Crowned Castle

November 10, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, History, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Royalty, Short Story, Swap, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing prompt 2 Comments

Photo: Smadar Halperin-Epshtein

“It doesn’t matter where you live,” they said.

She knew they lied. It most certainly did!

When rain leaked onto your mattress and the wind snuck in through the window and mice crawled over your cheek in the middle of the night, it more than mattered.

“The only thing that matters is who you are,” they said.

Perhaps. But what good was it being a princess if your room was drafty and the tower creaked and the stairs were grooved with age and slippery with sloshed-over chamber-pots?

She’d swap her chamber for a page’s pallet by the hearth, if she could.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Castle in 100 words

Sail Away

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Grief, History, imagination, Micro-fiction, NYC Custom House, Realizations, Short Story 29 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

It was taking so long.

His uncle had instructed him to not leave the hall till he returned. He knew better than to defy the order.

He circled the room and looked at the paintings. He imagined conversations among sailors on the merchant ships, between soldiers on the frigates. He polished the marble counter with his sleeve. When he tired, he sat against a lamppost and pretended it was a smokestack.

The hall echoed emptiness.

He was getting cold. He was growing hungry. He needed to pee.

Only when night fell did he finally cry.

His uncle had sailed away.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Behind Closed Doors

October 19, 2018October 19, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Closed, Cuba, Current affairs, Doors, Future, History, Photo Challenge, Photography, Poetry, Possibility, travel, Weekly Photo Challenge Leave a comment

Photo: Inbar Asif

Decades shut

Behind closed shores

What old stories

Had you told

Of not so distant

Wars?

Weathered by

Time and lore

What future resides

Behind Cuba’s

Sealed doors?

For the Weekly Photo Challenge: Door closes

Witch Size

October 17, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Best fit, Broomstick, Finding your way, History, Just for fun, Oddball, Photo Challenge, Photography, Poetry, Silly, Witches 4 Comments

Photo: Philip Coons

It’s a one stop

Shop

For brooms

And brushes,

Guaranteed to

Save you any

Crashes.

Fit for any

Odd size

Witch,

Come right in

The selection is

Rich.

For Kammie’s Oddball Challenge

Time To Unlock

October 13, 2018October 13, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: better future, Etymology, Faith, History, Jerusalem, Old City, Peace, Photography, Understanding, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 4 Comments

Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev

Morning bells reverberated in the ancient alleyways, echoing against well-worn stone.

He rose to make his way from the humble room he slept in, to the place of worship his soul knew as his actual home.

The Old City of Jerusalem. The holy place named for harmony, recompense, greeting, and – with hopes for higher roads to be achieved – for wholeness, safety, and peace.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Unlock in 63 words

Echoes Of Before

October 5, 2018October 5, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Farmstead, History, memories, Old, Photo Challenge, Photography, Poetry, questions, Stories, Turkey, WitsEndChallenge Leave a comment

Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev

Who had stepped through this door

Over thresholds

Before?

What words did old timber

Hear

In times gone but still near?

Do dormant secrets

Await

Behind a roped-to-close gate?

If you step close enough to

Go through

Will the past echo to you?

For the Wits End Photo Challenge: History

Horse Spirit

September 29, 2018September 29, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Archeology, art, Flash Fiction, History, Micro-fiction, Paleolithic, Portugal, Short Story, What Pegman Saw, Writing, Writing prompt 27 Comments

Photo: Palaeolithic art at Foz Côa’s Archaeological Park, Portugal

“Why do you hit the rock with sharpened stones?”

Golin quaked under The Elder’s frown. It was forbidden to harm The Rocks That Shelter. The big stones protected them from biting teeth and snarling maws. They stopped the wind. They held back scorching sun. They reflected heat from fires.

And let flames paint shadows, Golin thought.

“He will drive away Horse Spirit and we will starve,” Morsen scowled predictably.

“Let him answer,” The Elder said.

Morsen seethed. The old man always favored Golin.

“The Rocks That Shelter do not anger when the fire lives in them,” Golin pointed at the dancing reflection on the wall.

“He makes no sense,” Morsen pouted. A few others nodded but The Elder’s stony gaze did not leave Golin’s face.

“They draw the fire near,” Golin stressed. Couldn’t they see? “Perhaps The Rocks That Shelter will welcome Horse Spirit and call it here.”

For What Pegman Saw: Douro, Portugal