SoCS: Once Upon a Time in Newfoundland, The Moody Blues Song, and Animal Sanctuary Pictures

Today’s prompt for #JusJoJan the 14th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “once upon a time.” Start your post with “Once upon a time,” then write whatever comes to you, whether it be fact or fiction. Have fun!

Once upon a time we didn’t have phones. Or even TVs. Computers were barely imaginable by the average person. In the 1960s, we had a party line and a phone that sat on a table with a chord. We knew the important numbers by heart. There were three TV stations in black and white. And we thought it was pretty cool.

Lassie and Captain Kangaroo were my favorite shows when I was barely walking and later in kindergarten. Except in kindergarten when we were stationed on the Argentia Naval Base in Newfoundland, Canada. There was only one TV station, and a lot of French was spoken. When my dad got orders to go to Artentia (pronounced Argencia) mom thought he said Argentina. For a city girl from Washington DC, my mom found Newfoundland remote, a bit boring, and of course, cold.

Cold reminds me of the “Cold War” that was going on then. It seemed like everyone was talking about The Russians. I must have picked up on the tension and said, “I hate the Russians.” My dad stopped what he was doing, probably spit polishing his boots, and said, “Honey, you shouldn’t hate the Russians. You should feel sorry for them.”

That was one of the things my dad said that stuck with me. Like “Nothing is impossible” when I was 13.

Don’t hate. and Anything is possible.

Well, mom made the best of being in the frozen wilderness by making friends with the other military wives. The men used to play pinocle. I remember going sledding down a hill out back and that there were wolves howling at night. We used to go on picnics and go out to see the blue icebergs. I would have appreciated the remote location more if I had been older.

Stepping out of the stream, or maybe the stream took me there, I looked up Argentia to make sure I was spelling it right. The base was decommissioned in 1973 and the land returned to the Canadian/Newfoundland government.

One of my favorite photos of that time and place was this picnic photo. I’m wearing saddle shoes.

Me with my parents 1961 or 62

Mom must be wearing Dad’s jacket. Probably a Marine Corps jacket of some kind because it’s red. But that’s just a guess. We went on a lot of family picnics when I was a kid. Why don’t we do that anymore? I wonder what lead me to write about this time and place which I tend to romanticize. These are some of my earliest memories.

And then there’s this nostalgic Moody Blues song and video about remembering an old romance.

More recent memories include the residents of Blueberry Lane Farm Animal Sanctuary where I prepare and serve lunch on Thursdays. Jake, the sheep had a peculiar way of smelling something interesting in the air. Once upon a time, most of these animals were abused or neglected. Now they are living their best lives. Ed, the big rooster in the third gallery picture, had been confined at county animal services (near barking dogs) and had attacked a woman to the point of her needing hospital care. Now, Ed has learned he can trust Debbie and the caretakers at the sanctuary.

Jake smells something.

Delilah wants more broccoli

Manager Debbie with Ed

Debbie and Steve

Mira and Jack were born at the sanctuary.

Padre and Mary

Something must smell really good!

Watch out for the roosters, little guy!

~~~

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by author, Linda G. Hill.

For more streams and details, visit Linda HERE.

SoCS: Things my Parents Said about Possibility, Goats, Food, Wishes and Spit

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “a phrase you grew up with.” Include in your post a phrase your mom/dad/grandparent/sibling used all the time when you were growing up, or just write whatever inspires you based on that phrase. Enjoy!

I have to start by honoring my father, Jim, who would have been…. 91 on May 2 if he was still in this world. You may have read that my father inspired the title of my blog by telling me when I was 12 years old:

“Nothing is Impossible.”

He was told that by his scoutmaster, probably in the 1940s and passed it on to me in the 1960s. He didn’t make this statement a lot, but the tone of his voice and the state of my impressionable mind made it stick. “Nothing is impossible” became “Anything is possible.”

My dad also said,

“Outstanding!”

I think that was a common military word. It felt good to hear that one. He also said things in what sounded like Korean or Vietnamese (he served as a Marine in both those wars), but I think they were curse words, so I’m not going to try to guess how they might be spelled.

Mom often said,

“Kids are baby goats,”

She said that whenever someone would call children kids. Dad picked that up, too. Sorry, Mom, but I sometimes say kids. Mom also said,

“We don’t throw away food.”

That came from growing up during “The Great Depression.” The other thing mom said a lot was,

“Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one gets filled up first.”

There are other versions of that saying which Mom would not want me to share. Still, I think there is some value in wishing as long as we do the footwork to make our wishes come true. Not that we can MAKE them come true every time, but we can manifest our dreams. We can move in the direction of our hopes and dreams, one step as time. Sometimes we manifest something even better!

As I look at that word, manifest, it conjures up all kinds of trash in the stream of consciousness. It’s not a pleasant-sounding word, but it has a powerful meaning. What would be another word that means nurturing dreams into reality? Well, I don’t know. But I know this:

Dreams do come true!

Reading these sayings from my parents, it sounds like my dad was more of a dreamer and my mom was stern. That was not the case at all, at least not on the surface. Dad was practical and hardworking. Mom was more romantic, though dad had his romantic side, too. Just for the record.

I could write a whole other post about goats. Summing it up: Don’t take baby goats away from their mamas.

Mother Esther and Daughter Miracle

Friends Mira and Mary

Brothers Jack and Henry

Goats at the Blueberry Lane Sanctuary

Esther and Delilah came to the sanctuary pregnant. It was the first time they were allowed to keep their babies. I don’t have a good picture of Delilah, but Jack and Henry are her sons. Esther’s daughter was named Miracle, aka Mira, because she was a complete surprise, and her mama is so old.

Happy Mother’s Day to goat mamas, dog mamas, cat mamas, llama mamas and

all the mamas everywhere.

~~~

For more sayings, streams, and rules, visit our most excellent host, Linda G. Hill HERE.

Good News Tuesday for March 16, 2021: Sustainable Village, On-line Shop Fights Domestic Violence, Women in the Oscars, Student Helps Former Teacher, and a Funny Kid Video

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Sustainable Village in Uganda built on Shea Butter and Solar Energy

The village of Okere Mom-Kok, destroyed during the Ugandan Civil War, is now a sustainable community of 4,000 people. Electricity, generated through solar energy is available to everyone, and clean water comes from modern borehole methods. Ojok Okello, who started the project with $54,000 from his own pocket, was inspired by the city of Wakanda in the movie, Black Panther. He recognized that the shea tree could be like the natural resource vibranium in the film. The Good News Network brings us more about Okere Mom-Kok.

…

High School Student Creates Online Shop to Help Domestic Violence Victims

Krystyna Paszko, a high school student in Poland, created a online shop to sell cosmetics where domestic violence victims can hide requests for help by appearing to be shopping online. Her idea won a European Union prize that came with €10,000 (£8,700; $12,120) and was ignited by a pharmacy in France where asking for a special mask alerts staff of a domestic violence situation. You can learn more about Krystna’s program in this BBC article.

…

Two Women were Nominated for Best Director in the 2021 Oscars

For the first time in Academy Award history, two women were nominated in the same year for best director. Previously, only five women had ever been nominated in the best director category. Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman,” are the two women nominated this year for best director. Good Morning America has details on these nominees and others.

…

Student Raises $27,000 for Former Substitute Teacher

Steven Nava raised over $27,000 for his former substitute teacher, 77 year old Jose Villarrue, who was living out of his car. Learn more in this celebration:

…

The Little Boy Laughed to See Such Fun

Click the link below for a very short, funny video with a little boy laughing at his parents’ water trick:

https://fb.watch/4guWjmqebj/

…

Got good news?

Please share your story or link in the comments!

SoCS: Brains, Birds, Trees, Electricity, and Singing in the Wire

Today’s prompt is “wire.”

It’s interesting how many wire thoughts can run through my brain between the time I read the prompt and the time I start writing. Brains are sometimes said to be “hard wired” for certain things. Maybe like, survival. But we don’t hear much about being soft wired for things, which is more often the case. I believe we can override much, ? some, a lot of the wiring in our brains.

I’m wired to be an introvert, but I can override this to a point. Then, I have to have alone time. I like alone time. I might not mind being quarantined, but I don’t want to be sick. I wasn’t going to write about the virus, but it snuck in here, like trash in the stream of consciousness. Damn news. But we need to know some things. I feel sorry for extroverts who get quarantined. I read about some people in Italy singing, but I’m saving that for Good News Tuesday.

Speaking of GNT, I just wrote about… no wait, that was Thursday Tree Love! In TTL (Thursday 🙂 ) I wrote about trees coexisting with electrical wires in the city and the grotesque, well I actually wrote unnatural, forms the electric company cuts the trees into for the electrical wires to have the right of way.  Notice I don’t write “power lines,” because when we lose electricity, we still have power. I made a meme about that. Let me see if I can find it.

This is not the one. It’s just a photo with wires. I bet I have a lot of those.

Okay, I’m still going back for the meme in my computer files….  Here it is:

And then there are the birds on a wire that I wrote about in the post about letting go of my parents’ house. When we were loading the last boxes on the day the house sold, there were four birds on the wire in front of the house. They represented my four family members in heaven (Mom, Dad, and my two sisters.)  Each one flew away, one at a time, and the last one (my father bird) lingered. It was a powerful experience telling me it was okay to let go, to move along in my own journey, that their spirits were alive and well. Oh, yeah, and we were staying at their house when our house was being re-wired.

Here’s that post in case you missed it.

Finally, I keep thinking about a line from a song that goes, “I hear you singing in the wire.” It was a really pretty old song by Glen Campbell. “Wichita Lineman.”  I’m not normally a country music fan, but this song seemed to cross over into 70s soft rock. It always moved me.  Maybe it’s because of the message of hope and perseverance, a love that lives on, and the soothing music.

 

Stay well, everybody! Take good care of yourself. Keep calm and wash your hands.

…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to us by:

https://lindaghill.com/2020/03/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-14-2020/

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!

Saying Goodbye to my Parents’ House

We closed on my parents’ old house on Monday and got the last of the stuff out. Besides paperclips, I will never have to buy duct tape again, or screwdrivers, T shirts, pencils, blankets, or coffee mugs just to name a few of the things my house is now full of.

At first I thought I might not cry, being so busy with loading the car. But as we approached the end of the process, I found it hard to breathe. Crying is a good thing and healthy at times, so I did.  Intellectually, I knew the house was just a structure, a building, but somehow it felt like I was saying goodbye to my parents and the end of an era. So many important things happened in that house. I lived there through my teen years and into my early twenties. My parent’s were there during the death of my sister in the mid seventies when she was 16.  After Mom died in 2008, Dad insisted on staying there by himself until he joined her in 2017.

My husband David was a big help. As we got ready leave for the last time, he said, “We have to decommission this house!” David spent much of his life on the New England coast where old ships were decommissioned to be removed from active service. I’m sure my parent’s house will go through a lot of changes before it returns to active duty. Standing in the front threshold, David said a prayer of thanksgiving for the vessel that served my family well.

It had been drizzling off and on for most of the morning, but the sky opened some clear patches as we carried the last items to the car. Looking up, I noticed four mourning doves perched on the electrical line out front. They seemed to be watching us.

All four members of my family of origin – my father, mother, and two sisters – have passed away. I wondered if these four doves could be spiritual representatives of my family in heaven.  As we finished loading the car, the doves flew away one at a time in the direction we would be driving home.

The last dove to leave seemed like the biggest one. It (he?) lingered for a bit, watching, then finally flew away.

It’s hard to put into words what I felt about the four doves, but I will try. I felt comforted by their presence. I think they were there to tell me that my parents and sisters are no longer confined to that house or this realm. Their spirits are alive, well and flying free! It’s time to move on.

I will carry with me the treasured memories from my parents’ old house and the lessons they taught me into new adventures!

 

Good News Tuesday: HIV Cure? Nursing Home Visitor, A Helpful Professor, Parents at the Border, and Heroic Teens

Seeking balance one Tuesday at a time.

Hope for People with HIV

(Source: NY Times)

Twelve years to the day that Mr. Brown was reported cured of HIV, a second patient known as, “The London Patient,” has been virus free for over a year after stopping his anti – HIV drugs in September of 2017.  Scientists had tried for 12 years to replicate Mr. Brown’s hard won success, but the virus always “came roaring back” in other patients, until now.

Both milestones involved complicated procedures with bone-marrow transplants intended to treat cancer in the patients, not H.I.V.” Publicly, the scientists are calling this a remission, but the headline says “cure.” Anything is possible.

You can learn more about Mr. Brown and the London patient in this article from The New York Times.

…

Three wishes for Nursing Home Residents

While going to nursing homes with her mom who’s a nurse, Ruby started visiting residents and asking them the question, If you could have three things, what would they be? The answers have been surprisingly simple, like fresh fruit. Ruby has a gofundme page to help her fulfill some of the residents wishes and delivers the goods with loving care.

…

 

I Found Something Good on Facebook!

(From “Images You Won’t See on TV” and on twitter)

…

Parents Return to the US Hoping to Reunite with their Children

“This is a huge victory for these families, but this fight isn’t over until they’re reunited with their kids,” said lawyer Erika Pinheiro.

This story is not all good news. But it shows progress, courage, and the perseverance of 29 parents trying to reunite with children who were taken from them at the US/Mexico border. On Saturday, the families “along with a team of lawyers and volunteers, hugged and cried as they officially entered the United States.”

You can read more about the personal stories in this article from Good Morning America

…

Teens Save Boy Dangling from Ski Lift

Enjoy this short video from NBC news about a group of teens who think fast to help someone in trouble.

…

My cup runneth over today! It’s even snowing here on the Carolina Coast – a rare event.

I’d love to read about YOUR good news in the comments!

 

 

 

 

I Can Write a Novel (As My Parents Nudge Me From the Other Side)

 

Can I really write this novel based on my parents? Can I fill in all the gaps using my imagination? Yes! I can. I’ve always had a powerful imagination. But I’ve used it to fantasize (and sometimes catastrophize) visually. Now, I’m putting it to work. When I wrote my memoir, Trust the Timing, I relied on my memory of the facts. I took journalism and technical writing in college. I majored in a science (though they called psychology a “soft science”) denying my creative tendencies, more like squelching them.

Dabbling in fiction, with my recent post, The Postcard from Malaga, about my parents, gave me confidence to get back to the novel about them that I started a couple years ago. Yesterday, when I was working on it, I got lost in their world. The world of two young lovers in 1950 in Washington DC. He’s a marine and she left her abusive husband with her baby daughter (my older sister.) Those are pretty much facts. But I made up stuff about their first date. I do know, because my dad told me, that my mom, who was not yet my mom, called up the barracks asking for some other guy. Jim (that’s my dad) answered the phone and said, “Why do you want to go out with that guy when you can go out with me?” And that’s how their romance started. While making up the details, I became so absorbed in their developing story, that at one point I stood up to stretch (my body knew I needed it) and for a second wondered where I was. It was very cool. Then I got caught/distracted about wanting to research restaurants in Washington DC in 1950 where they might have gone on their first date. That pulled me out of the story, but it was still fascinating because it was about the story.

Anyways, I need to remind myself that I don’t need to research a lot just to pound out this first draft. Yes there will be holes in it, and I’ll want to edit as I go, but they say just keep going, otherwise, this could take way too many years and I’ve not got unlimited years to work with. But I CAN write a first draft. I know I can.

…

(Betty and Jim, 1954)

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday was: “can” with bonus points for beginning and ending our post with the word, can. Yes, I can do that, too!

For more information, visit our host, Linda at the link below. Linda, I hope you feel better real soon. Take care!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/10/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-20-18/

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!

Sorting Through Memories

 

I’m very close to finishing up with my dad’s room. Today, I finished the closet, except for some shirts. I already donated about 30 pairs of pants, or as my dad would say, trousers. After wrapping several years of receipts and tax records in paper bags and duct tape  and lugging them to the trash, I finally went to reach up to the top closet shelf. There were more tax records to wrap,  a picture of some general or colonel he must have served under, and finally a large padded envelope. What could it be? Something important, I imagined.

Inside the envelope was a thin red book with the Marine Corps emblem. Opening the book, I discovered it was a folder with my dad’s certificate of retirement after 20 years in the Corps and a photos of him with 17 other retirees in khaki uniforms. My dad was clearly the handsomest. But they made a mistake on the date! The certificate says he retired in 1979. But he retired in June of 1969 right after I finished 6th grade. Oh, well.

I carried the red folder in the chair I keep in my dad’s room, my grief chair, where I go to feeling my feelings, and cried. I’m not sure if it was the significance of the retirement certificate or that I hadn’t cried in a while and have been working intensely on this room for a few days. Then Doodle came in, tail wagging and a concerned look in her big brown eyes. She can be a sweet dog sometimes.

I took a breath and decided to talk to my parents:

“I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate you more when you were alive. All the challenges and struggles you went through. Your strength. Your courage. Your faith. Thank you for passing that on to me. If you can, guide me, help me to pass that on to my children, even though they are grown.”

My parents responded:

You’ve done a good job. We are proud of you. Just keep setting a good example. Love them. Don’t be afraid to tell them, “Jesus loves you.” He does love them, and he loves you, too.

Talking to my parents helped. Their message helped. Crying helped.

My father’s retirement must have been a big deal. Definitely a relief, but maybe a little scary. Like my retirement. If I’d gotten a retirement certificate, I would’ve hung it on the wall. Or at least the refrigerator.

My father is the person who told me when I was 12 years old, “Nothing is impossible.” His words made an impression. But now, I realize that his life made even more of an impression. Even after his 20 years of military service, my parents faced and overcame big challenges. They want me to clarify that they couldn’t have done it without Jesus.

I still have a little more of Dad’s desk to clean out. No telling what I’ll find there. He saved everything. There’s a cigar box full of shoe laces. And I will never have to buy paper clips again. Here are some things I’ve found in and around my dad’s desk. You never know when you might need some carbon paper.

Later I spent a couple of hours making a collage from one of Mom’s old angel calendars. It was an intensely fun diversion. I think the hands are interesting.

Tomorrow, I switch gears and get some yellow paint samples for the kitchen!

 

Highly Sensitive

I’ve been writing about my mother lately (maybe for a Chicken Soup story) and found this post by Trini Lind about highly sensitive people which made me realize that my mother was a HSP, too! It helps me appreciate her more, even though she’s no longer in this world.

“Overly sensitive,” was the phrase back when I was a kid. I fought against my sensitivity my whole life. I didn’t’ want to be like my mother who had nervous breakdowns and migraines. I loved my mother, but I wanted to be strong like my father. Since I couldn’t fix my mom, I watched Star Trek and developed a huge crush on Mr. Spock. Calm, cool, logical Spock. Someone had to stay calm. So I suppressed. I did well in school, drew pictures, and made up stories in my head. And I watched a lot of Star Trek.

Somehow, I managed to become tough enough as an adult to work as an addictions counselor for 30 years, with only occasional meltdowns on my kitchen floor after a hard day.  With all the counseling skills I applied to myself, I guess I became a moderately sensitive person – on the outside at least.

As a retiree, I have begun to embrace my sensitive nature.  I love staying home with the dogs, writing, doing a little painting. At home, I have plenty of time to recover from the times I do go out and interact with people and plenty of time to think about my parents.

Now that I understand more, I wish I’d been nicer to Mom. I wasn’t mean to her. But she tended to bring out my logical side which might been cold sometimes.

I finally painted over the hearts that mysteriously appeared on her bedroom ceiling after she died in 2008. I try to go to my deceased parents’ house at least once a week to sort through their things. There’s a Tiffany style touch lamp on my mom’s old nightstand. On two separate visits in the past month, I was sure that lamp was off before I left the house.  But when I returned on the following weeks, the  lamp was on. Maybe touch lamps are highly sensitive, too. But I have to wonder.  Was that you, Mom?

On my last visit, I unplugged the lamp. If it’s on again when I go back, I’ll know something’s up.

Clutter, Treasure, and Ceiling Art

(Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt was to “start with a noun.”) 

Clutter is what I’m going to be dealing with tomorrow at my parents’ house that is now my house, so the clutter is all mine. My plan is to get up early and hitch a ride with my husband who has business an hour north of their house (now my other house) which is an hour north of where I live. I don’t mean to be confusing, but my stream of consciousness can easily be confusing.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the clutter is trash or treasure. There are books, many of which I’ve already donated, and lots and lots of paper which might need to be recycled or shredded, or treasured as in the case of the letters I found from my father or the poetry written by my mother’s father who I never met. So many electronics, cassette tapes, rubber bands, gadgets and doodads of my dad’s…. and photographs galore. Photos are in photo albums, boxes, bags… Many photos contain people who’s identity I have no clue about. I’m going to trash those. Sorry, unknown friends of my parents. But some photos are treasures like these two I discovered in a box somewhere or maybe a photo album and brought home with me.

When me and Dad both got watches for Christmas  ? 1963

And this one you might remember of my mom, my little sister and me. Dad was in Vietnam

Sometimes the process of going through my parents’ stuff/clutter/treasure is overwhelming. But it’s getting easier as I make progress. After one year, I think I’m about halfway done. I usually find I don’t want to leave their house to go to my house. There’s so much to do. But I like to congratulate myself for each bag of trash discarded, or treasures found, or items donated.

Another thing I do at my parents’ old house is painting over the most obvious blemishes. But one person’s blemish is another person’s treasured message. Like the water damage stains on the bedroom ceiling from before Dad put the metal roof on. I think they look like hearts.  They appeared there not long after Mom died. I think she had something to do with it.

Painting over these hearts was very hard. I had a good cry after I started the process. But it was a cleansing cry, and Mom told me it was okay. I started with kilz? and then white paint just to see how off it would be. Then I laid down to rest on the bed and noticed my sample white paint kinda looked like an angel. I did not plan this at all. It was just getting paint up there. Mom collected angels and has passed this down to me, so I’ve been painting angels for a few years now, just not usually on ceilings.

Do you see an angel?

I guess white is not going to work on this old ceiling. One step, one layer at a time, I sort out the treasures from the clutter.

I’m posting this early since I’ve got my work cut out for me on Saturday. Catch you later.

For more information about Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/06/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-9-18/

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!