Category Archives: Blogging

A Swarm Of Butterflies

29 Replies

Recently saw an ad for an inn in Santa Cruz that mentioned the Monarch butterflies which migrate to winter in California at this time of year. One of the sites mentioned was the Natural Bridges Preserve.  I know they migrate closer to me in Southern California as well. In October a 70 mile-wide swarm of butterflies showed up on weather radar in Denver, Colorado. You might automatically think of Monarchs but these were Painted Ladies which look a bit like Monarchs but are smaller.

The first video is by Bear SF showing two places to see Monarchs in California on You Tube:

 

 

View through binoculars at Pacific Grove, Ca. Butterfly Sanctuary

A swarm of butterflies, a swarm of dragonflies, or a swarm of honeybees; better than a swarm of locusts or a swarm of fleas.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is “arm.” It may be used alone or as part of a word. Featured image of Monarch butterflies via wikipedia.

Selfie Perspective

23 Replies

 

‘Selfie Perspective’ Fooling around in my powder room and noticed the perspective in my closet door mirrors while playing around with selfies.

I don’t like selfies of myself because they usually show my wrinkles and I don’t like selfies in general because I think they are kind of vain but I liked this photo.

Wanting to get some perspective on all the terrible revelations in the media but there are no short cuts. And I don’t think I should cut short my processing of these painful things. One story after another leaves me reeling. Wondering why this is all coming together now. Could it be because it has built up to a critical mass of evil deeds and the universe is saying, No more! Maybe it all needs to collapse of the rot so it can be reformed into something that raises us all up. ‘It’ being Hollywood, business, the news media, the art world, politics, wherever this oppression ( of women and children) has been fostered and has festered. No more.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Prompt words for today are shortcut/cut short.

November

16 Replies

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month and encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The co-hosts today are: Tonja Drecker, Diane Burton, MJ Fifield, and Rebecca Douglass!

Click on the link above for the IWSG to get more information about the group and what is the latest goings on.

Each month on Wednesday you can join in and there is an optional question prompt provided. The question for November:

Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I have not participated in NaNoWriMo which, for those who may not know, is where people participate in a challenge to write an entire novel in a month. Knowing myself, this is something I would not want to do. Good luck to all the members of IWSG who are participating.

That leaves us wondering what are we going to do with the month of November if we are not choosing to spend it writing a novel. Well life goes on and I will be celebrating my first grandson’s 1st  birthday. I will get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. This includes making a turkey dinner. I will continue to read some good books and watch some good movies. November begins with Samhain which has been thought of as the beginning of the dark months of winter in Celtic history. Winter is a time to draw in and conserve energy. I am drawn to slowing down. And there is the next WEP December Challenge coming up soon enough.

“A flashback? A new start? A cascading change? A branching off point? An end and a beginning? Celebrate year’s end with us!”

Featured image ‘Autumn’ by KreativeHexnkueche on Pixabay.com

Leftover Pumpkins And Candy

14 Replies

What can you do with leftover pumpkins. A post popped up in my email by Theo Ellin Balle of OZY Magazine that had several suggestions like pumpkin bowling, pumpkin relish, and pumpkin face masks. And if there is a farm near you, pigs like to eat pumpkins too.

We have a lot of left over candy and I wondered what I can do with it besides my husband and I eating it. So I did some quick research and found:

25 Things to Do With Leftover Halloween Candy

Some suggestions from research were: freeze it, add it to deserts or brownies and cupcake recipes, put it in a piñata, use it for Christmas decorations, science experiments, and a post from Mommy Poppins suggested charitable organizations with links you can donate it to like our troops and Nursing Homes.

I like the idea of giving it away to a Nursing Home for the staff and/or residents.

Video of Pigs Eating Pumpkins as seen on OZY magazine from FarmSanctuary.org Featured image of Halloween Candy by Luke Jones on Flickr.

Happy Halloween

6 Replies

Thought some of my introverted friends, (like me), might appreciate the above post from Introvert Dear.  🙂  I have often had that sinking feeling with the phrase about everyone introducing themselves. I was chuckling through most of the list in the post.  Another one that stood out for me was having guests show up unexpectedly. I always like being forewarned. I can remember a particular instance when I had just gotten off work and was walking up my driveway when I noticed a couple of people walking up at the same time. My husband had invited them for dinner. It took me a while but that doesn’t happen anymore. 🙂

And here’s some humor:

 

Featured image ‘The Witch on Her Broom Stick’ by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite 1921 via Wikipedia.org

Good Witch

8 Replies

Every year I don some kind of Halloween garb to answer the door when trick-or-treaters ring. In recent years, it has been a purple witch hat which is decorated with a spider web design. This year, for the first time that I can remember, I may not be home for at least part of the evening because it is my baby grandson’s first Halloween and I am planning to go visit him before his parents take him out in his costume. No spoilers about the costume, I will want to post it on Grandmotherly.blog.

My daughter liked to sing this song when she was 3 years old:

“I’m stirring and stirring and stirring my brew

Ooooo ooo Ooooo ooo

I’m stirring and stirring and stirring my brew

Tip toe, tip toe, tip toe

Booo!!”    -author unknown

Both my son and daughter liked the book It’s Halloween by Jack Prelutsky and here’s the title poem:

It’s Halloween

It’s Halloween! It’s Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can’t be seen
On any other night.

Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,
Grinning goblins fighting duels,
Werewolves rising from their tombs,
Witches on their magic brooms.

In masks and gowns
We haunt the street
And knock on doors
For trick or treat.

Tonight we are
The king and queen,
For oh tonight
It’s Halloween!

I found a recording of the book on You Tube posted by Ben Thompson. It shows the same edition of the book that I had and the author is reading the whole book. It may bring back memories for you too:

Sometimes I wish I was a witch with special powers that I would use for good and not to hurt anyone except to give the bad guys a knuckle sandwich.  🙂

by Jo B on Pixabay.com

Happy Halloween!

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. Featured Image of ‘The witch in fancy dress’ by Plaisanter. The Owl,Cat,Hat,Broom image by Jo B on Pixabay.com Prompt words for today ‘which/witch/wich.’

Hope For Some Homeless Girls

6 Replies

“As the first Girl Scout troop in New York designed specifically for homeless girls, Troop 6000 began in February as a modest effort to help bring a sense of community, if not normalcy, to the 100 families with children who lived in a Queens shelter…”-The Christian Science Monitor

Girls living in a homeless shelter in New York City have found hope and friendship through the creation of their own Girl Scouts Troop. It all started with one homeless mother, Giselle Burgess,wanting to create something positive for her girls and others living in a homeless shelter and now there is funding for Girl Scout Troops to be established in an additional 14 homeless shelters in NYC.

Troop 6000 appeared on The View and received some special support:

Featured Image of Girl Scout Troop 6000 via Council Member Jerry Van Bramer’s office from Christian Science Monitor Post by Harry Bruinius.

#WATWB We Are The World Blogfest co-hosted this month by:  Shilpa Garg, Sylvia McGrath, Mary Giese, Belinda Witzenhausen and Guilie Castillo

Girls Can Change The World

6 Replies

Do you feel like you could use some positive news lately? While researching for another post I can across this image on Creative Commons of President Obama greeting a group of Girl Scouts [six years old] from Tulsa, Oklahoma at the 2015 White House Science Fair in the Red Room, March 23, 2015. The girls used Lego pieces and designed a battery-powered page turner to help people who are paralyzed or have arthritis. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

I love the super hero capes and the sign on the table which reads: ‘Girls Change The World.’

Another image from 2014 White House Fair, Girls in Stem. Photo of Brownie Troop who invented Flood Proof Bridge out of Legos:

President Barack Obama talks with students and views their projects during the 2014 White House Science Fair in the Blue Room of the White House, May 27, 2014. The fair celebrates the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 

One Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda G Hill.

Kamisaka,_Sekka_-_Flowers_of_the_Four_Seasons_1

Seasons Of Change

13 Replies

Seasons of love is what I want to be talking about. Not about sexual harassment or assault that we have been hearing so much about lately. It is good that people are speaking out about it and it is very important that changes occur to prevent it from continuing to happen. It is going to take a while for there to be enough change. The oppression runs deep, is world wide and has gone on for a long time. We have to begin anyway. We must acknowledge and face up to it. We must end it. It has brought me down, though. The sex we are reading about in the news is not love. It has nothing to do with love. It never had anything to do with love.

Music video Seasons of Love-Rent via readonaliti on You Tube:

Featured image is ‘Flowers of the Four Seasons’ by Kamisaka Sekka from the Hosomi Museum via wikimedia. Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is ‘seasons.’