Squirrelly Thursday - The Very Brave Gray Squirrel

Wednesday My Art - Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Horror - Cosmic Queen

Cosmic Queen

BY Marcia A. Borell

Alone awash in fiery drapes she wades,

Through meteoric seas of living dream.

Celestial comets twine her flaming braids,

As Pisces soars above the stellar stream.

Along the bank she seeks with silver spade,

The clay to dig and mold enchanted orbs.

With mud a sphere upon her hand is made,

To dry awaiting brightly colored robes.

She plucks appealing globes of cosmic dust,

To spin a wooly skein of pastel cloud.

Her needles stitch bright hues on earthy crust,

The rivers run so blue it makes her proud.

Around and around she turns the infant world,

To pick and carve the oceans, lakes, and sea.

Then pinches folds for mountains knit and purled,

Her breath upon the planet sets it free.

Poem and illustration first published in A Calendar in Poetry and Art 2005, published by Sam's Dot Publishing.

My backyard visiting fawns - this was so exciting to see out my back door.

Monday Meditation - An object meditation using beautiful stones

My Sunday Funnies - Monk the Detective

First published in FMAM: Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, Autumn 2004

These are for my cousin, a huge Monk the Detective fan!

Saturday Drabbles, Flash Fiction, Poems, and Illustrations for Children

Poem

Nighttime
by Marcia A. Borell

Amid the trucks and toys your books may lay
Forgotten 'til the end of day.
With rubbing eyes and open yawn you seek
To cuddle and from under blankets peek.

With thumb in mouth and satin edge to cheek
We turn the page while rockers start to creak.
As dragons, knights and castles fill the air
A little finger twirls my hair.

I gently stand to walk across the floor
While ugly monsters vanish out the door.
One final hug in your warm downy bed
Your tiny fingers reach for bunny Fred.

With Fred in hand I stroke your silky hair
Then stretch and yawn and take the tiller's care.
I set the solar sails to guide our flight
A homeward bound we sail through starry night.

Marcia A. Borell
First published in Kid's Visions, 2004

Squirrelly Thursday - The Squirrel Movie

Wednesday - My Art: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Horror - Destiny's Tears

Destiny's Tears

A Drabble by Marcia Borell

Destiny looked out over her realm. Humanity was divided by age, emotions, and suspicion. Shadows had skewed their perspective darkening their reality. Sadly she reached into her bag of consequences.

In the bag were many smooth spheres which contained glittering particles of stardust. Most released an even mixture of hope and sorrow, health and illness, love and hate. An icy one stuck to her hand. Pulling it out she stared into its ugly swirling darkness.

Destiny's tears fell as she cast it upon the world. In the murky blackness there were specks of silvery dust. Hope, there was always hope.

First Published in the poetry chapbook - Passion Fruit and Other Loops by L. A. Story Houry, June 2003

Monday Meditation - The Rock

My Sunday Funnies - Cartoon Movie Trailers?

First Published in FMAM:  Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, Summer 2004

Saturday Stories and Illustrations for Children - Where's my Bear????

First Published In Spellbound: A Magazine for Children, Fall Issue 2002

Where's My Bear?

A new Flash Fiction by Marcia Borell

It must have all started when I got a new bear for my birthday.  I added it to my collection and it got the outside edge of the bed. Big Bear was the guardian of the wall, then me, then my Snoopy Dog, then Huggy Bear, and now New Blue Bear. He still had lots of room but he always seemed to end up under my bed every morning. That was not the worst thing... my favorite blankie also was under the bed.

I didn't think much about it until the night I heard the odd sound. I couldn't fall asleep that night. I heard a creaking then sort of a rattling scraping sound. I know I should have been brave and looked under the bed, but I wasn't that brave. Instead I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could and covered my head with the sheet, my blankie, and quilt. Nothing can get you if you have your eyes shut and your favorite blankie over your head.

Then came the night that I had blankie folded up under my head, I heard the same sounds but something else, sort of a sad sigh, or whimper. Then New Blue Bear fell or was pulled off the bed. All the hair on my head felt like it was standing up stick straight. Not an easy thing for curly hair. I didn't know what to do so I relied on my old standby, the eyes shut and blankie routine.

Sure enough when I bounced out of bed I could see just the edge of my blanket and New Blue Bear's foot. The rest of them were all the way under my bed and my blanket was stuck. I pulled and tugged and finally saw that part of it was stuck under the floor boards. I gave it another hard tug and the boards lifted up and I fell on my bottom. I got out my flashlight and checked out the boards. They were easy to lift and they creaked. There was something living under my bed.

That night I was prepared. I had on my favorite PJs, my flashlight, and my bike helmet. Mom always said that would keep me safe. I didn't move and kept pinching myself to stay awake. Finally, I heard the creak and the odd crunching sounds. New Blue Bear disappeared over the side of the bed. I jumped up and caught it in action.

It was white and all bones and seemed really afraid of me. All of its bones were shaking and rattling, making enough noise to wake up my Mom and Dad. I put my fingers to my lips and whispered, "Shhhhhhhhh."

I got out my extra blanket and wrapped it around him. I told him that he could have New Blue Bear for his very own. He seemed less afraid. I tucked him in under my bed and wished him pleasant dreams. Even a skeleton can need a friend. Goodnight everyone.

Thursday Squirrels - Black Squirrel Twabble

Black Squirrel

A Twabble by Marcia Borell

The black squirrel squats frozen on the limb clinging to invisibility. Our eyes lock.  He won the stare down. I turn away.

People either love squirrels or not so much... Welcome to my collection of Thursday Squirrels.  

A Twabble is exactly 100 characters long... counting punctuation but not: spaces, linefeeds, etc.  If you would like to try writing your own twabble - which is a full story with a beginning, middle, and ending in 100 characters check out this counter.

 http://twitfic.net/sizingtool/twabble_sizing_fun.htm

Wednesday - My Fantasy, Sci-fi and Horror Art - Dusty Dreams

First Published in Dark Animus, Issue 3, May 2003, for the Poem, Cure All, by Mark McLaughlin.

Dusty Dreams

A Drabble by Marcia Borell

Sleep! It would be so lovely to close my eyes and sleep. To stretch and relax into fresh sheets and feel the heaviness of my eyelids as they slowly close. I long to feel my breath become deep and easy filling my lungs with lilac scented air.

Dreams! To fly, run, fall, dance, to dream instead of counting the seconds, minutes, and hours as the hands on my clock continue to move.

The dream maker was my only hope. He sprinkled his magic dust in my forever open eyes as I sadly stared past him into my empty non-existent dreams.

Monday Meditation - The search for stones with naturally made holes

My Sunday Funnies - I love a mystery

First Published in FMAM: Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine - Summer 2004

I started reading mysteries in the 5th grade and read all of the Agatha Christie stories.

Coyote, Crow, and Star Weaver - Saturday Drabbles, Flash Fiction, and Illustrations for Children

Illustration first published in Spellbound: A Fantasy Magazine for Children Winter 2002 

Coyote, Crow, and Star Weaver

The world was so lovely in the bright sunlight. The birds, insects, and animals loved to feel its warmth on their backs. The sounds they made were clear and bright, joyful in the shimmering sun.

That would change as the sun traveled high above their heads and disappeared behind the mountains. The sounds made by the birds would grow silent, the buzzing of the insects would grow louder, and the sounds made by the animals would sound sad or scary in the cold dark night.

One day coyote saw crow busy at the water's edge. Crow was pecking at sparkling things in the water.

"What are you doing crow?" asked coyote as he tilted his head to one side.

"I am picking out all of the shiny clear stones to make lights for the night sky," crow answered.

Coyote replied, "That is a wonderful idea. But how are you going to get them to stick to the sky?"

Crow stopped and stared at coyote. She ruffled her feathers and turned her head from side to side. She looked up at the sky and wistfully whispered, "I don't know."

"Crow, do not worry," said coyote, "I will walk through the woods and see if I can find a way to help you."

Crow went back to adding clear shiny stones to her pile as coyote walked off into the woods. Coyote looked first for long sticks that would reach the sky. None of them were long enough. He picked up a pinecone and tossed it into the air. It fell back to earth and bounced off his tail. He found a long vine and looped that around a pinecone twirling it and tossing it up in the air. That one got stuck up high in a tree. Coyote sat and scratched his head with his paw. None of his ideas worked.

He got up and started walking again. As he walked down the path he felt something sticky on his nose. It was a web from the weaver. He wiped it from his nose and walked on. Then he saw the weaver leap from a branch catching the wind and flying with it to another tall tree leaving a long sticky thread in her path. She then used it to add more strings to her weaving until she had made a beautiful web.

Coyote asked, "Weaver, could you reach the tail of the sun?"

Web weaver stopped and thought for a bit, "Yes, if the wind was strong, I think I could reach the tail of the sun."

Coyote explained crow's idea about lighting the sky.

The wind was perfect that night. The web weaver climbed to the top of the tallest tree and jumped grabbing the tail of the sun. Back and forth the weaver wove her web as the sun slowly tugged it behind the mountains. Coyote and crow began handing her the shiny stones.

Joyfully they placed the last stone and brought incredible twinkling lights to the night. 

(This flash fiction story (500 words not including title) was written to go with my illustration and is published here for the first time.) 

Monday Meditation - Stacking Stones

Come walk with me along my favorite rocky shore.

My Sunday Funnies - Making chocolate covered ants.

This was first published in FMAM:  Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine - Summer 2003

Monday Meditation - Feather

Here is the youtube version of my Monday Meditation - Feather