Monday, January 31, 2011

Daily Reminder # 245


Well, this is post number one thousand at Raven's Nest.  I started Raven's Nest on October 16th 2006. It was about the new windows just installed in my little house. I was really surprised to discover that this blog was started that long ago.  Then I noticed that after one more post I took an 18 month break before I tried again.  Somehow, though, I have managed to write 1,000 posts. According to Blogger's statistics section (which I just discovered) there have been 16,637 page views. Wow. Thanks for those who still visit.  I don't deserve your kindness but I appreciate it.




I wanted to be write something "meaningful" tonight but I'm tired and don't have any good ideas so I guess I'll just treat this like any other day and finish up with some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - an effort to encourage the Universe to hear and grant my prayers/wishes.)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • my friends
  • my furnace
  • water
  • my camera
  • reiki
  • angels
  • Punny Monday
  • peach/mango yogurt smoothies
  • cinnamon toast
  • cheese
  • kind neighbors
  • winning the HGTV Dream House
  • a Bose sound system
  • a clothes dryer
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • winning lottery tickets
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • a paid off mortgage
  • freshly painted walls in my living room and bedroom
  • my nieces and my nephew and their families
  • indoor plumbing
  • my little house
  • coconut oil
  • the telephone
  • electricity
  • heat
  • my TV
  • this blog
  • making it to 1,000 posts
  • imagination
  • colors and eyes to see them
  • music
  • laughter
  • life



HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Daily Reminder # 244


I think I'll keep it simple this evening and just share the video below and some gratitude. I really admire Bill and Melinda Gates and the work they do. Like Jimmy Carter with Habitat for Humanity and some of his other activities, they are just putting a quiet laser focus on problems that can be solved and solving them. It's pretty awesome. Sometimes small actions add up to big results. I'm not really able to give to charity these days, though since I have food to eat, I always feel like I should be doing more when in fact I should probably be asking for help for myself from some of the organizations I want to give something to. But I digress... I'm so grateful for things like GreaterGood.com (aka the Hunger site - and its siblings) and Care2.com which allow me to give a tiny daily free click donation that ultimately adds up if you do it every day.  But I digress again. I'll let Bill Gates speak for himself in this really well done video. I hope people will pass it along and make sure lots of people see it.



Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - a way of encouraging the Universe to bend to my will.)

How to annoy your human
in one easy lesson....

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • Bill and Melinda Gates
  • Jimmy Carter
  • Greater Good.com
  • vaccinations
  • heat
  • plenty of food
  • Peach/Mango yogurt smoothies
  • ice skating
  • cheese
  • water
  • rocks
  • electricity
  • temperatures in the 20s
  • kind neighbors who shovel snow
  • coconut oil
  • reiki
  • angels
  • Ibuprofien
  • wordzzles
  • words
  • language
  • poetry
  • laughter
  • music/Pandora Radio
  • my furnace
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • indoor plumbing
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream Home
  • freshly painted walls in my living and bedrooms
  • a Bose sound system
  • winning lottery tickets
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • a paid off mortgage
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • a clothes dryer
  • my camera
  • my TV
  • refrigeration
  • my microwave
  • matches
  • the smell of white sage
  • my computer
  • that people visit my blog
  • my friends
  • my nieces and nephew and their families
  • life


Have a Splendid Day!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Daily Reminder # 243

(Please scroll down for the Weekly Wordzzle Challenge)


I was just going to do gratitude today, but think I'll add a Neale Donald Walsh message from God. It's short and sweet and true. I think too often we think we have to climb mountains, build cathedrals, be rich and famous to make a mark in the world, but it really is much simpler than that.

I know this was a mistake, but I kind of like it...


On this day of your life, dear friend, 
I believe God wants you to know...
..that the tiniest gesture --
 a smile, a gentle look, a simple
pat on the arm, a soft word -- 
can change a person's life.

Before this very day is out, 
you are going to have a chance
to live in that possibility. 
Look. Watch. See what this day
brings you. And be ready.  

If you believe I am exaggerating about this, 
please know that I am not. 
Someone is waiting for that smile, that look,
that gesture from you right now.

Why you suppose you just read this? 
Do you think this is a coincidence?

Love, Your Friend....

neale



Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - an effort to stir enthusiasm in the Universe for fullfilling my hopes and dreams.)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • my camera
  • heat
  • strawberry banana yogurt smoothies
  • French toast
  • cinnamon
  • my microwave
  • cheese
  • paper towels
  • my TV
  • music
  • reiki 
  • angels
  • getting at least one wordzzle done
  • water
  • electricity
  • a Bose sound system
  • winning lottery tickets
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • freshly painted living and bed rooms
  • a paid off mortgage
  • a clothes dryer
  • laughter
  • the ability to read and write
  • my computer
  • the ability to type
  • my cane
  • my red chair
  • legs that still work enough to get me around
  • my kitchen
  • soap
  • shampoo
  • my nieces and my nephew & their families
  • my friends
  • kind neighbors
  • ideas
  • words
  • beauty
  • laughter
  • life


HAVE A LOVELY DAY FULL OF SMILES!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 140


Well, Wordzzle day has returned again. Last week's words were difficult indeed and I battled them alone. I'm sitting here staring at this week's list and feeling like it may be a repeat of last time. I keep thinking of other things to do because I don' t have an idea in my head for what to write. Sigh. 11:00 pm update: I have finally squeezed a positively feeble mega out of my fevered brain and I'm exhausted. I thought last week's words were difficult, but they seem easy in retrospect. Ugh. Sorry. I just write down what comes into my head for words.  I fear it will be another solo week based on how hard it was to do the mega. Sigh.


Words for this week's challenge were: kissing cousins, macaroni and cheese, chasm, orange glow, bucket list, eucalyptus, charged, handy, superior   And for the mini: ambition, charter, bug spray, business as usual, cheap




My mega:
 

Newly wedded Fred and Mable 
sit across the kitchen table
On macaroni and cheese they dine, 
along with very cheap red wine
Bathed in candles' orange glow
loving looks between them flow
The air is charged with sexual tension - 
they're newly wed - did I forget to mention?
Eagerly they plan their life -
how they will live as man and wife
A bucket list of dreams and visions 
about which they must make decisions
What about Ausable Chasm, pet? 
It's near the place where we first met
Pragmatism being Mable's strength, 
she explained to him at considerable length
How it would be better to pick a more handy site 
in early years with money tight
Lake Superior could be next year - 
it's not expensive from what I hear
This didn't gel with Fred's ambition
adventure and glory were his life mission
Business as usual was not his thing 
and a local vacation had that ring
Spending the night with kissing cousins 
whom Mable had in double dozens
But loving Mable very much, 
he reached across her hand to touch
We've time enough to make a choice 
he said in his most loving voice
Which quickly soothed her wounded pride 
and they set vacation plans aside
And talked instead about the pitch 
for the product that would make them rich
Eucalyptus Bug Repeller, 
bio-friendly, really stellar
Would make extinct old bug sprays 
and issue in much "greener" days
Eco green but also money... 
a concept they found very funny
So off to bed the couple went, 
feeling happy and content.




My 10 word:  


Kissing cousins, Stan, Martha, Frank and Susan - along with their respective spouses - had remained close friends throughout their lives. Now moving into their 60s and approaching retirement, they gathered monthly at the Eucalyptus Chasm Diner (a central location handy to everyone's home) to work on their bucket list of how to make the best use of their so-called "golden" years.  Sitting in a window booth beneath the orange glow of the diner's neon sign, they feasted on the chef's famous macaroni and cheese special. Cesar, E.C's owner, was a superior chef of rather eccentric personality. He had once explained the long and complicated story behind the restaurant's odd name and over the years had become friends with this group of regulars, often joining them at the table and joining in on their plans. When business was good (which it usually was), he only charged them for drinks and had effectively become part of their family. Years later - as they journeyed around camping and exploring the world - the friendship proved particularly delightful. Roughing it with your own personal  gourmet chef is hardly roughing it at all. 




My mini: 


Walter's father was deeply disturbed by what he saw as his son's total lack of ambition.  A charter member of the local Chamber of Commerce he was a "business as usual" kind of guy. He had been in the bug spray business for his whole life and his motto was "produce it cheap and sell it at as big a profit as you can get."  Unlike his son, he cared little for ecology and saw climate change not as a threat to the world survival but to his bank account.  It was hard for Walter to reconcile the loving father who had taken him on fishing trips and journeys to National Parks with the strange man who cared about nothing but money.    His father's business was - for Walter - the antithesis of everything he believed in - yet it was that business that had paid for the education that made him aware of how destructive his father's work was. He was grateful that their relationship was so strong, because given their differences, it was not going to be easy in days to come when he lobbied against his beloved Dad's interests in favor of what he perceived to be a greater good. Life, he thought, was awfully messy sometimes.





***********************


Word for next week's 10-word challenge: sugar cookies, muscles, drama, chimes, heating vent, paprika, runes, envelope, candle holder, stubborn

And for the mini: caustic, cloudy skies, ballet, cell phone, covert


Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.


Daily Reminder # 242

Fortunately this didn't last long or add up to much. Whew!


I think I"m just going to do gratitude this evening and bad photos. There are some kitties for tomorrow.  Next Monday, assuming I don't drop dead over the weekend, I'm coming up on my 1,000th post. Yikes. I suppose I will have to try to be meaningful for that, so I may just rest up for the next few days while I desperately try to think of something thousand-worthy.

That's J, who bravely climbs our steep hill in bitter
cold and dreadful heat to deliver mail every day.

Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - a way of encouraging the Universe to hear and manifest hopes and dreams.)

This was roof snow coming down
yesterday afternoon. In  really super cold,
super snowy winters, there's an awful
 cracking sound and it comes down
it like an avalanche in great masses 

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • not much snow
  • mail
  • water
  • my microwave
  • my camera
  • my TV
  • my computer
  • laughter
  • music
  • Jon Stewart
  • toothpaste
  • my teeth
  • colors
  • my kitchen
  • my home/house
  • my Bose sound system
  • a paid off mortgage
  • a million dollars a day for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • winning lottery tickets
  • a clothes dryer
  • fresh paint in my bedroom and living room
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • grapefruit juice
  • peach/mango yogurt smoothies
  • heat
  • my fuzzy robe and my warm cape
  • Pandora online radio
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • that my kitties sleep with me
  • paid bills
  • wordzzles
  • the ability to read and write
  • the ability to type
  • eye to see
  • ears to hear
  • the Weeping song from yesterday's post
  • the sense of touch
  • reiki
  • angels
  • miracles
  • friends
  • my sister's children and their families
  • beauty
  • life

HAVE A LOVELY DAY!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Daily Reminder # 241

I woke up with this song in my head this morning. I seem to be waking up with songs in my head on a regular basis. Yesterday was one I don't much like, but this one I love, so I popped over to YouTube to see if I could find a sharing copy.  I love the music, especially with the South African background lilt. And I like the word. These are the lyrics that were written originally and here are the ones you will hear in on this video (I think).




Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - a hope for inspiring the Universe to say "oh....did we forget to give her the million a year? We must correct that...)

Tara is so hard to photograph because of her
gray color and because she tends to take the
night shift at my desk. I had to mess with this
one to make it visible, but I love her
expression. It's very Tara waiting for me to
turn the computer off and give her crunchies.

  • music
  • coffee
  • heat
  • water
  • laughter
  • my TV
  • no news snow
  • kitty hugs
  • Netflix
  • reiki
  • angels
  • my camera
  • electricity
  • my boom box
  • ear phones
  • my computer
  • my neighbors
  • my friends
  • hope
  • patience
  • beauty
  • colors
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • my Bose sound system
  • freshly painted bedroom and living room
  • paid off mortgage
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • winning lottery tickets
  • a clothes dryer
  • my microwave
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • grapefruit juice
  • rocks
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • YouTube
  • progress
  • legs that get me from room to room
  • a functioning brain
  • the ability to read
  • an education
  • my cane
  • my red chair
  • my wonderful mattress
  • blankets
  • my fuzzy robe (even though it's hideous)
  • litter box changed/garbage put out
  • the power of the word "No"
  • the power of the word "yes"
  • my sister's children and their families
  • life
Poor Tara Grace, eternal snot machine who I love very much, has a
very stuffy nose right now.  She is not open to assistance wiping it off.
Reiki is helping her but I fear we may be in for a trip to the vet. 

HAVE A GLORIOUS AND JOYFUL DAY!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Daily Reminder # 240


I think I'll just do gratitude this evening. Did I tell you that I finished Aveyond. I'm doing it over just for the heck of it, but the madness has passed.  I think I had something else that I really wanted to talk about this evening but I don't remember what it was. I thought the President's State of the Union speech was good. The GOP guy actually did a pretty good job too. My impulse to snarl and say hateful things was fairly subdued while he spoke. Didn't listen to Michelle Bachmann. I draw the line at paying attention to her. I'm tempted to post segments from last night's Daily Show and Colbert but think I will hold off on that for another day.




Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - an effort to nudge the Universe into action on my behalf.)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • kitty hugs
  • the sound of purring
  • my camera
  • coffee
  • grapefruit juice
  • snow plows
  • President Obama
  • music
  • my TV
  • Netflix
  • reiki
  • angels
  • the telephone
  • Dr. Jim
  • electricity
  • heat
  • strawberry/banana yogurt smoothies
  • a clothes dryer
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • freshly painted living and bed rooms
  • a paid off mortgage
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • winning lottery tickets
  • a Bose sound system
  • my fuzzy robe and heavy cape
  • my friends
  • my microwave
  • water
  • Aveyond
  • Zuma
  • email
  • US mail
  • coconut oil
  • my cane
  • my red chair
  • legs that still get me across a room
  • cat toys
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • my nieces, my nephew and their families
  • the internet
  • music
  • laughter
  • hope
  • dreams
  • life


HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Daily Reminder # 239


Well, I'm calling on Neale Donald Walsh again tonight. This one - on the subject of miracles - is short and sweet but something I have debated with people fairly regularly. Back in my church going days I had a major debate with some of my fellow congregants on the subject of miracles. They felt that miracles "in the Biblical sense" no longer happen.  I thought then and think even more now that they happen all the time. (What is reiki if not a miracle in the Biblical sense?) But even without reiki, to deny miracles is to be dead to the world. We live in a world of daily miracles. The world itself is a miracle. The human body is a miracle. The heart, the lungs, the brain. Cats, dogs, flowers, trees, clouds.... are all miracles. I mean you can't open your eyes (miracles of creation in and of themselves) and not see a miracle or two before breakfast every day. So anyway.... I liked this one, so it's today's daily reminder.




On this day of your life, dear friend, 
I believe God wants you to know...
...that miracles do not, in fact, 
break the laws of nature.

C.S. Lewis said that, and 
it is an enormous insight. If
we think that miracles are normal, 
we will expect them.
And expecting a miracle 
is the surest way to get one.


Love, Your Friend....

neale




Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude in hopes that this will encourage the Universe to hear and grant my wishes/hopes/dreams)

Click to enlarge if you want
to see that sweet face bigger.
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • heat (it was minus 12 last night)
  • water
  • indoor plumbing
  • my fuzzy robe and my warm cape
  • earphones
  • my TV
  • peach/mango/yogurt smoothies
  • cheese
  • coffee 
  • my new camera
  • music
  • email
  • Quilly's Punny Monday (I won again! Yeeha!)
  • Keith Olbermann
  • Jon Stewart
  • Stephen Colbert
  • my Bose sound system
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • winning lottery tickets
  • newly painted living room and bedrooms
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • paid off mortgage
  • winning the PCH Vermont Dream House
  • reiki
  • angels
  • laughter
  • words
  • poetry
  • the ability to read and write
  • games
  • electricity
  • Netflix
  • the US mail
  • life
  • air
  • the colors of the rainbow
  • hope
  • dreams
  • miracles
  • life


Have a Miraculous Day!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Daily Reminder # 238

I didn't have any new photos tonight so I went for a few videos... no music this time, but a series on the "yoga of laughter." Since laughter is ALWAYS on my gratitude list... every day, without fail... I thought these were perfect for the Daily Reminder.



this one was just kind of odd and interesting...



and then... a laughing baby....






Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude - an effort to help the Universe help me to manifest my hopes and dreams)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • music
  • Pandora online radio
  • laughter
  • Aveyond - conquered... world has been saved
  • ice cream
  • banana/strawberry yogurt smoothies
  • TV
  • YouTube
  • heat and HEAP (it's minus 8 degrees tonight)
  • my Bose sound system
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • a clothes dryer
  • paid off mortgage
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • freshly painted living room and bedroom
  • winning lottery tickets
  • my computer
  • the ability to type
  • the ability to read and write
  • laughter
  • movies/Netflix
  • reiki
  • angels
  • my microwave
  • cheese
  • grapefruit juice
  • coffee & Intel' Delight
  • indoor plumbing
  • my red chair
  • my cane
  • legs that wobble me from room to room
  • thermal windows
  • my mattress
  • blankets
  • my fuzzy robe
  • my TV
  • kind neighbors
  • my friends
  • my nieces and my nephew & their families
  • love
  • poetry
  • beauty
  • colors
  • laughter (I know I put it down twice)
  • life

OLD picture. I know I've posted this before, but it still makes
me laugh.  Those familiar with Angel today will notice that she was a bit slimmer when this was taken... and just as naughty.. 

MAY YOUR DAY BE RICH IN LAUGHTER!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Daily Reminder # 237


Just gratitude this evening.  I won't say I'm cured of my Aveyond insanity, but I think the madness has peaked and I will work my way through the rest of the game with a little less deranged intensity.  It is MINUS 2 degrees out tonight. Too cold. But we didn't have much snow, so I feel grateful for that at least.



Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude... an effort to encourage the Universe to help me manifest my hopes and dreams)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • less snow than expected
  • my little house
  • heat and HEAP
  • my fuzzy robe and my heavy cape
  • blankets
  • my lovely mattress
  • sleep
  • winning the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • my Bose sound system
  • a clothes dryer
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • freshly painted living and bedrooms
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • paid off mortgage
  • snow on the tree branches
  • reiki
  • angels
  • my new camera
  • my TV
  • Deepak Chopra
  • hearing
  • the ability to read and write
  • my computer
  • onions
  • grapefruit juice
  • my friends
  • Aveyond
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • water
  • music
  • sam-e
  • Chocolate Soy Silk
  • beauty
  • indoor plumbing
  • toilet paper
  • paper towels
  • toothpaste
  • electric toothbrush
  • mail
  • laughter
  • hope
  • life



Have a Lovely Day!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Daily Reminder # 236

(Please scroll down for the Weekly Wordzzle Challenge.)


Well, I got lost in Aveyond all day and all evening and have still not written my wordzzles, so I'm just going to do gratitude this evening while I long like any good addict to go back to my game. Serious addiction to this game. Whew. It's hard on the kitties too because they are pretty much not getting more than grudging attention... and the friend I want to reiki but haven't done yet... But I'm enjoying myself. Anyway.... gratitude.... wordzzles... reiki.... aveyond.... 



Some things I'm grateful for today: (items in red are pre-gratitude, a kind of nudge to the Universe to hear my prayers and grant my wishes.)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • my new camera
  • less snow than predicted
  • Aveyond (except for the addiction part)
  • peach mango yogurt smoothies
  • water
  • ruby red grapefruit juice
  • cheese
  • chocolate Soy Silk
  • that nobody else has done wordzzles yet either
  • my Bose sound system
  • winning lottery tickets
  • the HGTV Vermont Dream House
  • a million dollars a year for life from Publisher's Clearinghouse
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • paid off mortgage
  • fresh paint in my living and bedrooms
  • a clothes dryer
  • my TV
  • indoor plumbing
  • reiki
  • angels
  • sunshine
  • heat
  • my fuzzy robe and my cape
  • my lined Crocs
  • Omega-3
  • Sam-e
  • the smell of white sage
  • matches
  • my microwave
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • beauty
  • inspiration
  • the ability to read and write
  • Aveyond (I said that already, didn't I?)
  • music
  • poetry
  • photos
  • laughter
  • life



May the Force Be With You

Friday, January 21, 2011

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge #139


Week 139 of the Weekly (formerly Saturday) Wordzzle Challenged has arrived. Time seems to be positively flying these days.  As of 5:30 I'm running very late and I need a nap. True confession needed. My friend Danny gave me a copy of the new Aveyond.  I become totally addicted when Aveyond's new chapters become available. I was going to install it last night and wait until today to start. Then I thought I'd just peak. Then it was 4 am.  I am not showing much more restraint today.  It's FUN and I must save our heroine and the world... Really. I have to...   So, anyway... I thought I'd post next week's words and Mr. Linky awhile just to appease my guilt and then I'll post my efforts later this evening or tomorrow.


Words for this week's challenge were: sunset, open sesame, spectacles, icicles, chanting, proposal, jade carving, earphones, growing old, parallelogram   And for the mini: athlete, trading places, launch, ownership, trample




My mega: 

Sitting in the lotus position (she could still do it!) in front of the exquisite jade carving of the Buddha that George had gotten them for their 40th wedding anniversary, Melinda thought growing old was not the fun fest she had been promised when she was 8. Not that she had a bad life. She was entering her sunset years with a nice bank account. Her late husband - the kindest, funniest, most wonderful husband a woman could have asked for - had left her quite well off. They had had a happy marriage and she missed him terribly. Ownership of Parallelogram Industries had made him rich but it had not consumed him. He had known how to live life with both joy and grace, always kind and generous to his employees, never trampling on their feelings or their rights. If it was possible to be perfect, George had been perfect. He had been an athlete who loved both watching and playing sports. But he had also been a poet. His proposal had been worthy of Shakespeare. She was pretty sure that even if she hadn't already been head over heels in love with him, she would have fallen for him in that moment. And his voice... it was deep and rich and you could hear the love vibrating in it.  When she had "launched" - that's what the PR guy had called it, though she didn't know if you really would launch a Yoga studio - but she digressed - George had come up with the name Open Sesame and had made dozens of tapes of himself chanting - she was listening to one of them now as she went through her morning ritual. It made her feel like he was still there watching over her. And with the earphones it became just the two of them together again in the stillness of her heart. Trading places from the peaceful space in front of their Buddha to the untidy chaos of her desk, she felt a tear run down her cheek as she adjusted her spectacles. Outside the window several icicles gleamed in the sun and cast a rainbow onto the wedding picture she kept on her desk. Thanks, George, darling. she whispered. I needed that.





My 10 word:  


I cannot think of a way to use the word parallelogram... or icicles either, for that matter, muttered Raven rather irritably. Growing old has seems to be taking its toll on my grey matter. I say open sesame to my imagination and there is nothing but a dreadful silence in my head. Or worse, an empty rattling to sort of prove for sure that there is nothing left up there. So Raven put on some earphones and a tape of monks chanting but still nothing. She looked at the jade carving of the bear whose fish was now missing thanks to Angel kitty. Still nothing. Old age and young kitties hadn't helped him either. The bear would outlast her, though. Her sunset years were proving to be filled with aches and pains and the spectacle of lurching from room to room with the help of a cane. It could be much worse, she reminded herself. Still, I have a proposal to make to the Universe. When I wake up in the morning, my legs will not ache and they will work like the old days. I'm open to miracles. Really, I am. And now I will go lose myself in a fantasy world for a while where I can zap monsters do magic. Reality is sometimes overrated. But it's also cool. And I have now cheated my way through the 10 word. Badly, but it's done.  Mini will have to wait until morning.




My mini:


So often we think that trading places or trading faces would make all our troubles go away. That's an illusion of course. It might have been fun to be beautiful or to be an athlete, but I would have carried the same or different problems into that world and my family would have trampled over my feeling just the same as they did when I was me. Maybe they would have trampled over different feelings, but no life is uncomplicated. If I had my way, I'd launch a campaign to have everyone on earth go into therapy where we could learn to take ownership of our own feelings and with that of our gifts and blessings. It might not solve all the problems in the world, but I think it would help a lot of people live happier lives. 


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Word for next week's 10-word challenge: kissing cousins, macaroni and cheese, chasm, orange glow, bucket list, eucalyptus, charged, handy, superior, eagerly

And for the mini: ambition, charter, bug spray, business as usual, cheap


Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.