Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “neat.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Neato, Cheeto, Frito Lay
Far out, groovy, those were the days
No cell phones, lap tops, or video games
No presidents calling people names.
If you called and I was out
You’d have to try again.
No caller ID or voice mail.
You hoped it was a friend.
Playing in the sun
Or hanging in the room
Listening to vinly
My how time has zoomed!
I think I’ll just leave it at that for my attempt at Stream of Consciousness poetry. Thought about writing about how I’ve never been a neat freak. Never will be, but then, it’s all relative. My kids probably think I am. But no. My home is an eclectic mix of rustic farmhouse, vintage, with a hint of hobbit in the living room and my hippie corner in the guest room.
The record player and albums are close to 50 years old
Oh! I did some art recently. Got myself to a class at a little studio on Main Street and ended up with this tree:
Star Willow
I added another strand of leaves since taking this photo. Not sure if I like it better or not, but who cares? At least I got back to making art.
Nature is not neat. Nature’s designs have symmetry, which can be neat. But nature is neat in the slang sense of being cool, groovy, and far out.
Another thing I did that I’ve been wanting to do besides art, is I went hiking with my daughter Ayla to my favorite spot so far: The Lower Cascades of Hanging Rock State Park. My favorite thing there was watching the sunlight reflected on the rock walls around the pool. Talk about a natural high!
I’m not sure if you can see the video. It says it’s private. ??? Can you see them if you click the arrow? There are two videos before the photos.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tan/ten/tin/ton/tun.” Use one, use ’em all, use ’em any way you’d like. Bonus points if you manage to get four of them into your post. Have fun!
When I was ten years old, in the late 1960s, I had my first bad sunburn. Being fair skinned, it was the first of many bad burns. Most of my back became one big sheet of blister. We had to take a day trip somewhere and as the blister’s popped, they prickled any time I moved against the car seat. You’d think that would teach me a lesson. But as a teenager in the 1970s, having a tan was almost a requirement, or so it seemed in the summer. I had to burn first, and eventually my sunburns would turn into tan. We lived on the east coast, 20 minutes from the beach, and practically no one I knew wore sunscreen, well maybe OLD people wore sunscreen. Now, I wear sunscreen, or at least a hat and long sleeves. I’m probably lucky that so far, I’ve only been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma above my right eyebrow. (Knock on wood.) That was a couple years ago. My skin cancer screening last week turned out okay – nothing new. By the way, my tick disease tests were negative, too, so I’m thankful for that and for feeling better.
Tin is next on the list. Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn’t, didn’t already have. I love the band, America. I love America, too. I feel a little sick in my stomach now thinking about what I could write about politics in my country. But America, the American people, are still mostly good, I think. Regular people still help each other out in disasters, though right now, we’re in sort of a slow simmering disaster. But I DON’T want to write about that. We get enough negativity on mainstream media. Sigh.
Or better yet, sing!
Tin. My tinnitus is getting worse, but I can still sing, and I don’t always notice it, unless I think about it or when everything is very quiet. It’s like a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing around my head. Maybe bees. I could have said a ton of bees, and used that prompt, but that would be exaggerating.
Button has ton at the end. I still have a bunch of buttons in a tin, ha! and some buttons that have slogans and stuff. Do I have a picture? Well, here’s my favorite button right now.
There’s a light at the end of this tunnel.
Third Day’s song, “Tunnel” helped me a lot when I was a single mom working a stressful job.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “life hack.” Use it way you’d like. Enjoy!
To be completely honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what “life hack” meant. Do you ever have gaps in your knowledge that surprise you? So, I had to look it up and realized I have always had life hacks. When I worked on my books, I learned I had to do my writing before I opened any social media or even email. Otherwise, I’d get distracted. Maybe I could have set a timer, but better not to even go there on social media.
Social media and I don’t have a love/hate relationship, it’s more like a like/dislike. But is WordPress considered social media? If so, I do enjoy WP, even though I don’t get to spend as much time here as I used to. Of course, we all have choices and so many possibilities. It’s not good for my body to sit too long. I used to stand at my computer for a while, but not lately. Getting up and stretching is maybe a life hack if I want to be healthy. When driving, I’m better off stopping and stretching every hour which slows me down, but in the long run, I can go further once I get to my destination.
Speaking of health, I had a massage today (Friday) which was long awaited after having done a lot of driving, last weekend. Then I had a blood test for Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Monday, after taking Marley for a long walk, I found a tick in my hair! and dropped it in alcohol.
The tiny tick next to a penny
The next day, I found what itched like a tick bite on the side of my head. I had sprayed my ankles and shoes but didn’t think about my head. Anyway, I don’t usually get tested or prescribed antibiotics for every tick bite, because I’d be at the doctor a lot during warm weather. (Yes, I need to more careful about my head, but I have bought more light-colored clothes and often pull my white socks up over my pants, not caring if it looks weird. I guess those could be life hacks.) Something told me to go to the doctor this time. Maybe because I’ve been feeling achy and tired, but this could just be a common cold since I have a sore throat. It could also be a reaction to the colonoscopy prep from Wednesday’s routine (10 year) procedure. Don’t get me started (SoC) on that prep, but the first swallow of the solution made think, Is this s#*t safe for human consumption? Plus, I did not get a lot of sleep…
The good news is that the colonoscopy results were okay. Just one little polyp removed. It was recommended that I go back for another in seven years. We’ll see how I feel about that in seven years. Right now, I think I might be too busy.
I suppose I could think of more life hacks, like I just made vegan “parmesan” by putting cashews, nutritional yeast, and garlic powder in the little “bullet” blender. But continuing to think about examples of life hacks would not necessarily be writing in stream of consciousness mode. Life Hack is a strange term to me. Like if you hack away something that’s not good for you, then it’s good for your life. Like a cat hacking up a hairball. The word, hack, has a lot of meanings which makes it a good SoCS prompt. (Linda’s good at that.) Some meanings are negative, like hacking into a computer system not belonging to the hacker. There are also some horses called hacks, hackneys, or hack can mean to ride for pleasure.
Hack can also mean, to cope, in which case, may we all hack on!
Some of the driving I did last weekend was to western NC to take my granddaughter home after her spring break visit. Jess helped me volunteer at the shelter while she was here. One of the dogs was also named Jess. Then, my son drove us to nearby Tennessee for her guitar lesson, allowing me to take pictures from the passenger seat.
Jess and shelter dogsPracticing before lessonTennessee landscape from carTennessee scenery from car
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “bookmark.” Use as a noun, use it as a verb, use it way you’d like. Have fun!
If I had to guess, I’d say there are at least 10 bookmarks in my house in various places. Maybe even 20. A few of them might even be in books. I think there’s one or two pined up on a bulletin board since I like the art. Some were designed for bookmarks. Others could be postcards, greeting cards, photos, pictures I liked. I like bookmarks, but don’t always use them. Sometimes, I’ve dog-eared a page, underlined, or highlighted in a book that I own. There is minimal hesitation anymore in doing this as I get further aways from the days and decades where this was frowned upon or even taboo according to librarians, which makes sense if it’s a library book, use a bookmark!
We’ve all probably used things to hold a place in a book that are not bookmarks. I’ve been known to use a tissue more than once, a pencil, pen, leaf, magazine, an emery board, a comb…. when I smoked in the 70s, I probably used a book of matches, or possibly a single match. But rarely would I put a book facedown to hold my place since the librarians said you could break the book’s spine that way. Heaven knows I would not want to do that or even step on a crack, because you know what might happen then!
I wonder if I can find a book with a bookmark in it. Surely there’s one in a Bible…. Yep. I found it on the page with the story I mentioned in a recent stream of consciousness post. The one where Jesus changes his mind in response to a woman’s persistence and saying even the dogs get crumbs from the master’s table. In The Living Bible, it says puppies instead of dogs for some reason. The bookmark of the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and drying them with her hair was cut from a church bulletin.
I just noticed that this story is in the Book of Mark which is interesting considering today’s prompt. No planning here on my part, at least not consciously.
Speaking of Mark, here’s a quote I like from Mark Twain.
Mark these words, JoAnna
I know there are ways to bookmark things online and on my laptop, but I don’t use that for some reason, though I do send things to myself a lot which adds to my already overwhelming inbox. But I’m not worrying about that right now.
Oh yeah, here are some bookmarks I had printed for Trust the Timing.
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “hide.” Use it way you’d like. Enjoy!
There are fond memories of playing hide and seek as children in the neighborhood, maybe after dinner, before the streetlights came on…..
Sometimes, when I’m embracing my inner introvert, I like to hide from people in general, at least physically, by staying in my house. There’s a facebook page that has a lot of memes about the coziness of staying home which reinforces my tendency to want to be a homebody. The facebook page name has the word, cottage, in it. It’s all about coziness. But the little section of my brain that tries to hide secret thoughts of conspiracies wonders if this is a plot to keep all women at home with their pretty flowers, cats, and coffee mugs. There was a time, many years ago, when I disdained stay at home “housewives” as they were called. Now, I understand the loveliness and luxury of staying at home, decorating, planting flowers, tending the home…… Life can change like that.
Hide. Mine has never been naturally thick. In fact, my skin is physically thinner than when I was younger, and my psyche has always been on the sensitive side. I sometimes envy people who have thick skin… thick hide… Sort of….
There’s a song by Carole King called “Tapestry” which I used to listen to in the early 70s, with the line about the drifter passing by wearing a coat of many colors around his leathered hide. That’s some imagery there. There’s a Joseph in the Bible who was given a coat of many colors. So maybe the drifter was more than just a drifter. He must have had a colorful life. Anyway, it’s a beautiful song about life and death.
I read somewhere about how a tapestry does not make sense from the back, with lose strings and all, but from a different perspective it makes sense and seems to go together. From close up, things don’t always make sense, but in the big picture, it all works out. That’s what I’m believing today, in the stream of consciousness.
I just now found this video of the song, Tapestry with the background of a tapestry made in honor of Carole King.
And since it is Easter Saturday, I thought of this song about trusting Jesus as my hiding place, which I suppose can happen even in a crowd.
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “portrait.” Use it way you’d like. Have fun!
Where have all the portraits gone? I still have photos of grandkids scattered around the house and old school pictures of my kids. They still do school pictures, but I have not liked the ones I see lately. So many pictures these days are on our phones or digitally exist in the cloud of something along with our laptops.
The portrait setting on my phone takes good pictures sometimes by blurring the background when you want to focus on one item. I experimented with this today on this apple blossom.
Looking at it now, it seems to have a lot of white on it. Is that fungus? I probably should have sprayed it with neem oil before the blossoms. Now I have to wait till the blossoms are gone because I don’t want to disturb the potential pollinators.
Last spring, I was horrified to find Japanese beetles all over our two little apple trees, devouring the leaves, so I’ve been ready with the neem oil, which is good for bugs as well as fungus, if I recall correctly. I’m going to look at the little apple trees every day and be ready. That’s my goal. The neem oil is supposed to be more eco-friendly than some other options.
I’ll probably think of something else I would like to write about later with the prompt. But maybe not. Maybe that’s it.
Oh, yeah, I was thinking right after reading the prompt about a portrait of America and Norman Rockwell. My parents had a book of Norman Rockwell paintings. The book was falling apart, having provided many hours of enjoyment, so before letting it go, I took photos of my favorite pictures and will look for them in a minute. The stream of consciousness is pulling me along.
Portrait of America. Wasn’t that a TV show?
“America, where are you now, don’t you care about your sons and daughters? Don’t you know, we need you now, we can’t fight alone against the monster….”
That was from possibly the hardest rock album I ever owned. Steppenwolf, Monster. from 1969.
Okay, it’s not really hard rock, just hard truth.
Norman Rockwell was a very talented artist. Many of his paintings were funny. Some were serious, and some were dramatic. I decided to play it safe and just share his most iconic paintings along with the inscription from Mom to Dad.
Inscription
We have choices. Many choices.
Sometimes I just want to take care of my apple trees.
Sometimes I do a little more.
~~~
For more streams of consciousness, visit out host, Linda G. Hill by clicking the link below:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “easy/hard.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you’d like. Bonus points if you get both words into your post. Enjoy!
It’s not always easy to be hard. This is especially true for those who care, for people who are empathic or compassionate. We may have a hard time setting boundaries. But sometimes boundaries keep us safe. If you’ve given a lot already, and it seems like the situation isn’t getting better, then we have to say no.
Well, we don’t have to say no. But maybe we do, because you can’t pour from an empty cup. This may have to do with money, but also it could be about energy or time. We need to set limits.
Sigh. I didn’t mean to start off so serious and general. But the song came to mind, “Easy to be Hard.” It was in the play and movie, HAIR, but I like the Three Dog Night version better, maybe because I listened to it a lot many, many years ago.
In the Bible it says, “Love your neighbor as yourself. ” It does not say, instead of yourself. It doesn’t say more than yourself. It says, “as yourself.” And it wasn’t just in the Bible. It’s something Jesus said in the Bible as the second most important commandment after loving God.
This loving our neighbors as ourselves goes along with including ourselves in our circles of compassion.
Yet there are some people who do find it easy to be hard. Right? Maybe people who are hard and tough feel secure in this habit. Like the current president of the US for example. It seems it’s easy for him to be hard, cruel, and uncaring. After all, what we practice we get good at. Some people become desensitized to the suffering of others. Maybe they always were insensitive or self-centered. I don’t know.
Dang. This is a downer of a post, but sometimes that happens, cause, life…..and mainstream news….
What can I do to turn this around?
In the music video from the HAIR movie, the guy who’s being hard turns around, because his friends convince him to turn around and go back to the mother of his child. You can see that around 3 minutes into the following video. It’s more powerful and personal than the Three Dog Night version. I had forgotten that.
It’s okay to change your mind.
Even Jesus changed his mind about helping the woman who said, even the dogs get the scraps (or crumbs?) that fall from the master’s table.
I had to look that up. It’s in Matthew 15: 21-28. At first, Jesus is hard in refusing the Canaanite woman asking Jesus to heal her daughter. Some might say he was downright rude because the woman was not part of “the children of God.” But when she said even the dogs get crumbs, Jesus changed his mind.
I love that Jesus changed his mind. I love the woman’s courage, and I love that Jesus came for everyone, not just a select group.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “review.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Linda’s great at giving us interesting prompts with multiple meanings. There’s the review of a play or a book (I could use more for mine, but that’s another story.) There’s re-viewing movies that I’ve watched over and over again because the familiarity is comforting like listening to an old song, and there’s reviewing information for some kind of a test or to make sure you understand, like to sign something. Who actually reads all those legal details that make my eyes cross?
In school, I was good at reviewing my notes for tests. I was good at memorizing and mnemonic devices. Now, that I’m officially old at 70, I’ve started writing things down more, though I’ve always liked to write things down. So, when a new procedure came out at the no kill shelter where I volunteer with dogs, I copied and pasted it and reviewed it multiple times. It had to do with new dogs. Not a big change, but a change from what we’ve done for the year or so that I’ve been there. I’ve always been a rule follower. Well, not always… not in my early 20s, but that’s another story, too.
That’s why it was so bizarre and embarrassing that I forgot the new procedure I had reviewed so carefully! It was only one mistake, and no one got hurt. In the grand scheme of things, not something to beat myself up about, but I did. Then I analyzed the heck out of it: The mistake was at the end of my self-determined volunteer shift. I was tired. I was trying to get as many dogs as I could out for a potty break before leaving and driving home 30 minutes on the curvy roads before dusk when there might be deer out on the road
That night, I figured out ways that I’d avoid this mistake in the future: Slow down and breathe more often. Take a step back. Take more snacks. Drink more water. Read my note card that I made. Start with the new dog new procedure first when I’m fresh and not tired. Then I worked on letting it go, sort of, but not really, because here we are again.
I was not in trouble. I of course felt compelled to admit my mistake and my embarrassment. No body yelled at me. They can’t dock my pay. I didn’t get fired. But I still feel embarrassed. Intellectually I know I’m making a mountain out of a molehill to still feel this level of embarrassment. (Deep breath) My shift the following week went fine.
The surprise came two weeks later which was this past week. I went in and got the run down on new dogs, etc. and chatted with the office volunteers a bit. Then I saw a picture of me posted on the wall near the door.
“Hey, that’s my picture on the wall!” I said. Under the photo it said, “Volunteer of the Month.” It took a moment to register. I was shocked. I didn’t think I’d ever be volunteer of the month, because I make mistakes. Not a lot, but sometimes I’m a little, um….. slow. I ask a lot of questions. I try to follow the rules, but every now and then, I have a brain fart or a senior moment.
Another volunteer pointed to an envelope on the desk with my name on it. There was a thank you card and a gift card to a restaurant. (What a great non-profit organization to do this every month.)
Driving home on the curvy roads which I’m slowly getting used to, I thought, maybe they just felt sorry for me… Then, I reminded myself that I’ve been consistent, volunteering almost every week and calling if I can’t make it. I offer good ideas. I ask questions. I take and share good photos of the dogs that they sometimes use on their website and social media.
When I told my daughter about all this, she said,
“Well, they would not have made you volunteer of the month if they thought you sucked.”
She makes me laugh sometimes, in a good way.
Is anyone else too hard on themselves for mistakes?
We need to stop it!
We need to include ourselves in our circles of compassion.
We need to forgive ourselves.
I know this, but sometimes I forget.
~~~
Here are photos of some wonderful dogs from the shelter: Spot, Cooper, and Odie
Spot is posingMore Cooper Kisses Spot loves this ballOdie and his shadowOdie watching the tunnelTunnel was blowing in the wind
On this windy day, Odie was a bit scared of the tunnel which, blown by the wind, seemed to move on its own.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “distance.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
You’ve probably read here, and elsewhere, that sometimes we have to love people from a distance. That might be because a person is toxic and we’re trying to take care of our well-being. Or it might be because they moved away, or you moved away, or deployment in the military which makes me think of my parents when dad was in the corps for 20 years. Letters were the thing back then. Talking on the phone long distance was expensive.
David, my first boyfriend moved back to Connecticut with his family in 1972. I loved him, pined for him, from North Carolina. He wrote two letters and I wrote four. It as summertime and I was 16 so life went on. and on… Then in 2011, David found me again online. We had a long-distance relationship. Fortunately, we had cell phones by then, and it didn’t cost extra to call. My heart would beat faster as our regular 9pm calling time approached. Then we visited a few times, and he moved down to NC in the fall of 2012 after his company told him it was time to retire after 30 something years. Good timing! We got married in December of 2012.
Love can transcend distance. Prayer transcends distance. There’s even such a thing as reiki healing from a distance. My younger sister was killed in a car accident on her 16th birthday. A drunk driver hit her boyfriend’s car and killed both of them as they were going out to celebrate her birthday. That was so long ago. March 7 is the day she was born, two years after me. Today is her “heavenly birthday.” Though it’s easier to feel my father’s presence from heaven, I can also feel my sister, Mary Kaye’s presence, if I tune in to her. It’s vague. Or are these just memories?
My little sister, Mary KayeMary Kaye and Lobo
Sometimes, when I watch a Harry Potter movie, Harry’s friend, Hermione Granger reminds me of my sister.
Sometimes I imagine (or do I hear?) my father’s voice. Maybe I feel or hear him more because I have more memories of him. He died in 2017. I’m glad we got closer before he died. I only have 16 years of memories with my little sister. If she had lived, I think she would have been a nurse or something like a home health aid. She did not do well in school, but she volunteered regularly at a small home for disabled children in the 1970s. She was kindhearted and a free spirit. I guess I’m missing her today and wishing we could have had more time to work through our sibling rivalry. I wish my daughter, my son, and my granddaughter could have known her.
I did not mean to go into so much detail, but that’s the stream of consciousness for you. If Mary Kaye had lived and was alive today, she would have maybe gotten me to not take things so seriously. Maybe we could have sung together. My older sister, Linda liked to sing, too….. They would have encouraged me to sing and to enjoy life. Maybe they are encouraging that right now as I write this.
Take time to laugh, to sing, to play. Eat chocolate. Dance. Laugh some more. That’s what they’re saying to me. From a distance, or from right behind me.
My mother collected angels. They’re all angels now. Smiling, dancing, because I am listening to them.
I feel their feathery kisses on my cheek.
~~~
Speaking of kisses, I got sloppy kisses from Cooper at the no-kill shelter where I volunteer.
Cooper is healing from a skin condition and is starting to put on weight. He’s great at fetch!
Cooper just wants to be loved. Not from a distance, but up close and personal. Dogs remind me to enjoy the gift of the present.
Here are a few more dogs from the no kill shelter which rescues exclusively from the high kill county facility.
Apollo Rocky Odie Milo Beautiful Ivy Spanky
There aren’t enough homes for them all. Please consider rescuing a homeless dog or cat.
~~~
I wrote the above Friday night. This morning, I read that US airstrike was probably responsible for killing 165 people, mostly students at a school. I mention this because I want to be clear I am not oblivious to this horrible news. I am deeply sorry for the actions of the US government. This is sadder than anything personal that I wrote above, but it feels personal. Iran does not feel so distant today. It’s not enough, but I apologize for the actions of my government which does not feel like my government.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “smooth.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Smooth move….
Smooth sailing…
Smooth seas never a good sailor make. Or something like that. Reminds me of that quote that “Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. The idea is that we need challenges to build our strengths. That’s true up to a point. But there may also come a point where the challenges burn us out. Stress can kill over time. There’s a happy medium. That always makes me think of a fortune teller or paranormal medium of some sort who is smiling, maybe even dancing. Well good for them!
A little stress is good for us. Challenges can make us stronger for sure. But constant challenges or challenges without any inkling of the skills to adapt to cope…. I’m shaking my head.
When I worked as a counselor, I was big on skill building – teaching skills like problems solving and emotional regulation. I often needed reminders about skills, like breathing deeply and still do. I had to use those skills when the demands of paperwork/documentation and productivity of billable services became ridiculously, or rather dangerously overwhelming. My hands ached from so much typing. My gut let me know when the stress was too much. I took more and more work home with me which went from taboo because of confidentiality to expected by administrators.
Enough of that! Thank God I’m retired now. Now, I’m okay with little challenges (and trying not to imagine them bigger), occasional small challenges, like choosing when to push myself further at the gym or on a hike, and when to listen to my body and take a nap. Naps are good. Cats and dogs know this.
It’s interesting that I used to teach mindfulness skills and meditation in my job, but the monks walking for peace teaching a simple way of paying attention to our breathing, in and out, or putting our hands on our heart to feel our heartbeat, seem to make it clearer for me. Or maybe it’s the inspiration of their walk that make me actually practice more. There are always opportunities and triggers, what a bad word, triggers, let’s say, challenges, to nudge us to find our breath again. Then we can more clearly see the glimmers. I think that’s the opposite of the t word. Glimmers are things that give us hope and peace, that set us off in a good way.
Glimmers give life. A glimmer could be a smile, a snowflake, or seeing someone do something good to help another being. Nature is full of glimmers in springtime, or any time really.
Whatever glimmers makes us stronger.
A glimmer might also be something that hints at a higher level of understanding or enlightenment. Like a glimmer of hope.
My gallery might include all of the above. Not really planning anything. Click each photo to see the whole image.
Hope Dealer MiraclesSun StarRainbows on the wall HugCloud Walker
Anything is Possible! 