When a Mind is Off-Leash

When a mind is off-leash, you never know where it might wander. Sometimes I wonder how it got where it landed, whatever took it on that path, and I am so glad no one can read it.

This morning I was slicing fresh carrots to be dehydrated – because I have more space for dry goods than I do for refrigerated/frozen goods and I dislike going shopping very often, so long-term storage is  important. Anyway, in the midst of slicing and loading dehydrator trays, something else required my attention, which means I left the carrots sitting. Alone. All by themselves. In the open air. What popped into my mind was a concern that they would dry out, exposed as they were. Followed by: “dry out? Well, what is it you’re going to do with them anyway?” Oh, duh. Yeah, okay.

Then there’s the check I told my son I would write and mail for him – because his checks live with me, not with him. That made more sense when he was overseas, but it’s just how it is. I headed off to get a check, saw something else I wanted to take care of, did that, went back to where I was before I headed off to get a check. When did I remember? The wee hours of the night. Guess I’ll be making a trip to the post office today. If  I’m lucky, I might even remember what else I thought I might want to pick up in our little town.

I did make a list for myself the other day of what I wanted to get done. I wrote each thing down in bold colors on the white board on my refrigerator. Worked well as a leash, I kept on track and got things done. That day. Smart huh? Wonder why I don’t do that more often. I do know why – because I think of it but don’t do it right now, and my mind wanders off to check out something else. Or just to wander.  Because. It. Can.

Looking out my window, I see – white. It’s not a deep white – only an inch or so. But it’s very white, very cold, very wet. I do not like. My mind is thinking coast – yes, I could deal with the gray, the rain, the wind, if only I could see and hear the ocean. My mind took me there last night, in my dreams. It was lovely. Sometimes when my mind is off-leash, it’s not so bad. Sometimes it’s good. As soon as I win the lottery I’ll buy a house on the coast. That probably means I should buy lottery tickets, huh?

Carrots are sliced and dehydrating – bread still needs to be made. I should think about getting out of my robe, although I’m not sure why. Maybe I’ll just sit here and see where my mind takes me.

It won’t be outside:

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Sharing the light

This is one of the things our world needs more of.

Change Is Hard

On this last night the Jewish Hanukkah I wanted to share an image:

I borrowed it (with permission) from Daily Musings at A Day in the Life.

I share it with hope that we can all become more tolerant. I believe that all religions are variations on the same theme and that we are not so very different.

Let this year be the year we begin to objectively listen to each other.

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Share Your World and More, Because I Can

Before I go on, let me just register one more complaint here, WordPress. Yes, WordPress folk, this is aimed at you. Why have you suddenly decided, once again, that I must log in each and every time I want to comment on someone’s post? And why have you decided I simply cannot “like” some people’s posts? I can comment, but not “like”?!  If you don’t understand, let me spell it out – that. Makes. No. Sense. Got it?

Okay, now I can go on and share my world for this week, thanks to Sparks From a Combustible Mind offering the option.

What are the most important lesson(s) you’ve learned in life? Think before you act, although I suspect I have more learning to do with that one. Smile, because there are umpteen possibilities that it could be worse and it won’t make anything better by frowning – another lesson imperfectly learned. Getting older is better than not.

How did you meet your husband/wife or significant other? How did you know he/she was “the one”? Well, now – I have a history of making some bad choices here, so I have had more than one of those significant other husband things. Let’s just talk about the first one, the father of my children, okay? I was working as cashier at a theater while I attended business school, and he was in the Air Force, stationed in my town. He and his buddy came to see a movie on Christmas Eve, and since the doorman was a friend we decided they should not have to pay for tickets – after all, military, Christmas Eve. It just went from there. Turns out “the one” is not necessarily for life.

If you could take a year-long paid sabbatical, what would you do? Well, I’m retired. But if I had an all-expense paid year, to do with as I pleased, I would grab my kids and we would go tour Europe, spend time on warm ocean beaches, just live a life of leisure.

What is your favorite thing to buy at a movie theater concession stand? (credit to The Haunted Wordsmith for this one) Buttered popcorn and a coke. A  movie in a theater is not a movie without that.

Lastly:

What are some Holiday Traditions you and/or your family observe in December? We get together for the holidays? It’s that what you meant?  We laugh, we feast – my kids’ choice for Christmas dinner is prime rib, which they cook – we enjoy wine, laughter, just being together. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

And now, because I can, I’m going to Name Three things again, courtesy of the aforesaid Embeecee, who got them from A Guy Called Bloke. For those of you who are satisfied with the above, which is very near the word limit I try to maintain, thank you for visiting, please enjoy your day. But, keep in mind that answering questions eliminates, or at least reduces, my opportunity to launch into a major political rant. Because I do a lot of that these days.

Name Three …

Potato Dishes? Scalloped, mashed, baked. If mashed or baked, slathered with butter, topped with peas (fresh or frozen, please, none of those canned things).

Types of Flowers? The blooming kind. Roses, day lilies, daisies. Every one of them makes me smile.

American Authors? Anne Rivers Siddons, Curtis Sittenfeld, Lisa Genova. You really didn’t expect me to name any of those whose books are classics, did you?

Rivers in England? Thames. You know what? Just provide a trip to England for me, and I’ll research that so I can answer intelligently.

Animals species that begin with the letter P? Porcupine. Panther. Platypus.

Popular sports played on a field? Now, that could get me in trouble – depending on your version of a sport. Like, maybe, “Splendor in the Grass” sporting? Okay, I’ll behave. Football, baseball, soccer.

School Subjects that you were terrible at? Algebra. That’s it. But, had I taken Geometry or Trigonometry, I would have been equally terrible at them. I saw absolutely no reason for algebra.

Types of tropical fruit? Mango, papaya, is coconut a fruit? Now I’ve named them, did I win a trip to an tropical island?

Things that grown on trees? Pine cones, pine cones, pine cones. Come look at my yard if you need proof. Okay, also oranges, apples, and pears.

Things that are pink? My cheeks after one too many glasses of wine. In the olden days, baby girl clothes. Pink grapefruit.

Cartoon characters? Woody Woodpecker, Roadrunner, Bugs Bunny. None of those Marvel guys for me.

Muppet Characters? Miss Piggy. Kermit the Frog. Was Cookie Monster a muppet or just on Sesame Street?

Items of clothing that are pointless? Corsets. Girdles. Nylon stockings. None of those have points.

Gifts that cost less than a £5/$5 or five of your currency that make ideal presents? This one has me stumped. I’m not sure you can even buy a Starbucks coffee for under $5.00. And since any gifts I might give (because my family gave that up a few years ago) would be something I made, I don’t go gift shopping. Sorry, gotta bail on this one.

So now I think that’s enough, which is exactly what I’m wishing for all of you – enough.

 

Name Three

I just opened a post by Sparks From a Combustible Mind  – Melanie found the post from  https://aguycalledbloke.blog/2018/12/02/daily-fun-three-2/ – that intrigued me – and, since Alexa just informed me it’s National Fritter Day, I’m in the midst of frittering away my day. Because it’s my national duty, you know. Melanie (and Rory) say good things come in threes, so the object is to name three of each of the below:

Breakfast Cereals? Cheerios, Wheaties, Frosted Flakes

Types of Trees? Oak, Maple,Poplar

Things that are Orange? Oranges (surprise!), male Baltimore Orioles, pumpkin

Female Singers? Carrie Underwood, Lauren Daigle, Barbra Streisand

Popular Internet Websites? Google. Google. Google. Because that’s all that’s popping into my mind that I’m certain is a website and is popular. Well, I guess there’s Facebook – but I use the app for that. This is what happens when one spends most of her time on an iPad instead of an actual computer. Oh, wait! Amazon. Instagram.

Sunday Activities? Frittering the day away. Whatever I might feel like. Oh yes, and whatever I might feel like doing.

Dinosaur Species? How much do I remember from Jurassic Park, is that what you’re asking? That’s been awhile, because the first one was enough for me. Tyrannosaurus. The flying one. Then there’s a couple that are little guys. Okay, you can see I’m not well versed in the topic of dinosaurs.

Three States in the USA? [Counties in England or States in Australia or relevant to you] Oregon, California, New York. I could go on with this question, I know of 50. There’s also D.C. and Puerto Rico, which are not technically states, but. . .

Types of Musical Instruments? Clarinet. Oboe. Flute. At least I know more about musical instruments than I do dinosaurs.

Unexplained Mysteries or Strange Unexplained Phenomena? This one might test me. The Bermuda Triangle. UFOs. Sasquatch. Ha! Did it! Oh yes, and what happened to Jon Benet?

Books you reread over and over again? I read quite a few books, but it’s unlikely I’ll ever read a book more than once, unless I stumble across one I don’t recognize and halfway through realize I did indeed read this one years ago. I rarely watch movies more than once either. Or TV shows – although I did go rewatch the last episode of This Is Us last night because I kept reading articles that mentioned things I had not noticed. I resolved some of those things, but there is one comment that I still haven’t seen, which was supposedly a future scene showing Toby and Randall, neither of whom were wearing wedding rings. Did anyone else see that?

Films, that can never watch again? I can think of one – Natural Born Killers, which I couldn’t even watch all the way through the first time. And there was one with John Travolta that was super violent, the name of which I don’t remember. A problem here is that I don’t remember titles very often. Failing this one.

Exercises you do each week? There is one exercise I actually do every single day, more than once each day, and that is the exercise of telling myself I need to go do some chair yoga. Now. Oh wait, let me do this first. An hour later, I tell myself . . . You get the drift. It’s apparently an exercise in futility. I’m good at those.

Human traits you simply cannot abide? Dishonesty. Jumping to conclusions (although I am guilty of that sometimes). Ignoring facts. A one word answer would be Trump.

Yesterday when I woke up, this is what I saw:

Beautiful, but I’m not thrilled with it. She, however, likes it:

Share Your World – 11-26-18

I came back home yesterday after spending several days with my daughter, keeping out of her way while she cooked Thanksgiving and other dinners. Being lazy. Today is rainy, a perfect day for staying inside and Sharing my World.

If your five year old self woke up in your current body, what would happen, what would you say? My five-year-old self would wonder why my nightgown was so tight and why my slippers wouldn’t fit. Then it would look in the mirror and go into shock. “Where did my long blonde curls go?”, “Why is my face all crinkly?”. Oh my.

What is a relationship deal breaker for you?  Whether you are talking about a romantic one, a friendship or a related to sort of relationship? Dishonesty. Manipulation. Not accepting me as I am.

Is there something out there, a thought, an idea, a current event, or a fear that you find deeply unsettling? Umm, yes. Like, the whole political system, starting at the top. The idea that so many people in this country are so alienated, feeling so ignored, that the man that got elected could actually get elected. And still have supporters. Children being taken from their parents at the border. People trying to get away from crime-ridden areas being sprayed with tear gas at the border. Lack of compassion.  I could go on and on and on . . .

And one that is a bit whimsical:

If you were arrested with no explanation, what would your friends and family assume you had done? Not sure I have an answer for this one. They would probably think I opened my mouth when I shouldn’t have and started some kind of brouhaha.  Because sometimes words just leap out without being filtered first.

Finally

What were you grateful for this week?  Something that brought some joy into your world? I was grateful for being with my daughter for Thanksgiving and grateful that my son was able to spend the time with his very close friends. I was, and am, grateful that I have enough.

I was grateful for sunrises like this one at my daughter’s:

Share Your Thankful World

I am sitting in my daughter’s living room, furry girl sleeping near me, and outside the windows this morning there is no view – unless you consider dense fog something interesting to stare at. The side benefit to that fog is the hoar frost on some of the bushes and trees, but how long can one stare at frosted trees anyway? So – my solution? To Share My World with Melanie and anyone who cares to share.

Are you an Early to bed, early to rise person, a night owl and day sleeper/dozer, or an ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ person?   Sometimes life kind of forces you to be something different as you get older – so, in my younger days, I liked to stay up into the wee hours on nights that did not require that I get up to go to work the next morning, then sleep in the next morning. These days (nights) my eyes will not stay open long enough to see the midnight hour – even on New Year’s Eve – and my furry girl assures that I waken fairly early in the morning. She has her needs you know – the primary one being, always, eating.

What are some misconceptions about your hobby, should you have a hobby? I always have a hobby, sometimes more than one. They rotate, because I grow weary of knitting, or painting, or crocheting, or quilting, or whatever it is I’m doing now. You can usually tell what I’m into these days by the books/magazines around me, not to mention the actual work in progress being not very far from where I am. Because I’m the kind of person who likes whatever I might need at any given moment to be right there. Currently, I’m painting sometimes, and I’m making ponchos out of fleece with crocheted bands around them. Misconceptions? I don’t know what they might be. So this whole paragraph is filling space because I don’t have a brilliant response for the question.

A penguin walks through the door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?     He says “Hola! Ice, please.” He is here because the ice at the North Pole has melted and he needs to find a new place to live. The sombrero is to keep the sun off his head – a cooling device. Once he finds the ice, he’ll let us all know how disappointed he is that we’ve allowed this to happen.

Aliens have landed…do they come in peace? First of all – if aliens are smart, and I’m sure they are, they will not land on this planet amongst these people, because they know the future is not bright and there are other places to settle that are more welcoming.

Apology – it was not my intent, two questions ago, to head into political undertones. It just kind of happened. Sorry ‘bout that.

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What are you really, incredibly thankful for this week? I am really, incredibly thankful that the weather was kind to me and I was able to pack up my furry girl and drive up to spend Thanksgiving with my daughter. The only question now is whether the weather will continue to be kind to me and allow me to go home early next week.

To each and every one of you, I wish you enough to be thankful for.

20 Questions – Really

A few days ago two of the bloggers I follow posted these 20 Questions – Melanie B Cee of Sparks from a Combustible Mind and LeendaDLL of The Bus to Sorry. I started to post them one day after that, but got distracted, so I’m going to try again.

• what’s the most dangerous situation you have ever been in?  I don’t recall being in any truly dangerous situations – perhaps the closest to one that could have had unhappy ramifications was once when we had gone to Glamis (the desert of Southern California) to ride dune buggies and three wheelers. I had gone out on my three wheeler alone (first big no-no) to head up one of the larger dunes, lost power about halfway up and turned to go back down – another no-no. The bike started to go, I could feel it, but instead of letting it go and protecting my body, I grabbed it to try to stop it. Result? We rolled down together. I was lucky to come out of it with only bruises – ego and body.
• what’s your favourite culture?  I’m not sure I have enough knowledge of other cultures to really choose, but in ancient history, I think the Italians win with their amazing artists.
• your favourite type of travel?  Is this a mode of travel question or a choice between impromptu, go it on your own travel as opposed to planned, guided travel? For comfort, a cruise ship wins. For the ability to veer off a specific route, venture into new territories travel, automobile. For speed, airplane (we won’t even talk comfort in that category). As to guided or non-guided, guided could give a very good feel for places I might like to explore in depth, but my dream trip has always been to rent a car, pray for the best, and travel through Europe. With travel books in hand.
• do you feel understood?  As much as anyone can be understood, yes. Occasionally I think I might be misunderstood, but I also suspect when that happens it’s because of my tone of voice or body language.
• how do you feel about your body?  What difference does it make? It’s my body, it’s what I’ve got, I’m not willing to put the effort in to make it better – but then, better it’s a relative term, isn’t it? In my youth, I was not happy with it completely, but I suspect that’s pretty normal in our society with its emphasis on body size and appeal.
• what is your favourite film?  For years my answer would have been “Patch Adams” but since then I have seen others that reached into my heart just as much.
• are you adventurous with food? Up to a point. I’m not going to eat what are obviously insects or other creepy crawlies, and I don’t like slimy foods – although I have eaten escargot and enjoyed it. Generally, I’m quite willing to try new things. Sometimes  more willing if I’m not told precisely what it is. For instance, Bird’s Nest Soup – let’s keep that quiet until after I’ve tried it.
• have you ever hated a place and wanted to come home?  Yes. I remember the feeling, but don’t remember the specific incident. I do remember, vaguely, that when I was in one of the early years of elementary school I went to spend the night with a fried. I woke up in the wee hours wanting to be home. So I walked home. Without telling anyone. One of life’s “oops”.
• are you bothered about others seeing you naked?  It depends on the circumstances. Less so in my younger years than now – older bodies lose something, you know? Thank you, gravity.
• Are you a good loser?  I think so. I rarely take any game seriously enough to consider it a matter of life and death.
• what was the favourite time of your life?   Oh gosh. There have been many times in my life that have felt good enough to be “favorite” times.  Probably when I was in my laearly teens and we spent many of our summers on a lake in Minnesota. Days of playing on the beach, in the water, out in a boat with friends. The part of life when responsibilities were few.
• Do you have a close family connection  With my kids, yes, I believe we do. I came from a family that was not particularly close – although I think my mother was very close to her sisters and brothers. We moved around so much, maintaining relationships was hard.
• can you speak another language?  Pigeon language. In the past. I have made minimal efforts to learn French and Spanish, but haven’t had the stick-to-itness that is needed. Not enough motivation, I think.
• will Trump be in for another term?  Not if my wishes come true. Recently I read an article proposing the breakup of the U.S.  into a number of different countries – I’m thinking that might be the only way to rid ourselves of the divisions that continue to grow.
• what are your thoughts on English people?  Well, given that my thoughts would be based on what I’ve read and heard with precious little actual first-hand knowledge, what my thoughts are is worth about the same as a hill of beans. I do love some of  their phrases – their English just seems to have so much charm – more grace, less of a pioneer feel.
• was life better without mobile phones?  Mixed feelings here. I really like having the mobile phone for its availability in an instance of needing help. I like that I can set ringtones, so if a non-contact calls (you know, those growing numbers of solicitation calls), I don’t have to answer based on the premise that if they really need to talk to me, they can leave a voicemail. I like having a camera, a calculator, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, books, instant answers to questions, all in my pocket in one device. So I guess truly my answer would be No.
• what has been the biggest change in your life?  Life is full of changes. Can they even be categorized to choose the biggest? I think perhaps one of the biggest was when I finally figured out it’s not up to me to make life perfect. Contorting myself into something other than what I am is wrong – a relationship will make it or not, and I can’t be someone else if that’s what you want.
• is climate change real?   I believe so, yes. I think mankind is way too blasé about the way we live affecting our earth.
• why do you like answering questions?  For a variety of reasons, I think. Sometimes because it makes me think about things I might not have before. Probably just to put myself out there. It’s a lot like doing puzzles or playing games, don’t you think?

This may not actually be 20 questions, because I inadvertently deleted one about which culture I don’t like. Decided that was okay, because it was one I couldn’t answer anyway. Although maybe I could – I could say any culture that considers someone of different color, race, or gender beneath them. But is that a culture or a society?