injaynesworld it's "The Uninvited..."

Emboldened with desire, it came in the coolness of the dusk to feed upon the unsuspecting.    With weight no more than a whisper, its delicate legs touched down on the smooth flesh where it lingered, taking in the intoxicating scent of warm, fresh blood just beneath the surface.   Its evening meal only a moment away now, it raised its head and bore down on the –

THWAP!

He who hesitates is lost.

From the prompt "Delicate" at Five Sentence Fiction.

 

injaynesworld it's the "Sunday Recap..."

President Obama began a historic second term as the first black president of the United States, only to be nearly upstaged by buzz about Michelle’s bangs.    And yes, I like them.   



Photo: Larry Downing, AP

We all know the President is a helluva orator, but he hit it out of the proverbial park this time with his inclusion of the LGBT community in his pledge to make “We the People” a meaningful statement of equality for all, as well as his rebuke of Paul Ryan’s oft-stated belief that we of the Social Security generation are a bunch of “takers.”

The 21-gun salute following could have easily been the sound of right-wing heads exploding as they called his speech combative and chastised him for not using it as an opportunity to “reach across the aisle.”  Okay, look.  The President, much to the frustration of progressives like me, just spent four damn years reaching across the aisle and all he got was a handful of spit.  The only reaching across the aisle I want to see from him in the next four years is his foot strategically placed up the GOP’s collective posterior. 

***

The Pentagon announced it was lifting its ban on women in combat. 

This would be news to the women who have been killed and injured in combat for the last 10 years, but now it’s official.  We can risk our lives in service to this country right alongside the guys, while continuing to earn approximately 77 cents for every dollar a man earns when we get back home.  Yay for us!

Photo: Paula Bonstein, Getty

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, no stranger to combat, gave testimony on Benghazi and beat back a bevy of stupid white men eager to hear themselves talk.   To their credit, many right-wing pundits had the same opinion of the Committee selected to question the Secretary, especially doddering old fool, John McCain, who would suck at the tit of Honey Boo Boo’s mother if it would get his face on TV.   As for Hillary, she came, she saw, she kicked butt.   Hillary ’16! 

 

***

Filibuster reform gets its balls busted…

We had a chance of real filibuster reform this week, but instead got the equivalent of J-ello, coincidentally of the same consistency as Harry Reid’s spine.

It used to be that if a senator wanted to filibuster a bill he or she had to stand their asses up there and talk till they dropped or till they felt their point had been made like the great James Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” but in 1975 that all changed with the advent of the “virtual filibuster.”  Swear to God.  That’s what it’s called.  

Sure, Reid got some concessions from Republicans, who pinky-swore they’d be good from now on, but his reason for seeking compromise, “to preserve the health of the institution,” is flawed as hell.   While not yet the pus-pool known as the House of Representatives, the Senate’s need for a good colon cleanse is no secret.   There are certain things that simply must be expelled in order for a body to function and in the case of the body of the Senate, the power of the minority party to hold up the elected majority’s ability to do the People’s business is one of them.

***

Speaking of Congress, this guy should fit right in…

When a Florida couple heard footsteps on their roof, the husband went out to investigate and found this guy, buck naked, looking down at him.  Gregory Matthew Bruni  then leaped from the roof, knocking said hubby to the ground, and ran into the house where he pulled the TV from the wall, sucked out the contents of a vacuum bag, defecated on their floor and, when the wife pulled a gun on him, began masturbating.

And still I would vote for him over Michelle Bachmann.

***

Oh, yeah.  And some dumb jock’s fake girlfriend died. 

***

Finally, Happy Birthday Ellen!

…who turned 55 on Saturday.   A little walk down history-making TV lane...

injaynesworld "Resurrection..."

The floorboards of the old farm house protested loudly under her feet as if they could not bear one more moment of neglect.  It saddened Maggie to see her childhood home in such disrepair, but she refused to be discouraged.  

Memories – some long forgotten – rose up from every corner; the piano against the far wall where she first discovered her love for music; her father in his favorite old chair reading to her by the fireplace; the window that looked out onto the tree her brother would climb to get away from his pesty little sister till she would cry and Mother would make him come down. 

Maggie could see it all now and turning to her new husband with tears of joy in her eyes, she said, “This is home.”

Withering at the prospect, he nevertheless put on his best face, “Then you shall have it, my love.”

Based on the Five Sentence Fiction prompt, "Forgotten" and the photo above.

 

injaynesworld "In Praise of What Persists..."

It’s really quite amazing what a living thing can accomplish when no one tells it that it can’t.  It’s January here in California and while it is normally one of our most pleasant months with temperatures averaging in the seventies and rain light, if at all, this January has been most unlike herself.  Last night was among many that have brought wind, rain, ice and temperatures below 30 with a hail storm thrown in for good measure.  Exhibit A:  The ice-covered ground in front of my porch this morning.

While nothing to you hardier folks in the north and east, we here in the golden state normally travel elsewhere and pay big bucks to freeze our trim, fit, tiny asses off.  Even more unusual at this time of year and under these conditions however is this:

It’s a tomato plant and it lives on my deck where, as you can see, no one has told it that every other tomato plant in its right mind stopped producing back in September.  I have no idea what to make of it except that it saw its dead brethren torn out by their roots and tossed away and made some decision deep in its DNA that it would be the decider of its own fate.   It was planted in April so, like me, it is a Taurus and perhaps just as stubborn.  Regardless, there it is with its promise of, if not life everlasting, at least good things to come.

All summer long, it provided my salads with color and sweetness.  In November, with plump green tomatoes still on its vine, on the advice of some Internet authority that said they would never ripen, I stripped the plant and made fried green tomatoes – a first for me and quite tasty.   Then in early December, I found one lone ripe red tomato hidden deep in the plant and realized that they all would have ripened if just left alone.  So much for the opinions of others, however authoritative they may sound.

The frost of just a couple of hours ago has melted away and my little tomato plant is now basking in the rays of the sun.  No doubt the temperatures will drop again and ice will come to challenge its resolve, but I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to tell it what it can and can’t do.  

"In Praise of What Persists" is the title of a collection of short fiction by the late writer, Joyce Renwick.

injaynesworld it’s “The Round-Up…”

Black as midnight, bold and strong, the stallion stood upon the hilltop watching over his family grazing peacefully on the valley floor below. 

Soon it would be time to cast out the young males, some of which had already begun to challenge his rule, but for now there was a greater threat. 

His keen ears picked up the sound of their approach, though still several canyons away.  It would not be long before the sky monsters would be upon them. 

 

At his warning cry, the herd raised their heads in his direction, alert and ready to once again run for their freedom.

From the Five Sentence Fiction prompt "Midnight."

On January 5th, a federal judge in Nevada issued an order halting the Bureau of Land Management's current roundup of wild horses pending a lawsuit by the Wild Horse Education organization.