Category Archives: Blogging Community

Where To?

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“Where should I go?-Alice “That depends on where you want to end up.”-The Cheshire Cat”

I have been researching my family tree for a little over a year. I did not know very much about my ancestors and never imagined where my search would take me. I have gotten lost in many rabbit holes along the way and I can not see where it will end. I have learned a lot. Lately, I have been tracing some of those who were early pioneers of Nova Scotia. The people in those days often had many children and I am finding that many families are interconnected in that many married couples are made up of cousins of mine on both sides. It seems like if your family has ancestors from Nova Scotia they are probably related to me. I get so engrossed in the research that I can spend hours doing it. My daughter can’t understand why I am so devoted to this and says we are all related anyway, like everyone in the world, which is what I have thought too. I think I am starting to find out it is really true.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is “where.” Start your post with the word “where” and write whatever comes to you. Bonus points if you end your post with “where” too.

Quote from Lewis Carroll Lewis Carroll, ‘ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass’ via Goodreads quotes. Image of winding path from Wikimedia.org

Creativity Can Last A Lifetime

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There are many negative stereotypes that can discourage us as we get older and they are very destructive. They paint a picture of diminishment and decline, but many artists demonstrate that our creativity can continue up to the end. Their stories always inspire me. Here is one story about a woman who is writing poetry at 101 and was recently published. “At age 101, this woman released her first collection of poems,” by Tara Bahrampour in the Washington Post. She explores this topic further in her article, “Creativity can last well into old age, as long as creators stay open to new ideas.”

 

Featured image of artist ‘Carmen Herrera laying out a new piece’ by Adam Reich/Lisson Gallery via wikipedia.org

This post is part of the We Are The World Blogfest, #WATWB. The cohosts for this month are:   Shilpa Garg, Simon Falk , Damyanti Biswas, Lizbeth Hartz and Eric Lahti.

Clean

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I think as long as people, (women), have been washing dishes, there have been ads for dishwashing soap to make their lives easier and the task more enjoyable, all while guaranteeing softer hands. I confess I have tried various dishwashing liquid soaps and like to buy these cheerful sponges too.

Ocelo Sponge

Yet, it doesn’t make me feel any better when my sink keeps filling up with dirty dishes. Well, at least I don’t have to wash my dishes in a barrel while wearing a bonnet and pointy-toed little shoes.

The Scullery Maid c 1738 by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt words for today are ‘clean/dirty’. Featured image of Swan soap ad from the Ladies’ Home Journal c 1889 via the Internet Archive on Flickr.com Image of Ocelo sponge via me. Image of ‘The Scullery Maid’ c 1738 painting by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin from the National Gallery of Art on Wikimedia.org

 

 

 

 

Ancestors On The Edges

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I continue to be engrossed in genealogy research, looking for the clues that weave my ancestors together into a sturdy cloth. But lately I find myself assembling only the edges of the puzzle. I have more of the frame or boarder than the parts that fill in the center sections. So I just want to appreciate what I am learning about the history of the people who lived in those long ago times. I bet in those olden days many women did more practical weaving like cloth for their families clothes.

‘Tatua Partonun weaving Simalungun traditional woven cloth (Hiou), in her home at Purba Tongah’ by Arokh Thio Gunadi Purba on Wikimedia.org

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G. Hill. Today’s prompt word is ‘frame.’

Sail Away Alma

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It’s nice to think about keeping cool with heat waves in many parts of the world. We are lucky so far here in Southern California. The temperatures have been climbing a bit but we still have a cool breeze. I expect the heat to get serious as the summer wears on. Good to be able to go to a lake or ocean beach when it is so hot and be sure to drink (non-alcoholic) liquids.  Make sure elderly family members and neighbors have access to enough water and a place to cool down. Nice to take my mind off of hot weather and look at an image of a sailboat on a bay with a cool breeze filling its sails, and flags fluttering. I love the photo of ‘Alma’, a historic 1891 scow schooner that sailed around San Francisco Bay delivering cargo in the old days. She now resides at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park after being restored and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1988. I think she has fore-and-aft rigging, which is when the sails run parallel to the keel and not perpendicular. All I know is, she is a beauty from bow to stern.

Scow schooner Alma on San Francisco Bay by NPS

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt words for today are,  “for/fore/four.” Use one, use ’em all, use ’em any way you want. Bonus points for using all three.

Featured image ‘Bow-on shot of 1891 scow schooner Alma sailing on San Francisco Bay with Alcatraz Island in the background,’ San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, photo by NPS (National Park Service)

You Takes It Or Leaves It

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What did the caterpillar say to the butterfly?  “I’m turning over a new leaf.”

I would like to leave off a few things around here, like household chores. It would be nice to give up dish washing ,cleaning bathrooms, laundry and folding clothes. I do have a dishwasher (machine) but I wash off the dishes before loading them in, and it seems like there are always more dirty dishes piling up in the sink. I did do a new chore this past week, sweeping up some dead leaves in my yard and trimming the leaves and branches off some of the bushes. It was more satisfying that the household chores I mentioned, being outside on a not too hot sunny day with a cool breeze blowing. Wish it would stay like this all summer.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS,  is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word is ‘leaves.’ Use it as a noun or a verb.

Featured image of ‘Monarch caterpillar eating ‘ by Bradly Potter of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Midwest Region on Flickr.com

 

 

Gatherings

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We are social beings of varying degrees. Some of us like less socializing, and can prefer to observe from the perimeter, others like to be right in the middle of things. I like the scene in the above painting, ‘Cliff Dwellers’ by George Wesley Bellows (1913). A peaceful social gathering on a busy city street with a few people watching from their balconies or window sills, while others carry on with their daily routines, and children playing outside. The clothes lines stretched between buildings. Two women sitting together at the side of the stairs, one with her face turned up to the sun, the other keeps watch on the children. In my early childhood years, we lived in San Francisco. I remember we had a clothes line suspended up high like that from the back of our flat. The neighborhood kids often played on the sidewalks in front of their buildings.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is ‘social’.

Featured image ‘Cliff Dwellers’ by George Wesley Bellows from LA County Museum of Art via Wikimedia.org