SoCS: A Bowl of Cherries

 

This week’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “bowl.” Use it as a noun or a verb—use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

I’ve never liked bowling. It’s noisy, and I’ve never been any good at it. Not interested in the Superbowl. I tried many years ago, but my x boyfriend informed me, “You don’t do yoga during the Superbowl!“

So, let’s go with the other bowl.

Life is a bowl of cherries. Some are sweet, some sour, some go bad. And they have seeds, which is okay. That’s how we get cherries. If you eat cherries and almonds at the same time, it tastes a little like coconut.

Life is like a bowl of cherries, or a box of chocolates, depending on who you ask. Before I started typing this, I got curious about where the bowl of cherries analogy comes from. Turns out it’s an old song. My parents probably knew that. Heck, my dad probably sang it since he liked to sing.

The song, “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” is about enjoying life and not being too serious. I’ve had a lot of practice being serious having been serious most of my life, most of the time, with some exceptions. The more we practice anything, the better we get at it, whether it’s being serious, making jokes, or dancing. Where did dancing come from? I don’t dance much. Maybe I should.

Life can be pretty serious, especially if you watch mainstream news. But there are alternatives for balance, like coming here on Tuesdays for Good News Tuesday. Yes, that’s a plug for my weekly post.

I think I’m going to practice enjoying and creating more little moments of joy in spite of the bad stuff going on. Or big moments of joy. But little moments of joy are easy, like seeing butterflies (I don’t care if it’s cliche), playing with the dog, or blowing those bubbles waiting patiently on my back deck.

This Saturday is a busy day for me, so I’m typing this on Friday which has been an easy, stay home day. Saturday, I have a thing at a church that involves coloring. Coloring brings me joy, so I’ll seek and savor those moments. Then, the farmer’s market and the annual Vegfest downtown. I hope they have some vegan food left by the time I get there. That’s more time away from home than I like. Being at home brings me joy. I think I’ll look for cherries.

Here’s the song done by Doris Day who was an animal activist later in life.

The chorus goes something like this:

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don’t take it serious; it’s too mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can’t take your dough when you go, go, go.
So keep repeating it’s the berries,
The strongest oak must fall, (no, they mustn’t! says joannaoftheforest)
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you’ve never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.

Here are some pictures I’ve taken lately:

At the Sanctuary

On our walk

Party at the Neighbor’s

Hanging out by the sidewalk

These didn’t make it.

Dave and Marley

~~~

For more SoCS streams and rules,

visit our host, Linda Hill HERE.

Peaceful Joy

Painting cup and Joy detergent

I know the photo looks like I might have a cup of Joy dishwashing detergent, bleh. It’s really a couple things that bring me joy. The handle broke off the cup, but I keep it for paint brushes. Blue is my favorite color, so I did my kitchen in blue and white, but it was too cold. Yellow brings me peaceful joy, so I’m constantly adding splashes of yellow. As time goes on, I have come to appreciate the little splashes of peaceful joy more than the jump up and down clap your hands joy, but those are nice, too.

Here’s to wishing you many joyful moments!

Daffodils at my parents old house

From my front path

My Art. Alcohol ink on tile

Marley and Dave

Cow from my parents. I made the curtans.

Photo by my granddaughter

Thanks to theindieshe for this joyful prompt and to Linda Hill for Just Jot it January!

For more info visit Linda HERE.

SoCS: Ode to Joy

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ode.” Find a one- or two-syllable word that rhymes with “ode,” or use the word “ode.” Have fun!

Ode. Mode: most frequently ocurring score (from statistics) which I guess is what makes the hill in the bell curve. “Ode to Billy Joe.” Maybe someone else will do that. How about “Ode to Joy?”

Here’s a flash mob.

I’ve been in small dance mobs, more like acting mobs or mime mobs. I bet I have a picture somewhere……

Very improv. That’s me on the right with the red hair about 10 -15 yrs ago.

It was a fun time when I was much more social, not romanticly, and finding myself while focusing on friendship with a very accepting group of people.

I’d like to sing in a flash mob some day. I would want to enunciate because I can’t really hear the words in the “Ode to Joy above.” I worry about that in choir – that the organ could overpower the lyrics. Maybe it’s my hearing? Anyway, I’m going to find the words to “Ode to Joy…”

So there are many differernt versions. There’s the original poem written in German, the hymn, and here’s a simpler version, well, the lyricis are simple, the music not so much. (Maybe I couldn’t understand the words in the flash mom version bc they were singing in German?)

In all the mess and confusion of the world,

I hope you find many moments of joy!

…

For more stream of consciousness posts, visit our host, Linda Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2021/08/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-21-2021/

One-Liner Wednesday/JusJoJan: From Icy Fingers to Joy and Hope

Photo from Pixabay by Coernl

When I read the title of Linda’s post containing todays’ prompt, “Icy fingers,”  I read it as “joy fingers,” because of the fancy font. Maybe that’s what I wanted to see – joy instead of icy. I do get icy fingers sometimes in the winter – a circulation issue perhaps or low thyroid, whatever. Joy fingers would be better. Joy fingers makes me think of massage for which I am way overdue.

Looking back over my drafted One-liner drafts, If found this quote on joy attributed to Hafiz, the poet of ancient wisdom. 

“You carry within your soul every ingredient necessary to turn your existence into joy.”

Hafiz 

 

Daffodils offer

Icy green fingers of hope 

With joy from their souls. 

JoAnna of the Forest

…

Just Jot January and One-Liner Wednesday are hosted by Linda Hill. For more information, visit: 

One-Liner Wednesday/JusJoJan the 6th, 2021 – Icy Fingers | (lindaghill.com)

 

SoCS: The Days are Long, But the Years are Short, So Believe in Your Dreams and Find the Joy.

 

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “year.”

A year is 365 days. Remember how when we were kids a year seemed like such a long time. My granddaughter talks about a thirty minute drive taking forever.

Now a year zooms by like a flock of pelicans. Though pelicans glide more than zoom.

They’re beautiful in flight, but they don’t stay long.

I was thinking about writing about what popped into my head when I read the prompt: The Year of Living Dangerously was a movie I believe I saw in the 80s. It was a about a journalist played by Mel Gibson and a diplomat played by Sigourney Weaver who’s one of my favorite actors. It was political, yet romantic in an exotic part of the world.

I’ve often thought of the first rebound after my divorce as a year of living dangerously.  That relationship lasted a year and was 365 days too long. But I learned not to settle.

Then, there’s “The Year of the Cat”which is a song I love the sound of. Mellow and maybe a little exotic though I don’t know all the words. But here are some.

“She comes out of the sun in a silk dress runnin’ like a water color in the rain.”

Who cares what it’s about? But I bet some one knows. It’s the sound that I love. Okay, I like the lyrics, too. Always have, even if I couldn’t sing them all from memory.

2019 was a strange year. We spent 7 months at the house that was my parents’ immersed in their history while sorting out their stuff during renovations on our home. Then we sold the house I grew up in and bought a house in the mountains. Never would’ve imagined that as more than a fantasy, but dreams do come true, even if they take a while. Anything  is possible!

So here we are coming up on a brand new year. The word, JOY, has been coming to me lately. That must be my word for the year.  A year of living joyfully!

Not every minute will be joyful. But I bet I can find some joy in every day. How’s that for a goal? I think there may be some dancing.

Here’s to 2020! With all its mess and magic. There’s going to be joy in the sunshine and moonlight, birdsongs, and buttercups.  I know I’m getting corny now, so that’s all folks.

Just one question:

What brings you joy?

 

…

For details on SoCS, or to join in the fun, visit Linda Hill by clicking this link:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/12/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-28-19/

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!

One-Liner Wednesday: Timing and Joy

“In God’s good plan, there is a reason why today is not tomorrow.”

Curtis Almquist

Sometimes we wonder what’s taking so long.

In The Twelve Days of Christmas, Curtis Almquist writes “We need the provisions of today to prepare us to receive the promises of tomorrow.”  He writes about how joy takes time, acceptance, and desire.

This reaffirms my story.

Ten years ago, I’d look up at the stars in my backyard and ask, “Is there someone out there for me? Don’t I deserve to be happy?”

The answer was yes. But first, I had to learn to be happy with me.

It took 39 years for my soulmate to find me again. We needed every one of those years, with their provisions and lessons, to become ready to journey together.

 

My wish for each of us is that we find joy in the gifts of today.

 

…

For more one-liners, or to join in, visit our host, Linda Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/12/18/one-liner-wednesday-mugshot/

Here are the guidelines:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

 

My Sisters on the Other Side

Yesterday was the birthday of my older sister, Linda. She’s been gone from this world now for almost ten years. Just a year less than Mom. I don’t remember her being in my life when I was very young, but there are pictures that tell a different story.

Linda is holding me as Mom plays with her hair.

I remember those wooden shoes hurt my feet. Maybe Linda is trying to comfort me with her hand on my knee.

She was ten years older than me, technically a step sister, but the father who adopted her when he married my mother was much more of a father than the first one.

Linda got married at 16. We saw her now and then, usually during a crisis, like when her son died, then the  few months we stayed with her and her husband and daughter when Dad was in Vietnam, and later when my younger sister died.

After my divorce, Linda and I talked on the phone more. Her love and acceptance reached all the way from California to the Atlantic coast. She was a welcome comfort during that dark time of my life. I kept saying my daughter and I were going to come visit her, but I didn’t realize how sick Linda was, and that sometimes we don’t have as much time as we think we have. Still, I’m grateful beyond words for her love and I know she is in a good place, probably singing hymns with Dad like they did when my parent’s visited her church.

A few days ago, I had all the loose the old family photos laid out on the table so I could add them to the family history album. That’s when I realized how much Linda cared for me when I was young.  I also studied the photos of my younger sister, Mary Kaye.  It’s one thing to die when you’re old – whatever old is… I’m not so sure anymore – But Mary Kaye was young. It was on her 16th birthday, in March of 1975, that Mary Kaye was killed by a drunk driver.

Mary Kaye was not interested in school. She smoked cigarettes and ran away from home once. But she also volunteered with handicapped children and helped with fundraisers for their group home.

Mary Kaye in her candy striper (volunteer) uniform with Lobo

Left: MK is putting the hamster on Lobo’s head. Right: she’s wearing the smiley face T shirt and volunteering at the bake sale for the  Carobell children’s home.

We were very different in many ways. She was more of a free spirit. I was more serious about school and had bigger plans for saving the world.  We were just starting to get beyond our sibling rivalry when she died. I often wonder what she would be like today. I wish my kids had been able to know her. These were my thoughts when I started sobbing at the table full of old photos. My husband was there to comfort me and suggested I take a break from the photos since I’d been at it for a while. I picked up my journal and went to the couch to write my feelings. A few minutes later, I felt Mary Kaye’s presence. I have not felt her presence much like I have my parents who died more recently, but it was very much the same feeling of intense JOY. No clear words, like my father gives me, but clear and unmistakable JOY.

This evening, I stopped writing this to go for a walk with David and Doodle. Breathing in the cool air, I reached out to Linda and felt the gentle joy of her spirit. Then lightening flashed in the distant clouds. Maybe that was Mary Kaye.

If you have sisters or brothers, parents or children, beloved family by blood or by choice, still living in this world, treasure the moments you have with them. And also know this, our loved ones who have passed on are alive in spirit and in love on the other side.

Joyful Reunion

The video contained in the following article moved me to tears of joy. It’s about a family of Sudanese refugees separated for four years. You can watch their reunion by clicking the link below. I hope your day is filled with gratitude and joyful moments.

http://www.faithwire.com/2016/11/21/sudanese-man-falls-to-his-knees-in-middle-of-texas-airport-to-praise-god-after-emotional-reunion-with-family/

Inside Out: A Fun Movie About Perseverance….and Faith, and Hope

I don’t go to movies much. But when I saw the trailer for Inside Out, an animated film about feelings, I wanted to go. Then a woman from my support group brought it up and we decided to go see it.

The main character (on the outside) is a young girl named Riley. She has a hard time with her family’s move to California. Having moved at least nine times as the child of a 20 year marine, I could feel Riley’s pain.

The characters on the inside include Riley’s feelings: Fear, Anger, Disgust, Sadness, and the ever popular, Joy. Inside Out shows how all our feelings have important roles to play in our lives.

My favorite part begins somewhere in the middle when Joy and Sadness get sucked out of brain headquarters, where decisions are made, and have to find a way back carrying some really important core memories.

On their adventure they encounter the worlds of imagination, long term memory and the dark pit where forgotten memories go. They meet Riley’s imaginary friend, who’s actions give me a theory about why I have no memory of my imaginary friend, Auntie Jane, who my mother said I blamed for my misdeeds.

The only problem I had with the movie, and it’s a minor one for me, was that the happy ending of the traditional family with mom and dad, might be hard for children who come from  non-traditional or single parent families. But then, the film provides a great framework with which to identify and talk about feelings that might arise. I’m probably activating Fear’s cousin, Worry, about this. I’m sorry, Worry, but you need to go away.

Watching Inside Out, I laughed, and I cried, joyfully forgetting I was watching a cartoon. I found Inside Out  to be entertaining, original, and visually intriguing. It’s a fun movie that teaches about perseverance, teamwork and problem solving. Now that I think about it, it’s also about faith and hope, too.

I might even go see it again.

Remember: Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides.

Moving from Leftovers to the Joy of Being Alive

Badge by: Doobster @ Mindful Digressions

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt is the word: consume.

 

I will not be consumed by guilt about the extra calories I’ve consumed over the holidays.

The beguiling sugar monster flirts with me, again. What harm can come of this seemingly innocent pleasure? A piece of pumpkin pie, a cookie slipped from the plate in the frig…..

I know the seductive nature of sweet things, and of spicy leftover lasagna calling me from the the refrigerator, on the shelf above the apple pie which sits temptingly on top of the kale salad that’s getting old.

My mantra was to only consume things that were healthy and good for me, mindfully, one bite at a time, only what I need….

I will not feel guilty for not being perfect.

 

I want to be consumed by the urge to stretch and hike the wooded trails breathing crisp air.

I want to be consumed by the love of painting and writing and singing.

I want to be consumed by my lover’s scent, by his love for me.

I want to be consumed by the hope of the new year!

Consumed by the joy of being alive!

∞

If you’d like to join the fun of Saturday’s Stream of Consciousness prompt and post, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2014/12/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-december-2714/

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,” or “Begin with the word ‘The’.”

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. Have fun!