Last week when I was up north I got to hang out with my sweet little grand-kitty and my energetic grand-puppy. Thursday we took Rory to the dog beach, but the tide was all the way in, so we opted for the trail instead of the shore. The trail was full of puddles however, some small ones and some lake-size. The humans and normal doggos naturally avoided the puddles because who wants to get all wet and cold when it’s barely 60 degrees? 🥶
A retriever, that’s who! There could be sumpin in a puddle to retrieve, and Rory was determined not to leave a single puddle unexplored. 😀
Happy wet and dirty doggo! I don’t have actual splashy pics because Rory liked to jump on us after each puddle foray, so I didn’t have my phone out the whole time.
I don’t get the holiday blues… I just get cold. Yep, even in Southern California. Due to a mix of meds, genetics, and lack of exercise, I am almost always freezing 🥶to death. This is depressing because I sit around my apartment huddled in layers of blankets and feel too emotionally paralyzedto get up and move around, which would make me feel better. When I am forced to go out, I do okay, but it’s hard to move around much when you’re already bundled up. Thanks in advance for the advice I know is coming in comments… I’m sure I haven’t thought of any of it before. 🙄
Your favorite beverage (if it differs) during the holiday season? If it doesn’t differ, just answer the ‘what’s your favorite beverage” part.
I love eggnog, especially with booze, but it’s cold and alcohol triggers migraines. 😢 So, the next best drink is delicious hot black tea with orange spice and a dash of milk. This is my favorite drink all year long, btw.
This one has been asked before, but what’s your take on pumpkin spice?
Indifference. Don’t particularly care for it as a beverage, but in muffins it’s yummy… and pie with graham cracker crust! 🥧 I do like the scent of anything pumpkin or apple mixed with ginger/cinnamon/cloves. Not sure why everything is love/hate these days; there are loads of things I mildly like but don’t love, and others I prefer to pass up but won’t freak out about if they end up on my plate. Dial it down. Same goes for politics, music, movies, etc. Not everything has to be so extreme.
Is there is a person or god connected with your holiday?
I am a Jewish atheist, so yes we have the sky guy novel… and no I don’t believe he is real. I am math/science all the way… those are my “faiths.” That doesn’t mean humans know everything or ever will; it just means I don’t feel the need to leap to supernatural explanations for stuff we haven’t been able to figure out (yet). And when it turns out we’ve been wrong about something, we can revise our ideas, unlike some religionists…
• Who are they and do you believe in them?
I don’t believe in any supernatural beings, though they are good material for poetry and fiction. I lump all gods, ghosts, genies, vampires, etc. in the same category. Once you admit one, why not all? Why a god and not a werewolf? 👹
That said, I find militant atheists irritating. It doesn’t bother me that peeps believe in the supernatural as long as they don’t try to convert me or tell me I’m “lesser than” or immoral or whatever. To each their own. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong and there is a god, or a bunch of ’em. But people telling me so won’t convince me. What would? My own direct experience. That’s right. I would need Mr. Big to appear and say hey his own self.
• If you do not believe in these people or gods, does the celebration/honoring of that being, bother you in any way (e.g., ignored, dismissed, angry, etc.)?
Only a few people I know celebrate the Jewish holidays. Mostly I see those around me celebrating Christmas, etc… I think there should be more of that. I love having days off work for other people’s holidayswhen I don’t have to do anything but laze around. I especially enjoy Christmas lights and cookies and sales, along with the fact that I’m not expected to cook a goose or buy anyone gifts.
Gratitude:
Share a song that you enjoy during this Winter season (whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, The Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa and so forth.
I learned a lot yesterday while visiting Alcatraz, the first fact being that it is a National Park, and thus we must follow a gazillion rules while there. No stealing things! If you want a piece of the Rock, you buy one in the gift shop for $14.95.
No leaving litter behind either. You aren’t allowed to eat there, except at the landing area, which I understand. People are slobs. If you let them snarfle up snacks while looking in the prison cells and clomping around, soon the whole place would be filled with potato chip bags and juice boxes. It is kind of a strange place to bring little kids, I thought, but what do I know? The ferry was packed with ’em.
I learned that Alcatraz was first a fort, used to defend San Francisco in wartime. Next, it was strictly a military prison from 1915 to the Depression years. Finally, it was used as a maximum security prison from 1934 to 1963. The worst prisoners were sent to the Rock ~ violent unrepentant men who refused to cooperate in regular prisons.
My daughter and I opted for the audio tour, and I learned that this is a great way to go at your own pace through a museum while still getting info. From now on, this is what I’m going to choose when it’s available. (Usually, I wander cluelessly alone because I don’t like guides rushing me.)
Despite its isolation and security, there were still several escape attempts from the Rock. Escapees who were not found were presumed to have drowned. As shown above, in 1946 a prisoner planned a prison takeover and a battle raged inside the walls for 2 days. There was also an occupation in 1969 for over a year by American Indians who wanted attention for various issues. After that was over, the government began to bulldoze the buildings until Congress made Alcatraz into a National Park.
We didn’t get to see all the flowers and birds that thrive on the island, but that’s okay. The buildings were certainly interesting enough. Mini-factoid: the dining hall was considered to be the most dangerous place in the prison.
My daughter and I had a gorgeous but cold 🥶day in San Francisco! Look at those rain clouds… we returned home just in time. For pizza, that is.
Don’t look, Stan!
If I can’t be in Chicago or New York, my next favorite pizza is Star in Alameda… this is their deep dish spinach mushroom with cornbread crust. So so so good! 😍
Let me tell you about my flight to Oakland last night. I was flying out of Long Beach, boarding time 7:15PM. I left my place at 4:15 for a 20 mile drive because we are talking about SoCal traffic on the 405. It was all a crawl, natch, but still I arrived in plenty of time, checked in, all that. Found out my flight was delayed 20 minutes. No biggie. I began to read a book on Kindle. At least I wasn’t on the Sacto flight, which had been delayed hours.
After a while, they began to give the Sacto peeps vouchers. I bought some coffee. When the vouchers were sorted out, my fight was now delayed an hour. Okay fine. I was 30% done with my book by now. Then we began to board. Found a seat, etc. We were all settled in and the captain came on the intercom to tell us that the power was out in Oakland.
Yep. Planes were trapped on the ground and new ones could not fly in. They were fixing it. When would it be fixed? Dunno. So, I kept reading. Most of the plane was filled with young folks. They all thought this was a great time to talk to each other and chat on their phones. So annoying! Why can’t people just text? The girl next to me called her mom to complain that it was the worst day ever and she was starving to death. To be fair to her, they didn’t serve any snacks on this flight, not even that tiny crappy bag of pretzels.
Finally, at 9:20 we took off. Really, this was only an hour and a half late. I was around 60% done with my book. I’m really glad it was an engrossing story because the flight was bumpy especially at the end. They made the people with beverages give them up about 5 minutes after serving. Oh well. (I didn’t get one anyway.) At least I got here! It was so windy cold and rainy in Oakland though. I was prepared for it, but even so… brrrr.
The arrival line was super busy and my daughter had a hard time finding me even at almost 11PM. But we finally connected and it was awesome to see her and jump into her warm car. And guess what? She brought me a cookie!
For the record, this is a different cookie. They have a whole package in the house. Er half a package… 😍
This is Season 5 of Rory’s themed, no-tag participation game. Anyone who feels like joining in… just do it! 😻
First, we post 3 quotes on the topic (life’s too short to waste).
Next, we share 2 song vids on the theme.
And, lastly, here is 1 of my own photos to illustrate the concept of life’s too short to waste…
This was taken November 26, 2014, but it doesn’t seem like 5 years have passed since I spent Thanksgiving in Berkeley with my daughters when they were roomies and all 3 of us were single. Now they’re married and one is a mommy. I’m so glad we had all those fun times together before they began their own families. ❤️
I’ve been feeling pretty darn proud of myself for dumping so much stuff prior to my move, but even so… there’s a long way to go. The otter day I was staring at my shoes and I thought, hmm, I haven’t worn this pair in ages, these are uncomfy, and those are falling apart. Boom!💥 Three pairs in the trash. Not to mention a couple pair I dumped earlier.
Then yesterday I got the mail and what do I see? Yep, a flyer from DSW. Dammit! For those who don’t know, that’s Designer Shoe Warehouse, aka my favorite shoe store. And they are having a big turkey day sale. Gobble! 🦃
But but but… I still have too much stuff! (Tho ya know I could use some cute white sandals for summer, just saying…) Then I see the sale is for TURKEY DAY ONLY. Oh good! I’ll be gone turkey day, whew. Now I won’t be tempted to buy All The Shooze.
But wait. What do I see in the fine print?
“Use offer code BIGTHANKS to redeem online.”
Big thanks? I think not.
I just tucked the ad into my suitcase. Maybe my daughter and I can shop after pie. 🙄
Yeah yeah… it’s great to have someone to snuggle with as the days grow dark and cold. And who doesn’t want to sneak in a kiss under the mistletoe? 💋
But some of us will be single next week on Thanksgiving… and after that on Christmas (or Chanukah) and New Year’s Eve too. We won’t even mention Valentine’s Day. Oops! I think there are some darned good reasons to be grateful for that… so I made a list. Feel free to add to it in comments! 😀
1. No arguing over whether to spend turkey day at his folks’ place or her folks’ place… or worst possible outcome… volunteering to host the event yourselves!
2. No freaking out over whether your honey is going to think badly of you when he or she discovers that a huge chunk of your family belongs to that political party.
3. No agonizing over what gift to buy for your sweetie… is it too soon to buy a pricey gift? Will he be offended if you get a funny gift? OMG, is her mom going to get me a gift too?
4. Okay, it’s cold, right? And you want to wear big cozy layers of sweaters not sexy little bare dresses… well, guess what? You can! You don’t have anyone to seduce, yay!
5. And no more stress about spending a wad of cash on some stupid NYE event you wouldn’t have enjoyed anyway just to impress a date. Whew! 👍🏻
6. You know all those sappy movies you secretly pretend to hate because you’re adulting? Now you don’t have to be a faker! You can indulge your love of Frosty The Snowman while drinking hot choccy and wearing flannel jammies because the cat doesn’t care.
7. Speaking of hot choccy, we may put on a few pounds over the hols, amirite? But now we can relax about that because no one is gonna be seeing us de-layered for a long, long time. What a relief! 😻
8. Unfortunately, the holidays can be a tense time for romances and many of them fail around now or soon after, but we don’t have to worry about this because we’re all alone, wheeeeeeee!
9. We can make our New Year’s Resolutions all about ourselves… our hopes and dreams and goals for the future, without worrying what a “significant other” might want, and chances are he’ll dump us anyway. 🙄
10. Finally, the best reason to be thankful for being single at the hols is when we wake up alone on January 1, 2020, we can say to ourselves, hurrah, I survived last year without getting married to an axe murderer! 🎉🎉🎉
Welcome to my Friday Flashback! This is a post from a little over 2 years ago. I stripped out the prompt links because some of the bloggers have 404’d.
“This is a very special property,” Bob the broker told the prospective buyers. “You’re basically sequestered with lots of privacy. Only a tiny percentage of homes have such a large back yard.”
Henry the husband nodded enthusiastically. “I can definitely imagine taking a snooze back here by the tranquil koi pond. Why does the owner want to sell?”
Bob made a sad face. “She decided to move back to Japan. Her husband died suddenly and she wants to be with her family.”
“I love it!” Wendy the wife exclaimed. She walked around the back yard and stopped at the pond to peer into it. “Oh look, Henry. Their Halloween display must have fallen in. It’s a man with a knife in his back.”
I’m going to break the rules today and post only one song. This is The Boss’s take on the Woody Guthrie hit “This Land Is Your Land” and it fits all three categories (about my country, patriotic, and has “blue” in it). Enjoy this beautiful version and video. 🙂
Welcome to Thursday Inspiration! This is my weekly prompt post and hopefully it will inspire you to write something creative, perhaps a poem or a piece of flash fiction. If you’d like to share your writing with the community, please indulge me and tag your post with #p0eticlicense and/or #lightm0tifs, and of course link back if you wish. I will try to visit everyone who participates. 🙂
This week’s theme is demon and the picture is below. Here is the song snippet from “Demons” recorded by Imagine Dragons in 2012:
Don’t get too close
It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide
