October 2016 #MicroStory Challenge

Seeing as I was 33% responsible for cajoling Patrick into hosting this competition, I thought it was only fitting that I promote its existence! Get on board, try your hand at penning some tweetable micro-fiction and spread the word!
Okay, time to start thinking about my submission…

I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time

Hey! Every month I post all the MicroStories I’d tweeted during the previous month, but this post isn’t about that so much. Some of my blogging friends suggested that I host a MicroStory contest, asking people to submit their own flash fiction entries. To be judged! (But not by me.)

This is entirely based on one of the suggester’s own weekly contest: Nicola Auckland hosts six word story contests over on her blog, Sometimes Stellar Storyteller. She has regular contests where people submit a six word story, based on a theme she provides. I won’t be that restrictive in word count (but, knock yourself out if you want to harness your inner Hemingway.)

Here are the rules:

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Monday Munchie’s OCTOBER Tea Party!

Hello everyone and welcome to the October edition of Monday Munchie’s Tea Party!

This month, I bring you a selection of both Autumnal, comfort dishes and Halloween-y inspired treats – best of all, most are easy to whip up without knowing too many cooking tricks! 😉

Wednesday Lensday: It’s not Charlotte’s…

It’s Katie’s web.

Named after the car it had entangled, one foggy, soggy morning. The webs were everywhere – this spider (spiders?) had been extremely busy, criss-crossing the vehicles and the garden. Had I not been on my way out to work, I’d have stopped to snap more, taking advantage of the heavy moisture which adorned the intricacies with jewel like droplets.

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-Walter Scott-

O, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to decieve.

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Whilst the first image was taken only a couple of days ago, the second is a few years old. During a winter when we had unprecedented snowfall, this frozen entrapment was still clinging to its moorings, long after the thaw began.

The poem I found is by E.B. White. I don’t remember reading it before,  despite having read Charlotte’s Web (is it from the book?) but I love the first verse particularly. 🙂

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.

And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.

Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider’s web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.

What’s your favourite spider poem / song? I’d love to hear them in the comments. As always, thanks for looking!

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Image Credits: All my own so please be sweet and ask before sharing. 🙂

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Orange is the new SOUP!

Or should it be, ‘Soup is the new black‘?

S deliberated over this title when I told him, arguing that it implies that orange is the ‘must have’ item or colour, rather than the soup.

Oh. I’d certainly not thought about it so deeply. In fact, I kind of thought I was being pretty clever with the pun. Now though, I feel a little…thick. Hmph!

However, not as thick as this week’s hearty and healthy addition to Monday Munchies! That’s right, we have a warming autumnal soup, sporting the season’s favourite hue: Orange. Made from roasted sweet potatoes, carrots and red lentils, it’s full of fibre, protein and vitamins A, B and C. Just what you need to stave off those seasonal colds that may be lurking about!

It reminded me of a vinyl record!

I first started making soups last year when we ‘inherited’ a blender and felt very accomplished after my first batch. Although I was congratulating myself over cooking prowess, I’d never realised just how simple soups were to create. Like, ‘souper’ easy… 😉 I love how you can basically throw anything in and it tastes great! Seriously, if you’ve never made a soup before, do it – you’ll not regret it!

A Sticky Encounter with a Quadrilateral

Happy Monday Munchies everyone – I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend!

It’s been a little foggy in our neck of the woods and turning typically autumnal, so for this week’s treats, I again wanted something warming, cosy and ‘homely’. The result? These delicious little squares, packed full of sticky, fibre-filled dates!

Ok, so these aren’t squares. But rectangles are still quadrilaterals!

Although, I was slow to embrace dates as a snacking opportunity, I’ve always loved date squares (anything wrapped in pastry!) I’ve come to my senses now and always have a bag (often too close!) to hand – they’re just like giant raisins after all, right? But I wanted to try making these snacks that take me back to my childhood.