SoCS: Happy Places and Change on Planet Home Sweet Home

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “happy place.” Write the first thing that comes to mind when you think of “happy place.” Have fun!

When someone says, “Go to your happy place,” it could mean a real place, or a place you imagine in your mind. It’s nice if we have a happy place in our home. Mama Cat is sitting on my lap as I type this, watching Return of the Jedi on TNT. I don’t think Mama Cat is really watching, but my lap seems to be her happy place. In the evening, when Marley is in the back bedroom with David, Mama Cat goes between the couch and her catio. It’s her free time to wander the eastern side of the house.

Sometimes, our happy places can change. The ocean used to be one of my happy places, and I still love it, but not quite as much lately. Maybe it was the jelly fish sting from last year or the tiny organisms sometimes called “sea lice” that get caught in my swimsuit and make me itch for days. Still, the ocean is powerfully refreshing – just breathing the ocean air helps.

Here are some ocean photos. The last one is a painting I did many years ago:

Me and the ocean years ago

Walking donuts

Fully Moon Over the Ocean

Spheres on the Ocean

Now, my happy place is likely to have a lot of trees. Even if I’m in the house, I want trees around the house, you know, outside. Not necessarily growing IN the house, though that is possible. A tree house would be nice, like the ewoks have, as long as I can build it without hurting the trees….

I went to look at videos of ewok village trees, like in the ending of Jedi, but the ending has fireworks. My happy place does not include fireworks unless they are quiet. Fireflies would definitely make me happy. Fireflies make me want to dance.

Speaking of happy place and sci fi, I read something surprising about William Shatner’s reaction to going into space for real. Stopping the stream to go find it. It came from FB. I hope it’s really true that he said this. FB didn’t sensor it, so maybe it is. If so, I admire his honesty.

Okay, so I started looking this up which took me way out of the stream of consciousness. Let me just mention that I have read elsewhere that he still has hope. I think the quote above came from his new book, Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder. Sounds like a great title.

Quotes taken out of context can be misleading. I guess the main point for this post is that your happy place can change. That’s a good thing. If we have plenty of imagination, our happy place can always be with us. Still, I hope we can create more happy places on the real planet Earth. Because right now, there is no planet B. And even if there was, Earth is our home sweet home.

Fireflies still exist somewhere… Next time I see them, I will dance.

~~~

For more streams of consciousness about happy places,

visit our host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

Star Wars, Fireworks, and Fireflies

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “chew/choo.”  Is there a train coming? But really, I thought of Chewbacca. You’d think spell check would know who that is and not think it’s a mistake.  I thought of the big hairy guy because today, I’m watching the Star Wars marathon from my mountain house. I know it’s a contrast, watching Star Wars on the TV next to my window with the trees off the balcony. (Though I could be on the forest moon of Endor.)

I’m watching the Star Wars marathon because today (I’m writing this on Friday) is my day to relax. After my son’s wedding last Saturday, I took care of my granddaughter for four days by myself. She is 7 and full of energy from the time she wakes up til the time she goes to sleep.  My son and his new bride came to stay with us on July 4th after a few days of honeymoon camping. We watched the fireworks across the lake. Fantastic show with 70s music. It was great! The sky threatened to rain all evening, but held off until immediately after the grand finale, then promptly released a downpour as we scurried to the car.

I’m going to do what I can to catch up with the world of WordPress, email, and downloading photos of the river, as long as catching up doesn’t interfere too much with relaxing. I might take a walk, and I will definitely be sitting out on the balcony watching for fireflies. Fireflies are rare in the city. I haven’t seen them in a long time except when I come to the mountains, so they are a real treat. We used to see fireflies in our urban backyard when the kids were little. Too much pesticide from the city spraying for mosquitoes is not a good thing. We still have mosquitoes in the city and other bugs in abundance, but not fireflies. I’m glad they still exist here in the mountains. Twinkling lights to take me away from the Star Wars marathon to look up at the real stars in the sky. As long as it doesn’t rain….

Here are some views from my mountain balcony. It’s still hard to believe.

Rhododendrons Galore!

PS. It did rain, but afterward, I still got to see some fireflies. I’ll be heading back home Saturday morning, so please be patient with my catch up/responses.

Oh, and one more thing. As I was watching Return of the Jedi in the Star Wars Marathon, I found this on Facebook:

…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you by Linda G. Hill. For more info and more streams, visit Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/07/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-6-19/

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!

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!

Dragonflies and Fireflies

So many dragonflies

Visit my backyard

Darting and hovering

Over the kiddie pool

Turned doggie bathtub,

Landing on my clothesline

Checking out the clothespin.

 

But where have all the fire flies gone?

It’s been so long since I saw one

Twinkle in my backyard.

 

Was it the pesticides

that chased away the fire flies?

Were they caught in jars

by naughty children

Who didn’t understand?

 

Have fireflies become a myth

like unicorns

in mid summer night dreams?

 

Maybe they are still alive

Far away from city lights

Where trees grow thick

And nature thrives.

 

Here are some fireflies I found at “Emphatic Expression”:

https://sierraoh.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/fireflies/

 

 

Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post prompt for today was:

“fly/flies/flew/flu/flue.” 

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

http://lindaghill.com/2015/07/17/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-1815/

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!