SoCS: ask someone else

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ask someone else.” Either ask someone for a prompt word or, if you can’t, turn on a TV or a radio and choose a word from the first sentence you hear. Enjoy!

“ask someone else”? There is no one else. I spend a lot of time alone.

OK, I’m going to turn on the TV now and see what happens:

Seasoning. oh crap now what?  I tuned into a cooking spot on a morning show.

Seasoning to me means following the seasons. I like to do things seasonally to mark the transition of time. Like I get a real tree every Christmas. I decorate and make it all cheery to try to squeeze some joy out of dismally dark season.

I’m already sick of it but I usually wait until New Year’s Day to take it all down to mark bringing in the new year. Christmas decorations after Christmas are like the ‘morning after’.  Sure, it was all diamonds and glamour the night before but now its cheap rhinestones, tacky glitter and sickly feeling of over-indulgence.

Ok so that’s not seasoning. Here’s a seasoning tip; pick up cayenne with a fork. It’s easier to control how much goes in.

…….. that’s all I got.

 

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-29-18/

RDP: cottage

The house I live in would better be described as a winterized cottage. (WordPress doesn’t recognize ‘winterized’: it must be a Canadian thing) It was built over and around a trailer. Some of the older locals still call it “The Trailer” although it hasn’t been one for over 30 years.

There is no basement, its built on cement blocks, which is a blessing as my neighbours basement floods every spring. My  neighbours aren’t beside me, they are in front of me, my driveway is a right-of-way through their driveway. With no dug foundation and not being on the road, my property taxes are very low.

Years ago I was staying at my sister’s on a visit and my niece’s boyfriend was living with them. At that time I was married and lived a couple of hours drive away so I would visit my sister and stay over every once in a while.  That’s when I met J’s boyfriend: He was going to college and had just bought a piece of property with a trailer on it. He and his dad were stripping it down and building a house.

They broke up but got back together and moved into this house. One day I visited while he was starting the foundation for a shed. There was a poured cement foundation and he was building a short wall with granite stones. We smoked a joint and I admired his work. (I love cement)

I think about that almost every time I go into the shed or trim the weeds so the stones aren’t covered. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that this would one day be my shed; that this house would one day be my house.

They had lived here a long time, maybe 10 years or more when my marriage broke up. My niece was ready for a regular house in a town and not be so isolated; I was waiting for my settlement and thinking how perfect this isolated cottage would be for me. This area was much cheaper than where I was from and we had 2½ acres on a river so I was able to buy this place in full; no mortgage. (My ex re-mortgaged our home to buy me out; he still has a mortgage.)

There are so many things about this house that are so perfect for me it’s like it was build for me. I’ll stay here as long as I can look after it or have to give up driving…. whichever comes first.  Then I will sell it as a cottage: it would be a great cottage!

Funny story: a year or so after I moved here I was at a neighbours party. Someone (who was quite drunk) asked me where I lived and I told them. He said, “No! Some old lady bought it off the little girl.”

“Yea, I’m the old lady and the little girl is my niece”

Isn’t life funny?

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/28/rdp-friday-cottage/

SoCS: tinsel

When I was a kid we used to put tinsel on the Christmas tree. It was something I was allowed to do after the very fragile balls were all hung. It required great patience to put them on one strand at time so they hung loose and didn’t rest on lower branches.

My job after Christmas was to take them off one strand at a time and try to put then back on the cardboard they came on without breaking. Back in the 50’s the tinsel was made of aluminum foil so they broke easily but my very frugal mom insisted we try our best to save them for years to come. Most people just tossed the tree with the tinsel still on it and bought more every year.  We would save little broken pieces.

By the 60’s they invented plastic tinsel covered in silver. They were much easier to  take off and save, didn’t wrinkle and would hang for years and years if you had a picky little kid to take off every strand, wrap it around the cardboard hook and carefully bag it up for the next year. I will bet my parents never bought more than two packages, maybe not even two come to think of it.

However, people were throwing away their trees with plastic tinsel on them which got to be a problem. I’m not sure if it was actually banned but tinsel went out of use.

That’s why I started to collect icicles. Tinsel had always been the finishing touch. It moved and sparkled. The Christmas tree is just not the same without icicles which is what tinsel was supposed to be.

When I was still collecting decorations I would buy them Boxing Day half price and put them away for next year. Then every year I would pull out my new forgotten stuff and be delighted all over again. I was always on the lookout for good icicles.

My stream of consciousness ends here because it’s no longer about tinsel.

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tin.” Use it as a word or find a word with “tin” in it, and base your post on that word. Bonus points if you start your post with that word. Enjoy!

 

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-22-18/

RDP: pod, Podcasts!

Spotify costs me $10 a month but it is worth every penny. One reason I joined up is because when I left a 28 year marriage, I left 28 years of collected music. I had a collection of CDs I had made over the years and a cheap CD player when I first moved here.

Then came iTunes where I could buy 1 song and have it on my computer.

Then there was Spotify. I tried the free version, which is pretty good, but went to the premium so I could get all those years of music back. And new stuff I would never know about. Its fantastic!  If I hear a song I like on TV I just go get it at Spotify.

I could go on about the wonders of Spotify but the subject is podcasts. Thanks to Spotify I discovered a whole world of podcasts.

Like many millions of people I love true crime stories. There is an endless amount of true crime podcasts. So many that I’m still listening to Canadian True Crime podcasts.

But I also love Classic Short Stories.  Philip K. Dick is a favourite, but Jack London and so many others have written some great short stories. There are novellas in series.  Bronte, Kafka……  an endless supply of classic literature.

And ‘Lore’, ‘Myths and Legends’…… podcasts with every traditional myth, legend and folklore galore.

Conspiracy Theories is a good one. The Illuminati, Chem Trails; all facts and theories laid out.

They are great to listen to while doing housework and sewing. Jigsaw puzzles season is coming up. Last puzzle season I had just discovered the podcasts. Good combination.

What is puzzle season? you may ask.  At this time of year the sun doesn’t make it above a row of cedars that line my driveway. But by the end of January it is slowly getting above the trees in the afternoon and hitting my couch. This is when I bring out my puzzle board that perches on an end table so I can place myself in direct sunlight.

This year had been particularly dismal. We’ve had mostly wet, cloudy days; no snow and no sun. Its been so dark and dreary; good thing I have my Christmas tree to light up the gloom.

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year…. YAY! Soon the sun will make its way up over the cedars and I’ll be enjoying puzzle/ podcast season.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being retired? This time last year I was counting the days and didn’t even know about podcasts. People kept telling me I would get bored and go back to work. OMG, NFW!

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/20/rdp-thursday-pod/

 

SoCS: hairy

Hairy arms have bothered me since my adolescent days. They are (were) quite hairy. Not only hairy but long. I think that happened when my mom suggested I trim them and bleach them so they wouldn’t be so ….. hairy. After that they grew longer and longer every time.

In my early twenties when I was all hippy and hairy and didn’t shave, I still trimmed them. I joked I had arm hair like Roger Daltrey. ( I will look for a photo at the end and stick it in here) It would actually blow in a breeze.

(Hmm, I wonder if he removed chest hair)

I did start shaving again eventually. Got tired of the way people looked at me after looking at my legs. But only in the summer. Same with arm pits but with the occasional shave when they get too unruly and sweaty.

But my arms. I still do my arms using Nair. Then they get a stubble, which is even worse than natural arm hair, so I do it again. Did it all the time I was working the bakery because I rolled up my sleeves. Still do for exercise class.  Maybe I can grow it out during the holidays.

One good thing about getting older is that most of your body hair rubs off, like the way Ken dolls hair used to rub off. Its much lighter and finer and when you are my age no one looks anyway.

I feel sorry for men now it’s not cool to be hairy. Holy Smoke, the whole body. OMG. and stubble after one day. And they get waxed!

That’s another thing. Women get their pubes waxed now. I’m so glad I’m not young anymore.

I hope, for future generation’s sake, that people will collectively admit that they have body hair.

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-15-18/

SoCS: musical

I am from a musical family, I’m musical but I don’t like musicals. Funny.

It’s finally behind me, the musical dance exercise class was a success. Phew! Now I can listen to something else. That playlist is burned into my brain from practicing every morning.

The musical aspect of this class was every bit as important as the exercise, maybe even more. I spent hours and hours on Spotify finding music that would make anyone move and feel happy. African, Bollywood even a little country, but not too country.

Ten years ago when I was very depressed my sister got me to go to Zumba, it was just starting then. One the way home it struck me that I felt good! I hadn’t felt good in a very long time.

Having gone to some exercise classes with music that was anywhere from irritating to unbearable I felt music was very important. The group I volunteer for is a mental health support group so this is what I’ve really wanted to do; a musical dance exercise class.

And it worked. It didn’t matter if they weren’t doing the steps right, what mattered was looking out and seeing everyone smiling and laughing. Afterward everyone said how much fun they had. One lady said, “I feel good! I feel light!”  That was the best.

Music has an amazing effect on the brain. You can down in the dumps but put on some music and soon your dancing around.

I just flashed on an image of my mom dancing around to Harry Belafonte. Thank You Mom!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-8-18/

SoCS: ma

Maybe I’ll put out some Christmas decorations. I do have some white lights outside and replaced the fall leaves and pumpkins (broken pumpkin lights) on top of my cupboards with a pine bough. But that’s winter decoration.

I’ve been putting off Christmas decorating until at least Dec. 1 but now it’s here. Christmas is getting earlier and earlier. And its all due to marketing. There’s lots of money to be made so lets milk every penny and max every credit card out of the masses.

I’m going to a Christmas party today at the nursing home. This is way too soon. A family Christmas on Dec. 1.  Many of them will think Christmas is today! Maybe that’s the idea. They could have had it a little closer to Christmas, though.

Mark your calendars, Dec. 6 is my first exercise class. Its called Low Impact Dance exercise. I practice it most mornings and have it memorized. I realize you are all too far away to make it.

That’s the main thing I like about all my friends here; you’re all far away!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/11/30/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-1-18/