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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Daddy, Nancy Drew and Me © Claudia Schlottman

w and Me © Claudia Schlottman



I am participating in Saturday Centus for the third time. It's a great meme that you can access with the icon below. This week's prompt is:

“May I help you, miss? You look puzzled.”

“Mmmm… thank you, I’m just looking for my father. We came in together a moment ago, but he seems to have wandered off.”


Here is what I did with it.

It’s 1959. I’m eleven, and Daddy and I are at the book store. No brothers, just me. Sitting on the floor facing volumes of Nancy Drew, I lose time paging through The Secrets of the Old Clock. I look up. Where is Daddy? He will find me soon.

Today I haunt the fiction section for NIN and Proust. I look up. Where is Nancy Drew? Where is Daddy?

“May I help you, miss? You look puzzled.”

“Mmmm… thank you, I’m just looking for my father. We came in together a moment ago, but he seems to have wandered off.”

I pay, wait, books in hand.

"Oh, Daddy, there you are!”

He hugs me tight and we go for ice cream, just like always.............though he has been dead since 1955.


This story if linked to Saturday Centus. Link on the left!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Ole Muddy - My Saturday Centus for this week

Ole Muddy - My Saturday Centus for this week


I stuff my clothes and toiletries into my fake LV duffle. Then I walk into the bathroom and face myself in the mirror.

“You stupid mule,” I say to myself. “You’re donkey of a person. Now it’s all gone, all those hard earned dollars down the drain in a casino in Vicksburg.”

I walked in here with my dignity intact and enough money to have a little fun. Now, I’m outta here - and broke.

I check out, throw my bag into the back seat of my T-Bird and I look back over my shoulder, squinting into the late afternoon sun, gawking with stunned alarm at the broad rolling muddy waters of the Mississippi, flipping it the finger and driving east, hoping the casino will flood.



This story if linked to Saturday Centus. LInk on the left!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Claudia's First Saturday Centus

Claudia's First Saturday Centus

I am taking part in a writing exercise called Saturday Centus. We are given a prompt and from there, we write a 100 word story.

Today's prompt is: The small Cessna 172 picked up speed as it roared down the runway, Sara at the controls, the flight instructor beside her,


With a strong sense of envy, Sara sat on the deck watching geese fly over her pond, on their journey, going south. And she had never left New England.

She began to day dream, seeing white sand, clear water, herself lying in a lounge chair slathered with sunscreen, reading Vogue through Valentino shades. The handsome man two chairs over was not wearing a wedding ring; there was no telltale pale circle on that finger.

The honking of the geese interrupted her thoughts, and shaking her head clear, she dashed into the house and found the number for the nearest flight school.

This story if linked to Saturday Centus. Link on the left side of this page!

Bucket List

This is from  Collology, one of my favorite blogs.  These are my responses. Looks like I'm 42% interesting. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2010       
I recently saw this "bucket list" on Miss Kris's blog, http://missykrissy2005.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-bucket-list-ok.html and thought it would be fun to fill out, especially on a day like today, in which my mind is pulp from trying to memorize too many GRE words (and I thought I had an extensive vocabulary, puh!)

I'm 41% interesting; it turns out I have a lot of world traveling to do. How about you? If you're game, copy and paste these 100 things to your blog. Highlight the ones you've done and let me know how interesting you are:





















1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower  - from the deck of our house on Saint Simons
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world 
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang/played a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch  
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill(They're called "mental health days.")
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26.Bathed in a river
27. Run a Marathon ( NYC Marathon, November 1983)!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (Definitely not. I have no hand/eye coordination.)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Money doesn't bring satisfaction. Love does.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (my husband's idea, not mine
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching  (Sea of Cortez, Pacific side of Baja California and Alaska)
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (I was young and POOR)!
68. Flown in a helicopter (And I never will.)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (Not yet!)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (Macon Telegraph)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous  -( Mickey Mantel and Harvey Keitel)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one (I know about as many people in Heaven as I do on Earth.)
94. Made a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Built a house out of mud!

Your turn. Go!