#WeekendCoffeeShare – 2019-02-16

~ Russell ~ 2 Comments

If we were having coffee, I’d offer you something nice to drink. I have coffee, tea, and perhaps a few other things that may suit you. Let’s see what we can rustle up. I’m having coffee myself. Left-over from this morning, but microwaved to boiling so it’s all good. If you help me finish off this old pot, we can put on a new one.

Now that we’re all settled, we can relax a bit, talk, and listen to a bit of music. I’ve got Jimmy Buffett playing “He Went to Paris” right now and after that, who knows? I like my Jimmy Buffett. Maybe it’s the sound and feel of the islands, where the weather suits my clothes, if I can borrow that phrase from the man himself. In these winter months, it’s nice to think of the tropics and times when it was not so cold.

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#FridayFictioneers – Entity of Cold

~ Russell ~ 11 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Tommy’s coffee was not enough to stop the shivers. This winter is ridiculous. How much can I take?

Inside, even shielded from the cutting wind, the cold was there, a living entity, seeping from the brick and mortar into him as he walked to his apartment.

The cold greeted him in his apartment. The radiator sat wrapped in cold against the wall, too stubborn to light. Too cold.

He walked to the window. Slid it open. Why not? Climbing onto the ledge, the wind cut his dry, chapped skin, but it wasn’t satisfied. It slid around his back and pushed.

Why fight it?

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#WeekendCoffeeShare 2019-02-08

~ Russell ~ 12 Comments

If we were having coffee, we would be sitting here in the near dark with naught but the light of the computer screen and lava lamp. Willie Nelson is playing all his greatest hits for us, and there is a fresh pot of coffee just in the kitchen there. Won’t you help yourself to a cup or maybe a bit of tea if you would rather?

It’s been a pretty good week as writing goes. Work was a bit slower, the weather was a lot better, and on the whole, I had some time and energy at the end of most days to devote to it. Not always a lot of time, but I like to get a little done everyday if possible.

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#FridayFictioneers – S’mores

~ Russell ~ 23 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Anshu Bhojnagarwala

The rain was gone, and the kids wanted s’mores.

“No way,” I called back on the drive home. “Wood’s wet.”

“S’mores, s’mores, s’mores,” came the raucous call from the backseat.

Pulling in the drive I said, “go in. Get ready. I’ll start the fire.” I winked at my wife. There was a little dry kindling hid back. Maybe I could get something going. She smiled back.

They cheered. Then I did my Big Bad Wolf impression, huffing and puffing until a tendril of smoke burst to flame. Extremely proud, I called up to the house.

“Quiet. You’ll wake the kids.”

WC: 100

#FridayFictioneers is a weekly blog link up hosted by Rochelle over at RochelleWisoff.com. You should totally check it out and perhaps try your hand at writing a 100 word story.

Good luck!

#WeekendCoffeeShare – 02-02-2019

~ Russell ~ 7 Comments

cropped-cappuccino-on-table

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that it’s been a long week and that I’m so happy that it’s the weekend.  We would be here, listening to music, (a playlist on my phone that’s playing Round Here by the Counting Crows right now) and sipping fresh brewed coffee.  It feels good to relax for a day or two.  I’m thinking we have this whole work week thing backwards, working five days and off two.  Who came up with that?  Oh well, I’ll sip my coffee and be thankful for the downtime that never seems to last long enough.

Wow, I feel like I’m rambling already.  Most rude of me.  Perhaps it’s because my writing this week has been nonexistent.  The long days at work, and the cold weather (not Chicago cold, thank goodness!) had me feeling tired and unmotivated.  I hate that feeling.  There were a couple of nights I fell into bed around 8 o’clock to read a bit, only to fall asleep shortly after going down. Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – 02-02-2019” →

#WeekendCoffeeShare – 01-26-19

~ Russell ~ 5 Comments

cropped-cappuccino-on-tableHello and welcome to my virtual coffee room!  Please help yourself to a coffee, freshly brewed, or a bit of tea if that’s your thing.  There’s a few other things available as well, do feel free to grab whatever floats your boat, blow up your skirt, etc, etc…

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I am so close to finishing the very rough first draft of a vampire story that I think will be novella length if I can keep focus long enough to get it there.  Of course it may be longer, I won’t know that until I start filling in all the details that I left out, skimmed over, and blatantly ignored while trying to get through a skeleton of a completed story longer than a thousand words or so.  The longer things never seem to work for me, though I try, OMG, how I try. Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – 01-26-19” →

#FridayFictioneers – Shiner Car?

~ Russell ~ 18 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

“What happened Ted.”

“Um, we were hiking.  Saw the car and Susie said maybe it was an old shiner’s car.  They used to run moonshine all through those hills, you know?”  Ted looked at the woman.

“Yes, I’ve heard.  Go on.”

“Well, we checked it out you know.  Thought that maybe there’d be some shine in there.”

“Okay.”

“We didn’t do nothing wrong you know.  Where’s Susie?”

“Susie is with Officer Alvarez giving her statement.  Same as you.”

“Oh.”

“Continue please.”

“We pried open the trunk… and… and,” his voice broke as he said, “that’s where we found the bodies.”

WC:  100

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