Freedom and Old Photos

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “dom.” We were instructed to “use it as a word, or find a word that starts or ends with it.” and to Have fun!

Ok, I’m going to be honest here and admit that dominatrix came to mind first. One of my earliest creative writing mentors wrote a book about that. A memoir actually. Her name is Shawna Kenney. It’s been a while since I read it, but it seems like it was relatively clean, maybe R rated, but cleaner than you might expect.

But that’s not what I want to write about. No, I don’t need a segue, cause this is the stream of consciousness. Though there might be one to freedom. I suppose a dominatrix would have a lot of freedom…. But that’s not what I want to write about. Why does that keep popping into my head?

Freedom. I have the freedom to make my own schedule in the Great Purge of the house my parents left me. I don’t get bored. No boredom once you get to be my age. I haven’t been bored in years. There’s too much to do and nothing to do would be freedom.

What works best for me is to focus on one task for the day. A primary task planned the day before. For a couple of days it was old photographs. There are, like I’ve mentioned, hundreds. Maybe thousands. I’m tired of that right now, but here’s a treasure I found of my parents on a picnic with me standing by making a face. Yes it’s blurry. It was probably taken around 1961.

Now I want to change my opening to this post, but I can’t because it’s SoCS. Just goes to show you that there’s all kinds of people in the stream. Anything can show up. Aren’t my parents cute?

Yesterday, I worked on my father’s room. The hardest room and the last bastion of the Great Purge. Except for the attic. But let’s not go there. It was hard to put some of his clothes in a bag for donation. Hopefully some one can use them.

The day before yesterday, I ripped that funky 70s contact paper off one wall of the kitchen. It was very satisfying.

Now I get to go look at paint samples to get close to the yellow that’s on the other wall. This is fun. Is it a distraction from working on the photos or my dad’s room? Sure, but it’s hopefully going to make the house easier to sell, and to live in while our other house gets a new bathroom. Is fantasizing about buying a mountain home after I sell my parents’ house – the one they don’t need anymore – is that fantasy a distraction or a motivation to complete the Great Purge?  Maybe it’s both and that’s okay.

So as not to leave you with a messy photo, how about some other old family photos I’ve come across in my work.  These are of my dad in Korea I think. Maybe after Korea. Let’s see what I’ve got. Not planning you know.  Nope this one is from Cuba. He was at GTMO after Vietnam. Where are the Korea pics?

Here are some from Korea. He was at an Able Medical Station after getting wounded. I think it was something like a MASH unit. My dad loved MASH. I found an old copy of the book here at the house and discovered an inscription that I had given it to him for his birthday in 2002. I’ve been reading it. They were crazier than in the TV show. Well, I didn’t mean to run on like this, but I guess I’m really proud of my dad.

My dad is in the top left picture  – the tall guy on the right.

Okay, one more. Here’s a favorite. Here he is getting to know Lobo, the dog I adopted while he was in Cuba (after Vietnam) and soon to retire from the Marine Corps. I haven’t gotten to the Vietnam photos yet….

For more Streams of Consciousness, visit Linda’s Blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/09/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-29-18/

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. I will post the prompt here on my blog every 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 will simply be a single word to get you 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 all of them! 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 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!

#SoCS Badge Contest Entry for 2018

Here’s my #SoCS badge entry for 2018. I used a photo I took at the beach. It reminds me of the tidal pools my kids used to play in when they were little, but this one was more of a stream than a pool.

The  Saturday Stream of Consciousness is buckets of fun! For more information on the contest and to see other entries, visit Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/08/16/its-time-for-the-5th-annual-socs-badge-contest/

Quality Time and the Letter T

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “T, tea, tee.” The directions are to: “Theme your post around “tea” or “tee,” or find a word that starts with “T” and talk about that. Bonus points if you manage to incorporate all three. Enjoy!”

Taking time away from the internet has been a good thing for me. Not that I went “cold turkey” or anything.  I just cut my on-line time in half (roughly) to do more household things. And I got some writing done yesterday on a Chicken Soup story, so that was good. Speaking of writing. My book starts with the letter, T. Trust the Timing. I don’t plug it that much, but I trust you won’t mind me mentioning it today. It’s about true love standing the test of time, though it (the love) went dormant for almost four decades while me and Mr. D grew up some more. Do we ever finish growing up? I don’t think so, but we can get to a point where we know what’s important. What does that mean? Maybe in ten years, I’ll think different things are important.

Time is important. It always has been. But QUALITY time today means not being on Facebook so much. It (Facebook) pulls me some days – sucks me in. I had thought about setting a timer, but haven’t done that yet. My goal was ten minutes a day. I did that for a few days, but I think it was more like twenty yesterday. Time suck. I’d rather putter around the house, taking care of plants, getting rid of clutter, and reading BOOKS! I miss reading books for fun. Remember when that’s all we had was books? Comic books and real books, no internet! Remember that? And three channels on the TV set! ABC, CBS, and NBC. I know there are a few of us left who remember that. No cell phones, no computers…. I sound like an old geezer. What is a geezer anyway? I don’t care. I don’t have time to look it up.

What about those bonus points? I already wrote a post a while back about my ecology Tee shirt that fit me to a tee in the 7tees. 🙂

My favorite tea to drink is green tea with peach flavor. Sometimes I like to drink chai tea in the winter. Jasmine tea is nice, too. Sometime, I’m going to have a cup of tea and just sit and sip it and do nothing else. I predict that will last for two minutes. Then, I’ll go outside and talk to the trees.

Do take time to visit Linda Hill’s blog and learn more about Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness. Just click the link below:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-28-18/

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. I will post the prompt here on my blog every 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 will simply be a single word to get you 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 all of them! 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 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!

 

GRRRRR. Needing Time Off-Line

The prompt for today’s Stream of Consciousness is “3-letter word.” We’re supposed to start our post with a three-letter word, and we get bonus points for ending with a three-letter word.

Did I just do that with the word, “The”? Or did, “Did” do the trick? Either way, thank you, Linda Hill, for giving us an easy peazy prompt! I have a habit of looking back over my SOCS posts and noticing I started so many paragraphs with the word, “I.” So this is good. Maybe I’ll try to start every paragraph with a three-letter word, though that could impede the flow of the stream of consciousness. We will see.

One reason I appreciate the easy prompt is that I’m really needing a break from the computer, or rather, computer technology as well as Facebook, but we’ll get to that later. GDPR is the Grrrrr factor at the moment. I don’t know by heart what it stands for, but the D is for Data. I could think up something GDPR stands for but I don’t like to take the Lord’s name in vain so I have to be careful.

GDPR is probably a very good thing on some level. It seems to be designed to protect privacy and let people know they can opt out of things. That’s why we have to accept cookies lately on WP blogs. I hope I at least did that right. I thought I had the GDPR steps done for my little, modest, cozy email list, steps that mailchimp explained. I was very proud of myself for working on it. But when I went to send an email to my list, there were no recipients in the GDPR segment! I want to give up. Throw in the towel. But I’ll probably get back to it eventually. If you’ve signed up for my list, thank you.  Hopefully you’ll get a newsletter one day, but it might be quarterly instead of monthly.

But that’s enough of that! Facebook is wearing me out, too. Sometimes I like Facebook. It’s become sort of a love/hate relationship. Being off Facebook by midnight has not always worked. I don’t even scroll anymore! Scrolling gets me in trouble. But I might miss something! Too bad. I lived most of my life without FB.

Now I’m getting ready to cut back on computer stuff for a while. Sundays might even be computer free. My plan is to continue with Good News Tuesday here on WP, cause it’s important to me, and also continue with SOCS, cause it’s fun. But I’m probably not going to do any more posts besides those two for a couple weeks, maybe even the month of July, which is probably two weeks. As far as FB goes, I’m going to check my messages, my kids pages (resisting the urge to comment on every post)  and maybe check one of two people who always make me feel good. Almost always. There’s good stuff on the internet.

But Twitter, Ugh.

Why am I all of a sudden getting FB friend requests (and Twitter followers) who are unknown single men with no mutual friends? I’m happily married! Leave me alone! Yeah, so you can see why I want to take a break and cut back on my computer time. There are plenty of household projects to do. Who knows, maybe I’ll take a trip! 🙂

See ya, Tuesday with some good news!

The End.

 

PS: The mini rant about FB is about my personal page and not my author page. Everyone is free to follow and like that one!

For more Streams of Consciousness starting with 3-letter words, visit Linda at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-14-18/

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. I will post the prompt here on my blog every 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 will simply be a single word to get you 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 all of them! 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 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!

Doodle Bug and Other Silly Nicknames for Dogs

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt is, “bug.”

The first thing I thought of was Doodle Bug. That’s one on the nick names for our Treeing Walker (problem child) coon hound.

Her original name was Dixie Doodle. Well,  she probably had a name or two before that because David rescued her starving self when she was two.  Dixie Doodle, quickly became Doodle. A year or two ago, I started calling her Doodle Bug. I think there was a mom who called her toddler Doodle Bug years ago. What’s a doodle bug anyway? Just a sec. while I google doodle bug……. A larva of an ant-lion. And they’re not that cute. Except maybe to a mama ant-lion which are pretty like a dragon fly but very predatory.

Did I just see there’s a doodle bug song? Be right back…. Well, there is more than one doodlebug song. Both cute as you can imagine. If you like silly humor, this one will get your inner child dancing.

Okay. I realize I sort of stepped out of the stream of consciousness. But not really. I kept you informed. It was like a side stream, a detour.

My plan was to write about how nick names develop, especially with dogs. David calls Doodle Bone Head. That’s because he doesn’t want to be so deeply attached. Too late! And he knows it. But sometimes he calls her Doodle Bug, too. When I’m annoyed with her, I call her Doodle Head or Crazy Head.

 

Our little mutt, Marigold, named by my daughter 16 years ago, became Mary, then Mary Moo, then Mary Moodle (There’s a song I made up that goes “Mary Moodle, you’re not a poodle,” …. but that’s too silly. We also call her Moodle, or Moo Moo, or Mary Mack.

In case you didn’t know it, I’m crazy about dogs. AND I just found out my story about Jesse is going to be in this anthology: GONE DOGS, about dogs who’ve crossed over the rainbow bridge. Mary and Doodle are all we have left of the five dogs (two of mine and three step-dogs) from when David and I reconnected in 2011. I’m so happy to be able to honor Jesse’s memory in this book which should be out by Christmas.

Jesse didn’t  have as many nick names. Jesso, Jetz, and Jesse Boy are the only ones I recall. He was my boyfriend, my best friend, especially during the single, celibate years. Here’s a picture you might have seen before of Jesse howling (to a siren) with Mary Moo in the background several years ago.

…

This is David and I walking the pack back in 2013.

Mary Moo, Jesse Boy, Oreo, Beep, and Doodle Bug

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you by Linda G. Hill. Visit her at the link below for more SoCS posts!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/06/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-23-18/

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!

Thank God I Don’t Have to Work in an Office Anymore.

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt is, “mon.”

Monday, Monday. Maybe I’ll find the old song that starts like that later. I’m so thankful I don’t have to go to a job on Monday. Monday is my husband’s day off from the mission thrift store. Most thrift stores are closed on Monday because they are open Saturdays. So I try to save Mondays for him and an occasional honey-do prompt. When he retires, the honey-dos will be on a list, clearly posted for his our convenience. I don’t really need a list for this cause it’s always in my head. For some reason, I think women tend to have easy access to that list in our heads. It’s always there.  

It’s baffling how busy I am since I “retired” from my job. “Mon” makes me think of moan. And I do want to stop moaning about that and be grateful. I just have to prioritize the things that give me soul energy, even if they drain me physically. Like Saturday (today for you, but I”m writing this Friday because I have an abundance of things to do on Saturday). Okay, today I want to go help clean up the creek down the road. If I get there early enough, I can get a kayak that the organization brings. But if I don’t get there in time for a kayak, I’ll be happy to walk along the banks to pick up trash.

In this neighborhood creek, I’ve seen beaver, egrets, lots of turtles, and an alligator. Volunteering for the environment feeds my soul.

Then in the afternoon, I’m going to a “Stop the Violence” peace rally representing “Grandmother’s for Peace.”

Our head grandmother sent out a text saying they needed face painters at the rally. I said I could do an hour. I’ve never actually done face painting in any official capacity. Maybe I should practice, but don’t know if I have time. I did look up Black Panther and wish I’d seen the move. Interesting face designs with simple dots.

I know Shuri doesn’t look very peaceful here, but in the movie clips I’ve watched, she is very smart and funny and seems like a nice young lady.  Maybe I can add a peace sign.

I can paint hearts, flowers, and probably some butterflies. I know how to paint stuff. And it’s only for an hour, so it’s okay.  Then I’ll be off to my Saturday support group.

I hope to rest Sunday afternoon for my ritual after church nap. Maybe I’ll go to the beach on Monday with my sweetheart.

I will not get back here much until Saturday night, so thanks for your patience! I hope your Saturday is exactly what you’d like it to be.

Here’s that Monday, Monday song.

The Saturday Stream of Consciousness is hosted by Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/04/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-14-18/

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!

Stream of Consciousness: Bun, Bungee, Bunch, Bungalow, and Bunk beds

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “bun.” Find a word that contains “bun” or use it as a word all by itself. Have fun!

Bun

Bungee

Bunch

Bungalow

Bunk beds

Those are some words I could use. In no particular order.

Bun – cinnamon buns. Hot cross buns – we’ll have them at church Sunday. I’d prefer them without a lot of frosting. I want to taste the cinnamon. Like dark chocolate which is good for you. Don’t want milk interfering with my chocolate.

Bungee jumping. Never did it. Don’t care if I ever do. But I did enjoy a zip line and wouldn’t mind trying that again. I’m afraid of heights. But zip lining is different, especially if you’re zooming through the trees and you have something to hold on to.

Bunch of stuff to do. Skipped church last night because #1 priority is to get rid of this sinus infection so I will be able to sing in the choir on Sunday and go to the mountains on Monday to see my son and his family. I went and got an antibiotic, something I rarely do, and I’m getting better. Drinking lots of fluids and trying to take it easy and not do any yard work.

Bungalow. That’s my house – my little urban cottage with the urban forest in the back yard. Low carbon footprint. I want to use the money I might some day get from my parents’ house to buy another bungalow in the mountains. With some land. My dream, shall I dare say it, is a healing retreat center in the mountains. Not a big fancy place, a simple, farm like atmosphere where people can come to meditate, quit smoking, relax, and be well. I’d be there more in the warmer months. It’s fun to dream. I’ve been looking at real estate in the Appalachians, though I’m no where ready to buy anything. Too much still to do on my parents’ house. But I like to dream about how I’d furnish a little mountain cabin retreat with

Bunk beds in one of the bedrooms, a futon in the living room,  and the little wooden kitchen table from my parent’s kitchen could go in a mountain retreat kitchen. The chairs don’t even have to match. As long as there are cinnamon buns for breakfast.

Dreaming is fun.

What’s your dream?

As long as I’m dreaming….

 

Compliments of Pixabay

 

For more Streams of Consciousness, visit our host, Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/03/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-30-18/

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!