As I Age

There are some great things about ageing. Probably the chief one is not dying, yet.

I have learned that life slows a bit. Not that you don't keep busy, it just takes longer to do what you have done in the past.
Take house work. Please, do take it.
I used to mop and vacuum my whole house in two hours. I had a 2500 sq.ft. house.
Now it takes me an hour to sweep and mop one floor. I have a 1400 sq.ft. house. Not only does it take me longer to do it, it takes me a lot longer to decide to do it.

And a lot longer to recover from it!

How do you feel about being older? Even if older means you are 20  or 80, how do you feel about it?

Tired of Winter

                                               

IF winter was always this pretty, I probably wouldn't mind it as much. But, truth to tell, by the end of January and into February, it isn't this pretty. It is lumpy, grumpy and brown. Maybe I am the one is lumpy and grumpy, but the snow is no longer white and fluffy. It is dirty and cold.

Where I live now we don't get that much snow, but we do have bare trees and brown ground, so you get bored.

Maybe that is why we all love Valentine's Day so much. It is bright and cheerful with all the red hearts and candy boxes. Not to mention the flowers.

Here is to more flowers, more sunshine and less snow.

One month and three days it will be spring. That's what the calendar says, anyway.

Have a great month. It will be gone before we know it. Honestly. Really.
                                     

Getting Older

                             




I titled this getting older rather than being old. I have discovered that there are no how-tos for getting older. No ideas on how best to do it.
I have seen no 10 reasons to grow older. Or how do I look like a teen-ager when I am an octogenarian. Of course, why would I want to?
When you are young, under 50, you really don't give much thought to YOU getting old. You are planning for retirement, getting the kids through school and just plain getting through the day.

In our teen years we cannot wait to get to the magic numbers: 16 and 21. First you get your license and then you lose your license, or have the ability to lose them. After that, you are just an adult and are expected to act like one.
And how is that exactly?
Take responsibility for your actions, for one thing.
Okay. That's done.
Get a job, preferably as good one. Find a mate, maybe have children.
And along the way have some fun.
Done.
I am now 50. What is left to do? Grow old? Stagnate? Travel the world?

What is there left to do. Enrich your knowledge, figure out how your life is going, where you want it to go. Oh, yeah, these things do not just figure themselves out. It feels just like being in high school some days.

Some days you feel like there are no right ways to do this. The answer is there are no right ways. Just your way.
 If you are lucky you find people of like mind and you have some fun, see some interesting things and find that growing older is not so bad.

Ten Things to be Grateful For

It seems this time of year always brings out all the things to be grateful for.

So, I decided to find 10 things to be grateful for.

1. SPELL-CHECK. It keeps me from spelling grateful as "greatful".

2. SUNNY WEATHER. It won't be long before the winter clouds gather.

3. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. Everything looks so pretty and shiny.

4. SMILES.Sometimes they are hard to come by in this busy season, but when they show up.                                  fabulous.

5. CANDY. Candy is always a treat, but Christmas brings out the best: fudge, peanut butter balls, and                     candy canes. Did I mention chocolate covered cherries? No? Well, now I have.

I decided to keep this short, so you will have to read it twice to get my 10 things I am grateful for. I know there could be more: Jesus, the reason, family and friends, and love.  But all of those things are here.

Here is to a blessed Christmas and lots of candy. You can diet after the first of the year

Why do you Write?

I have rarely waited for the muse to strike. I try to just write. It usually happens that I don't feel like it. I want to play. I want to run. I want to run for the hills and forget this dang writing thing. Then...
I can't resist any longer. I have to write something even if it is only...

                             and it doesn't even have to be a grocery list.

 It may be a list of reasons not to write. And number one on that list is: I don't feel like it.
. Well, I clean toilets when I don't feel like it, because it has to be done. So, I do it. It could get ugly in the house if I don't.

How does it get when I don't write? Ugly. My temper gets short, shorter than usual. I get to where I don't like anything, and I pick at everything.

Please know, that I am not a paid writer. So, money can not be the reason for writing. If it isn't worth money, is it worth anything? If you can't make money to help with the bills or just to have fun, what good is it? If you can't put a story down, what good is it?

It can be good because it makes me want to join the human race again. Love my hubby more. Not pick on the kids.

It makes me ME. No matter how long it has been, when I pick up the pen or keyboard, again, I am ME.

How about you? Why do you write? Is money the only thing? How about publishing? Is that a primary goal?
Writing a book does not appeal to me. At least not right now. If you cannot think of a reason to write, why write?

Writing is a Frustrating Art

I sometimes feel frustrated beyond belief.
 I want to write. I want to share.
 I don't want to write. I don't want to share.
I want a subject to appear with ideas around it, so that all I have to do is rearrange the words and the blog post will be complete and beautiful. To every one. Including me.
Do you feel that way? Are the rats in the attic just scurrying around and scuffling with each other?

                                               
Does your mind feel like this? Mine does.

Then I sit down and stare at a blank page and wonder where all the rats went. Surely they left behind something for me to chew on. A biscuit. A crumb.

A crumb.

 There is always something left behind that can fuel your imagination. You just have to let it. You cannot force the words. You need to let them scurry from place to place and finally, one will scurry into the corner and you can capture it. Then all you have to do is capture another one. Some days, you have to let them all go and start over.

My friends, here is to crumbs. Come back and see which ones I have found and what kind of mixture I made with it.
                              

Experience for the Writer

Catchy title, right?

What are experiences for the writer? All of them. Now, you have to decide how to write about them. Experience is not the only thing you need. You need to feel the experiences and know how they change you so you can take that knowledge to the page and make it interesting to the reader.

It is more than, "I went to the store". What did you do there? Who did you see? What was said? Who said it? When you ask these questions, you have to answer them. You are not the only one that can learn from you did, said and who you did it with.

A good story has more than a beginning, middle and an end. You need specifics. You need love and laughter.

For all of this you need experience. Experience life and all its light and shadows, and then show us about it.