Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Wordzzle Must Go On


Before we get to this week’s Wordzzle. I’m having problems with IE or Blogger – or Both. I can’t get to some blogs including my own. So I need to launch Firefox, look up the blog’s addy and then go from there. I don’t know if this has anything to do with last night’s “Spam-Gate” debacle. The funny thing is one of the blogs that was flagged as “spam” is a blog I can get to with no problem.

Did Blogger fix one problem by creating another? Or is it just me?

Ahhhh the questions of life.

Anyho – here is this week’s continuation of Finola’s Story. Please drop by RAVEN’S NEST and check out all the others.

Ten Word Challenge: ghastly, excrement, bill of sale, vague, thicket, precarious, life long ambition, gunnery sergeant, posthumous, bellowed

Mini Challenge: lap of luxury, yellow-bellied sapsucker, quinine, generalization, abnormality

Finola Part Seven:

Finola sat through dinner with “them” feeling as though she was in a thicket of thorns. She had a ghastly stress headache and more than a vague sense of discomfort; it continuously struck her how precarious her situation was. Finola felt she had convinced Lovee and his wife that she was not wanted by the police. The wife seemed very kind and gentle, actually they both did but the husband also seemed suspicious.

“You look uncomfortable” Lovee said, making Finola jump out of her thoughts. “I hope you like the food” Ireland said, “we don’t exactly entertain in the lap of luxury but we try our best”. Finola smiled at Ireland, she really liked her. She knew it was a huge generalization but Ireland was the epitome of ‘Southern hospitality”. It was Finola’s life long ambition to travel the world and the southern states had always been at the top of her list. Finola was just about to tell Ireland the wings and mashed potatoes were great when Lovee bellowed “look at that yellow-bellied sapsucker go!” Both Finola and Ireland looked in the direction of Lovee’s outstretched arm. “I don’t see a sapsucker dear” Ireland said quietly. Finola giggled at how patient Ireland was with Lovee. “All I see is a puff of yellow feathers, could be any number of birds”. Lovee insisted it was a sapsucker as Finola continued to giggle at both of them, she especially liked the way Lovee said sapsucker. Finally Ireland gave in. “OK it’s a sapsucker, in fact after dinner why don’t we all go search for its hole – perhaps there will be enough excrement for DNA testing”. Lovee’s laugh was deep and made Finola feel better about him. “My wife’s wit is a bit like drinking quinine” he told Finola, “you know it has good intentions but it still goes down bitter”. Ireland smiled at her husband as she cleared away the dinner dishes.

Finola joined Ireland inside the RV while Lovee strolled near the woods. Ireland watched her husband from the window and smiled sweetly. He was in the Marines you know” she said – partly to herself and partly to Finola. “I know he was a sergeant I’m just not sure what kind – Master or First or Gunnery Sergeant I think – maybe all three”. Once again the sound of Ireland’s laugh calmed Finola. “He comes off as rather gruff doesn’t he?” Finola wasn’t sure if she was supposed to answer. “He’s such an abnormality within his family” Ireland went on. “They’re all so hateful and careless with life, I’m glad we don’t live near them anymore”. Last time we saw any of them was when Lovee’s youngest brother was awarded the Medal of Honor. A shame it had to be posthumous, he was killed in Iraq, I’ll never understand why he went there at his age”. To get away from the rest of them I suppose, and to try and keep the young ones alive I’m sure, he always said they’re not trained enough or equipped right. I’m so glad Lovee stayed with me”.

“Are you ready to go looking for sapsuckers?” Lovee called. Ireland and Finola looked at each other and laughed. “I can’t believe how I went on” Ireland said. “I guess I sounded like a rambling old woman”. Finola assured Ireland that she hadn’t been rambling and she sure wasn’t old. Ireland looked pleased. They joined Lovee outside bringing coffee and cake with them. “So Finola” Lovee looked her in the eyes. “I think we should go find your abandoned car tomorrow”. Finola told him it wasn’t worth the trip, the car was old, a piece of junk really. “Nonsense” Lovee responded. “We’ll find the car and sell it, even if just for parts” Finola felt the panic building up again. She imagined herself admitting that the car had been stolen as she said “the car’s not in my name, it’s my mother’s car. I don’t think she’d want me selling it, I don’t think you’re allowed to sell someone else’s car”. Lovee told Finola not to worry. They would find all the paperwork and he’d put together a bill of sale.

“Let’s enjoy the rest of the evening” Ireland said. “Tomorrow we’ll call Finola’s mother and then set off looking for the car – and sapsuckers.”


POOR FINOLA’S BEGINNING
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX

31 comments:

Bear Naked said...

Hello Dianne
You are not the only one having problems with Blogger.
There are a few blogs that I can't access also but fortunately I can still access my own.
I am adding your blog to my blog list.

Bear((( )))

Raven said...

This was just wonderful! I love the way Finola and the other characters are developing over time.

As for blogger, I've been having odd computer problems so I can't tell what's blogger and what's just whatever is bugging my computer. You mentioned Spam-Gate (love it). Does that mean that Jay S wasn't the only person victimized?

Back to wordzzles. Can't wait for the next installment.

Dianne said...

bear - good to know it's not just me but sorry it's any of us lol
I always assume it's me!
thanks for the reminder - I've been meaning to add you too.

raven - I had a really hard time with these words, usually a word speaks to me and then it rolls from there. not a signle word came to me this week so I decided to see if I could develop Ireland and Lovee rather than move the story along. thanks for the praise :)
Blog-Gate appears to have affected many, many blogs. there was a little blurb about it when you first log in.

Sparkling Red said...

Hmm... I haven't had any problems with Blogger, thank goodness. Yet. Time will tell.

Raven does not make the Wordzzle easy! Gracefully written, my friend. Well done.

Richard said...

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

Finola had better fess up or light out.

Rich

Raven said...

The great thing about this week's words - which I also had great difficulty using - is that they are Jeff B's fault and not mine!!!! Yippee. Some weeks they just all see harder than others.

Akelamalu said...

I love the latest instalment of Finola!

As I didn't get back off holiday until Thursday I haven't had time to do a Wordzzle this week but I managed a 55.

Thanks for your comment on Sophie's birthday memory, it was appreciated. x

jaycoles@gmail.com said...

As usual I love your continuing story. Thankfully you were not blocked as I was. As for Internet Explorer and Safari they work for some things but I have to post using Firefox and I don't mind because it works so well for me. thanks again for keeping me entertained. j

Jeff B said...

Your line about her wit being like quinine was great. I might just have to use that one some time.

I may never get asked for words again after this week! Bwahahahaha

Daryl said...

I love Finola .. and keep wondering if she's named for the actress Finola Hughes ..

:-Daryl

Dianne said...

sparkling - "gracefully written" - I love the way that sounds, thank you
oh - and the words are all jeff b's fault LOL

rich - I know! I'd hate for her to light out since Lovee and Ireland are so much fun but ...

LOL Raven - just ask Jeff's brother, everything is always Jeff's fault ;)
the words were actually great but there are weeks when nothing clicks for me.

akelamalu - you're welcome lady and hugs.
And welcome back - your Friday 55 was perfect!

mr. simser - I'm glad Finola remains entertaining :)
I just started using Firefox, some blogs will only open in it, and I like it.

jeff - I thought that was a great married couple line, thanks!!
I loved your words, I just couldn't get a wrap around them ;)

daryl - I adore Finola! She just speaks to me and I'm still trying to figure out who she is a compilation of. Definitely a bit of me and one of my nieces and maybe my Grandmother. The name just came to me and then later Jay S pointed out how he liked Finola Hughes, as I do, but it wasn't intentional.

Ivanhoe said...

Some of my friends were actually shot down all Friday as they were selected as spam blogs by blogger. How ridiculous is that. Seems like everybody is back up now. Have a great weekend, Di!

San said...

The way your wordzzles are a continuing narrative is just awesome.

Like Jeff, I LOVE your quinine wit bit. You're weaving in other characters quite nicely too.

Wonder what will happen when they go look for the car...

Ramblings of a Villas Girl said...

Hi Dianne! I was having problems last night and this morning. It appears to be working properly now. Let's see for how long.

Great Wordzzle. Can't wait to see what's in store next for Finola. Lisa

Dianne said...

ivanhoe - I know, I got an e-mail from a friend and then tried to get on my own blog and had the IE problem.
I thought they were related but it turns out the IE problem was caused by sitemeter updating some script that then conflicted with IE. Bless the folks at chat and help boards - they really jump on these things or I would have been reinstalling stuff all morning.

san - IF they go looking for the car hehehe
I'm so glad you find this entertaining, thank you.

lisa - thanks!! my response to Ivanhoe tells what I know about all the mish-mosh which I think is fixed now :)

Mom Knows Everything said...

I switched to Firefox a long time ago because I/E caused me so many problems with loading up blogs. I haven't noticed any problems with loading up blogs lately, but my goggle reader is messed up.

Ron said...

Hey, Dianne... thanks for mentioning the trouble you had with IE or Blogger yesterday, because I tried to leave a comment on the previous post and couldn't. Looks like it's back to normal now! I'm having all sorts of issues with IE or Blogger right now...it's SOOOO SLOW.

OY!

Anyway, I LOVED this Wordzzle!!! You're a magical story teller, you are! Excellent with words. Enjoyed it!

Hey...and CONGRATS on the awards too. You deserve them! I checked out a few of your blog mentions and enjoyed them.

Enjoy your weekend, dear lady!

tt said...

I have a feeling that Finola will be moving on in her journey....
The 'Lovee' story line is still hitting home to me...You know my Lovee is a retired Marine ...and was a Mstr Sergeant too.( yea...i know you knew it) Love it!

I'm thinking I need to print the pages and save thme in a binder...I'm thinking I will want to reread this story many times.
hugs to you Di!~

bobbie said...

The plot thickens! You're really getting into this thing, aren't you?

I hope your computer woes are resolved. It's so frustrating when things like that happen. I had some trouble getting into comments again for a little while, but it's OK now.

Unknown said...

LOL, I'm amazed how you can work those words into a story. Very well done :)

Dianne said...

tammy - jeni mentioned her Google reader was messed up also. I think I'm going to move to Firefox totally as soon as I know it doesn't cause problems with some of my client connections.

ron - glad you like the story :)
I guess even the internet gets tired lol


tt - I know I knew Lovee was a Sgt. but I didn't think of it at the time I wrote. What inspired me to call him was Lovee was how "lovely" he is and how incredible he and Ireland are together. Which is how I think of you and the real Lovee. They were only going to appear for that one week but now I like them too much and Finola needs someone to look after her.

bobbie - as I was trying to figure it out I discovered it was sitemeter's fault and they were working on it.
I am getting into this lol
Finola is family

thanks faye! sometimes I'm amazed too ;)

Schmoop said...

“My wife’s wit is a bit like drinking quinine” he told Finola, “you know it has good intentions but it still goes down bitter”.

Bee-yoo-tee-ful. Have a lovely Sunday, Dianne. Cheers!!

maryt/theteach said...

Dianne, not able to play Wordzzle this week but just want to thank you for commenting at "One Single Expression." Thank you very much! :) Your Finola story is excellent!

Minnesotablue said...

I was just able to get through to you today, also problems goggle. FRUSTRATING AS HELL!

Ralph said...

Fist time read for me, and this is well written. The story setup is compelling enough to hook the reader.

Having a big vocabulary isn't as important as how to use your words and phrases to enhance your writing.

Well done!

Dianne said...

matt-man - that line is a clear winner with many of the men folk ;)

teach - hope you're having a great weekend. glad you enjoy Finola.

minnesotablue - I wonder what the hell happened with Google. First Blogger, then Sitemeter, then IE, then Google.
Hmmmmm lol

ralph - thank you! I love telling a good story and I'm thrilled when anyone else enjoys it

Jay said...

Finola's about to get herself into a pickle over that car! ;-)

Dianne said...

jay - and Dianne is in a pickle about Finola's pickle - so many directions to go! OY!!
I missed Vadar this week but I'm hoping you were having a fun weekend.

SMM said...

The relations between Finola, Lovee and Ireland seems to be developing really well....makes for very light and interesting reading :)

Btw I had major issues with IE sometime back. Switched over to Firefox and touchwood, its been working fine since then

SMM said...

The relations between Finola, Lovee and Ireland seems to be developing really well....makes for very light and interesting reading :)

Btw I had major issues with IE sometime back. Switched over to Firefox and touchwood, its been working fine since then

Dianne said...

smm - thanks. I like the 3 of them together and I'm happy you find them interesting - plus I get to practice writing dialog which I'm still not comfortable with.