SoCS: Ups, Downs, and Fancy Sneakers

Our Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt is: “up/down.” Use one, use them both, but try to put one in your first sentence. Bonus points if you use the other in your last sentence. Have fun!

Life is full of ups and downs. Mountains and ravines. Peaks and valleys. Slopes would be better. I’ve had enough of the rollercoasters. Gentle waves are fine if you don’t mind mixing metaphors.

You can dive under some waves. Letting them crash into you is not fun. Positioning is crucial to avoid being slammed down. Then there’s surfing which I don’t know much about. I’ve been on a surfboard but never stood up on one. My preference in the ocean is to swim beyond the breakers or to let the swells lift me to a higher perspective of lower gravity, then set me down gently on the sand.

My granddaughter has sneakers that look like they have scales. I think they are really sequins. Brush them up and they’re silvery. Brush them down, and they’re rainbow colors. Like magic! Just what we need for traveling the peaks and valleys.

But I’d rather lay down on a soft grassy slope and gaze up at the clouds.

• 

  Fancy sneakers

• 

  Hills, valleys, and clouds

• 

  Waiting for a lift

~~~

For more streams of consciousness,

plus the ups, downs, ins, and outs of the SoCS rules, please visit out host, Linda Hill at:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS June 26, 2021 | (lindaghill.com)

JusJoJan: Beach Photos

Today’s Just Jot January prompt is: Beach.

I have lots of photos of the beach! Here are a few from 2020.

Sometimes we see bunnies in these Dunes

Intracoastal Waterway southeastern North Carolina

For more on Just Jot January, visit our host, Linda Hill, at

#JusJoJan prompt the 28th – “Beach” | (lindaghill.com)

Braving the Elements

It was not just another day at the beach. The water looked a little rough. But a few people were out battling the breakers. I stood in the surf, studying the wave patterns. I love swimming. When I was 18, I swam in March all the way out to the end of the pier. But this June evening 44 years later, I wasn’t sure I was up a challenge. Was I chicken? Or maybe I just didn’t feel like being tossed around and scraped on the sandy bottom. A person could break their neck.

Disappointed, I plodded back to the blanket while my sweetheart meditated with his feet planted firmly in the wet sand.

I didn’t have to prove anything to anybody, I told myself. If I didn’t feel like fighting the current, that was okay. I should trust my own judgment. David came to join me, being supportive, wanting me safe. We could see a rip current to the north. He’s a flyer, not a swimmer, though I have no doubt that if I was in trouble, he’d jump in and save me.

Ten minutes later, I looked at the ocean. People were swimming. Not many, but some. Yes, they were younger than me. But the ocean loves me. And I love the ocean. The water seemed a little calmer. I got up and walked a few yards south, then turned toward the waves. There was a break. I went for it. Got past the breakers and swam a few strokes. Maybe I wanted to prove something to myself.

The undertow pulled hard. Okay, that’s enough, said the ocean, or maybe it was my guardian angel. There was another break in the waves, and I scampered back up on the beach without getting knocked down. Feeling energized. Feeling strong. Not chicken.

Within minutes, the sky grew dark to the north. Was that lightening?

The storm reached out over the ocean…

 

…sending a cool blast of air charged with energy. Was it a warning? Or an enticement to stay and watch the show?

 

The storm crossed in front us traveling along the horizon

 

and chased the remaining swimmers ashore with her dragon head.

 

Then, the sun came came from behind

 

…and nudged her out to sea.

A warm breeze said the show was almost over,

 

So we headed home.

 

 

SOC Ode to the Ocean

She can enthuse me, transfuse me,

The ocean can’t confuse me.

Except when she’s so full of herself

She makes a sudden drop off shelf,

Or  pulls me with an undertoad

making walking such a load.

But on most days she brings me joy,

Slapping playfully like I’m her toy.

Or gives me such a sweet caress,

Her waters, oh my soul doth bless.

She tickles me with bubbles free

And makes my heart smile with glee.

The ocean makes me feel at home

Remembering my mother’s womb.

Floating in  a water world

Waiting for a life unfurled,

A life with waves that knocked me down

and made me want to stay aground.

But then love taught me how to swim

So I could dive back in again.

Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post prompt for today was “enthuse.”

If you’d like to join in the fun, visit:

http://lindaghill.com/2015/08/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-815/http://lindaghill.com/2015/08/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-815/

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!

Moonlight Ocean High

Silver moonlight

on pulsing waves,

I feel your energy

More powerful

than any man-made light,

Reflecting God’s Love

in the darkest of nights,

Stay with me.

   

I long to sit here

Forever

Gazing at your beauty

Hoping to capture this moment

To carry you with me

So you can carry me

through mundane tasks

When your magic

is hard to find.

 

Promise me

You will be here.

Become part of me,

And I will remember

Where you live.

I will come to you.

 

Rain kept us from seeing Friday night’s blue moon, but Saturday night was clear. My humble photos do not do her justice. But I had to try. I truly did not want to leave the divine magic, the natural high, of moon-bathing. I felt physically drawn to stay, perhaps by some interaction between the moonlight and ionization in the ocean air.

I wondered.

So I looked it up and found this:

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/negative-ions-create-positive-vibes

Have you ever felt this way about something in nature?

Water (A Stream of Consciousness Reconciliation)

I used yesterday’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday post to rant. Maybe I needed to rant, because I don’t do that much. Just sometimes, and then it’s usually just inside my head. But now that that’s out of my system,  I wish I’d written about water. Linda Hill’s  prompt included the key word: element, as in earth/wind/fire/water. Though I love them all- I love to walk in the woods, and breathe the smell of the earth- I think water is my favorite. Today anyway. I wonder if it’s because I’m a fire sign (according to the zodiac) and water calms my fire.

Water is smooth, even when she’s crashing full of energy.

I love to let her waves caress my skin.

Or splash me awake,

Or tickle me with foam.

I love to watch the wavy patterns of light

Dancing on the bottom of the blue pool.

Under water is deep peace.

A dream to live there and not have to come up;

Breathing magically, moving gracefully.

Maybe I was a whale.

Water is what I am made of.

Water calms my fire,

Quiets my fear.

Deep down inside me.