Anything is Possible!

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SoCS: It’s Not Always Easy to be Hard

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “easy/hard.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you’d like. Bonus points if you get both words into your post. Enjoy!

It’s not always easy to be hard. This is especially true for those who care, for people who are empathic or compassionate. We may have a hard time setting boundaries. But sometimes boundaries keep us safe. If you’ve given a lot already, and it seems like the situation isn’t getting better, then we have to say no.

Well, we don’t have to say no. But maybe we do, because you can’t pour from an empty cup. This may have to do with money, but also it could be about energy or time. We need to set limits.

Sigh. I didn’t mean to start off so serious and general. But the song came to mind, “Easy to be Hard.” It was in the play and movie, HAIR, but I like the Three Dog Night version better, maybe because I listened to it a lot many, many years ago.

In the Bible it says, “Love your neighbor as yourself. ” It does not say, instead of yourself. It doesn’t say more than yourself. It says, “as yourself.” And it wasn’t just in the Bible. It’s something Jesus said in the Bible as the second most important commandment after loving God.

This loving our neighbors as ourselves goes along with including ourselves in our circles of compassion.

Yet there are some people who do find it easy to be hard. Right? Maybe people who are hard and tough feel secure in this habit. Like the current president of the US for example. It seems it’s easy for him to be hard, cruel, and uncaring. After all, what we practice we get good at. Some people become desensitized to the suffering of others. Maybe they always were insensitive or self-centered. I don’t know.

Dang. This is a downer of a post, but sometimes that happens, cause, life…..and mainstream news….

What can I do to turn this around?

In the music video from the HAIR movie, the guy who’s being hard turns around, because his friends convince him to turn around and go back to the mother of his child. You can see that around 3 minutes into the following video. It’s more powerful and personal than the Three Dog Night version. I had forgotten that.

It’s okay to change your mind.

Even Jesus changed his mind about helping the woman who said, even the dogs get the scraps (or crumbs?) that fall from the master’s table.

I had to look that up. It’s in Matthew 15: 21-28. At first, Jesus is hard in refusing the Canaanite woman asking Jesus to heal her daughter. Some might say he was downright rude because the woman was not part of “the children of God.” But when she said even the dogs get crumbs, Jesus changed his mind.

I love that Jesus changed his mind. I love the woman’s courage, and I love that Jesus came for everyone, not just a select group.

~~~

For more streams of consciousness,

visit our host, Linda Hill,

by clicking HERE.


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Plot Twists of Life

 Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “plot.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

We’ may be plodding along (or dancing, skipping, running, whatever) having plotted our course and then something happens we did not expect. It might even be a crisis, or a disappointment. It helps to think of these events as plot twists. Oh great, another plot twist. Another opportunity for growth, or learning some fun new lesson…

The plot twist idea for unexpected challenges is not my idea. I read it somewhere. Seems like it was from someone like Anne Lamott, but I don’t remember. It offers a shift in perspective or detachment when we feel overwhelmed by the change of events.

Could my divorce at the turn of the century have been a plot twist? Maybe in the big picture, I can see that. But at the time, I don’t know if I could have had that perspective. Still, I’d like to remember this for future changes that I don’t like.

On the other hand, why not manifest a positive plot twist, like when I got a FB message from the high school sweetheart I haven’t heard from in 39 years. I suppose if we knew it was coming, it wouldn’t really be a plot twist.

When Mary found out she was pregnant before she got married to Joseph, then saw the angel, those would be big plot twists in her life.

Reminds me of this song.

Who’s writing the story? God, I guess. Yeah, God. But we do have freewill to change our plots and decide how we’re going to react to the plot twists in our lives.

As the sun sets on 2025, here are a few sunsets from our “neighborhood.”

May the plot twists of your life

lead to wonderful adventures

in the new year and beyond!

~~~

For more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday,

visit our host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.


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SoCS: From Buddy and Jovie’s First Date to Jesus Changing His Mind

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “crumb.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

The movie Elf is running in the background as I type this Friday evening. I think there’s a scene where Buddy takes Jovie on a date to a place that has a sign like “World’s Best Cup of Coffee.” Jovie tastes it while blindfolded (she’s pretty trusting on this first date with a weird elf) and says, “It tastes like a crummy cup of coffee.” Or something like that is what I remember from having it on in the background a lot. Yes, I watch movies over and over because familiar movies equal comfort, and I love Christmas movies. My favorites are Last Christmas, Scrooged, The Holiday, The Nativity, and It’s a Wonderful Life, just to name a few.

Well, I just watched Buddy and Jovie’s first date on Youtube and I was wrong. She says “crappy” cup of coffee. If you knew that, then you really know the movie.

There’s another story about crumbs, and I think I might be closer in remembering this, but I’ll look it up to see if I’m close in my paraphrase/recall.

So, Jesus is with his friends, and this woman comes up and asks him to heal her daughter. She’s an outsider, maybe not even Jewish, and Jesus says something like it would be wrong to take food away from the children and give it to the dogs. I think he means the children of Israel, and he’s calling the woman or her people dogs? This is very unusual for Jesus to say something so mean. He is usually unusually welcoming and kind to strangers and foreigners. Maybe he was having a bad day, or maybe he was tired. He was certainly showing his human side.

Anyway, the woman replies that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. Aside from the fact that my dogs have always had way more than crumbs, this was a brave thing for the woman to say back in those times. She was persistent. Her daughter needed healing. And guess what! Jesus was impressed by her faith and persistence and healed her daughter.

Jesus changed his mind. Because a woman, a mom, talked back to him with humility for the sake of her daughter.

If Jesus can change his mind, maybe God can too. I like that kind of flexibility and compassion. I like that Jesus allowed himself to be influenced by this woman (at a time when women and children were like property). I don’t know the timeline in this Bible story, but maybe Jesus became more compassionate after that, more inclusive. Who knows?

That’s my take on it from memory. You can read the verses in Matthew 15:21-28.

Many things are open to interpretation, like whether it’s the world’s best cup of coffee, a crappy cup of coffee, or a crummy cup of coffee.

I love their simple sense of awe.

What are your favorite Christmas or Holiday movies?

~~~

For more streams of consciousness,

visit our host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.


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Relationships, the Universe, and Weird Sci-Fi

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “at the beginning.” Use it any way you’re inspired to. Enjoy!

The first thing that came to mind was that you don’t know what someone is really like at the beginning of a relationship, because people are on their best behavior. But that’s a generalization because there are exceptions. And I’ve written about this before: about how you don’t really know what someone is really like for years, about how I overlooked the obvious red flags at the beginning of my life as a divorced woman sliding into the rebound from hell, about how (ten years later) David and I asked each other a lot of personal questions at the beginning of our second relationship 39 years after our first relationship in high school….

That’s all important personal history full of lessons, but I feel like writing about something different. How about, at the beginning of time? There was something at the beginning of time, just no clocks. At the beginning of the universe, there was God, I believe, but I don’t think God existed in a vacuum. Like the big bang that supposedly started from a tiny…. singularity? I think the theory goes that since the universe is expanding, if we go back in time, it would be compressed into nothingness, but that nothingness had to exist in something.

I think it’s more likely that the universe has always existed in some form. God, too, probably – beyond time. But I guess we need some sense of order in our lives for comfort and we are creatures of habit and schedules. Maybe less so in the afterlife. Who knows?

There used to be a show on late at night that had a restaurant at the end of the universe. What was that show…. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was some time ago (early 1980s?), and I remember watching it, but the only thing I remember right now is there was someone with two heads and one of the heads was lame. Is that right? Did I dream that? I hope not.

Okay. I just looked it up and there is a character like that. Beeblebrox, the ex-president of the universe. Not going down that stream about an ex-president….

I wonder if I should revisit that show. Would I like it more now, enough to remember it?

I stepped out of the stream to go watch a video about The Restaurant at the end of the Universe which is actually one of the books in the Hitchhiker trilogy. I decided it’s too weird to include here. But is that editing? Oh what the heck. I’ll post it below, but it’s weird. Still from my vegan perspective, it’s kinda funny in a twisted way. Reminds me of Monty Python humor. Is that British humor? Is that offensive? Was it the times?

So, here’s a WEIRDNESS WARNING for “What’s Eating You?”

The MC reminded me of Ceasar the MC in The Hunger Games movies

Maybe I should consider the book. But there are so many other books I want to read and so little time. Anyway, I don’t believe the universe will end, but it will certainly change.

Did you ever watch or read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? If so, what did you think of it? What do you think about the universe?

Here’s a weird photo gallery to go with this weird post, starting with Marley and the guy outside the coffee shop.

Weird cloud
old photo from the coast
ruins on a recent hike

Just consider this my Halloween post. 🙂

PS, I’m watching the first episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide which I think may be a little less weird.

~~~

You never know where you’ll end up on the stream of consciousness.

For more streams, visit our host, Linda Hill,

by clicking HERE.


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SoCS: Chipping Away and Old Plates

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “chip.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

What started as a boulder of resentment and anger 25 years ago, must be microscopic by now, having been chipped away at for so long. It began with the end of my first marriage at the turn of the century. It takes some effort now to remember how much emotional pain I felt when my twenty-year marriage ended unexpectedly. In a way, it’s good to remember how much I cried, (in the shower or when the kids were gone) because it reminds me that I can get through anything and how much better my life is now. I had no idea what God’s plan was. It just took time and loving myself well to find out.

Forgiveness is a process. When the hurt is big, chipping away takes time, maybe a long time, but it was necessary to make room for something better than the boulder, or rocks, or cinder blocks of resentment we can carry around.

There are other things we chip away at. Bad habits come to mind. But I don’t really want to go there, except to say that I prepared and practiced a lot to get ready to stop smoking (many, many years ago), but then there came a time when I had to take a leap of faith and be done once and for all.

Sometimes chips are made on things we want to keep. We don’t always have to throw them away. I’ve kept this plate that belonged to my parents for years with a chip on the lower left corner. Just a few weeks ago, I finally put some spackling compound on it. Now, I need to paint it. Maybe I’ll hang it on a wall somewhere since that’s my thing lately.

Having recently found some plates I love at the antique store, I’ve been working on a gallery wall in my dining area.

(I graduated high school in 1974)

I just now thought of potato chips. Chocolate chips. And let the chips fall where they may…. Remember that something better I was making room for by chipping away at the resentment? Well, the something better, aka David, is “all that and a bag of chips.”

Great prompt, Linda!

~~~

For more streams and SoCS rules,

visit our host, Linda Hill,

by clicking HERE.


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SoCS: Time Has a Way of Working Things Out

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “that time.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Remember that time when it seemed like it would take forever to be grown up or for Christmas to come? There was that time when I was 15 sitting in my friend’s bedroom and we wondered if we’d ever have a boyfriend or a real kiss. Then there was that time I thought I’d die because David, my first boyfriend, was moving far away to Connecticut. How would I ever live with him so far away? Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore? He moved on the last day of school in tenth grade. By the end of the summer, I was starting to notice other guys. I did not forget David, but life went on. And on. And on….

The stream of consciousness is stalled in a continuous whirlpool of memories I am self-editing. Why? Okay, there was that time I went skinny dipping in the ocean, and didn’t get caught or eaten by a shark. Lots of close calls in the1970s. My guardian angels worked overtime then. Thank you! very much!

Settled down in the 80s. Worked hard. Got married. Had two kids…..

There was that time when my husband of 20 years sat me down on the couch and told me he was leaving. That was probably the biggest shock of my life. I didn’t know how would live with such a shock. But life went on. And on.

There was that time in the winter of 2011 when I promised myself, I’d stop looking for a partner until my daughter graduated from high school that June. Then maybe I’d have some of my own adventures. Three days after she graduated, David, found me on Facebook. We were married in December of 2012.

Now, time is zooming along. So much water under the bridge. But nothing is wasted. Everything has brought me to this point in time.

Slow down, time! I am content and love spending time with my family – David, my daughter, her fiancé, my son, and granddaughter, and of course the dogs… and the trees… petting Mama Cat, smelling the flowers…

Time and God have a way of working things out.

Since we moved, I’ve been able to spend more time hiking with my daughter, Ayla, like we did Wednesday. She took the last two photos, and I took the ones of the river bluffs, rocks, and moss.

River Bluffs
River Rocks
Tiny tree on mossy log
Mother and Daughter by Ayla
JoAnna of the Forest by Ayla

(More to come on our hike!)

…
For more streams of consciousness,

visit out host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.


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SoCS: The Last Straw and a Close Call

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “straw.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

David and I do not use straws at restaurants because they are usually a waste of plastic. I know there are some people who need straws for medical reasons, and that’s fine, but we generally do without. This has been reinforced by a video I saw years ago of a turtle that had a straw stuck up its nose, and it was so painful to get it out. Ugh. I’ve occasionally made exceptions when I’ve gotten a smoothie and was feeling tired and needy, but I made sure to cut the straw up into little pieces before throwing it away. It’s interesting how often we have to repeatedly decline straws offered by wait staff out of habit. I get the habit thing.

The last straw is the one that prompts a decision to say ENOUGH! Is that the straw that broke the camel’s back? What a terrible image, and I don’t think that would happen anyway. But I digress. I have a history of tolerating a lot of annoying or even toxic behavior until something happens that makes me say, ENOUGH! This happened with the last guy I dated before David. He wasn’t a bad guy, but we were not a good fit. He talked constantly and would go on rants. I hate rants. Hopefully I will not rant about hating rants. Written rants are easier to tolerate because 1. I can take it at my own pace, and 2. I don’t feel the negative energy as much as an in-person or telephone rant.

I do not intend for my close call driving on the winding mountain roads to be the last straw. Having made progress in learning how to drive on those roads to volunteer with homeless dogs, I do not want to give up now in spite of the close call yesterday afternoon. I saw the vivid blue car speeding around the curve downhill toward me. As it approached, I was horrified to see the tires of the blue car had crossed the yellow lines and were in my lane!!! With a slight drop off next to me, I must have still instinctively cringed over as I slowed almost to a stop, gripping the steering wheel, while thinking, this is it. He’s going to hit me. (My stomach is tensing up remembering. Deep breath.) The passing only took a fraction of a second but felt like slow motion as I anticipated a bang, jolt, or a scraping sound.

Miraculously, the cars did not touch.

I have thanked God and the angels many times since then. When I got to a stopping place, I called the sheriff’s office to report what happened. All I knew was the location, direction, and that the car was vivid blue, like a new car color. I figured there aren’t that many vivid blue cars on the road these days, especially in rural areas. I say the driver was a “he,” but don’t consciously remember looking at the driver. Sorry if that’s sexist.

I always slow way down when I approach curves I can’t see around, Now I will be slowing down even more, especially on the close call curve. If someone is behind me, too bad.

The photo below is not the same road of the close call, but it is similar, and I would be on the other side going in the opposite direction with more incline. (I took this photo a couple weeks ago when David was driving.)

Today’s gallery honors angels with a few of the angels I’ve painted over the years… with gratitude. The first one is a small watercolor. The third is alcohol ink on tile. The rest are done in acrylic. Thank you, angels!

Alcohol Ink on Tile
Forest Angel on wood panel

~~~

For more streams of consciousness,

visit our host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.


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An Apology to the World for One-Liner Wednesday

I’m not ashamed to be a US citizen, but I am very embarrassed, saddened, and scared by the current administration of my country’s government. Please know that there are many of us who don’t want this, maybe even most of us.

God, please help us create peace, harmony, and healing

with our neighbors and Mother Earth.

…

One-Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda Hill.

For more one-liners,

visit Linda by clicking HERE.


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SoCS: Just a Spoonful of… Good Magic

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “spoonful.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Spoonful moonful. Lovin spoonful. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, the medicine go dooooowwwwn….

Spoonful goonful. We got us a goonful in chief over here in the US. No spoonful of sugar is going to help that. Do I mourn moonfully? What am I talking about? The stream is real streamy today.

Maybe I’ll settle on the Lovin Spoonful. Do you believe in magic? We need some.

But there’s magic everywhere.

I’m not talking about the hocus pocus magic. I’m talking about daffodils waiting until the time is right to grow up beyond the little green spikes peeping up from the cold ground. Yeah, I know there’s science involved, but it seems like magic. Feels like magic. Maybe science and magic coexist.

Old photo of Daffodils at my parents’ house

Maybe humans can coexist in peace… someday when the world is much brighter. Oooh child. Things are going to get easier. But honestly, I don’t know if that will happen soon. It’s looking a little bleak at the moment on the news. (I watched a little PBS news, must have been feeling strong, I guess. Not doing to do that again any time soonful I hope. But if I were to watch news on TV, it would be PBS since they’re slightly less dramatic.)

But the daffodils are coming. I DO believe in daffodils! Aaaannnd my old poinsettia is sprouting red leaves. The big one is at least ten years old. There are three in the pot. It feels like magic.

Save the poinsettias! (Just keep them away from pets.)

Good magic is what we need. Maybe that’s what prayers are – good magic… and so much more!

God help us.

For more info on Stream of Consciousness Saturday,

visit out host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.


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SoCS: Like a Warm Blanket

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “blanket.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!“

Like a warm blanket. Christmas movies! snowflakes! These are a few of my favorite things. It’s been years since I’ve seen snow, and I hope moving four hours northwest will let me see some. Cast Away is not really a Christmas movie, though there is a Christmas dinner scene and gift exchange early in the movie. It seems like there’s mention of a warm blanket in the monologue toward the end. Let’s see….

Yep, the warm blanket feeling that told him he had to stay alive and keep breathing….

Cast Away came out at the turn of the century which was also the time of my divorce from my first marriage. I was devastated by that divorce, and this monologue helped, because who knows what the tide could bring? Well, about 11 years later, the tide (God/the Universe) brought my first love back to me when we were ready. What had devasted me in the year 2000 turned out to be something good in time. God took something bad and turned it into something good – we made room for something better, after I learned to love myself again.

During the lonely years in between, I remember sitting in the back of my church, feeling very down, and then I felt God’s love wrap around my shoulders like a warm blanket. It was palpable. I’ll never forget that moment. It took several more years of healing before David found me, but that feeling of God’s love, gave me hope that God had a plan. I learned to accept that it might mean me staying single. I could live with that as long as I had a dog or a cat. But God’s plan was better than I could have imagined. I just had to work on me and trust the timing.

May you feel the unconditional love of God/The Universe/Your higher Power,

wrapped around you softly like a warm blanket.

~~~

For the gallery, I typed in warm, blanket and comfort. The middle photo is a painting I did back in those in-between years.

A warm fire
Art by JoAnna
Mama Cat in carrier w blanket

And here’s David and I at the local Masquerade for Mutts. Sort of a Grandmother Nature and the Farmer…

~~~

For more streams of consciousness,

visit our wonderful host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.