The Ebb and Flow of Blogging

I've been blogging for over seven years now and it seems like just yesterday when I started. And sometimes, it seems like forever. When I started, I wasn't even sure what a blog was, but was I encouraged by a friend to give it a try. I had all kinds of stories kicking around in my head that I wanted to tell. However, I soon found out that most of these were not my stories to tell because I needed to respect the privacy of those around me. So I experimented until I found a comfortable rhythm. 

There were periods when I posted every day and usually there were no more than a couple days that went by without a post. It wasn't until recently that the frequency of my posts dropped of markedly. Even then, the longest I have gone without posting is two weeks. I find that pretty remarkable for someone who has never embraced writing. I was the person who managed to get out of college with only one English class and avoided classes with a lot of papers like the plague. However I found out with this blog, that although I thought I don't like to write, I do like to share my thoughts with others.

During my time as a blogger, I have made many friends. That's been the unexpected benefit to this experience. However, overtime, I have gone through at least four sets of blog friends. People whose blogs I read and people who read and commented on my blog. It was interesting as we shared our experiences and got to know each other. But life changes for everyone, and blogs and blog friends came and went. 

So I find myself in an ebb of blogging right now. Most of my current friends only post occasionally and I find myself doing the same thing. Part of the reason for this is I only have so much mental energy. As simple (and mistake riddled) as my posts seem, they take an effort to compose. And the energy to do this is taken up with other things.

So what does all of this mean? I don't know. Part of me is just tired and bored with the whole thing and feels like I've said everything I have to say. Another part of me wants to jump in to revamp things and create new content. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Until next time...

You Can't Make this Stuff Up

My neighborhood has a Facebook group where we communicate with each other. Here is a recent exchange.
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W.   A dark bluish grey SUV drove thru the neighborhood around 6 and was dropping off chickens. If you have noticed any contact the Carey's at the end of Mullberry. they already came by and got mine but too dark to find any others.

Like

Love

Haha

Wow

Sad

Angry

Comments

C. I’m lost. Chickens?

Manage

W.  yes live chickens

Manage

W.  Saw 3 so far

Manage

A.  Just randomly “dropping off chickens”? That’s really weird! I wonder what the chickens think of that? Gives sort of a new twist to dinner delivery. I wonder if we can get some random vehicle to drive through dropping off dumplings, oh man that would be great.

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L.  Daisy and Emma didn’t find any here. Young man searched my yard. How very strange!

Manage

 W.  L, you have one and it will show up.

Manage

L.  I have a chicken?

Manage

C.  I’m still trying to wrap my head around this. I mean, how hard is it to find a home for chickens? I’m sure much easier than rounding them up, driving to an unsuspecting neighborhood and sprinkling them about!

Manage

A.  Oh yeah! What a great thought! Chicken seeding!

Manage

A.  This is fantastic! What a great diversion in the middle of harvest!

Manage

A.  I wonder if the government is experimenting with “chicken seeding” now instead of cloud seeding.. it’s been raining enough for God’s sake. I wonder if “chicken seeding” is a new drying technique to wring the clouds out before they get here?

Man

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I can't tell you any more than the above exchange. 

It's all still a mystery.

Thankful Sunday--September 9, 2018

I am thankful for a routine day.

Recently things have been intense, so I am happy to have a day to just deal with regular things, i.e. see below.

Another thing for the list. Enjoy the rain.

Today's To Do List

1. Find out what's stinking in the kitchen. For a couple of days now, something has been stinking in there. I have looked in all of the obvious places, but no luck yet. Today needs to have some serious looking into the dark recesses and maybe even some cleaning. Wish me luck. I really hope I accomplish this.

2. Plant my terrarium. Last Christmas, my sons got me a big glass container to make a terrarium. It was a great gift because it was going to be a way to enjoy some house plants without worrying about whether the cats were going to eat them and get sick. As it turns out, most traditional house plants are toxic to cats. Yesterday, I found some plants that I think will work. I am bound and determined to get this project done before Christmas rolls around again.

3. Finish the laundry.

4. Go to work. I have to work one Sunday a month and today's the day.

5. Ponder deep thoughts. When an important person in your life passes away, it's hard not to do this. I'll let you know when I figure everything out.

The Service

My mother died last Monday. It was time. An infection had taken over her body and she died peacefully in her sleep. Since then it's been a whirlwind of activities and emotions filling every minute. I will be processing this for a long time, but today I've been thinking about one thing in particular. My mother gave us the final gift of letting us have a service for her.

It seems that it is becoming more the trend these days to not have a funeral or memorial service for the deceased. I can understand some of the reasons for this: expense, privacy, emotion, etc. But that was not my mother's request. Funerals were a part of her entire life and in death we honored her with one.

My mother did not have a service planned as some people do, but we knew what she wanted from comments over the years along with the things she chose for our father. We planned a short service that was lead by one of her friends from church. Each song had a meaning as well as each reading. I gave a 10 minute eulogy of her life that I actually made it through.

The service was upbeat, positive, and was about her. Just what we wanted and just what she would have wanted. So among the tears, I think back on her send off and I smile. Thank you, Mother, for letting us honor you in this one final way.