Writing Workshop - Childhood Memories

This week's theme for Sleep is for the Weak's Writing workshop is, Childhood Memories.

Here is my entry.

Memories

It was nothing more then a glimpse, a childhood memory. Fluttering moments of fleeting images stretched tightly across the empty pages of his mind, warming the senses like comforting rays of mid-summer sun. A memory of happier times, of love and laughter, when the world was less black and white but a riot of beautiful cascading colours cocooned deeply within the endless bounds of safety.

At first it had been so clear and vibrant, as if peering through polished glass. Now it was worn and faded like an old, well loved photograph. Dog-eared, torn and tattered in placed but the time weary faces still remained.

How he longed to dip his hands into the shimmering opaline swirls and to be able to pull their brother back to them. Back, as he was then, effervescent innocence barely contained. So full of wonder, of colour, love. Of life.

Filthy shadows simmered and scratched their way into the image, greying the edges and smearing the colours as acid bright flecks of the present burnt through, bleaching out the memories as the embers slowly crackled and died.

To view more entries, please click here.

The Gallery - Sparkle

This week's theme for The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers blog, is Sparkle.

Below are some pictures I took on Bonfire Night at a large display we took the girls to. That night the sky literally sparkled. Ana loved it, Amy hated it. Oh well, there's always next year.

If you would like to see more entries for The Gallery, please click here.

Shadow Shot Sunday

The picture below is for Shadow Shot Sunday over at Hey Harriet.

Not the greatest or most awe inspiring picture but I love the way mid-morning winter sun elongates shadows, making us all into giants.

Myself and Amy

To see more entries for Shadow Shot Sunday, please click here.

Camera Critters - Red Kites

Red Kites in flight.

The above pictures are part of the Camera Critters Meme

The Gallery - White

This week's theme for The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers, is white.

For the past few weeks large areas of the UK have been blanketed under several inches of snow. Schools closed, public transport ground to a halt and panic buying ensued.

Here in Berkshire we escaped pretty unscathed, yet Thursday we had the dreaded fall out. A total of 4 mm of snow. As you can see my cat Charlie O'Marley from The Paw Relations blog was less then impressed with Mother Nature's glittering show.

Wha? Who the hell put all that white stuff there?

To see more entries for The Gallery, please click here.

Shadow Shot Sunday - Lola Fannola

The picture below is for Shadow Shot Sunday over at Hey Harriet. Lola Fannola from The Paw Relations in shadow.

To see more entries for Shadow Shot Saturday, please click here.

Camera Critters

Grey Squirrel eating Hawtorn berries

Roosting Starlings

These pictures are part of the Camera Critters Meme

The Brutal Honesty of Children

The picture of innocence. Yeah, right!

My youngest daughter Amy, who is four, was describing a picture she had recently drawn in her excitement at the run up to Christmas.

'These are the presents and kisses for you and daddy,' she pointed to an area of the picture, I oohed and ahhed suitably, then came the cruncher.

'Daddy's are the biggest because he's big and yours are the smallest because you're a bit smaller then daddy. *pause for dramatic effect* But you're still fat, aren't you?'

I love the fact that my daughter feels that she can be brutally honest with me at all times. At least she left the dark circles under my eyes out of the conversation this time!

Writing Workshop - Let's Get Lyrical

This weeks theme for Sleep is for the Weak's Writing workshop is, Lets Get Lyrical or Inspired by Songs.

I have to say that a lot of my writing is either inspired by or helped along by song, either with the lyrics or generally getting in the right frame of mind or mood for the piece I wish to right.

This week I am submitting a small piece from a Fan Fiction I am currently writing for a Fan Fiction Challenge - Taphephobia or the fear of being buried alive. With this particular piece of writing it was more the mood of the songs I was listening to at the time then the actually lyrics. The main two albums I was listening to at the time were Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight, which is reflected in the title.

Minutes to Midnight

"Have the courage to live. Anyone can die." ~ Robert Cody

Darkness. It started with darkness and silence. Silence punctuated only by the sound of shuddering breath. Movement was painfully stiff, muscle screamed as he tried to sit up but something solid prevented him. Fumbling blindly he tried to paint a picture of his surroundings with his hands, his fingertips brushed against the rough wood imprisoning him. A box? No a wooden casket!

How long had he been unconscious? How much air did he have left? Minutes? Seconds? His brow furrowed as he tried to cut through the thick fog enveloping his mind. The past played back to him in fits and starts, flashes of fleeting moments. The moment of his capture flickered before him before the image faded and died, only to be replaced by the next. Visions of torture, of tight bindings and endless questions flooded his mind until he was stood once again in the cold misty acres of a New York cemetery.

Headstones scratched warped shadows into the moonlit sky, reaching relentlessly towards the heavens. A chilling breeze swept across the ground swirling and churning the mist about his feet as he stared into the yawning hole before him. He didn't remember shivering against the cold, in fact he didn't remember feeling anything, just raw emptiness.

"Take a good look around you." the voice came hot and thick against the bare skin of his neck. "You won't be seeing anything again anytime soon."

He didn't hear much more after that. A brilliant white pain exploded through his head before his world was swallowed into the boiling swells of darkness.

Buried? Alive? Placing the palms of his hands against the lid he tested for weakness. The wood complained bitterly but could not coaxed to move more then a few centimetres. There had to be at least six feet of compacted earth against the casket lid. Even if he did break through the lid, he would be sure to drown in the cloying dirt before being able to claw himself to freedom. His hand knocked against a small object laid upon his chest. Grasping it tightly he rain his fingers over the smooth hardness before finding a small crack that ran along most of it's length, separating it into two interlocking sections. A cell phone? Scraping his fingernails against the top section he attempted to pry it open. An unnatural light flooded the casket, bathing him in an eerie glow it banished the darkness to the furthest corners where it bubbled furiously. He stole a glace at the time in the right hand corner of the display. Minutes to midnight.

If you wish to read more of Minutes to Midnight, please read it here.

To read more entries for Writing Workshop, please click here.

The Gallery - Celebrations

This weeks theme for The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers Blog, is Celebrations.

"Weddings, birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, divorces, first jobs, first pregnancy, proms, you name it."

The picture below was taken Christmas Day in 2009 around mid morning after the noisy and excitement of present opening and chocolate for breakfast.




It's a picture of the relative lull, the peace and quite before the big lunch. Amy playing with her Mega Blocks Father Christmas had not long wrestled down the chimney. To me a perfect picture of Christmas.


To view more pictures in The Gallery please click here.