WEDNESDAY'S PHOTO OF THE DAY

My heart's aflame...

Photographer: Stefano Minella

location: Italy

website: http://www.stefanominella.com/

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If you’d like to be a contributor to our Wednesday photo day, please email your formatted shot to madlakepages@gmail.com with all pertinent information.

TITILLATING TUESDAY - A CLOUD OF HAWTHORNE

CHAPTER TEN   

The band started playing at seven pm sharp, just as guests began to filter into the main foyer. Wesley stood at the drinks table with his cousin, Henley, both with dry martinis in hand. Henley's sister, Margaret, who stood across from Proberta at the entryway to the grand hall, seemed to take a special interest in the older generation, of which there were few, ensuring each was comfortably seated and were served their cocktail. It was a party primarily for the younger set, however, Margaret knew their elders found great pleasure in attending such events, to watch the dancing, eager to see who interacted with whom.
    Proberta hung by the doorway greeting each and every one of their guests with her flirty charm. She lingered unabashedly around the few bachelors who had been invited, annoying all the single women who had hoped for free and easy access to these fine, young prospects. Sadly, they knew that once Proberta made her self known to any man, they would have eyes only for her. Proberta, of course, relished in the attention, ignoring the glares and snide remarks from her peers. She seemed to find a particularly handsome gentleman by the name of Dorrington Bromberg, most alluring. He was new to the area, visiting his Aunt from Cornwall. After chatting briefly, Proberta took his arm and led him onto the dance floor. The two cousins looked on with amusement.
    "Well, it appears that the lady you, or I, are to be bequeathed to has engaged the attentions of someone more..."
    "More handsome than us?" Wesley said, and laughed. However, his eyes were glued to the couple twirling around the room.

Music Monday

Wow, daylight savings threw me off!  Here's your music for today...

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

Using 5 words from Thursday's The History of Sex: Part 8, here is your flash fiction story for Friday, March 9th, in exactly 50 words.

Lillian was at the marketplace when she happened upon a shrine of vegetables. Squash, turnip, carrots, okra, stacked like phallus atop a golden tray, surrounded by burning candles.
"It's our offering to the fertility goddess," a woman explained.
Lillian noticed the woman was a transvestite.
"Good luck," Lillian replied, smiling.

If you'd like to write and share a 50 word flash fiction piece from a Thursday post, email your story to madlakepages@gmail.com. Who knows, you might win something.

HISTORY OF SEX: Part 8

Each spring, cultures all over the world celebrate the renewed fertility of land with festivals, religious holidays (hello, Easter!), and feasts.  One that stands out in the crowd is the Kanamara Matsuri in Kawasaki.  During the first week of each April, phalluses of all sizes and made from all sorts of materials are paraded to a local Shinto shrine dedicated to the penis.

Legend has it that a local girl has a monster residing in her vagina (so annoying!) and it castrated two penises before a blacksmith made an iron phallus that broke the teeth off the monster.  Everyone lived happily ever after, except those two poor castrated men, and the iron phallus was enshrined.  The shrine was popular with prostitutes, who would pray to the phallus for good business and protection from syphilis.  

The festival has evolved into a tourist attraction and one can see phallus made of fruits and vegetables, metal, wood, and rubber.  Every year, a group of transvestites carry a giant pink phallus to the shrine.  You can eat phallus-shaped pastries and enjoy penis-celebrating comics.  Rest assured, you'd be giggling over penis candy for a good cause: this is also a big fundraiser for H.I.V. research.