Share Your World 2015 Week #39

Cee's Share Your World 2015 Week #39 blog hop asks participants to respond to four questions/statements and a bonus question.  I tend to read more into some things than others.  You'll see what I mean as you read my answers.

1. Which way does the toilet paper roll go?  Over or under?  Most of the time it is over.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?  Probably blue 

3. Are you comfortable doing nothing?  For long stretches of time?  I can be comfortable doing nothing but thinking, for a while, but even when thinking I have paper and pen close by to jot down ideas that come.  I am better at meditation and mindfulness if I concentrate on my breathing and that helps calm my mind and thoughts.  If I am outdoors I am able to relax and do nothing, but listen and watch, but even those actions constitute doing something.

4. Rather:  Would you accept $5000 to shave your head or dye it bright lime green and continue your normal activities while not explaining the reason for your haircut or color?  I would rather shave my head, because so many people do that in support of someone who has cancer, and if someone asked me why my head was shaved, I could just say it was personal.  Even though a lot of people dye their hair bright colors and often with multi-colored streaks that would be a huge jump for me to make.  

Bonus Question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week ahead?  Again this week I'll link you to my newest post of Ten Things of Thankful.  I

am most looking forward to viewing my church's General Conference this coming Saturday and Sunday.   

   

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Challenge #64 Flesh & Tide

My blog hop post for Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Challenge #64 Flesh & Tide took my thoughts back to our earthly beginnings.

Baby rushes out

on Mother's tide of water

newborn flesh appears

Click here to see other images.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Sense of smell

For this blog hop challenge at Cee's Fun Foto Challenge:  Sense of smell, one of these photo's came instantly to mind.  Fortunately I didn't need to capture any such photo like this again this year.  I'll let you decide which photo that might be.

When I see a rose, I must smell it too. 

I've always loved the scent of narcissuses.

This skunk was cute, but oh...her odor!  She had several little ones.

The mock orange has a lovely smell.

Cee's Odd Ball Photo Challenge: 2015 Week 39

Here are a few of my odd nature photos for the blog hop at Cee's Odd Ball Photo Challenge:  2015 Week 39.  Enjoy.

Large hornets nest we found on our property one year

Pack rat nest we saw in Eastern Oregon one year

Maple tree determined to grow between two rocks

TJ's Household Haiku Challenge - Oil

This time I knew exactly what I wanted to write for the weekly blog hop at TJ's Household Haiku Challenge - Oil.

With anointed oil

she was healed by prayer and faith

in the Son of God.

I personally have been anointed with oil and received a blessing and felt much improvement immediately, but there have been other times that wasn't the case, because as shown in the image below, the Lord is in the details of our lives.

This image and others can be found here.

Ten Things of Thankful

This has been a busy week and as always I have a feeling of gratitude so I am linking this post up to the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop.  There are many co-hosts, but wherever you link up, your post will be linked to the other co-hosts as well.  There is also a Ten Things of Thankful Facebook group.

My Ten Things of Thankful

1.  Sometimes when you have been married a long time, and you are also both retired and frequently are going places and enjoying life, "special days" just kind of get merged into all the other special days.  This was definitely a first for both of us, and I'm thankful that we both had this experience on the same day!  We both remembered the morning of our 52nd wedding anniversary that it was our special day!  Because we recently purchased some tickets for an upcoming concert we just had a really good laugh that morning, and we are looking forward to what we will call our anniversary concert.  Now I must say, that later in the day when my husband was standing in line at Costco, he saw a woman in line with a Tuxedo Chocolate Mousse Cake.  He told me that when he saw it, he thought of me and how he was pretty sure I would really like that.  He asked the lady where she found it, and promptly left his place in line to go get one for me.  (He does not really crave sweets like I do, so he only ate one  piece.  I did take a piece to someone, and should have visited more people and shared more pieces, so I wouldn't be carrying the extra pounds I am now.  I used the cake as "reward treats" after doing some of my projects this week.  Even though we both had forgetful moments regarding our special day, we really are both thankful for all these many years together.  I'm also thankful for having experienced and enjoyed my very first taste of a Tuxedo Chocolate Mousse Cake.  Yum!

2.  This week our third great grandchild, a boy, was born, and he was born on our special day, so as long as we don't forget our anniversary (LOL) we will never forget his birthday.  I'm thankful that Mom and baby are both well.

3.  Saturday I attended an event at the church where there were various opportunities to make things that are needed by hospitals, charitable organizations, etc.  Women and girls were invited to this event, which was followed by a luncheon and some spiritually uplifting General Women's Conference talks.  It was a wonderful day.

4.  After months of my husband doing the vacuuming, after my surgery the middle of May, I finally was able to take over that job.  I tried it on a day he was gone, otherwise I think he might have taken over.  Although I was a little sore, nothing long lasting, so I know I can do this.  Yeah!

5.  The wonderful waist-high garden planter that my husband made recently has some lettuce and spinach ready now to harvest.

6.  Since I am feeling so much stronger, this week I tried doing some pruning outside.  I worked outside on three different days and kept to a time limits of 1/2 hour the first day, 1 hour the second day, and 2 hours the third day.  It worked for me and it was a wonderful feeling to be able to "make a difference" in the appearance of some of the shrubs.  Miles to go. . .but it is a start.  I loved being outside in these cooler fall mornings too, and playing peek-a-boo with the deer as I do so.

7.  I'm thankful to be able to see more migrating birds.  I've seen lots of hawks as I've driven through the grassy farm lands on my way to visit my Mom.  Yesterday a red tail hawk flew up from a ditch on the side of the road and flew right in front of my car.  It was a miracle I didn't hit it.  I certainly got a great view of its red tail feathers.

8. This week I attended an emergency training class and learned a few interesting tips. For instance, if you can find used billboard fabric it works great to use in place of plastic for a makeshift shelter.  It is much heavier and actually is a plastic type of fabric.  It may be a little colorful depending on what the billboard displayed. (Smile)

9.  On the news I was reminded of how as the cooler weather sets in hobo spiders start to try to get indoors.  Unfortunately, indoors may mean your house, or worse yet, my house!  Kind of right on cue, after I purchased some Victor Poison-Free Hobo Spider traps early in the week, we saw two of these spiders inside the house.  Neither were on the trap.  One showed up in the shower.  (My husband got that experience.)  One showed up in the kitchen sink.  (my experience)  Perhaps rather than putting the strip along the baseboard, I need to put one in a dry shower and one in each of the sinks.  I had not even heard of these traps until this year.  I'm so glad these traps exist, and I'm thankful to learn of products that eliminate some of my fears.

10.  Lastly, I'm thankful to discover more things I can do with my photos app on my Mac.  Knowledge coming in little bits at a time works best for me.


Now I'd better post this and get ready for the big event!

24 hours before the Blood Moon

Six Word Fridays - Gold

My post here is being linked up to a blog up at Adrienne's Six Word Fridays - Gold.  The idea is to write only six words per line, whether it is a photo caption, a verse, story, quote, or wish.  There are lots of options.  The prompt this week is gold.  

Seaweed's golden globe on sandy shore

Morning sky streaked with golden light

Golden center to attract the bees 

Sticky golden pitch oozing from tree 

Grandpa's cat's beautiful soft golden fur 

Golden eagle insignia on military uniform

Leaves of gold sheltering bird's home

Rabbit's golden fur soaks up sunshine

Leaves of gold frozen in ice 

Colorful golden jellyfish on sandy beach

Goose displays golden knob and bill

Photo Challenge - Change

My photos for the blog hop are being linked to The Daily Post Photo Challenge - Change.

Changing Seasons and Landscapes

Over the years we have enjoyed seeing the old apple trees on the property across the lane from us and have taken photos of them in various seasons.  One of the trees died of natural causes, but the trees shown where the sheep are huddled were cut down this past year. Now the entire land where these trees were growing has been cleared.  We already miss seeing the trees.  Accepting change is sometimes hard.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Wood

These are my photos for the blog hop at Nancy's A Photo a Week Challenge:  Wood.  Enjoy.

Children seem to love building with these large sized linkable wooden boards.

The exposed roots on this tree sinking into the wooden bark chips are kind of interesting.

Two kinds of wood are shown in the this image of the music rack on an organ with the wooden wall  in the background.

Cee's Black and White Photo Challenge: Perspective

These are my photos for this week's blog hop challenge at Cee's Black and White Photo Challenge:  Perspective.

This sign (?) was seen on a tree at Kilchis Point Reserve.

I love the perspective in this photo of the ramp and shadow of railing with planters.

I saw this on my wall one morning.  It is the reflection/shadow of the window on the door.  I purposely took the photo at an angle.  It was actually a vertical image on my wall.

Cee's Which Way Photo Challenge 2015 - Week #38

This is the final week for the blog hop at Cee's Which Way Photo Challenge 2015 - Week #38.  Next week she will have a new challenge in it's place called Cee's Compose Yourself.

Here is my contribution to Cee's Which Way Photo Challenge 2015 - Week #38.  Enjoy.

 Split-rail fences were the only way to build fences in some places in the olden days. 

Would you keep going up?  Could you?

Hmmm.  Which way should I hold this bat?

Follow Friday Four Fill-in Fun Week 232

These are my fill-in the blank responses to the blog hop at Hilary's Follow Friday Four Fill-Fun Week 232.  My answers are underscored.

1.  Birthdays are on the horizon.  There are four birthday celebrations in our family coming up in the month of October, so I'd better start getting prepared.

2.  I am slow to respond to respond to questions in a group setting, but I wish I was able to think quicker and not fear giving an incorrect answer.

3.  Umpqua Maple Nut is my favorite kind of ice cream.

4.  Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 is the best brand of running shoes for my feet.

Finish the Sentence Friday - If I could have a superpower. . .

This is my post to Kristi's blog hop Finish the Sentence Friday - If I could have a superpower I would want to be able to. . .  The co-host this week is Amy.

It seems like so many movies have characters who have incredible super powers.  The sky's the limit. The superpower I have chosen is to have selective surround vision that could telescope through walls when appropriate.  To be able to see all around me all the time would be too much of a sensory overload, but to be able to use it when it would help me be safe or keep someone else safe, or help me zero in on that misplaced item would be so helpful.   It would have been very helpful when our children were growing up or when I was caregiver for my Mom.  It would be very important to the recipient of such a gift to use it wisely and not to abuse the power, hence it would come with the exception clause that if inappropriately used, the gift would be taken away.

Does this sound like a superpower you would enjoy having?

Six Sentence Stories - Axes

This is my contribution to the blog hop at Ivy's Six Sentence Stories - Axes.  The idea of the blog is to write a story using any form of the word axes in only six sentences.


Could true happiness be for her?  After all she had axes to grind.  Could she give up her pain, the pain which had become like an old friend staying close by her.  She didn't even remember all the details, but some still remained in her heart and and in her mind.  Forgive, and forgetting will come she was told, but what if the offender didn't even care, or possibly didn't know of the need to ask for her forgiveness, or wish to say he was sorry.  It was hard to have the kind of trust and faith in God that true happiness could come to her if she would just believe it could, and forgive and give up her pain.

A Week for Writing - #83 Flash Prompt - Winter

My haiku post is being linked to a blog hop at aprompteachday.wordpress.com A Week for Writing - #83 Flash Prompt - Winter.  There is a limit of 50 words for this challenge.

Lacy snowflakes fell

upon winter's frozen ground

towhee scratched for seeds

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups - Week #167 - Heels or shoes

My post is being linked up to the blog  hop at Julia's 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups - Week #167 - Heels or shoes.  The objective of this blog hop is to write a post in 100 words using the challenge word.

Trying to maintain her balance was difficult.  Everything about her looked perfect until a minute ago. Eighteen and dressed in a summer suit with heels and purse to match, she submitted her last resume at an attorney's office.  She hoped to be hired as a temporary secretary when the regular secretary was on vacation.

Halfway down the block, she suddenly felt her right ankle twist and her foot drop.  Looking down, she saw that her three-inch heel had snapped off.  Appearances flew out the window.  She had three more blocks to walk before she would reach the parking lot.

TJ's Household Haiku Challenge - Scales

This is my post linking up to the blog hop at TJ's Household Haiku Challenge - Scales.

Avoiding sugar

she hoped her weight would go down

her scales revealed truth

Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry #Challenge #63 Stag&Noise

Here is my haiku that is being linked to the blog hop at Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry #Challenge #63 Stag&Noise.

Stepping stealthily

the stag crossed the grassy hill

away from the noise.

Cee's Share Your World - 2015 Week #38

This post presents my answer to the questions/statements on the blog hop at Cee's Share Your World - 2015 Week #38.  My answers are underscored.

1.  What do you do to make a living or what do you do during the day if you are retired?  If you are a student, what are you studying?  I am retired.  Because of months of pre-back surgery issues and then months of post-surgery recuperation and PT, it has been only recently that I've been able to resume more of my normal outside activities, i.e. starting to do some outside yard work around home such as pruning.  It feels good to be able to do these things again.  I just need to not get overly enthusiastic about how much time I spend doing it.  Although I am not a student in school, I have always felt like I am a student, always trying to learn new things.  Blogging and learning more about photography are a couple of those things I've been working on lately.  Getting back to doing some indexing of historical records at FamilySearch.org is another thing I am resuming.  Again, I just need to be careful about how long I sit doing this. Moderation in my activities is a constant challenge for me, as I always want to finish a project, and it is difficult for me to stop and leave something undone.

2.  Have you ever participated in a distance walking, running, or biking event?  Tell your story.  Several years ago, I participated in a 3K walk/run with a lot of women in my church.  Because of some physical limitations at the time, I just did the walk.  I enjoyed the experience a lot.  We walked at Minto Brown Park which is a beautiful park in Salem, Oregon.

3.  What is usually your first thought when you wake up?  What time is it?

4.  Complete this sentence:  Look out behind you, it's a dump truck!  After being hit from behind by a dump truck early in our marriage, for years I was a little jumpy about having a dump truck behind me when I was driving.  Although I'm not quite so concerned about dump trucks now, I still like to have a really safe distance between me and any large trucks.

Bonus Question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week ahead?  Click here to see my Ten Things of Thankful post this past weekend.  What I've been looking forward to this week is a large service event and Women's Conference at my church.  There are a lot of different community service projects we will be working on followed by meal and a  direct-wired broadcast to all the women worldwide. I wasn't able to attend last year and I'm really looking forward to going this year.

Please consider how you might respond to these questions and sentence completion.  If you have a blog, respond on a post and link up to Share Your World - 2015 Week #38 at Cee's.

Cee's Odd Ball Photo Challenge: 2015 Week 38

This week I have one photo to share on the blog hop at Cee's Odd Ball Photo Challenge:  2015 Week 38.  When I took this photo, it was because I really did see the oddity of the tree having taken root in this antique vehicle.

Some antique pieces of farm and logging vehicles on the grounds by the Blue Heron restaurant in Tilamook, Oregon

Ten Things of Thankful

This is my weekly post to the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop.

1. Last weekend we had a bit of a plumbing problem arise when we needed to add some media to our acid neutralizer tank.  Okay, it was much more than a bit of a  problem, but thanks to plumbers who know what to do and how to do it, on Tuesday the problem was pretty much resolved.  Yeah for plumbers!

2. I'm thankful that while we were waiting for assistance from a plumber we actual had a way to access running water inside the house, just not in the usual way, so it was a little inconvenient, but as my husband noted we were so much better off in our water situation than so many people in the world.

3. In addition to the plumbing problems, I had a very flat tire last weekend and had to wait until Monday to get the tire fixed.  As it turned out, there was no way to fix it, nor to even determine the cause of the flat tire!  Because we bought the tires less than a year ago, and I'd just been in to the dealer to have the car serviced the day before getting the flat, the tire dealer didn't charge as much for the new tire as would normally have been the price.  I'm thankful we didn't have to pay the full amount.

4. It is always amazing to me to realize that an unspoken thought is answered.  These are not even prayers, but just thoughts, kind of like it sure would be nice if.  Well at the beginning of this week one of my blogger friends said something that let me know that someone really did know how to help me with something about which I was wondering.  I really do know that prayers can be answered when the time is right, if it is right, but the little unspoken thoughts that don't seem to be that important, well that's a different matter.  Who knows though, may the small unspoken idea is more important in the total scheme of things than we know.  I'm thankful for these amazing kind of experiences.

5. Early in the week, I was thinking about how difficult it has been throughout my life to memorize anything and retain that information for any length of time.  Last Sunday while listening to a speaker at church and then pondering his message later, I thought I needed to give up my fear and negativity of memorizing.  (His talk wasn't about memorizing, but about giving up our fears.)  I would like to be able to recall scriptures word for word in case my vision is ever impaired, or for whatever reason scriptures are destroyed (remembering back to when Bibles were burned during WWII in Germany).

So I'm taking on my own challenge to memorize just one scripture each week and to practice it daily, not only saying the words, but thinking about the meaning.  So this week, I chose to memorize one from The Book of Mormon, one of the book of scriptures besides the Bible which I read.  The scripture is 2 Nephi 2:27.

6. I've always been impressed by how some people have memorized uplifting poems.  I may need to give that a try too.  As I was searching for some information this week, I discovered a talk that reminded me of the value of poetry in our lives.  I'm so thankful that there are so many easy ways to find the information we seek on the internet.

7. My husband and I went to the Octoberfest in Mt Angel this weekend.  It was fun to listen to the music and see so many people dressed in costume.  I'm thankful for traditions, whether it be of families, or cities.  Traditions have a way of bonding a family or a community together.

8. I had another quarterly focus meeting at the nursing home regarding my mother.  It is always good to meet with these kind and caring people to tend to her needs.

9. This is kind of a crazy thing to be thankful for, but I'm thankful for fly swatters tonight.  For some reason, we have had a lot of flies in the house tonight.  I'm not sure if the door was left ajar sometime today or what, but we have killed a lot of them tonight.  And this is just an aside, but those new light bulbs, that last forever and are cool to the touch, don't kill flies that land on them!

10. I'm thankful for my husband who took me to see a movie that I wanted to see, even if it might not have been his first choice.  We went to see Phoenix.  Great acting and suspenseful.