Category Archives: Blogging Community

Resilience

Winter is the time for quiet and contemplation. The sunlight is weaker and the temperatures drop. Darkness comes earlier in the evening and I find my energy waning. Nature and I are drawing inward to ourselves. The power of life is not diminished, it is just resting and storing up energy. In the Spring it will burst forth again. No man made force can hold it back.

JusJotItJanuary is hosted today by Dan Antion of No Facilities. Word prompt “power” supplied by Erica at 20/20 hines sight. Click on their links to visit their blogs. Featured image of Bodie Hills, Ca. via Bob Wick of US Bureau of Land Management Conservationlands April File on Wikimedia. Click here to get some interesting information about the Bodie Hills location.

A Friend

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Mongrel, mutt, mixed breed, rejected, dejected. You are a loyal friend, ready to believe in man again.

JustJoJan guest hosted by Dan Antion of No Facilities, prompt word “mongrel,” Image Dog in Animal Shelter Washington, Iowa by Nhandler on Wikipedia.

Winter Coat

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This year I definitely need a winter coat in California and a raincoat to boot, (and boots to boot). It has been a long time since I needed winter clothes here in Southern California because it never gets cold enough. We are expecting a real winter for a change after several years of drought. I am liking the change in weather here.

“California Rain Storms”

Rain on Saturday

Atmospheric rivers flow

Hole in my rainboots

This post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday and JustJotItJan hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today is “coat.” Featured image “Paris Street; Rainy Day” by Gustave Cailebotte via Wikipedia. Girl in Raincoat image via Pixabay.com.

Just For Fun

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“Perhaps I write for no one. Perhaps for the same person children are writing for when they scrawl their names in the snow.”
― Margaret Atwood

I enjoy writing on my blog. But is it something tangible and am I a real writer? What is a real writer? It is someone who produces a tangible product like a book or published article. I am writing therefore I am a writer even if I never sell or publish any of it. Writing on my blog or anywhere else is not a job or career and I don’t think I want it to be just now. It is a form of creative expression and sometimes I get on My Soapbox about an issue. A description of my blog writing matches these synonyms for hobby:

Amusement, relaxation, divertissement (ooh, cool French), play, interest, leisure activity, sometimes whimsy, but also art, craft. It is way of being creative for me. Fun.

JustJotItJanuary is being guest hosted by Rosemary Carlson. The prompt word, “tangible” was provided by Prajakta at An Armchair Perfectionist.

California Jewels

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Bangle, fandangle, spangle, sparkle,

Glisten, glimmer, glow,

Razzle, dazzle, bedazzle,

California Jewels.

California is pretty bedazzling. I am grateful to be a native and love so many of its beautiful natural sites and exciting cities. The LA Times is doing a Calfornia Bucket List series which covers many great places to see in California. Here’s a great little video on the San Francisco cable cars, “that climb halfway to the stars.”

And here’s a few more beautiful spots:

Big Sur Coast

Inspiration Point Anacapa Island

8273783340_94730e2374_z Point Lobos Headland Cove by Fred Moore on Flickr

Point Lobos Headlands Cove

Muir Woods Trail

El Matador Beach

California Coastal National Monument Point Arena by US Bureau of Land Managemnt

Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas, California

640px-CA_254_Avenue_of_the_Giants by Adbar

Coastal Redwoods

Peachy Canyon Vineyard at Sunrise near Paso Robles by Macolm Carlaw

‘Vineyard bathed in light’ (Sonoma) by torbakhopper

Big River Mendocino via Jar [o] on Flickr

Half Dome Yosemite via LA Times Postcards from The West:

California Dream Orange Crate Label photo courtesy of Orange County Archives

california_state_coat_of_arms_illustrated_1876

The State Arms of the Union by Henry Mitchell 1876

This post is part of JustJotItJanuary guest hosted by Rosemary Carlson. The prompt word for today’s post was “spangly,” supplied by Judy B. Martin at Edwina’s Episodes.

Warning Signs

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My morning ritual is coffee, toast/bagel, read several news sites, email, gradually get ready for the day. Having some jittery feelings about the transition to the new President. There are so many news reports of his political appointments, tweets, and general prophecies of doom, gloom, foreboding, and The Russians. So I need to titrate the amounts of these stories going into my brain to help protect myself. Balance the negative with the positive hopefully. Remember there is positive in the world like my duck and turtle crossing sign. I mean if people are trying to protect the ducks and turtles there has to be some good will out there, right? 🙂

The prompt for today’s post is “warning” supplied by my friend Dan Antion at No Facilities for JustJotItJanuary hosted by Linda G Hill. Featured image via Max Pixel.

Reading The Classics

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I love reading books. And I spotted this new Reading Challenge on DebraB’s blog, BookingIt. Well I like her name and the challenge. 😀 (We share the same first name but spell it differently.) So this is my official sign up page for the Books and Chocolates Back to the Classics Challenge 2017. You can click on the link to see the rules if you’re interested. And who doesn’t like the idea of booking it and books and chocolates.

Featured image Reading a Book by Nick Kenrick

Time To Watch The Rose Parade

Aspirations

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I am wanting in this new year to hold tight to my feelings of possibility and optimism in spite of all the forces in play in the world that want to work against them. Creativity is always about dreams, imagination, vision, possibility, aspiration, and expression of our souls. In the darkest times the spirit can continue, it must continue. The prompt word for today is “spider.” Spiders can be associated with dark, scary things. But I don’t want to get into dark things today. Only to look them in the face and say, “You can’t scare me.”

This post is for Just Jot It January hosted by Linda G Hill.

The Beginning of the End

9 Replies

It began when I woke up the morning after the recent presidential election, after watching the election returns late into the night with a sense of shock, disbelief, unreality, and increasing premonitions of impending doom, and said something like this to my husband, “This is when it begins, the end of the world.”

giphy-1

I have gradually calmed down and regained some equilibrium until I read about The Russians hacking into our election and watched the president-elect appoint a man for Secretary of State who was awarded a “Friend of Russia” trophy by Putin.

giphy-1

The saving grace for me has been reading satire and humor about the whole situation. At least we can have a good laugh while we march off to our destruction. So I want to include a few funny posts for your enjoyment, which would probably be anything by Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker Magazine, Dave Barry, and David Horsey.

Kremlin Names Trump Employee of the Month

Putin to Sing at Trump Inauguration

Putin Agrees to Recieve Intelligence Briefings in Trump’s Place

Dave Barry’s Year in Review: 2016–What the ?

David Horsey Political Cartoons and Commentary in LA Times

A Fake News History of 2016

I consider myself a hopeful, optimistic person most times and I feel I must work hard to remain this way for the sake of my kids and new grandson. So I think it will all come out all right in the end.

This post is for Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill who said, Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “first/last.” Use one or both words, or find words that mean the same. Bonus points if you start your post with “first/beginning/start” etc. and end with “last/end” etc. Enjoy!

Wishing you a Happy New Year! And hoping 2017 will be a better year for us all.

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