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 |   The simplicity of my day to day. |
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This is where I write my thoughts, feelings and my daily trials, tribulations and happy things
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| f "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" DAY 3141--July 1, 2024 Prompt: “Mountains look big from the ground, but from eagle’s eyes, they’re stepping stones.” What is your take on this quote, and on the average, how do you notice and assess hardships? I suppose my way of looking at hardships is to face them head on and just hope things will get better. When we, my husband, three year old and myself arrived in Australia we knew no one. All our furniture and belongings were stuck on Liverpool docks for six months in the docker’s strike. We bought a house but had nothing to put in it while we waited for our stuff to arrive. People we met donated some essentials which was really fortunate as we had no money to buy much. I was six months pregnant by the time we eventually furnished the house. That time was hard. After the twins were born our washing machine broke and so were we. I washed towelling diapers in the bath, treading them as if I was treading grapes to make wine.😂 So hardships now don’t worry me, nothing could have been as hard as those years with no family to help me with the children. I hear people saying “Woe is me,” over the smallest hurdle and just tell them they’re young, strong and healthy and that’s all that matters. |
Blog City Prompt: Have fun with these words in your entry: settle, continental, try, slam, level, nest, and day. I feel as if I’m in need of a continental holiday. You know how it is when life becomes tedious, and you just can’t settle into your life as it is, and you are in desperate need of a change of scenery or just something which will put some sparkle back into your life? Try as I might to get my life back onto some level pegging, something happens and slams me back to earth. Perhaps instead of dreaming of travel I should settle back into my nest, rearrange a few feathers or straw and just call it a day. |
| Day 3537 June 28, 2024 “July is hollyhocks and hammocks, fireworks and vacations, hot and steamy weather, cool and refreshing swims, beach picnics, and vegetables all out of the garden.” ~ Jean Hershey. What's your favorite pleasure in July? When I was born, July was all those things mentioned in the prompt, because I arrived into the world in July1944 in the Northern Hemisphere. It was the long school holidays too and playing with my brothers and friends all day long. Games of cricket which lasted for what seemed too long as this child would be sent to retrieve cricket balls hit too hard into the neighbour’s garden. The evenings were long too the sun loathe to leave the sky, and at bedtime there was still daylight. But now July is in the middle of winter here in the southern hemisphere. People have Christmas in July parties simply so they can have dinner by the fire! My birthday falls on the nineteenth and it’s too cold to have any celebrations outside, so we usually go to the pub and have lunch and a hot toddy. So I’ve experienced both summer and winter birthdays but many more winter ones having left the UK at twenty eight years of age. But even so I remember my summer birthdays the best, especially the first ten. |
| "Blogging Circle of Friends " DAY 3536 June 27, 2024 Prompt: Olympics 2024 will feature four new events this year: skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing, and breaking. What do you know about these events? And do you think they will be the same class of athletes as traditional Olympic athletes are? Do we really need to expand the sport choices degree I’m not a sport enthusiast by any means but the Olympics gives me a reason to watch the various events. I actually loved watching the skateboarding last year. Those children, and yes they were just children, showed so much sportsmanship to each other, genuinely applauding and cheering on the competition. As for break dancing I love watching their performances and what they can do with their bodies. Oh, how I wish I could do a tiny bit of what they can accomplish. Allowing these types of sport in the Olympics gives those kids a chance. Those who perhaps couldn’t access the training and equipment needed for most other spirts. Breakdancing for instance needs no special expensive gear, just a willingness to train daily for hours. So they deserve a chance to show the world what they’ve achieved. Some of the events which have been an Olympics even forever are ones we rarely see. Horse events for instance. Or shooting. They’re always great to watch especially the horses but there’s room for new events and I’m looking forward to seeing them. |
| Blogging Circle of Friends " Prompt: Use these words in your entry today: rebel, determine, cancellation, staff, plagiarize, nest, explode, wake and domestic. Domestically things have changed dramatically in my house. Our daughter and husband have just sold their house and their arrangements for new accommodation have been cancelled. Their soon to be new nest, a rental while they decide on where to purchase their next home has suddenly become unavailable. I feel as if my house is about to explode as they’ve moved in to my tiny house with their luggage, their fridge and pantry contents and their tv programme choices. My husband and I have moved out of our bedroom and are in seperate rooms and I’m sitting on my bed writing this prompt while they watch some inane programming. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to rebel but contain myself knowing it’s temporary, I hope, fingers crossed. But I’m determined to be the bigger person and do what I can to help them until my patience runs out or I wake and find it was all a dream and I can now find things that have got lost or misplaced in the mayhem. I’m beginning to feel as if I’m part of the staffin this hotel! It’s a bit like when the kids were little and meals had to be provided three times a day and laundry done constantly. Daughter and her husband both work which is a blessing but I feel as if there should be a meal waiting for them at the end of their day. Does being a mother never end? As for the word plagiarise I can’t find a use for it in this sad tale of domestic disruption . |
| "Blogging Circle of Friends " DAY 3532 June 22, 2024 Have fun with these words: athletes, yellow, smart, ginger, spinach, work, schedule, and dynasty. When I saw the word athletes, it reminded me that we’ll be hearing it often over the coming weeks. Yes, the Olympics are here again. We’ll witness the best of the best in all sporting endeavours. Our Australian team will be looking smart in their yellow and green uniforms. Or as we call it, sporting the green and gold. I hope they’ve eaten all their spinach which is after all supposed to give them strength like Popeye the sailor man. We’re hoping our swimming team excel as that’s the sport we do the best in. After all their gruelling schedule and dedication to their sport some miss out by just a fraction of a second for the chance to represent their country. Often those athletes who have been excelling in their field of endeavour come from families who have been involved throughout their lives and have almost formed a dynasty of athletes. Anyhow I’ll be glued to the television drinking my favourite lemon and ginger tea, urging the Australian athletes on to victory. I realise of course each person from the country represented in the Olympics in Paris will be doing exactly the same. Although the Parisians will be drinking Champagne. The Americans? Well probably Coca Cola or a beer. I might be the odd one out sipping my ginger tea. The rest will be sculling a few tinnies of Lager and sharing a platter of shrimps from the barbie. Let’s all simply enjoy the spectacular of the Olympics from our armchairs. |
| "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" DAY 3131 June 21. 2024 Have fun with this prompt: On your birthday, you miraculously survive a deadly car crash without a scratch. Later that week, you watch a small scratch heal and disappear right before your eyes. Where did this new power come from and what will you do with it? Oh my! How I’d love this power. I do hope on my upcoming birthday though that I’m not in a deadly car crash! I’m the slowest of healers these days. I take steroids every day for Polymyalgia Rheumatca and the effect has been very thin skin. The slightest bruise takes ages to get better. I said to my husband only this morning I’d give anything to be pain free. Of course I’m not alone and there are far worse cases than mine. I try not to complain but sometimes a good moan works wonders😂 Anyway what would I do with a healing power? The question should be what wouldn’t I give for such a power? I’d probably be selfish and cure myself first and then I’d just wave my magic fingers for anyone who needed my curing power. |
| "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Day 3130 June 20, 2024 Prompt: Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Write about this in your Blog entry today. The way I look at that prompt and attempt to take from it, is that when I looked at myself in the mirror this morning and sighed with dissatisfaction I realised this is the youngest I’ll ever be. Everyone goes on about my birthday in less than four weeks time when I’ll be eighty! I don’t want to be eighty and yet that’s being ungrateful. I can tell myself growing old is a privilege and it is! Yet there’s that dissatisfaction again. Actually I don’t mind it too much but it’s the aches and pains that detract from thoroughly enjoying the days. . So, today was the first day of the rest of my life? Of course it’s true, I know that, and yet it didn’t seem to be any different to yesterday and probably tomorrow. I do attempt to be more mindful as I’m reaching that milestone and attempt to go with the flow, not get anxious or frustrated as I may once have been. My husband and I usually have a laugh about something each day. We both have the same sense of humour and see the absurdity of life. Recently I’ve stopped worrying about money. I’m intent on simply enjoying our lives with what we have. There’s no way of accumulating any more anyway. So tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of my life. I’ll be one day older and hopefully one day wiser. |
| f "Blogging Circle of Friends " Day 3530 June 19, 2024 Prompt: What is your night time ritual like? Has it evolved with you over time? My bedtime routine is basically the same each night now. But of course over the years it’s differed greatly. I can just barely remember the wonderful sleeps I had when I was a teenager. I simply closed my eyes and slept until morning. Oh the bliss! Motherhood sleep years were almost non existent, you may as well ask “what’s sleep?” For years broken sleep was the norm as it is for most mothers. My first child didn’t sleep through the night until she was about four. By that time I had twins. One or other was awake all through the nights for several years. My son was a bedwetter until being about ten! Then came the years when my husband and I decided to sleep apart as we kept each other awake. I was sad to think it had come to it, but found sleeping in another room liberating. I could read until what time I desired. No moaning about turning the light off. Nowadays we’re old folks. We can’t stay up late, but we get up with the dawn. We watch tv together from 7 pm until about nine. Then we have our routine; We send the dog outside for a last pee and get her bed ready. (It has to be just so) 😂 Then I take half a sleeping pill otherwise I’d never get to sleep. I take medication and a glass of water to bed because I have to take it in the middle of the night which is a bit of a nuisance. I usually sit up in bed and do my blog or write. Close my eyes around 11.30. Then broken sleep until around six am. So sleep has been too hard to come by for most of my life and I envy those who can still sleep like a teenager. |
| The doorbell rings and your character answers it – finding nothing but an envelope with nothing on it. They open it and follow the instructions.... This is a story I wrote sometime ago which will fit the prompt. Enjoy. Ruby heard a rattle on the front door, “Who can this be?” She murmured, wrapping her silk Chinese robe tightly around her slim body. Cautiously she opened the door a little. “Yes, can I help you?” she asked the young man standing there, holding a small parcel. “Mrs Ruby Carstairs?” Ruby nodded and signed for the package, “Thank you,” she replied, closing the door. She looked at the writing on the brown wrapping paper recognising it to be her mother’s. “What’s this?” she wondered, opening it as she walked back to the dining table. She found a note inside which read: “I thought you’d be interested in reading this diary. It belonged to your grandfather. Please keep it safe.” Love Mum. Ruby held the black book, the soft leather felt warm beneath her hand, she was wondering why her mother would send it to her. She flicked through the pages; each page filled with small neat handwriting, written in German. Maybe that was why her mother had sent it to her, knowing Ruby could read German and speak the language fluently, having lived in Germany for a couple of years. Pouring herself a cup of tea, she sat down at the table and began to read the first page. Several hours later, she looked up at the clock on the wall, so engrossed in her Grandfather's words, she’d lost track of the hours, it was nearly midday. Ruby knew little of her Mother’s father, he’d died when she was a child. The only thing she knew was that he’d come to Australia after the Second World War, met her grandmother, and had several children, including Ruby’s mother. He’d written the diary over seven years, starting in 1939 up to 1946. His words fascinated Ruby as he spoke of how his country, Hungary, became under Romanian rule. Arrested as a Hungarian Nationalist for treason against the State, the authorities had thrown him into prison, and tortured him mercilessly. Afterwards in 1940 Bulgaria instituted an anti-Jewish legislation, her Grandfather became a government representative, and he was personally responsible for the deaths of thirty-four Jews. He had given the order for them to be taken deep into the mountains in the middle of winter, and to be abandoned there, to starve waist deep in snow. All this was documented by his own hand in the diary. It seemed he was proud of his actions, showing no remorse. This shocked Ruby, but somehow she couldn’t stop reading. The day turned to night as she read the tiny writing; as if her Grandfather didn’t want to waste paper, he’d crammed as many words as possible onto the yellowed pages. He related that after the war ended he became a wanted man, charged with the deaths of the thirty-four souls he’d sent to a certain death. He planned to escape the clutches of the Nazi Hunters, who were intent on bringing them to justice for the genocide of a nation. Falsifying his identity and papers, he arrived in Australia as a refugee, with a new name. David Kodak. Ruby closed the diary after reading the last entry. The resident owl, which lived in the oak tree outside her house, hooted. The sound surprised her, dragging her back to the present. Noticing it had become dark outside, she shivered, not simply with the cold air, but at the thought of being related to a murderer. She wondered if her mother knew what the diary contained. Ruby worried about the information she held in her hands. What should she do with it? Her mother needed to know, but what effect would it have on the family, knowing they had a monster for a father? She tried to remember what sort of man he had been, but her memory of him was sketchy. He’d died an old man thinking he’d got away with mass murder. Was it up to Ruby to expose him? Sitting on her bed, still in her dressing gown, her thoughts were with the people whom her grandfather had condemned to such a terrible end. Innocent men, women and children, unaware they were being led to their death. Anger filled her, she paced her bedroom, her hand on her heart, trying to calm herself. How she wished there was something that could change the past, make recompense somehow. There was a thumping sound outside her bedroom door. She wasn’t expecting her husband home tonight; he was away on business. Yet there it was again. Frozen and afraid to move, Ruby heard even more sounds, shuffling of feet, as if there was a gathering of people outside the door. “Hello?” Hearing only a whispering, slithering sound, she tried to sound brave. “I know you’re there, what do you want?” She cried out. No reply. “This is ridiculous,” she muttered. Gathering her senses, she got up from her bed and opened the door. Stepping back quickly, she saw there was no one there, but could feel a sudden, immense wave of pressure pushing her backwards into her room. The air filled with an icy-cold mist which took on a human shape, which cloaked her body. Ruby felt overtaken by an energy she’d never before experienced. She fell backwards on the bed, her silk robe slid on to the floor. Giving a silent scream, she felt the souls of thirty-four spirits invade her body. Ruby realised as she departed this earth, her therapist had been mistaken when he spoke of there only being the here and now. There is retribution, someone has to pay, no matter how long it takes. |
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