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”What Happens When You Immerse Yourself in the Sound of Silence”
Originally posted on BeBloggerofficial:
”By simply looking into the sky, which is vast and totally empty, serenity arises.The blue sky beyond the clouds is not an object; it is infinite and pure emptiness.” I’ve heard the sound of silence loud and clear. It arises in the sounds of my house early in the morning before… -
“Vaguely bestowed history.” (short story)
Ms, Charlotte Wetzler, was seated on the main stage, looking out upon well over 500-hundred guests who are her former students and the recipients of her 42- years of teaching eight and ninth grade American and World history. Accompanying the stage with Ms. Wetzler are members of her school’s administration, School board members, politicians and […]
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“Rubber Mallet.” ( short story)
With each swing of the mallet, I pound the spike deeper into the ground. Anger, jealousy, envy, and hate fuels my swings but, I cannot stop pounding the spike more profoundly into the ground until my arm and shoulder begin to ache as tears and sweat streaming along my cheeks. I hear the faint echo […]
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“Authentic Migrations.”
Capturing sunrise photos while stopped at the “Sols Cliff scenic overlook with views of Bar Harbor Maine from inside Acadia National Park. The crisps winds of an early September cold weather front, caused my eyes to tear and blur my exquisite views leaving only the distant ocean waves sounds lapping against the shore for my […]
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“Montgomery Alabama.”
On a cold rainy spring day, I toured several critical locations in the city of Mongomery Alabama which is ground zero of the Civil Rights Era in America. In 1877 the Dexter St. Baptist Church was founded when congregants moved from the First Colored Baptist Church in Montgomery Al. In 1954, at 26-years of age, […]
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“Our timeless love.”
Our family, our children, forty years we made. The mind-numbing daily routine we made. Our separate sleeping bedrooms we agreed. Because of commitments, our love has become veiled from one another, allowing our hearts to become etched hallowed caves. Our separate cars to attend church we agreed. Our time for one another is thwarted with […]
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“Churn or grind.”
The daily WordPress word prompt inspires thoughtful, creative writing ideas based on the WordPress user’s past experiences with the word which can hold various meanings and definitions. The word churn, cause me to think of the word grind. Let me explain, the word “churn” based on my history holds significant connotations, when my high school football coach used […]
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“April is poetry month.”
April is National Poetry Month, and I’m creating inspired poetry daily to celebrate events online, at libraries, and communities everywhere. A mindset for poetry can be inspired and created by the surroundings of your room, home, community, and humanity. But nature can be the stimuli exposing your five senses to create poetry from your soul. So […]
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“Radiant eyes.”
From the time, I saw her from across the dance floor, I was tranced into seeing them closer. Standing in front of her, I was awakened by her voice with my mouth opened breathing heavy, I was mesmerized by a uniquely beautiful pair of eyes. When I spoke, I was happy with her politeness […]
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“Layers upon layers of hope.”
Attending a funeral, a retirement gathering, a college or high school graduation, of a family member or friend allows for personal self-reflection. Your thoughts peel away layers of life’s reality igniting and stirring emotions, to bring tears to your eyes similar to peeling layers of an onion. Life is similar to the layers of an onion when reaching […]
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Betrayed and frantic, I think not!”
Since Feb I have enjoyed and settled into the Florida warmth, and because of cold temperatures, I used my backpacking pants’ less than a week. As March winds to an end, my mind repeatedly drifts to traveling the roads in the vast western US and hiking/backing treelined canopy trails. Although my focus has been to […]
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“I’d Rather Be.”
The weekly photo challenge asks the question where would you rather be. The following photos reveal where I would rather be as photography allows for the repeated return to moments when the original photo was taken, over and over and over forever. Within the past two years, I have traveled to many different locations […]
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*** THE TIME TO SHIFT ***
Originally posted on Gary Lee Thompson III Words of Unity and ONE Community:
AFTERTHOUGHT What is the real truth to why we are here Have the generations behind us made it clear They all were in search of something dear Time is against us with so much created fear ? Is it all just created… -
“Identical.”
Every day since forever, I have seen you, and we are identical twins. I look into your eyes, and I see the mirror image of me. I have seen pictures of you, and you look like me. Your cheekbones, lips, eyebrows, and chin are all like mine. We are identical twins? As far back as […]
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“Invisible.”
See my elegance? My jet black hair was cooked and processed with waves galore, against platinum silver and neon green, circumferencing from temple to temple rising to the cowlick above the top of my head. My head held high, arms across my chest, I stood erect and poised like the dandy I am, dressed in my […]
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“Blushed.”
Casandra entered the room, and I could not make eye contact, She walks past my table, and I look down at my paper, I sensed a connection, but I’m too shy to speak. Brian will not notice me when I walk into the classroom. He will not acknowledge me with eye contact. I walk past […]
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“The wisdom of patience.”
I can remember as far back as a kindergartener, hearing my mother, father, siblings, friends, and teachers, telling me, or writing in the margins of a report card, “Slow Down.” On many occasions throughout my life, I was told I need to develop and hopefully discover some patience. “Slow down,” is the repetitive word I […]
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“Time to return to the trails.”
As the days of March wind down and I continue editing, re-editing and repeating the process of my short stories. The recent cold weather in Southwest Florida provoked a wrinkle in my ability to sit outside and write. So, I traded in my shorts, tank top, and flip-flops for my long pants and long sleeve […]
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“Meander.”
During my lifetime of travel along the back roads, my reason to stop is best described as “distracted.” by what my eyes witness and I want to learn and discover the details of my initial distraction. I developed this type of travel during my twenty-five plus years of riding my touring motorcycle across the US […]
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“Suddenly there is no sound.”
Suddenly there is no sound of the trail, but I feel and hear my heart pounding after my climb to summit the small peak of 2500 feet. My breathing slows matching the calmness surrounding me, and I pause to absorb the silence. I have replaced my forty hour work week noises of voices, car horns […]
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“Defining our love.”
Our parents, families, and friends say we are too young to know love. We both wish and desire a love we neither know of or have ever experienced, yet, we have said “I love you” to one another unknown of loves potential and power. I believe we share a love for one another that […]
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“A Grey Nomads Gap Years.”
My plan for the day was to set up somewhere along the beach to write and read all day on a picnic bench under a shelter looking out onto the Gulf of Mexico. My location today is called the “Little Hickory Island Beach Park” located in Bonita Springs FL 34134. The park is a sliver of […]
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“Self-publishing courage.”
I want to start the first day of March 2018 with a cheerful hello to all of the followers of this site. For the next 30-days or so I’m developing a short story novel which I’m continually re-writing to my satisfaction and a submitting to a professional editor for critique. For the past year or […]
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Astral Congregation
At the beach, or in the park, the morning blend of sites and sounds coupled with the warm sunrise temperatures to sooth the skin adds to the beauty of the day ahead,. Sparrows, warblers, and finches chirp with enthusiasm along with the morning doves cooing to one another adding to the softness of the morning as I watch […]
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“Encrusted.”
As a caterer with twenty-two years in the business, I love the quote “Eating is a necessity, cooking is an art.” I once prepared dinner for 50-people, who attended an exceptionally elaborate wedding reception where everyone dressed in expensive named brand clothing like Chanel, Burberry, Hermes, Prada, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren. One of the guests, […]
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“Travel guts: A special mode of travel.”
For over forty years I have traveled around the US for which my family and friends were astonished by the journey and marveled at the destinations completed on a motorcycle. My mother, forbid me to tell her when, or where I was going but demanded I call her immediately upon my returned home. Adventure travelers […]
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“Valentines Day of love”
Well, it has come around again the commercially celebrated Valentines Day of love. It is the erotic, exotic, enticing, inspirational day for the expression and confession of love for one or more particular persons or ourselves. I write this blog post watching the sunrise from Smathers Beach in Key West Florida on this yearly holiday […]
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Travel Fears? “Carpe-Diem”
Within the imaginations of everyone who’s creative ideas and thoughts are inspired or influenced by anything seen on television, read in a book or magazine, can become a reality. MJL I was influenced by television shows like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, hosted by Marlin Perkins, National Geographic magazines and the used encyclopedias my mother bought. […]
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“Travel, what title?”
When I began traveling in the late 80’s upon a 1987 Kawasaki touring motorcycle around the US, I never created or was bewildered with a title for what I was doing. However, over the years my family and friends have described me as crazy, unhinged, or weird to travel by motorcycle without no particular destination. Little […]
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“Wedding anniversaries and a birthday: part #3” (Final)
The twins and Johnathan are in the rear seat of the car with their father at the wheel, as they travel along their driveway from their home to the main road. Johnathan is pitifully staring out the window wondering where they are going when his mother turns around in her front passenger seat to tell […]
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“Wedding anniversaries and a birthday: part #2”
At 4:45 pm, their father, Jefferson Wheeler, was a third-generation farmer, who stood six-foot, seven-inches tall, with muscular arms, and a matching barrel chest. He was a hardworking, strict disciplinarian, and his deep baritone bass voice commanded the attention of everyone when he spoke. When he drove his tractor into the barn, he saw the […]
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“Wedding anniversaries and a birthday: part #1.”
It was 4:30 pm on a western Nebraska farm, in the summer of 1969 with the humid July winds blowing as usual while the Wheeler twins Jason and Jacob who were age six and digging a hole in the backyard of their parent’s farm. Their 15-year old brother Johnathan was driving one of the families […]
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“Inscrutable trill silhouetted in front of me.”
I was scared almost out of my seat when Sister Abigale screamed at the top of her lungs forcing all of the fifth-grade students to stared forward, but it was apparent the class prankster, Abraham Jefferson had been up to no good as he snickered and laughed aloud. Her anger was expected, as her voice trilled […]
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“I’m candid, fairly agile living on island time.”
I was born and raised in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York, and the first time I saw photos of a beach, I dreamed of living on an island. As a teenager and college student, I was a formidable long distance runner with the agility of a Gazel, but my burning desire to live on […]
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“The next dominant generation.”
I am a part of what some people call the greatest generation. When I consider how my parents who lived with nothing close to the conveniences I enjoyed as a child, progressing through my teenage years into becoming an adult, I’m proud to have survived based on today’s standards. I survive childhood without car seats, […]
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“Blink.”
Fortunately, during my lifetime I have recorded hundreds of hours of video with accompanied thousands of photos of my now adult children. My recorded library reveals decades of family and friends, moments in time to include births, birthdays, milestone accomplishments, critical life-changing events, marriages, family reunions and yes even death. Viewing my recorded library of […]
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“Candid.”
Be candid with me, I can take it. Honesty is the best policy when the truth is the foundation for any relationship. However, many lies are spoken in considerations of the feeling for family, friends and significant others. Candidly speaking one’s mind can become detrimental to any relationship or will it? The following candid question […]
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“Study.”
As the college semester comes to an end, the mood of the students on the entire campus becomes stressfully solemn. Every nook and cranny is occupied as students seek silent locations for studying to assure themselves a grade worthy of not repeating the class. The University recommends study groups, flowcharts, diagrams, practicing old exams, recording themselves […]
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“Natures Transformations.”
The desert is a great place to experience the beauty of nature when the approaching rains transform the landscape scenery. A weather system pushed through the Quartzsite AZ desert providing a beautiful rainbow, and marvelous skies. The mostly volcanic rock, sand, and quartz rock and many other various gems that are prospected in the surrounding […]
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“Loophole.”
For twenty years’ or more, the theater’s dancers have taken a ten-minute break every hour during any rehearsal no matter how long they rehearsed. Three months into the theater season a pre-law student dancer read the complete contract and discovered a nutritious meal is supposed to be served during any rehearsals over four hours. When […]
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“Horizon.”
My thoughts often drift to the Arizona desert horizon at sunrise during our two week Christmas break. My face brightens with a smile, and yet my heart aches for endless sights of our horizons. I dislike goodbyes as my eyes followed your silhouette beyond the sunset on the horizon. WordPress daily word prompt
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“Winsome Characters.”
When a child is born, they are an unwritten computer program learning from parents teachers and society. M. J. Leake
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“Viable at any age.”
Mel and Susan Hubbard a married couple were sitting on a park bench after walking three miles along the beach which they do every other day when Susan tells Mel, Happy anniversary. Mel reaches into his jacket pocket and hands Susan a wedding anniversary card. As Susan reads the card, Mel says aloud. One hundred […]
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“Treated reservations.”
If you are lucky, your life will treat you to various forms and types of reservations. I have had room and dinner reservations and I have toured nature reserves and visited several 1st Nations Lands for what some people call Reservations also known as the “The Rez.” But my daily reservation is the moment of […]
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“A blogger conversation.”
The first daily word prompt “conversation” is appropriate to begin 2018 since a blog post initiates a conversation between bloggers around the world. Four years ago when I began blogging my surprise was the conversations with other bloggers about every aspect of my blog postings. As my blog has expanded to different categories of short […]
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“Finally 2017 ending, now 2018!”
Finally, with the end of 2017, the entire world is looking forward to 2018 with incredible optimism. Many people around the world will begin new healthy and personal habits in a new year, so if you find yourself behind on new habit changes, as the weeks and months of the new year progresses there are […]
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“Cozy Confessions.”
My thirty plus years of travel destinations are filled with photos and encountering people who are the inspirations for some of my creative writings ideas. In the beginning, I traveled via motorcycle across the US from coast to coast and border to border culminating with an inspiring road trip from Key West Florida to Fairbanks Alaska […]
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Grandparents & Parents Revelations: A love story
Kevin and Katelynn Crawford age 38 and 39 are a couple with seven children. They have twin four year- olds, a 6, 8, 10, 12, & a 13-year-old teenager. They are a very active family with all of their children participating in some form of after-school athletic activities. The couple amazes their family, friends, […]
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A traveler’s miraculous discovery
Wanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking. Antonio Machado A wannabe traveler’s miraculous discovery is the day they realize and understand their passionate dreams of travel. Their travel soul hibernated under layers of societies mandatory expectations while dreams of wanderlust, vagabonding and […]
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“Silent bliss without a compass.”
I hiked a trail without a compass within the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in the Robledo Mountains of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The area is located at an elevation of about 4,500 feet above sea level in the Robledo Mountains north of Las Cruces New Mexico with views of canyons cut into the steep […]
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Stripped and Polished
Originally posted on Smell The Coffee:
Stripping Layers of doubt Discarding old garments Renewing the soul with new dreams Polished ©Vivian Zems (#cinquain) December Writing Prompts 15/31 ? -
“Legendary Inheritance.”
Fifteen years have passed since international Dodgeball star Lucas Leonard Lopez was seen on the court. However, his eldest son Lewis Leonard Lopez has followed in his father’s footsteps playing Dodgeball and graduating from his father’s alma-mater Potemkin University where he has led the Dodgeball team to four NCAA championships. The young phenom has chosen […]
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“A lifetime of Jolly degrees of happiness and varnish layers of love.”
During anyone’s life, there are jolly times filled with degrees of ups and downs, covered with varnishing layers of love. A life is filled with degrees of changes with reflective layers of varnished ideas, and dreams, building confidence for the future and although there will be regrets, sad and depressing times cherish the jolly pleasant […]
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“Relocate.”
For a weekend I relocated to Northern New Mexico in search of winter landscapes to photograph. My destination was the ski area in and around Taos New Mexico. I found sparse regions of snow and residents who were surprised by the lack of snow they usually would have experienced around the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I […]
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“Gorge.”
The images do not reflect the cold temperatures, of the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos New Mexico of the magnificent engineering marvel of the bridge, draped in the beauty of a morning sunrise. One of America’s highest and most famous bridges, the route 64 crossing of the Rio Grande near Taos, New Mexico was completed […]
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“Sparkling at any age.”
The word “age,” is a noun, defining the length of existence from the beginning to any given time of life. Existence is the sparkle of life to be celebrated every day you awake to breathe. For many, the vanity of humanity is superficial when you deny realities reflection in a mirror. WordPress daily word prompt.
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“Procrastinating Pressure.”
The significance of procrastinating pressure to complete goals is sometimes a necessary emotion when you find snippets of excuses to forgo what should be done. With thirty days to write 50,000 words, it may seem daunting at first, but with proper and essential preparation it possible to find success. Spending each day including Thanksgiving taking bites of the […]
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“Atmospheric; A Short story”
Three months ago Jill and I decided to take a break with a tropical island weekend getaway. On our last evening, I dressed adorned in my best island attire complete with an island decorative asher blue shirt with large dark blue orchids, a pair of tan Bermuda shorts, and my brown leather open-toed sandals. Jill […]
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“Droolling mushroom hunters.”
Hiking in the great northwest of the US brings you into contact with many types of people. My first encounter with mushroom hunters began with the honk of a horn from a passenger van when I slowed on the roadway searching for a turn to a hiking trailhead near Mount Hood National Forest. I pulled […]
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“Music’s dubious riffs.”
During our annual concert, my high school’s jazz ensemble was playing before a packhouse of parents, students political dignitaries. We played several pieces that excited the whole audience who stood to applaud our performances. Our final piece was always my favorite as the first chair trumpet began their solo riff followed by the dueling solo […]
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“Wildlife Neophyte photographer no more.”
I have been fortunate in photographing wildlife in their natural habitats. However, these photos were taken at the Brantly Lake State Park near Carlsbad New Mexico and my campground neighbors were two men from Arkansas who brought their Harris Harks and one Falcon to the New Mexico desert to practice their skills at hunting the local […]
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“Temporary photos.”
Landscape photography changes minute to minute, hour, by hour and daily at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. In these photographs, I capture a temporary moment in time, that are fleeting moments of windblown shifting sands and clouds across a sunset. Not one photo is precisely the same with winds moving clouds across the sky and […]
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“Centenarian love, passion, marriage, and dancing.”
The annual sweetheart’s dance has become a coveted gala event for the 190 residents at the “Living Years Village.” And again for the third year in a row Edgar and Elizabeth Harden gingerly, soft-shoed around the dance floor strutting to the harmonizing tunes of their 1940’s big band favorites. The residents seated at their dinner […]
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“Faintly simmering and being beckoned.”
I stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching my mother cooking and preparing the Thanksgiving dinner as I drooled with excitement wanting to sneak a lick of the bowls she recently mixed the german chocolate cake and its accompanying frosting. Although the aromas of faintly simmering pots filled with potatoes, assorted greens, and the […]
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“Halloween Neighborhood-Lessons.”
There was a time in the 60’s, and 70’s when the mystery of keeping your home secure during the Halloween season was something you passed on to new neighbors. I had new neighbors who moved in two weeks before Halloween. They were a young couple without any children and the wife thought she would bake […]
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“Ghoulish.”
I have never really liked Halloween since the horrible calamity of 1975, for which my father tells the story with the smiling gleefulness of a teenager like it was yesterday. The events of that night have left me traumatically scared for which I have endured nightmares until this day. I was a child only 5-years […]
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“Autumn Fluffy.”
The end of green summer leaves leads to the transformation to various bright colors. During an October hike with crisp, breezes blowing red, yellow, purple, orange, magenta, and brown leaves floating softly to the ground. My fluffy soft wool knit cap and sweater against my skin warms my thoughts of holidays ahead. I consider drinking […]
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“Mirrored Gratitude.”
With their annual Halloween party two days away, Erica stood in the mirror admiring her Cleopatra costume. She adjusted the black wig with a gold beaded headpiece while marveling at the matching earrings and choker necklace. She began studying the costumes sleeveless top with brightly colored gold pyramid sequined edgings, and she moved closer towards […]
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“Identifying Trademarks.”
The identifying trademarks were visible when the border officer lifted the tarp to reveal the cylindrical barrel. This story began after my best friend Charles and I attended the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders Football game Nov 16, 1997. Charles and I met and became close friends when we were 23-years-old, in the Marine […]
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“Cacophony: A band parents story.”g
My next door neighbors, Clifford and Joyce Ingram’s raised 6-children, who were born two and three years apart. When their eldest child Cynthia began playing the drums in the local elementary school band no one expected her siblings would follow in her musical footsteps. As the years passed their home was filled with the sounds […]
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Appreciate; not expect
Originally posted on copypowerblog:
Prompt: Expect Never expect fortune for free, earn it Never expect things to happen, make efforts Never expect anything from others if you are not willing to do enough for them Never expect more from others than yourself and you will be less hurt Never expect to fly high if you… -
“Enlighten.”
Enlightening moments in time brings life into focus. (M. J. Leake) After thirty-nine years of marriage, three adult children, one hysterectomy, and a husband I share a love with that make me giddy as a school girl when we have a date night. I’m have become aware that I cannot control what I cannot hold or […]
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“Expected Release.”
After 9-months, of preparation, which included doctors visits, painting a nursery room, assembling baby furniture, storing diapers, infant clothing, and installing and securing the infant car seat in the new van. The wife and I walked in the park, walked the halls of the local mall and waited patiently for the expected birth of our […]
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“Express.”
Do you love to dance, sing, write, sculpt, paint, or debate? What’s your favorite way to express yourself, creatively? I use words creatively in sentences, paragraphs, short stories and soon to be novels. Writing is my passionate form of expression rooted deeply in my emotions forged from my past responsibilities. I move forward into my future […]
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“Loyalty.”
Loyalty is determined and measured by who you interact with over time. Loyalty and friendships are determined by time. Loyalty can be a long-term commitment in a relationship. Loyalty is earned, appreciated, gained, and returned. WordPress daily word prompt
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“Ascending.”
Life is like ascending a mountain one foot after another to accomplish what is desired. Standing atop of an accomplishment is a personal goal and time to reflect upon the journey it took. After ascending and conquering any of life’s challenges builds confidence to propel you to handle whatever life puts before you. WordPress daily word […]
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“Social media crumbs”
Social media produces journalling crumbs of our past. Crumbs for those you chose to see the highs and lows of your life. Wisdom can be gained from the crumbs of our past. WordPress daily word prompt
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“A tentative short story.”
Recreating a time from the past can be an adventure. Malcolm & Ethel Marshall, lived thirty-three wonderful years in a beautifully appointed retirement transitional housing community. They both retired at the ages of 67 and 65, and they are parents of three adult children, grandchildren and a couple of great-grandchildren. They were veterans of the […]
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9 Reasons Why Intelligent People Have Fewer Friends
Originally posted on MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO:
Intelligent people have fewer friends. The more real you are the fewer friends you have. Here’s why: 1. You’re liberated in your own speech, thoughts, and actions, which can be contrary to those of your “friends.” You have a strong mindset and values. Your mind isn’t limited and…
Expedition Overlanding Nomadic Adventures
To travel the world overland and water!
Expedition Overlanding Nomadic Adventures 