SoCS: Thanks for the Vaccination Nudge

My friend Mary who is a pediatrician nudged me to get vaccinated early this year. I wasn’t in any hurry and might not have even been vaccinated if she hadn’t nudged me early on with a link to a local clinic. I wanted to see what happened. I knew from my side effects to the flu shot, that my side effects to the covid vaccine were likely to be significant, and they were. But now, I’m glad I got the shots.

Saturday I dropped some school supplies off to a community organizer. We chatted in her living room without masks. I had mine in my pocket, but knew we’d both been vaccinated. She offered me a hug as I was about to leave, and I accepted warmly. Not sorry about that. But maybe it wouldn’t have hurt to wear a mask. I found out yesterday that she tested positive for covid. I think she’s okay, but her daughter is in the hospital.

I’ve heard of a lot of people who were vaccinated testing positive for covid, but their symptoms are mild compared to people who have not been vaccinated. My friend who tested positive but was NOT vaccinated has been in ICU for three weeks and on a ventilator. He is ten years younger than me. He’s also a wonderful person who has done a lot for the community. God, I hope he’s going to be okay. Lots of people are praying.

I am thankful for my doctor friend nudging me to get vaccinated. I’m feeling okay, recovering from plantar fascitis and a pulled muscle in my back. My body is good at healing, if maybe slower than it used to be. Still, I think I’m going to lay low, take it easy, and wear my mask when I go anywhere. Life is precious.

Some of these photos are from the farm animal sanctuary where I prepare lunch on Thursdays.

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  Me in my angel mask

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  Leo isn’t so sure about his new perch.

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  The goats like the fennel in the chicken yard.

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  Patrick reminds me of a big dog.

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  Padre is so handsome.

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  A skink in my backyard.

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  Girl at the beach.

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  The vegan chocolate “ice cream” is my favorite.

Our Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday was: “my.” Start your post with the word “My.” Bonus points if you end your post with “yours.” Enjoy!

For more streams of consciouness along with rules visit out host, Linda Hill at this link.

Horses and Dreams

 

I got to thinking that I have not written much about horses here. I used to own a horse when I was in my twenties. Her name was Blue Babe, and we were both high strung at the time. I don’t know why she was high strung, but I was in my twenties, which for me was my messiest time of my life.

Horses have always calmed me and excited me at the same time. Something about their sturdiness, and being in control of something so large and powerful. Though today, I try to have a looser rein when riding.

Yesterday, I went to help out at a summer day camp at Ashton Farm where they have horses. I’ve ridden there when my church group goes once a year. But yesterday, we did not get the horses out because it was too hot. I wondered how I would do being out in close to 90 degree sunshine for most of the day. I arrived at 10 AM (there are advantages to being a volunteer) and stayed until about 2:30 when the kids were getting on the bus.  I helped out with a bee sting and other camper bug bites and wrote names on construction paper ribbons for winners of the long jump, chicken catch, and other camp games.  It was a good day, and I’m glad I was able to hang in there with the kids and the teen and young adult camp counselors.  Still, I think I’d rather go as a day camper and relax, ride the horses, and kayak on the lake.

This small farm is my ideal. If I could live anywhere I wanted, it would be on a farm like this, with horses and dogs and a big farm house with a wrap around porch, where you can see the stars at night.

Maybe it would be in the mountains, or the foothills, where it’s a little cooler.  Maybe I’d have art therapy and meditation groups, and yoga classes.

I would definitely have campfires, and singing, and drumming.

Campfire at God’s Whisper Farm, another dreamy place where I went to a writer’s retreat.

In the meantime, maybe I’ll do some of those things

in my own back yard

of my little urban cottage,

until I get my farm.

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt, brought to us by Linda G. Hill is, “rain/rein/reign.”

You can find more SOC stories at Linda’s place:

https://lindaghill.com/2017/06/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-2417/

The rules for SoCS are:

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!

 

God’s Whisper

This past weekend, my daughter and I attended a writer’s retreat at God’s Whisper Farm.

Located in Radiant, Virginia, the home of Andi and Phillip and their family of dogs, cats, goats and chickens, is a place where one finds peace and quiet, laughter and wisdom, a place to hear God’s whisper.

After Andi showed us to our room upstairs in the old farm house, we took a brief tour of the farm.

      

We enjoyed a healthy dinner and read some of our work around the campfire. That’s when I discovered fireflies! An abundance of fireflies blinking on and off around the farmhouse! I took a video with my phone. Maybe some day, I’ll figure out how to load my phone videos to this blog. For now, just know that fireflies are alive and well at God’s Whisper Farm, where I did not notice any mosquitoes.

On Saturday morning, after a walking meditation led by Kelly Chripczuk, Andi read to us from The Mindful Writer, then we worked on writing exercises to help us explore what we need to let go of, what gets in the way of our writing, and what we love about writing.

On Saturday afternoon, we each workshopped a piece of writing and received helpful feedback from the group. Then Andi, author of The Slaves Have Names, and author Shawn Smucker, shared their knowledge and experience on writing and publishing.

After dinner, my daughter and I visited the neighboring pasture where the cows watched us with curiosity, from a distance.

We looked for the deer we saw on the hilltop Friday evening. This time, I was ready with my zoom lens, but the deer must’ve had other plans for Saturday night.

Later, we rejoined the group around the fire in the field and listened to Shawn read the first chapter of his book: The Day The Angels Fell.

 

On the last day of the retreat, we talked about making time for our writing and how important this is for our well being. Shawn passed along a question asked by the rector of his church:

“Could it be that God delights in the things that bring us happiness?”

I come home from this retreat with gratitude for the encouragement and affirmation I received, with a new sense of excitement and direction for my work, preparing me to make a leap of faith, with confidence that God’s whisper is leading me on a path of creativity and freedom.  I believe it is a path that will delight the Creator who ignited this creative spark in me many years ago, knowing it would come alive when the time was right.

All photos on this post were taken by JoAnne Silvia at God’s Whisper Farm.

Farm Vision

This weekend, my daughter and I are visiting God’s Whisper Farm for a writer’s retreat. When I looked at pictures of the farm, I couldn’t tell much about the lay of the land. My daughter had asked me if it was in the mountains, and I wasn’t sure. To us flatlanders, it is practically mountainous. The air smells crisp like mountains and the nights are cooler than our Carolina swelters. What a relief!

The best surprise so far: fireflies! My recent post lamented about the lack of firefly sightings in my city, and here they are! I must have seen at least 50 twinklers last night! Plus, there are no mosquitoes here! The animals on the farm, goats dogs, and chickens, have lots of room to roam. This fits my vision of what a farm should be.

If I could do anything I wanted, I’d have a farm like this one. I envision people coming to relax, meditate, quit smoking and get healthy. There would be music, bonfires and maybe yoga classes. Oh, and I’d have one room for an art studio. As long as I’m visualizing, why not throw in a stream or a babbling brook.  Tomatoes, corn, basil, squash, beans and arugula growing in the garden.  A pecan tree with a tire swing. Lots of trees, but also open space to see the stars. And fireflies.

I’m looking forward to writing, getting feedback, enjoying the company of other writers and relaxing in this beautiful space.  It’s a good time to connect with my daughter too.

Within a few days, I hope to have some photos to share for more visual detail.

 

Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post prompt for today was “vis.”

If you’d like to join in the fun, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/07/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-2515/

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.

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!