Category: Bladder cancer

Nature is my love

Robins singing good morning

Puffing their red breast

Spring is definitely here

You can hear it with your ear.

http://ramblingsofawriter2016.com/2017/03/15/weekly-tanka-prompt-challenge-week-36-nature-love/

I have enjoyed many bloggers here, and I am so thankful for each and every one who read and comment.  It takes time, I know, and I appreciate your efforts.  Another badge of honor I must present for her gumption, yes, an old word but a good one, faith, inspiration, positivity, endurance and strength, is Miriam at https://showersofblessings.wordpress.com.  Here’s to you, Miriam.  You, as a person, not a blog award, a person award.  Congratulations!

https://rugby843.blog/proud-of-myself-badge/03/14/17/

The sky was a brilliant blue. With the snow on the ground so beautifully cold and white, it seemed untouched this early morning. I could hardly believe the beauty before me. I had to talk myself into getting up and out, but I’m so glad I did. Walking for exercise is my passion, and as long as I’m able, I will. I love plowing my boots through the fluffs of snow. I feel empowered, like I’m the queen of the land, first to make a path for my people. 

When it’s so still outside, every little nuance is brought to your attention. How could there be only one snowflake of unique design? I scoop them up on my mittens and look at them lovingly. How many are just here on one hand? I silently ask them to reveal their secret. Of course they don’t respond, just melt in my warm gloves and disappear. Somehow it makes me feel sad. I shake off that thought and move on up the hill.

I have reached my destination, the rise above the cabin. How perfect is this life. How fortunate I am to be able to be in this small part of nature’s wonder. I survey my kingdom with that knowledge of privilege. The lake is icy blue and serene. The geese are not yet awake, hidden in their nests on the edge. The pines are heavy with snowy pillows on their branches. The path I made to this point is a wandering stripe, almost snakelike.  

This is my heaven. I need no angels floating on clouds, playing harps of soothing music. I could never ask for a more idyllic setting to spend the afterlife, if there is one. Another dimension, a Utopia? Those dreams are not for me. This is all I could ever want, to be standing here on this hill.

I had better start back through my trail. Or maybe I’ll make a new one!

Weekly Writing Prompt #80

Birds I have loved since I first saw them. I was fortunate to grow up where they were plentiful and colorful.

When my daughter was in college she had three different birds. The first was a smallish, long tailed, green parrot she named Norm for Norman from “Psycho”. There were reasons for this.

Second was my favorite, a tiny one named Kiwi, also green. Sweet and tiny, she loved to sit on your shoulder and kiss your cheek.

Last but far from least, was Bird, a Yellow Naped Amazon parrot. Bird finally came to stay with me and my husband because of his mean personality. Making the usual “first bird” owner mistake we bought a tall square cage. It never occurred to us he might fly horizontally😂😲. Second mistake was that it gave his three year old personality a sense of superiority, being taller than us. We had three inside cats at the time, so he had to be higher on the stand. However curious they were, they knew better than to get near him. His beak could take your finger off in a second.

Bird was a lot of fun, and entertaining. He sang anything you repeated often enough, said tons of phrases such as hello, here kitty kitty, love the bird, who is it, I love you, bye bye, wolf whistle, and many more I can’t remember now.   One of the funniest things he did was whisper. If I was out of the room I could hear him practicing to himself new things he had heard.  In fact you could say he was doing murmurations 😂.  Oh yes, he was super intelligent, and manipulative. One of our favorites was him whistling the “Barber of Seville”. My husband would start it, and he would do it over and over.

He had toys and with his strong beak some didn’t last long. A favorite was a baby rattle. We would shut the cats out of the room and he would go out and climb on top of the cage. We tossed the rattle and he would catch it, rattle it, and toss it back to you. This would last until you tired of it. We would let him come and sit with us on the bed when watching tv at night. If he was in a mood and loose, he could stalk your bare feet right out of the room. But basically he was a good bird.  

As I mentioned he was like a three year old. When we had family come to stay with us, we moved him into our bedroom to keep the little kids from being alone with him. He reacted like a jealous child. He would sit on my hand as usual and then act like a kiss was coming.  Then twice, bit me in the lip. One time I called a friend to come over, I was too afraid to look at myself in the mirror!  Yes, I was a slow learner. My friend advised me to get rid of him, but he was like any pet you’ve had for a while, you get attached.

It was only after these attacks, that a short time later, when I went to replace his water or feed him, or clean the cage, he would playfully, at first, act as if he was going to bite me, and then did end up biting me a few times on my hand and arm. We finally decided to take him to the bird shop.

The customers looked down their nose at me, even made comments about how cute he was and how could I leave him, etc. By the time I left, I was in tears. But it was the right thing to do. We told the shop owners of his behavior, but I don’t think they believed me.  At first he can be very charming.  I hope the new owners put him in a lower rectangular cage!

Prompt #2027 Birds

“This is a dream of mine, how did you know? Is it because I always write about it, speak about it, show you pictures?” Smiling, she shut her eyes for a second and opened them again. Yes, it was still there. Closing her arm around his, she pulled him close. How long had she waited for this dream to come true. And with him by her side, returning her affectionate touch, all was finally perfect.

As they walked closer to the cabin, her thoughts of how they met filled her mind. She had been in the hospital a few days, boredom set in, and she picked up her laptop. Looking at the built up email get well wishes, she just didn’t have the strength to reply to them all. Writing the same thank you and reassuring them she had survived messages, was quite tiring. 

The pain started again, and she needed a distraction. She loved the humorous people on Twitter, so decided to open it up. Some of her favorites had written enough to make her spirits rise a bit and a new person popped up. The names or icons people use sometimes lead to interesting characters, so she replied to this new person. During her hospital and home recovery time, they became friends. Of course they never met or really knew each other, but there was something there. Call it a spark, a need to know more, or just plain attraction, but it was definitely there. Over a period of months their relationship grew.

They never physically met till a few weeks ago. There had to be sacrifices made on both their parts to be together. They thought and discussed the situation for more than a year, sometimes giving up on the idea completely. Each tried to leave the other behind, but always were drawn back to each other. Finally the time came when they took a leap of faith and of love.  

Today was the day. Their dreams of being together were about to be fulfilled. They looked at each other reassuringly and opened the door to their new life.

https://allaboutwritingandmore.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/daily-picture-prompt-90/

Grandkids ask, did you hear that song?

I answer no, my radio’s gone

Radio? Just use your phone!

No, runs the battery to the bone.

Did you see that movie “Nothing to Lose”?

No, I’m waiting to tape it

And watch when I choose.

Tape it? No one uses tape anymore

Really, Grandma, get with the score

I answered, well then record, like recorder

That’s what I meant, trying to restore order.

I guess I won’t mention

45s, or 78s, that we listened to 

Doubt they’d even have a clue

But those musical discs made of vinyl

Make my decision and statement final.

Music, whether taped or recorded

Is something I’ve always hoarded

I love to hear it, puts me in a mood

My choices of listening are sometimes viewed
As old fashioned.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/record/

I have all kinds of great things going on right now.  I had an enjoyable weekend, and this is what I’m looking forward to doing with my granddaughters:

Making Leprechaun Bait for one’s fourth grade class. 

Recipe:

Lucky Charms cereal

Green M&Ms – we only found the mint ones

Miniature pretzel twists

Rice Chex cereal

White chocolate chips, melted

Green sprinkles

Mix all together till totally combined.  You can freeze and then break off in pieces. Or just bag it. You can use these or any combination of ingredients, your choice.💚💚

Packing a care package for college student studying for exams.

Seeing “Beauty and the Beast” remake:

Tell Me Something Good #48

Ancient castles seen

Resting here at the sea’s shore

Searching for the ships

That came many years before

Waiting at the horizon.

Thursday photo prompt – Horizon #writephoto

I love clouds, like to look at them with kids to see what pictures we vision in them. When we were traveling cross country, we saw the most unusual cloud formation and it was scary and intimidating. All above us were these clouds that looked exactly like the inside of a quilted coffin. Okay, I know what you’re thinking, “she is definitely out there…”. Seriously, they were ruffled and curved in such a way it looked like we were laying in a coffin and the clouds were the lid.  Imagine looking up to see these covering the whole sky.  We were driving through Kansas and there is a lot of open sky.  I looked at some coffin interiors, yikes, for pictures.  But I’ll spare you those images.

If you’re still reading, this is a picture of the design the clouds had, like large ruching, only white and gray.

https://allaboutwritingandmore.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/daily-word-prompt-36-clouds/

I loved the donkeys I saw at https://dinosaursdonkeysandms.com/ and asked Dizzy where I could find these cuties.  He told me it was a donkey sanctuary aptly named The Donkey Sanctuary located in the U.K.  I wanted one for my daughter who needed an inspiration hug and always loved them.  She and her husband and family had miniature donkeys in Colorado, along with horses, dogs and cats.  We all miss them.  

When you order you don’t know what you’ll receive because they are all individually handmade.  Imagine the surprise when he arrived looking exactly like Eeyore.  Somebody up there likes us is a phrase we often use, and it is proved once again.  Eeyore, the sad eyed donkey from the “Winnie the Pooh” series of books by A.A. Milne is my daughter’s favorite character, at 46!😄

Here’s some pictures of the cutie.  He’s not little either.  I thought he would be small, had no idea really, just took a chance.

      https://rugby843.blog