*** Wordzzle Challenge ***

Raven, at Views From Raven's Nest, has created this word puzzle, Wordzzle, for us to have a challenge and write to. The words/phrases to work with this week are:

Main Challenge (10):
prefix, art festival, income tax, chicken noodle soup, jump rope, Dutch Treat, flowering plum tree, bats in the belfry, diamond earrings, tigers

Mini Challenge (5):
book club, organic tea, the cow jumped over the moon, paragon of virtue, wench

My Mini Challenge (5):

The weekly book club meeting was held at the Organic Tea Room, a small shop run by a woman who grew her own herbs and such, using them to make every tea she sold, by the cup or in packets to take home with you. The book of the month was titled The Cow Jumped Over The Moon, though it was not about bovines. Instead, it was about a young serving girl, who was a paragon of virtue. "Lord and lady, groom and wench" -- the quote by Chaucer started the first chapter.

My Main Wordzzle Challenge (10):

"Lets go for lunch," said one of the Overbeak brothers.
"It's Dutch Treat," chimed in the other brother, and she knew they meant they were paying. They were Dutch, and it was their treat. Sunday afternoon lunch with the brothers always proved to be of the highest enjoyment for her, a prefix to a day filled with laughter and with deep spiritual discussions where it was always safe to disagree, knowing there would be no put downs or reprisals, only learning and growing. The brothers were from a large family that had been raised with strict religion, she was from a medium sized family that had never gone to church, and yet they were all attending the same Spiritual Centre now.

One Sunday in particular, they had gone to a small cafe called the Flowering Plum Tree, where she had ordered chicken noodle soup with an egg salad sandwich, and upon the urging of the brothers added strawberry pie for desert... she was going to have to jump rope a lot this week to wear that lunch off.

Afterward, the three friends went to an art festival that was on that weekend at the Area. Gayle had sent several of her creations to the festival with a friend who had a booth there, so wanted to see how things were going as well as investigate all other booths and items for sale and display. She owed money on her income tax, so knew she must have bats in the belfry when she decided to buy a pair of diamond earrings in the shape of tigers. They were just so beautiful, one of a kind, and were surprisingly low priced for the quality she was getting. Each of the brothers offered to pay part of it, though she thanked them kindly and assured them she could manage it herself.

My Mega Challenge (15)

"It breaks my heart to not be able to deliver you the juicy stories from behind the bar that have kept tavern wench going this long," said the bar tender, "howsoever, I have had the Mrs. down my throat about sharing such stories." Thus went the beginning of Chapter 3 in "The Cow Jumped Over The Moon."

"Yer Mrs. can be a bit of a cow that way," added one of the fellows standing at the bar, drinking a tall glass of ale.

"Aye, she can at that! A real Dutch Treat!" threw in another customer. "Another ale, Henry." he ordered as all the men laughed at his statement.

"Me wife is a good mother an all. Aye, she's a right paragon of virtue," the bartender, Henry, prefixed before going on to complain some more about the woman he was married to.

After several minutes of drinking ale and discussing the less than fine points of the woman, the conversation died down, all men standing around drinking their ale. "She does make a right fine chicken noodle soup! And biscuits too," said one of the men. "You'd have bats in the belfry to not admit that." and the conversation went on about the woman's culinary skills, and what a fine wife she was.

Gayle sipped her organic tea as she continued reading the book of the month for her book club. Having sold several things at the art festival, she had paid off her income tax and her credit card, so now she could fully enjoy the sparkling diamond earrings in the shape of tigers that now danced below her shapely ears. She set her book aside as she sat beneath the flowering plum tree, and thought about how she had really blown things. She wondered whatever had possessed her to sleep with one of the Overbeak brothers, and if she was going to do such a thing, why had it been Hans when it should have been Burt. Burt was the one she was closest to, after all, and he loved her. She knew she had fallen into a self destruct mode... again. She had hurt Burt, and now would never see either of the brothers again, though she knew she'd never forget them. They were both imprinted on her heart forever.

Getting up, she picked her jump rope off the chair beside her and went to get some exercise. Maybe she could sweat the brothers out of her mind, if only for awhile.


In less than 10 mintues a friend will be here to pick me up... oh oh she's early... gotta run.