I wasn’t able to get any photos of the whole blood-moon eclipse thing, but I did get some pretty spectacular pictures of the almost full moon on Saturday night when I was in Kingston.
Pictures from the Waterfront Trail, taken with my phone, untouched but for a little cropping. Click on the images for a bigger picture.
You know you’re tired when:
I had my toast on my plate on the kitchen table along with the tub of margarine (open) and jam (open-can’t remember what kind but it has three fruits in it), and since I was talking to my friend John about something completely unrelated to getting my toast ready, I put the jam on before the margarine.
Wow, that was not as exciting a story as I thought it would be.
I had a dream the other morning that I was at the concert I’m going to in Tokyo in November and I was stuck at the back of the hall and there were no lights on the stage (which was tucked into the corner of the room) so I missed the entire show. I think that qualifies as a nightmare, don’t you?
So I’m going to Kingston today and staying over night to get a break. The Kingston Writer’s Fest is on this weekend and I’m hoping to get tickets to an event tomorrow – if I do, I’ll try to write about the experience next week. I’m also hoping to get together for coffee this afternoon with our gracious badge-maker and host of the blog, “My Leaky Boat.” It’s gonna be fun!
Now I’m off to wash all my sheets and blankets – the cat peed on my bed sometime yesterday. Luckily it’s a nice day out, so it should all dry on the line.
See you on the flipside!
This post has been brought to you via Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link and join in today! https://lindaghill.com/2015/09/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-2615/
As you may have read, I had to give up my paper route last spring because of the pain in my shoulder. I wasn’t very happy about it. Being a newspaper carrier gave me a reason to get out and walk every day, as well as the occasional reason to post about the adventures I had when I was out. In lieu of that, I started going to an indoor track when the weather was bad – either too icy, cold or rainy, or too hot and humid. But now that the weather is getting nicer again, I’ve begun exploring the neighbourhood in which I’ve lived for the past six (yes, six) years. This is what I discovered, less than a ten minute walk from my house:
There’s a turtle pond due south of my abode, complete with a waterfront trail that stretches about a half a mile in both directions (west and east) before it pauses to take up its journey again past houses and busy roads. The Waterfront Trail in its entirety goes all the way from Niagara Falls to the Quebec border, with breaks in between for roadways. Some of the breaks are vast, but in all it goes around the western end of Lake Ontario, through Toronto, and follows past Kingston (where the lake ends) and then all the way down the Ottawa River. Minus the breaks, it is 450km (280 miles) long. (Source, Wikipedia.)
I’m looking forward to taking lots of pictures as the trees change. There are herons and swans, ducks, cormorants, seagulls, and geese, and of course, turtles in abundance. The indoor track, though handy and free, is going to seem very dull when the snow necessitates it.
I’m completely and utterly discouraged tonight.
I had a weekend off but had very little sleep, but that’s not why I’m discouraged.
I got barely any work done on my novels, but that’s not why either.
I have a sink full of dishes that I haven’t the energy to do, but that’s not entirely what’s got me down.
I killed a fruit fly this afternoon by breathing it forcefully (by accident) up my nose and blowing it back out into a kleenex – that was actually the highlight of my day.
I want to go to bed but I have to wait for kids to go to sleep, but that’s not what’s really killing me.
I have so much to do that I don’t know where to start, but that’s not the worst of it.
What really has me discouraged? It’s all of the above combined. Except the fruit fly thing. That’s just funny.
How was your weekend? Please tell me it was better than mine.
I often wonder where my ideas come from. My stories seem to come out of the ether, as do the characters in my fictional works. Sometimes I’m inspired by something tangible, like a picture, a song, or another story or even a line I’ve read – sometimes it’s even a passing thought, like “what if?” But no matter where it comes from or what I do, it ends up twisted. And I swear to God, it’s not on purpose. It happens. My fingers take me places I can’t, and don’t, imagine… kinda. It’s hard to explain, because of course it’s coming from my imagination. But at the same time it seems to be coming from elsewhere, like a voice whispering in my ear.
So now that you think I’m nuts…
I have to wonder how much of it is genetic. My father was a creative guy. He made up stories, he played the guitar, his wit was extremely quick. (I’m sure that’s where my eldest son gets his wit from, though his dad (my ex) is a funny guy too.) I wish my father had lived long enough to tell me more of his inner thoughts. No father in his right mind would tell his adolescent daughter about the darker side of his thoughts. It would be fascinating though, to understand whether there’s anything to these twists that are more from my background and less from the ether.
Unless, of course, my father is the one whispering in my ear.
This second creepy SoCS post of mine this week comes to you via this post: https://lindaghill.com/2015/09/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1915/ Join in the fun! It’s not all creepy – I promise!
As a blogger who has gone from posting occasionally, to every day and then back to once in a while, I’ve found there are both advantages and disadvantages to both methods. Some of the good points only apply to the blog itself, but some are important factors for general well-being. Here is my list:
For the Blog
For Life in General
My conclusion, as I’ve come to realize it, is that as much as I hear everyone say “real life” is more important than being online, it depends what I do with my online life, and equally what I do with my life offline. I think it’s okay to spend a healthy amount of time sitting at a keyboard if that time is productive and provides an outlet rather than an escape (though escape is important too). I’d like to start posting every day again: mostly what I’ve learned by not doing so, is that it’s okay to walk away. I guess that’s actually ten things, isn’t it. 😛
What do you think? Can you add to the list?
You know you’ve finally made it to the party of life when you get insulted by a fortune cookie. Thanks, Confucius.
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Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds!
4. Have fun!
Distemper, datemper… which temper do you want? You know, sometimes you just want to edit. But you can’t. So here we go.
I’ve been sitting here for the past fifteen minutes trying to come up with a word with “temp” in it that doesn’t mean it will soon go away: temporary, CONtemporary (new now, old tomorrow), tempus fugit (time flies), temperature (when does that ever stay consistent?) (okay, if you live in the desert maybe it pretty much does), template. Template! It’s something you use so that you can recreate the same thing over and over – without changing it!
Now what?
I suppose I can still talk about how things change, but that’s so depressing, isn’t it? Unless I’m sad, then I want things to change for the better. Contentment is so rare though, isn’t it? When I am content I try my best to stay in the moment, to remember details, and to enjoy it to the fullest. Contentment scares me though. I have to say I’m pretty happy with the way my life is at the moment. All three of my kids live at home, and they’re all relatively healthy (Alex has a lingering cough, but it’s nothing life-threatening) and they’re all relatively happy as well, and busy with their lives. It all makes me wonder what’s going to happen next. I try not to speculate. Again, stay in the moment. Just stay in the moment, Linda. Enjoy it. Even when I’m being kept awake at 2 am by a coughing kid… Yeah.
Sometimes enjoying my contentment is more of a challenge than others.
I have a hard time staying seated. When I’m writing or editing I have to get up at least every half an hour or so. I sometimes walk into the kitchen, see that there’s really nothing to munch on (because I’ve been smart enough not to buy anything to munch on) and go back to the computer empty-handed. That’s a good thing. I could so easily gain a hundred pounds without even trying if I gave in to all the temptations. Hey, there’s another word that’s not temporary… or is it? I suppose if temptations were constant they’d grind us down so much that they would no longer be temptations but reality instead. So yeah, temporary.
I’m going to temporarily leave reality now… (which means temporary unconsciousness… stream of unconsciousness Saturday… SoUS… French for suck… this really sucks, doesn’t it? Hahahahahahahaha!)
This ramble has been brought to you by SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/09/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1215/ Join in earlier than I do next week and have some fun!
Realizing you’re taking your grumpiness out undeservedly on your loved ones is the hard part. Apologizing is easy.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds!
4. Have fun!
I was inspired by the Daily Prompt here: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-young-and-the-rested/ not as much by the actual prompt —
“When was the last time you felt truly rejuvenated and energized? What made you feel that way?”
–but by the title of it. The Young and the Rested.
The fact is, I’ve been at home with the young’uns for the last two weeks of the summer without much of a break. Consider my challenges: Sunday dawned bright and early and Alex, my youngest, wanted to go on a bus ride with his brother. First he had to feed, a process which takes about two hours via feeding pump. So we were sitting around the table, Alex and I and my BFF John, playing a rousing game of Life (the board game) while he fed, when Alex decided it was time for his brother to wake up. I said no, they couldn’t leave for another hour, let him sleep a bit more. Unplug me from my pump, Alex demanded. I don’t want to eat anymore, I want to go now. This was not an option; he turned the pump off anyway. I told him that if he wanted to continue to play his game he had to feed. No way, he said. So I walked away.
He proceeded to follow me around the house, digging his fingers into me to get my attention whilst screaming. Fine, I said, stop screaming and poking me or go to your room.
Okay, I’ll go to my room, he said. With the pump off (still) he went to his room. After a while I told him he could come out if he would turn on his pump. No way, he said. I want to go on the bus, to which I replied, You’re not going on the bus until your feed is finished.
The argument began at 9:30 am. It finished when I finally force-fed him by syringe at 1pm. The consequence, no bus.
This is a typical day for me at home with Alex. He gets something into his head that he wants to do and he will absolutely not consider the consequences of his actions. He’s an adolescent still going through his terrible twos. It takes him hours to give in – and I’m consistent! And as patient as anyone I have ever met. Of course there is the language barrier – he is Deaf and I am hearing. Although my sign language is limited, I still have to believe that after almost 15 years of living together I can at least get my point across on the most basic level.
He’s also sick with that awful summer cold that’s going around, which is really where all this ties in with the prompt. Last night he woke up coughing at 1:40 am. I gave him something that I thought might help (doctor prescribed codeine) but it didn’t. At 4 am I finally gave in and let him watch a movie in bed. So neither of us are rested… and I’m old.
When was the last time I felt truly rejuvenated and energized? The early nineties. Before I started having kids. Parenting is such fun, isn’t it?
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