Inspired By Random - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I was recently inspired by a post from the blog That Delete Button. The idea is this: Choose a book, any book, and write a post based on its title that is completely unrelated to the book itself. Brilliant, right? So here it goes.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, originally by Mark Haddon

The dog was awoken from her nighttime slumber by a curious noise. Scenting the air, she sensed a mysterious presence making its way through the eastern wing of the manor. In an instant, she was fully alert and ready to protect her family from the dastardly intruders that had dared to breach the security of her home. She might be small in stature and petite in size, but she was fierce, and her spirit was mighty.

The little dog took off faster than the wind, galloping with the force of a thousand horses towards the source of the invasive presence. Within moments, she had reached the East Wing. She was armed and ready for battle, but what she saw stopped her in her very tracks. Lo and behold, it was a man, no bigger than she. She'd never seen such a tiny little man before, and though her protective instincts were still growling beneath the surface, surely a man so tiny and small couldn't do terribly much harm.

"You're right," the tiny man said, and the words would have shocked the shoes right off of the tiny dog, had she been wearing shoes. "I am not here to bring harm unto your household. I am but a humble house troll, here to bring good fortune into your home. I hope you shall allow me to stay, as this place has become my home as well."

The dog wrinkled her nose and sniffed and sniffed. She tentatively approached the house troll before giving him a tiny lick that made the creature giggle. She licked him again, but this time he fell over from the force of her powerful tongue. Finally, she judged him to be honest and gave a little yip of approval.

And that, my friends, is the curious story of how a very little dog befriended a kind house troll in the night-time.

My Flash Friday Entry

Here is my entry to this week's Flash! Friday: 

(192 words)

Adeline could see the docks from here in all their fog-shrouded mystique, taunting her with the secrets they concealed and the shadows they teasingly cast. She knew from his letters that Jack was coming home this week, but she knew not when, and she couldn’t help but flick her eyes over to the window every few moments, convinced that the figure of her dearly beloved husband would fling itself out of the mist any second now.

The walls of the kitchen seemed to close in on her as the seconds ticked by, marked quarterly by the savage flick of her knife, and still the docks remained silent and stubborn. Minutes passed, and Adeline’s heart seemed to sink with every one of them, the elation she’d felt earlier at the surety that today would be the day fading and falling in dejection at yet another sundown with no sign of Jack. 

A knock sounded at the door, starling Adeline out of her reverie. It was Jack, it simply had to be! She flew from the kitchen, down the stairs, and tore open the door leading down towards the docks. 

It was Jack’s Captain. 

Kaija's Gardening Saga: The Bench

It's still a little too cold for the flowers to start coming out, but I've found another way to add a burst of color to my garden. A few years back, I rescued a bench from the trash and just this weekend, I was able to give it some fresh paint and new life.

Kaija's Past Lives

I don't necessarily believe in the existence of past lives, but it's fun to imagine, right?

• A solider in the Great War. I dream about war all the time, so, hey, why not? 
• I was definitely a cartographer at one point in a past life. I used to sail around the world making maps in the 1600's. Mind you, I wasn't very good at it. To my credit, neither was anyone else. See: Every map ever made in the 1600's. 
• A historian. Back when Constantinople was still the rocker and roller of the world, I was a scholar of Roman history. 
• In Ancient Egypt, I was a scribe and a messenger. You know that expression 'don't shoot the messenger?' Well they did, with a poisoned arrow. So here I am. Now. Four thousand years later. 
• Under Queen Elizabeth's rule, I was totally a pirate. My crew and I explored the world, spreading disease and anarchy, until a mutiny took my life. I died as I lived - by the sword.
• A long, long, long time ago, I was an artist. That was in one of my first lives as a human, back when we lived off the land, painted our mark on the walls of our caves, and died harder than Bruce Willis ever did. 
• I've been a writer in several lives, including this one. 
• I'm not proud of it, but I was a gravedigger in the 1300's. Someone had to do it, and I was one of the only people in my village immune to the miasmas of the Plague. 
• In one of my shortest lives, I was a stableboy. 
• In my first life, I was a nomadic hunter as well as my clan's story-teller. 
• In my last life, I was an astronomer. 
• I'm not sure yet what I want to be in this life, but I hope it's something special. 

Sunday Afternoon Special: Taking Super Cute Selfies

If you want to take a super-cute selfie or two, put your hair up into pigtails, put on a pretty shirt, and go to webcamtoy.com. 

Try out different effects. My favorite is rainbow.

Look lovestruck.

Put on your Serious Face.

Gaze longingly into the distance.

Make a heart!

Play with your hair.

And if all else fails, bring a friend along for the ride. Pictured: Me and my best friend, Steb.

Kaija's Easter Crafts

I decided to use some paint chips we had left over from a massive home renovation project a few years back to cut out some Spring-y shapes. Here's what came of that.