SoCS: beside me

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “beside you.” Write about whatever is beside you when you read this prompt. Not when you sit down to write, but whatever is beside you right now. Take note of it if you think you might forget.

I had to read that slowly before I got it. You guys must look up the prompt on your phone and then have another device to write on? For me, I’m sitting down to write here and now so I have to confess what is beside me. Which side do I pick? Both.

On my left are two boxes of files and other papers. There is a plastic table over them with my printing paper and a little box of all my passwords. I can’t imagine storing my passwords on-line because they are much safer in my office in a little plastic box. No one is ever in here unless they are leaning over my shoulder. The printer is here, too.

On my right is a briefcase with all my ‘talks’ when I used to speak in public. There are years of study and writing in that case. The only reason its beside me now is because I cleaned out a dusty part of my sewing room* and put it by my desk to vacuum. Its clean now but I’m not sure where to put it yet: I’m still organizing. Its leaning on more papers to organize. I hate organizing.

I haven’t been here for a few weeks! I was losing track of the days; Saturdays just got lost somewhere. The program I volunteer for was shut down right from the beginning of all this so its been two weeks since I’ve been there. I’m writing to a few folks and my program director keeps in touch.

But I think its going to be a long time before I’ll have a person beside me.

[* the sewing room is also the office. ]

https://lindaghill.com/2020/03/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-28-2020/

SoCS: figuring

I figured you all missed me when I didn’t post last Saturday. I’m sure you were all like ‘where is she?’  “I hope she’s ok’  Kidding of course.

My grandnephew was staying with me last weekend so I didn’t have time to post. I had better things to do, like look for new game shows. That’s his new thing; he’s too old for cartoons now he’s into game shows.

But I didn’t just park him in front of the TV, we also played games a lot. We did go outside for a little while but it was very cold and windy. In fact, he stayed an extra day because the roads between here and his mom where closed due to snow squalls. We had fun!

 

Figure. I used to have a good figure. . .  well, maybe a little too skinny. (I know; “shut up”) I’m still not bad for 67. . . OMG I’m my mom.  She used to look in the mirror and say, ” not bad for [whatever age she was at the time]”. But I am full in the middle now: I have a belly bigger than my ass.  I could give up sugar and bread but I’m not going to. I figure that a belly at my age is normal and I’m not going to go crazy to have a flat belly.

Crazy like the Dr. Oz challenge; don’t eat after 7:00 p.m. I know it would be healthy to not snack at night but I don’t care. I figure my happiness is more important that a flat belly.

You may say; well, there’s heart disease and stroke. Yes, that’s true. oh well. Then there is the “pleasure? or just plain gluttony” aspect. Guilty.

I do eat very healthy and exercise during the day; its just the night snacking that’s no good. I figure a healthy body can deal with a little sugar. I hope. Actually, if I get a choice, I hope I go of a heart attack and quickly. I’m afraid of having a stroke and not dying.  And after seeing my aunt die of dementia I’ve seen the irony of keeping your body healthy then your brain doesn’t keep up. Damn; if it ain’t one thing, its the other.

I figure if you got this far in this very boring post then you must be a regular. THANKS!

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “figure.” Use the word “figure” any way you’d like.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/03/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-7-2020/

SoCS: Swans!

The other day I heard someone say, “I heard swans going over my house this morning.”

My ears picked up . . .Swans? Its the first sign of spring and an annual event where I live. We are on a migration route where thousands of Tundra Swans gather each spring in the local fields. People come from near and far to experience them.

I love to see them flying when its clear and the sky is blue. They shine white: its so beautiful.

This weekend is supposed to be sunny and somewhat warm, for a Canadian winter. My eyes will be on the skies.

No, I didn’t forget the SoCS photo; I’m going to let the swan have the limelight.

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “animal sounds.” Write about the sounds animals make and how you experience them.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-22-2020/

SoCS: cheek to *

of course, “. .  when we’re dancing cheek to cheek.” comes into my mind right away because my brain holds thousands of tunes in its memoires.

No dancing cheek to cheek for Valentines Day. In fact, I’m OK with that. I can’t think of anyone I would want my cheek stuck to. That would be yucky. Especially now that I have such saggy cheeks. We would be rubbing them up and down.  .. he would get BB Cream all over.

Nah. No cheek to cheek for me.

I have another aging cheek story but its gross. It had to do with saggy butt cheeks and farts but as I scrolled towards the prompt I noticed someone called for ‘no more farts’.

However, I’m already into it and can’t leave you hanging! I’ll say it nicely: When your butt cheeks get saggy they sometimes close the back route for emitting wind and It goes forward. Its quite disturbing.

My mom would be mad if she knew I posted something this rude. But, hey, its SoCS!

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cheek.” Use it as a noun or a verb.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-15-2020/

SoCS; unpack

Last weekend I went away but not long enough to unpack my suitcase, only overnight. This was the first time I have packed a suitcase and gone anywhere for a very long time. Honestly I can’t remember. My sister bought me  a really nice suitcase for my birthday the year before last and this was the first time I used it. I keep it in a zipped bag you buy blankets in and that was dusty.  Glad I had the foresight to protect it.

I have unpacked a lot of stuff that is in piles around my storage room and bedroom. Its at that stage where I look at and decide to work on my jigsaw puzzle instead. That’s what I did yesterday because I had to take a break from it.

Its been a busy week . . . HA! Busy for a retired person. Here’s how I got side tracked; I decided the old dressing table in my bedroom had to go. Its not worth much and would be hard to get rid of. I got an idea on-line: take the mirror off and separate the two little dresser sides. Turns out they were the exact width of the speakers in my living room.

My TV is plugged into a receiver and which has big, old 80’s style speakers. My ex gave me the receiver and our old speakers when I bought this house. They have been on shipping canisters for 12 years. We used to get pollen delivered in them.

I had covered the canisters with ‘marble’ Mac-tac, real classy, looked just like marble pillars (not). But they were lower than the TV screen so sometimes I would notice that the voices were lower and also, visually, I wanted them to be as high as the TV. I didn’t want to spend money on new stands so I’ve been waiting for the right thing to come along for free or cheap. for 12 years.

Monday I was all set to take the mirror off the dressing table. First I had to clear everything out of the way to pull it out. EW! I worked on taking the mirror off for a couple of hours, unsuccessfully. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to try my new walking poles so I went for a hike on the trail.

Tuesday morning I woke up determined to get the mirror off.  I did it! And it was so frigging heavy! Holy Moly! They must have used plate glass. I propped it up against the wall.  I had to go out Tuesday afternoon so;

Wednesday I had all day to saw the piece of wood between the two sides and get them under the speakers. It took all day in old-age time. I was pooped, knackered, exhausted but I got them sawed apart, cleaned and under the speakers!!!!

This boring tale is leading to the grand finale; Today I have to open the canisters and unpack them to see what’s in there. I’m pretty sure its fabric. I also have to unpack the drawers of the dressing table which are stacked on the bedroom floor. There’s a drawer of belts, one of scarves, clutch purses and a junk drawer with old glasses, nipple covers and the like. I have to empty them and find a place for all that stuff before I put the drawers in the living room; otherwise that crap might stay there another 12 years.

I would love to show you photos but remember when I said I switched to Windows 10? Something has changed with ‘my photos’ and I haven’t figured it out yet. I can’t find any new photos I’ve taken since then. My camera program is not here and I don’t feel like f*#*ing with that now!

I have things to unpack!

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “(un)pack.” Use “pack” or its opposite in your post.

 

 

 

https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-8-2020/

SoCS: choices

I’ve been making lots of choices this week in my big reorganizing project. My car is already filled with choices and I’m going to GoodWill to day to drop them off.

There are things I’ve been saving then never use them so this time I was more ruthless. Even if I had a garage sale the money wouldn’t be worth it. I went through my clothing, this time really getting rid of those sweaters that are nice but not really comfortable.

I still have a drawer of sentimental clothing: I choose to keep that. I also chose to keep a lot of my parents papers; a whole box of my dad’s sheet music. That was a very emotional day going through that storage bin. I chose to put it all back where it was until I can go through it with family.

If I was staying home today I could go on about choices; what an historic day yesterday for choices; Brexit and the impeachment trial. But I’m not going to write about that because I have to get ready to go. The GoodWill is on the way to my niece’s where I am going today.

So I’m making the choice to cut this short and run!

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “choices.” Base your post on the subject of making small, uneventful choices.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-1-2020/

SoCS: Message in Mandarin

I have always hated talking on the phone. The answering machine was one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. I pay the extra bit for call display so I can see who’s calling so I cannot recall talking to an association with which I have had no business with.

The last call that came from my answering machine was in Chinese. Whether or not that is Mandarin, I couldn’t tell you.

I’ve had quite a few calls come in Chinese before but I know for sure (well, pretty sure) it was for Shen Yun, the colourful dance ensemble that is touring across our country. I’ve seen plenty of commercials for them.

Last night on the news they showed people in Toronto, especially around Chinatown, wearing face masks because of a the latest virus that is coming. Here’s the really scary thing; it has an incubation period of a week to 2 weeks. Someone can have it and be travelling, not having any symptoms.

I saw advertising in the on-line newspapers I read in the morning. The troupe will be Toronto in March. I don’t think they are going to have a very good turnout.

I remember the SARS outbreak; I hope this does not get out of control.

For now I’ll stay in my rural isolation and avoid Toronto. . . like I always do.

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “last call.” Talk about the enterprise (sales or service) conducted by the last phone call you received from a business you’re not associated with (i.e. your workplace), or talk about that phone conversation itself.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/24/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2020-daily-prompt-jan-25th/

SoCS: The Big Sky, The Next Level

The Big Sky is dumping big amounts of snow on us. I guess we should expect it in January but I have something to do tonight. We’ve had no snow and easy driving so I didn’t think about weather at all when I asked my sister if she wanted to go see a psychic that was in the town she lives in.  The thing that drew me was the ‘pasta bar’ that is included. Being vegetarian paying for a buffet is usually a bummer but I know I can eat at a pasta bar.

In winters past, when we would have already had a couple of good snow dumps, I would not even bother planning for something in January. But I was living in a fools paradise;  forgetting the hazards of winter.

What’s worse is the band of freezing rain before it turns to just rain. Had to be today.

I watch a lot of old movies. I check Turner Classic Movies right after the weather and record anything that looks interesting and has a lot of stars. But I did go out a new movie in TOWN over the holidays.

So I will use JUMANJI!(as a swear word. I went to) THE NEXT LEVEL making the leap to Windows 10 from Windows 7.  They took away Outlook Express, the mail program I’ve used since I first got a computer in 1999 and gave me a new program.

At first it seemed have worked because all my e-mail came in. It was the next day I realized I only had an inbox. An empty ‘sent’ box. I went to my contacts; its been changed to “People”.  Half of my people were not in there.  So I went to my inbox to see if I could reply to the people in there. Those went “draft”.

This is where I will stop writing about it; most of you know what its like to try to fix something on computer and go around and around. I wasted a whole morning and was really agitated.  All I want is a ‘sent’ box so I can see what I wrote and if it sent.

The next level in Windows, my ass. I know I’m old but I don’t like it.

I usually right click to get ‘properties’ and find this link. Now right clicking gives me ‘copy’ or ‘print’ option. I took this link from the toolbar; I hope it works.

Its already late now because I still tried something this morning. ’round and ’round.. ..

 

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “movie title.” Take the title of the last movie you watched (just the title, not the premise of the movie), and base your post on that title.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/17/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2020-daily-prompt-jan-18th/

SoCS: ow

The time is NOW. The past is over, the future hasn’t happened, the only reality is MOW, no . . . NOW (the ‘m’ and ‘n’ are rubbed out on my keyboard).

OK, that’s it. I have to start organizing and thrOWing away my excess crap. I was going to do this when I retired. . . two years ago.

I OWn too much crap.

I actually started by emptying a closet. I was going to write about this but that is just procrastination. NOW, I’m doing it NOW. . . .  here I go. . . right after I eat.  . .

 

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “ow.” Find a word that contains “ow” or use it as a word in your post.

https://lindaghill.com/2020/01/03/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2020-daily-prompt-jan-4th/

SoCS: year

Another year has gone by. The older you get, the faster they go ’round. Hard to believe I’ve been living here for 12 years. The years just go by.

This feeling has been heightened by going through old family albums. I have all the old albums from both my mom’s and dad’s side of family. They go way back, 1800’s even. The bindings and covers are falling apart; I’m re-doing them to give to my nephew’s family.

That’s the feeling I keep getting; lives gone by, years gone by. . . time marches on.

**************************************

People make such a big fuss about New Year’s Eve. Its almost as much stress as Christmas but without the shopping. Its just a night. Its just a change of month like any other month; a change of calendars.

I’m looking forward to New Year’s Day. That’s when I take away everything Christmas.  It’s already getting sad looking; like ‘the morning after’. I think I didn’t cut enough off the bottom of the tree because there is water in the reservoir but its tinder dry. Some of the icicles and balls are drooping and so they don’t hang anymore; they touch the branch below and are crooked. It looks dead, sad and cheap.

We had a green Christmas this year. That was OK with me because it was easy travelling to my nephew’s. Its nice not having to have my driveway ploughed or my porch shovelled. I’ve been out on the trail many times. But its dull and dreary; seeing a blue jay or cardinal is a surprising flash of colour.

Being as old as I am and remembering years gone by; we’ve had a few green Christmases and we are probably in for a few more.  But then it will swing drastically and we’ll get terrible cold and lots of snow.

That’s still coming, although I can remember a year when I hardly had to have my driveway ploughed.

Hard to remember we had a foot of snow in November! That melted away and there’s been no more since. I saw a lot of complaining about having a green Christmas on Facebook, all by younger people.

My stream of consciousness is a babbling brook today.

2020. I can’t believe I even made to 2020. I know I’m only 67 but I remember when we were young and read about the future; like 1984, or Space Odyssey 2001. Trying to imagine what we would like and what we would be doing when we were that old!

OMG, years go by.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “year.” Use it any way you’d like.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/12/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-28-19/