Tag: #Ragtag Daily Prompt

Fingle’s Deep Sea Dive

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 9 Comments

This morning I’m going to respond to Sadje’s weekend “What do you see?” prompt and including the Ragtag Daily Prompt — this morning it’s VOLUME — in my fishy tale.

Sadje’s prompt: Image credit; Saffu @ Unsplash

Fingle’s Deep Sea Dive

“Morning, Zander. Wha’cha doin’ there?”

“Hey, Mario. I’m watchin’ for Fingle. He’s gone deep-sea diving.”

Mario came up and stood beside him on the dock. “What? Here? In thirty feet of water? Does he have scuba gear?”

“Nah. He dropped his best fishing rod between here and the island. Says he’s not givin’ up ‘til he finds it.”

“Hope he finds it soon or he’ll miss the free food. Mitch’s got a barbecue goin’ at his place and says we’re all welcome. Why don’t you leave Fingle to his rod rescue and come get…”

Suddenly Fingle’s head popped out of the water about twenty metres out. After a couple of gasps and sputters, he called, “Did someone say free food?” He swam to the dock.

“How in the world…? I didn’t think I had that much volume,” Mario exclaimed.”

“Sound travels well underwater, you know.” Fingle climbed onto the dock and stood dripping on the boards. “I’m coming, too. Hope they don’t mind if I’m a little damp.”

Zander grinned. “We’ll tell ’em you went overboard chasing the BIG one.”

“Just so’s you’re not gonna be a wet blanket,” Mario added. “Moaning over your lost rod.”

“I can look for it tomorrow. Right now I’m hungry.”

“Yeah.” Zander nudged Mario. “Fingle’s stomach’s bigger than his fishing rod.”

Wet or dry, a good BBQ was had by all. 🙂

Image by Pexels — Pixabay

A Colorful Creature

~ Christine Goodnough ~ Leave a comment

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is KOOKY. Well, here’s a kooky poem I wrote for the sheer fun of it — with a nod to Ogden Nash’s The Spangled Pandemonium, one of my favorite children’s poems.

The Fugitive

A creature glided through the dark,
he thought it quite the prank,
to break out from the zoo and hide
beside the riverbank.

But patches of its fur showed up
right through the foliage green.
As I passed by those colors roused
my curiosity.

I peered, and spied this creature,
odd-brindled blue and white
with dabs of green and violet.
It gave me such delight!

I couldn't recognize the thing;
my Google didn't help.
I tried to get a closer look
but it gave a fearful yelp!

Some keepers of the zoo ran up
and said, "Say, have you seen
our multi-mottled commingal
with fur white, blue and green?

I pointed to those bushes
that bulged suspiciously
and they set out to capture
their colorful escapee.
Image by Alexandra Koch — Pixabay

Some Days You Feel Like…

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 2 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is RESIDUE, a word which means that which remains.

Image by adege — Pixabay

Residue comes to us, along with many cousins, from the Middle French sedentaire and ultimately from the Latin verb sedere, meaning to settle. Through the years we’ve made much of this verb, stretching it out into words like dissident, sedition, preside, reside, sedentary, sediment, session, and even subsidy.

Reservoir, coming from reserve, refers to an extra supply held back, kept in store for future use. Sometimes when we feel fatigued, we are still able to draw from a reservoir of energy to give that last boost that helps us complete the task.

I’d like to have a full reservoir of energy, the oomph to accomplish tasks, especially now that it it’s spring, but with my CLL, my energy level feels more like the last bit left than an extra supply.

Image by Couleur — Pixabay

Where’s the Party?

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 8 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt for today is PARTY.

Time for summer reruns? Anyway, I’ve pulled up and tweaked a short tale I posted three years ago as THE MULTI-TASKING DRIVER.

Where’s the Party?

The policeman eyed her critically. “Are you all right, lady?”

“Of course I’m okay, officer. Just…uh…a little distracted for a moment.”

“The way you were writhing around in your seat, I thought you were having a seizure. What exactly were you doing?”

The woman took a deep breath. “This is so embarrassing, but I’m on my way to work, you see, and I noticed this huge snag my hose. I can’t show up at the office like that, especially not today when we’re having the farewell party for our manager. So I was just trying to slide them off before I get there.”

“While driving?” The officer scowled at her. “May I see your driver’s license and registration, ma’am.”

She handed them over. He went to his cruiser, spent a few minutes on his radio and returned, saying, “I hear you had another driving infraction last month?”

“Quite a minor offense, really.”

“Yeah. Blowing up balloons while driving ten kilometers over the speed limit on a main street? Now that’s funny.”

“I’m so glad you’re so understanding, officer. They were for my grand-daughter’s birthday party and I was running late. Sometimes a person just has to multi-task. ”

He handed her a ticket. “This is for driving without due care and attention. Keep on multi-tasking behind the wheel like this and you’ll be attending another party: the one your family has for you at White Lily Funeral Home.”

police-car-1889053_640
Original Image: Peggy_Marco at Pixabay

Prompt Combo

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 6 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning was VANQUISH

sun’s golden spears
vanquish moon and stars
triumphant new day

And here’s a haiku I wrote a month ago, after visiting our church’s parking lot. Call it a post- COVID verse:

once vanquished
poplar sprouts take back the land
no parking these days

The Saturday Six-Word Story Prompt was PEACE

https://thesoulsearchersite.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/20190830_001439_0000.png

So here’s a response that incorporates both:

Aggravating fly vanquished
Peace restored. Momentarily.

Deceiving Lights

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 2 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is DECEIVING

Sleep eluded me at the crack of dawn this morning; I woke up at 4:30 and my muse wouldn’t go back to sleep. I began thinking about an article I want to write soon and lines and phrases started coming to me. That for sure took my sleep away.

I wandered into the kitchen and looked out the east window, wanting to see how much daylight had conquered the darkness at this point. There was a glow on the eastern horizon, but what got my attention was the amazing sight in the heavens. I actually went outside into the driveway to get a better look.

The moon was a glowing sliver, but I could see the shadow of the whole moon. And there was this huge, brilliant star to the right of, and higher in the sky than, the moon. Was it the planet Jupiter, so brilliantly shining? Or was it a close satellite deceiving me into thinking it was a planet? Looking around I saw a larger reddish star and wondered if it was Mars. I’m familiar with the birds that fly through our skies, but have never made a special study of the planets to know one from the other on sight.

In any case, I stood outside for awhile just watching, as the glow of dawn slowly crept up to meet the moon. I had to think of the star the wise men saw announcing the birth of “the King of the Jews.” Did they actually follow it all the way, as some Bible stories say? Or was it simply a signal and they proceeded to Jerusalem because, where else would one look for the King of the Jews?” Was the star as brilliant as the one I saw this morning — or even more?

Another “natural phenomenon” I witnessed yesterday evening after I got home from doing supper at the Villa. This sight was out the west window. I noticed a lot of tiny chattering and whirring; when I glanced out I saw several humming birds whizzing around. And a couple more came. And a couple more came. Were my eyes deceiving me?

We’ve had five around our feeders lately, but some others must have come in from elsewhere. I counted for sure seven, probably eight. (Hard to count zipping whirling bids as they chase each other away from the feeders!) And they were all at the two feeders by the side door. It dawned on me the feeder by the front door must be empty, so they were all crowded around these two. At one point five little hummers settled in a circle, slurping away at the bigger feeder.

Tanking up for their long journey ahead. Oh, I will miss them!

Thinking of our birds going and seeing the crops ripening reminds me that winter will be here all too soon. So I’ve decided that this week my special project is going to be fitness & exercise. Less hit-or-miss; more proper bends & stretches; getting up early in the morning and going for a walk — hopefully before the mosquitoes wake up. 🙂

Wish me courage. I really want to do this — and I hope I’m not just deceiving myself. 😉