And what do pictures of horses, deer, and scenery of rolling sagebrush with the occasional purple flowers have to do with a dentist? Well, let me share a few pictures and then get back to the story. By the way, I didn’t capture pics but these Pixabay dot coms come close.
Though the trip was long with little to look at except the sagebrush there were the occasional fun sights. And once there, and somehow we made it on time, I loved meeting the office staff and the dentist herself. She was science and recited all the sciencey things about my teeth and what needed to be done for my best health. They had a wrap-around x-ray that was so interesting to see all parts of the skull and even down into the neck. Sinus cavities and leftover wisdom tooth parts, and so much more. Doctor Michelle Crabtree was so wonderful!
What is interesting is that though Burns is about as close to us as Bend Oregon, it seemed a longer trip. Maybe because the scenery didn’t change as drastic as as the Bend trip. The Burns trip made me think about how time works faster for us these days. I thought how the trip might have been for those in the covered wagons. They didn’t measure it in minutes like we do. They measured in days. When I forgot for a few minutes that I had an appointment within the hours I could let the scenery evolve naturally. It was so beautiful.
Hooked on Classics got us by as vocal music was hard to hear with the windows down. Blast from the past 1982ish?
Though I am still tired from my drive to Bend Friday, I still feel excited at driving on a road trip at any time. From the time I got my license I became the family driver. My mother hated driving so anything that needed a driver, I was elected. Yay! Dad was a night worker/day sleeper so it was up to me. Not once did I grouse at the thought of running an errand. Mom even got me a job to drive a family to church on Sundays and so I got to keep that family’s car with privileges to light fun driving on Saturdays.
From age 16 on, I got to do a majority of the vacation driving. I remember very early one morning driving between Arizona and New Mexico. The sky was fantastic. There were lone clouds that were raining surrounded by blue skies. All the reds oranges and tans of the geology mixed with the gorgeous sunrise. Everyone in the car was asleep. I felt like I had just gone to Heaven it was so beautiful that this teen cried at the sight.
I remember driving in Oregon the first time and seeing the red ground. It was like crossing the border between California and Oregon separates the types of dirt. I was fascinated. It was only since living here in Oregon as an adult that I understand that feature. Oregon uses lava rock to keep the roads from icing over. It is far better a solution than using salt that deteriorates the roads and vehicles.
Another fun thing to learn as a teen was driving in Oregon, especially Portland, and Washington was scary. I was from Southern California, near Los Angeles. But these more northern cities had the worst drivers I had ever seen in my short life. By the way, I have driven in Portland as an adult and I haven’t changed my mind. Especially raining seasons. Goodness. Wet roads are dangerous, slow down! And this comes from someone my ex used to call Mario Andretti so this isn’t coming from a slow old lady! I do try to obey the laws but I do love a freeway that allows 75 MPH. I would love to drive an autobahn someday!
Now that I am healthier I would love more opportunities to drive. I am driven to travel!
For a while now my son and I have wanted to go into Bend (two hour drive) to shop and to visit the last Blockbuster video store.
Many times we have planned it and things happened that kept us from it. Last night we were sure that today would be the day. Then, a year after breaking my right pinky toe I rammed my left pinky toe into the coffee table. Yep, broken. But I refused to let it stop me. I needed to get out of the house and see something besides these four walls. Even if we couldn’t do all that we wanted to, we did go to town. I wrapped my toe. That foot isn’t needed in our automatic truck. We’d just have to stay safe and take it easy.
We hit Target and Best Buy. Then the most important part of the trip, Blockbuster Video. During lock-down we saw the movie on Netflix. I couldn’t wait.
It certainly brought back memories. If my toe wasn’t hurting I think I might have taken more time to get some memorabilia. There seemed to be a lot of business so I don’t think it is going away. I look forward to our next visit.
Regardless of IF/keto I went ahead and had Del Taco. For lunch I do the 8-layer burrito with no beans or rice, extra guacamole, extra sour cream, extra cheese. I also ordered for my dinner a spicy jack quesadilla and a small fry. That’s bending it a bit but since it doesn’t happen but once in a few months I think that is fine.
My son was having a bit of problems with his digestion so he wasn’t having a good day either. Still with masks we hit all the stores including Walmart. I got a new pair of PJs and he found all the things he needed to buy.
The highlight of the trip was the Blockbuster. The trip itself was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the scenery gorgeous. Hopefully. we will remain healthy and get to go again soon. There were so many things I wanted to do but the toe was having none of it.
For many reasons my writing goals have slipped. Today I officially lowered my goal to a possibly more reachable realm, 25K instead of 50K. I still like the story, I just don’t want to overwhelm my senses with something that won’t be fun to reach. I would rather have to chance to go do outings and hit all my fun new musical goals than get discouraged in any way.
I will probably do Duolingo after publishing this and spend a little recorder time. Writing and piano will have to wait until tomorrow. I’m tired!
Yarn is one of my favorite words. I love words that have multiple definitions. You all know how much I love knitting, loom knitting, and crocheting. Yarn can just be a soft skein. Or it can be something already made. A sock or a a new sweater. And then, if the item isn’t done well enough it can be torn apart and made into something else. What a wonderful substance it is!
But it is also the fun of a tale. Of a story untold made into something woven with layers of characters of development and world building. I like to call myself Dream Yarner as I love to weave with drifting between soft places to land.
I also think of timelines of real life touching my past and future and the full reality threaded together in a yarn that knits family and friends in my life and the softness of love.
Busy day. The muses have given me a workout. I’m not done even now. But I thought I should report how amazing these Muses are.
First of the day I sat an played a couple songs by ear on my soprano recorder I did find a wonderful webpage to help me until I can get a few books. From that website I learned to play Lightly Row. That was fun.
I ran to my piano and played Prelude. Why yes, that is a sticker (just above the Allegro) that I tried to rip off the page as I am embarrassed that I learned to play this way back when I was a teen or less. Now at 71 that sticker makes me want to cry. I learned so much from Mrs. Skinner. The first teacher out of church that I knew most of my early life.
I found the playing fun and I got up immediately so that I could remember music as fun.
I went back to the recorder for one more play-through and then looked up YouTubes. I ran across Kalimba lessons.
Hey! I have a Kalimba! So now I am on a kick to learn Kalimba, too.
Why all this musical attentions? Mrs. Skinner. I remember when I hated piano. Never Mrs. Skinner. But she told me not to play the piano for a while. She gave me her ukulele to go home and play with. She had a tuning whistle and a book. When I got pretty good at that she made sure I had piano music for voice and let me learn to sing to my playing.
So I am playing with music again to start to love it. Again. And the recorder, I hope will increase my breath control.
Oh! I nearly forgot, I spent time on my next page on the Dragon Coloring Book.
Now to get back to what I haven’t finished for the night. My JuNoWriMo projects. So far I have (not counting todays) 827 words added to Pandamapocalypse and 3594 added to Marina’s Mission.
Now to get back to work as the story is coming around!
A collection of thoughts come to me today. Forty two years ago today my third son was born. It seems a million years ago, yet yesterday. Never did he feel new to me. Never had the gene-pool collected so many aspects of loved ones. I think he inherited all the good of us. His preciseness, musicality, need to express, yet need for isolation makes him difficult to control but more lovable nonetheless. His life finally seems to be blooming. Love has found his life. I hope and pray that for him forever.
Now let me collect my emotions, tears of joy and love. Maybe I have a stable center when I’m not focused on family. But family is what I collect.
Per Linda G. Hill: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “collect.”Use the word “collect” any way you’d like. Have fun!
My rocker recliner is my best friend. Not only has it kept me in isolation from the covid, now it has rescued me from four days of traveling for four hours a day. I am in this rocker recliner and I’m staying and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
Happy Saturday — and my man is home! ❤❤❤
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “roc.”Find a word with “roc” in it or use it as a word all by itself. Enjoy!
As I am in the David Tenet season of Doctor Who, I look to my left and see the two socks I told you about yesterday. I didn’t get to knit much today either. I had a job to do. If I am to make read-aloud or podcasts, I need the table in my bedroom clean and ready to go. Since my son moved in, all the stuff in my hobby room got moved out into the rest of the house and never landed very neatly—a moment. Also, to my left is my green tea. Let me take a sip before continuing.
It wasn’t just the fact of his moving in and losing a whole room to store my tools and supplies for my crazy times. It was pain. And fatigue. But I am feeling so much better now. Unfortunately, there is so much piled up all over that I need to straighten up, toss, or give away that I am somewhat overwhelmed. But today, I started tackling this monster.
Ah, and one would think with the amount of time I worked, the job would be done. Nope. The top layer of stuff was heavy winter stuff that needed to be put away for summer. That meant ordering big bins to stack in my tiny closet. That meant using smaller containers, for now, just to get the clothes and blankets out of the way. Then I started throwing things into a box to sort through later; heaps of electronic bits for computers past and present. Primarily things that probably don’t work. So once the box is filled, I will bring it to the living room to go through it from a comfortable sitting.
Tomorrow the table should be clear. That table won’t be the only place clearing. I plan to move my Paint by Diamond kit on the podcast table. That brings it off the dining table. That is part of another project. My brother and I will move the dining table closer to the kitchen. The piano will go with the light from the south sun where the table will have been. The armoire will take the place of the piano. I can’t wait! That and having new eyes, I will be able to see the notes on the music.
Anyway, I recorded this momentous occasion. I captured me talking about the pile and then took pictures of the progress. It always surprises me when cleaning, how you have to make a bigger mess to clean up a mess. My bed was piled high with the incoming summer clothes and I had to figure out where to put them all. As I lose weight some of the clothes call to me to dress up a bit. Positive process happening.
Per Linda G. Hill:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “to your left.” When you sit down to write your post, look to your left. What is the thing closest to you? Write about the memories that thing induces. Enjoy!
The above socks sans cuffs are among many projects not finished this week. Three days of appointments, two of which were out of town (two hours each way), kept me from my usual machinations. I had to look up that word. I’ll stick with it as it might make those who know me have a giggle. There are no evil schemes afoot—just my knitting, writing, and editing.
Dare I say this? COVID19 has made doctor visits more efficient. I take along reading material and knitting for those sitting times. So far, that hasn’t happened at all. Walk-in. Temp check. Empty room with empty chairs to fill out forms. Then call to a solitary room—everyone with masks and lots of hand sanitizer. I felt safe, and the jobs were done quickly and like a well-oiled machine. And no uncomfortable waiting in a room of ill people. It is as though they have figured out how to take care of individuals. I think that is a good thing. Now, will they be able to maintain the good when things go back to ‘normal?’
Still, no time to sit and read or edit or knit or write while waiting. Talking with my husband and singing happened. Those don’t have a finish line, do they? I hope not. Well, soon enough, I will have new eyes, and I will be able to read real books. I miss the tree books!
Well, back to knitting as I watch Doctor Who. Did you know that the first of Christopher Eccleston’s Who is on HBO Max? He was my first Doctor Who. Though David Tenet is my favorite. Had better writers been used, Jodie Whittaker would have been. The actress did the best she could with what she was given.
By the way, if the URL shows up in the podcast, I’m sorry. I’m still learning how to do this.
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
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