Tag Archives: #SOCS

Mash Up

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First thought that popped into my head with the prompt word was ‘bangers and mash.’ I have never eaten that but remember it from an old movie. Don’t even know if the British still eat it. I like mashed potatoes but not sure about beef sausage, which one recipe called for. I have eaten chicken and pork sausage here. I’m getting hungry now. My brother-in-law brought us a bunch of ripe avocados. We will probably mash them up and make guacamole.

I am still on the look out for our neighborhood roadrunner. I have had several sightings. One day he/she appeared on 2 different streets while I was walking. I thought either we have more than one, or it can move pretty fast. Thinking about how it got from one place to another I noticed it could have cut through the golf course that some houses back up to. Then I spotted it close by and tried to get a photo. I did not have time to focus on my cell phone. But I did watch it jump/fly up about five feet to the top of a gate and wall. So roadrunners can run, jump, and fly. I guess that’s how they show up in so many different parts of the neighborhood. I hope I will get some good photos of one in the future. The photos I took this week were a mash up.

I blew up one of my attempted photos of the roadrunner and I did capture him but it’s a bit blurry. Will keep working on getting a good photo.

Roadrunner at lower right edge of gate

Cactus Mash Up below:

Cereus Peruvianus Monstrose (moon blooming)
Ocotillo
 Bilberry Cactus, Whortleberry Cactus, Blue Candle, Blue Flame ?
Candelabrum Cactus, Cane Cholla, Walking Stick Cholla, Tree Cholla, Chainlink Cactus ?
Elephant cactus

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

Some of the cacti names found on plantsam.com and cacti.com

Difference

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What a difference a year makes, 8760 little hours…An old song popped into my head with today’s prompt. You might say, ‘What difference does it make.’ I would answer ‘ it has made a big difference and you have to be brain dead not to notice that.’ It feels like the year has not ended but become a kind of mega year, a year plus. We are still in the middle of the plague in many places. But you know that don’t you, if you read or watch any of the news, and you don’t like me bringing it up again. You want me to talk happy talk. Get on a different subject. I can’t let it go yet because it has not let go yet. So I still write about it. So there.

I consider myself pretty lucky in that I did not get sick, I can shelter in a nice place, my husband, kids and grandson did not get it, I have enough money, not rich but enough, we have had our vaccines. It has come close to me though. I lost a brother and the older brother and sister-in-law caught it. My older brother survived but does have after effects. I did not want to take him for granted before and now even more so.

We start to consider how our lives will be different here as restrictions are to be lifted on June 15. Health officials are still very concerned that we are at risk from the variants. But we start to allow ourselves to think about the new normal. A glimpse of light peaking over the horizon. David L. Ulin wrote a post in the LA Times ‘Not quite ready to reopen.’ He discusses the changes in his life brought on by the pandemic may become permanent. ‘As I receive more messages about reconnecting, I want to think about how I choose to spend my time. Among the benefits of lockdown is how it strips away obligatory get-togethers. This meeting or that cup of coffee, the dinner I had no desire to attend. I want to reemerge on my terms, to preserve the smallness, the intimacy, of my pandemic isolation. I want to preserve the space I’ve created for myself. A simpler life, if I can keep it that way…I want to move at my own pace, to be conscious about how and when I reintegrate.’

I too feel that I have not missed a lot of what I have given up. I have thought about what my life will be like going forward. I feel the need to create something new, something different.

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

My beginning sentence is a take off on old song lyrics from ‘What a difference a day makes,’ by Maria Grever. Below version shared on YouTube by phalenopsis1.

 

Roadrunner Watch

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I spotted our neighborhood roadrunner the other day. At least I think it is the same bird. It was running furtively at the front of the houses on a nearby street. It must have a nest around here. I wondered what was drawing it to our residential neighborhood. I looked up what roadrunners eat. They eat insects, reptiles, small mammals, and even other birds. We do have a golf course with ponds and I am pretty sure there would be birds, insects, and lizards there. Here are some recordings of the different sounds and calls from All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). They have quite a repertoire. This website said they do make a ‘meep, meep’ sound when running away from danger.

Our neighborhood friend has been quiet so far.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is ‘run.’ Featured image of Roadrunner by National Park Service Death Valley. I haven’t been able to get my own photo of our roadrunner. I would have to be ‘Quick Draw McGraw’ with my cell phone to catch it.

California Blow

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California! Where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain. Whoops, wrong state. But we do get a lot of wind in the Coachella Valley. It has to do with low pressure drawing in the air from areas of higher pressure through the San Gorgonio Pass. That’s why we see a lot of wind turbines dotting the landscape coming into the valley too.

‘Windgarten’ by Ian D Keating on Wikimedia.org

It get’s going in the afternoon right into the night and can really howl, an eerie effect at night. It doesn’t happen every night, but when it does I want to cozy up with a good mystery book.

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

Start of post inspired by lyrics to ‘Oklahoma’ by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Butter You Up

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Do I butter you up with a cheery post. I know on which side my bread is buttered, she thought. Since making a big move to a new house, I have been eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches or peanut butter stuffed pretzels because it is easy to grab when I am busy with other stuff around here. I like peanut butter, creamy peanut butter, crunchy peanut butter too. 🙂

Peanut Butter song by the Olympics via Orchard Enterprises on You Tube.com

And finding all the nooks and crannies in which to stuff carefully place all our belongings. This often requires the use of our folding step ladder to reach the high places.

‘Ladder to heaven’ by tumisu on Pixabay.com

I did have good news this past week. My older brother came home from the hospital and I was able to speak with him briefly. It was so good to hear his voice. I told him he is a tough guy because he came through it. Feel the need to keep even closer touch with him.

Many of us are getting our COVID shot series completed just in time for the attack of the mutant variants.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Adrian Perez on Flickr.com

We have our own California variant. Although, I just read an article that said the UK variant is expected to dominate in the US. We could have battle of the variants.

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

Honesty The Best Policy

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My older brother never wants to tell me his problems and has often not let me know when he was sick or in the hospital. I would find out at a later date and then still be upset anyway. He was being my big brother, trying to protect me, and is a very kind and loving person. I have been so tied up with our move that I had not spoken with him for several weeks. I was having trouble getting through to him recently and had a feeling something was wrong. I finally spoke with my sister-in-law today. He had been in the hospital last month and now had to go back in again. He did not want to worry me. It would have worried me and does now, but I’m glad I found out so I am able to send my love to him.

Even though we may want to protect our loved ones from bad news, I think they want to know what is going on no matter what.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt for today was a word ending with ‘sty’. Featured image ‘Vase de roses’ by Renoir via wikimedia.org

Taking The High Road

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It all started here many years ago.

San Francisco From Above by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr.com

I was born in San Francisco and I still feel a connection to this city. My husband talked me into moving to the Los Angeles area after I graduated from college and we have lived in Southern California ever since then. Our kids grew up here near LA. Now we are starting a new stage in a new location that is very different to what came before. We have discovered many things with our move. We have signed up with a new internet, TV, and cell phone provider. I learned, after several hours and several calls to the new and old providers, how to activate our phones and transfer our important information from our old phones to the new ones. We found out we are capable of moving large objects and heavy boxes. Working as a team we moved a metal storage cabinet and table from our front door to the garage, bookcases from the living room to the office. I am getting in my weight bearing exercise every day. I am making decisions on where to store things in the kitchen cupboards, above or below. Some of the shelves are high up and require a ladder to reach them. So stuff we don’t use as often is delegated to the high shelves. We are making progress but still have a ways to go before we are done. We have started to meet our new neighbors. Here is one we met the other day:

Roadrunner image via Death Valley National Park Service

A roadrunner was crossing the street in front of my car. So exciting to see it. I am glad I was able to stop and let it pass safely.

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

Winning Flag

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We made our big move earlier this week but we’re not at the finish line quite yet. We are progressing in increments. We have a garage full of boxes but I am ok with them occupying their present location until we are ready to bring them into the house, one by one. Today I was in the garage identifying the candidates that were the first to move in. I am glad I did label a lot them with their contents, like silverware, kitchen, dishes, utensils, shoes….you get the idea. Would hate to have to open them all to find out what is in them. The ones that aren’t labeled will have to be a surprise.

In addition to boxes, I have large bags under my eyes. Hope to get rid of both soon.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt word for today is ‘flag.’ Featured image of ‘Race Flags’ by Dimitris Vetsikas on Pixabay.com

Moving Day

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I thought I was too busy to write anything but here is a short note. The beginning of the next chapter. We are leaving our home of 30 years and moving to a smaller house. It is the end of one story and the start of another. I’m pretty tired with all the packing. I am the queen of bubble wrap. Next we will start over in reverse and unpack everything. It will take a few weeks to get settled and feel relaxed again. Need to get the internet hooked up and the TV. We were sent a ‘kit’ from the company we are using for internet, cell phone, and TV. The young woman I spoke with from their business office said it would be easy for us to follow the instructions. I’ll let you know how it goes. Right now have to get some sleep.

Making the big move this weekend and tumbling off to the desert. Be back on my blog soon.

Image by BilliTheCat on Pixabay.com

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The prompt today is “the beginning, the end.”

Tres Fatigue

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For our SOCS prompt today we were to “open a book, a newspaper, or whatever is handy and close your eyes and point. Whatever word or picture your finger lands on, make that the basis of your SoCS/JusJoJan post.” I have a book of short writings on self-care. The one for January 22 is ‘Listen to Fatigue.’

I mentioned in my past post that I’m in the process of moving to another house. ‘We are downsizing,’ she said hopefully. In reality, I think we are taking everything with us to a smaller house. Packing up is tiring. One member of this couple has a very hard time letting go of stuff and it’s not me. Oh well, if I am being honest, I would say I have a hard time letting go of some of the stuff. As a result we are taking a lot of stuff to our new place. Today we made an extra trip to the desert to drop off some of it. We made the round trip in one day and I am pooped. On the positive side, it was good getting out of the house and seeing the sky, clouds, hills, and mountains. I have been spending most of my time indoors and have missed out on seeing nature. The beauty of nature always restores me. That and getting some sleep. Good night.

‘Lone Cypress’ (17 mile drive Pebble Beach, California) by Anita Ritenour on Flickr.com

Above is a scene from another very beautiful drive.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill.

Featured image ‘Tired’ by Christian Krohg via wikimedia.org