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Guided by prompts from WDC blogging challenges... and of course, life |
HI! I'm Jenn - and I'm all over the place (well, at least my mind is). In this blog, I have attempted to gather my thoughts on things prompted/inspired by WDC blogging challenges from "Journalistic Intentions"  , "The Soundtrack of Your Life" , "Blogging Circle of Friends " , "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" and, well, LIFE.    |
November 15, 2021  Prompt: You and your two best friends are going on a month-long road trip. Where are you going? What three items must be in your luggage for this trip to be a great experience for you. A month long trip would mean I would have to sweet talk a friend into caring for my animals for a month because I sure as heck would not take my GSD or the cats with us! Who: I would take along my best friend/hubby of course and I have thought and thought but couldn't come up with anyone else I could spend an entire month in close confines with. Where: We'd fly to Seattle or Vancouver where we would rent an RV. I'd want to spend a bit of time in Van, going to the big market and visiting the botanical gardens. We'd have to go north from Van to visit family in Prince George and Kamloops. From there, we would travel east throughout the Canadian provinces all the way to Ontario, stopping in to see more family along the way. The course of travel once we left Kamloops would be designated by disc golf courses that were on our way. Luckily, all of these can be found, along with their addresses and driving directions, on a few different web sites. We'd take it slow and enjoy every second of our get away, after all, we'd have an entire month to do this! Once in Ontario, we would visit with family there, go see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, and visit the Thousand Islands - and of course, play more disc golf! What I'd Bring: In addition to the standard items like clothes, toiletries, phone, passport, money, etc. - I would of course have to bring my bag of golf discs, then I would also have to bring my camera (I seldom go anywhere without it), and my laptop so I could chronicle our journey. |
14 November, 2021  Prompt: A Mystery Genre prompt tonight. You are researching your genealogy and find that ancestors from different generations and different countries made visits to the same remote place. Tell us about this remote place. Why were your ancestors going there? I was reading again over MeMaw's notes. She had continued Grandmother Bragg's legacy of writing down all of the oral stories told through the generations of our family, along with her own stories. Grandmother Bragg's journal was next since it went farther back in time. So far, I had read stories dating all the way back to the early 1800's and there seemed to be a recurrent theme which niggled at the back of my mind. If only I could put my finger on it! And then it hit me. Right there on the page in front of me I saw what had been troubling my mind so much. Why on earth would everyone want to go visit Turner Falls in Oklahoma? And why did that place sound so familiar to me? So I called up my mom to ask her; after all, this was her side of the family. After she had answered the phone and the usual niceties, I ask, "Momma, what do you know about Turner Falls? Why does it sound so familiar to me?" Momma replied, "You don't remember? Your Dad and I took you and your brother there quite often while you were little. There are even pictures of us out there that are floating around somewhere around here." And I did begin to remember. I was there in the Fall. It was chilly so I had to wear a jacket and the leaves of all the trees in that part of the mountains were bursting with color. I remember the roar of the waterfall and how the pool around that set of falls reflected the mountains and clouds off its surface. I vaguely remember visiting a castle nestled amongst the trees atop one of the smaller hills as well. Most of all, I remember a feeling of rightness about the place. Momma didn't ask why I wanted to know about Turner Falls, so I didn't tell her. She never really showed any interest in her family's history. Maybe she got that from Grandma. My mom's mother always seemed angry when asked about her childhood. It was my great-grandmother, my MeMaw, who chronicled the stories told to her by her mother, which in turn were passed down to her by her mother. But even though my Mom and Grandma wouldn't tell the stories, they went to Turner Falls. They all did, even before it was named Turner Falls in the late 1870's after the man who "discovered" the falls when he and his wife set up home on Honey Creek quite near the beautiful waterfall. The stories tell of the falls long before Oklahoma became a state. It isn't clear as to why everyone had gone there, just that they had. Perhaps the falls felt sacred to my ancestors. They even drew my great-grandfather there after he arrived stateside from Germany, before he had set up home or found as his bride a beautiful Cherokee woman. What is it about this waterfall and my family? This was a mystery I surely had to solve. Author's Note: ▼ |
| 30DBC Blog POST FOR YESTERDAY, 11/13/21 Prompt: A Science-Fiction type prompt tonight. In your world, all citizens are temporarily neutered at birth. When you want to become a parent, you must prove to the government that you’ll be suitable caretakers and providers before you are allowed to procreate. How do you 'prove to the government' that you'll be a good caretaker/parent. In this world, so much would be different from what it is now. But the thing is, there will always be those who rebel against society's norm. There would be that factor of people who, for various reasons, were not sterilized at birth. Could have been because their forbearers chose not to follow the government blindly and instead stole away to some unknown place to live a life free of Government influence and as such, the offspring of this community would not be sterilized at birth. That's most likely where I would have grown up and where I would fall in love and plan on having my own children. However, if I had grown up with total Government influence, it means I would have also been brainwashed by said government. In which case, I would not be a breeder and instead be one who hunts down unlicensed breeders to imprison them so they can eventually be indoctrinated into "The Only Way" - or kill them if they gave me too much of a problem. The offspring of those people would be taken to the city, sterilized, and placed into camps where they could be taught by any means necessary what is expected of them by the Government and eventually assigned their roles in society. |
12 November 2021 Prompt: A reminder I could say to myself before I’m tempted to respond to anger with anger, to fear with fear, to negativity with negativity is... I'd tell myself it ain't worth it. It's not worth the stress I would put myself through. It isn't worth doing something that I'll regret later and/or getting locked up in a mental hospital again. It's not worth the potential of another bipolar attack because I am stressed out. And it isn't worth getting sicker over, again because I get overly stressed. BTDT as the younger ones like to say. I learned through much introspection that I am the only one who can control what I allow to affect me - good or bad. And I realized that it isn't worth it to allow all the negativity to get to me. I've been in that crap hole and I don't wanna ever go back to it. So, my reminder will continue to be It Ain't Worth It. |
11 November 2021 Prompt: You are desperate to use the bathroom. But, you share this with several others. It's down the hall (waaaay down the hall), and it's cold despite the heat being set to the 'normal' temperature. Being an older person, your legs and ability to hold it ain't what it used to be. How do you handle this dire situation? Not to worry! That's what the adult diapers or pads are for!! No, really. The "pee pads" as I like to call them will catch anything that leaks out on the way to the bathroom, allowing your clothes to stay clean and dry and unsmelly - and saving you some personal embarrassment. .Were I a guy, I'd say I'd just pee in a bottle and put the lid back on and throw it into the garbage (guys do it when working on jobs in the middle of nowhere around here all the time - then again, what's normal for one person is shocking to another I suppose) When you gotta go, you gotta go - and the older you get the more important it becomes not hold it. Onward Marches Life My eldest phoned me this morning. She said she had some "Good News" to tell me.... Honestly, it's news I have been dreading to hear since she ran off with her boyfriend. I'm gonna be a Grandma. I have mixed feelings about this if I am going to be truthful. The guy already has one kid he doesn't take care of - and he moved my daughter half the state of Texas away from everyone she knows and loves. He also admittedly engages in illegal activities. What's a mom to do?! I have to remind myself that she is an adult and as such makes her own decisions about her life. I don't have to like them, it isn't my life. But it is painful to hear that she is going to bring a new life into this chaotic situation in which she lives. And painful to hear she is planning to marry him. All I can do now is hope like hell that she learned some things from watching my struggle as she was growing up... |
| November 10th Prompt: Your neighbor’s hay crop is ready to harvest. Everyone in their family is sick and their Combine is broken. How do you respond to this situation? So, the neighbor needs help harvesting the hay. No problem! That's what neighbors are for, especially out in the country. This is the way it works, my family or a group of neighbors come together to get it done for them. Besides, it isn't like they haven't helped some of us when we were in need. We'll discuss repayment of some kind once they are well. I hear that wife of his makes one heck of strawberry rhubarb pie! |
| November 9, 2021 Prompt: You are having a very realistic dream. In this dream, you are approaching a castle. What unusual reason do you have to be at this castle? What do you say to the two guards standing outside it to gain entrance?     ...... I arrive clothed in a darkness blacker than night and climb the hill toward the castle, my staff grasped in my right hand. As I near the castle, the guards avert their gazes afraid of the darkness nearing them. "She has called for me," I say to them; my words, breathless whispers in the cool evening air. "Please enter," replies the one on the left, fear keeping both of their eyes toward the ground. As I walk the main road to the castle, commoners run and hide, pulling their children into their hovels and closing their doors and shutters. I take a moment to ruminate on the past as I continue along. These people didn't always show such fear toward me. There was a time I too was a bright flame of hope and joy in their lives; in the Before Times when I too called the castle home. My golden haired sister and I were the pride of our father and the kingdom. But pride and vanity corrupt the soul. Oh the pain, anger, and sorrow it took to turn me into what I now am! Years of envy led to this hate and malice, this fear and shunning from the people. I laugh like a madwoman as I walk toward my nemesis, my sister. "Let us see what Hope needs from me now! Let us see what the light requires of the darkness." |
November 8, 2021 - Day 3288 Prompt: Prompt: November is Peanut Butter Lovers Month. Write a story, poem, or something about peanut butter. I remember back in high school, what seems like forever ago now, I was on the Student Council and March rolled around. We decided to celebrate National Peanut Month by giving a talk about what peanuts are, how they're grown, and the benefits of eating peanuts and peanut butter. I was the one who was given the opportunity to wear the large peanut costume and host the talk. Being a huge peanut was fun. But anyway, the student council members were allowed to visit a peanut farm to see how it is all done, from planting to peanut butter production. It was awesome and we were able to taste raw peanuts, roasted peanuts, and the fresh peanut butter. I wouldn't advise eating peanuts raw, but if you had to they're edible - sort of. I was shocked at how simple the production of peanut butter is. You just take roasted peanuts and grind them up until they are the consistency of a paste. Super easy, right? Well it takes a whole heck of a lot of roasted peanuts to make even a little bit of peanut butter! You know, back then people really didn't consider peanut allergies like they do now days. Had they, I bet that fieldtrip would have never happened. Nutty Facts Did you know peanuts grow underground and prefer drier, sandy soil? They're like nodules that grow on the roots of the plants. I also find it interesting that while peanut butter originated in Canada, the US is the largest exporter and consumer of the delicious creaminess. Want more fun/interesting facts about peanuts and peanut butter? Follow this link: Peanutty Facts Have a Nutty Day! |
8 November 2021 Prompt: What would you have to start doing now so that in 10 years you feel like you just had the best decade of your life? Were I in a state where medical use of cannabis were legal, I would get a prescription for it and I would discontinue taking many of my daily medications. Other than that, I'd go visit my grandmother, parents, in-laws, and daughters more often. Finances allowing, I would also travel around the world visiting friends and making new ones. I'd play every disc golf course I came across, visit every zoo and botanical gardens, take tours of museums and observatories. Stay up late, sleep in, read as much as I could, go camping and fishing and walking among nature. And as I do now, I would continue to be grateful for every day God allows me to live and for everything I am blessed to experience. I'd live, love, laugh, and learn. What better life could there be? |
| 7 November 2021 Today's prompt is taken from a book I own. "Great Quotes From Great Leaders", published by Motorola, my employer. This one is from Norman Vincent Peale. "The trouble with most of us, is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism." Do you feel this is a valid statement? Tell us why you feel the way you do. If this were not a valid statement, would people have decided participation trophies were needed? Everyone is out for praise, for all the good things in life to happen - yet comparatively speaking, few want to put in the effort necessary to earn these things for themselves or to hear from others how they could change certain things to improve on what is there. I don't see it near as much here on WDC, but out in the world people don't want their flaws pointed out so they can be improved upon. What is losing but a lesson in the ways a person needs to better themselves? We can't all be winners after all. Criticism comes in all forms and not all of it is destructive. Where are we being led in this world where criticism is being shunned, losing is being avoided, and participation trophies are being given to all? We need those things to grow and evolve. Praise is great and all, but in order to grow as human beings, we also need the flip side of the coin. Life is not without struggle and conflict. All we are doing by seeking praise and closing our eyes, ears, and minds to the rest is deluding ourselves. We need them both to grow. We need a balance there. How will we evolve as human beings without that balance? Can we grow if all we are given is praise? It doesn't look like it from where I'm standing. |
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You're so right, they are definitely perceptive. They know when you need extra attention, and they know when to keep an eye out for you. They are definitely a blessing from God.
