Missing Muse Challenge

Melissa from The Things I’d Tell You posted this challenge.

I'm issuing a blog challenge to my writing friends.  I know that our blogging mojo has been on an extended hiatus, and that I'm not the only one struggling to coax her back.

So - a pictorial challenge.  I love people watching, as I'm sure most writers do. Imagining their stories, wondering who they're meeting, where they're going, where they've been.   I've selected the above photo.

You have 48 hours to tell me about this woman.  Where she is going, or where she has come from.  Is she meeting someone?  Fleeing something?  500 words or less.

I haven't written fiction for a long time so please be nice.  It’s got no title at the moment.  I purposely haven’t read any other entries because I didn't want those influence me. For some reason I had the Beatles song ‘She’s leaving home’ running through my head after looking at the picture. Anyway here it is and I made it with one word to spare.

 

Right, she thought looking around. That’s it. There’s nothing left. The suitcase was filled with her belongings was half empty. But she had her good dress and shoes on.

Tap, tap, tap. Her heels marked her progress as she pulled her bag across the black and white tiles. She took a final look around before heading out. The house was silent and empty.

Out the door, down the few stairs and to the street. The cracked pavement made it difficult to walk quickly but she was eager to get away. She reached the bus stop. She hoped she hadn’t missed the bus but there had been no timetable in the house. And getting out had taken longer than she had expected. But she was on her way now and it didn’t matter how long it took for the bus to arrive.

The bench was wooden and narrow but more than adequate to sit and rest while waiting for the bus. And rest she did. After the events of the last few days she was very tired. She shut her eyes and let the past wash over her. Scenes flashed through her head. The man, the blood, the ambulance, the police.

Thankfully, the bus arrived and stopped the scenes running through her head. She climbed on board with her suitcase. She could finally look to the future.

The rhythmic swaying of the bus was comforting. The trip was a few hours and hers was the last stop. She got off the bus and walked. Her destination wasn’t far. She walked slowly but her speed picked up as she neared her destination. Another house, similar to the one she had left but this one was filled with life. The excitement quickened not only her steps, but her pulse as well.

Walking faster and faster, her heels staccato on the pavement. Almost there. Rounding the corner she stopped. She touched her hands to her hair to check it was still neat and grasped the suitcase handle again. Taking a deep breath she walked more sedately. Finally, she had made it!

She pushed open the little gate and walked up the path to the doorway. She raised the knocker and let it fall. She heard footsteps coming from the back of the house. Her breathing quickened with anticipation. The door swung open.

“I’m back!” she said with a smile in her voice. Strong arms reached out to hold her. She sighed and relaxed into them. Little footsteps came up the hallway.

“Mummy, mummy.” A little voice greeted her.

“Hi Sweetie, I’ve missed you.” She reached out to the child. “How have you been?”

“I been good. Haven’t I, Daddy?” Little hands tugged strong arms.

She looked up into the man’s eyes and smiled. He asked gently, “How did it go?”

“It’s done,” she said. “I’ve packed up the house. The police came. The funeral will be next week.”

She sighed. “It’s for the best. Dad didn’t want to live there without her anyway.”

NaBloPoMo Day 28

So it’s Day 28 of the NaBloPoMo for November 2009 and I have managed to post every single day so far. I have also managed to pick up 8 followers and better than that ONLY ONE is related to me! Which is pretty good I think. I have managed to discover a whole bunch of blogs from all sorts of places and I have managed to comment on quite a few of them. And I have apparently been the first person to give Melissa her first category. Go Me!
So despite all my good intentions I haven’t gotten fitter or cleaned the house much. Pretty slack really when all is said and done. In reality a lot has been said (well written actually as I have blogged every day, thus far) but not much has been done.
They say it takes 21 days to create a new habit and it seems as if I have managed that with my blog.  Now I need to expand it out into the rest of my life. 
We are having visitors on Friday so the first step will be to clean up the house. What scares me about this is I feel as though I just channelled Bear form Bear in the Big Blue House.  Those who have watched it enough will know that Bear has a clean up the house song.  Maybe that’s what I need to motivate me.

Or maybe not. I can see myself going slowly insane if I was listening to that.

Putting things in perspective

Just little niggling things like a ‘discussion’ with a child about what flavour antihistamine they have been given, having to lug a large musical instrument around the school because renovations mean the easy way is now blocked off or waiting in the bank for 20 minutes only to be told that you can’t do what you were told you can do on the phone last week because rates etc have changed. 
And Stupid (yes it deserves a capital S) things like deciding to walk to school to pick up the the children from school without realising it’s 33.7 degrees!  Those were just some examples of what happened today but as I said just little niggling things.  None of which probably wouldn't have bugged me so much if I hadn’t gotten home form being company for a friend just before midnight.
So I was frustrated and did my usual coffee and chocolate comfort eat thing.  Today’s was a GF Chocolate Chip muffin from Muffin Break.

I got home to fine this gorgeous post from the lovely Melissa.  Thanks so much for that, it was beautiful and made my day.
But it was life itself that of course gave me a wake up call.
Finding out that a baby who recently had surgery is back in hospital.  It’s been almost 12 months of struggling for that beautiful little girl who really needs a break, as does her family particularly her Mum.
Then there was this post from Madmother about the fragility of life.  I could have sworn I had commented on that post but that’s not the point.
And finally there was finding out that a Face book friend’s Grandmother had died today.
So while I was tired because I had been with my friend who’s sister could have died on the weekend and has a long road to recovery, my issues could be fixed with coffee, chocolate and knowing someone was thinking of me. And that put everything into perspective for me.

Melissa’s inquiring minds want to know

Melissa posted this a few days ago and I thought I would answer it tonight.  So before I start, thank you Melissa for the questions.

1. What was your favourite subject at school?
My favourite subject at school was performing art.  But generally only when we were doing drama.  Or maybe English.  Particularly once my Year 7 English teacher got over the fact that I was stupid and had actually read most books in the school library.  Oh I loved the term we did photography but I now suck at taking photos!
2. Did you have a favourite teacher? What was it about them that you liked?
I really liked a number of my teachers at school.  Remarkably given I am so uncoordinated I really liked my Physical Education teachers. They were very supportive and very impressed when I achieved something that came easily to most.  Plus my male PE teacher for at least Year 10 and maybe 9 was gorgeous both in looks and personality.
3. What do you like most about yourself?
It really depends on the day.  Some days absolutely nothing.  Some days its the fact I am apparently quite resilient.   Other days it’s the fact that I can create beautiful children.
4. Why did you start blogging?
I think it was because I felt a need to communicate outside my immediate circle but in a sort of way where I could let out my angst and not feel any repercussion I guess.  I’m not really sure. I’d been reading Melissa’s blog and others which I guess made me want to try my hand at it. 
5. Can you show us your 5 favourite blog posts?
5 blogs posts that I have done? My favourite out of the whole 14 I have posted?  Hard. Very hard.  Perhaps I can just choose the ones I think suck the least?  I wonder if that would work….
Okay in no particular order:
Lazy Sunday
The real meaning of Christmas
An Aspie moment in time
What I hate MOST about this mothering gig
The adenoidectomy and its aftermath
6. What do you love most about your partner?
Lots of stuff.  Probably that he has put up with me and my baggage for a start. A stand out example is that he has seen both of my parents when they were dead (that takes a lot to do says me who saw a dead father figure at age 5 and was more than a little traumatised by it).
7. Next to your husband/partner/significant other/children, who do you speak to most often?
Probably Girl Child’s teacher.  I generally help out in the class  4 hours a week and then there is the drop off /pick up chat too. Sad isn't it?
8. What are your 5 favourite books?
It really does depend on my mood and my eclectic taste.  However, if we are talking about the books that either I have read over and over or I feel that impacted my life in some way, they would probably be:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien. Yes I have it as one book and read it every year from the age of 12 until about when Boy child came along.
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Kiss Me while I sleep by Linda Howard
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Mary Stewart’s Merlin series… I can’t just choose one book from it.
9. Do you have a favourite work of art?
Not really but Monet’s Waterlilies is pretty good.  I didn't realise there were 250 or so in the series.
10.If you could live for a year anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Wales and Cornwall.  To immerse myself in history and legend, and maybe, just maybe because of Torchwood!

NaBloPoMo 2009 ....... or what have I gotten myself into???

Well for some bizarre reason I have just signed up for NaBloPoMo 2009. Okay I saw it at Melissa's blog and thought it sounded good so here I am. Only posting my third ever blog post and I'm already trying to get to 30 posts in 30 days! Thanks to Elizabeth for the Badge. I like it! Her blog is called Scarlet Words and is here: http://www.scarletwords.com

Well I have added a link but it's not showing up in preview so maybe I have done something wrong. I'll have to double check that.

Anyway I haven't been there as yet but will be checking it out later.

Her NaBloPoMo page is http://www.nablopomo.com/profile/scarletwords

Anyway back to me as this is supposed to be all about me, right? Right!

So 30 days of posts? How much dribble can you readers stand? I think I might use this time as an exercise in catharsis and perhaps just whining about spending time at home with Girl Child.

Her op went well. She probably could be at school but we aren't sure we can actually trust her to not run around or exert herself until next weekend. Of course she has spiked a few temps today and the hospital discharge papers say to call if a temp gets over 38 which it did and even did an hour after paracetamol. So even if we weren't iffy about sending her tomorrow we figured if the hospital got the ENT to call us then we probably should maybe be a little on the overly cautious side when dealing with her. Okay stay tuned for more from me tomorrow.

PS thanks Melissa for being my first follower!