Black & White

If you are on Facebook, you most likely have seen the black and white challenge. In the challenge, people are to post one black and white photo each day for seven days, no people and no explanations.

I participated in the challenge a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it very much. Below you will find some of the photos that didn’t make it on to the Facebook end of the challenge.

 

 

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Greater Power

In a former life, I took the picture at the top of Haleakala, a volcano on Maui. It was a place I had wanted to go to see the sunrise. It had been on a short list of things I wanted to do. In 2004, I was able to take my kids to Maui and we made it happen. I think there’s a post somewhere on this blog that talks about that experience so I won’t go into it. I will say that it was one of the most awe inspiring moments of my life. I would do it again in a heartbeat but I know I, most likely, won’t have that opportunity again. However, in light of the events and situation in the world and in this country, I find myself looking to these moments and these places that demand acknowledgement and belief in/of a greater power.

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I Forgot

I forgot that I was going to try to post every day in November. I usually do it every year. I am still going to try, even if it is a short post or even a photo.

Today I don’t have much time to write the post I really want to write. I have about an hour before I have to be at my daughter’s to watch the crucial Game 7 of the World Series. We’ll see how long that goes. Last night’s game was short, less than three hours, if I recall correctly. However, there was also a game that ran over five hours a few nights ago. So who know?!

I will tell you that I am rooting for the Dodgers. I think I posted about them before. I haven’t had time to post a few choice Dodger stories but I might type them up if I get a chance and save them to post on different days to fill my every day in November plan. I’ll tell you that one of them involves my ex-husband and my late father-in-law attending a league play-off game back in the late 70’s. Another story involves my daughter’s desire to catch a ball from her seat…when she was all of about fourteen. I won’t spoil it and tell you what she came home with but I will tell you that I wish this mama bear had been there to fight for her girl! And yet another story involves what was then a record setting game for length of at home Dodger game that I attended when I was expected home much earlier and how mad my mama was!

Okay, enough teasers. It’s on to wait for that last game that will have a lot of fans in tears and a lot others in cheers. I hope I will be on the right side!

 

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That Day

She had not gone with them one that Sunday. She was sick in bed. They were off to get pizza and play at that mouse pizza place. A couple of hours later, she knew they would be home soon so she got up and got dressed so she wouldn’t be in bed still sick. She knew she should make an effort to look well and get out of bed and join the family. As she washed her face, she caught sight of herself in the mirror and she paused and smiled at her reflection. She thought how lucky she was to be in this marriage and have her three beautiful children and a husband that loved her and that she loved in return. Then the moment was over and she finished getting ready just as they walked in the door.

Her husband went into the kitchen to put the leftovers in the fridge, pausing in the den to turn the TV on for the kids. Then, when he came into the room, he went into his closet and got out his duffle bag and started packing clothes. Confused and thinking maybe he had a business trip she had forgotten about she asked him where he was going.

“Away.”

“Where? Did I forget a trip?”

“No. I’m just leaving.”

She felt a chill down her spine and a thought flashed through her mind: nothing would ever be the same in her life ever again.

“What do you mean? Where are you leaving to?”

“I don’t know. I just have to get out of here.”

“Why?” The rest of the words were stuck inside her head.

“Just because. I’m tired of being here. I’m tired of being married to you.” He kept packing, putting his shaving things in the bag.

“Did I do something wrong? What did I do?” She didn’t want to cry so she said as few words as possible.

“No. I’m just tired of it. I need time and space.” He headed for the door as quickly as he could. She followed as she asked if he was going to say something to the kids. He said he was not. So she did.

“Kids, come here quickly. Come say good bye to your dad. He’s leaving now.” They came running and asked where Daddy was going.

“Away. He isn’t going to live here anymore. He wants to live alone.”

“I’m don’t want to be away from you guys. I just have to leave. I can’t stay here.”

“Give Daddy a hug and a kiss.”

They did. They were confused, more so than she was but they still said good bye and kissed their father.

Then he was gone.

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Say A Little Prayer

If we were having coffee, I’m sure none of us would be able to keep from discussing yesterday’s terrorist attacks in Paris. It is heartbreaking to think of innocent people being caught up in political terrorism. I can only imagine the shock, anger, sorrow, and frustration in France right now. Things like this should never happen and instead, we hear of it more and more. I don’t know what the answer is but there has to be a way for people to live in peace, without fear of being attacked by terrorists. I pray that one day soon, we will find a way.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that my heart just isn’t in it today. It has been a sad week, although I’ve tried to concentrate on my grandsons and on writing and visiting blogs. I’ve tried. The boys bring me great joy and I truly enjoy visiting blogs and getting to know other bloggers. That part of the week has been good. Busy but good.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I don’t have a lot of time today. I’m way behind in my NaNoWriMo word count and I have been asked to host one of the official write-ins today. The person that was supposed to host has to work so I will be doing it. I’ve spent the evening on Friday, putting together little prizes and sticker grab bags, plot bunnies, and a bag of candy for the participants and winners of our word sprints. I have a list of prizes…most words, least words, longest sentence, most characters, most dialog, etc. It’s a long write-in (4.5 hours) and I’m hoping to get a lot of writing done, even though I’ll be in charge of the word sprints and other fun. It has given me something to focus on as it just came up Friday morning. Hopefully it will be productive AND fun!

I also noticed a couple of days ago that I am really close to hitting my 1000th blog post. I’m kind of wanting to get to it by the end of December so you might see me posting more than once a day on some days so I can get to that milestone and move on to the next one right when the new year starts. So if you see me increase my posting schedule, that’s why!

Well, it’s now 2:15 am and I have the alarm set for 7 am so I should try to sleep. I still have some prep work for the write-in and I also have Anderson here overnight. He’ll want me to sit with him in the morning so I can’t doze while he is up.

I hope you all have a good day and a productive week.

And if you find it in your heart to do so, please say a little prayer for our friends in Paris. Send them some virtual hugs and shoulders to lean on.

#WeekendCoffeeShare is a weekly blog hop hosted by Diana at Part Time Monster. Go take a look then grab a cup of coffee and join us!

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I’ve Got Nothing

Today I have nothing to write about.

I have a cup of coffee and a warm bed. I have writing to do but I don’t seem to be able to do any writing until the evening these days. I used to get up and put in the first couple of hours of the day to NaNoWriMo during November but this year it seems like I don’t have my writer’s cap on until the evening.

I have a meowing cat that wants attention. She has been fed and watered and her box has been cleaned but she is still meowing at me from down the hall so it must be attention that she wants. I’m not sure if I want to give it.

I have a cold and gray sky outside, not very inviting. No long walks today. No hikes. Not an outside day. And they say we’re in for about five days of rain…heavy rain. So I guess I need to get myself to the store before it starts on Saturday so I can stock up on any food or drink I might need when it begins to pour.

I have one big thing to look forward to. I’m taking Spencer to eat today. Just the two of us. We’re going when he’s fresh from sleep so he should be fine and we’re going to a café that has a kids’ play area and is usually not too busy. I think he’ll enjoy that and I’m not taking any electronics with me. It’s a Nana and Spencer outing. It may only last an hour but that’s okay. It will be just the two of us. Usually it’s Anderson with me but Spencer is getting to the age where I can take him out, just the two of us. He’s 2 1/2.

So although it seems like I have a lot of nothing, I actually have a gold mine in Spencer time and then when Anderson comes home from school he may come over. He likes to come over after school. So I have a gold mine in those two.  I’ll worry about the writing later.

What do you have? Do you have a lot of nothing too? Do you have a gold mine? What’s your gold mine?

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Wordless Wednesday…I didn’t say a word!

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Memory Orbs

I keep coming back to this idea ever since I saw the animated movie Inside Out last August. It’s a really, really good movie for the kiddos and I enjoyed it, too. It talks about memories and emotions and what to do with the emotions that make you act unlike yourself.

One of the neat visuals for me in the movie was the first time we see memory orbs. They are in a big room and there are all these little balls of varying color on a type of conveyor belt moving through and being cycled back around. We are told that they are memory orbs. Each one holds a memory from our past that we can recall at any time. The different colors are for different emotions associated with the specific memory. When we are feeling down, we can recall a happy memory to lift us up a bit and remind us that not all is bad or negative.

I kind of feel this would be great for blogging. So I think over the next few weeks I will be posting my own memory orbs. They’ll be little, tiny pieces of my past…59 years worth. I often get flashes of memory even from as long ago as when I was only one year old. And they are just that…a flash.

So, watch for those memory orbs and in the meantime, if you get a few free minutes, give a visit to some of the blogs on NanoPoblano which I haven’t been able to visit often. Here are a couple:

https://psychobabblepants.wordpress.com/

http://nonexistentbooks.com/

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Eggnog, Peanuts and Links

If we were having coffee on this first Saturday of November, I’d invite you to Starbucks. I have a couple of free drinks earned through the rewards program and my all-time favorite coffee drink is in season…eggnog lattes! I wish I could have several of those each day! It makes me so sad when they stop serving them for the season.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I am about a thousand words behind in my NaNoWriMo word count but I’m not too worried. I lost Friday’s writing time, all day in fact, to technical problems and babysitting but today I begin the day with a new modem and router and it’s all set up and encrypted and ready for me so today I write!

I would also tell you that I won’t be writing all day because I sort of promised Anderson I would take him to see the new Peanuts movie this afternoon. And there is grocery shopping to do. But I should get some significant writing time. And then there is tomorrow when I will be at a write-in for a couple of hours. It only takes me about an hour to write the day’s quota (1667 words per day) so if all goes right today and tomorrow, I might be able to jump ahead by a couple of days.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that while I don’t find writing a blog post a day for NaBloPoMo difficult, I do find it very difficult to read all the blogs I’m supposed to be reading on the NanoPoblano challenge. So I’m thinking that since I can’t get to all of them every day, I will give you a few links per day and hope that some of you can look at one extra blog peer day so they get some visitors and likes and shares. Can you do that for me, please? I’ll list the links at the end of the post.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I’m still not over my cold. This is day 12. I feel better but I’m not over it. I tire easily and I need more sleep. I am still coughing and sneezing. But at least I can function without the cold medicine!  And I would also tell you that I finally got the NanoPoblano thingy to work in my sidebar! I knew it was something simple that I was just missing because it would link to the right url but there was no picture. Got it figured out. I was missing a “.” in the image url. Once I found that and fixed it, it works!  Yay!

I guess that’s about all. I might come back for more coffee tomorrow because I know I want to say more but I can’t remember.  And by the way, if you get a chance to click on the NanoPoblano image in the sidebar, it will take you to the list of participating blogs. I’m quite impressed with the quality of blog posts I have been reading from the list of blogs, for the most part. Go see! Go read!

Okay, time for more coffee and maybe reading a few blogs.

Blogs to check out if you can, just because I can’t get to all of them:

Drunk On Life

Steph Mignon

Mark Bialczak

This post is part of a weekly blog hop hosted by Diana at Part Time Monster. Go have a look and join us!

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Terrible People

“It only happened to terrible people. Terrible people. Murderers themselves! … Loan sharkers. Heroin. These were the people in our neighborhood.”

That’s Toby Ziegler’s father trying to justify why he was involved in Murder Incorporated, the enforcers for organized crime organization, the Mafia.

The episode, Holy Night, made me wonder about murder and if it is ever justified. Murder. Killing others. Even, in my view, capital punishment. Is that right?  This episode also has President Bartlet reflecting over what he did when he gave the order to kill a foreign dignitary that had tried to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge and was involved with other terrorist acts against the United States both on foreign soil and domestic.

This is one of the reasons I like watching The West Wing. It gives us a lot to think about. Not just politically but morally.

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