Category: Stream of Consciousness Saturday

SoCS: a new wrinkle

I just finished writing up some notes on a problem I had at physical therapy yesterday.

We were trying to tape my upper back/shoulders and inadvertently caused symptoms in my neck and made my tinnitus louder.

We immediately removed the tape but I’m still having some aftereffects today.

We are still looking for a diagnosis that explains all my medical weirdness but we aren’t there yet.

Meanwhile, I appreciate everyone’s graciousness and patience in waiting for my posts to appear. It’s been an intense few weeks, as you might have guessed in that I still haven’t done a post-election entry. I’ll get there eventually.

I’m trying to extend the grace and patience people are showing me to myself. Sometimes, I even manage it…
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is to use the word “just” in the first sentence. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/11/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-23-2024/

SoCS: security blanket

I don’t remember if I had a security blanket when I was little but I could sure use one now…

Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “blanket.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/11/15/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-16-2024/ (Admittedly, this is a very brief excursion in stream of consciousness, but I am really struggling with brain fog and fatigue lately and I figured a short post was better than no post.)

SoCS: under litany

under stress

under duress

underwater

under the weather

a short litany for how I’m feeling today

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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “under.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/11/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-9-2024/

SoCS: mugs

Our family has lots of mugs.

Lots.

There are Big Hug mugs that came years ago filled with FTD flowers. A pair of floral mugs that B and I received as a wedding gift 42 years ago. Mugs from my various Smith College reunions. A line of mugs related to B’s jobs. A mug with children from around the world that was given to me by the middle school principal years ago as a thank-you for being on the building planning team. Some hand-crafted ones which double as works of art. A Doctor Who mug that changes its design depending on the temperature of the liquid inside. Some mugs designed for soup instead of beverages. Sandra Boynton mugs spanning several decades.

Our most recent acquisition is a Sunday Today mug that T and I gave to B for Father’s Day. Its claim to fame is that it is very big, although, of course, it isn’t obligatory to fill it all the way. However, if you do, you need to use two tea bags.

I don’t use mugs very often myself. I don’t drink coffee or tea. I used to love cocoa but it riles up one of my medical conditions. I sometimes will drink white hot chocolate in the cooler weather or make hot milk with spices but it isn’t that frequent.

I do, though, like having reminders of our past in the cupboard, even when they make me nostalgic, like the mug from our children’s elementary school or from the elementary school where my father-in-law was principal for decades. He passed away in 2005, a few years after he retired.

Some day, we will have to downsize and cull some of our mugs.

It will be hard.
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “mug.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/10/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-26-2024/

SoCS: what I knew today

I knew I wouldn’t have the brainpower to write in stream of consciousness what I needed to say today about the upcoming election in the US, so I wisely wrote that post in the conventional way – and am shamelessly sharing it here.

Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is to use a word that starts with kn. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/10/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-19-2024/

SoCS: my new piece!

I’ve had a new piece published!

It’s a personal essay rather than my usual poetry.

I posted about it earlier and, yes, this is a way to get more views for Generations Today, who published this story of my relationship with nature and how that lead to my climate activism.

Enjoy!
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is to build the post around a word that has “i before e.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-28-2024/

SoCS: peace

Praying for peace.

Working for peace and reconciliation.

Trying to be a peacemaker in a world with way too much violence and destruction and devaluing of life.

My part in building peace is small, but, if enough of us are dedicated to peace, we can move closer to it.

Please join in the effort.
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Linda’a prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “piece/peace.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-21-2024/

SoCS: phones

I know I’ve written before about my troubled relationship with my cell phone, including in my JC’s Confessions series.

That was a while back and I can’t say that the relationship has gotten any better. I’m still not a fan of people thinking they can call or text me at any time and that I will respond. And by “people” I mean businesses and individuals who aren’t close family/friends.

Unlike most people, I don’t have my phone with me at all times and I turn it off at night. When I’m out and about, I usually have it silenced so that it doesn’t interrupt whatever I’m doing.

For the most part, I try not to give out my cell number. It annoys me that, in situations where I have to use it as a secondary or emergency contact number, places like doctors’ offices will default to using it, even though I’ve said that it is for emergencies only. I sometimes have to remove the number from my profile to get them to stop calling or texting.

I prefer to have people call my landline and leave a message if no one is availabe to answer. Then, I can return calls when I am available and have time.

I just don’t need the dentist office telling me I have an appointment the next day when I’m in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store.

In truth, I don’t use the phone as much as I used to. For decades, I spoke to my mom nearly every day by phone, usually even on days that I would be seeing her in person later on. She passed away in 2019 and my father in 2021. With B working from home and T living with us and E and her family in Europe, I don’t have any regular family phone calls anymore.

When the phone rings these days, it’s most likely to come up as “potential spam” on the caller ID.

The answering machine can handle that…
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “phone.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-14-2024/

SoCS: time

“Tick-tock. Time’s a-wasting.”

I remember that saying from when I was young, although I haven’t heard it for a long time now.

But, yeah, time is rushing by with so much pressure these days.

My inbox is filled with urgent messages about the upcoming election, the climate crisis, closing submission calls for poetry and manuscripts, important meetings and webinars, pleas for donations. (I probably should have said inboxes, as I have several email addresses that I have to maintain.)

And I have very limited energy to respond.

While we continue to rule out reasons for my health issues, we haven’t been able to track down the underlying cause. We are addressing the symptoms that we can but the most upsetting ones, the fatigue and brain fog, aren’t able to be improved at this point. I’m working around them as best I can by listening to my body and trying to be gentle with myself.

But, tick-tock, time is rushing by with all its demands and things that can’t/won’t wait.

And I’m only able to do a sliver of what I wish I could.

I do try to remind myself that I’m only a very, very, very tiny entity in this world and in all these efforts and that others are taking up the slack. It won’t be my fault if the election goes to the Republicans and they crash the country and trash the climate (except that I know I share the guilt of social sin, but I can’t stream-of-consciousness an explanation of Catholic social justice doctrine and our responsibilities to humanity and the world. And you’re welcome that I’m not trying to.)

The more personal side of dealing with my health right now is that I have a ton of work to do with my poetry and it is taking a loooong time to do it, if I can do it at all. There is also the sinking feeling that it isn’t as good as it could/should be. There is also the fear that I won’t be able to recover fully from this and will face yet another instance in my life where I set aside my own work to deal with other pressing concerns and then lost the ability to go back to it. I am content with those past choices I made and would not change them, but this feels different because it is my own health that is the obstacle this time.

The biggest regret, though, is that another family member is dealing with a bigger health issue and I’m not as able to help as I would like to be.

Tick-tock. Time’s a-wasting…
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “tack/tech/tick/tock/tuck.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/09/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-7-2024/

SoCS: Joyce’s chickens

One of the substacks I read regularly is Joyce Vance.

She is a lawyer and legal scholar whose commentary I hear often on television. She writes long and thoughtful posts about the current legal issues in the United States, of which there are many.

To lighten things, she also posts about her hobbies.

She will show us what her latest knitting project is, for example.

The thing other than law about which she posts most, though, is her chickens.

She and her family keep a coop with several varieties of chickens. She posts about what she is feeding them. Their interactions with the family’s dog and cat. Their new coop. What they are doing around the yard. How they hop up into her lap sometimes.

She will also occasionally post photos of their eggs. Because there are different breeds, the eggs are various colors and sizes.

The chickens bring Joyce comfort and joy, which she shares with her readers.

I admit that I have no desire to care for chickens myself, but I appreciate Joyce’s sharing her love with all of us.
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “chicken or egg.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/06/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-29-2024/