Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tape.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Use it any way you like. Enjoy!
If you’re old and wise you still have homemade cassette tapes. Some idiots eventually tried to improve on those perfectly wonderful music deliverers when CDs were considered ‘advancement” and took their place. I have never had a CD accidentally misplaced under the car floormat work well. Yet my cassette tapes (some stored where they got moldy) are still doing the trick! The homemade ones are the best and collecting songs from the radio made us all production experts with timing the key. I wanted to add a song that comes to mind augmenting my post and the one that jumped out added to the direction of this stream. It’s posted below and is a special song that encompasses several feelings. My husband and I grew up (and still live) in the same hometown. Before we met, we each already had a childhood friendship with the same guy named Joe. Once we were married, those friendships continued. Joe eventually had two children. a girl, with the middle name “Sue” and a boy with the middle name (my husband’s) of “Edward”. Joe was the silliest, kindest, soul. He kept us ‘in stitches’ all of the time! Sadly, Joe was diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago and passed away. We’d each known and loved that goofy ‘character’ for most of our lives…longer than we had even known each other. So, to say the least, we’ve been lonesome for Joe. His birthday happens to be on the first day of Spring- March 20th. My song choice is for him. It’s one that ALWAYS makes me think of Joe. {wiping a tear} “We miss you Joe!”
[Joe still ‘lives’ every time my husband and I sit by a campfire and laugh about his antics. ❤ ]
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “wild animal.” Choose a wild animal (or many wild animals) and use it any way you’d like in your post. Enjoy!
Oh my! Where to go on a theme of wild animals? I guess I’ll tell one of many tales of my encounters. A connection with the Natural World IMHO is the greatest gift you can give a child.
My childhood was an absolutely enchanted one… We spent family vacations at remote cabins we’re we went fishing, climbed trees, caught frogs, and sat around campfires. My Mom’s family even bundled their funds and bought a cabin by a lake when I was about 10. I would spend almost entire summers there. Many whole days were all about catching, examining, and releasing, frogs and turtles and exploring. At night, we’d fish on the lake’s glassy surface using our favorite lure called a “jitterbug”. It mimicked the sound and motion of a frog on the water. In that near-silent scene (except for the lullaby of crickets), with the moon turning the water’s ‘smooth glass’ silver, I could hear (sometimes see) the lure lurching across the water. “Glub, glug, glubbity”, {pause]…then repeat. Sometimes a small fish would take a slap at the lure. BUT the larger bass (lunkers) simply rose to the top making an almost inaudible sucking sound taking the whole lure in its mouth. Then it was ON! The pole would jerk as I ‘set the hook’ (pulled back). Larger, heavy, fish would take out line which is called “pulling out drag” and we’d fight as I reeled it in. On the best battles, the fish would leap fully out into the moonlight while shaking its head. That once quiet environment was now filled with splashing and the essence of the Natural World… a fight for survival. If I had ‘set the hook’ quickly, once I bring the fish to the boat (if it hasn’t won the battle to get away), the hook is only lodged in the stiff corner of its mouth. That’s when the skilled ‘angler’ removes the hook and releases the bass back into the lake to hopefully pursue another day.
My husband and I honeymooned at a lake in Maine. Instead of going to bars or clubs, we sat on a moonlit lake and fished. Later on, we took our kids camping and finally bought 29 acres in the woods. We still spend weekends and vacations there ‘off the grid’ with our kids and grandkids. There’s no lake but plenty of Nature to ‘drinking in’.
I could have told you about the time I raised a baby raccoon, or kept frogs through one winter, or solved the mysteries of wild sounds I have encountered, or made friends with a Ruffed Grouse, but Stream of Consciousness takes its own course… maybe another time.
I could go on and on about the critical NEED for kids to connect to Nature. If the topic interests you, Richard Louv has written two outstanding books, The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “prize.” Use it as a noun or a verb; use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
To me, the ultimate ‘prize‘ is ‘peace’. Some might say it should be ‘love’ and not ‘peace’. Since I believe the ability to ‘love’ comes from God, I ‘see’ that as a precious ‘gift’ not a ‘prize’. But peace is not guaranteed in our world. The feeling of peace can happen when we least expect it. Some who are overwhelmed with troubles would likely even notice moments of peace more readily than those of us who have come to expect it in our everyday lives. I believe animals not only offer us moments of warmth, but they actually are more in-touch with peace. Peace is the absence (however brief) of their struggles for survival. It can present itself in moments of safety or, in the case of domesticated animals, as an impression of a life in safe surroundings. IMHO…Peace is often overlooked and under appreciated by human beings until we lose it. (Not unlike freedom.) I prize peace more than all other things.
Happy Saturday everyone! May peace be with you today.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “perfection.’” Use it any way you like. Enjoy!
I’m a ‘word’ person. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that y’all are too. Words have meaning. Some are cultural, and some are regional, but we all hope that the meanings are close to universal in our own situational contexts. Don’t get me started on the current Pop Culture effort to redefine and/ or at least ‘water down’ the cohesiveness of our common understandings! {deep breath}
The word “perfection” has been one that I refused to use according to my own philosophy on early childhood education. I made a decision ‘many moons’ plus years ago to avoid using the term “perfect” in my interaction with children. I’ll use the term “just right” but never “perfect”.
Here’s why: “Perfect” suggests (to me) that there’s an objective measurement of something tangible that IS perfect. What a daunting pursuit for anyone to attempt to find “perfection” in an imperfect world among flawed, imperfect, people. I didn’t want any child to believe such a thing. I just know that they would fall short and be discouraged by their repetitive “imperfectness”. It’s already a hard enough task to grow and learn. I also have noticed many adult people who actually get up in the morning with an expectation to find that ‘unicorn’ known as “perfect”. It’s painful to watch. Many people are just ‘born’ to impose such an impossible standard on themselves, but I made up my mind that during my childcare years, I wasn’t going to inspire it in kids by an inartful use of language.
So, what did I substitute for “perfect”? I adopted the use of “just right” with the kids. If something you’ve planned comes out the way you expect it to, it’s the subjective place of “just right”. Goldilocks wanted porridge that was “just right” according to her expectations and tastes. Is there, or has there ever been, a “perfect” bowl of porridge? I’d like to know where THAT recipe book is.
Our mannerisms have lasting effects on children. They study what all adults do. (Not unlike the way our pets study us.) But our language also should be carefully regarded. When they aren’t watching us, they’re listening, and words still do have meaning.
Just so ya know, having the opportunity to watch kids grow and learn has offered me a small glimpse of God’s ‘perfect plan’ when He created them.
Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your weekend turns out “just right”. ❤
Oh, after writing this I recalled a heartwarming memory from my childcare years that fits this theme ‘just right’. A former child in my care had a 1st grade assignment to draw a picture of something “Just Right” for him. When he showed me his drawing and caption, I cried. The drawing was of my house and play yard and the caption was ” My Day Care is just right for me.”
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “new/knew.’” Use one, use both, use them any way you like. Bonus points if you use both. Enjoy!
I knew right away that I wanted to post an uplifting and humorous stream. Yet, where I’m sitting in ‘time’ is daunting me and repressing my funny bone. Let me explain… It’s not new to a few of you that I have Spatial Sequence Synesthesia. No, it’s not a disease or mental illness, it’s a ‘special’ way my early childhood brain framed my interpretation of numerical sequences including days, months, and years. I have what is called “mental maps” of dates and times. It’s a 3D mental image that somewhat translates to a 3D physical orientation in space that never changes. Overall, I think it’s really cool! I didn’t find out it had a name until I turned 60 years old. Until then, all my questions to family and friends about how they ‘see’ numbers were met with blank stares. I cannot imagine NOT ‘seeing’ sequences any more than people without this gift can imagine ‘seeing’ them. Here’s the meat of my post… On the last day of December each year, I feel physically in the lowest (not unhappy but in space) position on my ‘map’. New Year’s Day makes me take a ‘leap’ to my highest ‘place’. It really is an orientation in time that I constantly am aware of. That leap and juxtaposition is unnerving to me for about a week. I feel as though I’m off balance and a bit lost during that time. It’s similar to the feeling you may get when staying overnight in an unfamiliar place and not feeling ‘at home’ there.
Luckily, I am a mother of a New Year’s baby from 1980. My daughter’s birthday serves as a happy distraction and focus away from my internal ill at ease. I’m not unhappy at all. There’s just a little ‘cloud’ following me at the moment. All people, like myself, have different personal ‘maps’ of all different shapes. Not everyone takes a leap as I need to do.
Anyway, I hope you find this interesting. There are many dozens of types of Synesthesia. Some really are troubling to those who experience them. Synesthesia has only been studied for about 40 or 50 years. It’s a fascinating phenomenon!
I grabbed a short video from YouTube to show you a young lady describing her Synesthesia. I do not have the Grapheme (color) type but do have Time/Space Synesthesia. Our ‘maps’ are quite personal, but you’ll get the idea how dynamic it is to we who have it. Mine are not circular and look more like concrete steps for days or months of the year. My numbers and decades are on ribbons that have a constant shape and direction.
If anyone of you can identify, let me know! I also grabbed a link to an article on the topic and posted it below.
Happy New Year everyone. I’ll be ‘leaping’ there to be with you. LOL
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “morning.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Each morning I take a few minutes to be grateful. I read and consider a few prayers based on random scripture quotes. This is the one thing (other than feeding my dogs) that I never neglect. Every other duty, even the ones that ‘spring up’, must pass through my sense of priority screen. This is why I am posting this today. I don’t know what’s on my agenda tomorrow until tomorrow gets here. I don’t do schedules. Yes, there are meals to be made and pills to be given and taken, but I am a ‘take it as it happens’ person. That attitude is the foundation for my tendency to procrastinate. I have to admit, I get a ‘rush’ out of the challenge to accomplishing tasks ‘last minute’. There’s a sense of VICTORY in defeating an imposed timing on my own terms. Then there’s the part of me that will drop everything if my family or friends need help. It’s the highest level in my priorities scale. Floors can be vacuumed, dishes washed, and blog posts can be written, anytime. Part of my thankfulness morning ritual includes stepping outside to get in-touch with Nature. It will be briefer as the weather gets colder but it serves a powerful purpose in how my whole day goes. This upcoming week will hold lots of extra projects and duties in preparation for Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to the challenge. If I don’t post much -or at all- next week, know that I’m happily busy with my own priorities… and blessed to have them. Hope everyone has a lovely week!
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “element.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
The term “element” means a basic building block that more complicated principles, things, or beings, are built upon. Elements cannot be changed or created. They just ‘are’. You may call them ‘truths’ which are unchanging and undeniable. Human beings are extremely complicated. There are layers of ‘inborn’ traits and then there are experiences which nudge them in multiple directions. In other words, every one of us is unique. When it comes to the current ‘diversity’ mania, it sadly overlooks this ‘truth’. So why all the anxiety over instituting ‘diversity’ everywhere? Well, human beings love to simplify and make conclusions about everything. Actually, the search for the quintessential human ‘elements’ probably is an inborn purpose. Our curious nature drives us to explain everything and to truly explain anything means we need to start at the ‘roots’. There’s a problem though. First, human beings are not meant to nor have the capacity to understand, or even explain, everything. Secondly, many human beings don’t know (or refuse to believe) this. All human beings have what I call “the oops factor”. I don’t care how educated or expert you may believe you are, ALL people make mistakes. Some are small, like forgetting your grocery list, and some are large, like the oft seen headline, “Scientists Baffled”. So why the nearly ‘religious’ reliance on what ‘experts’ say these days? Furthermore, why the vitriolic movement to quell any questioning of ‘experts’? There are likely more reasons than I can ‘see’ but taking my human limitations into consideration, I still think it’s good to offer my viewpoint to the discussion.
The ‘elephant in the room’ at the elemental level of human hubris is the arrogance that accompanies the lack of belief in a Creator. You don’t have to ‘buy’ any specific religious dogma to realize there are unexplainable forces at work. Such forces which human beings are not the commanders of even if they care to label them. Socrates- a fulltime thinker- believed he actually knew ‘nothing’. That realization of his own limitation of full understanding made everything else he said all the more valuable, IMHO. Humility is key. You cannot have humility when you believe YOU are all powerful and all knowing, aka God.
(The concept of ‘perfect‘ as something attainable in ANY human life has also done more harm to human happiness (and many marriages 😉 ) than any other concept, IMHO. I purposefully refrain from using that term… especially around children.)
Those who can repeat the term ‘settled science’ with a straight face certainly need a humility ‘injection’ along with their Covid shot. In our current oversimplified, secular, celebrity ‘worshipping’, culture there’s a tragically low level of humility and an even more tragic reverence for “expert” opinion. Add to that a few generations who had their ‘self-esteem’ artificially inflated and were told that THEY can (and are entitled to) do anything they choose, you get a hopelessly incurious and compliant population. They’re even easier to turn against each other with this empirical mindset. This makes Marxists salivate with glorious expectations.
There’s one ‘truth’ when it comes to Communism, the central element of which is the capture of the minds of people in order to dominate them… Religion must be eliminated. The religious, and or, the ‘thinkers’ who cannot worship the government as “all knowing” because of their own humility, are dangerous to the effort of creating a ‘collective’ of unquestioning serfs.
IMHO- Any society’s measurable freedom is unequivocally linked to the amount of leadership humility and human humility is undeniably linked to the belief in a Creator. That’s why Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Worship are elemental to our country’s prosperity and survival. I’ll defend those two elements any way I can.
Happy Saturday everyone! Embrace your beautiful uniqueness today!
Mensen maken de samenleving en nemen daarin een positie in. Deze website geeft toegang tot een diversiteit aan artikelen die gaan over 'samenleven', belicht vanuit verschillende perspectieven. De artikelen hebben gemeen dat er gezocht wordt naar wat 'mensen bindt, in plaats van wat hen scheidt'.
Engaging in some lyrical athletics whilst painting pictures with words and pounding the pavement. I run; blog; write poetry; chase after my kids & drink coffee.
Sillyfrog's Blog 