Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
It’s hard to improve upon the John Lennon verse when I want to combine above and below. He wrote this in 1971, which was 40 years ago. Forty years! Yet the lyrics still sound fresh to me ~ fresh as a garden, green after the rain, bursting with promise. Whether you believe in something “else” or not, we still have to live here for a while, and it would be good to take care of each other and keep our earthly house as clean and shining as we can. šāØ
PS: Cyranny correctly points out it has been FIFTY YEARS!!! š³š³š³
If the government offered to suspend all laws, and law enforcement for 24 hours, letting you (and everybody else) do whatever you wishā¦ Would you be in favor of it, or not?
I’m not in favor of this! Why would a law-abiding citizen ever desire this scenario when criminals are brazen enough as it is? I want MORE law enforcement, not less.
What would be the creepiest thing you could say while passing a stranger on the street? (Weāre suspending the whole social distancing and Covid involvement in this scenario)
“They have us surrounded.”
As a child, what did you think would be great about being an adult, but isnāt as great as you thought it would be?
Romantic love.
What, in your opinion, has been blown way out of proportion?
Romantic love. I’m better off giving up any hope of it, since it never works out (for some of us). That said, I still enjoy good romcoms and romance novels.
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? Thatās what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). Iāll pick a topic thatās on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bobās yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
WTF is going on with recipes? I vaguely remembered a delicious red cabbage & apple side dish I made back as a Mad Housewife, and since we have a red cabbage here that needs to be used, I tried to find the recipe. Must have tossed that cookbook. So I googled for red cabbage+apple+onion+raisins (the main ingredients) and got a zillion hits. Most recipes go like this: “In the beginning, there was nothing. Then God sprinkled some sea salt and it was good. [87 paragraphs later] My grandma walked 5 miles in the snow with a bag of apples… [342 paragraphs later] Here are the ingredients you will need for the braised cabbage…”
Eff me sideways, amirite? Why do we need to start back at the Big Bang to make a danged veggie dish? I hate to think what would happen if I googled chicken & dumplings, which in fact I had a dream about last night (writing this on Saturday afternoon). I don’t want to read about how the cabbage is good with snausages either! JUST.TELL.ME.HOW.TO.MAKE.THE.FOOD!!!!!
Beyond that, the recipes are all so foofy, when I finally get to them. Kosher salt, star anise, caraway seeds, gah! That’s not how I remember the simple cabbage dish I made 20 years ago. In any case, I found a reasonable recipe on Serious Eats, though I am not putting garlic in my braised cabbage tonight. Love garlic, when appropriate, but this is a sweet & sour side dish, not a freaking lasagna.
My smile for this week is about painting. Iām loving my hobby and did two new pictures over the holidays. The above was supposed to be wildflowers, but I did my purples too low and the whole thing looks like half of an octopus. The turquoise I mixed is so pretty though, isnāt it? No more spatter-paintings! That stuff gets everywhere. š„“
Next, hereās a meadow under fluffy clouds, except I blended my sponges too much and my clouds donāt look distinctive. Sad. This one didnāt use brushes… sponges and Qtips! Iām happy with the field of flowers. š¼šøšŗ
Standing in the corner used to be a punishment in the old days. Sometimes Mom would make you go stand in the corner and stare at the wall. I guess we were supposed to think about the bad thing we allegedly did and feel remorse. OH NO NOT THE CORNER! The blank white wall had no distractions to keep us from knowing we were bad. BAD! Not like the flawless wall. And that 90 degree angle was always so judgmental. Look how perfect I am, preened the corner. All day, every day, I do my job and keep these two walls in line so the ceiling can stay on and voila here’s a room, which connects to other rooms to make a house. A house where you’re safe from rain and snow and tigers and dinos and monsters from the deep. Do I quit my job when I get bored? Nope. I just stay right here, as I should. But what do you do when you’re bored? Fling your toys all over, smack your sister, feed noodles to the dog… Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You should be. Go apologize to Mom and help her clean up. That’s a good kid. I’ll be here next time. And forever. Unless, you know, there’s a bomb or an earthquake or something.
What a weird year. I can’t complain too much because my work hasn’t suffered, plus most importantly no one in my immediate family/friends circle has caught the thing. And though I miss my daughters a lot, I did get to see them (and my SILs and grands). My last visit with the grands in Los Angeles left a lot to be desired ~ brief, masked, outdoors. But still, I did get to see them, which is more than some can say. I feel for you peeps! I hope you are managing to find some joy in the season despite all the restrictions. š
So, let’s talk about writing. Unlike some, my WordPress experience this year has been relatively GRRRR-free (so far). A few glitches have occurred, but none of the constant annoyances other bloggers have mentioned. (I hope WP straightens that stuff out for you ASAP.) I’m happy with my blog, the app, and the writing community I’m part of here. As I said the other day, my posts have changed a little this year, in that I’m trying to avoid being repetitive (so I’m saying it again) and want to present higher-quality fiction and poetry. I plan to continue my two prompts: Tuesday Story and Thursday Inspo. Posts for both have been scheduled through the end of February because I am the Empress of Efficiency and Organization. I hope you will participate in one or both, and if you have been participating ~ thank you! š
I have zero plans to begin writing a new novel or poetry collection or to finish up any of my romance novels in progress. Bleh. So out of that mood lately. I do have another novel (actually a collection of longish short stories) that I may work on again at some point. The whole thing is interconnected and complex, so it takes a lot of focus. It is within the realm of possibility that I can gather up the scraps of my wandering attention long enough to concentrate on editing what I have and adding to the collection. We shall see.
As mentioned, I’ve been writing on Medium. It’s an interesting experience. There is a lot of cool stuff there ~ I recently read articles about ants and prime numbers and election integrity, along with a great Christmas short story and a whole bunch of awesome poetry. It’s all so inspiring! Tons of the articles are meta ~ writing about writing, how to make money writing, tips on increasing your page views and follower counts, yada. I’m not too excited about most of that, although a few have been helpful. Mostly, I want to read and write fiction and poetry, as always. I do offer the occasional humorous essay, or at least I believe Iām slightly funny anyway. š
Alrighty then. Hope everyone has a good or at least tolerable day.
1. Why do they say āItās not rocket science?ā Because they’re being mean and snarky.
2. Do you feel that everyone has an artist in them? Everyone has a spark of creativity ~ it could reveal itself in art or writing or decorating or cooking or even modes of thinking.
3. Do you prefer writing during the day orthe evening? If I could, I’d write all day, though probably not super late at night usually.
4. Do you hoard clutter or constantly de-clutter? De-clutter. I hate mess and the accumulation of junk.
5. Are you a confident person? It depends on the situation. I’m confident in things I’m good at, such as writing, editing, playing board games, making friends with little kids and doggies and kitties, etc. I’m not confident at dating or anything athletic, since I’ve constantly failed at those things.
6. What is a hobby you wish you had more time to enjoy? Painting!
Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? Thatās what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). Iāll pick a topic thatās on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bobās yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!
And here we are again in a world gone mad. I find it helps to focus on the little things, like soap. Actually, maybe soap is not so trivial when we’re washing our hands 857 times a day. Right? So, I’m all for helping out small biz and non-name brands, but wtf is it with hand soap dispensers that the minute you stray from the meganormous corporations, you get crappy dispensers that don’t work? It drives me nuts! Softsoap (owned by Colgate-Palmolive), Dove (Unilever), and Dial have no issues. You buy the bottles, you twist open the cap whatsit, and they’re good to go until the last sud ~ hey, why can’t I have one sud? Why is it always suds? Annoy! Anyway. When I try off-brands like Meyer’s or Trader Joe’s or whatever, the cap whatsit either fails immediately or soon after opening. Right now, in my bathroom, I have an almost full bottle of Meyer’s with the cap mechanism lying off to the side because it quit working. Now, I’ll end up wasting soap because I pour a blob into my hand, which is always too much. Also, Trader Joe’s shampoos are annoying in similar ways ~ the bottles are made of some material that’s hard to squeeze and the conditioner is too thick to get out of the container without massive pounding. This all hurts my poor hands.
I know people in actual cold places arenāt going to believe anyone could be cold in the following climate…
Well, Iām freezing. It was 48 at 8am when I went to Target and itās 63 right now in my apartment. I donāt put the central heat on because it makes my skin so dry and my eyes so itchy. I use a space heater though, which doesnāt dry out the whole place. At work, the office building heat doesnāt seem to affect me like house heat. Idk why. Also, I donāt remember house heat in NY/NJ/IL being so drying and awful, but I was a lot younger then.
