________________________________

And Now for something completely different. A flash 55 quivel. Something that looks like a poem, uses at least three of Quilly’s words and has five words to a line for eleven lines

The Witch

Antediluvian is what she was
And he knew this because
By her very prolix speech
the words out of reach
And yet English they were
Of that he was sure
Ineluctable as the very tide
Took you for a ride
Out of antiquity she came
Witchcraft was her only game
world never again the same

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Quilly's Magic Words

It is Quilly day. Time to take Quilly’s three words for the day and write a story. The words are antediluvian; prolix; & ineluctable Click on a word for a definition.

The antediluvian, prolix speaking dragon was ineluctable in his pursuit of the fair maid but would have done better if he had stopped talking and flamed on.

The antediluvian monster was an ineluctable force moving across time despite the prolix speech of the scientist to the contrary.

It was bad enough that Quilly used such antediluvian words but in prolix stories that weaved their ineluctable way across the page was unforgivable.


He was a prolix speaker whose antediluvian stories were an ineluctable force changing our perception of history.

He was old enough to be one of the prolix that survived the ineluctable flood but he was never antediluvian in his dress.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Raven's 59

It is Saturday and time to play with words supplied by Raven's Wordzzle

This Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: prefix, art festival, income tax, chicken noodle soup, jump rope, Dutch Treat, flowering plum tree, bats in the belfry, diamond earrings, tigers
Mini Challenge: book club, organic tea, the cow jumped over the moon, paragon of virtue, wench
The Mega Challenge Crazy Netti

Crazy Old Nettie that’s what they called her. She has bats in the belfry people said. But she was rich, very rich. Nobody in all of Prefix , Illinois knew how rich. She had on really old clothes of another age. Her shoes had holes stuffed with old income tax forms. But with all of that she wore Diamond Earrings with little tigers engraved in them. It was said that in her mansion, she lived in a mansion, she had only chicken noodle soup to eat. She had cans and cans and cans of chicken noodle soup.
When she would see kids playing jump rope she would go up to them and ask them to recite “ the cow jumped over the moon” while they jumped. If they did she gave each kid a dollar. Sometimes she mistakenly gave them five dollar bills instead of dollar bills but they didn’t complain.
Every Tuesday and Thursday she went to the Prefix City Book Club sat under the flowering plum tree and bought organic tea for anybody that wanted some. She didn’t care who they were , a paragon of virtue or the town wench were all the same for her. Her only rule never go Dutch Treat.
When it came time for the Greater Prefix Art Festival she made a sizable contribution in both art and money. This despite the fact that the guard tried to keep her out thinking she was one of those homeless people trying to get free drinks and food.
Crazy Old Nettie was a fixture in Prefix. She will be missed.
Oh1 She didn’t die. No, in a sense , she never was. She was played by that writer lady , Christine Longsfoot. She was gathering material for her latest book. It’s on all the best seller lists. “ Stories from Prefix, Our Town “ is what it’s called. Thinking she was just that crazy old lady you would be surprised what people said when she could hear.

The Ten Word Challenge-Location
It began to dawn on Jeff Prefix that he had bats in the belfry to even think of setting up his income tax booth at the Starving Artists Art Festival.
“These people don’t have an income” he thought. ”I bet they go Dutch Treat on dates.
I’m going to scream if just one more brings in a picture of tigers on velvet. The painting of a jump rope will just never sell. No wonder they are starving .
Just once I’d like to see a woman with diamond earnings and real art.”
When it looked like such a woman wasn’t coming or any customers either Jeff moved out to under the flowering plum tree and ate his chicken noodle soup.
What he needed was a festival for starving income tax preparers. He certainly qualified. But then, like his father had told him, he understood that in every vocation it was location, location, location.

We did the Mega Challenge in 55 words yesterday- Scroll down and look
But now we are too tired to do the mini challenge.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Flash 55-Too many words from Raven

With a nod to Raven and Quilly



Arthur Prefix entered his drawings of Chicken Noodle Soup ,
The Cow Jumped Over the Moon, Flowering Plum Tree,

the Tigers Wench, Diamond Errings, Jump Rope, And Bats in the Belfry,






in the fine art festival.

Then had organic tea with a paragon of virtue from The Dutch Treat Book Club to do her income tax.

And Now for something completely different. A flash 55 quivel. Something that looks like a poem, uses at least three of Quilly’s words and has five words to a line for eleven lines

Business as Usual

A specious argument or two
Sublunary though they always be
Meant comity again was through
But such speech was free
The Senator was all upset
Vowed revenge on the floor
as angry as can get
He had slammed the door
The bill would never see
A vote to set it free

Bad for you and me.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Quilly & the Dragons

It is Quilly day. Time to take Quilly’s three words for the day and write a story. The words are sublunary; comity; & speciouse Click on a word for a definition.


The International Code of Comity turned out to be as specious as it was sublunary.


The argument he made for greater comity turned out to be based on specious logic and as expected was a sublunary set of rules.


It turned out that his sublunary enjoyment of the new comity had been based on specious arguments.


If there is such a thing as specious comity it will be sublunary in nature.


The lack of comity inside the church was caused by some sublunary friendships based on specious promises.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

We dragons are learning that things change. Last week we had to choose between thirteen entries, this week only eleven. We hope that everyone uses the linksy and vists all the others. Reading other entries is a way to grow. Then leave a comment that will encourage or help the writer.
Today the writing was of such high quality it was very hard to decide . We narrowed it done to four . Then we called for help. Ella who is visiting and crazy object B read all four and gave us their advice. Then after much arguing we picked the best wordzzle of the day.
It is:

Born 2 Cree8 ( Alice in Bc Canada)

Congratulations Alice.

Raven's Challenge 58

It is Saturday already and we have to be out reading all those wonderful stories.
Today we give out our ninth dragon award. Click HERE to see our gallery of winners.
You know we dragons write great stories too.
No! We are not humble.
Here is our mega challenge for today.

Good Bad Luck
Portico H. Alabaster was really down on his luck. He wanted to call his sister in Detroit but he had no iPod or even a cheap cell phone. He had no job and there was very little demand for old acrobats even at grocery store openings. Indeed there were now far more store closings than openings and he was told it was all the fault of some mysterious people who worked in cubes with computers. Somehow they failed to be good interpreters of the housing market which collapsed and brought everything else down with it. If he had enough energy he would have hated them but it just didn’t seem worth the effort. So he laid on the ground most of the day watching the bumble bees fly by making dandelion stops along the way. Even the waving of the chartreuse grass interested him. Not that he could really see that well. He needed desperately to see an optometrist but strenuously resisted because acrobats couldn’t wear glasses. He thought of cutting some of the wild flowers but had no scissors.. He was very lucky there was no poison ivy in the area because with his eyes he would never have recognized it.
Feeling thirsty he went to spend his last four dollars on a case of pop at the grocery store just as the ceiling fan fell and it cut into the back of his leg.He would never be an acrobat again.
Finally his luck had changed. The very generous insurance settlement would take care of him for the rest of his life. Life could be good.

After today our gallery wall will be full. We will start a new wall in the fall. But now we are taking a break from the stress of deciding whose great story is the best.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Flash Fiction Again


With a nod to Raven and Quilly



The acrobat in the grocery store strenuously leaped to the ceiling fan causing the alabaster ceiling to fall
on the cube with the chartreuse computer and Ipod like scissors.There the Optometrist was the interpreter of damage done by poison Ivy. bumble bee sting and dandelion allergy.

Just your average day in a department store.

And Now for something completely different. A flash 55 quivel. Something that looks like a poem, uses at least three of Quilly’s words and has five words to a line for eleven lines

Revenge of the Witch

Ebullient person was I today
Tenebrous branches around me sway
Dark and yet darker still
Liquid did the kettle fill
Jussulent pot it all became
When we said the name
Witches is what we are
Us from town you bar
Filled with love holding true
Starving now we help you

We would feed you all

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

More Quilly

It is time for a Quilly Story so each dragon has written a one sentence story using Quilly’s three words for the day which are jussulent; tenebrous; ebullient. Click on a word for a definition.

The jussulent pot placed beneath the tenebrous looking tree caused a strange ebullient reaction in Mary.

The jussulent, tenebrous, man became very ebullient as he swore he would never eat broth again or drink it.

She was one ebullient lady despite her tenebrous circumstance because she remembered the days of great jussulent pots.

The restaurant had row after row of ebullient, jussulent bowls in which the steaming broth smelled wonderful despite the otherwise tenebrous look of the building.

The ebullient Mayor looked at the jussulent river and decried the explosion at the tenebrous broth factory.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Now The Award

We dragons are learning that things change. Last week we had to choose between ninetten entries, this week only thirteen. Despite haveing fewer to choose from we still had new writers. We hope that everyone uses the linksy and vists all the others. Reading other entries is a way to grow. Then leave a comment that will encourage or help the writer.
Today we had a lot of sick generals. They had strokes. They banged their head in the pool. Seldom have so many generals been sick at one time.
After much discussion we narrowed our choices down to three. All of them former winners. It was hard to choose between them . Each was really good with words but a choice had to be made and today's Dragom wordzzle award goes to:
Raven

Congratulations Raven.

Raven Again Already

It is Saturday already and we have to be out reading all those wonderful stories.
Today we give out our eighth dragon award. Click HERE to see our gallery of winners.

You know we dragons write great stories too.
No! We are not humble.
Here is our mega challenge for today.

Poor old Zeus was siting on his thrown On Mount Olympus having a casual conversation with the former god Mercury when they were interrupted by a car backfiring loudly on earth. “That car needs a new muffler” Zeus said “ In the old days when people believed in me I would have zapped the brigadier general driving it with fire hotter than any earthly arsonist can produce.” But our day is over. Just look at the gods that are gone forever because nobody believes in them.” he said pointing at the portraits of extinct gods. No doctor could save them but just a hint of belief would have. Were only here because of teen age girls at slumber parties, comic books, and one old Greek guy.”
“ I would rather die from an attack of apoplexy than this slow lingering death. I used to be the master of speed now I can’t even beat a hummingbird flying through a groove of birch trees.” Mercury said with disgust. “ We don’t even have believers on the shallow end of the pool, the gene pool that is. What do they believe in now?”
“ Hot dogs with lots of mustard and as much money as they can get their greedy hands on “. Answered Zeus. “ We were much more fun”.
Even as they talked they continued to fade away.

That took so many words we are all tired and are skipping the other challenges this week.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Flash 55


With a nod to Raven and Quilly



So it was that the doctor prescribed hummingbird extract with mustard for the brigadier general who had an attack of apoplexy on the shallow end of the pool during his daughter’s casual slumber party.



There he fell on the large Golden Parallelogram he had so carefully designed in his greed.




The

old monk hated this


vision.

And Now for something completely different. A flash 55 quivel. Something that looks like a poem, uses at least three of Quilly’s words and has five words to a line for eleven lines.

The Elephant

Wanted for his magic bone
The elephant stood all alone

Nescience would take his life
To get a fertile wife

By susurrus they all knew
Propinquity made it seem true

Alert he had to be
So he could be free

They would run him down
Drag him all through town

Sad ending for a King

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Quilly's Words by Dragons

It is time for a Quilly Story so each dragon has written a one sentence story using Quilly’s three words for the day which are propinquity; susurrus; nescience.

Because of the strange susurrus within the propinquity of the Virgin’s statue some began to question their nescience.


His propinquity to many who held to nescience did not mean he had no faith any more than being close to a wind means you cause a susurrus as you move.

His level of nescience made no sense considering his propinquity to the University where there was always at least a susurrus of knowledge.

That the Flat Earth Society had a certain propinquity with other movements of nescience he heard as a constant susurrus in his ear.

The susurrus among his colleagues was that he belonged to the group of nescience because of his propinquity to Rush Limbaugh.