Greetings All!

Just to inform you that for the next two weeks The Fantastic Spatulans will be taking a hiatus. We have each tackled Life Crazies of varying forms recently, so a small break seemed the thing to do.

That doesn't mean I'm letting anyone off the hook! Being the Evil Blog Mod that I am (high pitched cackling included), I decided to issue a challenge to be met by Halloween. 

What kind of challenge? Ooo, you'll have to stay tuned to see! I'll give you a hint: it even has me spooked.

While we're taking our hiatus, I'll be posting pictures, quotes, and maybe even a few videos to keep you lovely lot inspired and making magic!

So don't think of this as a parting of ways- more of a disappearing act by talented magicians. ;)

Luff & Magic,

Lucy.

Baking Magic

When the idea for creating a blog first concocted itself in my mind I had no idea what to do. I had the name, and I had a subtitle, but that was it. Originally I had thought about making a food blog, (the title being "Fantastic Spatula" seemed all too appropriate).

In the end, as you know, I settled on making it a community blog where we all pitch in our own stories and do what we do best. Which is, well, to write.

Baking is still something that I get an itch to do. I blame this completely (and happily!) on my mom who is a terrific cook! Her fudge and peanut brittle are legendary. And I know a certain someone who has been hankering for a spice cake for his birthday. (Hi, Dad!) 

So tonight instead of sitting down to write more about our much beloved Baba Yaga I decided to do something she too enjoys.

I baked.

Being the beautiful season that it is, I decided that something pumpkin flavored would have to happen. I poked around the internet and found a delightful, and stupidly simple, recipe for pumpkin muffins.

For those among you who love to cook & bake, I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that baking is a sort of mediation. You follow the recipe and you'll end up with something nom-alicious. While you're busy measuring and mixing ingredients, taste testing, lining tins with paper you're mind goes elsewhere. You tend to forget what hasn't gone right and you let yourself melt like the butter in the saucepan. What part about that isn't magic?

And now! For your drooling pleasure- A little pictorial evidence!

What are some seasonal treats you like to bake?

An apology, of sorts

Rather than just not post, or put up my usual faff by way of grandiose explanation, I've written you all a haiku to let you know that I'm a teensy bit busy. Much love and enjoy the cool weather!

the jeweled autumn

allergies are in full swing

I move in three days



100 Word Challenge: Autumn

I give you piece of flash fiction about the tensions that can accompany autumn.  

  “You aren’t dressed.”

  “I’m not going to Robert’s party.”

  “Honey…”

  Karen threw the dishrag into the sink.  “Robert hit on me last Thanksgiving.  Don’t you care he’s a pervert?”

  “He’s my boss and my evaluation is next week.”

  “Your shirt is pressed.”  She opened the dishwasher.   “Go.”

  Karen listened to Mitch dress in the next room.  At least she still recognized the sounds he made. 

  Mitch walked out and tightened his tie.  “Should I tell Wendy you said hello?”

  Her jaw clenched.  “Warm the car.  I’ll be dressed in fifteen minutes.”

  Mitch whistled on the way to the car.  

100 Word Challenge: Autumn

 October saw fit to usher me into this dizzying sphere. A week until All Hallow's Eve: My first view of the world were smiling faces. An Eastern glow hovering above the Charleston river. A warm and breezy morning for the second born's arrival. It is my opinion that instead of wailing and flailing like other children I came about laughing and smiling. A pixie, if you will.

Octobers since have been filled with: apple cider; county fairs; mountain visits; bonfires; red velvet cakes; leaf raking & pile jumping; crunchy leaves underfoot; dress-up birthday parties, and oh plenty (plenty) of orange!

100 Word Challenge: Autumn

Shwash! Shwash! Dry, brown leaves are raked together. The few from the side yard make a small mound, then Shwash! Shwash! Shwash!, the leaves from the front yard and the back yard pile it high. Limbs left over from autumn’s first windstorm and pinecones the squirrels picked over add variety. The mass sits still then a flick of match and the edges come alive. Crack! Splack! Crackle! The old dead color bursts with orange, red, and heat. The flame eats quickly through the easy snack. Grey smoke moves high over the pile blooming yellow and breathes a slow woodsy aftertaste.

100 Word Challenge: Autumn Dedication

I love a challenge, being an Aries, and I love autumn, being my father’s daughter. My love for the season stems from childhood; as soon as the air began to chill my father would build the first fire of the season in our wood burning stove. He’d use the cedar wood that had been drying over the summer and the whole house would become replete with the smell of it. Then we’d all sit around the fireplace and get warm. We don’t have the stove any more, but now, when autumn comes, we have the memory of those simpler times.

100 Words Challenge

 

(photo creditttt)

Hi Everyone!

Just popping in to share some exciting news! This week I've issued a challenge to each of the writers, including myself, to write a post about Autumn in 100 words. (No more! No less!) 

I think you'll be delighted by what we've all come up with. Feel free to share a 100 word response in the comments if you'd like to join in!

Or! Better yet, if you would like to email me (lucydylanwiggins@gmail.com) an entry of your own I'll post all that I've received by Friday afternoon. 

Alrighty, get writing! I can't wait to see what you've come up with!

Peace & Pumpkins,

Lucy.

("sundae sunday" is going to highlight what really made me happy the past week.)

* first day of house keeping. free breakfast. waffles with peanut butter and syrup. * talking with neighbors about marvelous missoula. * dressing up like a fairy in a white Einstein wig with a tri-cornerd hat and having my picture taken not only by my fabulous neighbor, kare, but also by a budding photojournalism student who had the assignment "take a photograph of 25 strangers." * a sundae with pumpkin ice cream (see above photograph). * taking a trip to idaho with the lovely erin and her new beau to weir hot springs and soaking in the rocky pool of naturally heated water. eating snacks of yogurt covered raisins and drinking boxed wine like a pro. * meeting the russian mobsters. * the colors turning colors in the trees. * yellow leaves everywhere. on the ground. in my apartment. all over my shirt. * a spice girls dance party in the park. * old mailboxes falling off their hinges in old apartment buildings. * making a tiny elephant necklace (he's for sale for $10 if anyone would like to give him a loving home). *

* the saturday morning fresh market. fresh beets, potatoes, zucchini, and tart, purple plums. * a bunch of wild flowers the color of setting sun, blushing cheeks, and those tart purple plums. * having a halloween dress-up party at work with anna, sam, carmine. pretending we are dracula, go-go dancers, geishas, and the many faces of madonna. * disco dancing as darth vader. oh yes. * a delicious walk in the park. dappled light. and her silhouette drowning in golden. * camping girl. * the strings that play at all souls. * a clothing exchange with anna and carmine and other new friends i have yet to remember names for. * man land. * kelly's birthday party at, where else, an irish pub. and sharing malt vinegar fries with rebekah (and, jinx, i owe her a root beer). * making a card with flowers and dress scraps. * first friday art walk up and down the street. art. art. art. free wine and cheese and crackers and dip and music. music. music. * crushing on saturday morning. hot coffee. cinnamon twist. a notebook. a new story. little bugs floating around in the morning air like dust particles (as light and as spastic). *

what made you smile this week? share your own sundae sunday list in the comment box. and, now, i'm going to leave you with this...

Magi's Gift: Part III

Cass had always been brought up a lady. Her behavour was groomed and polished like a prized horse. Such expectations were not surprising for someone of her stature. Royalty by both birth and marriage, she was dubbed the luckiest of her and her sisters. The envy of all women.

Not only had she and her sisters been born princesses, her father took special favor in Cass for she was the one who most resembled him. A man of few words and a wide grin, he often took her aside for lessons in the things that "mattered", according to him, of course.

By the age of eight Cass was able to sail her own boat. A one-person skip that the two of them had spent a summer rigging up. When she was ten she learned how to ride horses, both English and Western saddles. Naturally, she rode like her father. Side saddle made her feel clumsy and foolish, so it was a banished thought. Age eleven she was a skilled marksman with a bow; twelve saw her learning how to chart courses for sea and learn the patterns of the stars and planets.

All of this "boorish man" influenced knowledge made Cass's mother cringe. She had only been blessed with three daughters; not one of them was going to be seen as anything less than a lady. When she could she tore her daughter kicking and screaming to etiquette classes. It was here that Cass learned how to walk, sit, stand, and talk properly. She was to learn how to set a table, how to cater to guests, how to host dinner parties, and how to care for children.

Under the insistence of both her parents, Cass was becoming quite the well-rounded individual. She outshone her sisters without hesitance and it was agreed that she alone would come to rule the kingdom. Obviously her parent's had yet to hear of their daughter's desire to marry a young man she had only met once at the annual Autumn Masquerade. And that by marrying this stranger she would not only inherit one kingdom, but become Queen of a second.