#1linerWeds. 11/30/22

Not sure what it says about me but I laughed at this … survival of the fittest.

What do you get when you cross a polar bear with a seal? A polar bear.

HERE are the rules and ping back.

Share Your World ~ 11/29/22

Di gives us the questions & I toss in my two cents. HERE are the rules and ping back. Join us in the fun!

1. Do you have any family traditions? Kind of but they’ve mostly gone by the wayside. I’m into the intangible now. The traditions were stressful and now we can just enjoy each other’s company.
2. With December on its way, have you ever been carol singing? Ooh but of course. I was in the children’s choir at church & the glee club in school. I’ve been belting out the Christmas carols for a while now. Back in the day we started practicing for Christmas right after Halloween. Guess I’m still practicing.
3. Do you decorate your home for the Christmas holidays? First year that we aren’t doing anything other than my small ceramic tree & our nativity. Less is more. See 1. Above.
4. Do you enjoy the Christmas rush for preparations and shopping? Nope even before I became Ms. Grinch, preparing & shopping stressed me out. See 1. & 3. Above. ☺️

Gratitude: Our friends in the US have just celebrated Thanksgiving. I’m most thankful for my family.

As always more to come.

haiku – fable & fire ~ 11/28/22

set her mind ablaze

unbelievable fiction

truth hard to swallow

Awesome prompt words fitting my mood. Subbed ablaze for fire & fiction for fable. Yesterday I wrote my heart out while basking in the sun. Hard truths are actually healing ❤️‍🩹. Though I’m still making stuff up in the absence of evidence. Filling in the holes in my heart.

Rules and ping back. #438 challenge.

#SLS ~ 11/27/22

Thanks Jim for hosting. The prompt is Motown songs. Yes!!!! I got a good one. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Songwriters: Nickolas Ashford / Valerie Simpson. Performed by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell. Hope you enjoy!

Listen, baby, ain’t no mountain high
Ain’t no valley low, ain’t no river wide enough, baby
If you need me, call me, no matter where you are
No matter how far, don’t worry, baby
Just call my name, I’ll be there in a hurry
You don’t have to worry

‘Cause baby, there ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you, baby

Remember the day I set you free
I told you, you could always count on me, girl
And from that day on I made a vow
I’ll be there when you want me some way, some how

‘Cause baby, there ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you, baby

Oh no darling, no wind, no rain
Or winters cold can stop me baby
No, no baby, ’cause you are my love
If you ever in trouble, I’ll be there on the double
Just send for me, oh baby

My love is alive, way down in my heart
Although we are miles apart
If you ever need a helping hand
I’ll be there on the double just as fast as I can

Don’t you know that there ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you, baby

Don’t you know that there ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough
Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough

Sunday Reflections: A Week in Review ~ 11/27/22

Well I was off all week & for the first time in a very long time, I didn’t check in at work once. Yep. Shocker I know considering I’m usually a workaholic. But older & wiser Jilly knows I’m not missing out on anything. Come Monday, everything will be right as I left it. No worse for the wear.

I dropped off my car for service the Friday before vacation & was without a vehicle until Tuesday. I got the car back temporarily while a part is on order. This intake air thingamajiggy isn’t supposed to be a big deal. Well today it was when I stalled out at St. Mary’s & IH 37. Panicking, I turned the key again & it re-started. I made it home somehow expecting the car to die right there on the highway. B says the air intake really shouldn’t cause the car to stall so either it got absolutely no air which is odd or something else is wrong. My bet is on something else is wrong. Ugh. It’s always something.

On a positive note, Lulu & her beau took engagement photos yesterday. So cute!! His mom came along too, just the 4 of us. I’m glad Lu didn’t want the whole elaborate professional thing. This is kind of like the person who does their own painting. Better if left to the professionals. I know that my candid shots aren’t better. They’re bursting with love though. Some were too blurry to even use. But oh well, I like those the best. Here’s a small gallery. Followed by the roll call.

• 11/26/22 – #SoCS
• 11/25/22 – Friday Book Club
• 11/24/22 – Thursday Thoughts
• 11/23/22 – #1linerWeds.
• 11/22/22 – Share Your World
• 11/21/22 – haiku
• 11/20/22 – #SLS

Peace y’all. Until next time. Stay safe.

As always, more to come.

#SoCS ~ 11/26/22

Good morning folks. The lovely Linda G Hill writes & I copy paste: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “on your/my plate.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun! HERE are the rules and ping back.

On my plate … hmmm no idea because I’ve been vegging out since 11/18/22. Not a thing on my plate. A true vacation instead. Oh how I needed to break away. I’ve had so much on my plate lately that I was about to implode. Thankfully this time away to recharge has me back on track. Hope this feeling lasts.

Later today, weather permitting, Lulu & her fiancé will take engagement photos. Not professional photos but candids by Jilly. Like what we did for her senior pictures. No stress, no fuss. Guess that’s technically what’s on my plate.

As always, more to come.

Friday Book Club: J-Dub’s Review of Wild Game My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur

Sidebar before the review. For the first time in I can’t remember when, I didn’t read enough of the 2022 popular books to vote in Goodreads best of … In all the categories combined, I read only one of the books in the running. Guess I need to read more or pick from contemporary selections more often. I’ve already met my goal for 2022 since it is an easy achievement to read one book per month. My SMART goal = Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bound. My day job interferes & while I can usually get in two books a month, I’ve been a bit aimless & unable to concentrate lately. Excuse excuses.

This book is a memoir & I have strict rules about giving my two cents to something so personal. This story reads like fiction though. Borrowing from one reviewer, the prose is absolutely beautiful. My oh my can the author paint pictures with her words. I love her nickname – Rennie short for Adrienne. Because y’all know I’ve got a thing for nicknames. I collect them & give them out handily.

As I always do when reading, I internalize to my story & try to imprint something useful in my life or to escape my life. This time, I didn’t have to look far. Encouraged by her stepmom to do so, Rennie begins to read, then discusses the books afterwards. This brings her much need respite. She uses note cards to write quotes & factoids about how the words integrate into her own life. I have always done this for as long as I can remember. It is called keeping a commonplace book. The only difference is she used index cards to my journals. A friend eventually gives her a tin box like for recipes to organize the cards. There is symbolism there since Rennie’s mom, Malabar was a chef. I ❤ this so much!! At the heart of it this book is a story of family & the ties that bind. Relationships taking on lives of their own. The heart wants what the heart wants & be damn the consequences. Her mother putting it loosely is a piece of work. That’s where I will stop because you know, not my business to judge.

Now for a few quotes from my commonplace book. All quotes except one noted below are attributed to the author

• When you lie to someone you love … you lose the only thing that matters, a possibility of a real connection.
• Loneliness is not about how many people you have around you. It’s about whether or not you feel connected. Whether or not you’re able to be yourself.
• It was as if a lifetime’s worth f emotional chutes & trapdoors installed for self protection decades ago had malfunctioned in a spectacular way.
• Memory is an odd curator.
• But time didn’t stop there; instead it kept scrolling backwards.
• Let everything happen to you / Beauty & terror / Just keep going / No feeling is final. ~ Rilke
• Why is it that an insult stays with you forever, whereas love & praise passes through you like water through a sieve?
• If there is one truth that I’d learned from all my reading, it was this: Happy endings do not apply to everyone.
• Our allegiance had always been to Malabar, not each other; we’d grown up like vines willing to strangle each other for sunshine.
• Time leaped erractically: slow days, fast months, winged years.

Definitely a recommended read. Peace be with you. Until next time.

As always, more to come.

Thursday Thoughts ~ 11/24/22

Scheduling this post now so I can be present on Thursday. We already had our traditional feast last Sunday. We took plates to the in-laws. As far as they’re concerned, everything is day by day. In-home care has been lackluster so far. Mostly no show to a point where they’ve decided to part ways with the service. That truly scares me.

In another life, we’d be on vacation. But someone has to watch the pups. Used to be PoPo would feed them while we were away but this year is the first year he physically can’t. We could put them in doggy daycare but we’ve never done that before & they’re 12 years old & used to things being a certain way.

Paraphrasing something I read … the more you practice being grateful, the more you find things to be grateful about. I’m counting blessings that’s for sure. Wishing everyone who stumbles across this post a very Happy Thanksgiving ♥️

As always more to come.

#1linerWeds. 11/23/22

Today, 112322 is a lucky date if there ever was one. At least when written as mm/dd/yy. It’s a sign y’all. Not here’s your sign 🪧 but something much better. Today I’m quoting from my common place book. Something I jotted down over a year ago.

I was careful to present to the world an un-fractured self.

Nancy Kim in Like Wind Against Rock

Lately the fractures are showing & I want to burn bridges. I’m stuck in molasses not doing anything though. It’s gross & sticky. A terrible place to be. But like a Phoenix, I will rise from the ashes. Talk about a hodgepodge of expressions.

HERE are the rules & ping back.

As always, more to come.

Share Your World ~ 11/22/22

Di provides the questions & I add my two cents worth 1/2 a penny. HERE are the rules and ping back. And away we go …

1. As a child, did you prefer to watch TV, play games outside on a nice day, or read? TV wasn’t 24/7 like it is now. Time in front of the tube was limited by momma. It was always go find something to do outside & we did. Freeze tag, bikes, and more. If I wasn’t outside climbing trees or making mud pies, I was reading. Which coincidentally I enjoyed doing while outside sitting on our swing set. I still take my books out to my garden swing.

2. What would you rather do now, read a book, watch a movie at home, dine out with friends, or go down the pub? Read or movie. I don’t enjoy dining out anymore. Not sure how I ever did. And too much time at the pub in my misspent youth makes that a no for me now. We can recreate similar eating & drinking experiences at home. Dang I sound like a fuddy duddy.

3. Are you fashion conscious? Not in the least. Comfortable over style any day.

4. Do you wear slippers, clogs or go barefoot indoors? Slippers or gripper fuzzy socks in the winter, barefoot in the summer.

Gratitude:You don’t need a special occasion to buy or be given flowers. Agree. Here’s a just because bunch we picked up on Saturday.

Fall colors

As always, more to come.