Notices by Lulu Hartgen (lulu_bear@tweesecake.social)

@FrostPoem She tilted the bottle at me and raised a questioning eyebrow. I nodded and watched her hand, so white against the dark green glass. I always loved her hands. The wine glugged into the large goblet, glowing in the soft candle flame, heavy and dark as liquid rubies. "Wo! Wo!" I was laughing. "Are you trying to make me lose my head?" She gave me a very straight look over her own glass. "No. Your heart." she said deadpan. I buried my face in crystal, trying to suppress the blush. The smell engulfed me and I drank it in. Rich berry fruits, chocolate, the softest touch of buttery oak. I was transported back to California, to the long sun-filled days on her family's vineyard, the wide sky, the smell of ripening grapes everywhere, the things I tried so hard not to feel. "What?" she said, bringing me back from my memories, "You thought I wouldn't come back here to find you?" She was looking at me and her dark eyes were glowing, smouldering like the depths of the wine. "And I'm not leaving again. Not without you anyway." I let the wine fil my mouth, warm, soft like her, it flowed smoothly down my throat like a kiss, like a promise. I lifted my head to look at her. We both smiled and clinked glasses. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem It always begins with the dress. Sometimes we can't find the right one, sometimes there is no fairy Godmother and I'm looking through a closet alone and can only find jeans or night clothes. But in the end I find it, the gown, the dress. It's not always the same, sometimes it's silk, sometimes satin, sometimes velvet. The color is different too, though it's mostly pink. It's always huge, wide skirts, rustling petticoats,lots of lace and jewels everywhere. By the time I'm wearing it I know I'm dreaming and I know the glass slippers come next. They are always the same, smooth, shiny, with little heels that clink clink as I walk. Then I walk out of the door, this changes in accordance with wherre I'm living, I've dreamed this dream since I was a tiny girl. But the last bit is always the same. I know that outside my house or flat there is a golden pumpkin coach pulled by white horses. I climb in and we drive away. I feel a sense of joy and excitement I only ever feel in dreams. This time I will be Cinderella, I am going to the ball, this time I will go, this time I will arrive. But then I wake up. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem I'm dreaming of Cinnamon coffee. The thick, dark, spicy fragrance is so strong it is filling my room, filling the house. In my dream I see the tall, thin, glass mug I liked best and which I broke in grief and anger,. its elegant foot, it's delicate handle. The deep brown liquid caresses the clear glass, white krema bubbling on its top. Taking up the mug I inhale deeply, then sip. The drink flows down my throat: hot, bittersweet and subtly spicy. I feel a wave of almost unbearable pleasure and sadness mixed. It didn't happen! It's all a nightmare. How could it have happened if I'm holding this particular mug, smelling this particular smell. No one can make it like he could. I awaken with a start and reach out in the empty bed for the one who isn't there. The aching tide of despair threatens to engulf me again. I get up and wander into the kitchen. Cold kitchen, bare kitchen. I stand by the window and gaze into the garden before turning to my coffee machine. Then I stop in astonishment. Beside the pot is a dusting of grounds, a light smere of cinnamon. Drawn in the powdery grains is an unbroken circle. I fill the pot and turn on the grinder feeling slightly comforted. He isn't gone, not altogether, He's watching me. AS I take my first sip of cinnamon coffee I send him my heartfelt thanks and blow a kiss. the ones who love us can never truly leave us. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem #Microprompt: "Now sit there and keep absolutely quiet!" My aunt sits at her mirror glass vanity table with her back to me as I crouch in the doorway. In front of her is a heavy crystal tray full of makeup, a silver pot of brushes, a special bamboo comb inlaid with silver and gold. I see my aunt reflected in the angled mirrors, her face blank and completely without expression as she picks up a sponge and begins to cover her face, forehead and neck with thick foundation like bisque porcelain. She blushes her cheeks rosy red, makes her eyes huge and dark, gives herself long, long, glossy eyelashes and sensational arched eyebrows. I want to ask her questions but I know better than to break her concentration as I watch her pick up the glossy red lipstick and paint on the cupid's bow lips with their impish smile. She takes the comb and teases her beautiful hair into a huge riot of curls, then stands up from the vanity stool, checks herself from every angle in the mirrors while fluffing out her ruffled white muslin gown. I can't help it, the question bursts out of me. "Where are you going tonight, Auntie? Is it somewhere fun? Will you be back soon?" Auntie smiles and a look of concentration begins to spread over her perfect kewpie doll face. "Oh yes honey," she says, "The midway is open tonight, the whole crowd of us will be there, hopefully someone nice will win me. I'll be back as soon as I can, you know that, sweetness. After all, someone has to teach you the family business!" I smile wide, waiting for the best bit. My aunt stretches, grimmaces, then smiles in triumph as little blue wings pop out from the back of her neck. She gives a whoop of joy, blows me a kiss and flies out of the window. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

I'm a fan of Jaws, I'm the first one to come out and say so. but unified keyboard processing is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad thing from where I'm sitting. I've been struggling with this machine for literally months without knowing why. I've just found out why.

I have literally hit dead ends for the last three hours everywhere I've gone online today. I haven't done this kind of shopping for three years, in which time every single site I've used has become completely inaccessible. Lord have mercy!

@FrostPoem #Microprompt: I felt a thrill of excitement as I stepped into the workshop. I breathed in the scent of varnish, polish, solder and solvent. I heard the sounds, the tick tocking, the cacophony of music boxes from the very large to the tiny, all playing different tunes, the clunk and whirr of mechanisms. "I have something new, come look!" he said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. On the work table sat a golden cage in which perched a pair of scalet love birds. "You'll like this." my uncle smiled as he turned a small key in the side of the cage. The birds turned their heads and looked at each other, bowed to each other in time, all the while whistling a song on sweet, high notes which harmonised in perfect thirds. They turned away back to their starting positions, then repeated the action, singing all the while. Uncle burst into a delighted laugh at my look of wonder. "And that, my dear, is the beauty of clockwork!" he said. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem #Microprompt: I was so tired I could hardly lift my feet to climb the winding staircase up to my bedroom. It had been such a hard day and my lovely antique brass bed was beckoning. Once I'd removed my makeup, cleaned my teeth and put on my fluffy pink pyjamas I pulled back the lace coverlet and slid between clean white sheets. I raised my hand to the bedhead with its knobs and fancy curlicues. There was my dreamcatcher, a beautiful white and silver crescent moon with a lovely fairy sitting inside the curve, her wings outspread. I ran a finger over the smooth surface of the moon, then over the fairy's sweetly pensive face. "Please send me a dream of angels?" I whispered. I turned out the lamp and snuggled down. In the sudden darkness the white moon seemed to glow. In less than a minute I dropped into a deep valley of sleep. I heard beautiful voices singing. A soft breeze of fluttering wings was all around, hands were holding both my own. "Come fly with us! Come play with us!" I was soaring into the air. The freedom, the peace, the euphoria filled me to the brim. I awoke in the morning, rested, refreshed, ready for the day. AS I got out of bed I saw the moon looking very small, white and ordinary, just a pretty dreamcatcher. Only I knew of the magic inside. I stroked the fairy's face. She was slightly smiling. "Thank you." I whispered. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

#Microprompt: I was so tired I could hardly lift my feet to climb the winding staircase up to my bedroom. It had been such a hard day and my lovely antique brass bed was beckoning. Once I'd removed my makeup, cleaned my teeth and put on my fluffy pink pyjamas I pulled back the lace coverlet and slid between clean white sheets. I raised my hand to the bedhead with its knobs and fancy curlicues. There was my dreamcatcher, a beautiful white and silver crescent moon with a lovely fairy sitting inside the curve, her wings outspread. I ran a finger over the smooth surface of the moon, then over the fairy's sweetly pensive face. "Please send me a dream of angels?" I whispered. I turned out the lamp and snuggled down. In the sudden darkness the white moon seemed to glow. In less than a minute I dropped into a deep valley of sleep. I heard beautiful voices singing. A soft breeze of fluttering wings was all around, hands were holding both my own. "Come fly with us! Come play with us!" I was soaring into the air. The freedom, the peace, the euphoria filled me to the brim. I awoke in the morning, rested, refreshed, ready for the day. AS I got out of bed I saw the moon looking very small, white and ordinary, just a pretty dreamcatcher. Only I knew of the magic inside. I stroked the fairy's face. She was slightly smiling. "Thank you." I whispered. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem #Microprompt: I closed the front door on my last customer. Sighing wearily I went back into my work room to put away my angel cards and runes. It had been a long day and I was longing to see Lorento. There were no cooking smells coming from the kitchen and that was unusual for a start. I wandered out back to the garden. "Oh! HI Angelica!" Lorento was looking embarrassed, trying to sound casual. She was rootling in the herb beds between the rue and the pineapple mint, pecking at something squishy. I acted angry while stifling a smile. "Oh Lorento, you didn't!" She straightened up, turned her head over her shoulder and started preening the rainbow feathers on her back. "I couldn't help it," she said in a muffled voice. "There was a snake. I saw it slithering about down by the elves' rose bush. I chased it for half an hour. I couldn't leave it, might have been poisonous, it would certainly have frightened them, you know how they can be." I kept my face straight while my heart swelled with love. "I assume you caught it?" "Oh yeah. i stomped it. But I, er, couldn't leave it lying around." She looked with longing down into the herb bed. "I'm sorry, I haven't started supper." I put my arms around her. "Goofball! Scariest, cutest, most beautiful Winglen with the softest heart!" I said. "Never mind that. You finish up what you started. I'll make spaghetti." She straightened up, her big eyes shining. "You will not! You've been working all day. I'll go get you pizza." Before I could say anymore she had spread her huge, beautiful wings and soared into the air. #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem #Microprompt: I awoke to find the room in a state of total chaos. The night stand lay on its side, its glass top detached. The lamp was smashed. My books, crystals and angel cards had been swept from the little shelf. Lorento's beloved twelve foot miniature Ficus tree ... oh no! It lay on its side, earth from its pot was all over the floor along with leaves, broken branches ... we'd have to buy another tree. I sighed. This was getting old. I turned towards the vanity ... everything was scattered. The new fragrances I'd bought only last week were broken. For a moment fury rose in my throat, but as I turned to see that amazing golden head on the pillow beside mine, love overwhelmed me. It's not like Lorento could help this. "Darling." I smoothed a hand over the huge rainbow colored wing wrapped around me. The jewel bright yellow eyes flickered. The sharp beak opened wide in a yawn. Lorento leaped from the bed, so tall, so proud, so fantastically beautiful, that lethal fan of iridescent tail fanning out and catching the first rays of the sun. "Oh don't tell me! I'm so sorry. I'll fix it all. Darling don't cry." I took my love in my arms. "It's all right, it's all right. You warned me. I know you can't help sleep flying sometimes." #AMWriting #WritingCommunity

@FrostPoem #MicroPrompt: Once a little bauble hung from a festively decorated tree. It was beautiful, glittery pink and dusted with gold which sparkled in the lights with its slightest movement. The tree was covered in all kinds of beautiful decorations: silver icicles, gold stars, red mini candy apples and green holly sprigs, but the angel on the top of the tree looked down at just one decoration, the little pink bauble. "Why are you so sad?" she asked. "Oh! oh!" sobbed the little bauble, "I love being here in this house, seeing the family. I want to be around all year, to see the spring, summer and fall, not just six weeks or so in the winter. But I know I'll be packed away every year until I'm not pretty anymore, then I'll be thrown in the trash and I'll never see my family again." The angel smiled and blew the littel bauble a kiss. Just then a pretty young woman walked up to the tree carryign the family's newest member, a baby nearing one year old. She showed the baby the lights, the decorations, the sparkling tinsel on the tree. "It's your first Christmas." she said. "So you get to choose one of these pretties to keep forever. Which will you have, Bella?"Bella looked carefully at the tree, at the lights, the red candy apples, the gold stars, the silver icicles. Then she reached out her hand and touched the little pink bauble. Bella's Mama smiled. "Now we'll take this and hang it in your nursery by the window as a reminder of this precious time. And you shall keep it until you're grown up." she said. The little bauble's heart almost burst with joy. The baby girl smiled, her Mama smiled, and away up on top of a tree a beautiful angel was smiling too. AMWriting #WritingCommunity