Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “yes.” Find a word that starts with “yes” or use the word “yes” as is. Bonus points if you start your post with the word you choose. Enjoy!
The first thing I thought of was the Beatles song, “Yesterday.” Such a sad, but pretty song. “Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say, ” That’s a mystery right there. But the clue may be that he said something wrong.
It’s funny how things can seem so wrong but eventually turn out right. Funny and good. I don’t long for yesterday, though I might have in 1972 the day after 15-year-old David, my first boyfriend, moved so far away with his family. Today, the 66-year-old David, now my husband, is leading a spiritual “Cursillo” weekend at the beach. I’ll be joining them Sunday for the closing service.
Who would have guessed? Neither one of us.
God can take something wrong and, in time, make it work out better in a way we never expected.
Just goes to show….
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow’s a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That’s why they call it the present.
I stepped out of the stream a bit to research the song, “Yesterday,” and came across this little piece of fun. Now I want scrambled eggs but will have to find a substitute since I’m vegan, like Paul changes chicken wings to tofu wings since he’s a vegetarian. I can always have a tossed salad without the scrambled eggs, but that’s another song…. from Frazier.
Have a wonderful day!
~~~
For details on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday,
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “antic.” Use it as a word or find a word that contains it. Bonus points if you do both. Enjoy!
I confess to looking up the word, pedantic, because I’ve heard or rather read it a few times, but wasn’t really sure what it meant. Don’t want to use that word, but I might. I further confess to looking up words that rhyme with pedantic. This was not planning, it was just curiosity, BEFORE I even began to write the stream.
Words that rhyme with pedantic…. I’d much rather be romantic than frantic or pedantic. But if one is too romantic, one might end up being frantic about trying to get away from someone pedantic. This might happen because we need both the heart and the brain, working together for the best outcome. “Follow your heart, but take your brain with you,” is a quote I use in my short book about finding a healthy relationship.
Speaking of books, hearts, and brains, I’m reading Jane Goodall’s The Book of HOPE. It’s written as this guy Douglas Abrams interviewing her, but very personal, not at all pedantic. I went to get the book to see if I could find the quote. This is not planning; this was just stepping out of the stream for 30 seconds. Well, I’m not going to look that hard for it. It was in the chapter about the “amazing human intellect” being one of the things that gives her hope. BUT and this is a big but, we need the heart, as in compassion, to work with the intellect and the intellect to work with the heart. We need intelligence and compassion. It reminds me of how we need both knowledge and ethics. But human knowledge is overreaching and sometimes lacking in ethics and compassion.
My intellect says, people do have a right to own guns, though not necessarily automatic assault weapons. Why would anyone need those, unless they are paranoid or watch too many doomsday movies that I’m trying to stay away from so as not to give them power. Compassion for our children and other beings says there need to be limits, boundaries, so that the gun ownership is “well-regulated” as the second amendment states.
I recently read an article by a military veteran who makes a case for implementing strict regulations on guns like they have in the military and apply these regulations to society and guns in general. He wrote that on most military bases, people are not allowed to carry concealed weapons for example. I did not mean to write about guns, but that’s what happens sometimes in the stream of consciousness. Here’s the article from my Goodnewspaper: A Veteran’s Case for Implementing Military Gun Standards in Our Society.
Personally, I’d rather not have anything to do with guns. I’d rather go for a stroll along the Atlantic Ocean or hike in the mountains. Did I share the video of our flight over the Atlantic? I’ll have to check that and come back to it.
Meanwhile, here’s a song with antic in it:
I love Carly Simon.
Okay, in case you’ve been anticipating the flying video… I’m having trouble finding it. Plus, it makes me a little nauseous just to look at it. But here are some of my pictures of the Atlantic ocean: (click to see the whole picture.)
Now for the hike! It had been about two years since I last hiked this rocky trail next to the river. My feet seemed to have wings as I leapt from rock to rock. April Fools! Seemed like I was much nimbler in the past. This time, my feet were hesitant. But I did not get frantic. I heeded the caution sign, took my time and even sat down and butt-scooted over rocks once or twice.
Caution SignWhat’s around the bend?I might have scooted down here.StepsSame steps with poolMossy rocksleaning toward the lightView from between Anybody home? Heading backWorth the viewImagine the soundFace in rock Hill across the riverfungi on tree
(There are a few more photos from my hike I’m saving for a tree love post.)
~~~
I hope you enjoyed this rambling stream of consciousness.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cozy.’” Use it any way you like. Have fun! (And Merry Christmas if I don’t come back before then!) Linda was worried about losing power due to a big storm up there in the great white north as I think Canada might be known (as dubbed by a comedy team in the 80s). I have to interfect that even if we lose electricity, we still have power of some kind or other, like the power of prayer, song, laughter, lighting candles (but not near smoke alarms…) I hope Linda keeps her electricity and everyone else does too.
Lighting candles has always been cozy for me. My fireplace doesn’t work as it would need a lot of repairs to be safe, but I light candles in there to give the illusion of a fire. There will be candles tonight and Christmas night, especially since the lows will be in the teens and twenties which is unusual for the Carolina Coast. Where my son lives in the mountains, the low was -6 F last night. That’s minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit. Burr. Maybe I don’t want to live there year round.
I hope everyone who has animals keeps them warm and safe inside. Up North, it might be a three dog night, meaning that’s how many dogs to sleep with. But all dogs should be inside the house. Period.
Back to cozy. I’ve been listening to cozy music on Youtube. Sometimes it makes me sleepy. I’ll share some in a bit. Or why not now? You can always come back to it when you want to relax. I especially like the picture that goes with this one.
At the sanctuary where I volunteer on Thursdays, the sheep and goats were in the barn because of the heavy rain. I’m sure they’ll all be in there tonight. The pigs, too, and some of the chickens. Other chickens will be in their coops. I still wonder how birds survive the cold. Must be some miraculous design. And they can fly! Pretty amazing when you stop to think about it.
Here are pictures of Bennie, one of the sheep, staying cozy in the barn and studying his image, along with a rooster, Marley in the mirror before I donated it to the sanctuary, and Mama Cat being cozy on the couch.
Bennie getting enrichmentBennie looking at his friend JeffMaybe “Simon” Marley in the MirrorMama Cat Cozy on the Couch
David said tonight after church he wants to take Marley for a walk around the neighborhood. He took Doodle for a walk on Christmas Eve years ago and it was wonderful, so he wants to revive that tradition with Marley. It will be cold, but David’s from Connecticut and Marley is half husky, so they’ll be fine. I’ll probably be watching a Christmas movie.
Watching old Christmas movies and singing Christmas songs makes me feel cozy. It’s a bit weird how often I can watch the same movies over and over, like Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, and more recently, Last Christmas which I just discovered this year. Last Christmas was inspired by the music of George Michael and Wham who I have paid little attention to until this movie enchanted me. I also like the starring actress Emilia Clarke who was in Solo, a Star Wars Story. It’s comforting to watch familiar movies again and again. They become like background music (like Star Trek) as I blog and do other stuff on the computer.
One of my favorite old Christmas songs was redone by James Taylor. I like how he’s changed the words just a tiny bit.
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “morning.”
Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Morning has broken, but it’s not broken. It still works just fine. I however do not often see the break of day as I am not a morning person unless absolutely necessary. Or meaningful. It takes a lot to get me up at the crack of dawn or to sleep before midnight.
“Morning has Broken” was first written as a hymn in the early 1900s. Then Cat Stevens made it a pop hit in the early 70s. The hymn doesn’t have the exact same notes, but pretty close. Cat added at least two extra notes in the second mention of morning, (mo-or-or-ning) compared to what I’ve seen in the hymnal. Most of us still sing it the Cat Stevens way.
I just stepped out of the stream of consciousness, having been pulled out by the stream of curiosity, to discover from Wikipedia, that Cat Stevens was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London. He later took the stage name, of Cat Stevens and now goes by Yusuf Islam. I’m not going to research why, though I could guess, as I am back in the stream of consciousness.
Cat Stevens, as I will always think of him, is a pretty cool dude for someone who has had three names. But maybe that’s an okay thing. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could change our names whenever something significant prompted us to do so? A few of you know that my government name is Joanne, but I choose to be JoAnna here on my blog, because I like it better with the a the end. JoAnna of the Forest. In real life, I have a mini forest in my backyard. The neighbors might say the front yard, too, though it’s very mini.
If you could choose your name, what would it be?
Glinda is a nice name. It floats like a bubble…. I have forgotten the prompt. Must’ve lost it in the stream. Curiosity made me peek. Morning! Morning Star was one of the first veggie burgers. Now, I like Gardein vegan burgers. The Morning Star “sausages” are pretty good.
Does anyone open presents or go to church on Christmas morning anymore? Maybe people with kids. Seems like most of the Christmas stuff goes on on Christmas Eve. That’s good for a night owl. Then you can sleep in on Christmas morning. But wait! One holiday at a time! We haven’t had Thanksgiving yet!
Here’s a little thing I found on Facebook that I’m doing as the month goes along:
Let me see if I can do this in a SoC way without thinking about it. These are things I’m thankful for:
Person: David, animal: dog (Marley, and all of them!), cozy place: by the fireplace with candles or a campfire. Favorite snack: Skinny popcorn. Place: home. Shoes: Oofos! Scent: honeysuckle, pine, clove. Restaurant: vegan. Blog: hard to pick, but I visit http://derrickjknight.com/ daily. (Before that it was: Natalie Scarberry) Time of day: late afternoon. Tradition: Christmas Eve music and It’s a Wonderful Life. Gadget: blender. Something old: my old body. Something new: My compression nano socks. Experience: scuba diving a long time ago. Recipe: lentil wellington. Store: whole foods for good stuff and dollar general for convenience. Quote: Jeremiah 29:11 (God has a good plan for you.) clothing: stretchy yoga pants. Keepsake: My parents’ photo albums. Disappointment/Fear: I’m now thankful for my divorce and time alone to love me again. Book: The Bible and The Language of Letting Go. and many more. Feeling: Joy. Photo: the polaroid Caroline took of me and David in ’72 which became my book cover. Luxury: TV/movies. Charity: The ones that help animals. Song: “Let it Be.” Gift: Mother Earth. Something at Home: Toilet Paper! Most thankful for: Life.
Whew! That too longer than I thought. Thanks for reading.
Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cent/scent/sent.” Use them in any form you like. Use one, use two or use them all. Bonus points if you use all three, and Cheryl will put your next drink on David’s tab. I know, you used to get bonus points for two, but inflation… Enjoy!
(Thank you to Dan for filling in for our usual host, Linda Hill who has been without electricity!)
Of all the Russians sent to fight against the people of Ukraine, I wonder how many want to be there. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to fight in a war, but there are some mercenaries. We watch so many movies and TV shows about fighting, battles, violence… sometimes for a cause which makes for good drama…. I wonder if there are people sent to take Ukraine from her people who are against the war but cannot go home due to repercussions they or their families would have to face. I wonder if any have melted into the countryside and escaped – went AWOL (absent without leave) Probably not many.
The letters my father sent to my mother from Vietnam hint at the struggle to remain fighting in a war where children were killed or left homeless. My mother wanted him to come home. My father wanted to come home. But there was never really any question about what he would actually do. His sense of duty was stronger than desires for home and family and the needs of love. He fulfilled his obligation to the US government. The war haunted him for the rest of his life.
For centuries there have been wars. Maybe some of them have been justified, but most, I believe are not. When will we ever learn? It would be better to chase the scent of flowers than to fight with violence.
Do you remember this song by Peter Paul & Mary? I didn’t remember how pretty the harmonies were for such a sad song.
When will we ever learn? One day, maybe, peace will spread. How, I don’t know, but it will take work and focus on peace, focus on using our words in positive ways. Compromise. Voting out the egomaniacs. All kinds of complicated contributing factors to war and peace. We can only hope, pray, and work for peace in our lives and the lives we touch. It will take work, because we are not perfect. We will get angry, but we can learn to cope in non-violent ways. Smell the flowers and hope one day more people will value peace. And the people will say, that we don’t wanna fight no more, there’ll be no more war, and the children will play….
~~~
For more streams of consciousness, and other details, visit our host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE. Thanks, again to Dan at No Facilities for today’s prompt. Oh, and thanks, Dan for letting us know that … “Linda’s electricity has left the building,” and not using the word, “power,” because we can still have power without electricity. I hope Linda has her electricity back on by now or very, very soon!
The prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “zip, zero, zilch.” Use one, use ’em all, bonus points if you use all three. Have fun!
Zero is the number of romantic partners I had in the second half of the decade after my divorce. Five years doesn’t seem like such a long time now to be celibate or anything else. In the big picture, five years is not a long time when you have an abundance, a few quality friendships, dogs, and work to do on yourself. I had a romantic relationship with myself and with nature, and spiritual growth that required zero romantic distraction from other people. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time it was happening. There is power in zero, in solitude, in simplicity. Not to say my life was simple by any means.
One is not always the loneliest number, and zero doesn’t necessarily mean zilch. If you add zeros to a number, it increases the value.
Dave at Daily Ramblings shared a short Ted Talk on the origins of the number zero which started as a dot. It got me thinking of the old Cat Stevens/Yusuf album, Numbers, A Pythagorean Fairy Tale, which came out in 1975. The songs sort of told the story of the numbers one through nine and how everything changed when this new dude showed up named, Jzero. I listened to this album a lot in the second half of the decade that was the 70s. It was a confused time of my life when I kept getting distracted from college and from myself. My romantic partners during that time were distractions. I often felt lost or lost my sense of myself.
One of my favorite songs from the Numbers album was, “Drywood.” Part of it went something like,
“Like drywood takes to fire, the truth will come to you.
Like streams that seek the ocean, you will find ways through,
Like morning meets the moon, my love will guide the way.
It’s time to wipe your eyes now, and awake…..”
The song provided encouragement I needed and still holds a special place of gratitude in my heart.
Another of my favorite songs from the album was, “Home.” It’s a sweet song. Here’s an older Cat Stevens, aka, Yusuf, singing it. At the end he whispers, “Peace be with you.”
Well, time to zip up this post. Right after I add a few photos from the beach… Oh, there’s a video at the bottom.
“DANGER SUBMERGED OBJECT”A submerged rock ? A chunk of the jetty maybe?
~~~
For more streams of consciousness, rules, and such, visit our dedicated host, Linda Hill, by clicking HERE.
Bee’s post about Ukraine inspired me to change my plans a bit today and start with this Taize song. I hope to sing it at church soon, alternating with the English, “Give Peace to Every Heart.” Maybe I can find someone to accompany me.
Now, for the song I had planned for today:
Originally recorded by American vocalists, Diane and Annita in 1965, “A Groovy Kind of Love” was a hit in 1966 sung by the UK group, The Mindbenders. Many people have recorded this dreamy song, but I like how Phil Collins sings it in this rehearsal with Melody Dylem
“Love is in da blog” is hosted by Bee every February. Thank you, Bee! Please click the link above to Bee’s post for details.
Today’s Stream of Consciousness post from Linda Hill is:
“….. Use the word “whatever” any way you’d like. Bonus points if you start your post with it. Have fun!” Learn more about #SoCS HERE.
“Whatever,” was a popular response from teenagers in the 80s or 90s. It could be frustrating for parents or teachers who interpreted the word as, “I don’t care.” But now I see it as a useful word when I need to let go of something I can’t control, something I’ve been mulling over or analyzing nearly to death.
On one hand, it could be considered apathetic – a word similar to sin in my book once upon a time. But we can’t care about EVERYTHING. This comes from someone who has cared too much over the years. Oh, I still care, but I need to choose how much energy I’m going to put into caring, cause the energy isn’t what it used to be. Prioritize! That’s my word for this year. I don’t really use the word, “whatever” in that way, but it does have its place.
Some things are priorities, though.
Whatever happens, I’ll always love you, said the mother to the son.
Whatever happens, take care of the children. And the pets.
Whatever happens, life must go on.
Whatever happens, don’t let the gremlins get wet. (Just so we don’t get too serious.)
There’s an old song that goes,
“Wherever we go, whatever we do, we’re gonna get through it together…. “
I looked it up before I started writing. That’s not really planning. I was just curious. Turns out, it’s from the musical, Gypsy originally starring Ethel Merman, I think. I looked it up on YouTube. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Sorry. That was my take on it. Then I thought, what if I could find someone singing that song to a dog? or a cat? Well, I couldn’t find that. But what I did find was people singing with their dogs. Let me see if I can go back and find one now as I drop anchor in the stream just for a moment to take a look in the down below the surface…..
Well, that always takes longer than I thought with diversions and what not. I couldn’t listen to any dogs howling because Mama Cat is next to me as I type this Friday night and she didn’t like hearing dogs howl. Marley, is in the back room with David, and it’s Mama Cat’s time with me.
Anyway, here’s one that came up with no howling. It’s short and sweet:
The girl with a sweet voice is singing, “You Are My Sunshine” to the dog who they are fostering while the dog’s guardian is deployed for a year in the Navy.
Dogs and kids. Gotta love ’em. If not, then…… whatever.
At least be kind.
I found this on Facebook a few days ago. The dogs looks like Marley, but Marley is bigger and has a big head.
Be sure to visit Linda’s SoCS post at the link above for more streams or whatever.
Today’s prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “a rainy day.” Write about the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the phrase “a rainy day.” Enjoy!
Karen Carpenter sang, “Rainy days and Mondays” always get me down.” Such a sad song as I remember, and what a beautiful voice she had. We sang together often via the radio and vinyl albums. I had to go listen to the song again suspecting there was something not so sad in it, and there was. “…. run and find the one who loves me. Nice to know somebody loves me.” and something about this feeling has come and gone before. That’s the nice thing about getting older – knowing our moods will change. The sadness will lift or ease up. Moments of joy will come, too.
Rainy days don’t really bother me as long as nothing is leaking. Mondays don’t bother me anymore since I’m RETIRED and still thankful for that. I don’t think I’ll ever take that for granted – being able to make my own schedule, stay up late, sleep in…. unless I want to have breakfast with the early bird who gets the worm and falls asleep early which is okay. What was that worm thing? Never mind. Stream of consciousness take me somewhere marvelous!
Rainy days. Rainy days. As long as it’s not cold, rainy days can be fun. There was that summer day in 1993 when I was nursing my baby girl, and my son and his friends were playing outside, singing silly songs in the rain. I took maternity leave for the whole summer – a little slice of heaven. Funny how I prided myself for so long on being a career woman of 30 something years, and now, I LOVE being home. Good thing.
What would I find if I type rain in my pictures?
Raindrops on CedarRain from the car windowSemper Fi Funeral on a Rainy DayRainbowRainbow on the WallRaindrops on Windshield
For more on Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot it January, visit our host, Linda Hill HERE.
Our promptfor Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “golly gee.” Use “golly gee” or another interjection that displays the same sentiment in your post. Enjoy! Thanks, Linda!
Golly gee whiz! Gee willikers! Wiskers on a fish! Fish who can talk! Dr. Seuss knew all about them. So many things we have yet to see. After all, “the universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” That’s one of my favorite quotes, but I don’t know who said it, right this minute.
Expressions of amazement like, golly gee, remind me of my dad and the 1960s. Sometimes he’d say, “Holy Mackerel!” or “Holy Mackerel Andy!” Maybe it was in response to one of his children getting an A on a test. Maybe it was when he caught a big fish. Maybe when he saw something amazing on TV, in living color no less, like a giant horse or a flying saucer. No, something bigger, something fantastic! I can’t think of what that would be right now. But the TV is on now (Friday night) and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is coming on, so we go back to Dr. Seuss.
I like the animated version of The Grinch better than the one with actors. I guess there’s a nostalgia in the sweet singing of the Whos down in Whoville. A lot happened in those 30 minutes. My favorite line is the one about,
Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more.
Something like that.
Those old expressions of amazement are lots of fun, they’re the cat’s meow, a real humdinger, like that Dr. Seuss guy.
The first song I thought of when I read the prompt was “Betcha By Golly Wow, by the Stylistics. It doesn’t get much smoother than this. 1972. Golly, that was a year to remember! My high school sweetheart left me standing there for the long and winding road so we could both grow up and grow up some more, till the time was right for another Betcha by Golly Wow.
Thanks to our Stream of Consciousness Saturday host Linda Hill for this fun prompt! For rules and more streams, visit Linda’s post here.
Anything is Possible! 