Here's Looking at you Kid...

   My sister stopped at the store near her house the other day and saw this...

...looking back at her.

   She couldn't resist snapping a picture with her phone and sending it out.  I am glad she did.  I loved the eyelashes, I wonder it the tiricure too. 

"I'm A Literacy Builder"

   Are you ready for the next award?   What your not on the edge of your seat yet.  Well get really here it is.

   Today I would like to thank Laura Eno for giving me the "I'm A Literacy Builder" Award.  Laura is a really great writer with a very entertaining blog.  Her #Fridayflashes keep a lot of us wanting more.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with week after week.  See what she is up to this week here.

The rules for this one are as follows:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Display the award logo on your blog site.

3. Tell us five of your favorite words and why you like them, (add as many as you like).

4. Pass the award on to three bloggers you feel are excellent literacy builders, and link to their sites.

5. Contact the bloggers you’ve chosen and let them know about the award.


Wow my five favorite words.  Let me fire up the old gray matter and see what I can come up with...
Nada... Okay, this is going to take me awhile so just talk amongst yourselves while I think on it.

Here are 5 of my favorite words, or at least 5 that I can remember right now.

Artifacts  - I just love how that word sounds.  Plus it I have always liked
                  history, not the dates the people and places.

Bifocal-  I don't think of the glasses when I hear this.  I think of two points of
              view of the same of the image.

Friends -  Because everyone needs them.  No one is truly complete on their
                 own.

Classic -  Because I hate fads,  they cost too much.  Classic is just a classy
               word.

Laughter -  There is just not enough these days.  And laughter is the only
                   way you can make it through this world and stay sane.


The three people I would like to give this too.  

Denise at L'Aussie Writing
Clarissa at Listen to The Voices
Sharon at Channeling Ricky

 This is the hardest part because a lot of you really deserve this award.

Lovely Blog...Ahh! Thanks!!!

   Wow.  You people really know how to make a girl blush.  In the last week I have received 4 count them 4 awards.   But know I got to go back and remember who gave me what and what are the rules.  We I guess I have some work to do.  So let's get started. 
   Canadian Blogger Girl gave me the One lovely blog award.  Blogger Girl is a military man's wife and the mother of a toddler living on a base in Canada.  She had her ups and downs with base housing, neighbors and family.  She also has a wicked since of humor that she lets loose with every once in awhile.  Drop by and say hi.  It will make her day.

   On this award she didn't say what the rules where except you needed to pass it along to others.  So here are the ones I am passing it to:

1.Brooke at Roots and Wings
2.Dogmom Diva
3.Kristen at Hiccup
4.Jonie at Tales of a Nightcrafter
5.Tracy at The Crazy Suburban Mom
6.Bossy Betty
7.Kittie at The Block
8.Donna B at Mystical Jouneys

I don't know how many I can pass it along to,  and I have probably exceeded the limit.  But as far as I'm concerned you all have Lovely Blogs so feel free to post the award on your site from me.  Leave your blog site in the comments and I will check it out.

Muses day off...

   Just wanted to tell you if you stopped by for my #fridayflash I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you.  It seems my Muses have been invited to a Wedding this week.  Apparently the caterer is a real hot head and they just had to go watch the fireworks.  They said it should be one helluva party. 
   I haven't been feeling to good this week.  Nothing serious just a dang summer cold with a cough that wont quite.  So I have been spending a lot of time sleeping and taking liquids.  I hate summer colds.  Don't they know how miserable it is to run a fever in this heat.  Add my fall allergies on top of it and I get knocked for a loop. 
   I am feeling much better but my mind is still fuzzy from the medicine.  Since I learned a long time ago to never write for very long without my mind,  I'm going to take the Muses up on their offer to go with them.   
   See you guys later.  Oh and if you want to join us here is the address.  I'm sure Laura wont mind. 

Speaking of Laura have you checked out her latest book yet?
Well what are you waiting for, go check into it.

The Day the World Cried...

drawing by Pamela Jo

  

    I would like to take a moment out today to remember an event that affected the world. On this day September 11^th, 2001 the world lost more of its innocents. While this tragedy occurred on United States soil it happened to the world. The twin towers were called the WORLD Trade center, because they held people of all nationalities, all faiths, and all ages. This tragedy happened to people not governments.

    I would like to take this opportunity to remember all those who lost their lives and their loved ones. I would also like to take time to remember the stories of the heroes and the courage of the people in the aftermath. Not just here but around the world.

I have listed just a few of the tributes that are on the web today. Take time to visit and remember.  Just click on the names to be taken to these posts.  Each one in there own way has payed a wonderful tribute to this day. 

The Rainy Day Wonderer

The Block --Kitty tells of being on an airplane overseas and what occurred to her.  This more than anything brings home the world's shock.

Roots and Wings 

Mystical Journeys 

The Pioneer Woman 

    I know there are others out there, but these are the ones from blogs I follow. These are the ones I have read myself today. I would like to end this with a Budweiser tribute to 9/11 from youtube that a my friend Debbie pointed out. This was aired only once so that the company would not make any money and as a tribute only.  It says it all with out a word.

Exploring new worlds...#fridayflash

   Welcome to my 3rd fiction story at #fridayflash.  Okay, forgive me for the counting but I'm still new and can't believe I am actually posting stories that I wrote.  It is still a scary thing for me.  But it is getting easier every time.  I would like to thank all of you are reading and commenting on my stories.  I really appreciate all of your help and encouragement.  Without further ado...

Exploring new worlds...#fridayflash


Update 09022010- Planet Inter findings;

   This is a brief report on our findings on Planet Inter.  After spending 6 months in the targeted excavation areas.  We have been able to uncover written records and materials from the planet's population's first few thousand years.  But only a few scattered written records after that period.
  While there is an indication that the people on this planet survived for an additional 2 to 3 thousand years, there do not seem to be any type of recorded records of these last centuries. This has caused us to speculate that some vast calamity must have occurred around 02020 their time.  Dr. Redos has speculated that some vast communal disease must have occurred to the population of the planet.  He is not sure if the disease affected the neurological or muscular systems of the populous.  What is certain is it caused the populous as a whole to decline to the point of effecting  the abilities to record a written message.  Dr. Redos stated while it is possible that they might have been able to communicate by the use of a signal system,  the finer motor skills were no longer functional.
   The target areas seem to be where the population was brought together to try to contain the contamination.  Some of these camps seem to have held millions of inhabitants.  We have found bits of plastic, metal and glass objects in every habitat in these camps.  This fact  has lead us to believe the devices may have  used for a type of treatment or try to sustain the life of the victims.  
   Since no written records have been found for this time period in these locations, we can not find a cause for the contamination, or what treatments where being tried.
   The teams are taking extreme precautions in the effort to make sure no contamination is picked up from these sites.
   We are planning to send search teams out to the countryside surrounding these camps starting tomorrow.
   They sound be reporting back to us within the month.  Updates will be sent and the information comes available.
 
Commander S. Vaio
Planet Inter Discover Team

Update 09022011 – Planet Inter findings;

    The search teams have returned from their first excursion to the countryside.  They were able to find additional  information regarding what may have happened to the planet's population.
   The teams brought back written records that post date the last ones found in the camps.  Our researchers are currently analyzing them and will be forwarding their report to you soon.
   Ms. Appeal, the head of the search teams said they found the records in remote quadrants of the countryside.  Perhaps these people were nomads trying to hide from the plague that griped the camps.  The wittings refer to these areas being free on the contamination located in the camps.
   We hope to froward a report from the researchers soon.

Commander S. Vaio
Planet Inter Discover Team


Update 09022012- Planet Inter findings:

   The researchers been able to interpret some of the records found by Ms. Appeal's teams.
   We have learned that apparently the camps were know as cities.  Quite a few of the writings make note of the inhabitants being glad they did not have to live in the cities.  This seems to support the theories that these people were avoiding the contamination of the cities.
  The writings make note of the possibility that there were a group of viruses that made up contamination in the camps or cities.  The records make reference of not have the viruses that they called HDTV and DSL in these areas.  These viruses were apparently spread by the means of something called the internet.   The records also speculated on how long it would be before these areas would contain the viruses as well.
   Dr. Redos has yet to find out whether the viruses were neurological or muscular.  But the records indicate the viruses could cause a 'hard drive failure that caused a catastrophic lose of information'.  That would seem to point to more of a neurological condition, but it is not conclusive.  He is hopping to uncover additional information from further excavations.

   Dr. Mac has included in this report the requested image of the devices found in the habitats of the cities.

Commander S. Vaio
Planet Inter Discover Team

        We found these devices in all sizes.  Some small enough to be hand-held  for traveling.

 

©2010 Pamela Jo

Don't think so much....

   Have you ever been told to stop and think something through?  I have.  It is a really good thing to have a plan before you start.  If you don't know where your destination is how do you know what direction to go.  I have also discovered there is such a thing as thinking too much.  What happens if you think too much .... NOTHING.
   That's right nothing happens.  Your brain goes on overload and stops.  You start to question everything.  Am I really doing this right?  Should I say that or maybe this?  Will the couch look better over there or should I put it here?   Should I go or should I stay?     AAAGH!!!!  Help someone please turn off my mind or hit reboot or something.
   My first brush with this was in high school.   When I was in drivers education, I had the hardest time learning to turn a corner without over turning the wheel.  My instructor finally told me don't look at where you are, look at where you want to go.  I was  looking  so hard at the curb to make sure I didn't hit it, that I turned the wheel right into it every time.  When I stopped watching the curb and started watching the road I quit hitting the curb.  But the lesson of over thinking didn't sink in at that time.
   I became conscious of this phenomenon when I was teaching dance.  The owner brought in a well known dancer to teach a class to the staff.  The class was great, but he ended it by telling us to think about how you moved your foot when you walked. You need to use that same movement when you glide through your dance steps.  When you walk you lead with your heal, roll on to the ball of the foot and through to the end of the toe.  When your toe leaves the floor, your other heel should already be in contact with the floor.
   We all thanked him very much for the class.  Then the owner stuck her head into the room and told us to come into the office for a quick meeting.  The office was just on the other side of the dance floor.  All we had to do is walk across the floor and through the door.  All 15 teachers just stood there.  We were thinking so hard about how to walk we couldn't take the first step.
   All of us where thinking along the same lines .... What is the big deal I have been walking since I was a toddler and I can't even put one foot on the floor.  Do I start with the right foot or the left?  I got to remember to lead with the heal and roll onto the foot and what???  This is crazy I know how to walk.
  Then we all stopped thinking so much.  We leaned forward and let our mind and body do what it was meant to do.  No, not fall flat on our faces.  But I must admit for a split second I thought that might happen.  We walked across the floor.
   This taught me a very valuable lesson.  If you try to think of every movement and every thought before you make it, you will never take that first step.  No matter if it is writing, sports, your job or just your life.  You need to think about were you are going, yes have a plan.  But, you also have to let go and trust yourself.  Stop thinking so hard about the journey and start thinking about the destination.  You will be fine, and you will enjoy the ride a  whole lot more.

from Wikimedia Commons

             A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
                                Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

I'm a star!!!

   I would like to thank Denise at L'Aussie Writing for giving me a Star award.

   To claim this award you need to answer one question.  What are your writing habits?  Then pass along the star to those you think could use a little star dust themselves.  So here goes.
   My writing habits are not set in stone, their not even set in jello.  I keep a journey, okay a spiral notebook, with me by the bed and when I leave the house so I can jot down ideas.  You never know where the next blog will come from.  This is about as organized as I get.  The rest... well, you'll see.
   I get up in the morning get a cup of coffee and head to the office.  I know my brain does not function until the coffee kicks in so I check my email while I wait.  Nope still not working, but I open a word document so I will be ready when my mind is.  Ohh, maybe a game of solitaire will get the juices flowing.  Come on Aunt Mary wake me up.  I am very competitive, I will not let the computer win, so I keep going till I win. Yes, okay back to the blog.
   It's what time?  Okay let me get some lunch.  One more cup of coffee and lets get to it.  Okay, coffee kicked in but not in the way I wanted.  I be back in a minute.  Now what was I doing.  Oh yeah the blog.  Document open, check.  Notebook of ideas, check --- uh not check it is still by the bed.  I will just go get that, and get down to business.

   What --- I'm just reading.  I said I was going to  what?  Oh crap, I got sidetracked.  Now I am ready.  I know what I am going to write today.  I set down and get typing.  Done.
   Now to preview and edit.  This takes as long as the writing.  I go back and forth reading, proofing, correcting grammar, spelling, sentence structure.  Over and over again until it is right or until I can no longer see straight.
   The whole process takes me about 8 to 10 hours.  Of course the actual writing part would probably only take a couple of hours or less, if my brain would cooperate.
   As you can see I need help getting my routine down.  It would be easier if Jack would just let me eat once a day.  But the man insists that the body needs to be feed more often than that to keep going.
   Okay now for the people I think are stares in their own right.

Canadian Blogger Girl, mussing of a military wife.
Rayna at Coffee rings Everywhere.  The best drabbler around.
Al at Publish or Parish.  You are always a star.
Grandpa at Life on the Farm.  Tales from the rain forest.

Laura, at A Shift in Dimensions I don't know if you have time for awards are not, but you are my biggest star.  You always take the time to help me out.  Thank you.

   Let me know about your writing habits, as you can see I need help with mine.  Maybe I can use your tips to get myself more organized.




I think Amazon is trying to tell me something....

I died once...

  Welcome to my second #fridayflash.

I died once... #fridayflash


  I died once.  I was just a few months old.  My mother and I were staying at her parents home, when I became sick.  I stopped breathing and turned blue.  They say I swallowed my tongue.  Though I don't know how I could have done that.  My eyes rolled up into my head and I went limp.
   My grandfather was an ex-marine and he took charge.  He swept me up into his arms and carried me outside away from the women.  No one knows exactly what he did.  But he brought me back to this world.
   When we came back in.  I was soaking wet and screaming at the top of my lungs.  My mother and grandmother said it was the sweetest sound they had ever heard.
   When asked what happened all my grandfather would say is he pulled my tongue out of my throat and threw a bucket of cold water on me to shock my system.  I don't know if he told them everything.  He always tried to protect us from the ugly parts of this world.
   They say when you die and come back, you bring something of the other side back with you.  I couldn't tell you if that were true.  I was too young to know what was normal and what was not.  It was all normal for me.
   As I grew I started to realize I could tell when things were going to happen, like when it was going to rain.  I would smell and feel the rain coming, even on  a bright sunny day.  My friends and I would be playing when I would announce we need to head back to the house before it started to rain.  They would laugh and point out there was not a cloud in the sky.  It is coming within the hour, I would say.  And it did.  The weatherman was right 60 percent of the time, I was right 100 percent.  I didn't know why I could feel the rain on a clear day or not feel it on a cloudy day.  I just could.
   I also had knack of getting along with all kinds of animals.  Even the dangerous dog that was tied up by the shortcut home.  No one could get near him.  I could.  I would look him in the eyes and talk to him.  He would listen.  I would pet him and tell him to let my friends pass.  He would lick my hand and step out of the way.  Some people have said it was because I showed no fear that he allowed me near.  Maybe so, or maybe he understood me.  You would have to ask him.
   He wasn't the only one.  A friend and I went to one of her friend's house.  She had a cat who would not go near anyone by her owner, not even the girl she had lived with for the first 8 weeks of her life.  While we were all sitting at the table, the cat creeped into the room,  jumped up in my lap, licked my hand and went to sleep.  The owner was amazed.  Dogs in a frenzy would stop and listen to me, when they would ignore their owners.  Animals in the woods would come close and sit by me.  I don't know why, they just would.
   As I grew older I noticed other things.  I could tell when someone was upset by their voice over the phone.  But I have been told others can do this too.  That it is because of the tension in the voice.  Maybe it is.
   After a while I didn't need to hear them to know if something was wrong.  All I had to do was think of them.  I knew what someone was doing and thinking.  I didn't even know myself how I did this.  It would just pop into my head when I thought about them.  I would call them and find out they were thinking about me. 
   I could tell the sex of the unborn child of a friend.  I was more accurate than a sonogram, but only with people I knew.  I could not walk up to a stranger and feel the child's sex.  At least not yet.
   I never knew this was unusual.  I thought everyone could do these things if they tried.   To me this came naturally.  Maybe it was because my great grandfather was one of the most powerful Medicine Men of all the Cherokee tribes. 

From Cherokee Museum

   But I didn't know this.  You knew, but you never let on.  You didn't want me to feel different from everyone else.  But I was different.

   Yes I died once, but I came back.



©2010 Pamela Jo