Dreaming of Warmer Days

The mountains of snow and bone-chilling temperatures have me thinking of warmer days...here's a few more photos to help remind us that spring is just around the corner.

Random Reboot

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here...and I'm still not entirely sure quite what I want to do with this blog.  Even so, I think it's time to blow the dust out of the corners, clear away the cobwebs, and do something...anything!...with it.

Today I'd like to share some of my photography.  I'll freely admit it, I'm an average photographer at best. However, I'm improving on my filtering and editing, enough that I can usually come up with a decent shot...eventually.  That being said, enjoy and I'll try not to wait two years to post again.

These first three photos are shots taken along Route 66, all within 5 miles of my home.

And of course, it's hard to think of the Mother Road without a cool car to make the trip in! (And no, the Stingray isn't mine, no matter how much I might wish it was...)

Admittedly, the Corvette would be much easier to get around in than this!

A few more shots from just outside of town...

Some sidewalk art from downtown Pontiac, IL.

And I'll finish up with one of my favorite photographs I've ever taken. I managed to capture this standing right outside my front door. Thanks much for stopping by!

North Pole Paperwork

public domain image from pdphoto.org

Mrs. Claus walked into Santa’s office just in time to see him slam his fist onto his desk  in frustration, sending the stack of papers in front of him scattering across the room.  She sat the tray of cocoa and cookies she had been carrying down and began to gather the strewn papers.

“Now Papa, that’s not exactly what I’d call the Christmas spirit,” Mrs. Claus said.

“It’s this jingle-jangle paperwork.  It was one thing to make my list and check it twice, but all of this?”  Santa waved his hand across his desk.  “FAA forms to obtain permission to enter restricted airspace, contract negotiations with the elves’ union,  requests for waivers to reproduce patented toys…I’m a toymaker, not a paper pusher.  Oh, and Mrs. Johnson has sent me a third letter asking for reimbursement for cleaning costs for sooty footprints on her new carpeting.  And she doesn‘t even have a fireplace…or children!  I swear, I think I‘d be better off shutting the whole operation down and we can retire to a condo in Boca Raton.”

Mrs. Claus just smiled, reached into the pocket of her apron, and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

“Perhaps you should read this before you start calling any realtors.”

Santa unfolded the paper to find himself staring at the shaky penmanship of a seven year old, scrawled in blue crayon.

Dear Santa,
       Hello.  How are you? I have been very very good this year.  This year for Christmas I don’t want any toys or books or clothes.  My daddy is a soldier, and I just want you to bring him home so I can hug him for Christmas.
                              Love,
                              Madison

Santa took a deep breath, exhaled, then wiped away a tear.

“You know, Mama, I would gladly give up every bit of magic I’ve ever had to not read another letter like that.  I guess sometimes it takes the innocence of a child to remind us all what Christmas is really about.”

Mrs. Claus leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then squeezed his shoulder.

“Now go on and get out of here,” Santa said, motioning Mrs. Claus toward the office door.  “Christmas will be here before we know it, and these papers aren’t going to push themselves!”



~~~ This story was written for a prompt over at Flashy Fiction asking us to write a story about what Santa Claus is up to now (at the end of September.)

A Firefly Jar

fireflies by Luiza Lazar @ deviantART

The Sunday Challenge this week at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads offered a unique idea to ponder - a firefly jar for writers, a way to bottle inspiration for later use, either through the words of others that have struck our fancy or through snippets of unfinished poems. My own version of a firefly jar is more the digital variety…eBooks of classic poetry and saved documents with page after page of my random ramblings scattered in a single folder.  I’ve decided to open my “jar” and share just a few glimpses of what has captured my imagination.

“But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;”
William Butler Yeats from When You Are Old

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;”
T. S. Eliot from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

And a few snippets of my own…

I sculpt my serenity from sandalwood and patchouli,
A natural cure that is serum to my soul

gather the scattered notes of discord
searching for common theme songs
that can blend into one world harmony.

He plays the martyr,
blameless for the chaos swirling around him.

I will be linking this up both on the Sunday Challenge page as well as for the Real Toads Open Link Monday.

Welcome!

Welcome to my newest adventure in blogging!  I’ve been devoting most of my writing time to poetry in the last year and I’m thrilled with the progress of Write Wing Conspiracy so far.  Still, there’s this little nagging voice in the back of my mind urging me to expand my creative horizons just a bit, and I've decided it’s time to start listening.

I’ve been considering a second blog for some time now, trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to represent here.  I really wanted to give myself the freedom to experiment more on the prose side of writing as well as share a bit more of my life with my friends in the blogosphere.  Finally I stumbled upon the perfect name…Free Range Randomness, a name that would allow me to follow my muse wherever she chose to lead me.

So feel free to stop in anytime, read a while, and leave any comments or suggestions you might have…I just love feedback!