Without A Word: Auld Lang Syne

 

Six Sentence Saturday

And so we come to our final Six Sentences for 2012, a day earlier than usual. We will be back on Monday for a New Year's blog, so keep an eye out for that. As for today, we're going with something a little different, an early part from Same Time Tomorrow. This features Gabriel at home, musing on a conversation he had earlier in the day with one of the instructors at a fencing club in Philadelphia. Chloe has made fencing a way of life, so to speak, and so in this early scene, it has piqued his curiousity about the sport. Enjoy, and let us know what you think of it!

"Curious about the sport," he had said.

"And where's the curiousity come from?"

He had sheepishly smiled. There's a woman."

The instructor had laughed. "My friend, we don't fight duels anymore."

Without A Word: It's More Fun Being Naughty

Six Sentence Saturday

Today we're going with our usual Six Sentence Sunday a day early, seeing as how we have plans for something on Christmas Eve as well here in our pages. In case you're wondering if we might have gotten our days mixed up. We plan on doing the same next week for the end of the year.

The star of this week's Sentences is Chloe's best friend and maid of honor, Dana Butler, who's stolen the show several times in the course of the novel...usually with her escapades with wildlife. Here, she makes a realization about her feelings regarding Gabriel and Chloe's marriage....

Dana was fighting back tears...not because she was one to get overly emotional at weddings, or even that she was happy for her friends—though she was happy for them---but because she suddenly realized that in a few short minutes, she would have no single friends left. No one to join her on the manhunts. No one to talk into those pathetic singles weekends. If there's another great flood, I'll be the one standing on the dock when the Ark sets sail. No singles allowed, only pairs.

I've got to find myself a mate, for crying out loud!

Not Exactly Your Granddaddy's End Of The World

"I heard a good deal about a ring, and a dark lord, and something about the end of the world, but please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything... unnatural." ~ Samwise Gamgee

"Due to the lack of experienced trumpeters, the end of the world has been postponed for three weeks."

"It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there." ~ Pierre Elliot Trudeau

"Trust me, a few centuries down the line, people are going to be going out of their minds thinking the world's going to end on the winter solstice just because we're carving it into this rock. It'll be the biggest prank of all time." ~ Yax Kuk Mo, 759 AD

Well, here we are, with December 21st, 2012 soon to come upon us. Paranoid nutcases would have us believe that Mayan prophecies are predicting the imminent end of the world. Reasonable experts point out that the Mayan Long Count calendar doesn't point in that direction.

This hasn't stopped the nutcases from still going out of their minds with worry, has it, Scarlett?

Unfortunately, no. Fortunately for us, we plan to spend the 21st doing what we always do... and maybe enjoying it even more! That added element of danger and impending doom sounds like it could be great fun!

It's been said recently that the 21st of December will be the most annoying day in the history of the internet. No doubt. There will be people proclaiming by the hour around the world how the world hasn't come to an end yet. There will be endless jokes when the world is still here on the 22nd.

And then everyone--EVERYONE--will be converging on the malls to do all the Christmas

shopping they didn't do because they thought we wouldn't be around on Christmas!

Now, that could trigger Armageddon....

Never get in the way of a rampaging herd of last minute Christmas shoppers.

For those who honestly do believe the world is coming to an end, put your money where your mouth is. In this case, give all your money and material possessions away.

And be sure you give it to a worthy cause. I'm thinking mental health services,

since most of you will be needing them.

2013 will be a banner year for therapists. 

Did I mention that I just love Grumpy Cat?

How can we not love Grumpy Cat?

So what's the worst that can happen? Aside from waking up on the 22nd realizing the world didn't end and you no longer have a single item or dollar to your name?

We could give away all of our clothes. We haven't had need of them anyway.

We rarely do, actually.

For the rest of us, we'll just get ourselves through the day on Friday, which will end like pretty much every other day. We'll try not to tell the nutcase believers that we told them so. Emphasis on try.

I don't think I want to try. I love saying I told you so. And pointing and laughing.

At least if these mock forecasts are right... it'll be a dry heat. No humidity there.

Uh, darling...that forecast has as much chance of being accurate as any the

meteorologists have previously issued....

True. What other profession, aside from forecasters, can you afford to be wrong ninety percent of the time? And if we're wrong, well, we can roast marshmallows.

I like that idea! You and me, roasting marshmallows in the fireplace and...

use your imagination....

Oh well. There's nothing for it. We just have to get ourselves through the zaniness of Friday. Because Christmas is right around the corner after that, and sorry, true believers, but it is happening. Just as it has in other years. So if you've been putting off Christmas shopping because you think the world is going to end on Friday, you're going to have to spend the weekend in a mad dash doing your Christmas shopping. Might as well get started now.

Let the real insanity begin!

And there's no putting off your New Year's resolutions that you've been avoiding for the last... three hundred fifty days? Get off that couch!

I've only made one resolution...and you can guess what it is....

It involves the most enjoyable way two people can burn off calories.

While all of this lunacy is happening on Friday, Scarlett and I know where we'll be.

Where we always are...doing what we always do....

By the way, little known fact? The Mayans carved an image of a couple fornicating into the other side of that Long Count Calendar, but it's so graphic that it would make swingers blush.

And we weren't even there to pose for them!

That reminds me, love...I've set up a session with a sculptor. He's going to make a life-size statue of us in our favorite activity. We'll have to pose for him for hours on end....

 I think we can keep each other... inspired.

Six Sentence Sunday

Today we have another passage from Same Time Tomorrow, this one set in the Lake District in Great Britain, during a storm. During the story, Gabriel is on assignment as a photographer in the area for a few weeks, spending time working with a colleague and friend, a writer named Terry. Terry is something of a rascal, which of course makes him fun to write.

In this scene, the storm is just starting to influence the area, and it has already cut off phone contact to the outside world.. Terry and Gabriel find themselves stranded for awhile at their lodgings, where they find themselves trying to stay occupied as the weather goes from bad to worse (this is England, remember, so rain's to be expected)...

            “It’s a couple of days of downtime. And it’s not as if we’re stranded. There’s plenty of food, some good company. This isn’t going to turn into the Donner Party, you know.”

            Gabriel laughed. “That’s disgusting, Terry.”

Six Sentence Sunday

For this week's Six Sentences, we're putting the spotlight on the mother of the bride, Linda, who is dying. She has pancreatic cancer and only a very short time left. Her last wish is to attend Chloe and Gabriel's wedding, and for that reason, they've rushed to make it happen....

Linda watched them in silence as they spoke the vows they'd written. She blinked back a tear. Thank You, Lord, for allowing me to be here with Chloe on this day. Thank you for sending Gabriel into her life, for letting me get to know him. Now I can leave this world in peace...almost.

Forgive me for not being able to let go of my anger at Jay for what he did to her. It's his loss, after all...never knowing the woman his daughter has become....
 

Longshot Names For A Royal Baby

It seems that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are now expecting. Yes, William and Kate will be in the coming months, barring any complications, welcoming a baby into the royal family, and the press are already in a feeding frenzy. Some of them are trying to steal ultrasounds. Others are planning to figure out a way to get the first pictures of the royal tyke in a few months.

And of course many people are speculating on names, even taking bets on the possible outcome. Elizabeth or Diana feature high on many such lists for girls, and Philip, Charles, or Louis are among the contenders for boy's names.

Then there are the names that aren't likely to be on any such list. We thought we'd share some names that you'll never see in a Royal Family (never say never, there is a great-granddaughter in the mix named Savannah, so)...

For the girls:

Anything derived from the Kardashians (sorry, Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe, but you can blame your mother, who never met a camera she didn't like and has no idea what decorum and dignity mean, for the fact that you're not getting a royal baby named after you. That, and the fact that two of you have misspelled names certainly doesn't help your cause)
Paris
Lindsay
Rihanna
Britney
Snooki
Ke$ha
Cleopatra
Edina
Patsy
Margaret Thatcher Mountbatten-Windsor
Bella Swan Mountbatten-Windsor (sorry, Twilight fans)
Camilla (sorry, Step-Mommy Dearest)
Drucilla (too vampirish, sorry, Dru)
Bindi Sue (what was Steve Irwin thinking?)
Nymphadora Tonks Mountbatten-Windsor (sorry, Harry Potter fans)
Jadis Mountbatten-Windsor (sorry, Narnia fans, but the White Witch's name is off limits)

For the boys:

Otto
Attila
Osama
Saddam
Kanye
Bubba
The Situation Mountbatten-Windsor
Edward Cullen Mountbatten-Windsor (what did we tell you, Twilight fans?)
John Major Mountbatten-Windsor
Tony Blair Mountbatten-Windsor
Gordon Brown Mountbatten-Windsor
Rupert Murdoch Mountbatten-Windsor
Michael Jackson Mountbatten-Windsor
Rufus
Brutus
Sauron
Denethor
Meriadoc Brandybuck
Peregrin Took
Lord Voldemort
Sirius Mountbatten-Windsor
Remus Mountbatten-Windsor
Albus Dumbledore Mountbatten-Windsor (again, sorry, Harry Potter fans)
Prince Caspian Mountbatten-Windsor (well, actually, that one works...)

So, any names you'd suggest the Royals steer clear from?

Six Sentence Sunday

Today we have another Six Sentence Sunday, and this is taken from early on in Same Time Tomorrow. One of our two main characters, Gabriel Miller, having had finished a photo assignment in Scandinavia, has stopped in Ireland to pay a visit to his grandmother Bridget, who lives there in retirement, the last living member of his family. Before going to see her, he is having a moment of reflection near a church in her hometown, Headford, in County Galway.

St. Mary's Parish, Headford, Ireland

His work kept him on the road. It also rewarded him with the chance to travel, but from time to time, he felt this way. That he was missing something, and the absence troubled him. Coming home to an empty home, lad. That’s what’s bothering me. Gabriel shook his head, banishing the thought, and walked back towards the car.