Compassion at the Gate

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “mean(s).” Use it with or without the “s,” any way you’d like. Have fun!”

I like to have that up there as a reference, even if it is stream of consciousness writing that I’m doing. I want to remember that “have fun,” part because this prompt has got me thinking all serious. Maybe I’ll work the fun part in. I don’t know because we’re not supposed to plan. That’s like telling me I’m not supposed to check the stove 3 times, lock the door, and jiggle the door knob before I leave the house.

Anyway, I was thinking about the saying that the end doesn’t always justify the means. That is especially true when the means means being mean. I don’t usually get political here on this blog. In fact, I try real hard not to. But some people are just plain mean.

Moving back to my own little world, I have felt mean when setting healthy boundaries, but that comes from years of being too nice and a people pleaser. I don’t like conflict. I’ve been saying “no” more as I get older to things that feel toxic. If someone wanted to live in my house because they had no where else to go, I’d say no – unless it was a family member who I got along well with. But it’s hard when you don’t know someone how far to let them into your space.

I’m thinking of the caravan of people who are not coming to my house. They might be coming to my country. It’s a big country full of abundance. We have to have some boundaries of course. But I keep thinking, what would Jesus want us to do? What did Jesus try to teach us about feeding the poor and helping the homeless? He and his family were refugees soon after his birth.

I know we can’t accept EVERYBODY into the country. I know we have to have rules. But I don’t want us to be mean. I mean, let’s have some compassion for people who are in trouble and not assume they are all dangerous. Let’s find out.

It’s hard. Okay. I know this is weird for an introvert to say let’s be accepting of people coming in if we can do it through the channels – let’s not close the gates, when sometimes I want to close my own gate. Let’s try to figure out how to not do it mean. Let’s not lock the gate and lose the key.

I’m sending love to all the lost souls and meanie heads out there.

It’s complicated, I know.

Speaking of gates, here are some pictures I took, looking from the outside in, at the Land of Oz which opens twice a year on Beech Mountain, NC. It wasn’t open the day we went exploring.

There’s a surveillance camera on top. We waved.

 

A horse of a different color on the other side of the fence.

It occurs to me now that I would not relish going to Oz on one of the weekends when they open because they have LINES and CROWDS which I don’t like much. But if I was in trouble and had to get out of the country (or my granddaughter really wanted to go) I’d probably go stand in line. It would be nice to go to Oz. Is the US like Oz? I know the movie was symbolic. I think I’m getting in over my head. Gonna close that gate for today.

The Stream of Consciousness Saturday Post is brought to you by Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/11/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-10-18/

Go check it out!

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!

Save Your Own Backyard

This should be interesting. Today’s prompt is: ” is “point.” Open a book on your lap, close your eyes, and put your finger on the page. Whatever you land on, whether it be a word, a phrase, or a sentence, write about it. Enjoy!”

I chose a book sitting in my parents’ living room which is now my living room, called

The Angels’ Little Instruction Book.”

I followed the instructions, book on lap, eyes closed, and opened to a page with these words:

If you can’t save the whole world, at least save your own backyard.

My finger was in the middle of this.

Below is, “You have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Matthew 25:21. But let’s start with the backyard, please….

Then I had to go let Marigold the mutt outside because she woke up from her long nap. Since she’s 16 years old and sleeps a lot, I have to let her out when she’s up and moving. I gave her a choice between the front yard with steep steps I have to carry her down and the backyard which has a ramp. She chose the ramp. Good.

Backyard. At least save your own backyard. What’s really interesting is that 15 minutes before I stuck my finger in the book, my husband and I were just talking about the work we have to do in our backyard at our permanent address where Hurricane Florence blew our fence over. We’ve done a lot of work on cleaning up the tree limbs and branches, but still have plenty to do when we’re there once a week while living at the house that was my parents.’

I miss my woodsy backyard. It will still be woodsy even after we clear out the limbs and build the new fence. But back to the Angels’ instruction. Who can save the whole world? God? Jesus? If we listen. I used to want to save the world when I was 18 or 22 years old. Then for the next few decades, I always felt like I wasn’t doing enough. I worked with drug addicts and marched for the animals. I carried signs. But it was never enough. Now, I’m settling down and focusing more on my own backyard. Is is because I’m wiser or am I just tired. Maybe both.

I’m reminded of a quote that…Wait, I don’t remember exactly how it goes so I’ll paraphrase: Don’t make the mistake of doing nothing because you can only do a little. Then Mother Teresa said do little things with a lot heart. That’s paraphrased too. Oh, it’s with great love.

But there’s the symbolic meaning of saving your own backyard. Save yourself. Save your family – as best you can – by being a good example. Because who can we really save? I think it’s about taking care of our own backyard. Cleaning up our own back yard. What about the front yard? That’s important too, but the backyard is where the heart is. Save where your heart is. Save what you love. Take care of what you love. Ripples of love will extend to what you like. Maybe even what you don’t like. I don’t have to force it. I can let love flow as it will. Like a river. Or a stream of consciousness.

Here are some pictures from my backyard:

Old Marigold gets lost in the backyard sometimes.

For more Streams of Consciousness and to learn more about #SoCS, visit Linda at

https://lindaghill.com/2018/11/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-3-18/

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!

 

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!

Find the Precious Moments

“These are precious times.”

“What? Are you crazy? We got hurricanes, wars, divided nations from extreme attention getting radials dividing us. We got all kinds of sh*t going on. Have you watched the news?”

“I try not to.”

“Well you can’t just stick your head in the sand.”

“I watch the news some, or read some things, but if I watch too much news, I just feel too much despair. The news is lopsided you know. There are good things going on they don’t tell you.”

“Right.”

“All that bad stuff is true. Well, maybe not all of it. But there are precious moments intermingled. We just have to look for them, or to see them when they are right there in front of our eyes. Have you noticed how blue the sky is since the last hurricane?

“Yes. And it’s finally cooled off some. That’s nice, but, well, I’ll think about it.”

“I’m going to go look at the sky and feel the cool air. I’m going for a walk. Wanna come?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“And we’re not going to talk about politics.”

“Okay. I’ll try. What about religion and aliens?”

“Maybe. But lets just look for the flowers, or fall leaves, and notice that the mosquitoes are not attacking as fiercely.”

….

I didn’t know this was going to be a dialog. I think that last part was because I’m planning to go to the mountains to see my son this weekend. He put something on Facebook about having a lot of family come visit and not talking about politics. I’m all for that. But sometimes we like to talk about religion and aliens. Mostly I want to go hiking and see my son and grand kids.

I was bummed out yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well – sinus infection or allergies, maybe a mild cold – lots of things blooming since the hurricane. Plus my daughter was having a crisis, but that seems to be stabilizing a little. Her whole apartment complex, like many in Wilmington, is closing down due to mold and water damage, etc. She has options and a temporary plan, but apartments and hotels are extremely scarce. This will make her stronger, I keep telling myself. God’s got this. Every crisis eventually stabilizes.

Look for the precious moments and patches of blue sky. I’m feeling better today. Rest, vitamins, echinacea, and lots of fluids have helped. It’s going to be okay.

Sending prayers to the people in Florida who’s homes have been destroyed and who have lost family and friends. To people all over the world who face challenges they do not think they can ever recover from. I’m asking angels to comfort you and bring precious moments of peace.

…

Today’s prompt for the Saturday Stream of Consciousness was: “precious.”

For more precious posts, visit our precious host, Linda, at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/10/12/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-13-18/

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!

The Postcard from Malaga

He knew she would love it the moment he saw it. Running his rough fingers along the embroidered lace, he remembered her soft hair. The woman on the card had dark hair, not like his wife’s soft red hair, but there was a look of love and that something else she had that drove him crazy. His wife was gentle, never loud. But her love was powerfuand full of compassion. And passion.

She would love to get it in the mail, but he decided not to trust the overseas postal service. Too much could happen between Spain and the States. He didn’t want to risk the post card getting damaged in any way. So he carried it with him in his Bible for the next two months. He’d take it out and look at it sometimes at night. And he looked at the photo of his loving wife, longing for her gentleness so different from the military life he lived. He wished he could bring her to Spain some time. Maybe it would remind her of her homeland, or her mother’s homeland, of Italy. Maybe they would travel some day, after he retired.

When finally he arrived back home, he was overjoyed to hold his wife in his arms and kiss her. He picked her up in his arms easily as she barely weighed 100 pounds. “Good things come in little packages,” she reminded him. She was right.

“That reminds me,” he said.” I have something for you.

He went to his Bible and pulled out the card he’d carefully wrapped in paper. He handed it to her. She opened the package and stared at the post card. She ran her fingers along the embroidered lace as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

This is one of the treasures I found among my parents’ possessions. I sort of made up the story behind it, but the card is real. Maybe the story’s real too.

….

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt was the word, “card.”

For more information, visit our host, Linda Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/10/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-6-18/

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!

 

Freedom and Old Photos

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “dom.” We were instructed to “use it as a word, or find a word that starts or ends with it.” and to Have fun!

Ok, I’m going to be honest here and admit that dominatrix came to mind first. One of my earliest creative writing mentors wrote a book about that. A memoir actually. Her name is Shawna Kenney. It’s been a while since I read it, but it seems like it was relatively clean, maybe R rated, but cleaner than you might expect.

But that’s not what I want to write about. No, I don’t need a segue, cause this is the stream of consciousness. Though there might be one to freedom. I suppose a dominatrix would have a lot of freedom…. But that’s not what I want to write about. Why does that keep popping into my head?

Freedom. I have the freedom to make my own schedule in the Great Purge of the house my parents left me. I don’t get bored. No boredom once you get to be my age. I haven’t been bored in years. There’s too much to do and nothing to do would be freedom.

What works best for me is to focus on one task for the day. A primary task planned the day before. For a couple of days it was old photographs. There are, like I’ve mentioned, hundreds. Maybe thousands. I’m tired of that right now, but here’s a treasure I found of my parents on a picnic with me standing by making a face. Yes it’s blurry. It was probably taken around 1961.

Now I want to change my opening to this post, but I can’t because it’s SoCS. Just goes to show you that there’s all kinds of people in the stream. Anything can show up. Aren’t my parents cute?

Yesterday, I worked on my father’s room. The hardest room and the last bastion of the Great Purge. Except for the attic. But let’s not go there. It was hard to put some of his clothes in a bag for donation. Hopefully some one can use them.

The day before yesterday, I ripped that funky 70s contact paper off one wall of the kitchen. It was very satisfying.

Now I get to go look at paint samples to get close to the yellow that’s on the other wall. This is fun. Is it a distraction from working on the photos or my dad’s room? Sure, but it’s hopefully going to make the house easier to sell, and to live in while our other house gets a new bathroom. Is fantasizing about buying a mountain home after I sell my parents’ house – the one they don’t need anymore – is that fantasy a distraction or a motivation to complete the Great Purge?  Maybe it’s both and that’s okay.

So as not to leave you with a messy photo, how about some other old family photos I’ve come across in my work.  These are of my dad in Korea I think. Maybe after Korea. Let’s see what I’ve got. Not planning you know.  Nope this one is from Cuba. He was at GTMO after Vietnam. Where are the Korea pics?

Here are some from Korea. He was at an Able Medical Station after getting wounded. I think it was something like a MASH unit. My dad loved MASH. I found an old copy of the book here at the house and discovered an inscription that I had given it to him for his birthday in 2002. I’ve been reading it. They were crazier than in the TV show. Well, I didn’t mean to run on like this, but I guess I’m really proud of my dad.

My dad is in the top left picture  – the tall guy on the right.

Okay, one more. Here’s a favorite. Here he is getting to know Lobo, the dog I adopted while he was in Cuba (after Vietnam) and soon to retire from the Marine Corps. I haven’t gotten to the Vietnam photos yet….

For more Streams of Consciousness, visit Linda’s Blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/09/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-29-18/

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!

The Miracle Flower

It sure is good to be back in the Stream of Consciousness! We still have a lot of clean up to do at the house in Wilmington, but mostly big branches and the back fence. The house is mostly okay. Mostly. The house we’re staying in an hour north belonged to my parents and now belongs to me. I’m typing that because sometimes it’s hard to remember that the house and all this stuff I have to, get to, go through now belong to me. I can do whatever I want with it. I’ve been going through hundreds and hundreds of old photos. Being here at the house my parents lived in for so long brings me to the miracle flower pictured above. It is one thing I will not throw away.

The story that I included in Trust the Timing as well as a chicken soup story I just submitted goes something like this:

My mother was getting foggier and more confused in her late 70s. I had always wanted my mother to be clearer in her thinking. I’d been reading a lot about mental health and zeroed in on this quote my Scott Peck about mental health being a dedication to reality at all costs.  This was about 15 to 20 years ago, and I no longer believe that now. Not the “at all costs” part.

But when my mom showed me this artificial red flower in a clay pot and went on and on about what a miracle it was because she hadn’t watered it in weeks and it was still alive and so beautiful, I said something like, “Mom, I think that flower might be plastic.”

“No it’s not! It’s a miracle!” Mom said and then she changed the subject.

I still beat myself up for not going along with her miracle flower and joining her journey as my husband says. Now I know better that miracles are in the believing. And reality is subjective. Maybe this flower which is actually made of silk, has taken on a life in some ways. I’m writing about it, so maybe I’m giving it immortality.

Do you think “inanimate” objects have something like life. An energy maybe? Do we give our cars or computers energy when we talk to them?  Well, that’s getting a bit deep, so I guess I better back off and come back to earth. At least long enough to move the laundry along. We just got electricity back yesterday after a week of candlelit nights, so I’m washing towels. Thank God! We were almost out of towels. But really, I am very thankful. It could have been much worse and was for some people.

Thank you for all the prayers and good energy during the hurricane!

PS. I just thought about my childhood stuffed animals, supposedly inanimate objects who I thought of as real, and remembered this part of The Veleveteen Rabbit.

…

Today’s Stream of Consciousness prompt was: flower/flour

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

https://lindaghill.com/2018/09/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-22-18/

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!