Extraordinary

August 6, 2016 by JoAnna 10 Comments

When my son was in middle school, many years ago, his principle described him as “extraordinary.” It was a great word for her to use because it sounds really good to be extraordinary. Especially when you run it all together with a certain emphasis and draw out the -or- part, like this, extROARdinary! When you really look at the word closely, you see it means extra-ordinary. Beyond ordinary, perhaps. My son was always beyond ordinary. Both my kids, as I may have mentioned, are outside-the-box kinds of kids. Now they are extraordinary adults, like their mom who has an extraordinary yard with extra trees. I have an extraordinary number of trees, both in my front and back yard, because I love trees and don’t like to get rid of them. Sometimes I’ll move them around if they happen to grow in the wrong place.

Speaking of trees, my daughter and her boyfriend recently were given a bunch of fig trees that were up-routed for some unknown, possibly extraordinary, reason. She asked me if I wanted some, so I said, sure. Like I’ve got plenty of room for more trees in my yard – not really. When I went to pick up the fig trees, they weren’t in dirt, and the roots were exposed. The leaves were dried up to a crinkly crunch. My husband helped me put the abundant root tendrils into a plastic bag. I should say he helped me cram them into a plastic bag, because there was an extraordinary amount of rootage. We brought home two trees and put them in a large bucket of water for a day. Then, I planted one in the ground, after searching for a spot with enough room, which was not easy, and planted the smaller one in a large pot. There had been sad, dehydrated figs on the trees  which the squirrels enjoyed, and some new buds that gasped for life. The trees were and are hanging on to the edge of life. I snipped all the dried up leaves off so as to help the trees put their energy into new growth. I didn’t know that fig trees have a distinctive, extraordinary smell. It’s sort of a sweet smell, the likes of which I’ve never smelled before.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you, when we put the trees into the water bucket that first day, an extraordinary number of ants started to climb up the stems. Probably thousands of ants, or at least hundreds and hundreds. I’m so thankful they didn’t get all inside of the car which has been known to collect ants anyway.

I don’t know if these trees will survive, but if they do, it will be an extraordinary comeback.

And we will have figs! Unless the squirrels get them all.

Maybe next year.

These figs are from pixabay.

Today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was:

“ex.” Find a word that includes “ex” and base your post on it. Have fun!

For more information visit our host, Linda Hill, at her extraordinary blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2016/08/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-616/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!