Good News Tuesday: Saving Lives in Dallas, A Husky Makes it Home, and a Grateful Reunion with a Veteran

A Team Effort Saves Lives in Dallas Apartment Fire

Quick thinking by neighbors and first responders saved the lives of everyone in this raging apartment fire.

Rain in California

Yes, the rain in California could increase risk of mudslides and complicate searches, but it also brings relief from devastating fire and hope for healing. I didn’t find a news story about the rain that didn’t give equal or more attention to the risk of mudslides. It’s a real risk, but can we just take a minute be thankful for the rain?

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A Husky Named Sinatra Makes it Home

Sinatra the Husky disappeared from his home in New York some time after his human sibling, 16 year old Zion, was killed. He was found in Florida 18 months later by another teenager. We don’t know how Sinatra got from New York to Florida. But I can’t help but wonder if he was looking for Zion. His rescuers and friends of the family made sure he got home. It’s a touching story.

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Thanksgiving to a Veteran, to All Veterans:

Thanksgiving is not over. We can give thanks every day.  Donna Caye wrote a letter of thanks in 1970 to a soldier serving in Vietnam. She recently got to tell him thank you again in person.

 

 

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Good News Tuesday seeks to add a touch of balance, one Tuesday at a time.

What’s your good news?

Good News Tuesday: A Rescue, Dog Sense, Good Teens, and Palm Oil Progress

 

Sanitation Worker Helps Elderly Woman to Safety

Dane Cummings was told to get out as the fire approached, but he decided to check on the elderly citizens he knew lived along his route.

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Dogs Help Identify Malaria from Frozen Socks

In a proof of concept study, dogs were able to detect which socks had been worn by children with malaria about 70% of the time. “Moreover the researchers pointed out that the success rate potentially could have been higher if the dogs were actually with the children or were working with socks that had been worn recently, instead of samples that had been frozen for several months while the dogs were being trained.”

We are only beginning to understand the power of a dog’s sense of smell. Dogs have been known to detect other diseases. Like some other animals, dog intelligence is different from ours but in some ways greater.  I hope we will be intelligent enough to treat our animal companions and colleagues with the respect they deserve.

Here’s the story from Good News Network.

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Good Teenagers

The student council of this South Carolina high school asked Andrew to sit with them during lunch. This is what good leaders do. They reach out to people who may be different, alone, or needing help. It’s okay to be alone sometimes, but it’s also good to be invited and feel welcome.

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Major Company Cuts Ties with Palm Oil Suppliers

The Good News Network reports that Mondelēz International, parent company of Nabisco and other snack foods, has cut ties with 12 palm oil suppliers that contribute heavily to deforestation and habitat destruction. They are putting in place measures to become 100 % sustainable and transparent regarding palm oil.  You can read more about this move here.

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What’s Your Good News?

Calling on Angels to Send the Rain West

 

Why so much rain on the east coast?

Praying it goes where it’s needed most.

Calling on angels to gather our rains

Deliver it westward to quiet the flames.

Push rain clouds to the smoke filled sky.

Hurry please, before others die.

Protect those working to make a stand.

Quench the thirst of parched dry land.

Calling on angels to gather our rains

Deliver it westward to quiet the flames.

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A second response to yesterday’s SOCS prompt: Call

Sometimes I wish I’d written something different for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday post. Here on the Carolina coast, we’ve already met our national rainfall average for the year. We don’t need any more, and I’m hearing thunder again. It just doesn’t make sense. I’m asking God and calling on angels to send just the right amount of rain west to California or anywhere that it’s needed to gently eliminate the fires. My husband who was once a fire fighter tells me a light rain will be best to prevent mudslides since there is little or no vegetation to hold back a lot of rain. A light rain will help those fighting the fires to get their work done more quickly. So let’s pray for steady light rain and safety for all.

Intoxicating Smells

 

Right before I read today’s Stream of Consciousness Prompt, I was outside picking up mimosa flowers in my backyard. Some people seem to find mimosas a nuisance. The flowers are everywhere, littering, NO, not littering, gracing my back steps, patio and yard. I  think mimosas are delightful. They are not “invasive” to me. They are prolific. And their flowers are intoxicating – mildly intoxicating. When I pick up a mimosa flower and breathe in it’s gentle fragrance, my eyes close and roll back a bit in my head.

Mimosa fragrance is milder than honeysuckle, my other favorite flower smell. Gardenia is nice, but it can be a bit much. Another smell I love is a wood fire. I don’t much like sleeping on the ground any more, but I remember going camping in years passed and not wanting to wash my clothes because of the smell of wood smoke bringing back memories of sitting around the fire and looking at the stars.

And I can’t leave out the intoxicating smell of my first love when he found me again after 39 years. I hope you don’t get tired of me writing about that, but I might have some new followers who don’t know about it. It’s just fascinating to me how intoxicating I found his smell when we first reconnected in 2011. My nose would linger over his neck and drink in the mild, almost imperceptible scent of his skin. That scent must have imprinted hard on my 16 year old brain. That’s just one of the many things you can read about when my book comes out sometimes this summer. Maybe even next month…. I wonder if it will smell good. Don’t you just love the smell of old books, or new books? Kinda weird for a lover of trees to love the smell of books and burning wood. Sorry about that trees. What can I say? Smell is complicated.

Today’s SocS prompt, “smell,” is brought to you by, Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2017/05/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-2717/

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!

Power in the Darkness

So many possibilities for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness prompt: “light.”

I wrote about moonlight recently. Light can be symbolic for goodness. Light is good. But it doesn’t always have to come from electricity. And power is more than electricity. That’s been a topic of mine in the past, but with hurricane season here again, it bears repeating.

Why do people keep saying “power” when they mean electricity? Do we really want to give our dependence on electricity so much power?

When the lights go out due to a storm, we have lost electricity.

We still have power, even when we don’t have electricity.

I know electricity can be a life or death matter for some people, and I wish them their and their loved ones abundant power and life sustaining support if the electricity goes out.

But most of us can get by without electricity.

What did people do before electricity?

They sat around a fire and told stories.

They read by candle light.

They played guitars and drums and sang songs.

We still have the power to pray and laugh and sing and love one another.

So when the lights go out, we may have lost electricity, but we still have power!

I’ve got my candles ready!

 

 

If you’d like to jump into the refreshing Stream of Consciousness Saturday post, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-515/

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!