Anything is Possible!

With Love, Hope, and Perseverance


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SoCS: Enjoyment with a Side of Fear

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “something you enjoyed.” Write about something you thoroughly enjoyed. Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

We’ve had some wonderful weather here lately that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. The air is crisp and the sunshine has made blue, blue skies. My favorite place has turned golden.

Can you thoroughly enjoy something even though there’s a little fear, like when I step outside at night, usually with Marley, to look up at the stars. We have a fenced in yard, and there’s not much to be afraid of except I have such a vivid imagination. Still, the enjoyment definitely reigns supreme over the fear. That also applies to our most recent hike.

There’s enjoyment in knowing and sharing that I MET MY GOAL to hike the Pilot Knob Trail before my 70th birthday next month. We hiked the trail on Tuesday. The weather was perfect with highs in the mid 60s and plenty of sunshine.

The Pilot Knob Trail goes around the base of Pilot Mountain, aka, Jomeokee, which is a “metamorphic quartzite monadnock” sticking up out of the surrounding hill.

Pilot Mountain, aka Jomeokee

Jomeokee means “The Great Guide,” in Native American, likely the Saura tribe that lived in this area. You’re not allowed to climb the big pinnacle, which I might have tried in my 30s, but I enjoyed seeing and touching the rock. Rocks are cool. I collected them in my childhood and even now have a rock or two sitting around on a bookcase or in a dish with seashells in my house. I especially like the sparkly ones.

I thoroughly enjoyed touching and seeing the big rock formations and the views at around 2000 feet, as long as I stopped to look at them. The biggest challenge was not all the steps going up, or even down, but my fear of heights really kicked in when the trail narrowed and I looked out toward the horizon. I’ve always had a fear of heights, and it may be worse now since I have some dizziness issues. Fortunately, my balance is good from doing yoga, and I’ve done some dizziness exercises (need to do more.) I am also grateful for David’s patience and support. He kept asking me, “Where are your feet?” A good question for wandering minds with too much ample imagination. He asked what I was afraid of, and I realized I was afraid of falling. It helped when I actually looked at the nearby slopes and saw they were a little more gradual than my imagination imagined when I looked out in the distance.

David even offered to have me walk on the inside next to the rising walls of Jomeokee with him on the outside. I didn’t like the idea of him being that close to the edge even if the drops weren’t that sheer, but I took him up on it once or twice. David is amazingly fit for 68, plus he was walking Marley on a leash the whole hike. Thankfully Marley was a good boy – he’s about to be 10 this month! I assured David that I wasn’t going to freeze or anything like that. I knew I could do this. I just had to take my time and keep my eyes on the trail and my feet, leaning into Jomeokee when the trail narrowed. I could only look at the views if I stopped in a place where I felt safe which were available many times.

If I do this trail again, I want to have hiking poles and do it at a time when there aren’t so many people. This is peak time for the fall autumn colors, and there were busloads of school kids on the trail. I like kids, but they can be unpredictable. We stopped a lot to let groups pass us.

The gallery has a few photos from the approach and the south side of Jomeokee. I’ll share photos from the north face another time.

I think I’ll enjoy the autumn colors in my comfort zone for a while.

~~~

For more streams,

visit our persevering host, Linda Hill (FEEL BETTER SOON!)

by clicking HERE.


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The Fairies Made Me Write This, and I’m Not Sorry.

Today’s Stream of Consciousness post is: “picture.” Write about, or theme your post on the first picture you see when you sit down to start writing. You don’t need to describe the picture necessarily–you can even put yourself in it if you’re not already there. Enjoy!

Rocky Mountain mist

This is the dominant picture, the one I see first in my bedroom . That’s where I usually write my Saturday SOC posts – the night before Saturday because I’m a night owl, not a morning person.

I painted this picture in high school, copying a photo from National Geographic. Is that legal? Oh, well. But when I painted it way back then in the 70s, it did not have the white flowing over into the foreground. That was not in the photo.

Several years ago, no, many years ago, I think it was an ex boyfriend, who said the painting had too much dark at the bottom. Well, that’s what the photo was like, #*@x …..  Then a few years later, I decided to add the white. Not because I cared what he thought, but because it was fun. What did I add? I don’t know, but they are something like fairies – unidentified floating objects flowing from the mountain mist.

I like adding on to paintings years later when it feels right. It reminds me that we can add to our lives. Add layers, add magic. The painting might seem finished, but life is not finished. Not yet. Maybe when my life, this life, is finished, I’ll go to that place overlooking the misty mountains and dance with the fairies. I’ll stand at the edge and laugh. Then I’ll leap into the air and soar across the opening into the next great adventure!

Until then, there’s plenty of adventure still to be discovered, right here… or out there….

I have a busy day ahead. Wish me luck! 😉

Wait a minute. (I can’t edit, but I can add.) I don’t have to wait until this life is finished to dance with the mountain fairies. Or my backyard fairies. It’s getting late. I must dance soon.

For more adventures in the Stream of Consciousness, visit:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/03/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-24-18/

SOC winner 2017

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!