The following is my entry in a 100-word Flash Fiction Challenge held recently at WritingForums, where I am a member. Everyone voted, and this story won First Place. Before posting it here, I fixed a couple minor punctuation inconsistencies. I also removed one inconsequential word and added a very important word (“Smiling” in the last sentence) which in my view makes the story stronger. The total word count is 100.I died in disgrace. There is …
This morning at 10:00 a.m. I checked the temperature in the shade of our deck. It said 90°(F). That’s 90°. In the shade. At ten in the morning. I don’t enjoy heat waves. My comfortable temperature range goes from 25° to 85°. So while I’m cool with cool, hot ain’t so hot. These temperatures are supposed to stay with us all week and will probably continue in the 90’s for most of the summer. How …
I had every intention of writing a brilliant blog post today. Perhaps something deep and acerbic on the confluence of politics and art (“AOC’s Post-Modern Napkin Scribbles Win Critical Acclaim”). Or perhaps a somber overview of our collapsing civilization from the viewpoint of opportunistic extraterrestrials (“Dear Humans; We’ll Take It From Here”*). Maybe a long treatise on fake-conservatives and the demise of decent hot dog stands (“Grilled or Boiled? The Important Question Tweeters of NRO …
I used to love the internet back in the days. It was the Wild West and open to all. Social media changed all that.
Our first baseball game of 2021 came on a warm night, and I went home with a prize!
This digital painting demo was created way back in November for a Christmas pet portrait order. In this demo, I show the whole screen including the software palettes and my reference images. I use an older version of Corel Painter (from 2019). My current system is a bit slow for the latest versions. Typical of software these days, there’s a lot of feature bloat in the newer versions anyway. The final size of this portrait …
It’s clear to anyone with eyes to see that BLM is the new fascists. If you think Black Lives Matter Burn Loot Murder are heroes, you need to read a little history. Current events have a way of reminding me of the past; history repeating and/or rhyming and all that. In the present insanity there have been many moments which reminded me of a scene in an old novel from the mid seventies. In truth …
I don’t know what year it is on the Chinese calendar (let’s ask Chinese hostage John Cena), but for me it’s definitely the Year of the Porcupine. In what is rapidly becoming a fortnightly event, Hudson on Tuesday came home with porcupine quills in his face and mouth. There is a dispute on the count, with The Missus saying it’s the seventh time, and me saying it’s the sixth. What is indisputable is that the …
I like the idea of a Viking Funeral. They’re considering legalizing them in Maine, and that’s great. We should do the same here in Washington. Out here on The Mountain (that’s what we we call our wooded compound), we have lots of bonfires in Fall, Winter and Spring. There’s always wood and slash to burn. Trees die and get cut down and if they are too rotten for firewood they get tossed into a pile …
Irrational fear is driving America crazy. I don’t know why I keep posting about the Kung Flu. I don’t want to keep writing about it, but I can’t escape it. I’m like a midget in a crowded elevator: it’s constantly being thrust in my face and there’s nothing I can do. I’m sick of it. And clearly the government can’t find its ass with both hands, because the mixed messages are now beyond ridiculous. The …
