Guilie Castillo-Oriard's Blog, page 21
January 18, 2014
Top Photos of 2013 -- #2
The next-best of 2013 today, on the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge:
August, 2013I take my dogs (I have seven, all rescues) to the beach every week.As far as they're concerned, it's not nearly often enough. They have a blast every time,and my greatest pleasure in life is watching them bug out and go nuts in the water.This is Panchita, the first of the seven. This February 1st will make seven years that she's with us.She used to be terrified of the water, wouldn't even dip a toe.Look at her now.
August, 2013I take my dogs (I have seven, all rescues) to the beach every week.As far as they're concerned, it's not nearly often enough. They have a blast every time,and my greatest pleasure in life is watching them bug out and go nuts in the water.This is Panchita, the first of the seven. This February 1st will make seven years that she's with us.She used to be terrified of the water, wouldn't even dip a toe.Look at her now.
Calico Skies
Cannot refuse Ms. Monkey an invitation, now can I? And why would I want to? Fun, short prompts, 500-max words... Why not?
The weather has transformed, and I with it. No more Caribbean sunshine, no more tropical heat, no more happy days. The sky has turned the color of mud, darker--almost black--chunks where the loaded clouds bulge. My edges are dark, too, with anger and hate.
On an island where rain comes in warm five-minute bucketfuls, where the blue bowl of the sky never fades to more than slate, this is the storm of the century. The millennium. The Christian era. The storm of all time, past and future.
And yet the rain doesn't come. The wind, which never stops in these Windward Islands, is still. The rain and the wind are waiting--for me? Or am I waiting for them? The set of knives lies on the counter, gleaming; bars of polished violence at rest. I finger the edge of a wide blade. It's sharp. It's ready.
I'm ready, too.
The weather has transformed, and I with it. No more Caribbean sunshine, no more tropical heat, no more happy days. The sky has turned the color of mud, darker--almost black--chunks where the loaded clouds bulge. My edges are dark, too, with anger and hate.On an island where rain comes in warm five-minute bucketfuls, where the blue bowl of the sky never fades to more than slate, this is the storm of the century. The millennium. The Christian era. The storm of all time, past and future.
And yet the rain doesn't come. The wind, which never stops in these Windward Islands, is still. The rain and the wind are waiting--for me? Or am I waiting for them? The set of knives lies on the counter, gleaming; bars of polished violence at rest. I finger the edge of a wide blade. It's sharp. It's ready.
I'm ready, too.
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #3
This is the final stretch of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge. I give you #3:
July 2013, Amsterdam
Close-up of ship ropes on the Amsterdam--or, rather, the replica of the Amsterdam,a 18th-century commercial ship of the Dutch East India Trading Company(which, not very auspiciously, sank on its maiden voyage to Batavia).
July 2013, Amsterdam
Close-up of ship ropes on the Amsterdam--or, rather, the replica of the Amsterdam,a 18th-century commercial ship of the Dutch East India Trading Company(which, not very auspiciously, sank on its maiden voyage to Batavia).
January 17, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #4
Today's edition of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge:
August 2013, Curaçao
Displays of wine at a local wine store. During a wine tasting-slash-farewell to a friend,I played the paparazzo to wine.
August 2013, Curaçao
Displays of wine at a local wine store. During a wine tasting-slash-farewell to a friend,I played the paparazzo to wine.
January 15, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #5
And we come to the top five of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge! This is the worst of the best:
July 2013, Holland.
A typesetter's display at the Westfriese Markt (West-Friesian market) in Schagen, Holland.
July 2013, Holland.
A typesetter's display at the Westfriese Markt (West-Friesian market) in Schagen, Holland.
January 14, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #6
Today's edition of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge:
April 2013, Perú
A glimpse into a courtyard at the Convent of Santa Catalina in Arequipa.I love how the shadows play on the stone walls, the monotone broken, and thenjust barely, by the wooden shelf.
April 2013, Perú
A glimpse into a courtyard at the Convent of Santa Catalina in Arequipa.I love how the shadows play on the stone walls, the monotone broken, and thenjust barely, by the wooden shelf.
January 13, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #7
Today's edition of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge: #7.
April 2013, Perú. The Museo Larco in the Peruvian capital city, Lima, is full of outstandingpieces organized in exhibitions that pique the imagination. This one, of weaponry,makes a powerful, if silent, demonstration with an actual human skull dating from the same era.Gory. But effective.
April 2013, Perú. The Museo Larco in the Peruvian capital city, Lima, is full of outstandingpieces organized in exhibitions that pique the imagination. This one, of weaponry,makes a powerful, if silent, demonstration with an actual human skull dating from the same era.Gory. But effective.
2014: A Year In Stories (An Interview)
More?
2014: A Year In Stories (give us a Like on Facebook)
Every day a story, and Stephen V. Ramey reviews the previous day's every morning.
Tastes of Pure Slush: January 2014 Vol. 1Read the first story (mine, The Miracle of Small Things) for FREE in the Amazon preview sample
Tastes of Pure Slush: February 2014 Vol. 2Read the first story (mine, The Chablis & Sushi Miracle) for FREE in the Amazon preview sample
March 2014 Vol. 3 (available February 1 in e-book and print)
The 2014 Project Writers
January 12, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #8
Welcome to the last week of the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge! Today's photo is one of my all-time favorites.
April 2013, Perú (Convent of Santa Catalina, Arequipa)
Come back tomorrow for more of Perú, this time back to the capital, Lima, and the Museo Larco.
April 2013, Perú (Convent of Santa Catalina, Arequipa)
Come back tomorrow for more of Perú, this time back to the capital, Lima, and the Museo Larco.
January 11, 2014
Top 20 Photos of 2013 -- #9
We're in single digits now, people--the final stretch in the Kuantan Blog's Top 20 Challenge. Today it's #9:
April 2013, Perú.I love this photo for two reasons: one, the person in it (I know, I'm queen of corny)--(Happy birthday, dushi!)--and two, because it was a total fluke.This was taken in Arequipa, Perú, inside the convent of Santa Catalina,in one of the kitchens, a massive room of even more massive wallswith few, small, and very high windows.
#8 tomorrow is also from the convent.
April 2013, Perú.I love this photo for two reasons: one, the person in it (I know, I'm queen of corny)--(Happy birthday, dushi!)--and two, because it was a total fluke.This was taken in Arequipa, Perú, inside the convent of Santa Catalina,in one of the kitchens, a massive room of even more massive wallswith few, small, and very high windows.
#8 tomorrow is also from the convent.
