Category Archives: My blog
The tale continues…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
“Hey the tower.” A voice broke the silence.
“Who are you?” Mavelle dug the dagger from under her cloak with her free hand.
“Name’s Cragger. I’m a peddler of sorts. I was looking for shelter when I smelled your smoke.”
“Come to where I can see you.” She threw some wood on her dying fire.
A very small of stature man stepped in front of the cave entrance. “Are you a Dunningham dwarf?” She asked.
Cragger bowed, sweeping his arm out wide. “One and the same, peddler by trade, I am.”
“Isn’t that unusual for a mining race?”
“A bit, but the miners need supplies and trinkets. My line is a long line of peddlers back thirty-two generations. If I may come close to your warm fire I will tell you our story.”
Mavelle gasped. “My manners, where are my manners? Certainly Cragger, come warm yourself, and welcome.
The dwarf entered the narrow cavern and sat near the fire. “Thank you, after I came across a pack of wolves tearing into those bodies I was afraid to stay in the open. What do I call you, young lady?”
Mavelle found it odd that any man would admit a fear but liked that he had. She warmed to the man. “Mavelle, call me Mavelle, please.” With a tentative smile she asked, “What is the story you would tell me?”
Missing Man Bensalem, PA
Posted by doggonedmysteries
BENSALEM — Police are searching for an 82-year-old West Windsor man who suffers from dementia after he went missing from the Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pa.
Dominick Paparella was last seen in the casino prior to 5 a.m. this morning, police say.
Posted in My blog
The serial fairy tale…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
“Get back here!” Sarah screamed at the fleeing soldier.
The next thing that happened made Mavelle drop the crystal knife, cover her eyes and wish she had four hands so she could cover her ears too. The sounds were dreadful. When she opened her eyes again, she could see Sarah held high above the ground in the three-fingered grip of a stone ogre. The four soldiers’ bodies torn to bloody pieces and scattered about brought bile to her throat. Mavelle trembled with dread.
Sarah’s screams assured Mavelle that her sister still lived. The Ogre lifted the stone floor, dropped Sarah in the hole beneath it, replaced the floor above Sarah, and stomped off in the opposite direction from Mavelle’s hiding place.
“Oh, Goddesses. What can I do to get them out of there?” She gave a low whistle and within seconds, McDougal was by her side. His hackles stood on end and he growled deep in his chest.
“Easy boy. He’s gone.” She directed him toward the ruins. “Find Lovena. There has to be a way in.”
They crawled over lichen covered granite and broken marble. Searching for hours with no luck, she called a halt by the remains of a guard tower. Within there she found a covered section, not unlike a cave, where they could camp for the night.
Restless sleep came to her and along with it another vision of her sister Lovena. This time the vision showed Sarah asleep and Lovena pacing. “Sister, we know not what he wishes us for but he is vicious. Hurry, I fear we haven’t long.
The snap of a branch woke Mavelle with a start. McDougal was on his feet and growling. The wee hours of the morning brought with them, no light to see by, she peered into the darkest of dark. Mavelle clung to McDougal’s collar to keep him close.
“Hey the tower.” A voice broke the silence.
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Tags: Author, books, Caregiver, Disability, Doggoned, Fiction, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
Yes, it’s to be continued again…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Once she was sure she was out of sight, she relaxed a bit, eased her hold on McDougal’s collar, and let loose with a gut-wrenching groan.
“How could she!” Mavelle raised her hands skyward. “Is the stone ogre even real?”
The implications were horrible. Had Sarah plotted with the soldiers to kidnap Lovena? Had they faked the ogre? How does one fake a stone ogre attack? She knew she should go back to the palace and tell her parents but wondered if they would believe her accusation of her sister. Besides, if she went back no one would be there to save Lovena.
“McDougal, you stay here.” She pulled the crystal knife from her pack, gripping it tightly she crept back to where she could see the ruins, hear what was going on, and yet not be seen.
“Dig there.” Sarah pointed to a section of stone floor in the ruins. “The entrance should be under there.”
“What if it comes back?” One soldier asked.
“If it comes back we kill it. It didn’t notice us tracking it.”
The sound of falling rocks made everyone stop what they were doing and listen.
“There’s no way to kill one of them.” The soldier dropped his shovel. “I’m out of here.”
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Tags: Author, Craft of writing, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
Once upon a time a long, long time ago…cont’d again
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Mavelle walked to the small window and tried to see in but the glass was thick and opaque. The strange little window was in a low wall that swerved away from her at an angle and ended under a wide expanse of mangled stone flooring.
“Not above, behind and not in front. That makes no sense.” Mavelle traced the edges of the walls all of them angled away in strange directions. She picked up a thick branch and began to dig in the soil in front of the window, only to hit solid bedrock.
McDougal began to growl a deep rumble in the body savage growl. She stopped what she was doing and listened. She heard voices and footsteps approaching from the far side of the ruins. With a hand signal to McDougal for silence, she grabbed his collar, led him to a sheltered spot, and they hid.
She heard her sister Sarah’s voice and almost broke cover. That is until she heard what her sister had to say. “No, you will kill her as I said. My father will be heartbroken but will still give me the kingdom. We will have riches and power.”
Mavelle couldn’t hear the soldier’s reply but didn’t care. She couldn’t allow her sister’s death. She had to act fast. If only I’d brought my bow, she thought. She backed away from the ruins staying under cover and keeping an eye on where her older sister and the soldiers were.
Once upon a time a long, long time ago…cont’d
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Now the middle princess, Mavelle had a habit of walking through the woods at all hours of the night and she came upon the bloodied, weak, and wailing Crone.
“Mother, who did this to you? Let me help you.” The princess gently aided the Crone to her hut. She washed and doctored the Crone’s wounds and patiently waited for the old woman to stop sobbing and tell her the story of her cruel treatment.
When at last she could speak, the Crone told the young princess a tale that she found horrifying. “Little one, it was your sister. So cruelly did she treat me that I refused to answer her questions. For your kindness, I will reward you.
“Mother, I need no reward, for what I did, anyone would do for one who suffers.”
“Anyone other than your sister, it seems. Now listen carefully. You must travel to the center of the deep forest. There you will find a cave of stone. Inside is a dagger of dark crystal, this is the only thing that can kill a stone ogre. It can pierce his stone heart.
The princess traveled to the forest accompanied only by her deerhound, Mcdougal. There she trod softly on bare feet following the deer trails to the center. It took some time to find the cave and when she did, she easily prized the dark crystal knife from its lair.
Holding a kerchief of her sister’s in front of her deerhound’s face, she begged her companion to seek her sister. Fleet of foot, the hound raced ahead of her for many miles only slowing to see if she still followed.
Finally, the hound halted, he dropped to the ground and whined. She could no more move him than a mountain. She sat next to him, pillowed her head on his back, and napped. As she slept, she dreamed.
Her sister, Lovena, beckoned to her and said, “Look below and not above, behind and not in front. Beware the heart of ice and listen only to one who is true. Hurry sister.”
She woke with a start. “McDougal, we need to hurry. Find her!”
Her deerhound sat in place and whined. He held up one paw and then the other.
“Here? She’s here? But where?” Mavelle looked around her. They were in the courtyard of a long abandoned summer home. Most of the home was in ruins but to her right and below ground level, she saw a small window. She would’ve missed the window had her sister’s words not echoed in her mind.
“How do I get in there?”….More tomorrow.
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Tags: Author, books, Craft of writing, Disability, Doggoned, Fiction, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer, Writing
Once upon a time a long, long time ago…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Once upon a time a long, long time ago there lived a widowed king, he had three daughters. The eldest had raven hair, milk white skin, and was beautiful as one could be on the outside. Inside, her heart was as cold as ice and hard as iron. She thought the world owed her and expected to collect any day. They called her Sarah for the princess she was.
The middle daughter had wild red tresses, sunburned skin, and freckles. She was not fair of face but her heart was as warm as the sun, as soft as goose down, and as strong as it should be. She enjoyed being close to nature and held all life precious. They named her Mavelle, their little songbird.
The youngest daughter had beautiful blonde hair, the most gorgeous brown eyes you ever saw, and no face was fairer in all the land. Her heart was kind and as delicate as porcelain. She loved everyone she ever met. Her name came easy, Lovena, the joy of all who met her.
One night a stone ogre stole the youngest princess from her bed. The king’s knights searched far and wide but couldn’t find a trace of her.
There came a day where the king offered his kingdom as reward for finding his beloved youngest daughter. The eldest daughter, not out of kindness but out of a greedy quest for acclaim and the throne, asked her father if she could try to search for her missing sister. Her father begged her not to go saying he couldn’t bear to lose another daughter. She laughed at him and said, “Father, I am smarter than your all knights and I will bring her back. When I do, everyone will bow down to me and call me Queen.”
She took two knights who were under her sway with her and off she went. First, she went to the old crone who lived in the woods. She had her men drag the woman out of her hut and hold a sword to her throat. “Tell me how to find my sister and defeat the ogre so I can be queen.”
The Crone held up her hands and besought the cruel girl to let her go that she knew not how to find the sister or how to defeat the ogre.
“Cut her. Make her bleed and cry so that she tells me.” The cruel princess told her men.
“I know not. I cannot tell you what I know not. Perhaps the wizard of the swamp can tell you.”
They left the Crone bleeding and sobbing... to be continued
I hate winter
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s getting more and more difficult to handle the months of November and December. I’d rather sit on a fire ant hill than leave the house for the two months. I only go out to get groceries and then try to get enough to last until February.
People are more rude than ever before. It is depressing as hell to have to deal with them. At least I manage to deal with them on my own terms.
Watching the Curmudgeon’s health fail and not having any family close by is miserable. The only sister I have left and I are estranged because of her nasty attitude. All of my cousins have their own families.
The holidays were all about family at one time, but when your closest family members treat you like dirt, it sort puts a damper on them. My dear, sweet cousins try hard and I appreciate them, but the season is still very painful.
To be honest, I have no idea why I worked so hard to survive when I had the heart attack. What the heck did I do it for, is the question that often runs through my head.
Posted in My blog
Tags: Author, Caregiver, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Writer
What is in the tapestry of your life?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
As we grow from childhood, to adult, and on to old age we weave a tapestry of a life, one would hope, that is well lived.
Each experience we have, lesson learned, and sorrow survived adds color and texture. The weave is either intricate or simple. The tapestry is long, short or somewhere in between.
I hope mine grows longer, more intricate, and continues to add plenty of texture and color.
What is your tapestry like?
You all have a good one.
Holy Cow!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
When I began this blog as a lark, as a necessary evil part of being a writer, I never expected to keep it going this long and I certainly never expected to ever hit 90,000 hits on my humble little blog.
However, I did it. I’ve kept this blog going and I went over the 90,000 hit mark today. I am flabbergasted, gob smacked, elated, and just plain happy and excited.
Thank you. Without you stopping in and reading my nattering this would never have happened.
You all have a good one!
Are you shopping on black Friday?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Some poor fool actually asked me that question. When I finally stopped laughing, picked myself up from the floor, and was able to choke out the answer, which went something along the line of, are you effing kidding? I hated it when I had to work it in retail and I hate it even more now. They had the nerve to look surprised.
Oh, yeah, they LIKE IT. :O They actually PLAN for it EVERY year. Oh My effing Goddess!!!
I won’t go anywhere near a store from Thanksgiving to after New Years if I can help it. I even cringe at the thought of having to go to a grocery store during that time.
I swear Black Friday is when they release all the mental patients, give them credit cards, cars, and maps to all the malls.
I DO NOT GO SHOPPING on Black Friday. I stay home where I only have to put up with one crazy man and two crazy dogs.
You all have a good one. Happy Thanksgiving.
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Tags: Author, Doggoned, Family, Holiday, Home, Humor, Multiple Sclerosis, Thanksgiving, Writer
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