camping

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — November 21st

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This was originally posted on November 21, 2017

FFfAW — The Scene of the Crime

Since he was the last person to see her alive, it didn’t surprise Aaron that he was, at first, a person of interest in her disappearance.

He told the police at the time that he and Amanda were camping near the bay and, after a romantic night of wine and watching the sunset, they went to their tent, made love, and fell asleep in each other’s arms. But when he woke up early the next morning, she was gone.

Five years had already passed since Amanda disappeared. No one knew what happened to Amanda, and her disappearance was now a cold case. Now Aaron was back, yet again, at the same spot by the bay looking at the same sunset.

As Aaron gazed at the sunset, he remembered how she told him that she wanted a divorce. The fight that ensued became violent, and before dawn broke, he disposed of Amanda’s body.

They say that the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. Aaron did — every year at this same time.

(174 words)

Written for this week’s Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers from Priceless Joy. Image Credit: Footy and Foodie.

WDP — Camping (Reblog)

Fandango9 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Have you ever been camping?
View all responses

Back in the day, I was a big time camper. Before I was married, I would go on camping trips three or four times a year with my buddies and/or girlfriends. My then-future wife and I also did a lot of camping, including going on a cross country trip via motorcycle, where we camped out along the way.

As a family, we also went on a lot of camping trips with our kids when we would visit national and state parks all around the country. Those camping vacations were so much fun for all of us.

But I have to admit that it’s been a long time since my wife and went camping. Our kids are grown up now and are doing their own thing, and my wife and I have reached the stage in life where a comfy bed in an air conditioned, bug and critter free hotel room has much more appeal than roughing it under the stars.

Although maybe one day we’ll give glamping a try.

MLMM Friday Faithfuls — Dumbing Down the English Language.

Fandango23 Comments

For this week’s Mindlovemysery’s Menagerie Friday Faithfuls challenge, Jim Adams asks us to write anything about the English language. This is a timely question for me because of a discussion I had recently with blogger David Hatfield, who blogs at malaphors.com. I love Dave’s posts, which, as his blog’s tagline states, are about “unintentional blended idioms and phrases – It’s the cream of the cake!”

He wrote this post earlier this week and raised the question of whether the idiom is “champing at the bit” or “chomping at the bit.” The unequivocal answer is “champing.” But most people seem to use “chomping at the bit” because most people are unfamiliar with the word “champing,” so they go with the more familiar sounding, but incorrect “chomping.”

According to Webster’s Dictionary, to “champ at the bit” is to “show impatience at restraint; be restless.” It comes from something said about racehorses waiting for the gates to open, when they bite their bits “repeatedly and restlessly.” They “champ.”

By the way, horse bits are used to communicate with and control horses by applying pressure to the horse’s mouth. The bit sits in the gap between the horse’s front and back teeth, and extends out from side to side. The bit works with the rider’s legs and weight distribution to control the horse’s head.

So, to take the expression outside of the context of horses, one might use it to describe someone who is forced to wait in an impatient way to do something. “Carl had been at the DMV for three hours and he was champing at the bit to have his number called.”

To chomp something is to chew it noisily. So unless Carl was noisily chewing on a piece of beef jerky, he wasn’t “chomping” at the bit.

But here is where this becomes a sticky wicket, whatever the hell that it. In his research on this topic, Dave found that English language authority William Safire wrote, “To spell it champing at the bit when most people would say chomping at the bit is to slavishly follow outdated dictionary preferences.” Safire died in 2009, so who cares what he thinks?

Dave also quoted The Grammarist blog, which wrote, “champing at the bit can sound funny to people who aren’t familiar with the idiom or the obsolete sense of champ, while most English speakers can infer the meaning of chomping at the bit.”

So the messaging seems to be that we should be okay with using words that sound more familiar rather than to familiarize ourselves with the right words and use them properly.

Why is that okay? We are dumbing down Americans by letting them get away with using the wrong words because they sound more familiar rather than teaching them the right words.

No wonder more Americans these days are saying “Nip it in the butt” rather than the correct idiom, “Nip it in the bud.” Although, to nip someone in the butt does sound a bit more interesting than nipping something in the bud.

Truthful Tuesday — Easy Rider

Fandango11 Comments

Di, of Pensitivity101, is our host for Truthful Tuesday. This week Di wants to know:

Have you ever ridden a motorbike?

My first “motorcycle” was a Yamaha Twin Jet 100. I put the word motorcycle in quotes because, while technically it was a motorcycle, it was more like a motor scooter. I had it for about two years, mostly for fun, although I did periodically commute to work on it, weather permitting.

Maybe about six months after I sold the Twin Jet 100, I bought a Kawasaki KZ400. It was much faster and more powerful than my Twin Jet 100. I loved that motorcycle and shortly after I met my then future wife, I asked her if she wanted to take a motorcycle camping trip with me from the Washington, DC area to Quebec City in Canada and back again. She actually agreed.

Sorry that the photo is so faded, but this was taken in 1976. That’s my then-girlfriend and future wife sitting on the KZ400. If you look carefully, you can see our sleeping bag rolled up and draped over the front fender of the motorcycle and a couple of knapsacks on the luggage rack over the rear wheel. The bike was loaded down and between all of our camping gear and the two of us, I learned that the KZ400 was not really intended to be a touring bike.

We somehow managed to survive this crazy trip on an underpowered motorcycle and loved the idea of taking cross-country motorcycle camping trips, but realized that we needed a bigger bike. A real touring bike. So I sold the Kawasaki KZ400 and bought a Suzuki GS750E motorcycle. It was a big bad boy, much more suitable for touring than was the Kawasaki KZ400.

We took three cross-country motorcycle/camping trips mover the next few years, but our getting married and having two kids in relatively short order, caused us to change our priorities in life, and we never took another cross-country motorcycle trip. I kept the bike for another ten years, but I only took it out maybe once a quarter for a day trips by myself.

Now my wife and I have e-bikes, which are bicycles with electric motors, so motorbikes, right? But riding an e-bike and riding a motorcycle are not even close to being comparable.

I do miss my motorcycle, but I think I’m too old to get another. The e-bike is fun to ride and is more my speed than a full-fledged motorcycle.

WDP — Camping

Fandango5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Have you ever been camping?
View all responses

Back in the day, I was a big time camper. Before I was married, I would go on camping trips three or four times a year with my buddies and/or girlfriends. My then-future wife and I also did a lot of camping, including going on a cross country trip via motorcycle, where we camped out along the way.

As a family, we also went on a lot of camping trips with our kids when we would visit national and state parks all around the country. Those camping vacations were so much fun for all of us.

But I have to admit that it’s been a long time since my wife and went camping. Our kids are grown up now and are doing their own thing, and my wife and I have reached the stage in life where a comfy bed in an air conditioned, bug and critter free hotel room has much more appeal than roughing it under the stars.

Although maybe one day we’ll give glamping a try.

A Break From the Modern World

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“That’s quite a snazzy pattern you have on that shirt,” Ed said. “Let me guess. It’s an African or Asian design, right?”

“Actually, it’s a Native American design,” Alan said. “I got it on a camping trip my family took to Nevada last year.”

“Oh, right,” Ed said. “I remember now that you and your family are rabid campers.”

“I wouldn’t call us ‘rabid’ campers,” Alan responded. “We just enjoy being in nature. There nothing like the smell of the dew on the grasses in the morning, frying fish you caught yourself in the lake or river over an open campfire, looking up at the millions of brightly shining stars in the Milky Way, and being able to schmooze with other campers who love it as much as we do.”

“But don’t you miss all of the conveniences and luxuries of the modern world?” Ed asked.

“Actually,” Alan said, “if I could, I would love to isolate myself and my family from what you call ‘the modern world.’ It has become a dangerous, corrupt place and with the way things are going, even the idyllic nature we experience when camping will soon disappear.”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (snazzy), My Vivid Blog (pattern), The Daily Spur (guess), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (rabid), Your Daily Word Prompt (dew), E.M.’s Random Word Challenge (schmooze), and Word of the Day Challenge (isolate).

Truthful Tuesday — Best Laid Plans

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Frank, aka PCGuy, has published another one of his Truthful Tuesday posts. This week Frank wants to know…

When was the last time you had well thought-out plans that got dashed to pieces by circumstances beyond your control? Were you able to “make lemonade” out of the “lemons” life handed you, or did you have to completely step back and regroup?

In 1995 I was on a camping trip with my family to see the sights in South Dakota: the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, etc. While at a KOA campground near Mt. Rushmore, I tore my Achilles’ tendon in a pick-up basketball game with my son. I ended up going to a hospital emergency room in Rapid City, where they immobilized my ankle. We had to cut our amazing family camping vacation short so that we could head home in order for me to have surgery to repair the torn tendon.

The only lemonade as a result of this “adventure” was some that we got at one of the rest stops on the drive home. Otherwise it was a pretty horrible experience.

And my wife and kids were not happy campers. Literally!

Finish the Story — Part Two

Fandango8 Comments

3BE74331-2C2A-4AE4-8AC8-12FC06AAD98ETeresa, aka The Haunted Wordsmith, started a story, “The Mystery of the Stone Circle,” and tagged me to pick it up where she left off and to write part two.

Here’s Teresa’s part one:

Sammy finished stuffing the leftover food and makeshift kitchen into his pack, which Geri strapped the tent onto the side of his pack. As the pair started back on the trail, the morning sun cast them in a golden glow. The weather that week had been everything a hiker could ever hope for — cool evenings, warm mornings, and just enough mist in the afternoon to keep the hot summer sun at bay.

“I think it’s just over that crest,” Geri said, stuffing the map and compass back into the pocket in his cargo pants.

Sammy nodded. “Good, I’m tired of all these switchbacks. Throw a rope down and let us hike straight up.”

Geri laughed and slapped Sammy on the arm as he passed him. “Race you to the top.”

Sammy groaned but chuckled and shook his head at his friend. Ever since third year’s sports parade and carnival, Geri was always on the go. That’s one of the things that attracted Sammy to him, although he knew they would never be anything more than friends. Until four months ago when he served as Geri’s best man, he had always held out a little hope.

“Told ya!” Geri shouted from the top of the trail, pointing into the valley below.

“Man,” Sammy said, panting, “that’s amazing.”

They stood on the crest of the hill and looked at the concentric circles etched in the ground and the various stones that jutted out of the ground as if something from deep within was trying to speak.

“You know,” Geri said as they headed down toward the ancient ruin, “they say that this was built by …

And here’s my part two:

“…aliens who landed here eons ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the planet. These extraterrestrial beings attempted to colonize Earth, but the same giant asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, also put an end to the aliens’ attempt to make a home here on Earth.”

Sammy looked at Geri and shook his head. “Oh my God,” he said. “Did you take a hit on some of that potent ganja I have in my backpack? Seriously, Geri, you can’t really believe that.”

“Look at it, Sammy,” Geri said, somewhat defensively. “Clearly what we’re looking at is not man-made. Those are perfect circles within perfect circles and they cover several square miles along the valley floor. And that pile of huge boulders in the center. How do you think they got there? I’ll tell you. They are what’s left of a giant temple the aliens built in honor of their god.”

“I never realized what a nut job you are, dude,” Sammy said. “You’re either suffering from altitude sickness and exhaustion, or you’re just plumb loco.”

“Okay, Geri,” Sammy said. “If you’re so damn smart, what’s your explanation for what we’re looking at?”

Geri took a deep breath and said, “It’s really very simple, Sammy. You see…

And now for part three I’m going to tag the creative tale weaver, Li, over at Tao-Talk.

Take it away, Li.

#writephoto — Secret Getaway

Fandango20 Comments

FA1BE547-6122-4811-BDA4-2218A5209E5C“Oh Jacob, look at this place. It’s so serene, so idyllic,” Eileen said.

“I’m glad you like it, Eileen,” Jacob said, beaming. “I camp out here a few times each summer. It’s like my secret getaway. But this is the first time I’ve ever brought anyone here with me.”

“I’m honored, Jacob, that you’d share your secret place with me,” Eileen said, grabbing Jacob’s hand and squeezing it tightly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen colors like these. The tree trunks and the ground by the water’s edge have a lavender tint to them. It’s so unusual.”

“What are you talking about, Eileen?” Jacob asked.

Eileen pointed to the tree right in front of them. “Look, Jacob,” she said, “it has a purplish, iridescent glow.”

“Eileen, sweetie,” Jacob said. “take off your rose-colored sunglasses.”

Eileen reached up and removed her sunglasses and said, “Oh, right.”5C522C42-8266-42BD-A13B-21324379AFA3

Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt.

Time To Write/Tell The Story

Fandango8 Comments

8708F05E-E327-4F5C-A6BF-02FAECD2F178Denise had a love/hate relationship with camping. She loved the idea of getting away from the hustle bustle of city living and heading out to paradise to commune with nature. But she hated having to deal with critters, ranging from bears to raccoons to snakes. And most of all, she hated bugs, especially spiders. They terrified her.

But camping was her husband’s passion. If he could, he would be very happy selling their nice, comfortable home and moving into a large tent or a yurt in some secluded spot in the forest next to a bubbling brook. He would occasionally get irritated at Denise over her indifference toward camping. So, in order to promote peace and harmony in their household, Denise had agreed to go camping once a month. She felt it was worth the sacrifice to hold their marriage together.

Unfortunate, that all ended on their last camping trip when Denise was using the campground outhouse to do her business and a humongous spider crawled up and sat staring at her with its eight nasty spider eyes. Denise ran screaming out of the outhouse and told her husband that she was never going camping again.

“But this is paradise,” he said.

Denise looked at him and said, “Yeah, paradise lost.”

This post was written the Tell The Story prompt for which Melanie, at Sparks from a Combustible Mind, tagged me. Also for Rachel Poli’s Time To Write, where the prompt is “love & hate.”

Also written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (paradise), Your Daily Word Prompt (indifference), Word of the Day Challenge (worth), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (lost).