Pinch Me

I hope everyone had a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day. Zane and I spent the evening with friends down in Cedar Park. Do you know I was not wearing a lick of green and didn't get pinched even once. What's up with that? Granted most of the guests do not know me well, if at all. But is that any excuse? At what point did we stop pinching complete strangers for not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day? Maybe some of us never started. Anyways, Bill and Katharine hosted a fine get together complete with green food and beverage. Katharine even made a cake in the shape of a rainbow with m&m's in the frosting and a pot of "gold" (yellow m&m's) at the bottom. Too cute. I had to refrain from the green beer and margaritas since I was Zane's designated driver. But it is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make. An old friend by the name of Lurko was there. And I mean old as in "known him for over 20 years" not old as in "90". Several of you know who I am talking about. He became the main attraction at one point, with his fire breathing display. Yes, fire breathing (or some would call it blowing). Let's just say it involved a homemade torch, wet towel, bucket of water, glass of water and lamp oil (in this case, cherry scented). It was quite entertaining. And no calls to 911 were necessary, which is even better. To quote Lurko, he is "practically a professional" when it comes to this. Katharine took pics of the event and I will post them when I get them from her. And for all you concerned Grandparents out there, Zane was safely sleeping in the house during all of this. Thanks Katharine and Bill for including us in your bash.

On another note....I want to bring your attention to a link at the right of your screen called Literary Smackdown. It was set up by Abe's friend, Nathan. The concept is fun and fresh. Each month a new topic will be given and contestants (which can be anyone) are encouraged to submit a short story related to said topic. Entries are judged (again, by anyone) on a scale of 1 to 10. At the end of each month, scores are averaged for a winner. This month's topic: "Describe a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Do not mention the murder." They have received a record of 5 entries already this month. And Abe is one of them. I haven't had a chance to read all the stories yet, but I intend to before the month is up and I plan on taking part in the judging, as well. I think Abe is expecting a 10 from me, but I'm not sure I've decided he earned a 10 just yet. I will try to be an impartial judge. So for those of you that have the time (I realize that may not be many of you), get on over there and do some reading and judging. Heck, some of you may even be aspiring writers and should get in the ring. It's all in good fun.