Tuesday, June 21, 2011

You Have to See This!

WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!! The Winner of Suzan Hardens and my contest posted Sunday is.... Mia Marlowe. And I pulled two names out of the hat accidentally so I decided to go with both of them: Staceyapurcell and MsHellion. Email me at christie (@) christie - Craig .com

Thank you to everyone who played along.

CC

Contest! Contest!





“You have to see this!”





When someone says that to me, there’s always this flutter of excitement in my chest. My mind starts to try and figure out what the heck it is that I HAVE to see. As a person who loves nature and is lured toward sunsets, beautiful landscapes, rainbows, and cute animals, I always hurry with anticipation to fill my eyes with some new bit of wonder.





I’ve seen a lot of gorgeous bits of nature--things that inspire me and leave me awestruck. Things that, just from looking at them, starts chills running up my spine; and for some reason, I hear a small voice deep inside my head whispering some fortune-cookie message, or at the least, the perfect caption for that particular piece of visual candy.





Coincidentally, when someone tells me “you gotta see this” my fingers immediately start to itch for the feel of my camera. Whatever “this” is that someone is certain that I HAVE to see, I feel driven to capture it on film, or in digital pixels. I feel it even before I fix my gaze on what it is that I must see. My gut tells me that if it’s worthy of that kind of excitement, I don’t want to just see it once, I want to see again and again. And I want to share it. Below are just a few of my past gotta-see-‘em images.















Inspiring, right? Ahh, but this particular gotta-see-this experience was a tad different than most of my others. Don’t get me wrong, I got chills dancing up my spine, and I heard that whispery voice offering up caption-type messages playing in my head. But I wasn’t so awestruck as I was . . . shocked. Maybe horrified. Not that it stopped my fingers from itching for my camera. And yes, I managed to capture the image in digital pixels. (Where is the image? Be patient, it’s coming.)





Now, one might worry about the person, a neighbor, who anxiously dragged me out onto her patio to see “this.” In her defense, there was wine involved. I suppose the most disturbing fact was that she thought I would be thrilled to see it. What kind of person does she think I am? Wait, that’s not the most disturbing fact. The most disturbing fact is that she was right. I had to see it. I mean, I’m blogging about it, aren’t I? Hey…I’m a writer and you guys know that gives me a license to be weird.









Oh, and just in case you are wondering…yes, my photo subject did meet his maker. Also, I would like to state that my neighbor, or I, played no part in the demise of this creature. It was in lizard heaven when she found the poor soul. She can’t, however, say the same for Winston, her feline, whose favorite pastime is running lizard patrol in her backyard.





And because I’m feeling generous, I’m offering a copy of Born at Midnight, the first book in my Shadow Falls series, as a prize to the best caption for this gotta-see-it image. And to play fair, I’m going to give you two that came to mind:





1) You think you had a bad day!





2) Be careful when taking a leap of faith.





So there you have it, my crazy captions. So come on, get your thinking caps on, give your funny bone a workout, and get creative. The winner will be posted tomorrow at the beginning of this blog, so make sure you pop over to see if you are the winner.





CC






By the way, don't forget about the contest still going on from Sunday's blog. Check it out. Suzan Harden and I are giving away more prizes and the winner of that contest and the one being help today will be announced first thing in the morning at the top of this blog.

16 comments:

Stacey Joy Netzel said...

Very cool!

But as a person who thinks lizards, toads and frogs are cute and still plays with them when my kids bring them to me (practically every day!), I'm very sad to hear this beautiful blue guy met his maker.

This is my caption: :(

Donna Marie Rogers said...

Well, I have to agree with Stacey, I love creatures of this type so I'm bummed he didn't make it. And thankfully I already own BAM because the same caption comes to my mind. Or maybe, "So long cruel world!" *grin*

Christie Craig said...

Hi Stacey,

I know exactly what you mean. I love all creatures, except spiders.
CC

Anonymous said...

What in the world would possess this creature to climb onto a cactus?? Poor baby- I feel sorry for it, but you have to agree that it was a very unusual site to see....I would have taken a picture too!
"Damn, should have listened to the wife and asked for directions!"

Ruth said...

Death by Cacti. What a prickly way to go. I'm sure that there will be an investigation into this reptilian homicide. Can't one of your new characters bring them back- or maybe a new lizard zombie?

Ruth

Christie Craig said...

Okay..I like, "Death by Cacti!" And Stacey's, "Damn, should have listened to the wife and asked for directions!" is great.

Keep 'em coming guys.

CC

Sandy said...

Why did you let it be killed? It wasn't hurting anyone, was it?

Lovely pictures, all of them.

My caption: Mom! Help me.

Christie Craig said...

Sandy,

Ahh, Sandy, when she found the lizard it was gone. Probably been there for days. I can grant you that saving it would have been our first priority.

CC

Hellie Sinclair said...

I think lizards are cute. *LOL*

"Ha! Ghandi thought he was impressive with his bed of nails, did he? Please."

Terri Osburn said...

Ow, ouch, oy, oof, ay caramba!

(No need to enter me, I own it already too. *g*)

I'll add my "the poor guy" to the lament.

Refhater said...

LOL, those are some awesome pictures. I've already got a copy of Born at Midnight, so count me out of this contest.

My caption however would be:

"Seriously, this is the LAST blind date I ever go on."

Meb Bryant said...

"Does this cactus make my butt look big?"

Christie, Don't enter me in the contest, I bought the book at the book signing. Love it! I could, however, use the lizard on my next mystery book cover since I was called Lizzie Lizard in elementary school by the mean boys.

Christie Craig said...

Mshellion,

Love it. You always rock at caption contest!

Hi Terri. Thanks for stopping by.

Refhater, you are another one that rocks at these contests. LOL. Thanks for stopping in.

And Meb, you are welcome to use the image. Poor fellow. I'm sure he's in Lizard heaven happy to know he's finally gotten his deserved fame.

CC

Unknown said...

Great pics!

Bet Winston want touch me here, that cat thinks he's so smart.

Oh the safty of these spinny needles.

Save me castus from the kitty.

Patti Macdonald said...

"Growing a tough hide / developing a thicker skin"

(I already have a copy of your book!)

J.D. Faver said...

Yeah, I'm the one who is always saving lizards when they happen into the house because my part rat terrier is a force to be reckoned with and there are 2 guard kitties who keep me safe from reptiles, crickets etc.
My caption would be:
"Are you sure this is the body piercing salon?"
or
"You want me to get WHAT pierced?"
*hugs*
~June