Just trying to leave something behind

 

I have a song that stops me in my tracks. It would have to be something unexpected.

 Sean Rowe

This stopped me one day.  Actually "Okay Google" had selected this and played it for me. The lyrics are following.

I cannot say that I know you well
But you can't lie to me with all these books that you sell
I'm not trying to follow you to the end of the world
I'm just trying to leave something behind

Words have come from men and mouse
Oh, but I can't help thinking that I have heard the wrong crowd
When all the water is gone my job will be too
So I'm trying to leave something behind

Oh, money is free but love costs more than our bread
And the ceiling is hard to reach
Oh, the future ahead is broken and red
And I'm trying to leave something behind

This whole world is a foreign land
We swallow the moon, but we do not know our own hand
Oh, we're running with the case, but we ain't got the gold
Yet we're trying to leave something behind

My friends, I believe we are at the wrong fight
And I can not read what I did not write
I've been to his house, but the master is gone
Yet we're trying to leave something behind

Now there is a beast who has taken my brain
You can put me to bed, but you can't feel my pain
When the machine has taken the soul from the man
It's time to leave something behind

Oh, money is free but love costs more than our bread
And the ceiling is hard to reach
Oh, the future ahead is already dead
And it's time to leave something behind

Now, I've got this feeling that I'm still at the shore
And pockets don't know what it means to be poor
I can get through the wall if you give me a door
So I can leave something behind

Oh, wisdom is lost in the trees somewhere
Oh, you're not gonna find it in some mental gray hair
It's locked up from those who hurry ahead
And it's time to leave something behind

Oh, money is free but love costs more than our bread
And the ceiling is hard to reach
When my son is a man, he will know what I meant

When I was just trying to leave something behind
And I'm trying to leave something behind

Songwriters: Sean Rowe.

This is the closing scene of The Accountant. 

 I hope you ejoy it.

The Lion and the Lamb

 

This is another re-post, from 2020. Must obey the hand, wrist. 

 

We live near The Safari Park, located in San Pasqual Valley, in San Diego County.  Animals from the Savannah in Africa live in a uniquely designed area that accommodates the needs of the animals.  

They all live in well hidden borders.

With the exception of lions and tigers, of course…they live in natural enclosures and unbreakable plexiglass.  Scare the daylights out of me.

Here is a collection of lion words:

Lion’s share

Lion’s mane

Lionized

Lion heart

Into the Lion’s mouth

Lion’s den

Lion and the lamb

Cowardly lion

Lion of Judah

Lion in winter

Sea lion

Mountain lion

Lion's Roar

 

The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe

Christ, the Lion of Judah

 

 

The Wild Animal/Safari Park near Escondido,CA has created an international compound for preservation of endangered species. Two of my then-teenage children worked at the Park during summer. It was an awesome place to learn.

My wrist is having some trouble.  I am putting too much strain on the joint. Pray for me.

Yipstick and Barbie

 

 

 

Commercials have changed gradually, neither good or bad.  It is hard to explain, but health and beauty are huge on the commercial market. Women + kept home to work or whatever + overeating + looking in the mirror is generally 

unhealthy for all. 

My gr-daughters have taken me to Ulta, a store that is a cornucopia for all sorts of make-up with all its enticement. They had a list and some $$ from Dad. I followed along, mentally tallying how much they needed when Dad's $$ ran out. Not much $$ at all, but it thrilled me.

Lipstick is marked as being an instigator of make-up history. Fruit dyes (no cost) for lips then. Now lipsticks are chemical magic, expensive magic at that. 

Who likes lipstick? Besides teen age girls at ULTA, little girls who have found Mommy's lipstick in her purse really love lipstick. 

Home Depot

If I have discovered this major cuteness by myself, think how many videos there might be of lipstick fans? Or finger nail polish?

Barbies

Just a note, I am not a make-up collector. My gr-daughters do that for me.

This is a repost of 2020,  I know many have read this post from back then. My wrist is a cruel task master.This has been a hard experience. Gotta keep taking care.Gotta plow the row.

Phlegm, gotta have it.

Ben stared through the bars as he groaned at this unjust incarceration.  What had he done?  Just the usual stuff, but this time?  I got caught big time.

He coughed up a ball of green-yellow phlegm, spitting it on the floor beyond the bars.  Heh, heh, heh… Ben had been charged with disturbing the peace, marking graffiti on public walls, and destruction of property.

That last one gave him joy.  With just a plastic knife, Ben had sliced up a fancy pillow, tossing foam and stuffing everywhere.  Truly an achievement! Good times.

Ben then realized that his diaper was beyond damp, it was dripping.  “MAMA!” he cried, with big tears.  Sometimes the not-yet-potty-trained times were a blessing.

This is from 2014. My wrist is insisting that I behave. 

The bold underlined words are from Wednesday Words, a writing challenge created by Delores 

She handed it  off to River  and Elephant's child who now gives us the words. Check out the sites and see the words for this week. Leave a comment!

 

If you are curious about phlegm, go to this :You must check this site out.

Unending neverending eternal

 

                   Neverending Story 1985 

There are lists and lists of projects or events that are in never ending in the completion. We wrestle with these, all the time. They never go away.

Replacing an engine, discovering missing parts and tools, with more auto parts littering the floor.  Oh, sure, friendly veteran sang a story about an old war injury prevented him from using manual shift, so that's why there are only 75,000 miles on the speedometer.  You drive classic car home, finding smoke and clanks following you. Not such a good deal, and when online sites send replacement parts, there will always be a screw short.

Being in labor for hour after hour definitely makes the list. (45 hours? Followed by C-Section.) After ten hours, just when you beg for an epidural, An army nurse briskly tells you that it is too late to give one.  

Flights to the other side of the world.  Australia?  South Africa? Switzerland?  You find yourself in cheap seats, middle seat packed in, next to someone who hasn't taken a bath in the last year.

 

Playground duty. You are the only teacher with 300 children racing around an one acre playground.  You clutch a clipboard under one arm and grip the teacher whistle in  a tightly clenched fist.  

 

 

Waiting for Santa. You are 6 years old and this night is one wished for all year. Tick, Tick, Tick...eyes want to shut but you won't let them...tick, tick, tick...

Picking strawberries day after day after day. No joy after the fifth day. Mid-May arrives with garden full of red berries peeking from green leaves.  First day is like discovering rubies, sweet rubies. Leads onto the second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day....Enough already.  This won't ever end, our hands will be dyed red. 

Waiting in an emergency room, filled with sneezing and coughing. You have a brain-splitting migraine and your blood pressure is 177/85.  With your head dropping to your knees and a throw-up bowl beneath, you watch as a child with sinusitis(#45) is called in.  You are #62.  You won't live to see the end of this day. 

Driving through Death Valley in summer. (Been there, done that) Long straight road over flat desolate land, you see in distance, heat waves fooling you to think it is water.  It is 121 degrees and you watch your car's gas light like a hawk.

Standing in the line at DMV, until legs are shaking, growing light-headed. Husband is home, too sick to go into the line from hell to transfer registration.  You are three months pregnant, and hours pass.  At the third hour, you tell the kind lady behind you that you are pregnant and wonder if...then you open your eyes as you lie on the floor.  Registration was expedited. 

                                           YouTube has numerous of Curling videos

Being forced to watch “curling” during the Winter Olympics. Your family is Nordic, and cheer for some team.  Crushed between Olaf and Sven, you decide to develop a tummy-bug, staying in the bathroom before sneaking away, where is not important.

Re-modeling a bathroom and/or kitchen the week before company arrives--this is your spouse's idea.  Tearing out the sink and cabinet reveal rot and mold.  Company will be staying in the hotel with you, as your entire house is being examined and treated.

Most or all of this involve unending waiting…and more waiting…i 

 What about you?  Can you add to this list your own unending events?

 

 This is a repost from 2016, I think.  My wrist and joints are looking better.

BikeHikeSafari

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do not turn your back on a toddler.

      

So, are children currently becoming more verbal than ever thought possible. Oh, there were always some tantrum and manic out bursts. But this? Oh, hell no.

 

Linda? Poor lady. And putting a fellow toddler in a headlock?  Oh, baby.

 

 

Verbal skills are off the charts.  Great determined spirit. Never give in to someone who is not in charge.  You can do anything, girls.   

Just keep an eye on these charmers. 

 

Oh, the little joys in a village sport!

 

The Egg Dance

The Egg Dance History is a bloody horror. Between war, politics, brutality, plagues, intrigue, and so much other parts of inhumanity in post-Crusades, the common people suffered incredibly miserable and hard lives.

Very few times of pleasure and joy existed. Love, sex, family, and successful amounts of food to eat were about it. But there had to be more to life.

Communities pulled together in whatever hell was going on around them. With this unity and great imagination, they found other ways to raise their joy in different ways. 

The English are truly creative in this. I know that all countries are as well, but the information on the English is readily available. Crazy people, them.

Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake: Competitors must race down a steep hill, chasing and trying to catch a round of cheese (preferably a double Gloucester cheese) as it rolls and plummets to the bottom of the hill.

Dwile Flonking: Competitors use a pole to launch beer-soaked cloth at opponents. Missing a target twice results in the flonker must quickly down a pot/pint of ale before the opposing team can pass a soaked cloth to each other.

Ferret Legging: Ferrets are trapped in trousers worn by the participant. The winner is the last one to release his/her ferret.

Wellie Wanging: Competitors must hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within boundary lines from a running or standing start.

Shin-Kicking or hacking or purring (from the early 17th century): Two contestants attempt to kick each other in the shins, to force their opponent to the ground. 

Numerous YouTube videos are available to elaborate on these games. Although these community games date back centuries, interest has resurged and have developed a following along with rules and awards.

YouTube Shin Kicking Championship 2019

hosted by Glouscester

So, the games that were designed by humble village people as a diversion for their lives have now developed as part of the 21st century. Not video games or dependence on electronics, but this involves interaction with real people in real time settings. 

History has taken some detours and games have evolved. Good or bad. But people have always known how to party.

This is a post from 2021, I think. I have to respect my hand and the surgery. So, I must post previous literary gems.

 

Gift of the Sacred Dog by Paul Goble

                                                                                    Sacred Dog

The gift of the Sacred Dog is a book written by Paul Noble, one of his many that sing of the Native Americans, or The People. 

 

 

How the horse came to the New World is fairly well documented.  Spanish and French explorers shipped them over early on in their conquest of the New World.  

Some horses either escaped or were left behind.  These horses became the mustangs, the wild horses that filled the plains and dominated history for the Native Americans.

But, questions niggle at my brain:  what did the indigenous tribes think about the horse?  Did they realize what the horse would give them?  Did they view the horse as an extension of the Spanish, as an animal to serve them, or what??

The book, Gift of the Sacred Dog, grants the reader a better answer about the horse.

Horses by Picasso

The horse benefited the Native Americans, allowing them to survive and prosper.  At least for a while, anyway. 

 This celebrates the beauty, nobility, and power of the horse, one of God’s creatures. This praises the strength and resilience of the People who honored such creation. 

 

 

Webs of Lies Woven Tightly

Danny burst through his apartment door, staggering and dripping from rain.  He stripped down naked.  He wanted to be cold, so cold that every part of his body shivered. Freezing cold.

Danny had flown headfirst into a relationship with Kerry, lovely lovely Kerry. Then he quickly discovered Kerry was superb at creating an intricate windmill of lies.

These were so preposterous, linked together with a weaver's skill. Each lie was more elaborate than previous ones. Only Kerry could make her deception an art form.

Yes, Danny wanted to shiver, freeze to escape Kerry's windmill.

WedWords were first created years ago by Delores.  She did great battles with her computer and then took time to heal. This precious blogger started the W.W 

  The underlined words were from 2013 in Wed.Words provided by other bloggers who participate in this challenge.  Go to: River and Elephant's Child.

 I really love creating something using words, ones that let me play.

 

Where did we live? Come from?

 

Where did we start?  Where did we go? Where did we end up? 

My children have been in and then moving to different cities and states all over. My siblings live in Illinois and Ohio.  I live in California.  My husband's group live in Utah, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado, Vermont, and somewhere else. 

Our most eventful move took us to Ireland. We traveled with our children, saw castles and more.  And from Ireland our family headed out to distant places.

   

My daughter lives in Bern, Switzerland, with husband and our grandsons. Since Covid, our trips to see them were cut off. April 2024? Maybe?

My brother Don lives in Springfield, in Lincoln Land. This is a lovely city to visit. Lincoln lived there and ultimately was buried there. So much history surrounds this legendary place.

 

I grew up 100 miles from Springfield.  Our son now lives near Champaign-Urbana. St. Louis is about 90 miles from our farm.  Dad took hogs to market down in east St. Louis. I flew into St. Louis innumerable times over the 40 years when I visited my parents.

 

My brother went from farm boy in Illinois, to being a police officer in Texas, He was a cowboy at heart. But he lived around Galveston, along the coast. Bill had an adventurous spirit.

 

We have been to Phoenix many times. Irish Dance Festivals were our most recent ventures. Great city, do not go to visit in the truly Hot Season.  It is always hot there. We were once walking across mall parking lot; a man drove by in  a large golf cart to get the people to the mall stores alive.  121+ degrees is nothing to laugh at. 

 Small towns become smaller. Our farm was on the north side of town. The house was torn down (built in 1850+) and the pieces of the barn can be seen in between trees. We lived on the Nebo-Pittsfield road, in Pike County, Illinois.

Where we began and have ended up amazes me.  Once my siblings and I were wild cowboys, warriors, soldiers, wreaking general havoc. Now we have taken our own journeys, much milder and more introspective.

 

Lane in Ireland