Author Archives: Deborah Drucker

About Deborah Drucker

Native of California who lives in the Los Angeles area. I have a background in healthcare and in recent years I have acquired a teaching credential in Special Education Writing a blog and fiction is a new adventure for me.

Blocked

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Not feeling an eruption of creative energy. How are people able to be creative with all the negative stuff happening? We are fortunate that the wild fires have not touched us here yet. But as I sat here tonight at the computer I felt an earthquake. Not a bad one, but don’t we have enough right now? Nature just sending a reminder that things could be worse I guess.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is  “-tion.” Find a word that ends with “tion.” Bonus points if you start your post with it.

Featured Image: “The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (Hi-RISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this avalanche plunging down a 1,640-foot-tall (500-meter-tall) cliff on May 29, 2019. The image also reveals layers at Mars’ north pole during spring. As temperatures increase and vaporize ice, the destabilized ice blocks break loose and kick up dust.” (JPL California Institute of Technology)

Angel’s Collar

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Been doing some ‘Spring cleaning’ in the summer and came across the pet collar of our deceased cat. I don’t have the heart to discard it as yet. It has her name on one side with our old phone number and my daughter’s name and our address on the other. Angel never liked wearing the collar. She was feisty but my daughter and I had a close bond with her. It was hard when she died. I have not wanted another cat since.

Angel ❤

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today  is “collar.” Use it as a verb, a noun, or metaphorically. Bonus points for using it in all three ways! 

 

Pretty Sharp

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These are some of my favorite ‘sharp’ things. I like having sharpened pencils to write with unless I am using a pen.  I have been working on these word scramble puzzles in the LA Times and I like to use a pencil to fill in the answers in case I need to erase.  The letters in words are scrambled and you need to determine the correct word and then solve a riddle, using some of letters from the words, the answer which is a play on the words. It’s fun to figure out the words and then figure out the answer, which is not always easy. Doing these word puzzles keeps your brain sharp. If I were to work on a math problem by hand instead of using a calculator, I prefer to use a pencil. It’s good to have sharpened knives to slice vegetables and meats. It is nice to look sharp in your clothes. Not nice to have a sharp tongue.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “sharp.” Use it in any or all of its definitions. 

Featured image of Eagle Pencil Co. trade card via Boston Public Library on Flickr.com

 

More Than A Hundred Books

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With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one – but no one at all – can tell you what to read and when and how.”
― Doris Lessing

Even though I have donated about 100 books to the library in recent years we still have a large collection in our house. My husband collects Easton Books, mostly of classics. We have law books, history books, cook books, and mystery books. I have given away many of my books, especially paperbacks, because they deteriorate quickly, take up space, and collect dust. I have held onto some hardcover favorites like David Copperfield, Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, to name a few. I do have several paperbacks of various subjects and genres here right now but will most likely donate many of them eventually. My favorite history books are by David McCullough,’ John Adams’, ‘Truman’, and ‘1776.’ I love books, real paper and hardcover books, not so much the digital ones. 

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is “more than a hundred.” Write your post inspired by something you have more than a hundred of in your home right now. 

Image of books on shelves by Larsgustav on Pixabay.com

Quote about books and reading via Goodreads.

One-Liner Wednesday–Public Libraries

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“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

I have been ordering books from my local public library online. They send me an email when my books are ready for pick up. There is a whole procedure to borrowing books now. You can’t go into the library. You have to call the library when you are ready to pick up the books so they can get them ready for you. Then you park outside and call to notify them you are waiting. One of the staff brings the books out to a table. Then you put on a mask and go to get your package off the table. The staff was thoughtful to include a bookmark and some extra reading material with my order today.

Looks mysterious
Two books and some extras
Free bookmark

One Liner Wednesday, #1linerWeds, is hosted by Linda G Hill.

Brush Myself Off And Start Again

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Do you ever wonder in what direction you life is going? In these pandemic times it feels like I’m waiting for life to start over again and time is moving very slowly. My life is passing by while I stay in place. I don’t feel so frustrated all the time. I do find things to do. I have been able to start reading books again. For a while, I could not focus on them.  I recently read, ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens and a new book By Ann Cleeves, ‘The Long Call.’ Ann Cleeves has written two book series that have been made into popular television mystery shows, ‘Vera’, and ‘Shetland.’ I had not read any of her books and now I am looking forward to next book coming out in September with the Vera character. I bought a collection of the ‘Vera’ paperbacks and two other paperback mysteries I found on Amazon. So I am all stocked up with mysteries for now.

My eggplant is surviving with the protective tent over it and two more are coming in. I am just not sure when to harvest it or if it will be any good to eat, another mystery.

I am not trying to brush off how difficult these times are. I consider myself a patient person but this is a major test of patience. It is still a work in progress for me and I have to keep trying to do better.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is “brush.” Use it as a noun, a verb, or an idiom.

 

 

Some Negatives Can Be Positive

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Pros and Cons for Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Cons: We are starting into a weekend heat wave in Southern California.

Pros: We have air conditioning.

Cons: The power went out this evening.

Pros: At least the sun is going down and we cooled the house off during the day.

Cons: The internet is out and I am typing on my MS Word program instead of WordPress.

Pros: My computer has enough battery power for me to work on my post.

Cons: We have to live by flashlight.

Pros: I can still read a book with a flashlight. I feel like I’m camping.

Cons: We have wildfires in Southern California that are out of control.

Pros: The fires are not close to where we live right now.

Cons: I can’t run the dishwasher.

Pros: I can’t run the dishwasher.

Cons: I spend a lot of time sitting in front of the computer for mental stimulation, doing genealogy research, because we are on lock down.

Pros: I like doing genealogy research.

Cons: I don’t know a lot about my ancestors’ lives. I do know that a great-aunt died in the flu pandemic of 1918.

Pros: At least I can do research online which would have been impossible in the last century.

Cons: The sun is setting and soon it will be dark.

Pros: We just bought more batteries for the flashlights.

 

The power is back on here right now. My daughter and I were enjoying the quiet. It is relaxing when the light dims naturally.

Hope you are all staying safe and well wherever you are.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. Today’s  prompt is to write about ‘pro/con,’ and talk about the pros and cons of anything.

Featured image by Madmix on Pixabay.com

 

 

Garden Spotting

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During this ‘ stay at home’ period in California, my husband and I have dabbled in an assorted  array of activities. I make it sound like we are very industrious but it is a battle against boredom and to not get depressed. I have immersed myself deeper in genealogy, learned to navigate online grocery shopping, and practiced horticulture  in my back yard. My husband was first to order a small selection of vegetable seedlings and potting soil with the goal of growing vegetables on our patio. The little plants waited patiently on the patio to be potted, slowly wilting, when my daughter and I took the initiative to transplant them into several large pots. We all have enjoyed seeing the plants grown and bear some fruit or vegetables.  We have had lots of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, some chili peppers, and an eggplant starting to come in. Then we spotted some invisible critter had taken a lot of the tomatoes and chewed on the eggplant. We have decided it is a rabbit or maybe a rodent. Whatever this critter is at least it does not like cucumbers. So, I have been able to harvest some of them and make a couple of jars of sweet pickles. I had thought making sweet pickles would be hard but I found an easy recipe.  My grandmother used to make a sweet pickle she called ‘chow-chow.’ I’m the only one here that likes sweet pickles so I get them all to myself. Another cool thing I noticed is that the cucumber plant has tendrils that is wraps around the metal climbing support my husband put in the pots. It’s hanging on tight.  The eggplant is starting to bloom again so I am intent on preventing the moocher from chewing on the fruit again. I bought this tent gismo with netting and we will see if this does the trick. It would be exciting to have our own homegrown eggplant.

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The recipe I used for my sweet pickles included with link below:

Easy Summertime Sweet Pickle Recipe

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “spot.” Write whatever image the word “spot” invokes. 

A Treatment From The Past Century May Help People Survive Coronavirus

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An article in the LA Times today ‘An Old remedy for new contagion‘ discusses the long history of the use of convalescent plasma in the treatment of deadly diseases before the development of vaccines in the 1940s. Convalescent serum is taken from the blood of people who have been infected and recovered. There are antibodies in their blood serum that will fight the disease. This treatment was used for diphtheria, smallpox, measles, polio, and tetanus successfully before vaccines. Immunologists in the US have come together to create “the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project, a consortium of 260 doctors and scientists from 57 institutions around the country. Members of their coalition have launched more than 50 laboratory studies and clinical trials…” (LA Times). The early results will be out soon. Let’s hope the results will show positive outcomes and can help save lives before we are able to have an effective vaccine.

Featured image of Dr. Emil Adolph Von Behring who won the Nobel Prize in 1901 for his work on convalescent serum in the treatment of diphtheria via Wikimedia.org

We Are The World Blogfest, #WATWB, is a monthly blogfest dedicated to “positive stories no matter where they’re found. It is all about spreading peace and humanity on social media.”  Co-hosts for this month,  Susan Scott, Peter Nena, Shilpa Garg, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, and Eric Lahti welcome participants and encourage all to join in.

More Power

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More power to the people. This sounds like a slogan for the oppressed but I am talking about electrical power. We have had 4 power outages in 24 hours. One was just as I finished cleaning up the dinner dishes and found myself standing in a pitch black room. I made my way over to the cupboard where we keep the flashlights and first found one with dead batteries. My husband had another outside with him, but eventually I found one that worked. We are heading into a heat wave this weekend and not looking forward to more outages. There was one nice effect of living by flashlight. We set up 2 little flash lights in our bedroom and I really liked the softer light in our room. Makes me want to find lamps or light bulbs with softer light. The flashlight is such an important device. It was invented by David Misell in 1899. A bright idea!

I am ready for the next blackout

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is to start your post with the word ‘more.’

Image of the first Flashlight Patent from US Patent Office via Wikimedia.org