SoCS; empty/hollow

It was a hollow victory yesterday when I got my lawn mower running but found my gas can empty.

I had put the battery on a charger overnight. It started up after a few turnovers. I drove it out of the shed in a plume of blue smoke and let it run a while. There was just a little bit of gas in the tank: the red gas can was empty.

It was Friday afternoon before the long weekend. I buy my gas at the Reserve; not just because it’s cheaper but its the closest gas station. This gas station services a beach community. The boats and campers are coming in droves, filling up on gas for the weekend. There would be long line-ups at the pumps.

I looked at all the beautiful dandelions, Creeping Charlie and violets still blooming, decided I could wait on mowing the lawn until Tuesday and backed the mower into the shed.

 

I watched the Royal Wedding this morning. I didn’t set my alarm or anything like that but when I turned on my computer the news reminded me of the wedding. So I turned on the TV the bride was standing at the door waiting to enter. What timing!

I cried. I yelled at the American bishop to shut the hell up already. Then I laughed when the hymn everyone was made to sing afterward went into the second verse.

I’m glad the weather there was so clear and beautiful and I’m glad the weather here is rainy. I feel like a rainy day indoors.

I’m invited to a party tonight at my neighbours. Yeah, my ‘friendly’ neighbours. I can walk in by myself and hope to hell I see someone I know who actually is friendly.  And it’s going to rain. So…?

 

When I’m not doing SoC I go back and try to take out all the ‘I’s I can. I, I, I. me, me, me. There ain’t nobody else here.

 

 

https://lindaghill.com/2018/05/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-19-18/

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SoCS; Motherclucker

You got me, I’m stumped.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “on the farm.” Find a word that has a farm animal sound in it, i.e. sMOOth, and use it in your post. Bonus points if you include three or more. Have extra fun!

 

First I thought of this; Boy, I sure did a lot of barking yesterday!

Cedar Bark, this is. But that’s the whole word and dog is not really a farm animal.

How about; I used to be a spieloinker!

That’s going way baaaack.

 

I’ve been thinking about for so long my stream of consciousness has moved on. I’ll go read all of yours!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/05/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-12-18/

Prompt; Forest

Forest is the closest town to me. It’s a typical Ontario small town with lots of beautiful old houses.

It has a grocery store, 2 drugstores, a bargain store, downtown strip with little shops, a couple of restaurants, a beautiful library made from an old railway station

and the Community Health Center. At the edge of town is the smallest Canadian Tire ever.

But the best part of Forest is the Kineto Theatre. It is one the oldest running movie theatres ever. In 1905;

“Floyd, who was known as ‘Toby’ to his friends, hooked up a generator to the back wheel of an old Ford car to a ‘Kineto’ brand all brass motion picture projector which had been imported from England. The wheel of the car was rigged up in such a way that the car was slid backwards where the wheel touched a steel pulley and this in turn caused the generator to operate. With this in place he was able to show silent moving picture films at the town hall gallery” —- http://kineto.ca/our-story/

In 1917 they bought a building and started the Kineto Theatre.

Today it is run by the Kiwanis. Movies are $6.00 ($8 for 3D).  They sell combos of popcorn and pop for just a few bucks. Chocolate bars and other treats are a fair price. It’s the best movie deal ever!

 

Forest is a great little town. It takes me 11 minutes to drive there and has just about everything I may need.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/forest/

OLW: draw the line

“I only had anal sex [in movies] with my husband.”   — Stormy Daniels

Well, okay then… she has her standards.

https://lindaghill.com/2018/05/09/one-liner-wednesday-ink/

SoCS; letter

Letters are going the way of photographs; we do so much on computer and phones now that we rarely save anything. I remember when the only way we could communicate with people was talk long-distance on the telephone or write letters.

Young lovers couldn’t talk on the phone all the time so they (we, I was one once) would write long letters spilling out the love in our hearts, revealing our deepest thoughts. Then we get to keep the letters and read them over and over. I still have some of my ex’s letters.

My mom kept every letter we ever wrote to her. We found them in her filing cabinet after she passed away; humiliating.

Think of how many movies had little stacks of letters wrapped in a ribbon. Love letters.  We have historical letters written and preserved forever.

Now even e-mail is getting old-fashioned. We are writing short superficial clips and not communicating at any real level. Facebook gives us the illusion of communicating often so writing is unnecessary. We post what we are doing so there’s no need to write and tell anybody what we are doing. They can look it up along the photos. Nothing is saved. Facebook saves our memories for us these days.

I’ve been thinking often how all our photos are on computers or phones and we aren’t creating a history for the younger generation. Our family photo album is worn from being looked at over and over. But it ends when processing film becomes obsolete.

Writing letters used to keep us writing better. My writing is getting sloppy. There are kids who aren’t learning cursive. Maybe it will become an art like calligraphy. Maybe the younger generation will turn to writing long beautiful letters.

Well, that’s my thoughts on letters.

https://lindaghill.com/2018/05/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-5-18/

Prompt; Abrupt

This abrupt change in the weather has got me less interested in blogs and blogging and itching to get outside! I guess everyone in the whole eastern North America can say it was a miserable cold spring; winter wouldn’t give up.

But now we are into warm, even hot temperatures already. I bet it will jump right into summer and get very hot this year. The extremes in temperatures are evident.

Yesterday I dug out the cement blocks my rain-barrels rest on. They were sinking into the ground, getting lower and more crooked every year. I take the barrels down in the fall, hose them out and store them upside down. This year I have the time to do things like this; digging out the blocks, weeding and flattening the base and re-stacking the clean blocks. (Yes, I am patting myself on the back.)

I had to make an abrupt stop to go listen to a seminar on identity theft. It was a guest speaker in the program I’m in at the health centre. I really didn’t want to break off working outside but I felt obliged to go. It was somewhat interesting but I really didn’t learn anything new. Luckily it was only an hour; couldn’t wait to get back outside!

Rain was forecasted but it’s held off until tonight so I’m getting another day outside! I’m cleaning up my property line which backs onto woods. There is a lot of dead branches and dried golden rod stems making the Red Twig Dogwood look messy. I’m pulling out all the dead stuff and pruning back the old wood from the Dogwood to keep it fresh and red. I can get about 15 feet done before I peter out.

But it looks so good now I can’t wait to continue today so I’m making an abrupt end to this post.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/abrupt/

SoCS; yearly

The other day I finished the last jigsaw puzzle of the season. I like to do things yearly to mark the time passing by; much the way Christmas is yearly. I start to decorate when the days get very short to light up the gloom, Christmas happens, then I take it all down to start a New Year. It’s a tradition that keeps life from mundane sameness; day after day, month after month.

That’s why I like to live in the 4 seasons. By October I’m sick of weeding and fussing, I’m sick of flowers! It’s time to get into the woods now that mosquitoes are gone and enjoy the glorious colours. It’s a good thing snow comes along and covers all the plants, changing the whole environment. You forget about them until you’re sick of snow and longing for colour. Spring comes and they start to emerge. You get excited by a flower!

Summer…. summer is going to be so different for me this year! The last four summers I have driven 40 minutes to work because of the tens of thousands of tourists and cottagers that come here each summer. The grocery store I worked in was packed and busy every day. I worked as many hours I as could get and spent many days off laying on the couch with my curtains drawn, exhausted and sick with a headache.

Before the grocery store job I had worked in a convenience store, cleaned cottages and worked in an ice-cream shop (no, it isn’t fun). Tourists are money here and that’s what gets us through the winter. It’s always been a time to make some cash. But now I get paid for being 65 :I still can’t believe it!

Now I’m retired and ready for summer! I can keep my gardens much nicer by chipping away at it day by day. I’ll be ready when I get a text saying “we’re bring the kids to the beach!”

I was officially orientated to be a volunteer at our local Community Health Centre so that will open up new directions for me. Exercise classes and trail walks is what I’m signed up for so far….. that’s why I’m excited about summer now instead of dreading it!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/04/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-28-18/

SoCS; spoke

My new life in retirement is starting to take shape: barring having lots more money….. I couldn’t be happier!

About six weeks ago I saw a post on Facebook from my local Health Centre where my doctor is. They wanted volunteers for a mental health program for people with any number of mental health problems. It has an exercise class once a week, ‘Art and Conversation’, cooking lessons, guest speakers….. it’s a great program so I wrote about volunteering.

The co-ordinator of the program called me and through our discussion I realized I was depressed enough (from social isolation this winter) to join the group! Meanwhile, I applied to be a volunteer of the Health Centre, got a police check done (I passed) and put in my papers for volunteering.

Last week, at ‘Balls, Bands, and Resistance’ exercise class the co-ordinator came up and spoke to me after. She said I was in such good physical shape (for my age) she would like me to take a course teaching fitness to seniors. They would sign me up for it.

I said, “YES! I would love to!” It was kind of what I had in mind when I first volunteered and I’m really hoping to do Dance-fit.

Meanwhile, I had an order for an apron from a chef friend of mine. It was nice to having a sewing project (and see my sewing machine clear of paper piles.) I’m sewing again!

When its warm enough to open the windows I have a few painting projects I’ve wanted to do that got put on the shelf when I got the job at the grocery store.

I forced myself on my neighbours, making friends and now will be at their campfire get-togethers.  I used to see them sometimes on my way home from a night shift.

And now this morning I saw this on Facebook;

I want to make one. The globe can be made from papier maché , another hobby I haven’t done in a few years.

Spring has finally sprung and I can get out in my yard. I’m really looking forward to having the time to make my gardens pretty.

I laugh when I think of all the people who said, “You’ll get bored.”

https://lindaghill.com/2018/04/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-21-18/ 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “spoke.” Use it somewhere, in some form, in your post. Bonus points if you don’t use it in the first sentence. Enjoy!

 

Prompt; Song

Yesterday I listened to a story about a song.

“Louie, Louie, The Strange Journey into the Dirtiest Song Ever Written”

It’s on a new podcast on Spotify called ‘Lost Notes’. I’ve tried to link it here but I guess WordPress just isn’t big enough for it. The links I copied are just gobbledygook.

I love Spotify for finding songs. When I left my husband, I left behind a few decades of music. I had a lot of CD’s that I made. Getting all the old stuff I loved on iTunes would have cost me a fortune. I would get gift cards and buy my old favourites.

But Spotify is whatever and whenever I think of something or hear something. Hear something on TV I like;  just go get it.  It was just on the verge of too much money, ($10 a month) until I discovered all the podcasts. Now I get as much or more enjoyment out of it than Netflix!

It’s great to listen to stories while doing  housework, dishes (no dishwasher), jigsaw puzzling and sewing (when its going smooth).

‘Classic Tales Podcast’ is my favourite. Great short stories. ‘Myths and Legends’- I’m listening to the tales of Gilgamesh now.  I also pick up true crime stories from time to time.

But this prompt is ‘song’. The story of ‘Louie, Louie’ was every interesting. They interviewed the man who wrote it and sold it for a pittance to buy a diamond ring for a girl who left him. What I keep thinking about is that the most famous version is the WORST version. Some kids in high school recorded it in their garage and made a mess of it and yet it endures to this day; one of the most loved songs of all time.

 

 

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/song/

SoCS: mon

A few people in my life have called me ‘Mon’. My favourite was a girl I worked with who would greet me with, “Hey, Mon!” like we were a couple of Rastafarians.

I guess its time to let you in on a secret I’ve never revealed; my name is Monica. Not a common name, hard to nickname. “Nic”, my dad called me sometimes; “Nic the pick the old Jellystick”.

‘Mon’ is OK. Mony I do not tolerate. Call me ‘Mony’ and I will tell you not to ever call me that again.

 

Yesterday I was getting a mammogram. There was a 91-year-old volunteer whose job it was to instruct us how to get ready. She pointed out the stack of hospital gowns, gave me a little basket for my top clothing, and explained what to do pains-taking detail even though the instructions were plainly visible on the wall.   She asked me my name.

Her face lit up when I said ‘Monica’. “Oh, that’s an English name! I knew two Monicas!”

‘Yes’ I nodded, and backed into my cubicle.

When I was in the little waiting room she came in, sat down and proceeded to tell me how she met Monica who may have been her cousin. It started with a list of her cousin’s maiden names and ambled on in a perfectly undisturbed stream of consciousness.

Luckily the lady who just had her mammogram done came back. “Oh, I’m not doing my job!” she said and got up to talk to the other lady.

I can’t remember what she said but I remember the glassy stare of the lady standing in her hospital gown wishing the nice old lady would stop talking so she could get dressed and go.

She was still talking when the technician came in and said, “Monica?”

 

She wasn’t there when it was done so I changed quietly and made a quick getaway.

https://lindaghill.com/2018/04/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-14-18/