“I would love to live like a river flows….carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”
~ John O’Donohue
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/10/one-liner-wednesday-a-disco/
Author: Joanne Corey
Please come visit my eclectic blog, Top of JC's Mind. You can never be sure what you'll find!
First poetry submissions of the year
I managed to get my act together to do two poetry submissions today, my first of 2016. I have had a poem published this year, though, which you can find here.
I submitted my poem “Crowning Glory” to Silver Birch Press in response to their call for submissions for the “My Mane Memories” series. Silver Birch is looking for poetry and short prose pieces about your hair. It was a lot of fun to write! Submissions are open through the end of February, so there is time to participate if you like.
I also submitted four poems to The Tishman Review. I had submitted to them last year and received positive feedback, although not an acceptance. They encouraged me to submit again and I finally have. They read blind, though, so they won’t know that I have submitted again until they have decided whether or not to accept. I’m hoping to have chosen the best matches for their editorial preferences. Unlike most of the journals to which I choose to submit, Tishman has a fee to submit, $3 for 90 day response per set of 3-4 poems, or $6 for a two-week response. However, if they accept your work, you do get paid. I’m figuring that if I do ever get paid, I can consider myself a professional poet, instead of just a published one. 😉
So the wait is on. If I get an acceptance, you will be among the first to know!
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Super Bowl 50 wrap-up
As a blogger from the United States, I feel obligated to post on the Super Bowl yesterday.
Even though I am not a football fan or inclined to party over sporting events…
So, here are my impressions.
Why did the National Football League ignore its usual habit of counting the Super Bowl in Roman numerals? It should have been billed as Super Bowl L, not Super Bowl 50.
The one thing about the game I was looking forward to was Lady Gaga singing the National Anthem. She has a beautiful voice and did a really good job singing our not-easy-to-sing anthem. I appreciated that she had a piano so she had some grounding for pitch in the inhospitable environment of the football stadium.
After that, I would just have soon watched the news or something stashed on the DVR, but B decided to watch the first half and half-time show. I paid more attention to my email inbox than to the game, which seemed to be proceeding with quite a lot of fumbling and flags being thrown. I learned a couple of penalties that I didn’t know existed.
At 9:00, we got a break from the game to watch Downton Abbey. That was fun!
We switched back over to the game and watched to the end. So Peyton Manning and Denver, the more experienced team, beat the Carolina Panthers, making their second ever franchise appearance in a Super Bowl. That made sense.
One reason many people watch the Super Bowl is to see the advertisements, which are sometimes clever and innovative. I admit that there were not many that drew my attention this year. My hands-down favorite was Dame Helen Mirren telling the public in no uncertain terms how despicable it is to drive drunk.
That is the most important message that I hope people received from the game.
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Another record!
I posted last week about a new record for likes.
I am shocked to report that that record, 66 likes, was shattered yesterday, setting a new record of 103 likes!
And, in the odd record-keeping of WordPress, I had only 79 views…
I realize part of that is that I allow full posts by email and in the reader, so some likes come in that don’t register as views.
I had four posts yesterday.
The first was a re-blog of gorgeous flowers from My Food and Flowers. It attracted likes and some new followers from the photo-blog sector, including one who went on to explore and like a lot of posts. Thank you, v4vikey!
My planned post yesterday was about the ever-popular subject of exercise, featuring adventures with Wii Fit.
Then, there were two spur-of-the-moment posts on my re-vamping of my blog theme, one on the new header and one on the menu. Posts about blogging always seem to attract attention – among bloggers. Go figure!
Part of the success of the post-likes in a single day is the time of day when the posts appear. All four posts appeared in the morning in my time zone, so it gave more hours for my readers to find them the same day.
Thanks to all my readers and “likers” – especially those of my followers who visit on a regular basis. I really do appreciate your visits, comments, and likes here at Top of JC’s Mind!
Wishing you all a great weekend,
Joanne
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SoCS: trigger finger
Grandma has developed a trigger finger. It’s a cute name, but not a cute condition. Basically, the tendon rolls over the bones in the knuckle at the base of the finger down where the fingers meet the rest of the hand. This makes the finger bend down and catch so that it can only be straightened by taking the other hand and prying it out of the bent position.
And it hurts!
I brought her to see the orthopedic who had done a prior hand surgery for her – and who had done shoulder/arm surgeries on both my husband and me. He is the best person in our area to see for hand and arm things because he has done advanced fellowships.
He injected cortisone into the tendon sheath and, after a couple of days, the pain was gone. After a couple of more it would occasionally catch, but could be unbent without having to be pried open with the other hand.
In a few days, we have a follow-up with the doctor. I’m not sure what he will recommend. The original finger is still catching once in a while and now another finger is getting in on the act. He can do an in-office surgery, which may be necessary to have a permanent solution to the problem.
Trigger finger – not just a gangster term.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “finger.” Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-616/
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I have a menu!
In an attempt to make my new blog theme exploration almost as obnoxious as my poetry publication squealing, here is yet another post on my newest tweak to Top of JC’s Mind.
In my quest to discover what happened to my link to my About page, I found the menu feature of my new theme. I had never done much with menus in my prior themes, but decided to expand my horizons.
Besides the About link and a Posts link to my main page, I added three category links. One is poetry, which will include anything that I have put in that category, so, while links to my poems are there, there are also links to other poets’ work and anything that relates to my writing, groups, workshops, submissions, etc.
The two other category links are to my posts in the two series of Linda’s Life in Progress blog to which I regularly contribute, One-Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday.
I was pleased to discover that the new menu links appear above the new header image, which has the happy effect of making the blog title and tagline font size more proportional and intentional-looking. They seemed puny and forlorn before.
So, yay! So much progress (that I wasn’t actually planning to make today)!
Comments welcome!
~ JC
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New header photo
Thanks to all my blogger friends for their advice on my new theme!
I looked through my photos and found one I thought would crop well as a new header image.
Boiler House Poets and people familiar with North Adams, Massachusetts may recognize the street sign. It was just outside the apartments where we stayed during the Tupelo Press/Mass MoCA residency. (If you want to know more about the residency, check my blog archive for November, 2015.)
I will leave it to my readers to ponder the deep inner meaning of Center Street being one way and what that has to do with the Top of JC’s Mind…
I still wish I could make the title/tagline font larger, but I think it doesn’t look quite so tiny with the header image breaking it apart from the larger-font post title.
It just occurred to me that my link to my “About” page got lost in the shuffle of the theme change. I guess that will be my next problem to solve.
I’d appreciate any comments/musing/interpretations on the new header image.
With thanks,
JC
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Revenge of the Wii Fit
Once upon a time, not all that long ago, I was being pretty diligent about healthy diet and exercise. Before E and L’s wedding in Nov. ’12, I even lost a few pounds.
Then, a multigenerational melange of personal and family health issues appeared, entailing a combination of worry, lost sleep, shuttling back and forth to appointments, rushed meals, and general lack of routine. My diet and exercise habits suffered – a lot. I gained about ten pounds.
Over the last several months, I’ve been making an effort to move more, keeping track of steps using the Fitbit I inherited from E. I’ve been making a concerted effort to eat more healthfully without putting my body into starvation mode. I started doing a plank exercise most days.
And, when B was away on business last week, I dusted off the Wii Fit balance board and fired it up.
Although it wasn’t quite that simple…
First, I put fresh batteries in the Wii remote. Then, I had to replace the batteries in the balance board. I opened the compartment to find that not only had the batteries leaked but they had also deposited crusty white stuff onto the contacts. I had to contact tech support, aka B, for recommendations on a safe way to clean them.
Finally, I got everything working and slipped the disc into the console. Our entire family of Miis (our on-screen avatars) was asleep. I woke mine up and was greeted by the news that it had been 1249 days since I had last visited.
Ouch.
I gamely started out with a fitness test, which involves weight and body mass index. I had gained just enough weight to cross into the overweight category and my Mii suddenly got chubby, which was sad and a bit discouraging, but I didn’t let it stop me.
I chose a range of exercises from the different categories, with a mix of core and upper body strength, flexibility, and aerobics, and found that my conditioning was actually still fairly good. Errands, lugging groceries and parcels, and work around the house have kept me stronger than I had thought.
I have been going back to the Wii for exercise most days since I fired it up and am happy to report that I have already gotten my BMI back into the normal range. Granted, part of that is tied to one of my medical conditions that can cause bloating. I am in a better phase with that right now, but I am hoping to lose a few pounds so that, even when it is acting up, I keep my BMI in the normal range.
Wish me luck!
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Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花
Sharing some beautiful blossoms from one of my favorite photo-blogs.
Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花
Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花
Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花
Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花
Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花
Beautiful bulbous perennial. Easy to grow. Best growing in full sun to partial shade location but also tolerant light shade. Small deep blue flowers in flower ball in spring. Flowers attract bees and butterflies. Good for cut flower. USDA Zones:7-10. Mature size:6″-1′(H) X 3″-6″(W). Plant is toxic if ingested. Propagate by seeds, bulb or division.
美麗的多年生球根花卉. 容易栽種. 最好栽種在全日照到半日照處但也能生長於散光處. 小朵深藍色小花聚成的花球於春天盛開. 花吸引蜂蝶. 也適合為插花的花材. 喜熱不甚耐寒. 成熟株高6吋到1呎,寬幅3-6吋. 植株全株有毒勿食. 繁殖以種子,球根或分株方式來進行.
Reference links: 參考網站資料連結:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla_peruviana https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%AD%E6%B5%B7%E7%B6%BF%E6%A3%97%E5%85%92 http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59661/
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A new look
I’m trying out WordPress’s 2016 theme. I had been using Plane, but decided to give this new theme a go.
You don’t have to look at a header image of the top of my head!
I like that my tagline is more readable now, but I wish the title font was larger.
This theme does meet my main criteria for readability, black print in an easy to read font on a white background.
What do you think? Please let me know in the comments section.
With thanks,
JC
Joanne Corey 