Shutting down

Dear anyone.....

Life has taken so many twists and turns with me that I am going to shut down my blog.


Who knows...there might be more stories in the future...but right now I need to concentrate on my own story.

To keep in touch you can always reach me at brendagladden@yahoo.com or my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/brenda.youngermangladden

wishing you all happiness along the journey...............................

What club are you in?

Time to Ponder yet again.  You know the drill... I post a prompt that has multiple meanings and we get see what you write! Add you post to the linky and wait for the magic!!

(If you want to send me words that you would like us all to ponder - please feel free to do so!)

Today's word is Club you can always grab the prompt early by visiting the Pondering Page


I always wanted to be a part of a club that meant something....didn't happen.
When I was in 2nd grade I became a Blue Bird which in turn became a Camp Fire Girl.....have you ever heard of this club?  Didn't think so..... but you have heard of the Girl Scouts....wrong club for me!!!

Then I joined an organization called BBYO --- ever heard of it... didn't think so!

I guess I always joined the wrong club....

But that is not to say that I never went clubbing (well, actually, I never did! the bar scene was never really for me.)

But the real reason I came up with this word was because of all the police brutality that is occuring all over the US ---what with billy clubs (excuse me??) and Tasers and Shootings.. that is one club I don't want to be a part of.


Please let me know what you think of this diverse word and link up.

Happy Pondering!

Crude to you too!

Time to Ponder yet again.  You know the drill... I post a prompt that has multiple meanings and we get see what you write! Add you post to the linky and wait for the magic!!

(If you want to send me words that you would like us all to ponder - please feel free to do so!)

Today's word is Crude (you can always grab the prompt early by visiting the Pondering Page

Why is it called crude oil? Does that mean it is before it is refined?

So does that really mean is before refinement?

A crude comment is certainly not refined.

Nor is a crude person

But then why wouldn't a diamond straight out of the earth be called a crude diamond?

This is indeed an interesting work.

Happy Pondering....

Sunday Fiction - Chapter 23

All previous chapters can be found on the fiction page

Methodically Bruce went through the crew members to determine what he knew about them. Starting with Stuart he knew that he as in his early twenties and this was his first expedition. He had studied cartography at a college near his home in Missouri. He had always been fascinated when his dad told him stories.

Growing up Lyle had been absent more than present as he was constantly on expeditions; but the times he was home were the best for Stuart. He decided to follow in his dads’ footsteps and then maybe get to spend more time with him.  It didn’t really make sense that the two of them would have been on this ship since 1993 because Stuart would have still been in high school. That did not mean, however that Lyle hadn’t been attached since the beginning. He might be a good resource to speak with.

Matt appeared to be in his early forties and his background was military. He had left the Navy in the early 90’s and found that commercial flying was just not in his nature. He’d hired himself out since then. He had no family waiting for him at home, so long voyages meant nothing.

Joe had a similar background to Matt. In fact they had both been in Navy Seal training together.  From what Bruce had gathered, the two men reconnected after they had left the Navy and sold themselves as a team. Joe however, had a wife and family waiting for him in Tennessee. Bruce was unclear whether or not Joe had actually been on the mission since 1993. He would make a point to ask him at dinner.

Carl, the ship’s captain was in his mid fifties and had always been at sea (so to speak). He had no family waiting for him and could definitely been with the expedition since 1993. His overall non-knowledge of the excursion left Bruce with no reason to question him again.

Steve had been very clear with him that he had nothing to hide and would give him straight answers. That left Monica and Jack. What did he really know about them? He knew that Monica was in charge of the expedition and that Jack said he was a linguist. Was that a lie as well?  Jack had straight out told him that they were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That was definitely not true. He had told him he was a linguist and was there in case of indigenous tribes. Didn’t indigenous tribes exist in the Amazon region? Why would there be indigenous tribes on islands in the Atlantic?

Bruce thought hard about what he remembered from school about geography. If he recalled correctly, there used to be a land mass called Pangaea where all land was connected. It took centuries to separate the land masses into what were now considered continents. Wouldn’t the existing islands have been a part of the original mass? And wouldn’t that in turn make it so that all of the tribes on the islands were one time associated with the tribes on the mainland? There wouldn’t be a need for a linguist.

But if the real target was the Amazon River in the first place, a linguist would be necessary. There were areas along that riverbank and inland from there that had never been visited by modern man. Bruce remembered the stories of cannibalism and sacrifices from the movies. What if they were true? If they were, why would this team be involved?  Bruce did not think that Jack would answer any of these questions honestly, but he could always try.

Monica was the biggest mystery of all. She appeared to be in her early thirties. She had said she’d been hired to map out uncharted islands, but she certainly knew they were in the middle of the Amazon and not the middle of the Atlantic. She had seemed to be interested in finding the remains of the wrecked shipped his family had been on. Was that normal curiosity, or was it more than that? What was her purpose for lying and why was she so generous to offer him such a job? And what was his job?

It seemed to Bruce when he’d finished going through the list that he needed to have a serious talk with Lyle, Joe, Jack and Monica.

Cap it off!

Time to Ponder yet again.  You know the drill... I post a prompt that has multiple meanings and we get see what you write! Add you post to the linky and wait for the magic!!

(If you want to send me words that you would like us all to ponder - please feel free to do so!)

Today's word is Cap (you can always grab the prompt early by visiting the Pondering Page


This is such a great word to play with!!!

Baseball cap - love them!!

Graduation cap ----






Caps for when it is cold:

Caps of uniforms:

Silly Caps:
  

Lipstick Cap

Cap off a leak

Cradle Cap


Did I miss any?

Happy Pondering!

Sunday Fiction - Chapter 22

All previous chapters can be found on the fiction page

Bruce had no idea where to go from there. Carl was the captain; but he didn’t know the real reason for this excursion.  Bruce knew deep inside his sole that someone on this ship knew the real reason for the expedition. He hoped that Jack had not lied to him; but one could never be completely sure of that. His dealings with Stuart seemed to be straight forward and he didn’t really think that Lyle knew anything different. The father and son team seemed to be symbiotic.

That left him with the helicopter pilots – Matt and Joe.  They seemed to be exactly what they purported to be, helicopter pilots. They were sent out to look for things and most likely had no idea of the general plan. The pay was good, and they had no family. Why not join a crew for two years?

Steve had mentioned to him that he would be more than willing to answer any questions he had, and that he would be straight with him. Perhaps now was the time to ask Steve the pressing questions.

He left his cabin and went to find Steve. It was mid-day so Bruce figured that Steve would be preparing the evening meal. He headed towards the galley and it appeared to be empty. Entering the door that Steve came through each night at dinner he figured he would find the kitchen. What he found behind that door stunned him.

Charts and maps covered the wall. There were different colored pins and threads interweaving and connecting them. But that was not the strangest part. There was also a time line that had the same threads leading to the pins on the maps. The timeline began in July of 1993.  He had been told this ‘expedition’ was a two year endeavor, but looking at the times he realized he had been lied to yet again.

Head throbbing, Bruce attempted to make any sense out of the charts. What he could determine is that everything started from Texas. Was that a coincidence? He could have sworn Monica told him they were based out of Washington D.C.

Leaving the room with more questions than answers he decided it was time to go get some fresh air and clear his head.  Aiming towards the helipad he had not anticipated running into anybody. Although he was not clears on everyone’s responsibilities, it was obvious that everyone was occupied most of the time. For all he knew they were in their individual cabins.

The helicopter was not on the deck, so that meant Joe and Matt were not here. He ambled over to the chart room and noticed that neither Lyle nor Stuart were in there. He’d never been very good at geography, but he thought he might determine something from the maps. He saw that there were several binders with different dates on them. He started at the first one he could find. It was dated July, 1993.

Opening the binder and slowly turning the pages he was able to determine that this was not just a map of the area, but a map of the journey as well. It appeared as if 1993 was spent in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pulling down the binder marked 1994 he saw that the journey led this crew to the Caribbean. It appeared as if they made stops at several of the known islands as well as several of the unknown islands. There were notes on new islands they had discovered.

These binders also provided Bruce with more questions than answers and at this point he wasn’t even sure whom to trust to get the answers.

When the bough breaks....

Time to Ponder yet again.  You know the drill... I post a prompt that has multiple meanings and we get see what you write! Add you post to the linky and wait for the magic!!

(If you want to send me words that you would like us all to ponder - please feel free to do so!)

Today's word is Cradle (you can always grab the prompt early by visiting the Pondering Page


With Grand Baby #4 due in three months it is time to pull the cradle back out - not that these children of mine have given me much time in between babies!

A cradle is something that a baby can sleep in, or you could actually cradle the baby in your arms. 



And then of course there is cradle cap - which is a very misleading name as it has to do with the head of a baby!

Have you ever seen an animal cradle a prized toy, treat or person?


Can you explain why a hammock is called a hammock and not a cradle?

Happy Pondering!

Sunday Fiction - Chapter 21

For previous entries please visit the fiction page

Steve told Bruce that he should remain bed ridden for a couple of days and to take it easy. He was not completely sure what had caused the black out, but he wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen again.

While Bruce remained in his room the questions swirled like a tornado in his brain. Who would really know what they were doing? Would Carl have the answers? After all how could you be captain of a ship if you had no idea what the mission is? Or did Lyle know? It was fairly obvious that if they were in the middle of the Amazon River, which was a river, there would not be islands present. There was either the shore, or the other shore.

Perhaps they weren’t really charting islands, but were in fact charting indigenous tribes? If that were the case, why make such an elaborate showing of ‘charting islands?’

Would Monica tell him the truth? He doubted it as she’d been lying to him the entire time he’d been there. But the one he mistrusted the most at this point was Jack. He thought the man had been truthful and it turned out this was all part of one very large charade.

Did Matt or Joe know? How could a helicopter crew not know where they were? But when Bruce thought about it, they had never told him what they were doing. They simply appeared and picked him up. Perhaps they were telling the truth when they said they’d seen his fire and went back to investigate. The biggest problem right now was that no one seemed to know where he’d been picked up from. There was absolutely no way that the boat had drifted to the Amazon River, and there was no way he’d been stranded on one of the shores. He had definitely been on an island!

Steve brought him lunch and dinner for two days; no one else came by. On the third day he left his room and began to explore the ship. Because all the doors looked exactly the same it was difficult to determine what was behind them.  He went up the deck and then went in search of the captain’s perch. He knew where the galley was, as that was where they shared meals; but other than that he did not know what was on that level.

There was the helipad, which took up nearly one third of the deck. As he walked away from the helipad he saw a door that led inside, but on the same level. He entered the door and discovered another set of halls. He did not know much about the structure of boats or ships, but logic mandated that the captain would have to see the way the ship was going; therefore he had to be at the other end of the ship from the helipad. It did not take long to find the door. He knocked on it before opening and was stunned when he did. This room was definitely at the front of the ship. It had windows just like the galley; a whole bank surrounding the room. Carl was sitting there reading what appeared to be a newspaper. At the sound of Bruce entering he lifted his head. A bright smile crossed his face at the sight of the young man.

“Well, well, you found your way to the hub of the adventure!”

Bruce smiled back and said, “Yes I did. It took me a while, but I found you.  The view up here is amazing.”

“Well you can’t very well commandeer a ship if you don’t know what lies ahead. We have maps and charts, but this area can be quite tricky.”

Bruce asked, “Have you done this before?”

“What? Captained a ship?”

Bruce laughed, “No. Taken a ship up the Amazon.”

“Oh yes, many times,” Carl replied. “But how do you know that is where we are?”

“Steve told me.”

“Ah.”

“Can you tell me why we are riding up the Amazon? I don’t really believe it has anything to do with charting unknown islands. There wouldn’t be any islands off of a river.”

Carl’s smile had left his face. He looked straight and Bruce and answered with earnest, “Honestly son, I have no idea. I was hired to run the ship. I was not told about the mission and truth be told, the pay was so good I didn’t really care. I spend most of my time by myself in here. I don’t have much interaction with anyone else. This has actually been a fairly easy adventure for me. We move a few hundred kilometers and then we put down anchor and stay put for a month. Then we do it again.”

Bruce’s eyebrows arched, “And you never wondered why?”

“Son, I don’t get paid to wonder.”