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.

SoCS: Contact Paper, DIY Lucy, and a Praying Mantis

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “wallpaper.” Use it however you’d like. Have fun!

My parents didn’t have wallpaper that I remembered, because I was probably too young. But I do remember they had “contact paper” in the kitchen over the sink. Contact paper was supposed to be easier wallpaper, I guess. Maybe it was a peel and stick thing. They loved it like the coolest thing since sliced bread. It had yellow, orange, brown, and maybe green flowers, with a 60s look. When we were getting the house ready to sell a few years ago, I peeled it off and painted it yellow. The buyers probably redid all the walls since the house needed a lot of work.

Early in my first marriage, we lived in a duplex that had different contact paper in every room. We had looked at the place in the dark since the landlord didn’t have the electricity on. Of course, that was a mistake, but the rent was low. The living room contact paper was similar to what my parents had over their kitchen sink. The kitchen had contact paper with lemon and lime slices on it. The landlord was proud of it and said, “it came all the way from New York!” He was probably in his 80s and had a thick German accent. Talk about a time warp. The contact paper was still tacky, even in 1985. I hung a lot of stuff on those walls to try to distract from the paper. One thing I hung was a large brown and white tapestry that I bought with the money I saved in a jar when I quit smoking cigarettes. It had a Native American design. I gave it to my son when he quit smoking cigarettes. Who knows where it is now. I still have a lot on my walls, but no contact paper or wallpaper. I do have peel and stick blue and white squares on the wall over my stove. They are meant to be temporary, until I get real tile, but I like them.

Below is a clip where Lucy and Ethel hung wallpaper. Lucy was always worried about Ricky being mad at her, but looking back, he didn’t get that mad. He had some patience. My mom was like a quieter version of Lucy – emotional and zany, but quieter. Come to think of it, Dad was often quiet, though when he used his Gunny Sgt voice, you paid attention and didn’t give him any back talk.

I bet Lucy would love contact paper.

Back to 2022, there have been a lot of praying mantis sightings lately. Besides the one below which I found walking upside down on my clothesline, a big brown mantis was on my shoulder at the sanctuary yesterday. They’re a good luck sign!

Praying Mantis on my Clothesline

I resisted the urge to help and let it be.

~~~

To learn more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday,

visit out host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Washing the Woes Away with a Musically Inspired Meditation

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “wash/awash.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you like. Bonus points for using both. Enjoy!

Wash is one of those words that sounds funny if you say it over and over. It’s fun to say…. washhhhh… extending the sh sound.

Washing machines are good. Can you imagine life without them? Banging clothes on a rock, using soaproot, maybe going naked would be easier, or at least keeping it simple.

When I was about four years old, maybe five, we were staying with my grandmother in Washington, DC. In the basement was a wringer washing machine with two rollers above my head that squeezed the water out of the clothes after they were agitated below. My mom got her thumb caught in the wringers once, feeding the clothes through the wringer, and it was never quite the same. Another time, I tried to help and put a whole box of powdered detergent in the washer. The soapsuds came to the basement steps. It was beautiful and amazing to my young eyes. That’s how I remember it, anyway.

The prompt also took me to this song: “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair.” It’s from the musical, South Pacific, which I’m embarrassed to say, I have never seen even though I like musicals. It’s one of those odd gaps that I never saw it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if washing your hair got rid of unwanted thoughts, unwanted addictions, and uncomfortable feelings? They could all just go down the drain. Hopefully they would not get clogged up along the way down.

That could be a guided imagery thing while washing your hair, taking a shower, dancing in the rain, swimming in the ocean, or floating along the stream of consciousness, and letting the water wash away what we don’t want. Get out of my hair, you thoughts and feelings who shall not be named! I will let go of the negative thoughts and feelings, but the lessons learned from experience will remain. Everything will be all clean and fresh – at least for a few minutes, anyway – opening a path to something better.

Clean and open to possibilities

So, I went and looked at videos of the song about washing the man out and thought I might want to watch this movie some time with Glenn Close. Well, not with her unless she’s interested, but the movie starring Glen Close. After reading the synopsis, it sounds like the story contains layers of depth. Do you have a favorite version of South Pacific or a favorite song from a musical? “Singing in the Rain” comes to mind.

~~~

For more on SoCS, visit out host, Linda G. Hill by clicking HERE.

SoCS: The Conservation Kid, Osteoporosis, and Forward Bends

 Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt is: “the first 2-5 words at the top of the closest printed matter.” 

There’s a Goodnewsletter open on my coffee table with a story I was thinking about including in my Good News Tuesday post but have not used in the month it’s been sitting there. Now I can use it and move it. Here’s the title on the open page: “Meet the Kid on a Mission to Pick up One Million Pounds of Litter in 2022.” Twelve-year-old Cash Daniels is known as “The Conservation Kid.” Cash and his friends spend “several hours each week picking up trash along the Tennessee River.” Kids like cash give me hope for our future.

(The above is all that would save Friday night when I normally write my SoCs post. The auto-save seemed to be circling, so I had a feeling…. This morning, I’m going back to try to re-create the second part but will try to stay in SoC mode.)

The other printed material nearby is from my medical folder and includes reports on previous bone density tests showing I have osteoporosis. This has not been addressed in a couple of years since my beloved gynecologist who was treating me went and retired. Like my beloved dentist retired. The nerve! Now all my doctors are clearly younger than me. Maybe it’s because I’m retired. (Yay!)

Anyway, I waited 18 months for an appointment with a rheumatologist. 18 months to get in! It gave me time to look up, rheumatologist. They deal with muscular-skeletal stuff and immune system issues, chronic pain, etc. Okay, good.

This rheumatologist said to me, “You’re pretty young to have osteoporosis.”

“Oh, really?”

“Did you ever smoke cigarettes?”

“Yes, in my twenties, for about ten years. A pack or two a day.” (Mostly a pack.)

“That could do it,” he said.

Sigh. “I thought I was over that. I thought my body had overcome that.” I don’t remember my exact words. I felt a bit deflated. He said something about smoking taking years from my bones or adding years. I looked it up. Smoking cigarettes decreases bone density. It just took a long time to catch up with me.

We can’t change the past, but we can do what we can now. (If anyone needs help quitting smoking, I have good experience.) I can look up exercise for bone density on YouTube as the doc suggested. I didn’t find anything that would be good to post here, but what I did find out (from multiple youtube sources) is that people with osteoporosis should NOT do crunches or forward bends. WT? We do forward bends regularly in my senior yoga class “Gentle Yoga for Back and Bones.” It’s not always gentle by the way. I’m good at forward bends. This needs more research and maybe I won’t push the forward bends. Maybe I’ll be more relaxed about them. This needs more research. Has anyone ever heard about this?

Maybe I’ll leave most (not all) of the trash picking up to the young conservation kids, or I’ll get one of those picking up sticks.

Below is one of the roosters at the sanctuary doing a forward bend in front a mirror.

~~~

For more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit our wonderful host,

Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

SoCS and Lessons Learned from my Pitsky’s Mountain Escape

 Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “—amble.” Add letters to the beginning of “-amble” to make another word or use it as is in your post. Enjoy!

I used to have a cat named, Ramble. She was the first animal my son lived with. One of his first words was what he called her, trying to mimic her meow. It sounded like, “avoo?” He called Ramble, “Avoo.” That was thirty something years ago. Longer ago than that, when I was five years old, my dad had a yellow Rambler. It was the first car I remember. Seems like it was a station wagon. I’m guessing a 1958 Rambler.

Rambling is common in the stream of consciousness. That’s what makes it fun. You never know where you’ll end up. Rambling is something I enjoy in the woods or on a walk through the neighborhood. Rambling is not what Marley did on his ten-minute escape, unless you can ramble fast. He did not have a plan that I’m aware of but saw the opportunity to slip through the door past my daughter in law on his first trip to the mountains.

Marley took off down the road at top speed. If I wasn’t so terrified, it would be cool to watch him run. I was terrified because he was 300 miles from home and had NO COLLAR on! I’d given him a break from the e collar. From now on, I will never have a dog collarless away from home. Dogs need to have ID if there’s any chance they might get outside. Like being scared of the fireworks. Lots of dogs get lost during fireworks and thunderstorms.

I don’t recall ever praying so hard as when Marley escaped, though I probably did when my kids were teenagers. As I followed him with the car, trying to keep up with him, Marley ignored my calls. I prayed, “GOD, I NEED YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER! PLEASE HELP ME!” It was intense to say the least. When almost to the main road, Marley turned on to a side road in the quiet neighborhood. I caught up with him at the top of a hill when he stopped to pee. Opening the driver’s door, I said, “Marley! Let’s go home!” He got right in and got stuck under the steering wheel/dash, so I had to move the seat back for him to climb to the back. (I had not wanted to take the time to open the back door.) Then we went to pick up David who was at the bottom of the hill – having set out on foot he’d walked up a previous hill to point me in the direction Marley had run.

My heart is beating fast just remembering this event. There’s always a lesson or two to learn.

1. Always keep a collar with I.D. on a dog if there is ANY chance he or she can get out, especially away from home.
2. Always let host families know if you have a hyper, escape prone dog.
3. There’s no place like home.
4. Oh, and I have been thinking if a dog escapes, it might be better to pass him in the car and stop ahead of him to offer a ride. That way, he doesn’t feel like you’re chasing him. (Just a theory.)

Good news besides being home safe is that Marley can see Mama Cat through the pet gate and stay in “PLACE” (with supervision) without going crazy.

Friday evening, on the way to the mountains, the clouds looked like castle mountains:

(Slightly edited for more color)

Saturday:

Marley and Me

Overlooking the River

My two sons

Into the woods

Granddaughter

Fern Growing on Rock

After the escape – looking pleased with himself

Husky tail

~~~

For more Streams of Consciousness, rules, and more, ramble on over to Linda’s blog by clicking HERE.

Tipping Points for Self Care, Peace, and Planet Earth

Our Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “tip.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun!

So many possibilities for “tip.” That’s why Linda is the hostess with the most-est, and best-est prompts.

The tip of the iceberg can seem to be what caused the tipping point, but there was a lot more underneath. Lots of straws under the last straw. It’s like when you are in a relationship that’s not a good fit, but you stay there because there are some good things. Maybe he makes you laugh, but not as much as he used to, because he makes you cry, too. Maybe he has a good heart, but a crazy mind – not good crazy – paranoid, jealous, controlling. And then finally, something happens to make you realize, it’s not worth it. You deserve better.

The tipping point can happen in a job, or any toxic relationship – one too many criticisms, one too many late nights, stomachaches and other signs of stress…. Our bodies tell us if we pay attention. Eventually the time comes to get out, and you realize you can.

(From Pixabay perhaps?)

Forgiveness can come later. But forgiveness doesn’t mean we have to have lunch. We can forgive from a distance.

What a relief when we step away from something that has felt like a suit that didn’t really fit. That’s happened to me recently. I felt obligated to be part of something that became more restrictive (mentally and spiritually) over time. Now that I’ve stepped away, I feel more authentic.

A tipping point can also go in the direction of something good! What’s it going to take to get me to take that bike sitting on the catio to get fixed so I can ride it? What’s it going to take to get me back to a gym, or maybe a physical therapist, for my occasional back spasms? Those back spasms (almost gone now) were the tipping point to get me to pay someone do a little yard work instead of trying to do it all myself.

I’m hoping for a tipping point that will make Putin really back off and give Ukraine the power to be free of tyranny. Can there be a tipping point for peace?

I’m hoping for a tipping point that gets us to take care of planet earth. Not another crisis, but maybe that’s what it will take. It could go either way.

From Facebook

Speaking of nature, I greatly enjoyed the perfect weather and company when my friend met me at Airlie Gardens to take pictures last week.

Tulips

Path to the Fountain

Resurrection Fern on Oak with Azaleas

Branches Draped Over Water

Spanish Moss with Sunbeams

Baby Fern

Azalea Sculpture

~~~

For more streams, rules, and tips for Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit our host, Linda at:

https://lindaghill.com/2022/04/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-2-2022/

Swing to the Ledge and Wait for Dragons (A Naturally Trippy SoCS Ramble)

This might be from Pixabay. Who knows?

“If you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” So goes the encouraging encouragement.

If the rope is taut, it might be hard to tie a knot. But I guess it’s supposed to be more figurative than literal. I’ve never been good at tying fancy knots. I have to practice stuff like that over and over to learn it. More than the average person. But I did learn to tie a figure 8 knot on a bite.

I may have been a basket weaver in a former life since I like to make wreaths out of vines, but don’t do much after that. Maybe glue on a few shells and stick one of my mermaids in it, like this.

The most I’ve done with a wreath.

But getting back to being at the end of your rope. How about swinging? Yeah! Swing. Don’t ask me how to start. Let’s put a cliff in there to push off of. Swing around to a ledge, pull up on a root or a tree. Camp out on the ledge. Eat some grubs. Oh NO! I can’t do that, I’m vegan. Good thing you can make up whatever you want in the Stream of Consciousness.

There must be something to eat on the ledge besides grubs…. Looking around….. Mushrooms!

I like mushrooms, but never did the trippy kind. Just being on a ledge eating any kind of mushroom would be trippy. What would be even more trippy would be if one of those big bird-like creatures from AVATAR came a long and gave me a ride. But wait! I’m afraid of heights! But no, this is the stream of consciousness, and I can be brave and get over it.

Dang. They’re not birds. They’re DRAGONS! Youtube doesn’t want to show the video on this post. But maybe you can see it by clicking HERE.

If you didn’t see the movie Avatar, the color is one of the most amazing things. The dragons are multicolored – blues and greens, oranges and purples. They are bigger than horses but not huge, sleek with wide wings. I love it when they sort of peel off the ledge, swoop, and glide around the fantastic places with floating rock islands. The jungles of Pandora are lush green and turquoise with plenty of fluorescent purplish flowers. Who needs trippy mushrooms when you have imagination?

I was going to write something serious about being at the end of your rope. Something realistically inspirational. I still like the swinging to a ledge idea. Just chill for a while and see if a dragon comes along to be your friend. But then, after you rest a bit and have some mushrooms (or grubs if you prefer) you can climb up to the top or find a path down. There’s aways a way. Maybe not right away, but a way. You could even climb the rope. Personally, I’d go for the ledge and catch my breath first.

Now, I’m going hunting in my photos for dragons…

Dragon Cloud

Dragon Kite

Dragon on Wheels

Dragonfly Decor on my Catio

Little Backyard Dragons

Maybe from Pixabay?

PS, if you’re a LOTR fan, wait for the Eagles! They’ll be along.

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Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is…. “rope.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun!

For more streams, rules and stuff, visit our fantastic host: Linda Hill by CLICKING HERE.

Yum Yum Yummies in the Stream of Consciousness

The prompt: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “yum.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun! But also, we have the whole weekend since Saturday is Christmas day! Thanks, Linda.

Well, I certainly took advantage of the all-weekend long option. Not procrastinating, but I was happy to have both of my adult children and their significant others come over Saturday night which was Christmas night. There’s something about having them all under one roof that feels yummy (especially if we stay away from politics.)

My son and wife brought their dog Rumpke who is not friendly with other dogs, so we walked her with Marley who does like other dogs together. They didn’t exactly get along, because we were careful, but there were no fights. My granddaughter spent the night Saturday and went to church with me on Sunday. I love singing with her. At age 10, she has some talent for singing and knew a lot of Christmas songs from the radio and from Grandma. My daughter made me some gingerbread and I had bought ginger snaps and pumpkin pie. Those are my favorite flavors – cinnamon, ginger, cloves – along with dark chocolate, but not together. Yum!

When I first read the prompt, way back on Friday night, I thought of the yum yum tree that lingered in the back corners of my mind. There is such a thing as a yum yum tree. It has interesting looking fruit.

Source: Polynesian Produce Stand

Being curious, I looked up Yum Yum tree before I started this post. Yes, I bent the rules some, but I’m in the stream of conscious, now. There are a lot of restaurants named The Yum Yum Tree. There’s also a movie from 1963 which is probably what I vaguely remembered from my early years. The movie, I discovered, reflects typical gender stereotypes from the early 60s. It looked entertaining, but not worthy of sharing.

I also thought of the song that goes, “Yummy Yummy Yummy I’ve got love in my tummy, and I feel like lovin’ you.” Do I want to share that? I don’t know. It’s a catchy little tune…. Nah. I’ve had enough sweets for a while.

I hope you’ve been enjoying your holidays in whatever way works best for you. Here’s to a wonderful new year full of hope, peace, strength, and many joyful moments!

For more yummy stream of consciousness posts, and the rules, visit our host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

SoCS: There’s Still Good in this World.

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “opposites.” Use the word “opposites” or write about things that are opposites. Have fun!

It’s a good topic. Thanks, Linda. Though yes, I know, it’s a prompt, not really a topic in the SoC world. I don’t really believe in opposites. Oh, I know they exist – up/down, in/out, black/white…. But most things are somewhere in the middle. I don’t really like the opposite ends of the poles. We have enough polarization.

You might say, “but middle of the road is boring.” I don’t mean we all need to be smack dab in the middle. There are lots of colors in between black and white. Lots of places between up and down. It’s all relative. A person can be an antivaxer and still be a good person. Like maybe they like dogs for example. Dogs are a great uniter. I know people on the other end of the political spectrum from me who like dogs. It’s a bit baffling, but then, dogs are great. Unless you’re one of those people who don’t like dogs which I don’t understand. But maybe you have some good quality that I like or can relate to.

They say opposites attract. I’ve written about that before, about how David and I are opposite, or very different in some of our personality traits. But opposite isn’t the best word for that. We complement each other in that he is more of an extrovert, very practical, precise (except when he uses sarcasm which I kinda hate) and not very imaginative when it comes to seeing dogs in clouds. But he has a lot more energy than me, we both love dogs, and he’s learned to like Mama Cat. He’s a good guy. We have similar values when it comes to spirituality, politics and lifestyle.

Going back to in or out, maybe we want to sit on the fence, though that is not always comfortable. If Santa comes down the chimney, I hope he doesn’t get stuck in the spiderwebs. Yuck. That happened in the Hobbit movie. (Spiderwebs, not Santa coming down the chimney.) That’s one of the parts I don’t pay much attention to till the Elves come. I always watch the elf parts. What does that have to do with opposites? Are elves and dwarves opposites in LOTR? (The plural could also be dwarfs.) They are very different, but they fought together against the orcs. I don’t watch the orc parts either, until the elves come.

The point is, we can always find some kind of common ground whether it’s dogs, or fighting the dark side…. But what if someone is on the dark side? They probably don’t know it. Or maybe they do. Darth Vader was on the dark side, but there was still good in him, and the good won.

Speaking of good, I should rap this up and wish you peace on earth and good will to all, as in everyone being blessed. God bless us all, everyone!

Here’s Sam’s speech about there’s still good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for. Not fighting with violence, necessarily, but fighting to find the good, working for peace, or just putting one foot in front of the other, or giving a kind word of encouragement.

For more Streams of Consciousness, rules, and such, visit our good host, Linda Hill by clicking here.

SoCS: Betcha By Golly Dr. Seuss Knew a Thing or Two

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “golly gee.” Use “golly gee” or another interjection that displays the same sentiment in your post. Enjoy! Thanks, Linda!

Golly gee whiz! Gee willikers! Wiskers on a fish! Fish who can talk! Dr. Seuss knew all about them. So many things we have yet to see. After all, “the universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” That’s one of my favorite quotes, but I don’t know who said it, right this minute.

Expressions of amazement like, golly gee, remind me of my dad and the 1960s. Sometimes he’d say,
“Holy Mackerel!” or “Holy Mackerel Andy!” Maybe it was in response to one of his children getting an A on a test. Maybe it was when he caught a big fish. Maybe when he saw something amazing on TV, in living color no less, like a giant horse or a flying saucer. No, something bigger, something fantastic! I can’t think of what that would be right now. But the TV is on now (Friday night) and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is coming on, so we go back to Dr. Seuss.

I like the animated version of The Grinch better than the one with actors. I guess there’s a nostalgia in the sweet singing of the Whos down in Whoville. A lot happened in those 30 minutes. My favorite line is the one about,

Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more.

Something like that.

Those old expressions of amazement are lots of fun, they’re the cat’s meow, a real humdinger, like that Dr. Seuss guy.

The first song I thought of when I read the prompt was “Betcha By Golly Wow, by the Stylistics. It doesn’t get much smoother than this. 1972. Golly, that was a year to remember! My high school sweetheart left me standing there for the long and winding road so we could both grow up and grow up some more, till the time was right for another Betcha by Golly Wow.

Thanks to our Stream of Consciousness Saturday host Linda Hill for this fun prompt! For rules and more streams, visit Linda’s post here.