On my Mom’s side of the family, we have an arsenal of pictures. I have pictures of grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, hell friends of the family whose names nobody remembers any longer. (I seriously have 4 books of a family who was very close to my great grandmother whose identities are largely forgotten.) On Dad’s side, not so much. He has pictures from his childhood, but not a lot that predates it. Which means it was double awesome when a cousin looked him up on facebook and then found me as well. This cousin, John, sent pictures of my great grandfather, my great grandmother, my grandmother, and my great aunt (not pictured here).… Read the rest
Yearly Archives: 2012
“Turn it down.” Scott’s face loomed as my door swung open.
“I had that closed.”
“We can hear you in the kitchen.”
“Yeah, Mom, it’s too loud.” Caroline poked her head under her father’s elbow.
“You’re only complaining because it’s heavy metal. If I had the Beatles up, you’d be in here dancing.”
“You’ve got Beatles? I want the Beatles!” Sam joined the fray with enthusiasm unreasonable for someone who should have been zoned out in front of the TV.
I clicked around until my desk stopped shaking with the gunshots of “For Those About to Rock, We Salute You.”… Read the rest
“You could do the job.” Charles had biceps to back up his orders.
“You could go to hell.” But Charles’ arms were twigs in comparison to David’s.
“So I’ve got to finish it?” Charles was already stripping out of his jacket.
“This job’s gonna do itself.”
“We gotta be sure.”
“He’s already dead.”
“Why you gotta be such a rebel?”
At the bottom of the trench, their quarry stopped crawling and drank shallow breaths. If either of the goons could have seen in the dark, they would have watched him cross himself and so known his heart was still beating.
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Of course, I’m always a rebel.… Read the rest
Terms of an engagement: An ode to popcorn
I think I’ll make the popcorn on the stove
and melt a little Cabot on the side.
And if then through our pantry I do rove
I might grate us some dry jack to divide.
Though maybe the air popper is enough
for those who do not like my stinky cheese;
the butter will melt smoothly in the trough
that sits above the greatest blast of heat.
But understand this now my love. I’ll give
up Roquefort, Camembert, and even Brie.
But pop me no corn in that monster. Dine
alone if you engage that dread machine.… Read the rest
Jack scrubbed his finger back and forth under his nose. Uncle Lew said, “Does the wee lassie want his Mummie?” in a very bad Irish accent.
“Shaddup and leave the kid alone,” said Aunt Mil. “He probably does want his Mom. Come on Jack, you can help me in the kitchen.”
Jack followed Aunt Mil through the French doors. Uncle Lew said, “What a sweet little girl he is.”
“No wonder nobody’ll marry you, Lew,” snapped Aunt Mil. “You’re a sloppy drunk and an asshole besides.” Aunt Mil shook her head. She asked Jack, “D’you want to punch down the bread?”… Read the rest
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Ray threw the ball, and his dog Moose bulleted across the yard in pursuit. The ball hit the garden shed and ricocheted off to one side. Just before he, too crashed into the small building, Moose diverted with a stumbling skid and shot over the ball, which bounced to a stop. The dog leaped up, spun in midair, and came down on top of his helpless prey, which remained fixedly rubber and inanimate.
From the patio, Sharee asked, “Doesn’t he ever bring the thing back?”
“Yeah,” said Ray. “When he’s killed it dead enough.”
He drifted back to sit by Sharee.… Read the rest
This week, Velvet Verbosity’s word is Hurrying!
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“I’m hurrying!” Elsie ran past her Mama.
Mama turned around to shut the door, but Elsie pattered up the sidewalk. She didn’t pay any attention to the cracks that threatened to stub her toes. She arrived panting at the corner only moments before the yellow bus slouched into view. Finally, it hissed to a stop and the door screeched open.
Elsie screamed, “LISSA!” and then she threw herself at a bigger girl climbing down.
Lissa said, “You’d think I’d been gone weeks!” But she stroked Elsie’s brown head and smiled. “I’m back now duckface. … Read the rest
Nikki asked, “Did you smell Uncle Walt’s room?”
“Horrible.” I took another bite of cereal.
She turned to our mother. “I think he died last night.”
“Nichole Ann, that’s rude.”
“I’m serious Mom!” Nikki balled up her fists. You don’t have to walk past him every morning. Why did you even ask him to come?”
“Walter’s only been here three days, and he’ll be up soon. Show some respect.”
“Respect. Hah. He’s dead.” Nikki grabbed a bowl and sat beside me.
Uncle Walt always stank. He called himself a ‘bath optional’ kind of guy. My first memory of him is throwing up from the stench when he picked me up.… Read the rest
I ran across a really fun blog opportunity a few weeks ago thanks to the awesome ladies at 5 minutes for Mom. Here’s how it works. The lovely people at Mocafe sent me a package of their Matcha Green Tea, and I got to try it in a recipe of my choosing.
I love to cook, so this was a nobrainer, the samples were a plus, AND, when I paste my blog entry into the linky form, I’ll be eligible to win a really cool Blendtec Blender. (Hey, vote for me over here, will you? Just click the little thumbs up.… Read the rest