Camping pictures (and Book Blurb Friday!)

As promised, here are a few pictures of the family camping trip (minus one of course...)

Here is night number one-notice how differently my son and daughter sleep!



A picturesque setting...

 

Daddy does the cooking (and the kids said he did great.) Hmm...



The last day there it poured off and on all day, but no leaks!

Does this get you yearning for the great outdoors? For some of you (like me) probably not-LOL!

Well, at least I have:

Book Blurb Friday! This is where Lisa Ricard Claro, from Writing in the Buff, posts a picture meant to serve as a fictional book cover. It's your job to write a blurb about the book in 150 words or less to entice a prospective reader. Are you up to the challenge? Here is this week's picture and my story:


The Man They all Forgot

Madison had been married to Asher less than a year when she began to see signs that something wasn’t right. Instead of growing closer, they were growing apart-her husband stayed late at the office, took strange phone calls at all hours, and when she questioned him, he accused her of not trusting him anymore.

Madison felt like she was living with a stranger, and she was ready to call it quits when Asher convinced her to wait. After his business trip in Rome, he would explain everything, but that day never came, and it was if he never existed-his coworkers acted like they never knew him, the airline had no record of his getting on or off the plane, and his parents they said he died years ago.

Madison would now study the past year, searching for clues, anything that might help her find the man they all forgot… (149 words-cutting it close!)

I thought I would have a hard time with this week's picture, but the words just flew on the page. I had to do some major cutting to get it under the 150 word limit though. I can't wait to see what everyone else did!

Survival if the fittest (and Succinctly Yours!)

Don't worry.  No bears visited my family this past weekend

As some of you may know, I was very much on my own since Thursday evening when my husband took the kids camping-sans me. Even though I knew I would miss the "family time," I just couldn't get past the whole idea of camping. I hate camping (especially roughing it in a tent), always have and always will, and I knew they would all have a better time without all my neuroses’about the dirt and bugs. As it turned out, my husband and daughter had a wonderful time despite it raining all day long on Saturday, and my son? He has mixed feelings, but he may be more like his mother than he cares to admit...

But I am so glad I survived as well. At first it was so quiet and a bit unnerving, particularly at night. Let's just say that I haven't had a decent night's sleep since they left. I was so tired, but as soon as I went to bed I was wide awake...listening. This house makes some strange noises and with my over active imagination it was always after 3 AM before I finally slept. (On the first morning I even watched the sun come up-not by choice of course.)

My husband took lots of pictures but I will share some later in the week. Thank goodness for Succinctly Yours, another writing meme that piggy backs on the idea of Susan of the Stony River Blog.

Grandma Goulash posts a picture and you are to write a 140 character or word story about it. You can also use the word of the day in your post if you wish. This week's word is oblivious. Here this week's picture and my take this week:

Recent changes in the Queen's dating choices were experimental, but she didn't know a night out with Bozo involved his wearing the makeup. (138 characters)

I don't know why I'm still up, but I am (hopefull) heading off to slumberville now. Hope to stop by soon!

Camping dropout (and Book Blurb Friday!)

The kids went camping-I did not. In fact, half of my husband's family is camping alongside them-I am not. Let's just say I am not a big fan for many reasons, one of them being that I've been there, done that. My childhood vacations were spent cooped up in tents, then in campers and trailers of various sizes with my mother, father, and three sisters (and sometimes a cat or dog!) You don't really know your family until you've spent a week with them in such a small space, and it isn't pretty... My dad often asks if I remember that time we went to Yellow Stone National Park, or Rehobeth Beach, and all I remember is a hot truck ride (no air conditioning my friends) and fighting with my sisters for SPACE.

And my other reasons? No escape from the heat, the bugs, the dirt, and then there's all the work to set up camp, and the lack of SPACE (yes, I know I said it already, but it needs repeating.) So here I sit, more than a little teary eyed after wishing my family goodnight via a cell phone call (my daughter texted me half the day!), and I keep reminding myself of all the negative so that I can pull through this okay. Are any of you campers?

So I am doubly glad for:

Book Blurb Friday! This is where Lisa Ricard Claro, from Writing in the Buff, posts a picture meant to serve as a fictional book cover. It's your job to write a blurb about the book in 150 words or less to entice a prospective reader. Are you up to the challenge? Here is this week's picture and my story:



The Water Takers

Darby watched the rain just as she did the day they forgot her, but they were coming back-she could feel it, and the bizarre weather patterns were her proof. Not only was the little town of Bridgewater, Main, the only town getting rain, it was getting close to the yearly rainfall for the entire state.

She remembered how the ships hover out of sight, heating nearby oceans so that massive amounts of precipitation falls, water they desperately need on their dying planet. They are Humanoid in nature, resembling Earthlings the most as children, easily adoptable, at least that’s what they thought…. So the young serve as water takers, in case something goes wrong.

And things went terribly wrong years ago, and Darby now lives with an alien species, in a government scientist’s home. But this isn’t her home, and she needs to make it back somehow. (146 words not including the title.)

This is sort of funny. I was reading Lisa's previous post about allowing her muse to lead her, and the direction this took is way off the deep end for me. I looked at this picture earlier today and couldn't get an idea, and when I started writing this evening I thought I was heading to the horror realm (another first for me) but thankfully sci-fi extreme took hold. I can't wait to see what you all wrote!