As some of you know, I sometimes play a bit of Flash Fiction over on Anna Spargo Ryan’s blog.

Here is my offering for this week’s prompt:

All of you were watching her as she stood at the bar with her friend, her back bare, save for a whisper of fabric. Her hair was slashed so short you could see the delicate indentation where her spine met her skull.  You could imagine cradling that, allowing your fingertips to meet at that fragile secret.

You gulped down some fortitude and elbowed your way free of your pack to breathe into her ear, “Your back looks amazing in that top, your skin is like caramel.”  The words sounded wrong even as they left your mouth but you meant it.  You wanted to run your hands all over her skin, feel it ripple beneath your fingerprints.

She giggled a little and turned her back to you, half smiling now,  a come-on.

You ran your knuckles along the bumps of her spine, tracing the S-shape, flitting so lightly she wasn’t sure if it was a touch or a puff of a breeze.  She arched slightly, feline for a beat, and you knew that this night you would make your love.  This nighttime would never be over, yet over all at once, such was the fallacy and the trickery of the satin blackness that now cloaked you both in a private world.

The bar-crowd became hazy and their sounds were muted, as only the two of you existed, under your cape.  You became invisible, and indivisible in a way that you would never quite do, in the slap of daylight.

…From The Ashers

Here’s the hits:

1.  Easter.  Best holiday ever.: four days, no drama, seafood on Friday, Hot Cross Buns on Sunday, chocolate, crisp mornings, great surf, music festivals and a feeling of redemption on Sunday.  A day to start over.  Especially useful if you spent NY Day with a hangover, this can be your new start.  So no matter what your preference is, I reckon there’s something for everyone.

2.  The blog I wrote about an Easter long ago.  Check it out in my back catalogue here.  With bonus Michael Frantil.  You might laugh if you haven’t read it, and if you have, you might like to be reminded that Michael Franti WROTE ME A SONG.

3.  Sometimes I get feedback from you guys about blog posts… And sometimes I wonder if anyone is reading along at all, but this week I got something from a TwitterMate that I’m kinda overwhelmed by.  He has always been a great supporter of the blog with RTs and the like, which I am touched by because he is not in my expected demographic I guess.  We have DM-ed each other a few times, and I know that some of the things I get all emo about resonate with him, and well as some of the stupid things the Evil Geniuses do.  Anyway, I’m gonna quote him here (he shared this on Twitter, so it’s not private):  “A week of reflection and emotions stirred by a blogger. The cathartic effect has been both intense and much needed so thankyou.”

Floored.

I know this blog is basically me parping on and indulging my own narcissism, but if I am to be completely honest with you, the real reason why I show up here every day is because I want to touch people.  We all know I’m deficient in doing that IRL, so this space is a place that I hope to do it.  With this computer and these words.  Nothing else.

Blogging the world go by

It excites and moves me to think that I can sit here ^ at my table and make something out of air that might make just one of you out there take pause, even if only for a moment, and think.  What a wonderful internetted and interconnected world we live in.  So thanks J, your comment made a week that was a bit tricky to blog in completely worth it.

4.  Another cool thing from the internet: I was reading this blog by Iris May, and I found it incredibly moving.  I too have a kid we almost lost.  And I too find myself feeling blessed that she is here. And I too sing “You Are My Sunshine”, as well as “Little Ray of Sunshine”  (the kid is pretty yellow).  I have met the author in real life, but I only “know” her from inter-land.  So I was welling up, and frankly, on the kind of day it was, I could waded around in that mood for a while, letting it permeate my day.  Next thing, my phone pinged and I got sent a pic from a boy I loved way back when, of something that many of you would think very inappropriate (so I won’t share it here- and No, it wasn’t a dickpic)  it made me laugh aloud, and just like that, pattern interrupt, and I was back smiling and sending the pic to anyone I thought might get a kick out of it.

Just.like.that.

A good thing to remember.

5.  This nail polish set:

Gwen will never steer you wrong

I don’t always do a great job in the old make-up stakes.  Due to my advancing years and The Menopause I have been trying to do better, so I got this little OPI set on a recent trip to Myer.  It’s the business.  Glides on better than the old Cutex ever did, and (almost) looks like a professional foot job.  I might even try a hand job over the long weekend.

So there you have it… A list of great stuff in my world this week.. What are your hits?

…From The Ashers xx

Easter is almost here, and that brings with it thoughts of all things musical and beachy.  The Blues Fest is on, Bell’s is on, and in my part of the world, the cyclone has passed and the forecast is for FOUR DAYS OF BLOODY SENSATIONAL.  And post-cyclone waves.

So I thought I’d be a good Mummy and get the kids some tickets to see the 2Cellos in Brisbane (from the Easter Bunny- a great excuse not to buy anything more than an Elegant Rabbit, which is a must-do tradition more than anyone really liking them).   Unfortunately, I’ve come up with two problems: firstly, the doors open at 7.30pm, and our rats go to bed by 7pm.   As I was questioning myself as to whether it’s appropriate to give a seven and nine year old an espresso as a one off, once only event (until the next time I want them to stay up all night), I found the second problem: there is only standing room tickets left.  DOH.  There is no way, kiddy-speed or no, that these two can stand for an entire show.

Gutted.

I was going to be the best Easter BunnyMummy in the world, and now I’m going to be a bit shit, with a pair of winter pyjamas and some scattered Red Tulips.  Spewing.

All was not lost though.  As I was on the OzTix website, I might have seen Dan Sultan is playing in Maroochydore in July, and I might have spent the entire egg allocation on tickets for myself and my love.  Sorry kids, no live music for you.  You’ve got years ahead of you, and we might die soon.

How could I resist?

Now I”m off to start emailing Dan (as I like to call him, being close friends* with a dude who used to play with him, and all) to make sure he plays Sorrowbound.  And when I say emailing, I mean emailings.  There will be many.  I do like a project.

What are you doing for Easter?

Anyone else going to Dan?

*Facebook Friends. That’s close right?  (Hi Scott, and PS if you ever tour Qld we will be there too.. Fact.)

…From The Ashers xx

I had a friend once, she died a little minute ago, and I was her third best friend.

I know this because I shared my Five Friend Theory with her: that we can only have a certain number of friends in our lives, real friends that is, and I had deemed that I could have five friends, maybe seven at the outside.  So we jokingly made our lists, and then, continuing on with the laugh, ranked our friends in order.  So it became the Five Friend Theory and Ranking System.

I was her number three.

Not a great result, but not bad, as I was still in with a fighting chance should number one or two get sick, die, or put one of their prancyfancy little feet wrong.  “Third with a bullet” was how I liked to think of myself.

I didn’t invent the Five Friends Theory, a friend of a friend of mine did (I wasn’t on his list).  It was revealed to me in about 1993, and I have revered it ever since.  In my life I’ve found it extremely liberating, yet practical.

Someone at work is trying to get pally, suggesting after-work drinks and the like?  Sorry mate, you’re alright, but I already have my five friends.

Someone from the kids’ school trying to meet up for coffee and  impinge on your sitting-at-home-on-your-arse-staring-out-the-window time?  Sorry, I’d love to, but you see, I already have my five friends.

And on it goes.

Having such a list also clarifies things.  For example, if you find you are enjoying a chat with someone, and are tempted to see if they want to go for a walk to the National Park, or a trip to Ikea, first: consult the list.

Do you have a vacancy?

If yes, would you like to fill the vacancy?  (i.e. Are you taking applications?)

If no, can you create a vacancy by either eliminating someone, or putting them on the ‘drop off’ list? (The drop-off list is kind of like limbo)

See?  Very simple.  Sometimes there is a need to shuffle the rankings around a little, and of course fill vacancies, but other than that, the list maintains itself.  No time is wasted, forging friendships you can’t feasibly maintain.

So you can imagine my surprise and joy when Coco came home from school with a special little letter this week.  Special because it embodies all of the Five Friend Theory and Ranking System, then takes it to a whole new level of prestige and formality.

See for yourself:

It makes my heart swell to see the Five Friends Theory and Ranking System has reached the primary levels at school, and is being employed by seven year old girls.  I suspect the Grace may in fact be a little hasty in bestowing this honour on Coco as they have only met twice, but the sentiment is admirable none-the-less.

I don’t know who you are little Grace, but you made me cr-augh today.

Laugh at your intelligence and good sense in utilising the Five Friends Theory and Ranking System at such a young age.  It will save you much time in misspent and inefficient social engagements throughout your life.

Then you also made me cry.  Because I immediately wanted to show Hayls the certificate (and demand one of my own).  And then I remembered I couldn’t show her.

Because my third best friend is dead.

Still.

I know she would’ve read that note, and made the room full of her laugh.

I can imagine it perfectly.

And today, for that small thing, I am thankful.

Do you have a list?  I have a vacancy and it SUCKS.

…From The Ashers xx

Today I had children with coughs and weather that was foul due to some piss-weak cyclone, so after taking the cat to the vet (as we do DAILY at this stage), this is what we did:

And that is all.

We all loved our books, but I loved mine the most I think.  Mine was The Rosie Project, and if you haven’t already read it, then I reckon you should grab yourself a copy.  Especially if you are skating along in life just this side of a diagnosis*, you might find Don an interesting antihero to nod your head along with.

The cover is a bit shit, but don’t be fooled. You know the saying…

It was a perfect read for a rainy day, and I read it all in a day, which I love to do.  It refines the story and gets you right into their head, I reckon.  Especially when the main voice is a bit of a weirdo.

So if it’s raining over Easter in your part of the world, or even if it isn’t, grab yourself a copy.  It’s a good read.  It might make you see the world (or at least some of the people in it) a bit differently.  And I think that’s a good thing for a book to do.

Weather like this for example:  Cyclone Ita… You can go now.

Oh, and Liam was reading the next book in the Anthony Horowitz series about Alex Ryder, which he is totally in love with, and Coco was getting into yet another Go Girl.  We all highly recommend our choices.  Thanks Written Dimension at Noosa Heads for your advice.. Nothing better for book nerds like us going into a shop where people actually care about what you buy.

* I say ‘you’ and I actually mean ‘you’ this time.  Not me.  I’m fine.

****No, this is not a sponsored post (sigh) just another great local business in my part of the world****

What are you reading? I need a new book for the break. 

…From The Ashers xx

Sometimes I wish I could just turn back time.  Not in a Tina Turner kind of way, although that would be lovely for the fellas, but just go back to then.

Today I went past a place that I’d been in happier times.

That’s the thing when people leave, and you don’t.  The suburbs are plump with remembrance.  Sometimes they are so fecund they might burst forth, spilling juice and over-ripe thoughts all over you.  And sometimes they just lie there, rotting on the ground because nobody wants to pick them up.

Today I saw someone I know from happier times.

And there was a chasm stretching out between us that we didn’t know how to ford.  Or perhaps we didn’t even want to.  Because it would probably hurt a bit if we tried.  So we smiled pasted smiles and spoke of Smiggle and school holidays and “how about this rain?”

Buddy Holly had it right: “The weather man says clear today, He doesn’t know, You’ve gone away, And it’s raining, Raining in my heart.”

Sometimes music just knows.

What song describes your day?

…From The Ashers xx