MULTILPLY Poetry Posse - Week 31: Lune Poetry

Life is just a carousel
Turning the feelings
Until we reach the end

Lune poetry

MULTIPLY United Friends Challenge #146: How to write a Book

LADY HARLEY'S CHALLENGE

In whatever format you wish... your challenge today, if you choose to accept, is to write a "1st person" piece about "your perfect sanctuary for writing... if money were no issue". Please detail the sights, sound & smells that would soothe you into a rhythm of continuous writing. It would help, but not necessary, if you were to add... why you would go & how would you get to the hideout. If you wish... you may include a line or two (or more) of the story (or, novel, poem, song, etc.) you are working on while at your perfect spot. (Yes it can be something you're currently working on... if you wish. Who knows, maybe it will be the start of a new project for you???) (IF you do, be sure to italicize those parts so that we can tell it's not part of the main story.)

Enough is enough – my husband thought I am only here to look after the place, but I have something more important to do. Every time I sat down at the computer and started writing he asked for a coffee, or the newspaper, wanted attention one way or the other. Now I have found the solution. He should find the letter I wrote, I left it in the cupboard where he keeps his favourite cookies. Now I hope he has got the message.

“Dear Arthur

when you read this letter I will probably be sitting in a ‘plane winging my way to somewhere else, you will not guess where, so don’t bother with the effort. I have been trying to write my novel for the past three months and seem to be writing backwards, three pages every evening and cancel one page the next morning – usually the last one when my patience runs out with the interruptions I am getting in the evening. And don’t blame it on the kids, they are never at home in the evening, but you are. During the day when you are working in your top management job, I am cleaning our little home and preparing food for the evening meal,. now and again (more again and again) washing your dirty shirts and socks, not to mention the underwear, as well as that from the rest of the family, so please don’t tell me to write my “stuff” during the day, it just does not work.

I am sure you will survive for the next few weeks and I will return when my book is finally finished. The ice box is full with frozen pizza, some meat and if things really get bad, tell son Jeff to call in at the MacDonald's for some hamburgers. I know you don’t like junk food, but you won’t die from it. Might even appreciate the meals you get when I return. Please don’t forget to take the dog for a walk in the morning before you go to work. You can bring him to Mrs. Jones next door during the day.

Of course I love you, but I love myself as well, and believe me this is the only way I can finish my novel and stay sane in the course of doing it.

Kisses to you and the kids, see you

Pat

PS Just think of the money I earned with the last book I wrote, although the doctor’s bills for the tablets I needed to calm my nerves afterwards took a bit of the profit.

Now I can relax at last. It is so peaceful here, no traffic, no family, just pure nature, a few snow covered mountain peaks and a stream running past the window. I am sure he thinks I am somewhere in Eastern Europe where the vampires and ghosts come from, but if he showed some interest in what I am writing he would have known that this time the action takes place in the Swiss Alps.

I really had a productive day today, ten whole pages written and no bother or disturbance. They were just perfect pages.

“As she looked out of the window of the chalet she could see the light shimmering on the snow covered peaks. The air was still, no movement, but there was a storm brewing. She could hear the thunder echoing through the valleys in the far distance and see the forked branches of light flashing. She was frightened of thunderstorms as a child, but now it was different.

His arms were strong and were holding her tightly.

“You are shivering. I am with you now, you have nothing to be afraid of. Your husband will never find us.”

“Are you sure Brad, What did you do with the body?”

I wonder if I should change that bit about the light shimmering, after all a thunder storm is on its way? Decisions, decisions, just leave it until the morning. If I was at home, I would have to wait another day, now I can just get down to the work in the morning again.

Why didn’t they say that there were goats and cows in the mountains when I booked? I said I wanted to go somewhere quiet. At five in the morning a cockerel starts crowing somewhere on a farm, down in one of the valleys. The mountain hut up the road is actually a stable, full of goats; on a warm day you can find them by smelling the way and not to mention the cows. Beautiful cows, wonderful large brown eyes, but they moo and how they moo; all day long I am surrounded by mooing cows and bleating goats.

So I decided to change my accommodation. Did I go back to Arthur and try again at home. Definitely not, that was the last thing to do. No I found my perfect place. A nice little chalet in the Swiss alps sounds nice, but I found something much better. I was looking through the leaflets at the tourist office and what did I find? They really have monasteries here where you can spend a holiday. This is fantastic. So I packed my bags and moved in. Now I have the peace and quiet I want and the food is fantastic; fresh veg and salad from the garden. They have a few cows and pigs, but they are organised and there is no problem whatsoever with the noise. They are kept up on the slopes.

“Hi Honey, I’m home” I said in a nice loud clear voice when I returned. Was Arthur pleased to see me? Of course he was. Ok, he looked a bit thin, but it did him good to lose a few kilos.

“Did you manage to finish the book?” he asked me.

“Oh yes, it really went well. I hope it will be a bestseller. What about you and the kids, did you manage ok? Sorry that I left so abruptly, but it was now or never.”

“No problem, we managed fine.”

“Bonjour, madame. You must be the madame of the house.”

“Just who are you?”

“Oh darling, let me introduce you, this is Monique our new French au pair girl. It’s ok; I put the girls together in one room and gave her the empty bedroom. I found it was a good idea, and Jeff has already started to learn some French, hasn’t he Monique?”

“Mais oui Arthur.”

Yes my book was a success, I changed the story The heroine of the novel found that her new lover was only after her money and she fled to a monastery where the monks hid her. There was a lot more to the story, but you will have to buy the book yourself; and Monique? I think I already have the subject for my next book, but will probably have to spend a few months in Paris. I must see if Arthur can take the time off work to accompany me. I am sure I can use him for some research work. The kids will be fine and Jeff does not seem to mind that Monique will be looking after them.

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MULTIPLY Rita's "Riting" Challenge Week 22: I am just a lovable Clown really

I don’t know why people don’t like me; after all I am a clown and was made to make people laugh. Just an example, there I was standing on a nice comfortable chair in a second hand shop, just waiting to be the chosen one. I was not really second hand, but no-one had ever wanted me, so this was my destiny at the time. It was Christmas and there were parents with their children all over the place. Not that I don’t like children, but let’s face it they can get on your nerves sometimes. I have heard that if they don’t happen to like a toy, or they get bored with it, they just throw it in a corner. Under the worst circumstances it might even get thrown away. Anyhow I am a single piece really. They sort of made me in the factory and then decided that there was something wrong. The smile on my face wasn’t so friendly and the colour. They had the idea that clowns should wear big shoes, which is a bit ridiculous. Have you ever seen a real clown with feet size sixty? I don’t even try to smile, changing things is not possible for me, I am just the way they made me. So there was a little girl that came up to me in the shop.

“Look mummy, what a horrible face he has, and big feet.”

“But honey he is a clown, they are made like that. He is made to make people laugh.”

“Well mummy, I don’t want him. I don’t find him very funny. He couldn’t even make a hyena laugh.”

and that was the story of my life up to the day when Dr. Foster entered the store. Christmas was gone and all the unwanted toys and dolls left were put into cardboard boxes to be put into the cellar, and brought out next year. I know the routine, it happens to me every year. So the boxes were standing in the corner waiting to go, when he arrived. He put his hands into the boxes and started pulling us out one after the other to have a good look. Then he spoke the magic words.

“How much for the ugly looking clown?”

“Oh you can have him for a quarter of the price.”

I was insulted and annoyed. A quarter of the price, not even so much as half price.

“I’ll take him, don’t bother to wrap him up I can put him in the car as he is.”

And so that was my meeting with Dr. Foster. He took me home and a day later I was perched on a cupboard in his doctor’s practice. He was no normal doctor, but worked in the local prison, looking after the misfits and thrown outs of society, the ones that no-one wanted. He was supposed to be a psychiatrist, although I never saw a certificate hanging anywhere with his qualifications, but a change came into my life, I was loved.

I remember my first meeting with Fred. Now he was a hard nut, had killed a few people, just for the fun of it and was serving a life sentence. He didn’t say much, but I could feel his thoughts prying into my mind. Dr. Foster would spend an hour with Fred once a day in therapy, although Fred was beyond therapy, he was beyond everything. Where I came into the treatment? Well Dr. Foster told Fred that he could keep me in his cell and treat me as if I was his son. That meant, be nice to me and look after me. I think the idea was to make Fred into a civilised person. Well Fred really did like me. Fred just had something against people that smiled and I never smiled of course. I noticed if someone tried to be friendly with him he would act quite hostile and start throwing things around and even try to kill them.

So Fred and I got on well. At last I felt wanted in my lonely life. I had someone that needed me and cared for me. I was quite happy, but then came the day when Dr. Foster decided his therapy was not working and told Fred that I would have to leave him for another patient. Fred was quite annoyed. Actually he got so annoyed that he strangled Dr. Forster and burst through the door of Dr. Foster’s consulting room. Of course there were guards outside, but Fred was so mad at losing me that he attacked the guards. Now you might think one man against two armed guards was a lost cause. Well not really. Fred was so powerful and the guards were not ready for such an attack that he managed to get the weapon from the first guard and shoot him and his colleague with it. He then found the nurse that was hiding behind the desk and used her as a hostage to get us out of the prison. The main thing was Fred took me with him. Now I am happy and satisfied, I have someone that loves me and who looks after me. I am even allowed to sleep in a little bed next to Fred’s bed. Fred a bad man – no not really. It seemed that Dr. Foster’s idea of having someone to look after worked, as since we have been on the run, Fred has not harmed anyone else. We just live happily together on a small farm in the middle of nowhere. If you happen to find us, then just drive past. Fred just does not like having visitors.

Rita's "Riting" Challenge Week 22: I am just a lovable clown really

MULTIPLY Pictures to Words: #21 The Film

The wind machine was churning
The effect it was so real
A feeling of fresh air
The freedom of the ordeal

The film was full of love
romantic until the end
It was bound to be a hit
Although it was all pretend

The actress felt so cold
The wind blew even more
Her nose it started dripping
Her throat was very sore

The actor had to kiss her
He took her in his arm
She sneezed into his t-shirt
This caused a great alarm

The next day the film went further
But the lady was feeling ill
The actor was also suffering
He decided to take a pill

After the week was over
The crew, they all had flu
The wind machine was silent
The film was cancelled too

They decided to change the film
The actor was dressed in white
His role was now a doctor
The film was a complete rewrite

Our actress played the patient
She was perfect for the part
although she was still sneezing
To the doctor she lost her heart

The film was the best of the year
Something new with a healing thread
Instead of windy blown dresses
The actress stayed in bed

So if you want to create a film
something romantic with flimsy dress
Then think it over first of all
Sometimes the best is less

Pictures to Words #21: The Film

MULTIPLY Visual Aid #10: The Roman Road

Marius, my feet are aching, these leather sandals are not the best for long walks.”

“Stop complaining Julius, we have only been walking since the sunrise. Our centurion said it is just over the hills and then we are there.”

“Yes but Marius did he say how many hills. I seem to have been walking up and down hills all morning. I mean it is nice to take a journey at the state’s cost, but I wish they had said how far. Up to now I have frozen going over ice clad mountains and was so glad at last to reach the valley. Now I hear we have even more leagues to march until we reach the target of our walk. I just hope those Helvetians are a bit friendlier that the lot in Germania, they didn’t like us at all, not to mention what I have heard about some of those tribes in Gaul.”

“Attention Julius, the centurion is coming.”

“Men, do I hear a little bit of complaining?”

“No, sir not at all, we are all looking forward to our conquest over the Helvetia. We heard they are a quiet obliging folk. It seems just a few more mountain ranges and we are there.”

“That’s the spirit Marius, you are one of my best. Julius you do not look very happy. Not a very good influence on the Roman moral; any problem?”

No sir, not really.”

“Please tell me your problem, I only want happy Romans in my troop.”

“I was wondering if I could borrow one of the horses for a while, these leather sandals are not very comfortable. Someone said that the town of Solus was just over the hill, but we seemed to have crossed many hills today.”

“Julius, I have one hundred Roman soldiers in my group, but only twenty horses, that would not be fair on the other men. There are only seven ranges of hills to cross and we are at our end station. Our job is to enter the town of Solus and to take it over. The Helvetians did have big ideas of running from us but with some friendly persuasion we Romans pushed them back into their own country. After all you cannot have Helvetians doing what they want. Before you know it they would be taking over the Roman banking system and who knows what else. Take an example from Marius, he is proud to be a Roman soldier and does not complain.”

So the brave troop of Romans crossed the Jura mountain chain and entered the town of Solus. They were not really welcomed from the Helvetians, but Roman soldiers were not looking for a warm welcome, just a place to rest their tired bodies after the long march and Julius just wanted to soak his feet . A few years later we find Marius and Julius in a work troop building some Roman streets in the town of Solus.

“Marius, if I had wanted to be a road builder, I could have stayed in my little village in the hills surrounding Rome and built a few roads in Rome. Can you tell me why we have to travel hundreds of kilometres through countries I had never heard of to do the same work here. Even my wife is complaining about the working hours.”

“Julius, be satisfied. You have a reliable job, a nice wife and children and the pay is not bad. You know how reliable those Helvetian women are, the ideal wife and mother. I am sure the roads we are building will one day be famous throughout our part of the world.”

“That might be the case Marius, but I don’t really want to be famous. At least I don’t have to wear those uncomfortable Roman sandals any more. The Helvetian product is much better than the Roman one, I am sure that this country will become famous for their good footwear one day.”

“And I am sure that we Romans will become famous for our roads one day.”


Frau Heidi Schweizer climbed the slope to her little house at the end of the alley with its neat red door. It was a well kept street and was even paved with stones resembling the original Roman stones, although they had been replaced throughout the years. The town was proud of its Roman history and looked after the original architecture, the Roman arena still standing outside the town walls being an attraction for tourists. Heidi Schweizer’s family had lived many years in the town, and indeed her son, Marius Schweizer, was now town president. The name Marius was a common name in her family being handed down from father to son over many years, how many years she did not know, but in the records kept in the town hall there were documents mentioning the family in the middle ages.

This year was a special year in Soldorf. A pageant was being organised, showing the beginnings of the town through the ages. Heidi Schweizer was proud that her son would be playing the part of Julius Cesar, although there was no record of him ever putting foot in the little market town, and her grandson, Marius Junior would be one of the Roman soldiers.

On the day of the pageant the whole town was assembled for the show which took place in the Roman arena of course. The pageant began with a fanfare of trumpets played by the town orchestra and the Roman soldiers marched into the arena being lead by Marius Schweizer, Heidi’s son and president of the town. The weather was perfect, not too warm and a sunny day.


“Julius, just look at that. I always said we would be famous one day.”

and Julius looked down from the cloud he was sitting on.

“Well I never, tell Jupiter to come and have a look.”

So Marius ran to Jupiter, the chief of the Roman Gods, and there were Marius, Julius and Jupiter watching the pageant from their own little corner of the Roman heaven.

“Brings water to my eyes, Marius and to think all I was doing was making a fuss about my feet and our Roman sandals. Just look at the town, it might have another name, but all our architectural wonder works are still standing, they are even celebrating in the arena.”

“I told you Julius, and all you could do was complain. That might even be one of my descendants leading the group with the Roman costumes” said Marius.

That night Heidi Schweizer went home to her little house with the red door in the old part of the town. She had trouble sleeping that night, she kept hearing the sound of feet marching past her door, as if an army was on it way.

Visual Aid #10 The Roman Roads

MULTIPLY Creative Challenge #53: Enchanting

Watching life and the clouds go bye
An enchanting ride in the garden
Nothing to do, just relaxing in a far off world
Wondering if the clouds are sometimes bored
Chasing each other across a sunlit sky
Followed by a solitary plane winging its way to a place above the clouds

Alone in a chair, sleepy, no sound, just solitary movements
caused by a cautious wind, not wanting to disturb.
Opening my eyes to an unexpected quiver, feeling a vibration
A lonely bug flies past on a quest and falls
losing his sense of where to go
perhaps sleepy in the heat and slowness of the day

The wind moves with nature, the organs of plants
calling to be cooled, to be enchanted by the breeze,
welcoming a passing fluttering insect
who will take his rewards from their hearts.
A far distant noise of a car drums past on the highway.
Let the others do their duty, nature and I rest at peace with the world.

Creative Challenge #53: Enchanting

MULTIPLY United Friends Challenge #144: A Bottle of Wine

Skyerider's Challenge

You have been invited to a party that you are obliged to attend. No excuses. You have to buy a gift for the host/hostess of the party. The problem is that you dislike the person hosting the party. Write a scene using one of the following scenarios:
- You have just been informed that you have to attend the party and bring a gift.
- You have already bought the gift and are en route to the party.
- You are in a shop, choosing a gift for the party.
- The party is in progress and the host/hostess is about to open your gift.

„Ready Jean?“

„Just a minute, I think my mascara is smudged.”

“You look perfect, where are you going now, we are going to be late.”

“Stay calm Jack, I don’t know why you are bothered coming late. You never did like your Uncle Fred, you always said he had something funny about him.”

“No, I do not like Uncle Fred. He is a mean old man and I am only going to his birthday party because he will probably cut me out of his will if I don’t.”

“Well that is not a very nice thing to say Jack. We don’t really need the money, do we?”

“Jean there is a difference in needing and wanting. Uncle Fred is a millionaire. Remember the win he had on the football?”

“Oh that, it was a lot of money, but he never seems to spend very much.”

“That is the reason why I am going to suffer spending an evening with him celebrating his birthday. By the way have you got his present?”

“What present Jack?”

“The bottle of expensive French wine I bought in the wooden case that was lying on the kitchen table wrapped up in gift paper with a red band around it.”
“Oh that, no I thought you had it.”

“Jean if your thought a bit less about your mascara and a bit more about things that are really important, we would not be sitting in the car waiting to drive off, without the most important thing of the evening.”

“Well he is your uncle not mine.”

“Jean would you please go and get the present and bring it to the car.”

“Yes Jack, at once. I am beginning to hate Uncle Fred as well.”

“Did you say something Jean.”

“I am on my way.”

“Well, that took long enough, you only had to get the present.”

“I know, but I had a little accident.”

“Jean???”

“Well it was like this. I sort of picked up the present and Bobbles ran in front of my feet.”

“What does Bobbles our cat have to do with it.”

“I lost my balance and the present sort of fell out of my hands and crashed to the floor.”

“You dropped a bottle of expensive French wine on the floor that cost me almost a week’s wages; wine that grows on a slope somewhere in the Bordeaux region of France, a first growth.”

“Well Jack, I don’t know about how many times it grew, but now we have a first crash, but don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? Of course I am worried. Not only do I have to go to a birthday party for someone that I hate, but my chances of a nice inheritance have also now disappeared. You have broken his bottle of wine.”

“Well the wooden case is still ok. That didn’t break.”

“Oh, fine, so what do we do now.”

“No problem Jack, I threw the broken glass from the bottle away, but managed to save the label on the bottle.”

“I can’t give old grumpy a wine bottle label.”

“Jack, give me credit for a little bit of intelligence. I took one of our wine bottles from the cellar, washed the label off and replaced the label with the one from the special, unique first growth wine. He will never know the difference. I even put the gift wrapping around the present. It looks just the same. So now drive off, otherwise we will be late.”


“Here we are Jack, are you sure that this is the right day. Everything seems to be quiet at the house. No party noise around.”

“You are right Jean, but there is Aunt Gladys, Uncle Fred’s wife.”

“She doesn’t look very happy does she Jack.”

“No, you are right Jean. Let’s see what’s happened.”

“Oh Jack, Jean, it would have been so nice to have seen you again. Fred was so looking forward to seeing his favourite nephew after so long. I think it has been a year since you last paid us a visit on his last birthday. It is a shame that you cannot call more often, but now it’s too late.”

“Aunt Gladys why are you crying and what do you mean too late? Has something happened?”

“Yes Jack, I am sorry to say. Your Uncle Fred was getting some wine from the cellar for the party and had an accident. He fell down the stairs and, oh dear, how can I put it, he hit his head on the stone stairs, and never woke up again. His body has already been transported to the morgue and the funeral will be some time next week.”

“Oh how terrible, I feel so sorry for you.”

“Thank you Jack”

“Yes Aunt Gladys this is such a shock for us both.”

“I see you have brought a present for Uncle Fred. Just bring it into the house.”

“Well, I don’t know Aunt Gladys, It is perhaps not such a good present as it is a bottle of French wine and after what happened…..”

“Oh, Jack, it has been such a sad day, but I think it would be a good idea to perhaps drink a glass or two in memory of Uncle Fred.”


“Well that was a surprise Jack. At least you didn’t have to spend the evening at a party you didn’t want to attend and it seemed that Aunt Gladys didn’t even notice that she was drinking wine from the local supermarket.”

“You know Jean I don’t even think that Aunt Gladys was very sad at Uncle Fred’s demise. I just hope that she doesn’t turn into the merry widow and start enjoying Uncle Fred’s money."

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MULTIPLY Mono Monday Plus #45 (MM #59)

This week I was in another village along the line (mountain and railway line) with my first aid group testing the students at one of the schools for their first aid certificate that they have to have for passing the driving test. Although the same mountains, there was a bit of a different angle so I was taking photos. Actually my husband grew up in the area shown on the picture in a small village a bit higher up. I wanted a sort of old effect on the photo, but have not yet found the exact way in CS3 yet, so I did my own sort of thing. The photo on the right hand side is a cutting board I use when cooking that had not been washed. It is actually a creamy sort of colour but I sepiafied the photo.

The next step was to take the original mountain photo and make it sepia in Piknik, twiddling around for various effects. I did not like the sky, much too quiet so I took a photo of clouds, did it sepia, and made a second layer. I then removed the original sky and made it all cloudy and threatening with a second layer in CS3 Photoshop. Now for my own invention, perhaps. I had my sepia photo and I then superimposed my photo of the cutting board on top of it making transparency about 60% (I think). I then went into the insides of CS3 seeing what effects that had to offer. I just cannot remember which one I took, I think something with intensify. I then put the photo back into my Fireworks programme and chose a wooden frame. Actually the frame is twice on the photo in different sizes. Anyhow here is the finished result.

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Now for my plus. Actually I did one, was not satisfied so did another one. Afterwards I could not decide which one to bring so here are both.

On my excursion to another village (which was Hubersdorf) I met some goats outside the school. They are kept there in a neat pen, three of them. Of course I went berserk with the camera and took a few photos. At the same time my wisteria was blossoming in the garden looking very nice, but making a lot of work as we have to sweep the blossoms up every day. I decided I wanted to combine the goats with the wisteria. I put these two photos into Photoshop CS3, made two layers and removed a few things with the magic wand. Back to Piknik for a mirror frame, and here is the result, which I thought a bit boring.

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Here is my second attempt. I told the goat to stand on the platform and he helpfully obliged. I then put both photos in CS3 Photoshop. I cut the goat out of his surroundings with his platform and put him into the Wisteria. One goat alone seemed a bit boring to me, so I copied him a few times and eventually had four goats. I had to keep shifting the copies around in CS3 to get one goat in front of the other. Those that have photoshop know what I mean, and those that don't are probably as lost as I am when working with the programme. Anyhow I had four goats with giant wisteria in the background. I then had a look to see what photoshop had to offer and transferred my photo into a canvas background, something like the artists do with oil paint. Back to Fireworks for a suitable frame and here is the result. Any questions - just ask, but I cannot promise I know the answers. Otherwise ask our crocodile in the swamp, I am sure he knows.

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Mono Monday Plus #45 (MM #59)