Ann Edall-Robson Author, Photographer, Lover of Life "Capturing moments others may never get to experience.” |
#AnnEdallRobson #FromWhereICome #imaginationoverdrive #25wordstory #photowritingprompt #CapturingMomentsOthersMayNeverGetToExperience #RuralLiving #WhoaBackUpStop #AnnEdallRobsonPhotography #annedallrobsonbooks #flashfiction #wordwritingprompt #twistonchristmas This week, Esther Chilton's challenge is to write a 13 word story using: resolutions, fireworks, drunk
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99 WORDS...AND A LITTLE BIT MOREAddicted to DanceThe date had been circled on the calendar for days. He knew when he’d first danced with her he would not be happy until they partnered again. Smitten with her long legs and brown eyes, he remembered her tiny shiver when he caressed her neck with his hand. And now, here they were…She stood still waiting for him to position himself so their dance could start. With perfect timing, the performance began, spurring, legs kicking high, symmetry in motion. Their eight-second dance ends. They’ll partner again when the next luck of the draw is in their favour. Until We Dance AgainIt is the last night of dancing in this town. The partners they’ve assigned me over the past week have been mediocre, to say the least. They’ve had lots of try, but only basic steps over and over. Tonight will be different. I’ve heard about this partner. Professional and not afraid to take a chance. Willing to move with the kicks, dips and dives. The window is short for us to dance classy and sassy. When the eight-second buzzer sounds we will see what kind of a partner he is. Money or mud? Until we dance again, cowboy. Every story had two sides to it, and after watching ten rounds of the National Finals Rodeo, I was drawn to the dance partners that participated night after night. In the story Addicted to Dance, tells about the adrenalin addiction cowboys experience riding bucking horses. The want and need to get on bronc, especially one that has bucked them off. They make it their business to know about a horse they have been parked with at a rodeo. Unfortunately it all comes down to the luck of the draw. On the other side of the fence, rodeo horses are one of the many cherished and well looked after athletes going. Until We Dance Again is the horse’s perspective of being the assigned draw date at the rodeo. They have been known to show off big time when they are partnered with a rider who has done his homework and rides to make them both look good. That’s where the money is. If the horse bucks them off, well that’s where the mud is, so to speak. The saddle bronc event, is often referred to the Classic Event in rodeo. To watch a ride from the spur out, meaning the riders feet must be ahead of the horse’s shoulders when the horses front feet touch the ground on the first jump, through the athleticism of the repetitive movements of horse and rider to the sound of the buzzer at the eight-second mark, is a vision worth watching. The strength in the horse dipping its head toward the ground while the rider holds the rein a.k.a. a shank or halter rope, in one hand; lifting up with the rein as his feet come to the horse’s shoulder, and dropping while he brings his feet back, almost touching the saddle when the horse’s hind legs touch the ground. It has been said it’s like being in a rocking chair if the horse and rider are in sync. A dance like no other. Not everyone who watches rodeo can see the dance partners. They see horse or bull bucking in the arena and a cowboy trying to stay on for eight-seconds. The rough stock events, saddle bronc, bareback bronc, and bull riding is a pairing of some of the finest athletes in the world. Each event is a dance showcasing moves by both partners to outdo each other, while they show off the athletic moves the other can make. Truly it is poetry in motion. Our dad rode saddle broncs and the picture on this page is of him at the Green Lake Stampede (B.C.) circa 1938. I still have the chaps (pronounced shaps), his cowboy boots, and the saddle.
#AnnEdallRobson #FromWhereICome #99WordStories #FlashFiction #ranchtradition #writingprompt #saddlebronc #imagination #barebackbronc #buckingbull #dancepartner #cowboyandhorse #cowboyandbull #familytradition #CapturingMomentsOthersMayNeverGetToExperience #TheOldWays #RuralLiving #WhoaBackUpStop #AnnEdallRobsonPhotography December 12, 2023, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a dance-off. Who has come together in dance for what purpose? What are dancers wearing? What kind of music? Bring some unity to people through the act of coming together, each getting to step to their own groove. Go where the prompt leads!
The house is dark, the route to the front door and outside has few obstacles, except the squeaky fourth step from the bottom. There’s a slit of morning colour simmering along the hills to the East. The watch face stares back with the numbers 4:45. Motion sensor lights around the deck go out. The gravel crunches under tires, windows rolled down, welcoming morning sounds at the slough in the foothills, a favourite destination. A silhouette raises its head from beneath the water. Daylight pushing over the treetops dance on rivulets of water falling from the bull moose’s antlers. And a little bit moreI have seen moose all my life. They would cross the road at an inopportune time. You might spook one out of a swamp or willow thicket when out horseback riding. They might be seen feeding at a haystack in the winter, and our family would hunt them in the fall of the year to add meat to the freezer. But, the first time I saw the water dripping off of the paddles of a bull moose I was in my teens. It wasn’t uncommon for a few of us to ride the trails at night, in the moonlight, on horseback. We were surrounded by small lakes, wild hay meadows, sloughs and trees. There was no fear in heading out on these night excursions, we had traveled the country over and over again in the daylight and nightlight. We played tag on horseback in the meadows; rode in silence listening to the sounds of the wind in the trees and the coyotes howling. On this particular night, there were four of us riding along an old road that wound along a little lake. We had the advantage of being downwind from the clearing and the splashing coming from the lake. Meaning whatever was in the water, couldn’t smell us, but our horses could smell it and gave us away, snorting and blowing. What a sight we saw in the light of the full moon. A huge bull moose, feeding on greenery below the waterline, had lifted his head. The water sparkled off of his antlers, dripping to the lake’s surface in the moonlight. In later years, several of my gravel travel outings gifted me with moose sightings. I knew where they might be, but never intentionally went looking for them. The element of surprise in seeing one as I drive down a dirt road, or when I happen to be parked on the roadside, reading or writing, is a great feeling. Good friends of ours have moose sightings all of the time. This is where I started getting up before sunrise to drive the local gravel roads with my camera and journal. I’d capture the sun rising, the morning unfolding, write, read, and often as not just sit with the windows down listening. Occasionally deer and moose have been part of those early morning outings. I have been lucky enough to be in on some of the moose sightings on the property around our friend’s home. Seeing them go from one pasture to another, clearing fences like they weren’t there. Watching them feed on willows along the creek below their house, sauntering along the tree line or up the road to the barn, like they own the place. Moose…Cows, calfs, and bulls, I have seen them all. Some have been within fifty feet of my cameral lens, and some a half a mile away, or more. It is always a privilege to watch these majestic animals
#AnnEdallRobson #FromWhereICome #99WordStories #FlashFiction #ranchtradition #writingprompt #moose #imagination #moosevideo #familytradition #CapturingMomentsOthersMayNeverGetToExperience #TheOldWays #RuralLiving #WhoaBackUpStop #AnnEdallRobsonPhotography December 5, 2023, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a moose. It can be an attribute of moose — big, protective, wild, gentle. Your story can express realism or fantasy. It can be a sci-fi or cli-fi moose. Is the moose loose or hidden? Go where the prompt leads!
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Ann Edall-Robson
Author, Photographer, Lover of Life. "Capturing moments others may never get to experience.” Archives
March 2024
99 Words
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