Whims of Writing

It was a hot summer day in 1976 that I took my first “selfie.” I was in a small dorm room located on a community college campus in East Texas.  I was taking a summer photography class and had been lent a camera by the photography Instructor. It was a box with a mirror, and I had to hold it steady and long to have the light come into it and the picture engraved on the negative. I stood in front of the mirror in my room and held the box close to my body as I looked up and waited for the image to be taken. I couldn’t move and didn’t want to breathe.  It’s not the same as today when you can put your cellular phone up and just snap. If you don’t get it right, you delete it and take another one.  No, this one was different. You didn’t know how the image would come out in the darkroom until you processed the film and put the paper into the water bath of chemicals to see the output that would magically appear!  That summer, I took a lot of pictures, most of my nieces and nephews. I w

 This is a fictional story based on true events written for an assignment in my writing class.  The ship was headed out to sea.   The coast line of California was barely visible as it headed at full speed toward the Hawaiian Islands.   Pearl Harbor had just been bombed only days before on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese Imperial Army and the USS. McCoy was being deployed to help with the search and rescue mission. The crew was still in shock and hardly anyone spoke on board as they headed out to help their fellow sailors. “Hey, Rick do you have a cigarette?”   Charlie asked. “Yea, here you go.   What do you think we will find there?”   “Beats me, but it won’t be good.   I can’t understand why we didn’t know.   How could this happen to us?   You know I had orders to transfer to the U.S.S. Arizona two weeks ago but they postponed them until they could replace me.   Lucky me. It could have been me.   I just don’t know why it wasn’t.”   “Charlie, sometimes things

The glass plate with curved edges surrounds the red glowing candle like a castle moat waiting to capture any prey that ventures toward it.   The small, odd shaped, some would call lopsided candle is positioned in the center of   the plate burning quietly as though it is a treasure that needs to be protected.   The wick slightly curved to one side gives the flame a tilt to the right edge where it is slowly melting the side and dripping wet, hot wax down toward the gallant moat.   The flame appears to be blue at the base and gradually changes to a translucent grey before shooting out a glowing somewhat illuminating yellow flame.   The obscure privacy glass window behind it reflects the candle in a mosaic pattern and gives the window flame reflection a distinct yellow and fiery red glow as though it says I want to be different. This was written for another writing class assignment on observing something and writing about it.  

I remember walking on dirt and blacktop roads when I was a little kid barefoot in the hot Texas heat.     It was so long ago but I remember all the wonderful smells of apple pie cooling in the neighbor’s window, the hard rain hitting the tin roof and the smell of the fresh air.   I remember all the things I use to love to do when I was little.   Play with horned toads, slimy grass snakes and doodle bugs that go so very slow.      I remember hot summer nights where I longed to go indoors to the cold air conditioning.     I remember the beaches in the south with the hot waves and white sand so different from the Northwest.  I remember.....

The ship was headed out to sea.   The coast line of California was barely visible as it headed at full speed toward the Hawaiian Islands.   Pearl Harbor had just been bombed only days before on December 7, 1941 by the Japanese Imperial Army and the U.S. S. McCoy was being deployed to help with the search and rescue mission. The crew was still in shock and hardly anyone spoke on board as they headed out to help their fellow sailors. “Hey, Rick do you have a cigarette?”   Charlie asked. “Yea, here you go.   What do you think we will find there?”   “Beats me, but it won’t be good.   I can’t understand why we didn’t know.   How could this happen to us?   You know I had orders to transfer to the U.S.S. Arizona two weeks ago but they postponed them until they could replace me.   Lucky me!   It could have been me.   I just don’t know why it wasn’t.”   “Charlie, sometimes things are meant to happen for a reason, Rick said.   I know.   I once missed a flight out of New York