Tag Archives: Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Stream Of Consciousness Saturday-Seabiscuit

A most inspiring true story. The story of a courageous race horse named Seabiscuit.

Seabiscuit is one of the most famous race horses in America. He was ranked one of the top ten race horses in the 20th century. I first read the whole story about Seabiscuit in Laura Hillenbrand’s book of the same name. It is a wonderfully inspiring story about an unlikely race horse hero and his entrepreneurial owner, horse whisperer trainer, and slightly overweight and partially blind jockey. Seabiscuit captured my imagination when I read his story and that of the American public during the dark times of the Depression. Laura Hillenbrand’s story is pretty inspiring as well. She suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and is often confined to her home. She wrote another book about an unstoppable WWII hero Louis Zamperini called, “Unbroken.” It is the amazing story of his survival as a POW of the Japanese after his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Both books are highly recommended by me.

Here is an interesting documentary about Seabiscuit via Horse Racing on you tube:

|LindaGHill|

Stream of Consciousness Saturday-To Heal

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“Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember. To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.”
― Linda Hogan

There are many synonyms for the word heal. Recover, be out of the woods, get back on your feet, bounce back, feel oneself again, pull through, and restore, are some. I have felt wonder and gratitude for my body’s ability to heal. There is nothing better, after having a bought of illness, than to feel myself gaining strength and feeling good again.

I have had some major challenges to my health and had to undergo major surgery two times and literally gone off a cliff in a car. So I have some good examples of our body’s ability to heal. I feel vulnerable writing about this because I do not want to be seen as damaged. I know people turn away from those of us who have had cancer.

I underwent major surgery for lung cancer two times in a 4 year period. In between those times my husband and I were in a major car accident which could have easily killed us both. I was terribly wrenched and bruised with 3 broken ribs from that accident. Each time I underwent surgery I was very frightened. Even though or maybe because I was a Nurse my fears were magnified. One brother-in-law, who is a MD, told me after the first surgery that this type of surgery is one of the most brutal and worse than cardiac bypass because of what they do to the body during the surgery. I am glad he did not tell me this before I went into surgery. I remember asking one of my RN friends about how they operate on the lung when you are breathing. I was not familiar with how the surgery was done and she worked in ICU and knew about these surgeries. She told me they put a tube in your windpipe and collapse the lung before they start. The recovery from this type of surgery is rough. But even a few days after I felt my strength and would get up by myself in the hospital at night to go to the bathroom.

About 4 years later, after the second surgery, there were several wild fires in the LA area. The location of one of the fires was not too far from the hospital I was in. During the second night, after surgery, I could smell the smoke coming into my room through an air vent. I thought this is so great for someone who has just undergone lung cancer surgery. I asked if something could be done. They could not move me or get ahold of anyone in engineering. Hospital beds are on wheels. So I got up and moved my own bed away from the vent.

The recovery from the second surgery was harder as I had been told it would be. I think part of that was my stomach does not tolerate pain medication. I really needed the medication but it wrecked my stomach and I ended up with trouble sleeping not only because of pain but because of terrible heart burn.

But I did recover from both of these surgeries. My body healed.

I do not have to go through major surgery to appreciate my body’s ability to heal. I do appreciate it even when it heals from minor illnesses and injuries. It is a kind of miraculous thing this great strength and ability to heal with which we are born.

My husband has pointed out to me that the visible scars of my lung surgeries have faded quite a bit. Another demonstration of the body’s healing powers.

|LindaGHill|

Moonstruck

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“Mentally deranged by the influence of the moon…dreamily romantic or bemused.”–Dictionary.com

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I. (Rodgers & Hart)

When he talks he is seeking
Words to get off his chest.
Horizontally speaking
He’s at his very best.

I love the film Moonstruck starring Nicolas Cage, Cher, and Olympia Dukakis and written by John Patrick Shanley. It is a romantic comedy where the main character Loretta ,(Cher), is afraid to get involved with Ronnie, (Nick Cage) ,the brother of her fiancé, because it goes against the rules. When she married her first husband she felt she did not follow the expectations of society and waited to have a baby. When her husband was killed she felt it was because she broke the rules. So Ronnie says to her in response:

” Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn’t know this either, but love don’t make things nice-it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die! The storybooks are bullshit. Now I want you to come upstairs with me and get in my bed!”

” We aren’t here to make things perfect…we are here to ruin ourselves and break our hearts and love the wrong people and die!” I love that quote.

In the movie Loretta goes through a physical transformation from a dowdy looking woman to glamorous as she readies herself to meet Ronnie at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for a performance of La Boheme. A beautiful opera by Puccini.

I don’t think we are here to make things perfect either or to be perfect. We struggle and suffer and flail about a lot and try to do our best many times but we are not perfect.

This is for Stream of Consciousness Saturday with the prompt “sick”. It made me feel a little qualmish to write about “sick” so I decided to pick a synonym.

Tangerines are from Tangiers

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For Stream of Consciousness Saturday we are given the prompt to write something that includes the letter “t.” I am reminded of tangerines.

Every year at Christmas we hung up our special decorated Christmas stocking that our mother had made for us and labeled with our names. On Christmas morning we found our stockings filled with tangerines, whole walnuts and candy canes. I carried on this tradition when my kids were little and would include chocolate and small toys. I left out the whole walnuts for my kids.

Tangerines got their name from Tangiers, Morocco where they originated. The season of tangerines is from autumn to spring. Citrus fruit would have been considered a delicacy for many people in the world. After better transport became available citrus in winter was more common.

I remember growing up that citrus from California was considered a special gift along with dried fruit and dates. There was a company called Mission Pak which shipped gift packs of oranges, dried fruit, dates and nuts to people in other parts of the country. We used to hear their jingle all the time around the holidays. It went “Say the magic words, say Mission Pak and it’s on its merry way! No gift so bright, so gay, so light, give the Mission Pak magic way!”

Later in my life, after I had moved to LA, I would see gift packs like these at the Farmers Market on Fairfax. Tourists would buy them or have them shipped as gifts.

Did you get tangerines or oranges in your Christmas stocking? Do you remember Mission Pak? I really like the little Clementines that are seedless. They are a nice size for kids to have for snacks and no worry about spitting out or swallowing seeds.

|LindaGHill|

My Excuse with a Few Synonyms Added

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I can’t submit my post about the word “excuse”

because my dog ate my lap top.

And I don’t have a dog.

Can you let that slide?

It is not a cop out.

Will you let me off the hook?

I am really having trouble with this prompt.

This is my apology.

For not having a post.

Can you hear my plea?

This is my plea bargain.

I promise to write something better after New Years.

|LindaGHill|

Swift Water Rescue Has Your Back

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For my Stream of Consciousness Saturday post I decided to write about a local stream, the LA River. Our prompt today is to use the word “back” in our post.

The Army Corp of Engineers created a cement channel for much of the LA River. The process is called channelizing. This was meant to control flooding. What happens when we have a big rain is the river turns into a bullet train of water as it races through the channels like a gigantic water slide. Invariably some foolish, careless or uninformed people decide to go down to the river and are swept away. The LA Fire Department has a Swift Water Rescue Unit that will come to the rescue. People have died in past years despite desperate rescue attempts. Here is a story from the LA Times about the rescues from the recent storm which includes some video.

The Ventura County and LA Fire Departments, Police and Sheriffs Departments and the officials of other Southern California communities have been busy with a swift water rescue of 2 people, evacuating people from their homes and rescuing people trapped in their cars in mud slides along the Pacific Coast Highway.

In all these life threatening situations our Fire Departments, Police and Sheriff Departments really have our backs. We need to be aware of nature and potential threats in our environment and stay away from natural water channels, creeks and rivers during or after storms.

Video via news10d You Tube of Firefighters getting ready for rescue:

|LindaGHill|

Be Present

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I hear this a lot these days, ” Be Present.” Which means be in the now. Don’t live in the past or worry about the future. Stay focused on what is happening in the moment. I have read books about this philosophy and can agree it is good to be aware of what is going on around you in the present. If you get too caught up with worries about the future and distractions or brooding about the past your present life can just pass by without you being there.

I have experienced being in the now or being mindful of what I am doing. There are times when I am very relaxed doing a mundane task like washing dishes and can just be focused on that simple act and not be thinking of so many other things that have happened or may happen in the future.

Blogging has been a distraction for me recently. I am reading so many posts and trying to be mindful of what the author is communicating. It becomes a distraction from my own life when it is consuming a bit too much of my day.

Today I had a respite from the blogging world. The electric power was shut off in our area due to work being done by the utility company. Even after the power was restored to my house our internet service was disrupted even longer. I did not want to use my cell phone battery up to go online.

Besides that I have been fighting a cold and so felt I should just rest and take some herbs. I did something today I haven’t felt like doing much of lately because I have been reading so many posts. I actually sat down and read a novel. If I get into a book I can finish it in one day and that is what I did today. I read a new book by Jodi Picoult called Leaving Time. It is a mystery about a young teenage girl whose mother disappeared and she wants to find out what happened to her mother. I really enjoyed getting back to reading a book again.

That was my way to be present in my life today. I took a break from the internet, drank special herbal tea and took my herb tincture, rested and became more engaged in my “normal” everyday life.

I hope to enjoy a different present tomorrow. As part of my birthday present my husband and I are going to drive up to Santa Barbara. It is not far from where I live and part of the drive takes you along the ocean. It is a beautiful view. The distance is just right for a day trip.

I will be easy to be present to enjoy a present like that.

Santa Barbara County Courthouse by Konrad Summers

City of Santa Barbara

|LindaGHill|

SoCS Saturday Incense and Peppermints

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I really like a lot of music from the 60s. When thinking about the prompt the song Incense and Peppermints by The Strawberry Alarm Clock came to mind. It’s funny but at first I was imagining church incense. Thinking what would rockers want with church incense. Then I remembered they are talking about those little sticks of incense. And probably high on something and enjoying their heightened senses of taste and smell.

So here we go. Let’s get groovy dudes:

|LindaGHill|

|Nano Poblano| dude!

SoCS Water-Light Night Rain

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After complaining about the gray weather and no rain predicted it did start to drizzle and rain lightly in the evening. Then later that night I heard that dripping noise outside again. I opened the patio door to check and turned on the patio light.

It was raining. Not heavily. But raining a slow gentle quiet wonderful dripping rain. The drops making a slow soft splashing noise in the pool and on the patio. What a wonderful sound.

There is that nice wet smell of the earth. And the smell from the smoke of a neighbors chimney.

We need a lot more rain in California.

|Nano Poblano|

and my friend |LindaGHillSoCS|

SoCS-Memento Means Remember

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The origin of the word memento was, according to Thesaurus.com, from “c.1400…in the Canon of the Mass which began with the Latin word memento and in which the dead are commemorated.” The Latin word memento means remember. The English definition is: an object that reminds us of a person or event. Two synonyms for the word memento are a souvenir and curio.

We have a curio cabinet that belonged to my husband’s maternal grandmother, Nana. We acquired it when she died several years ago. Some of the items we kept in it were hers or gifts from her as well. The cabinet and some of its contents are our mementos of her.

When we were putting in new floors in the living room the furniture was being moved around and the curio cabinet tipped over and the mirror inside shattered. I was upset because this cabinet meant something to me.

It has been lying on its back on an old table ever since while we try to decide what to do with it. My daughter said it looked like it was waiting for surgery. A brother-in-law said it looked like a coffin. This evening I did have some candles on top of it for Halloween which goes along with the coffin image.

The broken curio cabinet reminds me how fragile things are and that they do not last forever. Although I may not always have this memento of Nana we will still have our memories of her and her love.