Author: Wanda

I am a Catholic widow, mother, grandmother, friend and according to my kids just a little bit crazy. My faith is paramount in my life. Spending time with my family, especially my four grandchildren is one of my most treasured blessings. I love Redskins football, Phillies baseball, NASCAR, quilting, genealogy, and am a bibliophile and struggling blogger.

Signs

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 #SOCS June 17, 2017

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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!

 

 

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Signs, signs every where signs.

Which ones to follow, which ones to ignore.

Questions, directions, suggestions, recriminations the signs of our times the signs of our lives.

Stop, go, keep left, keep right.

Did I miss my turn?

Does the road go straight?

I wander through the sea of signs.

Wanda

The Garden

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Daily Prompt:  Blossom

Image borrowed from The Sacred Art of Gardening

I love this time of year.  Every where you look there is a blanket of green in various shades.  Blossoms of beautiful color and scent in bright oranges, reds, purples and soft peaches, yellows, and lavenders invade the earth after winter’s cold storage resting their roots.  Even the weeds sprout little flowers.  I can spend hours outside taking photographs of these wonderful gifts to our world.

This calls to mind that just as these blooms are all different colors and sizes, they live together in peaceful serenity.  Sharing their resources with each other, while enjoying a give and take of space and time.  What a wonderful concept!

We should take a lesson from these lovely little blossoms.  We should be willing to give to each other at least as much as a flower is willing to give to its neighbor in their garden. Just imagine what a world we would have to live in if we did.

This is one of my most favorite quotes.  I think it puts things in perspective.

“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of it’s scent nor the daisy of its simple charm.  If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
― Thérèse de Lisieux

Wanda

2017 Kindness Challenge-Week 6

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I spent my week working on being kind without expecting anything in return just as the challenge specified.  I must admit that it was a lot of fun for me. What I realized is that although I didn’t expect anything in return, the more I expressed kindness to others the better I felt.  And that had nothing to do with the reactions of the recipients.

A feeling of joy grew with each small act of kindness that I extended.  It didn’t matter if the stranger I spoke to didn’t reciprocate. My spirit was lighter and my outlook was brighter.  I could feel the world becoming more peaceful just with that little act of kindness.

The bottom line is that kindness doesn’t cost you anything so give it freely and let joy spread through you.

Wanda

Ghosts of the Deep

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Three Line Tales, Week 72

Floating silently by with tentacles stretched outward toward the sky pulsing, pulsing, pulsing.  An eerie glow radiates through the water creating shadows covering formations down below.  These ghost like creatures look gentle as they are tossed about by the waves of their world, then infringed upon by the outsider strike out and sting.

Wanda

 

Friendly Fill-Ins

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Friendly Fill-Ins, Week 58

1. I challenge everyone to ________________________ this week.

2. I regret disposing of _____________________________.

3. I have a difficult time admitting                                .

4. If I were given a psychic power, I would like it to be                              .
My answers.
1.  I challenge everyone to show some kindness to a stranger this week.  Smile at someone and say hello.  Hold a door open for someone.  Offer to lend a hand with carrying a heavy bag.  Do something no matter how small to show kindness.
2. I regret disposing of my vintage 1950’s yellow Formica kitchen table.  It had a leaf that stored right into the table and was trimmed in green.  The chairs were green and yellow. I loved that kitchen set.  My brother needed a table and chairs for his kitchen and I let him have it.  He moved out of where he was and left it there.  This set had originally belonged to my grandmother, then my mother and father and then when I first got married we used it.
3. I have a difficult time admitting when I am wrong.  No surprise there I guess.  I am sure that is probably the number one answer in this week’s fill in challenge.  I will admit that I have been working on this issue and I have gotten much better at it.
4. If I were given a psychic power, I would like the ability to vividly recall images from memory after only a few instances of exposure, with high precision for a brief time after exposure, without using a mnemonic device.  In other words have an Eidetic memory.
Wanda

Fins, Gills and Arks, Oh My!

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Daily Prompt:  Create

OK,  it’s getting really old.  The rain is still coming down in buckets.  It’s raining cats and dogs.  And…the plans for the ark just arrived by messenger.  Oh sorry, this isn’t weather Saturday is it?

On top of this earth shattering news, I broke my laptop.  It was sitting next to me on the sofa last night when the dog jumped onto the sofa and knocked it onto the floor.  It didn’t hit hard, but it did break off the end of the charging cord that was attached to it.  I tried to get it to turn on, but no luck.

There are many things I can live without, but my computer isn’t one of them.  It is my outlet to create, communicate, educate, and the dreaded pay my bills.  Thankfully, Dottie has a laptop I can use until I can either get a new one or get mine fixed.

What can’t you live without?  Dishwasher, dryer, washing machine?  I am always amazed how we take take things for granted.  Then I read about communities still in existence today who don’t even have running water.  It makes one think doesn’t it?  It becomes my wake up call to realize how truly blessed I am.

Wanda

The Patient In Room 209

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5f152b31630e960c9cde611e770646a0Daily Prompt:  Total

When I was in my twenties I went through a practical nursing program  It was a year long course that was very concentrated and we had very little time off during that year. We had a couple of women who had raised their kids and had put off doing something outside the home.  One of those women was Mary G.  

Mary was in her early fifties.  She was down to earth, had a great sense of humor and very little rattled her.  There were a few of us on the orthopedic floor doing a rotation. Now, when people are injured or sick it either brings out the very best behavior in them or the very worst.  

We were having a run on young guys in their late teens to early twenties who had been involved in motorcycle accidents.  There was this one guy in Room 209.  I don’t think I will ever forget him.  He was a nasty cuss and thought he had no responsibility in his care.  Anyway, one of the younger girls in my class, Betty,  had been assigned to him. Every time she went into his room, he exposed himself to her.  He did everything he could think of to embarrass her.  She would come out of his room so upset.  He even threw his bedpan at her.  I felt so bad for her.

One day he was just merciless to Betty and she was ready to throw in the towel saying she could never get through the program if she had to deal with patients like that.  Mary got wind of what was going on.  The next time this patient rang his bell, Mary said I’ll get it.  Well Betty and I followed her to his room and stood outside the door so we could hear if he was just as inappropriate to her as he had been to young Betty.  

Sure enough, Mary approached the bed and he pulled the covers off of himself to embarrass her.  Mary didn’t miss a beat.  She looked at him, very straight faced and said, “Oh that’s nothing, the guy in the next room has two of them.”  This kid just shut up and covered himself.  Mary was able to totally befuddle him.  Needless to say, Betty had no more trouble with her patient.  

True story!

Wanda