#A to Z Challenge–Z–Woo-hoo!!!!

What better thing to begin with the letter Z than Zoo. Here are current pictures of mine:

Kali and Teddy on the day I went to Hugger Hats, taken by Hubby-AKA Pet Sitter.

Remember those little tiny chicks and turkeys? Yeah, I can’t pick up the turkeys anymore they are getting too big for me. The chickens never got brave enough to be picked up. The Turkeys try to get me to pet them and are so curious that they will pick on my cell phone as I try to take pictures. Bro is gathering materials to make the portable coop.

Kali wants to know when Kali can play with the fowl!

One tired Teddy-cat.

And another very tired Rosey-cat. Both were at our feet this morning with a dead mouse. Irm-thanks?

This is the end of the #AtoZChallenge! Yay!

This was fun!

#A to Z Challenge–Y #SoCS on Sunday ;-)

Well, the prompt word for #Stream of Consciousness Saturday was Yard. Yeah, I’m a day late. I was too tired to think about our yard. Even though it was sort of warm, finally, it was too windy and I was too tired to do much more than stand there as Kali did her OUTSIDE thing.

Did I mention I was tired? Yeah. Went to bed before I had the chance to write the blog. Oops! Didn’t wake up early either. Still kind of tired.

Wish there was a magical person with a magical lawnmower to mow that green stuff that is near the house. That might create a yard. Then another magical person to knock down most of the foxtails and other yellow stuff before the fire season starts. Yeah, that’s the day after the freezing temps it will be 110 in the shade–Oooo–grumpy, too!

So, you can see, maybe why I wasn’t into this prompt. Broken hubby, bro working 6 days a week, me on the tail end of fibro-flare facing the word, YARD. Even if it weren’t the prompt word of the day it looms over me with a vengeance.

Maybe I could have enjoyed the thought that a yard is really 3 feet! Broken down even smaller is 36 inches. I tried this last year. I’d go out and work on the “yard” a postage size part of the ground at a time. Never got past the front porch and the back porch before the heat robbed me of energy and fibro killed me. But the postage stamp places still look better a year later, so I say if a yard is as good as a mile, an inch is as good as a mile. And didn’t I move here for the sky anyway?

ANYWAY…

This is my contribution to the #AtoZChallenge a day late and many dollars short.

#A to Z Challenge–X

X

This could be the most challenging of the #AtoZChallenge. I wanted to go with the easy, xylophone, or x-ray, but couldn’t think of enough to fill a sentence much less a small blog post. So I went to my online dictionary and ran across words I knew but needed a refresher. So I exited the dictionary with a minor idea. Let’s see if it works.

Are you a xenophile or a xenophobe? The roots of the words are easy in this case. xeno=people especially foreign or exotic. Phile=lover of. Phobe=afraid of. A lot of us don’t think about it much. We tend to think we like everyone.

That would be true for me. I like to think I like all people. But throw me into a room with more than two people I don’t know and I go into a panic with sweats and shakes. One on one, I am fascinated by all people and their stories. If I get to know them well enough I can handle them in a bigger group of folks I know.

Parties? Church? Can’t handle the crowds at all. Even the nicest of groups like the Unitarian Universalists, probably the least judgmental of church groups I’ve ever been in, too many and I am a basket case looking for the nearest exit. (See what I did there?)

I get my xenophile fix by reading about people from other places and walks of life. I think everything you read that stretches your understanding reduces the possible cases of xenophobia.

But Hey! I learned to play the xylophone before I learned the piano. It had many colored keys like my first little piano. I was and am a little upset that adult pianos are black and white. Mine is pretty and I love rooms of black and white, I would love a room of those colors and a black baby grand, with the tiled look going into the indoor pool of the same colors. Now that is seXy! But red and yellow black and white and brown and purple, blue and green, this started out a song but the dream of this piano/xylophone overreached! Oh, but the piano room with the wood as the main feature could use a glockenspiel! Ooh! Xylophone vs glockenspiel! There’s a topic for another day!

Notice the above paragraph has no people? Yeah, for a few seconds there I was not nervous. As much as I love people and want them in my life there are times that I could X them out and bury myself in my music or art or writing, reading–ah but sooner or later I crave social interaction. I long for long talks and learning others’ stories. Suck it up, shake and perspire, enjoy the Xeno!

Where are you on the Xeno charts?

Nearly finished with this fun #AtoZChallenge!

#A to Z Challenge–W

Wow!

In spite of everything, I made it this far! That said, I feel I am not going to give this one the blogginess that it should have. I thought about it all day how I would talk about Wednesday (W), as it was pretty special. But try as I might I can’t seem to find the energy for more than a nod toward today.

Yesterday I packed up and went to our Hugger Hats meeting. It was fun. But having just done the packing and unpacking twice (for vacation and then for home) just packing the small bit for the group was more than my body could take. And I came away with a bag full of fiberfill and lots of small balls of yarn as they want me to make dolls. They like my dolls. I like making them. But bringing it all home just exhausted me and that’s how I’ve been all day! One fun day, one crash day.

Today I vegged and worked with my new Bernat Blanket yarn. I’ve made and unmade the same item 6 times. I’m on my 7th. As it is, I don’t know if I will leave this made or frog it again and make something else. It is soft and wonderful to work with and I feel I am floating as I work with it. I don’t have enough to make an afghan but I just needed the sensation of soft today. Maybe I’ll just make panels to sew together later.

Do you see how I just meandered around on this? Does anyone else have problems like this? The tired has lasted so long and I have no focus to — anything! Wow!

I started with a Wow that was high and enthusiastic. I’m ending with the wow of near apathy. So I’ll hang on to what is left of the first one so that when I have rested for the night I can enjoy the high again. Wow!

#AtoZChallenge has been fun.

#A to Z Challenge–V

And in combinational cheating as with the letter U, I am thanking Linda G Hill for One-Liner Wednesday! Two for the price of one! 😉

I need a Vacation from my Vacation!

Can you believe I just got all my clothes put away?

This #AtoZChallenge has been fun and I was doing great until I had an impromptu serendipitous vacation with framily.

 

#A to Z Challenge–U

Thank goodness and Linda G Hill for One-Liner Wednesday. I will be cheating a bit as I am cutting U and V down to as short a blog each as possible. Mostly because–I’m tired!

Ultimate = Understanding

I had a whole thing about raw umber but — just too exhausted.

Nearly caught up on the #AtoZChallenge! Check it out!

 

#A to Z Challenge–T

Travel Talk

Never is there a time that most holds to the term “captive audience” as traveling in the same car no reception. It could get very uncomfortable with the wrong traveling companions. But it becomes quite the most empowering time with those who are sensitive and caring. It has always been a time for my family to examine the most exciting of topics. Feeling the love in the vehicle, we take turns asking the group questions we might feel uncomfortable asking anyone else in the world. I think my son and daughter were honest and open to the conversation.

My personal question was: What do my adult children need/want from me as a mother now? It is a deep question for me. I read deeply and asked a million questions when I was pregnant or raising my offspring. But there are few books or examples out there now to emulate. I’d love my bloggy friends to help with this question. Anyone have some answers?

Meanwhile, if talk is the best thing to do while traveling through low radio/data reception areas, these people should have been the closest companions ever:

Or were there always distractions or other ways that families did to NOT communicate?

This is my attempt at the #AtoZChallenge. I think I am nearly caught up. (fingers crossed)

Share Your World

Wanting something to quench your thirst, what would you drink?

I’d love to come up with something unique here but my go to is water.

Complete this sentence:  Never In My Life Have I…. 

Been drunk or smoked weed. I can say that I had tried an edible but maybe not enough to help in any way.

If you could be given any gift what would it be?

There are a lot of things we need but our needs are met. I couldn’t ask for anything more than the love I have in my life already.

 

What do you do if you can’t sleep at night? Do you count sheep, toss and turn, or get up and try to do something productive?

That’s a tough one. Sometimes I lay very still and hope sleep can find me. Sometimes I turn my Kindle on and continue reading. Sometimes I watch a very familiar movie like Pirate of the Caribbean so that if I drift off to sleep I won’t miss anything. Sometimes I get up and wander to the bathroom, just to walk the short walk brings a certain reality back and shoos away worries and possible nightmares.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I’m so grateful to have had the chance to see my family and friends this last week. And that fantastic road trip!

This week I’m looking forward to going to my Hugger Hats group and maybe make a trip to the library. I have to admit, though, it is good to be home and enjoy the quiet.

I love these little prompts that Cee comes up with. If you want to get better at your photography or just check out a very interesting blog, go to Cee’s Photography and join the Share Your World team!

#A to Z Challenge–S

Sounds

As I mentioned before, my daughter doesn’t have cable. She has Netflix and Hulu but doesn’t find herself in front of the set all that much. She like YouTube and podcasts of all kinds. She’s rather intellectual and prefers science to fantasy. And so I am always learning something new from her.

On road trips, she has downloaded podcasts for those long stretches where there is no reception. While traveling this time she introduced me to someone I already knew. I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed so when she said she had the podcast, Dear Sugar, I was pretty excited. It was full of good advice and spirited fun. I plan to try and tune in every now and then.

My son and daughter (it was the both of them that brought me back home from Reno) have set up a fun adventure for when traveling. They like to set up a challenge for each other as to a period of time for the music they will listen to on their long ride. So when they took me home and then on the road trip to Bend they listened mainly to music they thought represented the early 2000s. Since there wasn’t a lot I recognized I found it fun and enlightening.

My most fun was on the trip to Bend (when we were taking Kali for her check up at the vet). It was on Good Friday so it seemed appropriate to listen to Jesus Christ Superstar. I know many don’t like that. I’m sorry. I have always found it to hold depth and memories for me. I had friends at AVC who did the musical and did a far better job that the movie or Broadway bunch. My friend sang lead in the SuperStar choir generally thought to be the ghost of Judas but she did such a fantastic job I still remember. That whole troupe did an outstanding job and those scenes play out when I hear this music. It was wonderful for my daughter to let me have my little tradition as our traveling music.

Isn’t it amazing how sounds can help a drive go so much more smoothly?

Check out the #AtoZChallenge!

#A to Z Challenge–R

Reno

It has been two winters since we lived in Reno. Some towns when I go to visit after leaving make me giddy (any of them near the beach) just being there. Some, like Riverside, bring me to a deep depression. Reno just seems surreal to me. Except for my family and friends, I feel very little for the town.

Here are the typical postcards. If you like casinos and bare mountains…

Sure these are pretty pictures, but I wouldn’t want to live here. My vacation was spent in family and friends’ homes. That is where the beauty lies in Reno.

Check out #AtoZChallenge!