Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern

The theme for this week’s WordPress Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is Pattern.

Self disclosure, I like patterns. Maybe I’ll write about that one day.

The photo challenge is simple:
In a new post specifically created for this challenge, share a picture which means PATTERN to you!

It was chance, kismet if you will, that brought this photo challenge to me last Friday because just last Thursday I opened up a container of Fage strawberry yogurt to find not only a pattern, but one of the oddest patterns I’ve ever seen in food. It was so odd that I took a picture of it to blog about at some point and then a day later there was an e-mail letting me know about the challenge.

Coincidence? Or as John Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder might say, “Isn’t that a little coincidental?” Maybe. You decide.

So the yogurt. I open up the Black Cherry yogurt and sometimes yogurt doesn’t look too appetizing when you first pull the cover off. Sometimes it’s all watery and other times it looks like it might be curdled and it’s not until you get it all stirred up good that it starts looking like anything you want to eat. But this container wasn’t like that at all. Nothing was watery and nothing was curdled and nothing looked like it needed to be looked at closer for impurities or anything like that. And the reason for that was because arrayed in a fan pattern along the edge of the yogurt were seven lovely little yogurt breasts. And I’m not talking little bumps or mounds in the yogurt that made me think of breasts, but actual small breasts with nipples.

Check it out:

Fage Strawberry Yogurt with pattern of breasts.

 That’s it. That’s my pattern. Thanks for reading.

If you’re a picture-taker and want to respond to the prompt just go to the WordPress Daily Post website which is right here and enter the link to your blog. Or feel free to post your link in the comments below.

Here’s the theme from The Sons of Katie Elder which, if you’re interested, scores 5 Fishies on Michaelsfishbowl! They don’t much make ‘em like this anymore, movies or movie scores.

Friday Fictioneers: Never Forgetting

It’s Thursday which means it’s Friday. Friday Fictioneers, that is. Hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, you, yes, you, can join in the weekly fun simply by clicking here. All it takes is 100 words.

This week’s photo prompt was submitted by Scott Vanatter with permission from Northwest Photographer Robert Mielke. I hope I’m spelling Robert’s last name correctly, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on the blog other than a signature at the bottom of the photographs. And speaking of photographs, forget Fictioneering for a couple of minutes and click the link and check out Robert’s photography. He has some really nice photos and (at least one that I saw) tutorial. Seriously, if you like photography, check him out. I’ll wait.

Waiting…

Waiting…

 

Waiting…

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Welcome back and now to the prompt. Usually after looking at a picture prompt it takes a little time before an idea comes to me but I got one immedidately after looking at this picture and the words came easy. Sadly, when I stopped before the last couple of sentences, my word count was 347 so what I started with is a lot different than what I ended up with below.

 Never Forgetting

I return every December 1st.

I miss my wife. My beautiful daughter, Adina, only 7

Trees had lost their bloom; air cool, but humid. Grass was faded green, turning to brown. They followed me. Monday morning. Saw them as I left the school. When I reached Meadowood – - three more.

They hit me, hard. I fell. Hands and feet tied I was dragged to the tree. I only voted, I cried. They laughed. Said I had the right, but not the freedom to exercise that right in Mississippi.

The rope tightened . . .

I return every December 1st.

Why The Pohlad Family Is Right

As owners of the Minnesota Twins the Pohlad family takes a lot of heat over not going out and actively pursuing free agent players and putting more money into the team payroll. Some of the arguments I read, like team owners have to spend money to be competitive in today’s game, make sense, and others, like the family is rich and can afford free agents, don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that the players who come with the higher price tags generally do help a team be more than just competitive and I would like nothing more than to see the Pohlad family dump tens of millions more into payroll and go out there and be competitive in free agent signings like the Yankees, Phillies, Angels and Red Sox, but I understand when they don’t. High-priced ballplayers come with no guarantees and do not automatically equal success on the baseball field. Personally, I’m not unhappy when out of 30 professional baseball teams, the Twins total payroll and average salary is right in the middle of the pack. Granted, those numbers might be skewed a bit by Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau’s salaries, but the reality is that in 2012, the Twins team payroll was 12th out of 30 teams and to me that points to ownership that is trying to field a competitive team which I believe is all one can ask for.

Evaluating talent is hit-or-miss, and putting a monetary value on players who are susceptible to failure for any number of reasons based on future/expected performance is a risky gamble at best and the Boston Red Sox proved that with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka (Dice-K) pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan and by all accounts he was a superstar. A Rookie of the Year Award winner, he went on to lead the league in strikeouts, wins and ERA multiple times and in his eight years in the league he was a perennial Gold Glove winner and All Star. At the end of the 2006 season, Dice-K announced that he wanted to play major league baseball in the United States.

A quick aside to the posting system and in a very brief nutshell, the posting system is what allows a Japanese baseball player playing in the NPB to transfer to the US and play for Major League Baseball. The player’s home team “posts” him and then MLB teams bid for the rights to negotiate with the player for one month. If the negotiations are successful, then the NPB team receives the bid amount in compensation. If the month passes and the player and MLB aren’t able to come to contract terms, then the bid is voided and the player returns to his NPB team.

Dice-K entered the posting system at the end of the 2006 baseball season. The silent bids were submitted and the Boston Red Sox were the highest bidders with a bid of $51.1 million. That’s not $51.1 million to sign the guy to a multi-year contract, that’s $51.1 million just to talk to the man and negotiate with him. That’s right, $51.1 million just to talk to him. The negotiations were successful (did anyone think they wouldn’t be?) and Dice-K was signed to a six-year, $52 million contract. If you’re keeping score, that’s $103.1 (actually more with player incentives) for a pitcher. Dice-K helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2007 and despite some arm problems, he had a good 2008. After that it was on and off the disabled list and sub-par seasons until the beginning of the 2011 season when it was announced that he would be having season-ending Tommy John surgery. He returned last year to another sub-par season and at the end of the season the Red Sox granted him free agency. During Dice-K’s six years with Boston he never won 20 games in a season, he never won a Cy Young award, he never won a league ERA title and he never led the league in strikeouts. He was at times wild and would give up a lot of walks and he had a high WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched). Is that a good return on a $103.1 million dollar investment?

Daisuke Matsuzaka is still playing in this country and he will be starting the 2013 season for the Cleveland Indians’ AAA minor league team.
So you’re the owner of the Minnesota Twins now and tell me if Dice-K was worth the money. Was it worth gambling $100+ million on a player for what amounted to two seasons of average play? Sure, his 15 wins helped the team win a World Series in 2007, but so did Josh Beckett’s 20-win season and Tim Wakefield’s 17-win season. Not to mention a respectable .279 team batting average, .362 on-base percentage and .444 slugging percentage which allowed the team to average over five runs per game.

You’re the owner and you’re running your business with the twin goals of fielding a competitive team and not losing money so would you gamble $103 million on one player? One pitcher? There’s no right or wrong answer, it’s just different baseball philosophies and my philosophy is that $100 million dollar players aren’t worth the risk and that’s why I don’t fault the Twins for not taking those types of risks and I respect them for continuing to take a reasonable approach to team ownership which involves developing talent in the farm system, making sensible trades and not pursuing free agent players who come with ridiculously high price tags. Is this philosophy the right way to run a baseball team? I can’t say for certain. For all I know my logic is flawed and I’m way off base here, but I know the Pohlad family kept the team from being sold and relocated to Tampa, brought us two World Series titles (how many do the Vikings, Timberwolves and Wild have?) and have given Twins fans an entertaining and competitive baseball team since 2001. Sure, Carl Pohlad was also willing to sell the team and see it leave the state and he was also willing to let the team be contracted and simply disappear from the world of baseball back in 2002 and there’s some grumbling about lying in order to receive public money for a new stadium, but that’s beside the point which is how to spend money to run a business and in that area I have a difficult time finding fault with the team’s owners.

Ask me about this in four months when the Twins are 15 games out of first and struggling to stay above .400 but I think my position will probably be the same.

Friday Fictioneers: In Solitary

It’s Friday Fictioneers time. Click here to find out how to play along.

The prompt this week is courtesy of Fictioneer’s hostess, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields whose new book can be found here. Click and give it a look, it’s available in perfect paperback binding and Kindle formats.

In Solitary

I don’t do much with my days anymore. On the days I go downstairs I spend my time sitting in the kitchen. She’s in every inch of this house; from the wallpaper to the floor rugs, but I feel her presence the strongest in here, right at this table.

I leave the lights off because sometimes, it sounds crazy, but sometimes I hear her moving through the kitchen. I live for those days now. I sit and drink coffee and listen. And while I listen I cry for myself and the years and pray I’ll be with her again soon.

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Friday Fictioneers: A Horse is a Horse

Friday Fictioneers is a fun, online writing community that is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Become a Fictioneer, or learn more, by clicking here.

This week’s photo prompt is from Douglas M. MacIlroy. My story doesn’t do justice to this beautiful animal, so after reading my story please click here and go read Doug’s touching tribute to Mystic as well as see some marvelous photographs of this stunning horse.

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A Horse is a Horse

“Hello, I’m Mr. Ed.”

“Ed?”

Not again. Shut up, Wilbur.

“What’s up, Ed?”

“Oh, not much. Say, Wilbur, can you walk around back and check on this little boil on my haunch.”

“Sure, just hold steady now, boy. . . “

“Just a little farther. There, by the tail.”

“I don’t . . . Ed, can you raise your tail for me?”

“Happy to, Wilbur.”

“Ed, are you . . .

Phhhrrrrrttt . . . Brrraattt . . . Pppplllloooop.

“Aw, Ed.”

Snort. Oh, that was a good one. Got that sumbitch right in the middle of the forehead. Well, if you’ll excuse me, folks, I’ve gotta take this hose and clean off old Wilbur.

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Friday Fictioneers: She Loved Lilies

Friday Fictioneers seems to be creeping up a little bit each week and not being one to pass up a chance to be creepy whenever possible, I’m creeping right along with them.

Want to play along? It’s simple. Just go here and you’ll find everything you need to know.

This week’s photo prompt from Lora Mitchell

She Loved Lilies

We moved to the city after the wedding. Twenty-seventh floor overlooking downtown and the bay.

Angie loved the place; I loved Angie.

Winter nights in front of the fire we’d sit looking out the window watching snow cover the skyline.

She loved lilies; grew one in a pot on the windowsill.

We were content but in time she became familiar. Too familiar.

Familiarity breeds contempt and in time I stopped loving her.

They say killers return to the scene of the crime. With a videocam there’s no need for that. Not when I can recreate her last breath every night.

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Friday Fictioneers: Into the Light

It’s Friday Fictioneers time. Like to write and want to play? Then just click here.

This week’s vertigo-inducing photo prompt courtesy of Jennifer Pendergast

 

Into the Light

I like staring into the light at the top of the stairs. I stare, and then squeeze my eyes
and see the colors. Red’s my favorite.

The red is wet.

Sometimes I don’t eat, and when they make me, I close my eyes and see them in red.

And I can taste them.

Don and Tami, they don’t know where I am. Don’s mean but Tami. she’s my friend. I
say she’s my girlfriend and she smiles. I like that. If she didn’t laugh I still wouldn’t hurt
her.

“Hello, Dwight. Ready to go back upstairs?”

“I’m ready, Doctor Tuft.”

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