Category: Stream of Consciousness Saturday

SoCS: Be prepared

I grew up with the motto, Be Prepared.

This was very useful because we lived in a rural setting with no houses nearby so you couldn’t go to the neighbors’ house to borrow a needed tool or recipe ingredient. The grocery store was 20 miles away so it wasn’t easy to pick up bread or milk or whatever you might have run out of, so we kept a well-stocked pantry and freezer.

Even though I live in a neighborhood now – and have for years – I still tended to keep extra supplies on hand, in order to be prepared for a change in plans or an unexpected circumstances.

Still, though, despite preparations, there are some things for which we are never quite prepared.

Recently, I’ve had some instances of re-visiting my poetry chapbook, Hearts. The poems center on my mother, especially her final years when she was living with heart failure. We knew that she was slowly dying and tried to prepare but, when the time came, it was still somewhat of a shock. I know from discussions I’ve had with others that our preparations for loss are seldom adequate.

For me, there is, though, a certain comfort in trying to prepare, even when my preparations aren’t sufficient.

I’ll keep trying…
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Concsiousness Saturday this week is to base your post on a word the starts with “pre.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/02/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-21-2026/

SoCS: Love

Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “love.” I’m assuming she chose that prompt for today because it is Valentine’s Day and love is in the air.

B is making individual beef wellingtons for dinner with tiramisu for dessert, leaving the cocoa sprinkled on top off my portion because I can’t have it. (Update: photos here https://joannecorey.com/2026/02/18/one-liner-wednesday-valentines-food/)

Meanwhile, I will be spending the day resting after yet another medical test and a physical therapy session yesterday. If I’m lucky, I’ll manage to make vigil mass this afternoon. I’m hoping that a down day today will make if possible to get through a two and a half hour Madrigal Choir rehearsal tomorrow.

In short, I’m not doing anything special for B this Valentine’s Day.

And he is perfectly okay with that.

B and I met and became friends when I was in my first year in high school and he in his second. By the wonders of our history teacher, Miss Stewart, who seated us in alphabetical order, we were near each other. Within a couple of years, we were high school sweethearts. We married a few weeks after I graduated from college and will celebrate our 44th anniversary this spring.

Our love for each other is an integral part of who we are and who we became, given that we have been growing together since our early teens.

B doesn’t need me to have a special Valentine’s Day gift for him to assure him of my love.

He knows my love for him is who I am and I know his love for me is who he is.

I will, of course, enjoy the special dinner he is making.

And the lemon blueberry scones currently in the oven for breakfast.

But I live B’s love every day and that is the real Valentine’s Day gift that is with us for life.

I hope that love finds each of you today in whatever form it may take for you.

SoCS: life chapters

I often think of my life in chapters.

They aren’t sequential or in blocks of time, though.

It’s more that they are organized topically.

For example, in my volunteer life, there are chapters around church, social justice advocacy, environmental causes, and school curriculum and committees when I was a parent.

In music, there is the church music and organ chapter, composition, and choral music, starting in high school, then Smith College both as a student and alum, decades with University Chorus at SUNY-Binghamton, and now with the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton.

In my personal life, the chapters are very long. Some as a daughter, granddaughter, and sister are life-long. Even though my parents and grandparents have all passed away, being a daughter and granddaughter is forever, as is being a sister.

Another long chapter which is ongoing is with my spouse B, who I met early in high school. We will celebrate our 44th anniversary later this year. I think that part of the reason we are who we are at this point is that we were able to grow and change together over all this time.

And then, there is my writing life, with chapters for school, what I think of as utilitarian writing like doing commentary, blogging, and poetry.

Two chapters that remain close to my heart are as a mom and, for the last 8 and a half years, a grandmother. Those chapters are the most forward-looking. I don’t think of my daughters’ and granddaughters’ stories as sequels to mine because they are their own authors but I am honored to be a chapter in their own books of life.
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “chapter.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/02/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-7-2026/

SoCS: Top of JC’s Mind

I started Top of JC’s Mind in September, 2013, and, sometimes, I like to take another look at some of my older posts.

It’s an eclectic blog with lots of topics and you could rummage around in old posts, too, if you like.

Sometimes, I am looking back for specific topics or events. There are also threads that weave in and out over time.

For example, I wrote a lot of comments on the eventually successful campaign to keep shale gas fracking out of New York – which had a brief, ugly reprise in the more recent effort to add CO2 fracking to our state ban. There are also renewable energy posts, including posts on heat pumps, solar panels, and EVs. We are proud to be an electrified household powered by the sun!

There are poetry posts, including posts from my residencies with the Boiler House Poets Collective at the Studios at MASS MoCA which began in fall 2015.

I’ve written quite a lot of COVID/pandemic posts. I’m humbled that one of the local historical societies has been printing those posts to place in their archives for possible research in the future.

The most poignant posts for me are the ones that involve my family. I wrote about my parents in their final years. Those posts were helpful to me at the time as a way to process what was going on but are also good to look back on from time to time.

While I’m admittedly not a great photographer, I’ve tried to include some photos. It’s handy that, during the years of Top of JC’s Mind, we have had family living in Hawai’i, and later, London. Even an amateur can take decent photos in those settings. I also like to take photos in the western Massachusetts/Southern Vermont area where I lived as a child and teen.

So, I invite you to take another look at Top of JC’s Mind.

Or a first look, if that is more applicable…
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Concsiousness Saturday this week is “take another look.” Find more information on joining us for SoCS and/or Just Jot It January here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/23/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2026-daily-prompt-for-jan-24th/

SoCS: Onward!

Don’t get me started writing about the horrors of the Trump administration, especially in stream of consciousness, because it would go on for pages and pages and be incredibly painful to read.

Nobody needs that, especially because it wouldn’t be helpful in making changes that are needed to protect lives.

I’m sending prayers and well wishes to all those protesting and speaking out against the autocracy and evil that has befallen the US and afflicted so many here and across the world. While very few of us have any real power in the government, I believe our numbers will eventually prevail to get us back on a path that honors our Constitution and laws and our highest ideals for equality, compassion, and care for all people and our common home, the earth.

Stay strong but remember that, when you need to rest, others are there to carry on until you can rejoin the effort. Although I wish we could get to a better state of affairs quickly, this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

Onward!
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday/Just Jot It January today is “don’t get me started.” If you would like to join in with either effort, you can find details here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/09/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2026-daily-prompt-for-jan-10th/

SoCS: slowing down

I used to walk fast, partially due to having much shorter legs than spouse B so that even when he would slow down to walk with me, I’d still need to speed up.

Now, I am having a number of issues with my balance and need to slow down so I can concentrate on staying upright and walking relatively straight. Sometimes, I need B’s – or someone else’s – arm to help me stabilize. This is especially likely later in the day as fatigue also becomes a factor.

So, I’m slower these days but grateful to be able to be up and about, at least, on most days.

Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “fast/slow.” For more information on how to join SoCS and/or Just Jot It January, please visit here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/02/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2026-daily-prompt-for-jan-3rd/

SoCS: alarm bells in the US

Vote for Democracy #48

(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)

I’ve been experiencing life here in the United States with increasing alarm.

The cruelty, lawlessness, and incompetence of the Trump administration continues to accelerate while the suffering here and abroad continues to mount.

I will spare you a stream-of-consciousness list of all the component parts of this catastrophe, but the destruction by Trump of the East Wing of the White House presents a decent metaphor – lie about what you are planning and rush in and wreck things.

Millions upon millions of people here are fighting back to save our democracy and have a chance to re-build it and slowly repair to the extent possible the global damage inflicted but we haven’t been able to turn the tide yet. I don’t know how long it will take but we won’t give up.

Joyce Vance published her first book this week, entitled Giving Up is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy. It’s what we need to do.

We won’t give up.
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “alarm.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/10/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-25-2025/

SoCS: two years of Hearts!

Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “something that opens.”

Something that opens is my first chapbook, Hearts. In a shameless exercise in self-promotion, I’m using this post to draw attention to a post that I just finished about the second anniversary of Hearts.

Check it out!

SoCS: drinks

I don’t drink coffee or alcohol or tea or soda, due to health issues. If I drink juices, I need to dilute them.

One of my more abstract poems is on the topic of drinks. It was published by Mania Magazine and you can find it here.

* Join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Linda’s prompt this week was “drink.”

SoCS: walks – or not

I used to enjoy going for walks with my spouse but haven’t been able to for most of the last 15 months due to my current health struggles.

You can read more about that here, in the context of today being the last day of EDS/HSD Awareness Month.

I used most of my energy getting that post together, here in this early morning timeframe, so this is a short Stream of Consciousness Saturday post. Linda’s prompt this week is “walk.” Please consider joining us or just stop by Linda’s site to wish her and her family well as they are recovering from illness at this point.