Martha (from The Old Mill)

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PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

The door opened without a sound.

The smell of ancient Egypt and gingerbread spice wafted out.

Jess and Amy entered followed by the other three.

The door slammed behind them.

A middle-aged woman appeared in the blackhole dark hall.

She melted into a corpse, rotted flesh dripping off her skull.

“Get out!”

Amy heard the others running, fumbling with the door.

She whirled around and sprinted. Lauren was just in front of her. Kath, still screaming, was at the door. Stacy was far ahead, running across the lawn.

As Amy reached the door a thought struck her.

Where was Jess?

***

The above is an extract (going from 1000+ words to 100!) from my book, The Old Mill. The ghost was Martha and it was in her mansion, but the story was around an ancient mill building.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ © J Hardy Carroll. If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

**

I was off the blog for 5 days last week so may have missed your story. I will try to read all this week, but I am still super far behind, so no promises…

The Simple Life?

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PHOTO PROMPT © Na’ama Yehuda

In my exploration of how we can get back to the simple life of our great-nine-times-removed-grandparents, I decided to visit a gnome, Grimble Grumble.

My first few visits were as expected and I was given the usual banter on how well they were able to cope with the world using technology that was older than Methuselah.  All so stereotypical.

But one day I gave Grimble a surprise visit, only the surprise was mine.

He drove up in a Barbie-sized S-series Tesla.  The house was full of mini-appliances.

“We may be simple, but we’re not stupid,” Grimble said with a shrug.

***

For those in the know, Grimble Grumble is the name of the gnome in the early Pink Floyd song.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ © Na’ama Yehuda. If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

***

Another Night Without You (AKA Gm7 Jam) – New Video

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I just posted a new video. Yeah, after several months of nothing I am doing a new one every two weeks or so… This one is in ways an extended synth solo, similar to For Her Heartbreak (see blog post here). Anyway, here is the video so you can listen while I talk about it:

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

Similar to the recent The New Year’s Song *, I was playing with the acoustic percussion instruments, my new cajon, tambourine and cabasa. I also put in an electronic drum sound from my Prophet Rev 2. Most of the sounds on this are the Rev 2 except those percussion instruments I mentioned and the solo. I used the minimoog clone, the Behringer Poly-D for the solo.

(*Note about This compared to The New Year’s Song – TNYS is a real song with what I think is a catchy melody. This is a quick jam.)

Two of the photos of Tiberius on my mixer (one also used at top of page) are new and he is on my new mixer while the photo at the end is over a year old and he is on my old mixer. He does look more like a kitten in that old photo! And he no longer wears a collar.

I hope you enjoyed this little jam :)

The Weekly Smile for the 14th of January, 2023 #weeklysmile

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(Note – I will be out of town next week, so no smile.)

Hi All. Hmm, not sure where to begin on this snowy morning. The kitten sitting on the shelf above me, watching my every move? It isn’t Alexander who spent all weekend on my lap or sleeping on top of me at night. It isn’t the beauty, Grace, who likes to sit on my keyboard when needing attention. No, it is this one:

If you do not/cannot see the picture or don’t know, that is Tiberius in our Christmas tree. He is a funny little guy and has no problem telling you or showing you how he feels. in the past few weeks I have also posted photos of Grace and Alexander. Grace is the long haired beauty who thinks her name sake, Grace Kelly, had nothing on her. Alexander is more wild and independent, though he was all over me when it was just the two of us on Cape Cod (not the entire, Cape, mind, just our house ;) ).

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If We Were Having Coffee on the 14th of January, 2023 #weekendcoffeeshare

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Hello and Welcome! Come on in where it is dry. I don’t think it is still raining, but it is misting and still very wet. It poured all day yesterday and was damp and cold on Thursday (at least Friday was warmish!). Oh, where are we? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being from Cape Cod.

I drove down the The Cape Wednesday after dinner. Tiberius, the little stinker, hid when I was getting ready – he loves it here, but hates the drive. Or,should I say, he hates the cat taxi – he does not want to be confined. It is just me and Alexander, and Alexander has been tied to me the entire time. If he wakes up and I’m not there, he meows until I call him. Most of the time he is in my lap. He sleeps on top of me all night. I am not sure if he is enjoying one-on-one time with Daddy or if he is out of sorts that Tiberius isn’t here. Anyway, I did post a good photo of Alexander last week (along with Grace), so here is Tiberius (caption – we got a new Christmas ornament but it seems to knock the others out of the tree).

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The Third Kind or a Different Kind?

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PHOTO PROMPT © Fleur Lind

The day had been too long and the late evening drive unwanted.  The pink sunset was more of a distraction than an inspiration.

And then I saw it.

Headlights coming towards me but too high off the ground to be a car. 

A large semi? 

No, even too high for that.

And then I noticed the odd glow even higher up.

“Honey, what are you doing?”

I pointed at the glow.

“The reflection of your mobile?”

“The lights…”

“The construction lights on the bridge? Now get back in our lane.”

I knew I shouldn’t have watched Close Encounters last night.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ © Fleur Lind. If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

The Weekly Smile for the 9th of January, 2023 #weeklysmile

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Hi All! A couple of very quick smiles for this week.

First was dog walks with Fiyero over the weekend. Idina gets set in her ways and follows routine, though this weekend we did do some extended/different walks with Idina, going into new territory. However, I did four walks with Fiyero alone, and all four were much longer than usual, going off into the woods and into parts of the village we rarely see. It was nice to do these very long walks and see different places than normal. Dog and man were both happy :)

I also did a new recording that I really like. I wrote the song, but turned it into an instrumental. I think it is very catchy. I’ll place the video at the end of the page. Or read about it here.

I guess I can include playing with a lens I usually don’t touch as a smile as well.

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If We Were Having Coffee on the 7th of January, 2023 #weekendcoffeeshare

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Hello and Welcome! Come on in and I’ll get you a large mug of strong dark roast, a cuppa tea or some hot cocoa. It is pretty cold out, but not frigid. We had a little wet, sloppy snow yesterday, so it is all frozen this morning. It will warm up a little during the day, so hopefully snow and ice removal will be easier. Oh, where are we? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being from New Hampshire (NH).

I returned to NH from Cape Cod Sunday morning. The week started off great with runs and exercise, but went down hill – it was just so super busy and the weather was awful. So.. Well, today I will pick it back up again.

Work was, well, it was trying to cram four weeks of people having vacations into one week. Ugh. Enough said.

I played with my camera a little, taking mostly indoor photos with a lens I do not use enough. Here is Grace:

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