Writer’s Workshop: Rod Serling Approved

Published on 11/20/202511/19/2025 by J-Dub3 Comments

Meeting my cousin Wendy in Waterville, Washington ⚡ felt like stepping into the Twilight Zone. 😱At the cemetery, surrounded by the graves of Opa, Oma, her mom (my Auntie Rosie), and the ashes of our Auntie Gert, everything felt both ordinary and impossible.

She was the first biological relative I had ever met in person besides my two children. Such a familiar feeling. Yet how could that be? She looked exactly like her Facebook profile photo. Not sure why, but that shocked me. Maybe because that made her real, not only a fantasy. Her husband, Randy, took unplanned time off work to be with her, which also meant I was no longer a secret.

We sat at a picnic table beneath the tallest trees I have ever seen and talked; it was sustaining and dreamlike in the same instant. Time seemed to fold around us, and for that moment, the world outside ceased to exist.

Written for Writer’s Workshop Prompts: November 20, 2025. 4. Write about a time you felt that you were in the Twilight Zone. The rules and pingback are HERE. Badge/feature image by Patty, http://anothercookieplease.com

As always, more to come.

#1linerWeds. Very Punny

Published on 11/19/202511/19/2025 by J-Dub9 Comments

Well, I haven’t had another increase in bot traffic like Linda. Business as usual over at J-Dub’s Grin and Bear 🐻 It.

I am still easily amused, so I’m sticking with a theme of sorts. It’s the third week in a row where I offer up a pun. Today’s contribution:

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

Ba-dum-tis 🥁

That’s not why I stayed up all night. Insomnia is why I stayed up all night. Or part of the night. I fall asleep easy I just can’t stay asleep. And when I wake up, all I do is think think think think think “did I remembered to latch the gate?” think think think some more …

Though I know, I fell back asleep this morning because I was dreaming when the alarm went off. I have not slept until the alarm went off and what feels like years.

I’ll take that as a win 🏆 Happy Wednesday folks!

The rules and pingback are HERE.

As always more to come.

Tuesday Tunes

Published on 11/18/202511/17/2025 by J-Dub9 Comments

I’m keeping my mouth zipped while I’m still reeling from Sunday’s feast of greatest hits. I’d forgotten how much I loved Thin Lizzy. Sharing A Twofer on this lovely Tuesday: Cowboy Song and Whiskey in the Jar. Hope you enjoy.

Thin Lizzy: Cowboy Song

Thin Lizzy: Whiskey in the Jar

As always, more to come.

Share Your World 🌎

Published on 11/17/2025 by J-Dub15 Comments

Time to get our share on. Thanks, Di, for hosting. The rules and pingback are here.

1. What was the last book you read? Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. I hope I spelled her name right. I double checked it twice. For some reason it’s got the red squiggle. Anyway, on the blog, I have a widget that links off to Goodreads. My non-spoiler review of the book is there if you’d like to take a peek. 🫣 I finished it October 26. This reminds me I need to get a new book from my TBR queue. And I might need to resurrect Friday Book Club if I get back into my reading pattern and have enough to write about.

2. Do you think movies are better or worse than the books they are based on? It depends. But I have this philosophy that I follow, which is always read the book 1st. I’m the kind of reader that escapes and visualizes the words and the people and the places — all of it. When I do watch the movie I compare my version with whatever the movie and TV industry comes up with. I will say more often than not in my opinion they cast terribly. For example, when Rob Lowe played Nick Andros in The Stand, it was a miss. The book has him with dark doe eyes, curly black hair, the exact opposite of pretty boy, Rob. One of the best adaptations I’ve seen was The Notebook because they stayed true to the book.
3. What is the most memorable movie soundtrack or theme to you? That’s a tough one because music hits me in ways I can’t explain especially when I’m watching something. Cop out answer, they’re all memorable and they gut me. Not in a bad way —in a very good way. What I have really come to enjoy is how the soundtrack in certain series takes songs and covers them, Here is a prime example, cover of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by Em Sherman for Grey’s Anatomy: That episode made me ugly cry for sure. And the music just propelled it.

Owner of a Lonely Heart Em Sherman cover

4. Did you enjoy the old musicals (Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Howard Keel, Doris Day etc) I imagine that I would because I love show tunes. But I can’t tell you the last time I watched an old musical. There’s one that comes around at Christmas time. I think it’s called Happy Holidays maybe Holiday Inn?? Bing Crosby is in it, they are like going through the calendar with the different kind of dance and song for each part of the year. That one was pretty good. And this is all from my flawed memory. I’m not stopping to Google it. Maybe I’ll look it up later. Unless someone out there who reads this knows?

Gratitude: I am grateful for achieving some semblance of peace. However, fleeting it might be I won’t take it for granted. Maybe then it’ll stick around a while.

Happy Monday folks. 💛

As always, more to come.

Song Lyric Sunday

Published on 11/16/2025 by J-Dub14 Comments

The theme is most popular song, from a compilation of the greatest hits or “best of.” Thanks, Jim, for hosting this delightful virtual musical feast week after week. The rules and pingback are HERE.

When I mentioned the theme to Greg, he said his first thought was The Best of Bread. And that was my first thought too. Coincidence? I think not. Ha! That’s one of the perks of meeting later in life—comparing notes. It was fun remembering, telling him about our Columbia House records collection. I still have that album, and I even have a turntable to play it on. The term is synchronicity, and we have that in abundance.

So many experiences overlapping with names, places, and dates—almost as if we were living in an alternate universe, parallel to each other until one random day in March 2024 when our lives collided. BANG! ❤
Or, if you don’t believe in magic, we’re people of a certain age, so of course we’d have the same idea.

Whew! That’s a lot of thinking spilling onto the page.

Now to the song. I did not go with The Best of Bread after all. I found a wiki site with a greatest hits reference and, like a kid in a candy store, I wanted everything—a little of this, a little of that. I’m going with “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” by the Moody Blues. HERE is a link to the wiki with the 411 on their greatest hits album. Runners-up would be “Wildest Dreams” (that I’ve played a time or two already), “A Story in Your Eyes” (because yes, we have our father’s eyes), or “Isn’t Life Strange” (don’t ponder too much on that one—just relax and enjoy the ride).

LINK to the lyrics. I only have so much real estate here.
Songwriter: Justin Hayward.

Okay, folks, this is what you get when you fall down the greatest-hits, best-of rabbit hole. Now Lulu Belle and I are off to the races. If by races we mean a leisurely stroll along the SA River. Happiest of Happy Sundays to you!!

*the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (such as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality
—used especially in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.

As always, more to come.

#SoCS – Bubble Wrap and Other Stuff

Published on 11/15/2025 by J-Dub9 Comments

Pop

Pop pop pop pop
Pop pop pop pop

Pop Pop pop pop pop

Pop Pop

Pop

BUBBLE WRAP

That’s what I thought of when I first saw the prompt—my brain full of popping sounds and a distinct, maybe-false memory of sitting on the living room floor unpacking boxes that held my mother’s china, us kids popping the bubble wrap and being told to stop it. Surely I can’t remember a single thing from when I was four. And I’m positive I wouldn’t have been allowed near the breakables. It’s likely the dishes were wrapped in newspaper anyway, since bubble wrap probably didn’t exist in 1968. I should look that up later.

What I do remember—because I was told it over and over—is that I didn’t want to move. And now? Moving is all I want to do. Not move houses but jump out of my skin. I can’t stay still. I walk compulsively trying to escape my demons.

Pop pop pop

I won’t mention the old-fashioned hot-oil method of making popcorn. I’ve talked about that a lot here on the blog because it’s the perfect example of how my addled brain runs on overdrive all the damn time. Oh wait! Too late. I just did.

Anyway, time to get going. Happy Saturday folks, hope it’s a good one.

Written by J-Dub for The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Nov. 15, 2025. The rules and pingback are HERE. Join us for the fun.

As always, more to come.

Friday Feels Continued

Published on 11/14/202511/14/2025 by J-Dub6 Comments

It’s odd how songs “find” me just when I need them. As I end my walk, this gem reappears on my Sirius app. Best $4.99 a month I ever spent! An oldie but a goodie. 1978 was an awesome time in my life. Fast forward to 2025, wish I could believe you Pablo 🤣

Love Will Find a Way

Then comes this song 🎶 …

Alone Again (Naturally)

Thank goodness I have therapy today 😉 🖤💔🖤

I tell ya folks, the music heals me … to know others have felt just like me before and they’ve made songs about it. I feel (dare I say) normal. And if I’m still a weirdo then some of you are too. 🤣

Wishing you a peaceful Friday 💛

Friday Feels

Published on 11/14/202511/14/2025 by J-Dub2 Comments

This is post 2650th day in a row. I almost skipped today but my compulsive nature propels me. I think 🤔 I’ve said all I need to say though I know in my heart of hearts I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’ll go back to being F.I.N.E. navigating to a safe space where I can share. But today, I let the music to the talking.

The Things You Do For Love 🖤

Instead of more to come, might be time to say enough. It’s too much. 🥺 That’s not a hint or me being dramatic. It’s me saying I need to quit overthinking.

Writer’s Workshop: Convert

Published on 11/13/202511/12/2025 by J-Dub2 Comments

I hope you know that if I let you see behind my mask, you’re special.
I’m sorry if it doesn’t feel that way, but it means I trust you enough
to show the real, ugly me.
My trust doesn’t come easy.
And when it’s broken, my walls go up—
and the mask goes back on.
Do you like me better that way?

___________________________________

Convert

Self-reliant, yes.
Self-regulated, no.
I’m the hot mess express.
Love me or leave me.
Survival is easy;
the rest, impossible.

To convert chaos
into calm
takes more than will—
it takes surrender.

But I’ve never given up
at anything in my life.
I’m a fighter.

Hearts given away, but not by our choice
learn rhythm through ache.

Wear a mask
to hide your pain.
Keep going,
not from strength,
but to stay alive.

Self-reliant, yes—
because who else will hold me
when the ground won’t?

Alone in a crowd.
Praying for peace.
Believing I am worthy of love—
that’s the wound
that never quite closes.

And still,
I move forward,
step by fragile step,
holding light within,
broken, yet somehow whole.

Written for this Week’s Writer’s Workshop Prompts: November 13, 2025. 1. Write a post inspired by the word convert. The rules and pingback are HERE. Badge/feature image by Patty, http://anothercookieplease.com

As always, more to come.

#1linerWeds. Very Punny

Published on 11/12/2025 by J-Dub4 Comments

Wow. I rarely look at my dashboard but after Linda shared hers I took a peek. On 11/9, I had a 632% increase in traffic. Bots were indeed busy that day. I have no idea what that means though except they’re running off good people as blogs are being closed.

To the main event, we have travelers visiting the office this week. This one liner comes from my Cleveland based colleague. He says he told me the joke because he knew I’d laugh. 🤭 No eye rolls from lil Jilly. Forever easily amused 😄

Drum roll puhleese ….