A few years ago, I was taking pictures of the full moon then turned around to get the sunset over the sound. A little while later I looked back over my shoulder just in time to catch this line of pelicans in the east. It’s one of my favorite photos, so I’m re-submitting it for the One-Liner Wednesday badge competition. Enjoy!
To read more about the contest and One-Liner Wednesday, visit Linda at:
https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/04/one-liner-wednesday-badge-contest-2019/
I hope you enjoy my entry for our new One-Liner Wednesday Badge. I took the photo a few years ago at the beach. I’d been watching the sunset on the waterway, happened to turned around, and there they were – this lovely line of brown pelicans flying over the moon!
Thank you to Wes who designed our retiring badge. Wes, I hope you are out there enjoying your life, and I wish you the best!
For more information on One-Liner Wednesday, visit Linda G. Hill at:
https://lindaghill.com/2017/05/15/one-liner-wednesday-new-call-for-submissions/
Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post prompt for today was “-ay.” She encouraged us to play with a word ending in “-ay.”
Say what you want. Not what you don’t want. That’s a theme for me this weekend, since Thursday, when I started working on a blog post for next week about some one encouraging that. But back to today!
If I say I don’t want this or that, or whine that I don’t have enough TIME, to do this or that. I’m creating negative energy. What I need to say is, I want more time! More time to play! More time to play with art, and color, more time to play with words! Like this! I’m playing right now, with words! I love it!
Monday I took a vacation day to play. I’d taken off Thursday to work on the house, and Friday, as usual to write. I wrote the word “play!” on my calendar for Monday. So my husband and I took the tandem kayak out to play. It had been months since we’d gone kayaking. Maybe even a year, who knows. So many things get in the way of play.
So we paddled across the basin to a small island. I had been worried, cause I have a habit of worrying, that I would be so out of shape, I wouldn’t be able to make it to the island, or really that my husband would have to do a lot more paddling than me. I did stop paddling about halfway across the basin, and he stopped too. We just sat there, looking at the water sparkling with sun drops. It was quiet. I realized that the more open the water is, the fewer landmarks, or objects there are to help you see that you are making progress. The little strip of beach on the island finally started to get closer. I guess it might have taken about 15 or 20 minutes to paddle to the island. I really have no idea, but it seemed like a long time. But we made it! Yay!
There was another couple there, each with their own kayak, and we chatted a bit, but mostly we just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the island. There are no man made structures there, just a little trash left by campers. We’ll have to bring a trash bag next time to collect some. My husband did find an old fire extinguisher and brought it home to recycle. The trash was hidden behind some bushes, so it was easy to look at the pristine parts of the island: the little crabs and minnows in the shallows, the white egrets and the brown pelicans. It was so quiet! Most of the time, all we heard were bird sounds and gently lapping water and the breeze in the marsh grass.
After relaxing on the island for about 30 minutes, and talking with a man who came in on a paddle board, we shoved off. This time, we paddled closer to the edge of the basin, near the marsh grass. We stopped a couple of times just to rest and listen to the quiet, and watch the egrets hunting and the pelicans diving for fish. We saw fish jump out of the water, and my husband said he wants to bring a fishing pole next time.
We worked hard paddling to and from the island. At least I worked hard. My husband said it was a good work out. And yet, this work was play. I needed it. I need more play!
Hooray for play!
If you’d like to join in the fun of paddling along the Saturday Stream of Consciousness visit:
http://lindaghill.com/2015/08/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-1515/
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!
Angels were trying to tell me.
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” – John Lennon
I’d like to go back in time, to 1972, just for a moment, when my first love had to move back to Connecticut. I want to tell my 16 year old self: It will be okay.
Next stop – 2001 after my husband left, to tell myself: I know this is a mountain you didn’t expect, but you’ll climb it. In time, it will be okay. Better than okay. Just wait! God has a plan.
For the first few years of this century, I longed for a partner who would be a good fit. Then, I wondered if there was such a thing, me being in my 50’s and all, so I started thinking I’d rather have my own kayak and settle for loyal companionship of dogs.
But in July of 2014, I found myself on an adventure with my first love, who, as you may know by now, became my second husband, the partner who is a good fit, who brought three more dogs into my home. Our home. (Lots of companionship here!) Anyway, Saturday we took our “new” tandem kayak out for a paddle around the small islands 20 miles south of our home.
After getting a good deal on the second hand tandem, someone said, “Oh, you got a divorce kayak.” Yikes! I guess tandems have a reputation for causing arguments.
So we watched this video:
David and I did great, considering it was his first time in a kayak, and it had been a couple years since I’d paddled. I had to trust him to steer from the back. It was my job up front to set the pace, and to communicate (as he patiently reminded me) if I was going to suddenly start paddling on one side to help him steer. I eventually left the most of the steering to him and gratefully let him paddle by himself a bit when I needed a break because my arms felt like rubber.
The temperature was about 90 degrees, so the droplets and splashes of water refreshed us. The sky was the bluest blue with giant cottony clouds. White ibis hunted in the marsh grass, and we got to see brown pelicans – up close and personal – pause in mid flight, watch the water, then dive for a fish. (Next time I’ll bring a waterproof camera.)
As we were driving home, tired but feeling ALIVE, with our kayak in the back of David’s truck – our truck, I realized how blessed I am.
That’s when I wanted to go to my 46 year old self, and just hold that confused and lonely woman with love. I want to somehow convey the message:
It’s going to be okay. Things are going to work out. You’ll see.
I wonder if my future self will want to come back in time to the present me when I’m worried about my grown kids dealing with their own challenges, or my own challenges, which are relatively minor these days, so she can say to me:
Don’t worry so much. Everything will be okay in the end. God has a plan.
What do you want to go back and tell yourself? Send a hug back through time.
Anything is Possible! 