Thanks to social media apps such as Pinterest, my DIY itch gets plenty of scratching, so I don’t need help in that department. Thanks to media in general for completely saturating the world with way too much personal information about all of our dirty laundry, I am full up on being informed about other people’s lives. Last but not least, thanks to the Bible, I have enough reading to keep me well informed about most everything the world has to offer.
With that being said, I am nearly out of ideas for needing more information on anything… well, besides puppies… I am always open to more information about puppies…
Are these for people or puppies… hmmmm… you don’t really know, do you? Perhaps, you need to add this to your list of topics that you wish to be more informed about… hehehehehehehe…
We can trace music all the way back to the beginning of time… from musicians like David, who wrote and sang, as well as others. I went and asked Google about musicians in the bible, and it refers to approximately 20ish different places in the scriptures that they were mentioned. I consider how many songs today are written from passages in this book.
While tracing the possibilities of life without music, it carried me all the way back to my childhood. How could I give up on the Muppet Show, Hee Haw, or The Barbara Mandrel show. Out of those shows rose some good ole fashioned 8 tracks like this one… https://youtu.be/7v8sDd7DSl8?si=R4UwwuS0OnU6rwo-
I have never been the same… Thank you Ray Stevens, from the bottom of my heart…
It has been 54 years since my birth and I have watched the holidays pass by through the eyes of many… a child, a teenager, a young woman, a mother, a sister, a grandmother, and now an orphan of sorts. The only one to have learned the truth of things is the orphan!
When I was small, holidays were not permitted, as they were against the religion of my parents. I did not understand their reasonings for no presents or parties, or for being pulled out of class and sent home during holiday events. All I can remember is having a desire to experience what all the other children did. One Christmas Eve I snuck outside my house and collected pinecones, twigs, and tree branches from the woods nearby. I collected some of my favorite little bits and bobs, wrapped them in toilet tissue that I colored with my markers, and made a small makeshift tree with my twigs. All this was done under my bed. I don’t know why, but it made me feel special somehow.
The teenager experience was a bit of an odd learning period… just things, no understanding of what Christmas was beyond presents. One year a family took me in for the holidays, taking me horse back riding in the snow, and then buying me a brand new Members Only coat with fur lining the hood. How odd of a memory is that?
When my children were born, I made valiant efforts for all of their young years, to instill the ideas of the Holidays. I cannot say that one of them carries any appreciation for the true meaning of the holidays, that I am aware of anyway. I made efforts to take them to my foster family’s home for several years, but eventually, it was made painfully clear that there was a great difference between family and foster. Our last year of holiday time with them came when my sweet girls had to sit and watch a ridiculous Christmas Morning display of nauseating gift giving to the kids, and then our turn arrived and we got a fire extinguisher! I am not kidding!
The part about being a sister is a very loose interpretation of the the word. My oldest sister does not celebrate the holidays due to her religion, my brother died with the same belief system, and my foster brothers were all I had left, fire extinguishers and all.
As a MeeMaw, I thought the holidays would begin to make some sense and joy to my spirit… watching my grandbabies eyes fill with wonder, as they discovered the joys of the season. This never came to be, as I am not welcome in their homes.
Sometimes, there are no easy answers to questions like this mornings seemingly benign inquiry from WordPress. You, the reader, are left to read the response of the Orphan. She is not sad, nor is she lonely… she is quiet.
I was pondering the upcoming holiday season, and came to an understanding of sorts as to the way of things, for me that is. I opted on a virtual holiday celebration this year. I have my website reflecting what I want the holidays to feel like, so you can experience it with me, the way I want it to be… warm, heartfelt, and quiet.
I tried to make lemon bars once, but they turned out more like lemon erasers. They looked like Lemon Bars, and sort of tasted like Lemon Bars but felt like biting into an eraser. I learned a big lesson that day… reading is fundamental!
If I could share anything with my younger self, it would be to Slow Down… Enjoy the Moment!
When we were small, the world seemed so big, and full of new things to see and learn. As time marched forward and we continued to grow, time seemed to begin moving much faster. The older we got, the faster time flew by, and with no guarantees for tomorrows, we rushed through life hoping to accomplish all our dreams while we could. We got married, had a passel of kids, had a career, owned a house and car, and prayed we saved enough for retirement.
I finally learned to slow down and enjoy the little things a bit more than I did back in the day. I would like to say that I appreciate things more now. I am ok with not noticing the world pass me by, as I enjoy being present in the moments that are precious to my spirit.
Friends, Family… love, laughter… tender moments, and endless pages of happy memories to recall and share. Perhaps I am telling my younger self the same thing they have been shouting through the years… Life is short… There is no guarantee for tomorrow… You can’t take it with you… or Slow down and smell the roses.
The problem with sayings, mottos, or messages to our younger selves… the advice is there, but if the listener is too busy, or stubborn to accept it… well, I suppose we can move to the other old adage left for us by our predecessors … “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make em drink!”
I could go back and tell myself a whole lot of things, but as I recall that younger me, I highly doubt I would have listened!
What exactly are the FFF Foods, you might be asking yourself? Let me give you more information to go on, otherwise, you’ll all just think I have a ridiculous way of saying that I like food. There are three types of foods for me…
When I say Farm Food, this should cover all fresh eggs, fresh meat, fresh Milk and cheese and butter… all that stuff! I was born on a farm and my tummy always goes back to what I knew from birth. I remember sitting in the strawberry fields, making myself sick on the berries that my mother was painstakingly trying to gather for making Jams.
Whatever we could not grow on our farm, we would get from all the other surrounding farms and visa versa… they bought our cows, and our milk and eggs. I was raised in the farmlands of Oregon, so there were plenty of farms to pick from, and pick we did… every year!
All these years later, I found that my body wants to go back to eating like I did back then.
I have distant memories of teething on carrots and green onions fresh from the dirt… There are very few fruits and veggies that I would turn away from… I like them raw, I like them steamed, and I even like them roasted… I will eat them by themselves, or as part of a dish… I am not partial.
Cotton Candy to make our fingers sticky…Caramel Apples with the nuts on top to pull out any loose fillings… Elephant ears, Corn on the Cob, Strawberry Scones, and who could pass up an Earthquake Burger! If you wish to have a visual that would better explain my love of fair food, I will leave you with this one…
Do you remember the rat in Charlotte’s Web? Remember that night at the fairgrounds when he did his wonderful song and dance about his love of going to the fair… That could be Me!
If you were to guess the meaning of the picture, then you would have your answer as to which one I am. The turtle or the hare question seemed so fitting for me, as I am an avid walker.
Most of my pictures and all my videos on my site are from my walks, some from the river and some from the park where our Acorn Valley squirrels live. I may not be able to run anymore at my age, but I can walk, and walk I do…
As a small girl I spent most of my time on the streets, running away from home at a very early age, and continuing to run away from every foster home they tossed me into. Running was my finest quality!
After all these years, with an accumulation of injuries, children, Fibro, and arthritis… I relinquished the running shoes and picked up walking. That was 2 years ago.
When I began this walk, I was 100 lbs heavier, on 6 different medications and still in pain from the time I woke up, until I went to bed at night. There I would toss and turn all night with that restless leg syndrome thingy. It was my lowest health marker I have ever dropped to, and it was not pretty!
I guess I began to walk because I wanted to run away from things at the time, and I couldn’t! I started walking just the same, figuring that it was either going to kill me or save me, one of the two. God took me on two journeys, simultaneously! He raised my spirit up from the ashes, and He set me walking! Both have saved my life!
I walk around 6 miles a day, not fast miles, but miles none the less. If the weather is too warm, I either go early or not at all… so I do take time off. But for the most part it averages out to around 5 days a week.
I may not be running out there, but I can walk. I walk through struggles and trials now, instead of running myself into the ground trying to avoid or run away from painful things.
By walking instead of running, I find that I don’t hurt myself by expecting more of ME than is possible. Had I not lived a life that exacted such heavy penalties, perhaps I would have more energy for running at my age now. Perhaps not!
At this stage of the game, I have to pay attention to where I put my keys… why would I want to spend hours out on the trail looking for my left kidney and self respect. Both would have dropped out on the trail about 1 mile in, from me thinking I could run it! I will stick to walking, thank you!
Now that this chatty Cathy rambled on for five minutes about walking, I think it is safe to say that you understand the reason behind the picture and title I chose for todays prompt.
Turtles are slow, but they never stop! They have long lives usually, and eat mostly salad… like me!
I like Turtles!
Have a treat…
Photo by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto on Pexels.com
There should be plenty to go around, but I wouldn’t eat the one in the middle… I think it’s taken…
If you ask any of my fellow band of rag tag adventurers, they will tell you that we already have a leader, and it’s not me…
If you look through my stories, you should find that I have a passion for serving… for helping others. I guess a better descriptor for my natural bent, would be facilitator. Being that I am such an emotional creature, I seem to gravitate toward those in need of love, compassion, and often some elbow grease. You could call me a worker bee, but do not take this as a bad thing. I prefer it!
I do not do well in situations where I am the one getting noticed, or being required to take charge of things. Again, I am a very emotional creature… I would not be the one you should put in charge of things.
For example, it would be a catastrophe if I were in charge of the power company, because when people acted like putzes around me, I would just turn the power off. I know how to get back at you for talking about me at the water cooler!
See what I mean? I made for a mean mom, if you were to ask my kids. While I did ensure that they went to school and became responsible adults, I was not averse to underhanded mom tactics to get what I wanted. You could say that I was great at putting the fear of God in them, but not the best at inner office relationships.
My point is, a leader should be someone with more than knowledge and skill, but also an even keeled temperament. Be grateful that I stay in the lobby because I am NOT even keeled… Wiwohka… raging water… It’s a no brainer…
Did I hear correctly? Did WordPress actually ask a mass group of WRITERS to pick a favorite word? When I saw the prompt this morning, my mind went straight to cowboys!
Why? I have no earthly idea… other than the fact, I have read all together too many books about Cowboys. I can say pretty assuredly, that if you asked John Wayne what his favorite word was, he would have called you a crazy pilgrim and then tied you to a fence post and left you there. I would be more careful with cowboys like Doc Holiday though… he would have shot you for your impertinence!
This fella has been around long enough to have an attitude…
If I could be a cowboy responding to this prompt, imagine me looking at you sternly, just like this cowboy(writer) in the picture above saying, “You might want to rethink that last question mister, or I might just hog tie you and leave you for the carrion…
But alas, I am not a cowboy… only a simple girl who has a passion for words… all of them! I am simply unable to decide on one, since words All have a way of being useful and full of meaning.
There is one word, however, that I adore… You! I will say in truth, it is not really the word itself, but all the emotions it fills me with when I read it, use it, or say it… hmmmmm…
A bacon and egg breakfast biscuit sounded yummy this morning. Keep your hands out of the cookies til your egg is gone…
While I don’t have any plans myself, I am sincere about answering the prompt each day, regardless of how personal some of the questions can seem.
If I do not have anything exciting going on to write about, I need to locate You and find out how You will spend the evening. I imagine that You could be going out to eat with friends or coworkers… You might want to stay in with dinner and a show on the old television… what if You were planning a party for tonight, inviting tons of people over to celebrate something… maybe You have to visit a loved one in the hospital, this search could last a great long while. I am not sure, so maybe I will ask You while I write about the evening ahead.
Now that I thought about it, there is a very big possibility that You won’t be doing anything tonight, same as me…
Yesterday was healthy so this morning I have a sweet tooth, so our morning cookie is gonna get wild…
Journey With Me! 