SoCS: Art on the Wall

Today’s prompt is “art.” We are to write about something handing on our wall or in a museum. First let me say a big THANK YOU! to our hostess Linda Hill for picking one of my favorite topics as a prompt and also for all you do in the SoCS world.

I’ve loved art since I was about ten and drew dogs and horses all the time. Didn’t think it had as much value as science so went that way, sort of, in college. But now that I’m retired I can do more art. Except that art is more on the back burner with the house stuff going on. I have a sketch pad sitting on the coffee table and have sketched stuff for the house. That’s going to change.

Normally I have too much art on my walls, if that’s possible which anything is. But since we had to take “everything” out of our house for re-wiring which was supposed to start a few days ago but hasn’t….. Grrrr, the walls in our Wilmington house are bare. I do not like bare walls at all. I do not like them Sam I Am.

I’ve brought a few things from the house that is in renovation to the house that was my parents and hung them on the walls. There’s the painting I did  years ago right in front of me right now as I type.

Do you see the two figures reaching for each other? Can you tell what they are? I didn’t plan them, they just appeared, then I enhanced them. I love it when that happens.

Another piece of art on the walls here at the house that was my parents’ is a reproduction my mother loved. It’s not really my style, content wise, etc. But I know she loved it, so I hope I can find a good home for it.

I mean, it’s beautiful and sweet, but it’s not something I would normally hang on my wall. I am really working on de-cluttering and have sooooo many family photos, etc. and art to consider hanging when we get back home. I will give this away to someone who loves it. Or I could donate it to the church for the spring yard sale. It’s not a big problem though. It’s a joy.  But it’s one of those things that meant a lot to my mom, so letting it go will be one of those griefy things. There’s another wave. But I can handle it.

ART is such a blessing. Can you imagine… no don’t. I am thankful for art, for color, paint, sculpture, drawing with a stick in the sand, photography…. it just goes on and on with all its possibilities. Infinite possibilities of color combinations, shapes. I could go on about it for hours. Thanks again, Linda.

My sketch pad waits patiently, calling softly.

Wanna  see more of my art? There’s a tab above for that.

For more information on Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/11/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-12th/

Here are the rules for SoCS:

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!

The Cedar by the Sidewalk

 

Sap runs through your veins

I would take a sip if you offered it,

But this is your blood.

I’ve seen it drip when you are cut.

Should I prune you?

Should I separate the branches

that hang low over the sidewalk

From your trunk?

I’m sure if I asked you and you told me

You would prefer not.

They say it’s good to prune trees.

It’s something we humans

are supposed to do.

I will not ask you.

I will ask my love

To cut the branches

Hanging low over the sidewalk

When I’m not looking –

When I’m far away,

And you are sleeping

While I sop applesauce

with my pancakes.

I’m sure the neighbors

will be happy.

 

A squirrel sits in my untidy cedar by the sidewalk.

And one more thing:

Thank a tree.

 

 For today’s SoCS prompt, Linda gave us this list of words or word parts to use as we see fit:

sap, sep, sip, sop, and sup.

She also told us that SEP stands for someone else’s problem. I suppose the cedar limbs hanging over the sidewalk are my responsibility, but to be honest, they are only a problem for people taller than me, or when it rains a lot and they hang lower, or occasionally snows which is every couple years. Anyway, I hope David does the deed during the winter when I suppose trees are sleeping.

To read more fascinating ways these S words show up in streams of consciousness and for more information of  “Someone Else’s Problem” which I could have written about since I tend to take on other peoples problems though not so much anymore, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/04/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-5th/

Here are the rules for SoCS:

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!

SoCS: Rejoice! Conditions and All

Here’s something new! Today’s prompt for Saturday Stream of Consciousness is:

“ask someone else.” Either ask someone for a prompt word or, if you can’t, turn on a TV or a radio and choose a word from the first sentence you hear. 

(Linda Hill)

It’s new to me anyway. Stepping a little outside the box, I decided to ask for prompts on my Facebook author page. It was an experiment since I believe FB suppresses business and author pages so we’ll buy ads which so far have not worked well enough for me… but I did get two prompt suggestions, so I’m happy.

My first prompt for which I am thankful was, “Rejoice.”  It’s the word in one of my favorite Christmas hymns. That word I often/sometimes have trouble hitting the high note on. O Come, O come, Emanuel….. REJOICE! REJOICE! Emanuel shall come to thee o Israel. Emanuel means God is with us. REJOICE!

The second prompt, for which I am also thankful, was “Conditional.” Hmmmm. Interesting. Go ahead and REJOICE, as long as no one gets hurt. Rejoice all you want, but the dishes still need to get done and the trash needs to get put out. But wait! what if we can and do rejoice whilst we are taking out the trash? Like I rejoice when I donate stuff. Rejoice to be lightening the load. Jesus lightens my load. Why not rejoice in the midst of conditions? I rejoice that I know how to be conditional.

I knew that if I ever married again, it would be conditional upon finding a partner who loves dogs. Okay, he loves me, too but that kinda goes without saying. He also had to respect me.  Respect was a big issue when my daughter was a teenager. I would listen to her on the condition that she not yell at me and speak with a respectful tone. My love for her was and is unconditional, but my listening had conditions. My presence had conditions. If someone yells at me or is disrespectful, now I can walk away if only to another room. I can limit my time with people who are toxic depending (conditional?) on how toxic they are. I can love someone from a distance.  Occasional distance if they are a little toxic. Big distance if they are frequently toxic. I rejoice that my daughter is respectful and doesn’t yell at me anymore (not that I can tell) cause she’s grown and out on her own.

One of my goals for 2019 is to buy a house in the mountains so I can visit my son and his family more often. This is somewhat conditional on selling my parent’s house (the house that was my parents’). It’s a flexible condition. An ideal. Some conditions are negotiable and some are not. When I sell the house that was my parents’ I will be a little sad. I will probably cry. But I will also rejoice! When I buy a house in the mountains, I will rejoice!

Feeling how you will feel when you get your heart’s desire worked for me while I was looking/waiting for my soulmate.  I imagined comfort and joy.  Rejoice for all the blessings coming your way – with or without conditions. Rejoice anyway!

 

 

…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you by Linda G. Hill. For more information, and more streams, visit:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-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 Jingle Bell Drone of Tinnitus and Songs to Help Hide It

Today’s prompt is “tin.” There’s bonus points, but I’m not going to worry about that.

My tinnitus gives me the joy of hearing the drone of jingle bells all the time. I don’t notice it until I think about it which is not very often or when there is silence. Never silence because of the ringing. But I’m really used to it, so it doesn’t bother me much except right now because I’m thinking about it. It’s like a thousand tiny jingle bells ringing in unison. Or like a high pitched buzz. But enough of that. I will let it fade into the background where it belongs as I go back to the prompt: tin.

Songs come to mind easily. There’s “One Tin Soldier” which I’ve written about here before. It was the first movie David and I saw together during out high school romance. (That’s in my book. 😉 ) I learned to play the song on my guitar. Oh! The theme song to what? The movie Billy Jack is now something of a cult classic. Anyway, here it is again. I must’ve seen that movie twenty times over the years. It came back as a rerun when I worked at the movie theater which was my first job besides babysitting. Okay. Here’s the song:

 

Then there’s the song by America that goes, “Oz never did give nothin’ to the Tin man that he didn’t, didn’t already have…”   America’s “Tin Man,” is a lot more soothing. I love their sound. Enjoy! Lot’s of soft oooooooh oooh ooohs to go with my jingle bells droning in the background. Not a bad mix.

I still don’t know what the “tropic of Sir Galahad” means. I looked it up just now for a couple minutes and it’s still not clear. Guess what. I don’t care. It’s still cool. The tin man always did have a heart. That’s more important. We all have a heart. Sometimes we hide it or harden it. But sometimes it grows like the Grinch when he heard the Whos singing without any presents it all. Christmas comes anyway. Every year. Sing! Sing like Buddy!

Speaking of the movie Elf, this scene always makes me smile and tear up in a good way.

Merry Christmas to all!

and/or

Happy Holidays!

Holy Days.

Happy Days.

No more videos in this stream of consciousness.

…

To learn more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit our host, Linda Hill at

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-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!

SoCS: Not So Hairy Times, Bald Armpits, and a Donation Rush

Today’s SoCS prompt is, “hairy.” I’m typing on my little phone since my laptop will only tell me it needs a new cooling fan. We ordered one and will take it to Staples for inserting when the fan gets here. So this post might be short,  and I’ll likely be slow in responding. Maybe this is God’s way of keeping me from spending so much time on the internet.

I just had to take a breath. It took a long time to type that first paragraph. My laptop will be appreciated when it comes out of hibernation.

But back to the prompt!

“Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair….” Can I post a link to the musical on my phone? I’ll come back to that.

This could be a hairy time, having to move “everything” out of my house for the re-wiring. Thank you to Joey at Joeyfully Stated for the encouragement to not think too hard about it and that thinking about it is usually more hairy than doing it. We were also discussing hair over there as in women having to shave legs. Sometimes I think that’s a conspiracy like high heels, but let’s not go there. One good thing about menopause is that I don’t have to shave under my arms (my armpits have gone bald) and I rarely care about shaving my legs. I do need to keep an eye on facial hair though which is weird. TMI? Too bad. It’s SoCS.

Something not obviously related but that makes the whole de-cluttering thing less hairy is that I’m really getting into donating stuff now that I’m DONE with estate sales. I got a big rush after taking a big load of stuff to the thrift store that benefits survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. It was a giggly, high-five to myself rush. I got a little rush donating a smaller load a couple days later. This could get addicting – the donating- not the typing on my little phone. My hand hurts and I need to take a break.

For more on the SoCS visit our host Linda:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-15-18/

De-Cluttering for Christmas (Keeping Music, Candlelight, and Jesus)

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

The first thing that popped into my head was the musical, The Sound of Music. I learned to sing listening to that vinyl record album. Funny that I don’t have a copy of it now. But I hope to watch it on Christmas or around Christmas time. Seems it comes on one Sunday night around Christmas time.

I think know we’ll be in the house that was my parents’ for Christmas and who knows for how long since we have to get the regular house re-wired. Yesterday, my husband informed me that the electricians want everything out of the Wilmington house. Everything? I kept asking that, being overwhelmed to the point of almost tears. I keep telling myself I’m thankful to have the house that was my parents’ to stay in. Many people don’t even have a house.  I don’t want to whine. But I share this to also share my coping strategies. One step at a time. If I think about moving everything – knickknacks, art supplies, papers, books, and random objects saved for some art project some day…..  that’s too overwhelming. But David and I talked about our strategy, and I can just take it one step at a time. We’ll move some things here and rent a storage space. Can you believe the PODS people wanted $400! No way! I’m thankful David has a truck. Plus, I have been saying I want to de-clutter the Wilmington house. Be careful what you say you want. Now there’s going to be some big de-cluttering going on. It’s my life. But not really. There’s Christmas.

I don’t want that big old tree anymore. It can be recycled. I don’t think we’ll have a tree this year, but I want music. The sound of music. Christmas songs. I’ll sing them at church and to myself if I want. I was just singing “The Sound of Music” right before I started writing this. And candles. I LOVE candlelight, especially at Christmas. So I’m going to make some candle arrangements with an advent wreath and all sorts of other candles and watch a Christmas movie. It’s a Wonderful Life, maybe. That is enough.

Maybe I’ll even become a minimalist. I’m already there as far as buying presents. Everybody gets one of my mom’s angels or my dad’s ties this year. We never really have been much into buying Christmas presents. I think it was yesterday afternoon, just an hour or two after I heard we were going to have to move “everything” (well, I’m not moving the stuff in the closets. That’s ridiculous) that I heard John Lennon’s “Imagine” come on the radio. “Imagine no possessions,” rang out loud and clear. I’m still going to have plenty of possessions, but imagining no possessions kinda puts things in perspective. It goes back to the old, Christmas is not something you buy in a store. Christmas perhaps means a little bit more. Or a lot more. For me, it means singing Christmas songs and lighting candles and celebrating Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

“Every who down in whoville, the tall and the small, was singing, without any presents at all.”

 

For more Stream of Consciousness posts and more information, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-8-18/

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!

#SoCS: Family Roles and Beyond

Hero child, hands folded.

Lost child staring into space.

Scapegoat telling it like it is.

Mascot spewing comic relief.

These are the classic roles in dysfunctional families I learned about in workshops when I started working with families of addiction. In one workshop – one of the first – we were each given a big sheet of paper and told to draw a picture of our family of origin at the dinner table. Not much more instruction than that. Just go for it. Then we were asked (though I’m sure it wasn’t required) to share our drawing in front of the group of about 20 other counselor at the workshop.

I can get flashes of the drawing and remember wearing a striped dress with a belt. I remember hesitating when it came to my mother. I’m sure my dad had USMC somewhere on his visage. I said I didn’t want to be like my mother. I was afraid of being like my mother. Afraid of having nervous breakdowns. I wanted to be strong like my father. Though now I know my mother had a different kind of strength that saved my father. I was the hero child and the lost child combo. My sister was the scapegoat after she was the mascot/clown. Then after she died, I became the scapegoat.

But after all the families I’ve encountered, we weren’t that dysfunctional. We are all learning how to cope with what got to us. And we can all move to different places at the table, or move to a different table of our own choice or creation. We can step out of our assumed roles. The hero can roll in the aisle laughing a belly laugh and dance around the living room. The lost child can become grounded and focused if she chooses to. The clown can learn to cry and be okay. The scapegoat can save the day or save himself.

Or they can embrace their favorite parts of their best roles. The hero can lift herself and others may follow. The lost child creates stellar colors of music. The clown amuses those who need laughter most. The scapegoat cuts through the crap.

Each role, each component, is inside each of us. The child remains within and comes out to play in the warm sunshine. Nurture him. Hold her. Sing to him. Guide her with love. We are survivors. Strong yet fragile. Imperfectly wise. Hungry for healing, each at our own pace. Even if that pace is standing still and breathing air. Sometimes recovery is all about resting on the earth and watching the clouds. Other times, it’s dancing and leaping in faith into an ocean of love or mystery.

…

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday was roll/role.

To learn more, visit Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/11/16/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-17-18/

 

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!