Friday Fictioneers–”Survival”

Well, I almost made it to Friday this week, but only by patient waiting!!  Be sure to click on the link below to read the rest of the stories or feel free to join by submitting your unique piece of Friday Fiction.

Survival

Dark, lowering clouds glowered overhead as he attempted the trip home, stealing furtively from cover to cover.  Once, something clutched his sleeve.  He yanked free, running without looking, his pounding heart drowning out other sounds, as if not seeing what it was would save him.  Occasionally he paused, waiting motionless for silent, dark figures to move on.  He couldn’t afford to be seen.

A sharp crack.

He stifled his indrawn breath.  Noise might alert someone.  Home was just ahead but there was a figure… in his doorway!!

“Alex.  How was school?”
He grinned.  Game over.
“Great, Mom.  Got any cookies?”

Simplicity

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
― Leonardo da Vinci

Over the last weeks, the thought of simplicity has insinuated itself into the forefront of my mind.  That’s what happens when you get a daughter ready to move to college and are working on getting ready to move an entire household as well.  Where did all this stuff come from??

The empty next

I realized suddenly tonight after reading an email from an online friend and a serendipitous Facebook post, that Bill and I have suddenly become part of a select group of those parents who have an empty nest. And I’m more than just OK with that.

Houston, we have liftoff.

On the same day Neil Armstrong died, we launched our second, and last, daughter…not into outer space, (although into a different space), but into art school at PAFA in Philly, the latter a place that will never be confused with outer space because of  the insane amount of traffic!

Family and chocolate

What are two of the best things in the world?  Family and chocolate!  Recently, our whole family got together, something we don’t get to do often due to distances and work schedules.  To gild the lily, we went to Le Chocolat du Bouchard,
http://lechocolatdubouchard.com/,
bastion of all things chocolate in Naperville.  What ensued was a chocolatey delicious time!

A new creation

There’s a family at our farmer’s market who sells pork, beef and chicken, without hormones or antibiotics, sausages and other products with no MSG or nitrates, eggs with dark yellow yolks that stand up when you cook them and, lately, breakfast sandwiches at the market, all of which taste amazing.  But their story is even more interesting.  They have seven children, six of whom are adopted.  They started with  a small farm (a cow, a pig and some chickens) to help reach foster and adoptive children and somehow along the way, ended up with a full-blown family and farm.  This is New Creation Farm, (
http://www.newcreationfarms.com/index.html
), a wonderful place for children to grow up, be loved, and learn to work.

You might know Jack, but…

…do you know where he went?? 

I do!!

There’s a fungus amongus

And it’s a beauty…

Friday Fictioneers–Grande Dame

Thanks to Maggie Duncan for the beautiful Friday Fictioneers picture prompt and, as always, to Madison Woods for the entire project.  Click on the link at the bottom to read more stories and feel free to join in with us each week (or as often as you like) by sharing your own story.

Grande Dame

Cloaked in ermine,
     earth greets the morning.
Mist imparts the dew of youth to her aging face,
     some wrinkles attained through living,
     others etched from things less pleasant.
The silence of waiting envelops her,
     bringing with it peace.
Freshness perfumes her
     as she readies for the day.
Coolness encircles her,
     wrapping her in repose.

Soon the sun will begin to clear the air,
     casting light on her visage,
     heralding another day of work,
          of noise,
          of doing,
          and being done to.

But for now, she rests, beautifully.

Quietly, I watch her,
     the steam from my tea
     mingling with the mist.

A plethora of poetry

For some reason I seem to have poetry on the brain, so just for fun, here are four different poems types.