Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Spring Time Day a Weds Brief

It's that time of the week again.  Weds Brief.    Winter doesn't seem to want to really let spring take over.   It keeps showing that it isn't quite finished.   It's been sunny and chilly some days.   Today it's going to be sunny until this afternoon.

This week's prompts are:

“Jesus, what did you do to me!" 
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Is she supposed to be pretty?”
“Don’t lose the details.”
“I’m running out of time.”
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“Everybody knows that.”
or use a department store
or use: dust, cart, bike
or pick a penny up
or have a character having a nose bleed
or use: cell phone, castle, foam
or use: lawnmower, jeans, toilet paper
or “If I could turn back time”
or “The world is a circle, without a beginning”
or “She held my heart within her hands”
or “These aren’t happy tears, you hurt me, you idiot!”
or “Don’t just stand there, run!”


Tom and Ben decided to get out while it was nice and sunny and enjoy their time off together.


Springtime Fun

Weds Brief

Ben never thought he’d be this happy.  He and Tom were enjoying a day together.  They didn’t get this kind of time often.  Tom was working three days on and three days off at the firehouse, and Ben was working on the days Tom was off.   He treasured these times together.  Tom’s job was so dangerous, they never thought about what could happen to him. They tried to live each day as fully as they could.

Ben bumped into Tom’s back. He’d stopped suddenly. Ben watched Tom bend over and pick something up off the ground.

“A penny?  It that what you stopped for, you picked up a penny? “

“Well, yeah, why not?  Remember that saying ‘ See a penny, pick it up and all the day you’ll have good luck?’   Well, I pick them up all the time.”  Tom took Ben by the hand, and they continued their walk down Main Street.  Lancaster was a beautiful town, right in the heard of Amish country.  In some places, you’ll see the horse-drawn buggies making their way to and fro.  The tourist season was just picking up. 

They found a small restaurant that had outdoor dining and grabbed a seat; it was just before lunch, so many of the tables were empty.   The weather had been a roller coaster. Just when you thought winter was done, another cold front would come through.

“I can’t figure out how to dress anymore,”  Ben told Tom that morning in their bedroom.

“Just put something light on, and this way you can always take your clothes off.” Tom laughed, realizing how suggestive his comment was.

“Oooo, I can take them off now if you’d like.”   Ben wiggled his eyebrows at him. 

“I’m going to take a rain check for now, tiger.  We’ve got errands to do.   I’ll make BBQ tonight for dinner, and then we can have dessert.”

“You better not forget.”  Ben had a pouty look on his face.

“Oh, don’t worry. I have a feeling you won’t let me forget.”   Tom put on a light jacket and Ben did the same.  

Now they were sitting at a table, under an umbrella to protect them from the sun.

“Can I get you gentlemen something?”  the waiter asked them.

“I’d like coffee,”  Ben said.

“I’d like an espresso,”  Tom told him.

“Are we going to stop over at Home Depot and pick out some new bathroom fixtures?”  Ben had wanted to redo the bathroom in their bedroom for a long time, and they finally had the money to do it.  

“Yeah, honey, that is one of the stuff on my to do list.”

“Help!” A woman could be heard screaming from inside the restaurant.  

Tom was up off his chair and raced inside.  He spotted a man standing beside a table; he appeared to be choking.

“I’m a firefighter.  Did anyone call 911?”

“I called them,”  one of the restaurant workers told him.

The woman, who was apparently with the man, was shouting hysterically.  “Help him, he’s dying.”

“It’s going to be okay.”  Ben had followed Tom inside, and was trying to calm the woman down. 

Tom put his arms around the man’s mid-section and performed the Heimlich maneuver.  A piece of steak came flying out of the man’s mouth and landed on the table.  Tom lowered the man into a chair and talked calmly to him.  They could hear the sirens as two paramedics came through the front entrance.

“Tom?”  Billy and Judy from his firehouse were on duty today.   “What do we have?”

Tom told them what had happened, and then stood aside while they went to work.   The man was taken to the hospital.   “Good job,” Judy said to him as she and Billy took the man out.  The man had gotten some of his color back.

“Thank you for saving that man.”  Another restaurant worker came over.   There had been several people coming over to pat him on the back.  

“It’s all in a day’s work.”  Tom joined Ben outside at their table. 

“That was amazing.”  Their waitress had come out.

“I’m a firefighter, it’s all part of the job,”  Tom explained to her.

“Well, your meal is on the house.”   A well-dressed man had come out onto the outdoor patio.  “Let me introduce myself.  I’m Christian. I’m the owner of Matuzzo’s CafĂ©.  I saw what you did in there, you saved that man’s life.”

“Like I told the waitress, it’s all part of my job.  You don’t have to do anything special.”

“Hey, it’s my restaurant.  Yourmeal is free.”   Christian looked at Tom, then at Ben.  He shook each man’s hand.  “Give them anything they want on the house,” he instructed the waitress.

“But…” Ben started to protest.

“Your money is no good here.”  He went back inside the restaurant.

Tom and Ben ordered the restaurant’s famous beef ribs off the menu.  

Ben reached over and took Tom’s hand in his and squeezed it.  “I’m proud of you.  I don’t think I say it enough.  But I think what you do is amazing.” He leaned over and kissed Tom on the lips.

“Honey, we’re all special in our own ways.  You change lives too, giving people the chance to start fresh in a new home.”

They enjoyed their rib lunch and looked forward to going about their errands.

TBC

 My fellow authors:


 



Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Weds Brief- Mall Walking

It's that time of the week again.  Time to flash.  I got inspired by a trip I made last Sat to the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC.    I went to have lunch with my nephew, he was in town, and then went on a Meetup later in the day.  We went on a cruise down Washington Channel and saw plenty of cherry blossoms.

Here are this week's prompts:

“Come on, look at me." 
“What about the…?”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Just call me your wing man.”
“Oh, this should be good.”
“Be good or be good at it.”
“Please tell me you didn’t spend much on that thing.”
“We have to make up time somehow.”
 
or use a swimming pool in some way
or use: hammer, grass, tile
or plant flowers in a flower bed
or use have a character paint a room
or use: books, water hose, coal
or use: shoes, cereal, wine
 or: resurrection
or have a gay Easter celebration
or "He died for our sins, you know. Doesn't mean you gotta keep sinning."
or "Moses parted the Red Sea a lot better than you part your hair, dude..."
or "Keep that up and all you'll have in your basket will be a rabbit turd!"
or: "One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small..."


Here is Tom and Ben's DC adventure

Mall Walking by Lily Sawyer


“Oh this is just insane.”  Tom reached out and grabbed hold of Ben’s hand and held on tight as they made their way through the wall of people.

“Do you know what you’re doing?”  he asked his husband.  All he could see was the back of his head as Ben led the way down Independence Avenue.  They were staying at a place near Union Station; they’d arrived there on Amtrak yesterday.   They’d always wanted to see the Cherry Blossom Festival and here they were, at the last weekend of the event.   The trip seemed like a good idea until they left their hotel after lunch. Well, they were tired from their trip, and they had breakfast sent up to their room, and then they got ‘busy’ after they fed each other crepes and whipped cream and all that other fun and yummy stuff.

“Come on, Tom, stop being a stick in the mud. You know this was the only time both of us could get off, so stop complaining and enjoy the sights.  Take a look at the museums we pass, and tell me which ones you want to see while we’re here.”

They walked past the Capitol building, stopping long enough to have their picture taken in front of the steps and the dome.   There was always someone to ask to take their picture.   ,They walked past a park with cherry blossom trees.  



“Hey, Ben, look. Cherry blossoms.  We can stop now.”  Tom pointed at the lovely blossoms that were blooming on a tree at a random park they came upon. 



“Oh no, we’re going to the Tidal Basin.   If it was only the cherry blossoms we were looking for, we could have stayed in Lancaster. There are cherry trees there, too.”

“There are?”  Tom feigned ignorance.  He knew that this trip was more than just seeing the trees. It was seeing them on the Tidal Basin, and the history of how the Japanese gifted the trees to the US.  Tom looked up the cherry blossom festival on his IPhone and this is what the site said:

Each year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC. The gift and annual celebration honor the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan and the continued close relationship between the two countries.

They passed by the US Botanical Garden, the American Indian Museum, the back of the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Castle, the African museum, and the Sackler, famous for its Asian art.

“Hey, isn’t there a tunnel connecting the Sackler to the Freer museum?” Tom asked. He had done some research about the various museums that make up the Smithsonian complex. 

“I think so,” Ben said.  He’d been to DC two times before, once on a school field trip. “We’ll have to put it on our list of things to do.” 

They continued on their way.  

“Hey, look, does that boat look like a duck?”  Both men stopped at 12th St for a traffic light, waiting to cross the street, and saw a vehicle that looked like a cross between a car and a boat.   It said Duck Boat tours on the side, and people were waving at them.  They waved back.



“We’ll have to check that out. Now come on.”  Ben pulled Tom along and they walked down to the Tidal Basin.    The crowd seemed to fan out in the open space.   All along the perimeter of the water were gorgeous cherry blossoms as far as the eye could see.   Ben took his cell phone out and started clicking away at the gorgeous scenery.   Across the water was the Jefferson Memorial. It, too, was surrounded by the flowering trees.   There were people in paddleboats sailing across the water. 




“Want to do that?”  Ben asked him. 

“Maybe later, let’s just walk around.”   They walked over to the Jefferson Memorial, hand in hand. It was breathtaking.  At one point when you turned around, you could see the top of the Washington Monument jutting up just above the tree line.  

“Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Hey, Tom.  Want to go on a Cherry Blossom cruise?   They have one this afternoon around four. We could cruise along Washington Channel.  I love being out on the water.” They’d walked over to the memorial and saw a brass band playing, and sat on the steps to enjoy the music.   Tom leaned over and kissed Ben. 

“I enjoy being anywhere with you, Ben.”

“Me too.”  Ben kissed him back.   They stayed like that, enjoying the blossoms, the Tidal Basin, music, and more importantly…each other.

TBC   

My fellow authors

 








Thursday, April 3, 2014

Welcome author Julie Lynn Hayes to my blog today

I'd like to welcome back author Julie Lynn Hayes.  Today she is here to promote her latest book
"Yes He's My Ex."



Thanks for having me on your blog! Today I’d like to tell you about my newest release from Dreamspinner Press. Yes, He’s My Ex is a screwball comedy about Sonny and Tim, two fairly ordinary guys who have rather un-ordinary things happen to them. They’re not together. But Sonny tends to forget that, and then... well, I hope you enjoy it!

Blurb: 
Sometimes Sonny Scrignoli forgets he’s Tim Mansfield’s ex. He waltzes in and out of Tim’s apartment like he still lives there, driving Tim crazy. Is it really so hard to remember they’ve broken up? Then again, maybe Tim should quit having sex with him. 

When Sonny disappears for two weeks, Tim can’t help but be concerned. A strange phone call and a mysterious cry for help leads Tim on a desperate search for his ex.

Sonny’s in big trouble, and it’s Tim to the rescue! He’s the only one who can save his ex from a fate worse than death. Bumbling gangsters, a thick-headed former boyfriend, and secretive FBI agents lead Tim and Sonny on a merry chase full of laughs and quirks.
Excerpt:
Sonny’s real name is Mario, but he’s been called Sonny since he was a small bambino, as his mother puts it, so Sonny it is. Sonny stands almost six foot tall in his bare feet, which are surprisingly small for a man, almost dainty. He has chocolate brown hair that grows thick but not long, and generally looks tousled; blue eyes so dark that sometimes they look purple in the proper light, framed behind silver wire spectacles; a generous nose and wide sweet lips which have been known to give the most amazing head this side of anywhere. Put that with the body of an Adonis, and you have Sonny.
I had Sonny, but not anymore. He seems not to realize that, though. At least not most of the time. Hence the part where I see him more often than should be considered normal for someone who’s my ex. Which is where I began.
Sometimes I think he forgets that he has indeed attained that past participle ex-boyfriend status. Granted, it’s only been six months. His mother tells me he just needs time to adjust, please don’t be too hard on her boy. Yes, I still see her too. On a rather regular basis, in fact. Hard not to, when she’s my mother’s best friend. Lucky me. Lia’s a nice lady, I love her to death. But she has this deep-seated belief that Sonny and I are going to get back together again, a belief he seems to share. Along with my mother. And most of our friends.
No one seems to listen to me when I say snowballs rolling along the floor of Hell have a better chance of survival than our relationship. Least of all Sonny. I guess that’s why he keeps coming over here, because in some strange deranged naĂŻve corner of his mind, there’s still an us, and he isn’t an ex. So he wanders over whenever he wants. Sometimes he calls, sometimes he doesn’t. Today he called.
Sometimes I just get tired of telling him no. Some days I don’t even get that far. Today, I didn’t want to waste my breath, so I just said, “Fine. As long as you promise to behave.”
By behave, I mean quit assuming we’re going to have sex. Even if sometimes we do. I know, I know, he’s my ex, right?
Sometimes I just don’t know where to draw that fine line, I think. No wonder the boy’s confused.
Meet the author:
Julie Lynn Hayes was reading at the age of two and writing by the age of nine and always wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Two marriages, five children, and more than forty years later, that is still her dream. She blames her younger daughters for introducing her to yaoi and the world of M/M love, a world which has captured her imagination and her heart and fueled her writing in ways she'd never dreamed of before. She especially loves stories of two men finding true love and happiness in one another's arms and is a great believer in the happily ever after. She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and two cats, loves books and movies, and hopes to be a world traveler some day. She enjoys crafts, such as crocheting and cross stitch, knitting and needlepoint and loves to cook. While working a temporary day job, she continues to write her books and stories and reviews, which she posts in various places on the internet. Her family thinks she is a bit off, but she doesn't mind. Marching to the beat of one's own drummer is a good thing, after all.  Her published works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, Amber Quill Press, MuseitUp Publishing, Torquere Press, and eXtasy Books, and coming soon to Wayward Ink Publishing and Prizm Publishing. She has also begun to self-publish and is an editor at MuseitUp.  

You can find her on her blog at http://julielynnhayes.blogspot.com, and you can contact her at tothemax.wolf@gmail.com.

My links:
Twitter @Shelley_runyon