MY MIND UNLEASED for GBE2 ~ Week #32

 

THE CHALLENGE:

WEEK #32 (12-25-11 to 12-31-11): 15 Minute Free Write
This week, we’re doing something a little different. Instead of a word or picture prompt, we’ll be free writing. For those of you unfamiliar with the process, it is exactly what it sounds like. You sit down and write whatever comes into your mind for 15 straight minutes. The goal is not to write a story, article, or even anything coherent.

It’s a word purge. A stream of consciousness babble-fest, and it’s a wonderful way to unleash your creativity. Will what you write be crap? Almost certainly. Will the resulting paragraphs (if there are even paragraphs) be dull, repetitive, gripe-o-ramas, list-o-worries, and inventories of what’s been gnawing at you lately? Yep. When you are done, will you look at what you’ve written and decide that it’s simply too revealing to publish? Very likely.

 ME:  YEP, IT’S CRAP, BUT I’M PUBLISHING…LOL…  So, without further ado, here it is:

GBE challenge this week is to spend 15 minutes in free writing. This is a first for me – well, except for journaling which I haven’t done in quite a while.

So…here goes… I tried all week to find 15 minutes to do this exercise. If you think I didn’t try very hard, you are right. LOL My life isn’t that busy, but bright shiny things are distracting for me. Every time I sat down to write, I got distracted. Also, if it isn’t something bright and shiney, it’s one of my pets demanding my attention…or my husband…or the phone. I long for the days when I was able to multi-task. On second thought, maybe I don’t.

I am so guilty of assaulting my senses. It seems like I need constant stimulation. I can read blogs and watch TV – neither gets my full attention. I go to sleep with the TV on. I am quite good at sleeping through anything loud. Like the time I slept like a baby through a tornado that was approx one mile away, but my husband said was loud as a train even here. I wish he had woke me up. I would have liked to hear what it sounded like. You can’t count the tornado that raced through our yard during Hurricane Charlie in 2004 because the wind was already loud enough to drown out any train.

We are going out for Chinese dinner today. We love Chinese food. Back when we both worked, it was our Saturday date. After retirement, we scaled back to once every other week. I don’t know why except that I just love living in my pj’s and I would rather lounge around the house in my pj’s than go out to eat. Is that wrong? Well, I don’t care. I love being retired. I think retirement brought the sassy rebel out into the open. I just don’t care what anyone thinks of me. I know I’m a good person…in spite of what I see people write about me on the internet. If you haven’t seen any of it, well, let me say that I have a former friend or two who are quite brutal. But, here again, I really don’t care. I love and I love well. If I don’t love you, there is a good reason. End of that…

I was really disappointed in the weather we had for Christmas this year. I HATE the heat. I hate that my parents dragged us to Florida. I hate that I never left! Now I’m retired, I have a whole new attitude. I didn’t, after all, have the hassle of moving to FL to retire because I am already here…LOL. But, I still need to do something about the property up north where I will never live. I still dream a bit about building a log cabin up on the hill so that I can spend summers there, but…that probably won’t happen. It nags at the back of my mind…

Tomorrow is 2012. I wonder what the new year will hold for us. 2004 was a really bad year. 2008 was worst. Just 4 years apart each. Now here comes 2012 after another 4 years. If I had more than 2 minutes left, I would ponder 2000, but all I can remember about that year is that my 17 year old dog died and my heart was soooo broken.

Well, I have about one minute left and I am stumped, so I will just say that I enjoyed this exercise! (end of time)

BFF 153 ~ I RESOLVE TO LOVE

WRITTEN FOR BFF 153 ~ MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

I resolve to LOVE more…

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

My Grandmother had an expression that I think of often. She used to say that “It doesn’t cost a dime to be decent”. In today’s world, it is common for persons to speak their mind. Personally, I’m all for speaking my mind, however, that does not give me the right to hurt another person. A point of view can be stated without condemning another person for not thinking the exact way that I think. Along the same vein, I would add that it costs nothing to love, but the return is priceless.

My Mother used to tell me that if I couldn’t say anything nice, then say nothing at all. I forgot that for a while… I’m sorry. Sorry enough that I have repented for several months now. I am happier being “decent”. My tongue has been bruised a few times as I bite back a retort. Mostly, retorts are not necessary. Just move on…nothing to see here folks…

Mom also taught me the Golden Rule. I could recite the Golden Rule from memory by the time I was 4 years old.

I believe that I was given a good moral foundation. I strayed for a time, but I resolve to be better.

So…my resolutions for 2012 are these:

1. I resolve to be patient and kind

2. I resolve to be humble, without envy or pride

3. I resolve to treat other people with respect

4. I resolve to not be self seeking or to be easily angered

5. I will not keep track of wrongs, but instead, forgive quickly

6. I resolve to delight in truth and to avoid evil

7. I resolve to remember to always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere for those I love.

8. I resolve to be ever reminded that everything comes down to faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.

9. Last, but not least…I resolve to live by the Golden Rule.

Mostly, it comes easy to me to Love and treat others as I like to be treated, but 2012 is an election year, which will make it a little hard. I should attach one more resolution to stay out of political debates, but I’m afraid I will break that one. So, let me say that I will try really hard to stay out of political discussions and please forgive me if I fail…

Happy New Year my friends!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Cheese Biscuits

 

 

2 c Bisquick

2/3 c milk

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Mix Bisquick and milk.  Stir in cheese.  Using ice cream scoop, spoon onto well greased cookie sheet.  Bake @ 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

While the biscuits are baking, melt 1/2 stick of butter with 1/4 tsp garlic powder.  As soon as biscuits are done, brush melted butter on the hot biscuits, then sprinkle with parsley flakes.

Makes 6 large biscuits. 

Mmmm….yummy!

Wordless Wednesday ~ 12/7/11

Wordless Wednesday ~ 11-30-11

Tasty Tuesday ~ Ten Gallon Apple Pie

As seen on THE CHEW:

However, I modified the ingredients according to our tastes.  I don't cook with any alcoholic beverages, I cut the sugar and I added some tapioca because that is my preferred thickening for apple pie.  I cheated on the crust just because I had so much going on that I didn't want to make and roll out my own.  I bought a double pack of deep dish shells.  I used the second shell for the top crust.  It's handy and easy when pressed for time.

I did peel the apples at my husband's request.  Also, as a WONDERFUL TIME SAVER, I sliced the apples in my Cuisinart food processor.  This pie contained a 5 # bag of apples, minus the one my husband ate the day before....  Quick as a wink, I had wonderfully uniform, thinly sliced apples...  I highly recommend this method of slicing apples!

This pie was WONDERFUL and will certainly be the new Thanksgiving tradition in this house.

First Thanksgiving ~ BFF 142

 

This Thanksgiving was the 43^rd Thanksgiving since I went out into the world on my own. Most of those years, I cooked a large dinner for family and friends. A typical Thanksgiving dinner at my house included all of the following:

Turkey

Dressing

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Green beans

Acorn squash

Sweet potato casserole

Cranberry/orange relish

Hot rolls

Pickle selection

Both green and black olives

Stuffed celery

Nuts in the shell with nutcrackers in a dish on the coffee table

Apple pie

Pumpkin pie

Mince meat pie

I may have left something or another out….

Anyway, the point is that, aside from the few holidays at the house of a family member, I served at least 30 of those 43 years! Once a year I cooked enough for a small army and some of those years, I cooked all of that for two after all family moved away or died.

Each year, I was so tired from the preparation for the holiday and all that cooking that I just wanted people to hurry up and eat, then just go home! Until I got wise and changed my ways... Our menu now is quite simple:

Turkey

Dressing

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

1 vegetable

Cranberry/orange relish (I have to have it!)

Apple pie

Pumpkin pie

Quite a difference, right? And much more enjoyable holiday for me!

But, this is really about my first Thanksgiving away from home. I was 21 and married less than a year. My (then) husband was given a turkey by his employer. When he brought that turkey home, I was undaunted. I flew into action. I planned my first Thanksgiving menu, which looked an awful lot like my Mom’s menu (see above). In other words, I planned a meal just like I would have had at home with my parents.

My husband was so excited to be having his own first Thanksgiving dinner that he invited friends. He didn’t stop at a few and he didn’t keep track of how many he invited. At one point I asked him exactly how many people he invited. He didn’t know… I didn’t know the extent of it until Thanksgiving Day, 1968, when people started arriving at our house.

When I saw all the people, I started worrying that there would not be enough for all, but one thing I had not been able to master yet was carving my cooking habits down to two people. So, I had cooked as much as my Mother would have and more because there would be extra people.

The other thing I worried about was where everyone would sit. As newlyweds, the only furniture we had was a sofa with matching chair and coffee table given to us by my mother-in-law, a small drop leaf kitchen table (imagine apartment size) with 2 chairs, a card table and a bed. That was it! I really wanted to wring my husband’s neck, but that wouldn’t have been the thing to do in front of polite company….

When all was said and done, and heads counted, twenty-two guests shared our first Thanksgiving. Our guests happily sat everywhere - on the floor, on the porch steps, on the patio – well…just anywhere they could find a spot to sit. Somehow, everyone had enough and we still had leftovers to enjoy the next day. Best of all is that it was a wonderful first Thanksgiving that I cherish in my memory to this day.

This past Thanksgiving will go down in our memory banks as the first Thanksgiving of the Mile High Apple Pie. I am sure a new tradition was born with this…

What a difference between our first Thanksgiving and the last…

Am I right?

 

 

Written by Darlene Cirinna

Copyright November 28, 2011

All rights reserved.  Do not reproduce.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 11/23/11

 

Tasty Tuesday ~ 11/22/11

 

A nutritious breakfast ~

 

Oatmeal with apple, trail mix and dusted with cinnamon.  Yummy!

MY HOMETOWN ~ BFF 140

 

Okeechobee, Florida in the 1960’s. Reproduced from a photo in my high school yearbook~1965.


I got a little homesick earlier this week. I don’t get that way often, but when I do, I just kind of linger there for a while. I’ve had a wonderful life in Orlando for the past 32 years, but there is always that little part of me that wishes we never moved away from my hometown. And then there is the little part of my heart that often yearns to return. But, things change and my hometown has changed. My last few visits were to a place I don’t even know any more. My hometown is now a bustling little metropolis compared to the sleepy little town it was when I was growing up.

It was the summer of 1960 when my Dad’s job relocated him to Okeechobee, Florida. I was 12 years old and a whole different world opened up for me. Little did I know how different…


Okeechobee was located just 5 miles north of Lake Okeechobee.  The town was small and very quiet. My Mom said they rolled up the sidewalks at 8 pm on Saturday nights. I believed her and dearly yearned to watch them roll up the sidewalk some time… LOL... I was a kid…what can I say…

My new home had pioneer families, cowboys and Indians! There were generations of ranchers, Seminole Indians and, let’s not forget the fishermen. I was to learn later that my new home was rich in history and heritage.

The summer of 1960 might have been the best summer of my life. I always wanted a bicycle, but it was not safe in the city, nor was it safe on the busy truck route that ran in front of my childhood home in NY. I got my first bike in the summer of 1960! I lived on that bike all summer long! Most days, my sisters and I rode our bikes to the public swimming pool in town. It was about a 3 mile ride to the pool. Three times a week, I made a detour to the public library to return 6 books and check out 6 more. The town was so small that the public library was only open 3 days a week. Six books was the maximum allowed for check out. I read a lot of books that summer…when I wasn’t out exploring my new home on my bicycle. That summer was the first of many wonderful years in a town where everybody knew your name!

In the fall, I entered 8^th grade as the “new girl”. The year before had been particularly hard on me. My 7^th grade, in yet another big city school, was a disaster. I had no friends because it seemed that everyone already had friends before entering junior high school. I spent a whole school year with no friends. Before that, I always had my sisters, but that was the first year that I had to attend a different school than my sisters. It was just AWFUL! So, when I entered 8^th grade in Okeechobee, I didn’t expect much. In fact, I expected more of the same. But, I was in for a surprise. The kids were so nice and I was welcomed into the fold just as if I belonged there.

My high school years were better than most teens can hope for.
High school also included the proms and the senior trip to Washington, DC and NY City.

Those were GREAT times!

I even played Powder Puff football!  See jersey # 41?  Yes…that is me!

In addition to the school dances and athletic games, we had a teen center where dances were held most weekends
 








There was a drive-in theatre where teens engaged in amateur necking. The drive-in theatre was across the street from the main local haunt for teens – the Tastee Freez. Many a delightful hour was spent at the Tastee Freez.








Another favorite teen meeting place was Padgett’s Drug Store with a soda fountain where teens often met for a cherry or vanilla coke – the best cokes in town!
 







 Saturday afternoons were spent at Gilbert’s Theatre. Admission was a dime, but Dad gave us each a quarter for
admission and snacks, which, BTW, was plenty!

 I have many fond memories of Mr. Gilbert Culbreth. He was one of the most generous men in Okeechobee. Each year at Christmas time, he dressed up like Santa and gave out bags of candy at the theatre. Every kid in town was invited and no kid was too old to go to a Gilbert Christmas Party! Mr. Culbreth also owned Gilbert Chevrolet and Gilbert Tires. It was only recently that I learned that he once gave away new cars!  I am sure Mr. Culbreth is remembered fondly because he was a blessing to so many of us.


Speaking of blessed…This is the church of my youth…

In my youth, this proud old hotel still stood, with shops and our post office at street level.

The traffic light you see in the photo was still the only traffic light in town when I was growing up. It was referred to as “THE traffic light”… Instructions to get anywhere included “when you get to THE traffic light, turn….” Other directional instructions included mention of old businesses that were no longer in operation, yet we all knew what they meant when instructions included “turn left where the old bank used to be”, or some such reference point known by all except the visitors to town, which, BTW, were the only ones who needed any directional instructions to begin with. Everyone who lived there knew exactly where everything was AND where everything “used to be”.

Running down the middle of town is block after block of Flagler Park where many an outdoor function took place. I am happy to say that Flagler Park exists to this day and the Veteran Memorial portion of the park has been enhanced.

Our wonderful world included rodeos

and parades…

And lots of fishing…

When I was a teen, I might have described my hometown as “hokey”, but now, with 20/20 hindsight, I can see that it was the best place in the world to grow up.

My old hometown may have morphed into a small city, but my memories remain intact. I am grateful that my Dad’s job took us to Okeechobee in the summer of 1960 ~ the best summer of my life!

NOTE: I shared my hometown with you in black and white photos because I wanted you to feel what I felt in that era. It was a simpler world – it was a wonderful world. I “borrowed” photos from my high school yearbooks, the State of Florida Archives and a couple of them from Tommy Markham's Genealogical & History (used with permission). You may have noticed that several photos were older than the 1960’s… Trust me…things didn’t change much and they portray things as they still were in my youth. Sadly, our most famous landmark is long gone. Where the Southland Hotel stood, you will find a CVS today. I find that sad….very sad…



Written by Darlene Cirinna
November 17, 2011

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ 11/16/11

Cilantro Salad for Tasty Tuesday

 

An original dish created in Darlene’s Kitchen…By Darlene

2 bunches of cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced

Thinly sliced sweet onion

1-2 firm plum tomatoes, diced

1 small package salad shrimp – thawed, rinsed and drained

1 small package artificial crabmeat, diced

Season with salt, pepper and cumin to taste

Juice of one lemon

Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil

Toss well. It is good first day, but I prefer it the second day. The cilantro is wilted a bit the second day (this pic is day 2), but the flavor is great!

Nice cool salad to eat alone or as side dish in a meal.

 

 

Darlene Cirinna

11/15/11

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ 11/9/11

BEEF FAJITA ~ A TASTY TUESDAY MEAL IN MINUTES

A simple, tasty meal in just a few minutes.  Did I mention EASY?

INGREDIENTS:

• Bell peppers – any color
• Sweet onion
• Steak-ums or any kind of thin sliced or formed beef  (Suggestion…roast beef from the deli, sliced thin, works perfectly!)  I used Stake-ums when I made this for the blog.

Slice Steak-ums into strips.  Stir fry until done.  Drain beef on paper towel.  Drain all grease from the pan and wipe clean.  (Do not cook the meat with the peppers and onions. It will be greasy! Yuck!!!) 


Add a drizzle of canola oil (or whatever oil you prefer) to your cleaned pan.  Season your peppers and onions according to your taste.  I use salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder.  Add the sliced peppers and onions and then stir fry until the onions approach translucent stage.  Add beef back into the pan, mix well, then place a small amount of the mixture on a flour tortilla.



I like to warm the tortilla just a bit before eating.  I roll, then secure with a toothpick.  Ten SECONDS in the microwave is enough for me.  Or, you can just roll it up and eat it without warming.  Your preference….


This is good with slices of chicken too.  Just make sure you cook the chicken all the way through!


Bon Appetit   (LOL…I watched Julie & Julia last night)

Darlene Cirinna

November 8, 2011

PLASTIC LIFE IN PLASTIC MASKS…

 
Amy slowly opened her eyes to another day in what has become a string of like days, one following another like little troopers.

Eyes gritty from sleep, Amy stared at the ceiling and thought about that old movie about groundhogs. The one where every day starts and ends the same ~ over and over and over…

With a sigh prompted by a sharp command from her dog, Amy eased out of bed to face a new day. She will do the same thing today that she did yesterday and will do tomorrow ~ all with a mask firmly in place.

As Amy makes her way to the back door to let Buffy out for her morning constitution, she thinks about her life. Amy refers to her life as a “plastic life”. From closer to the end than the middle, she knows nothing was really real. Amy often reviews her life and the paths taken at each juncture. For the most part, life was satisfying, but there were the landmines… the things that blew up her world, forcing her to put on another mask to survive each landmine explosion. She thinks about the masks that she donned to cover the emotional hole left by brokenness within.

She wonders….”Is everyone like this?” She reviews the masks she set firmly in place at different junctures of her life.

There was the mask that covered the hurt of a child who was the recipient of the frustration, jealousy, resentment and rage of an emotionally disturbed parent. Who knew that under the mask was a child who was confused and hurt? Instead, Amy lived in a La La Land of sorts… She thinks that mask must have looked very dreamy because most of her report cards carried the same comment ~ “Amy daydreams in class”.

There is the mask of a school girl who felt worthlessness. She felt certain that everyone was better than she. From the sidelines, Amy watched the other kids, but never removed the mask. Her mask was so plain and ordinary that no one really noticed.

Amy’s teen years were most miserable, again watching by the sidelines – sure that she was unworthy to have friendships with the other kids. The teen mask was too funny and maybe a bit loud.

As a young wife, Amy donned yet another mask to hide what she endured behind closed doors. Amy quickly shifts her thoughts away from those brief three years, after which she was mercifully spared by the eternal distance of death. She never wore that mask again.

Married again with a mask that most resembled the happiness inside, Amy’s barrenness became all too apparent. She donned yet another mask of a young woman who was happy to be childless. It was a lie…

The barrenness gave Amy the opportunity to sink herself deep into a career. Oh the masks she wore throughout that career! It simply goes without saying…

The masks protected… It was never a question of “Who will protect me from the evaluations and judgments?” No. It was a matter of putting on another mask for the world to see as she thought “You don’t know me. You only know my mask…”

Now, in retirement and all alone in the world, Amy has removed all the masks except for one. That mask shows the world that she is happy, content and enjoying life in her “golden years”. It is a fairly transparent mask, allowing some of the “real Amy” to shine through and yet still hides some left over emotions.

Even in the midst of her happiness is the harsh truth that retirement gives her too much time to think. She has time to mull things over and over in her mind to explore all of the “what if’s” of her plastic life. It is an exercise in futility and best avoided. But she still goes there in her memories…

Amy’s masks covered each wound caused by brokenness. Under the remaining scars are buried emotions of fragility, anger, fear, weakness and unworthiness. Feelings of being cheated by life are nearest to the wound; more pronounced than ever due to the extraordinary recall ability of the elderly. Jealousy rears its ugly green head when life reminds her that she had no children, no grandchildren and that the likelihood of dying alone is more of a possibility than not. Who will really care? It is a fear that cannot be overcome by a successful career, money or a mask. No! It is just another reality of a plastic life.

She fears the time that old age frailty will come upon her. She fears that senility might remove her mask… Who will help her keep the mask on?

Amy is determined that no one will remove her mask after her death. She leaves no record of wrongs for a relative or solicitor to find amongst her possessions.

Even in death, she hopes no one will remove her masks.



A work of FICTION By Darlene Cirinna
© November 7, 2011
All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 11/2/11

 

Tasty Tuesday ~ Black Bean Salad

 

I love veggies!  I would rather eat veggies than a piece of cake.  Ummmm…  Not to say I don’t like cake…LOL   But I digress….

 

I keep a full veggie bin in my fridge ALL THE TIME!  So, when I am hungry for something different, I rummage around in my veggie bin, then create something.  My black bean salad is one of those creations.

Ingredients: 

• Tomato
• Tomatillo
• Green bell pepper
• Red bell pepper
• Jalapeno pepper
• Sweet onion
• Cilantro
• Black beans in can
• Salt, pepper and cumin

 

Instructions:

Wash veggies well!  Chop all to preferred size.  I like mine chopped small, but not fine.  How much of each item you use is up to you and your taste.  Rinse and drain the black beans, then add to your veggies.  Season to taste.  I use salt, pepper and cumin. Stir well and refrigerate.  It is best after the ingredients “marry”.  It’s good the same day, but the next day is better. 

Serving:

You can eat this any way you want.  It makes a good salsa with tortilla chips.  I prefer in a bowl…like ice cream…LOL.  Sometimes I dress it up a bit.  Here are some ideas:

 

This one is topped with a dollop of hummus, then sour cream, sprinkled with paprika and garnished with cilantro.

 

I like it in a pita pocket too.  This photo is with the hummus and sour cream.  It is just as good with the veggies only.

 

Be brave in your kitchen.  Explore, experiment and get wild.  Veggies are not made to eat alone.  Mix ‘em up and enjoy!

 

Darlene Cirinna

11/1/11

The Cemetery and the Witchy Woman ~ BFF 134 & 135

 

Maggie Mae and Molly crouched in the bushes, shrinking back a little each time the woman spun around in their direction. With a strange mixture of bewilderment, fascination and fear, they could not remove their eyes from the sight dancing around in the graveyard right before their very eyes.

 

Completely mesmerized, Molly’s mind flashed back to the point in time when she first heard about the ghost in the graveyard. A recent transplant from Brooklyn, their family enjoying the solitude of country life, the last thing Molly expected was drama.

 

Their new house was just about a quarter of a mile from a small country church and parsonage. “Finest country living at its best” declared their father upon their arrival, followed by an exaggerated inhalation of clean, crisp country air. “It doesn’t get any better than this, kids.” Though not completely enthused, Maggie Mae and Molly were open to possibilities. At 10 and 11 years of age, neither of the children had an opinion one way or the other about country living. They were simply happy to be living far, far away from the 88^th Street Bully.

 

Not long after the move, the children made the acquaintance of 12 year old Ned, who lived down the road in the opposite direction from the church. It was Ned who alerted them to local legend and the strange sights in the church graveyard. According to Ned, a ghost appeared with each full moon. The ghost was thought to be the wife of a town councilman who was killed while drinking and driving. She was known to dance like she was possessed when drunk. The apparition was visible from shortly before Midnight and appeared to be dancing among the headstones for no more than an hour. When asked for more detail, Ned made it clear that there was no way he would go near the graveyard at night. And so, it was left up to the sisters to satisfy their curiosity on their own.

 

Now, sitting all scrunched up in the bushes, Maggie Mae and Molly did indeed satisfy their curiosity. Eyes bulging, taking in each movement of the “ghost”, both allowed the scene to register every little motion in their mind so that they would not miss a single detail when relaying their discovery to Ned. The sisters knew that the truth was scarier than fiction…

 

Ned was indeed shocked to hear who was in the cemetery and why. At the next full moon, all three children crouched in the bushes to watch their very own Sunday school teacher, completely naked, chanting, stepping and whirling while jumping and spinning around the headstones in what looked like a frenzied dance ritual. Arms stretched as if reaching for the moon, she was completely oblivious to the young audience. Her golden hair and pale white skin did, indeed, look like a ghost from a distance, but now they all knew that she was really a witch!

 

Gosh! Everyone in town was soooo relieved to learn there were no ghosts in the graveyard…

 

 

By Darlene Cirinna

Copyrighted October 30, 2011

All rights reserved.  Do not reproduce without permission of author.  Photos found in Google Images.

Lil Lulu the Homeowner~GBE2~#23

Hi… My name is Lil Lulu. This is my story.

I showed up in my Mommy’s garage when I was just a tiny kitten. My Mommy thinks one of the big cats stole me and brought me home with him. WHAT-EVAH… I’m here and that’s what is important. At first, I just laid around looking cute. That made Daddy love me enough to let Mommy keep me.  

                                           

Sometimes I was mischievous. My Mommy tried to keep me in line, but, clearly, I was born to rule…





I practiced on the parakeets. I studied them.












And studied them some more.






















Then, you can betcha that I laid down the law….















I also guard the house. This is me watching for frontal attacks.


















And attacks from the rear of the house…

















You can see from the front porch that I am diligent in my guard duties…

















SHUT UP!!! I WAS NOT SLEEPING!  SHEESH!








I also keep order in the yard. I search out predators to make sure everything is safe.




I’m particularly good at surveillance.
















It was because of my stellar reconnaissance skills that I was able to locate this prehistoric predator….  Then Mommy took me in the house…. Sheesh…I never get to slay dragons…
Most of the time, I have to amuse myself in the house. I don’t know why Mommy gets so upset when I scratch the doors.



Daddy thinks it’s funny, then Mommy has words. She put me in the Florida room when I messed up the French doors. I think you can hardly see the scratches. Anyway, Daddy has re-stained and fixed them nicely since that day.




Another thing I do for Mommy and Daddy is to warm their bed in the winter.





Another job that is really hard, but necessary around here is for me to keep the blue bear out of trouble. He has a big mouth.








I just show him who is the real boss around here…







Whadda ya mean I don’t own this house? I’ll show you who is boss…









I do all this for peanuts… I mean, just a few kitty treats.   My treats taste best while lounging around on Mommy’s bed.



Any more questions about who owns this house and the two human beings I take care of?




Good! Now, please excuse me, duty calls…. I feel like smacking a dog…

Whew!!!  This blogging is serious bizness!!!  Now I need a nap…



Ownership…iz doin’ it rite…