tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65751240995884543672024-03-13T12:59:29.769-05:00Does Anyone Care What I Write?Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.comBlogger679125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-80845179857033092392021-07-08T21:57:00.004-05:002021-07-08T21:57:50.409-05:00My Grand Dog<p> Ate my book. I mean demolished it. I’m 80 pages in and she ate the back half! But still!!! Puppies…someone owes me the back half. You know who you are.</p>Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-76988788675144779232021-06-15T11:55:00.002-05:002021-06-15T13:15:23.464-05:00Expiration Dates<p>Any time I grab a gallon of milk, always just the milk, I check the expiration date. (Not even eggs, I don’t. And do eggs really expire anyway? When I was a kid they didn’t.)</p><p>Almost nothing reminds me more of the passage of time than this simple, quick glance. A not too far off date that puts provides perspective.</p><p>Today, the milk said 6/27/21.</p><p>What the what?!? The weather only recently warmed up. I only just flipped the calendar to June. How is it almost the Fourth of July? That means 2021 is half over.</p><p>For some reason, this disturbs me more today than other times, other years, certainly other months. </p><p>Life is whirring by like sand slipping through my fingers. And I have no way of slowing it down. Forget about stopping it. </p><p>What’s mine?</p>Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-38077139831654460852020-06-24T17:24:00.001-05:002020-08-27T10:10:21.704-05:00“Wish I Knew You...When I was young. We could’ve got so high.”<br />
<br />
Sound on the lake carries. Especially at night. Even murmurs. Sometimes. If it’s quiet enough and the train isn’t passing through. But it’s mostly at night. Voices in a casual tone definitely do. Music, for sure.<br />
<br />
It’s amazing what you can catch. Or what’s caught. People who live on a lake know this so, at night, we whisper.<br />
<br />
The song by The Revivalists was playing out the back speakers of a boat just now. It was as loud as if it was on the radio in the next room. I pulled out the binoculars to search for the boat from which it came.<br />
<br />
My mind drifts. I replay thoughts and moments and touches with (whoever) you (is).<br />
<br />
I love the song. And I do. I wish I knew you when I was young.<br />
<br />
<br />Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-53344308305109391302020-06-17T10:30:00.001-05:002020-06-17T10:30:20.623-05:00Covid Poem?You're the perfect, built-in excuse.<br />
<br />
Delaying everything. Avoiding anything. Doing nothing.<br />
<br />
I call for an appliance repair.<br />
<br />
“Well, there’ll be a wait. You know, covid.”<br />
<br />
An acquaintance asks,<br />
<br />
“Can I stop by?”<br />
<br />
“Uh, covid?”<br />
<br />
Coarse toilet paper complaints?<br />
<br />
Any toilet paper is better than none.<br />
<br />
Because Covid.<br />
<br />
I get it. I use it. It has become convenient, so universally understood.<br />
<br />
Covid.<br />
<br />Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-71718237471595698652020-06-10T13:09:00.000-05:002020-06-10T13:09:17.210-05:00Devour <h1 class="quoteText" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">“My Dear,</span></div>
Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it's much better to be killed by a lover.<br />-Falsely yours” </h1>
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Charles Bukowski </h1>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-19661192992878626422020-05-07T12:28:00.000-05:002020-05-14T09:48:51.443-05:00I Don’t Sleep Well to Begin With...So either the added drama from every single angle this virus is pitching combined with the intensely mundane daily things that occupy my time really have messed with my slumber. You?<br />
<br />
A few nights ago, Justin Bieber was mad at he. He hightailed it onto his bus and shut the door. I threw up my hood and walked off. No clue what went down between us because I don’t know much of him except “My momma don’t like you, and she likes everyone.” Who dis about?<br />
<br />
Last night, I was invited to this fancy party at which a hundred acquaintances would be attending (read social anxiety for stupid small talk). I brought this little pooch I could carry around with me as a talking point. However, I didn’t talk to anyone but bobbed and weaved my way through the crowd until it was time to leave. It took a while. Don’t know whose dog it was. Mine is 70 lbs.<br />
<br />
There are many more. These are the two most recent. And these vivid, over-the-top dreams happen in the hours right before sunrise. Additionally, Illinois has 24 more days of social distancing and mandatory mask wearing. YAY US!<br />
<br />
P.S. Of the seven books I’ve read in the last 8 weeks, the best have been Trust Exercise, A Ladder to the Sky (most despicable antagonist in recent memory), My Dark Vanessa and Olive, Again (I missed her something terrible).<br />
<br />
P.P.S. My comments are fucked up. Someone can leave me a comment but I can not reply on my own blog. Help!!!<br />
<br />
What’s going on in your neck of the woods?<br />
<br />
Update Response to Jamie:<br />
<br />
<br />
Being in a more relaxed state (Indiana) versus Illinois, we were able to dine out for the first time on Tuesday. Something normal! So tired of being hyper-aware of others proximity to me at every turn. I really liked Vanessa but agree that i was happy to have it over as well. Wow, your dreams all take place at night! That’s interesting. Mine seem timeless, not day or night. But I’ll try to be aware of that tonight. Hang in there too.Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-42872998395620279272019-12-17T14:05:00.001-06:002020-01-10T17:16:51.194-06:00My Best of 2019*We’re talking books, that is! This was an exciting year outside of the literary sense as well.<br />
<br />
*Not necessarily published this year<br />
<br />
Tangerine<br />
The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells<br />
Normal People<br />
The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells (not the erotic novel with the same name)<br />
Daisy Jones and the Six<br />
Ask Again, Yes<br />
Three Women<br />
Disappearing Earth<br />
Crossing to Safety<br />
Tin Man<br />
Women Talking<br />
Night Boat to Tangier<br />
<br />
With two weeks left in the year, there will be an update no doubt. Recommendations anyone? Happy reading to you and yours!<br />
<br />
UPDATE: I forgot a great one I just saw in my bedside drawer. Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday. So good!Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-16289316200604338782019-09-23T12:01:00.000-05:002019-09-23T13:20:02.175-05:00A Vagabond Song by Bliss William Carman<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood— </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Touch of manner, hint of mood; </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And my heart is like a rhyme, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Of bugles going by. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And my lonely spirit thrills </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills. </span><br />
<br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir; </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">We must rise and follow her, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When from every hill of flame </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">She calls and calls each vagabond by name.“</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fff7e5; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Encountered this brisk, first day of Fall.</span></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-56322854050912010772019-09-18T08:31:00.002-05:002019-09-18T11:41:05.245-05:00I Have Small Talk Anxiety<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iKWMEUnmKFY/XYIwgveIuuI/AAAAAAAAFh0/VfrgaOuy04MdCO5RSnrUGl4n0HbVToPkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Unknown-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iKWMEUnmKFY/XYIwgveIuuI/AAAAAAAAFh0/VfrgaOuy04MdCO5RSnrUGl4n0HbVToPkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Unknown-5.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I am so conflicted about my high school reunion this weekend.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There was a picture taken at our ten year reunion long ago, which we recently passed around our group text chain of ten. Five girls and five guys.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The ten of us had wide, youthful smiles. Babies, really. Some of us married. Only one couple of the ten of us. Our eyes big and clear and looking ahead. The rest of our lives was out there waiting. We looked happy together.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The same ten from that ancient picture get together at least yearly. In the scheme of things and as rapidly as a year passes especially as we get older, I feel I just saw them. A mini-reunion every year.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This brings me to my inner conflict. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“So what’s new?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This question bugs me for some reason at my age and gives me great anxiety. If I haven’t seen you in one, five, twenty-five years and that’s the question you ask? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I never know where to start so the only answer that comes to mind is, </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Oh, you know. Status quo. Same old stuff!”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And of course, that’s not true. Tons of shit goes down daily. Who doesn’t if one has a family and responsibilities? Ask me something, anything, more specific!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There was a time where I was fabulously proficient at making idle chit-chat. I had to be because times called for it. But that was oh, so long ago.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Thinking of Saturday, I will be looking at a group of people I haven’t seen in years who are all going to ask me a variation of this same question. Or so it feels to me as I sit here contemplating what to do.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It fills me with anxiety. It just does. I already feel the “fight or flight” response kicking in.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So I asked my hair stylist while in her chair yesterday if I have to go. She said no.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I asked my husband, “Do I have to go to my reunion?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“I don’t think so. Is it mandatory?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No, it is not.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I asked three of my closest friends if I have to go. Same response from all of them in one fashion or another, do what I want.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The thing is, I am feeling guilty about it because I said I would go. I also paid $40. Which is nothing compared to the Uber fees I will incur riding to and from the city out to the venue.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s not a money thing really. It is an anxiety issue. Or at the very least a “I’d rather be doing anything else” feeling. It is sitting in my gut quite heavily.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For me, it’s about finding comfort and peace and being where my heart wants to be and that is not at my reunion this weekend with old classmates that I don’t keep in touch with because maybe we didn’t want to after all. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It feels forced.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I will most probably see “The Ten” around the holidays. They will give me shit for not going and I will have a handful excuses on the tip of my tongue. And of course, they won’t buy what I am selling. But it will all be all right anyway.</span></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-8889546673793901342019-09-17T09:13:00.000-05:002019-09-17T09:13:13.371-05:00It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Tuesday Edition)<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I know. I know. It’s Tuesday!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Having an extremely hard time finishing books. Anything really. I am distracted. Wonderfully, horribly distracted. A little bit grumpy, too, if I am honest. Not really liking this combo, but what’s a girl to do? Read my way out of it?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I recently finished two books.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Crossing to Safety</i></b> by Wallace Stegner</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This was my book club’s selection. These book club members are teachers, psychologists, marketing content…I got distracted again…</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is what I emailed to a book friend yesterday describing this book:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“This was my book club’s pick. What a literary group they are! It’s like <i>Mr. Bridge</i> or <i>Mrs. Bridge</i>. Did you read those? Or Seinfeld. Nothing overly dramatic happens, but you’re glued to the mundane. It’s about relationships, marital and otherwise, day-to-day working academics, college professors, writing! All the things you love! It is wonderfully written. Kind of <i>Stoner</i>-esque without the sex. I enjoyed and found it incredibly compelling. I recommend!!!”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I will definitely tackle another Stegner. Boy, does he write characters well!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><b>Lady in the Lake</b></i> by Laura Lippman</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I decided to pick up this one because I very much liked <i>Sunburn</i>. I have had bunches of driving time lately, so listening to a thriller was in order and needed to balance out simultaneously reading <i>Crossing to Safety, </i>which requires treading carefully.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I found this one engaging and satisfying! Actually, I fell asleep last night listening to it through my pillow and had to replay a large chunk this morning. I was in a need to know now mood.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Newspaper columnists, forbidden relationships, a couple of murders, coverups and, of course, everyone manipulating everyone. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Fairly light and exactly what I needed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So now what?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I need to eat breakfast then exercise because my class reunion is this weekend. I also need to finish T<i>he Most Fun We Every Had</i> by Claire Lombardo, which I set aside to read my book club selection. Halfway through and liking!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Looking for an audiobook recommendation to fill some time? Got any?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As always, I have a stack of books next to me. They give me comfort. I touch them a lot.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What are you reading these days? Anyone?</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-67568776586298586342019-08-15T17:01:00.002-05:002019-08-15T17:01:46.653-05:00Are You Like Me?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_hEq8YM72Cw/XVXVJtg5grI/AAAAAAAAFg8/vwpLhAX2yRUuAwYDprmtfYMIXa-kfHBuQCLcBGAs/s1600/Unknown-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_hEq8YM72Cw/XVXVJtg5grI/AAAAAAAAFg8/vwpLhAX2yRUuAwYDprmtfYMIXa-kfHBuQCLcBGAs/s1600/Unknown-3.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Last night the sky was clear and deeply dark. In your world, too?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I saw its trail down the lake’s length from my bedroom window at about 2:00 (positionally, not the time) and ran down the pier illuminated like a runway, arms spread wide, into its glimmer.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It sure did look full. I knew that it wasn’t. Mother Nature was saving her last bit of waxing for tonight. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And you better believe I will be out there. Sitting at the end of the pier. Maybe a glass of wine in hand. Maybe after having several. Definitely with bells on. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So my question to you is this…</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Do you do what I do? Do you look up at the moon and think about who else took the time to find it and think? Think about anything, or think about the people who would take the time to search it out? Think about who is connected to the same show?</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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You don’t know what you don’t know until you do.</div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-77483842053183750822019-07-09T14:34:00.001-05:002019-07-09T14:34:17.797-05:00Nothing Soothes My Soul More<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SUHUV-WG_80/XSTr5g_ZS8I/AAAAAAAAFfE/Ymqzo6rbDgsKtEJwwic_pGKBJp1fdcnaQCLcBGAs/s1600/3FDE9FA1-E631-4434-ADE0-8AD18FD340C0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SUHUV-WG_80/XSTr5g_ZS8I/AAAAAAAAFfE/Ymqzo6rbDgsKtEJwwic_pGKBJp1fdcnaQCLcBGAs/s320/3FDE9FA1-E631-4434-ADE0-8AD18FD340C0.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary, Hazel and Me</td></tr>
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Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-71189075602810512472019-06-13T22:47:00.001-05:002019-06-13T22:47:38.716-05:00On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s 11:30 pm EST. I am heading to bed. Not alone.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Interesting to me just now was how or why I chose the book to bring with me. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Both are new, within the last day or so. Both inside fifty pages. Both fifteen feet apart from one another.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I would like to say impulse or closest, but I think it is how one makes me feel.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yeah, go with the feeling. And who would ever pick over a word like “gorgeous”.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Night.</span></div>
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Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-82489169248682147622019-06-10T16:47:00.003-05:002019-06-10T16:47:45.718-05:00Semantics Then Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RD-YLNtIwZg/XP7PM4uegWI/AAAAAAAAFeY/-oeW6dHMC9oZIUs-21XyZdRjg2-L1umZQCLcBGAs/s1600/Unknown-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RD-YLNtIwZg/XP7PM4uegWI/AAAAAAAAFeY/-oeW6dHMC9oZIUs-21XyZdRjg2-L1umZQCLcBGAs/s1600/Unknown-2.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Quick question friends out in the ethers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Today is Monday, The date doesn’t really matter.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If I were to say to you,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Hey, I made a reservation at this fabulous taco joint next Thursday.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Which Thursday do I mean?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Inquiring minds want to know…</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">***************************</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I started <i>Bitter Orange</i> by Claire Fuller and loving it! Also knee deep into <i>On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous</i> by Ocean Vuong, and I think it will break my heart...just have that feeling.</span></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-15099171648685338982019-06-04T09:17:00.001-05:002019-06-04T09:18:46.471-05:00Truth or Dare? (100-Word Challenge)<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I thought about her as I was stirring awake today, a modern-day flower child. I have no idea why, but this part of the story is pure.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Only regarding her at length once before, she bebopped up next to me as I walked. Her hair held fresh blooms.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Tell me a story.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My mind was utterly paralyzed. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Story?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Yes.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The first words that came to my mind were these.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Truth or dare?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Anything.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At first my weave was frantic, unsure. But softly I settled into a surprisingly elaborate web.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Is this true?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“I’m not sure. Does it sound real?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">************************************</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This was written for </span><a href="https://thinspiralnotebook.com/2019/05/29/100-word-challenge-speak/" style="letter-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Tara's 100-Word Challenge over at Thin Spiral Notebook</span></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. The word was "Speak" to be used in any form or inferred. </span></div>
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Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-48807534315150954022019-06-03T14:39:00.003-05:002019-06-03T14:39:25.429-05:00What I Am Reading Now (June 3, 2019)<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hosted by T<a href="https://thebookdate.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">he Book Date</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not here to make excuses, but life, yet again, has disrupted my would be reading time. A short list of those include: a deer, delayed flight, construction projects, puppy, prioritizing, self-motivation (Oops! Now that IS under my control).</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So be it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">May I please be excused for is not dolling up this post with linked pictures/descriptions of the books? Some slack here is greatly appreciated.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>What I recently finished:</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Normal People</i> by Sally Rooney</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If you loved <i>Conversations With Friends</i>, which if you haven’t read it yet, drop everything right now and get on it, you will love Rooney’s latest. She is a master of quirky, authentic feeling relationships. The story takes place in Ireland between two teenagers from a small town, one wealthy and the other a housekeeper's son, who know each other though pretend not to…at first. The chemistry between them through the course of their formative and college years then adulthood is palpable. 5-stars all the way!!!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Miracle Creek</i> by Angie Kim</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I gave it a 3-star rating on Goodreads probably because it was a little draggy for me. It’s about complicated family dynamics, another culture, protecting our children. You know, the stuff that makes you want to read a story. Except, that it felt like a chore. <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121959-miracle-creek?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Check out the Goodreads description</span></a> </span>(Okay, I lied. I added one link)<span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span> Maybe “It’s me, not you” kind of thing.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>What I am currently reading/rereading:</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Ask Again, Yes</i> by Maribeth Keane</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This Goodreads description accurately sums up what I know so far:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, and the power of forgiveness.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Can’t find my Bluetooth earbuds so now the only thing I want to do is sit in my car all day.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Rules of Civility</i> by Amor Towles</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">OH YEAH!!!!!!! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One of my all-time favorite books/authors. I had the great fortune to hear him speak about his more recent <i>A Gentleman in Moscow</i>, which I also loved. He did address writing <i>Rules </i>albeit all too briefly! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Anyway, he is fascinating!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And I NEVER reread books. Can’t remember the last one I did or where my original copy of <i>Rules of Civility</i> resides although I have a sneaking suspicion. So I picked up a signed paperback at the event and intend to start it tonight. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Future plans include:</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Bitter Orange</i> by Claire Fuller</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After just receiving it in the mail, I’ll fill you in next week!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That’s it for me! I promise to be fancier next time.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But what about <i>you</i>? What are you reading or planning to read? I am always looking for recommended books from other avid readers.</span></div>
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Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-4529622825846710562019-05-31T11:33:00.000-05:002019-05-31T11:33:08.267-05:00Guess What?I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start writing again this summer.<br />
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And if I do not, please feel free to heckle the hell out of me!<br />
<br />
<br />Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-75043461041668099202019-03-22T09:17:00.000-05:002019-03-22T09:17:15.882-05:00Did Someone Say It's National Poetry Day?<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Well then, HOORAY! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am thankful for the gorgeous one who introduced poetry to me, though I encountered my favorite on my own. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I remember the exact Saturday in early September (It was 8:30 in the morning.) I remember precisely what I was doing (If you care to know, I was laying on my back in Millennium Park preparing for a 100 person community yoga class. My eyes were closed.) I remember exactly how it felt at that moment (The bright, Indian summer sun was warming my body. Anticipation.)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And this is when I heard it for the first time…</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dYEpCGjgJpM/XJTuFOZidAI/AAAAAAAAFbk/AtKpfPQ1xOE7oNvZSzt8PqDwPFs4vN17wCLcBGAs/s1600/wild%252Bgeese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="812" height="251" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dYEpCGjgJpM/XJTuFOZidAI/AAAAAAAAFbk/AtKpfPQ1xOE7oNvZSzt8PqDwPFs4vN17wCLcBGAs/s320/wild%252Bgeese.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You do not have to be good.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You do not have to walk on your knees</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">for a hundred miles throughout the desert repenting.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You only have to let the soft animal of your body</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">love what it loves.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile the world goes on.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">are moving across the landscapes,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">over the prairies and the deep trees,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the mountains and the rivers.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">are heading home again.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the world offers itself to your imagination,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">over and over announcing your place</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">in the family of things.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">- <b><i>Wild Geese</i></b> by Mary Oliver</span></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-29871537419663532912019-03-04T20:07:00.000-06:002019-03-04T20:07:41.251-06:00Team DylanAlways!Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-26833010304615446932018-04-04T17:15:00.000-05:002018-04-04T18:21:53.223-05:00Perennially a Challenge: Yeah Write Micro-story (49 words)<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Seven seconds of utter confusion because I answered, ‘Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don’t.’ Would this be any clearer? ‘You do you, homie.’ It’s what originally drew you in, you know, and then you couldn’t help but have me.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">She smiles. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Sassy even after thirty years.</span></div>
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<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/microprose-writing-challenge-364/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/micro364.png" /></a></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-1927846300272485182018-03-22T11:52:00.000-05:002018-03-22T16:13:40.107-05:00"Prayer" by Mary Oliver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LxlmE2sejOI/WrPfExiY9LI/AAAAAAAAD9s/LIvTpSdJkhMF-eOT4xOQ4CDsRbOdKQ5bQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1107" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LxlmE2sejOI/WrPfExiY9LI/AAAAAAAAD9s/LIvTpSdJkhMF-eOT4xOQ4CDsRbOdKQ5bQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_0529.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<br />Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-78420384432187305412018-03-20T13:40:00.003-05:002018-03-20T13:40:45.918-05:00My Lucky Day!I haven’t “won” a Goodreads giveaway in years. Used to score them regularly five or six years back.<br />
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But time’s a changing, and I’m thrilled to freaking pieces!<br />
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I was notified by Goodreads email this morning that “The Female Persuasion” by Meg Wolitzer would be arriving soon. You know her; she wrote the amazing “The Interestings”.<br />
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If that wasn’t crazy, lucky enough, LitHub also informed me today I will be receiving “The Italian Teacher” by Tom Rachman. I have always, always, always wanted an Italian teacher of my very own, and it shall be mine. Sort of.<br />
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I must be living right.Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-36530672511633815122018-03-16T09:38:00.001-05:002018-03-16T09:38:43.594-05:00Who doesn’t love to laugh? Five Minute Friday<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CyBaMyl-j8g/WqvUVEYC6kI/AAAAAAAAD9c/MZwM96w4TaMS7M-DUcAqAUsG7O2U584QACLcBGAs/s1600/Pravs-J-Laughter-The-Best-Medicine-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="800" height="179" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CyBaMyl-j8g/WqvUVEYC6kI/AAAAAAAAD9c/MZwM96w4TaMS7M-DUcAqAUsG7O2U584QACLcBGAs/s320/Pravs-J-Laughter-The-Best-Medicine-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There are nine people who I believe actually get my sense of humor. Yes, I counted prior to starting these five minutes and those 30 seconds will not be included. Not sorry.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The interesting thing is only one I see daily. The rest are essentially long distance. But it’s the kind of distance that takes a split second to cross. They’ve always been in exactly the same place they always were. There. No need to question.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These people make me feel good. No matter what. And who doesn’t just love these kind of people so hard?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We can start a conversation down in the dumps, talking about something very seriously wrong about life, about us, about someone we care deeply about, and then something makes us laugh or one of us says something, usually inappropriate considering the context of the conversation but soothing nonetheless and somehow it feels perfectly right. Again.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Laughter, aside from the random, funny stuff we all see on the internet or the unexpected events during the usual course of life and for me, comes from comfort. Am I comfortable enough with this person to be vulnerable, quirky and oftentimes irreverent? Are they comfortable enough with me to let their words flow without judgement? This is the magic place where uninhibited laughter happens. Those are the times I laugh the hardest.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are nine of you.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This was a Stream of Consciousness Friday post. It's the Week 3, of the </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><a href="https://www.kenyagjohnson.com/blog/2018/1/9/old-school-blogging" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">old school blogging</span></a></i></span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">,</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> prompt for the Finish the Sentence Friday writing community co-hosted by <a href="https://www.kenyagjohnson.com/blog/the-punch-line" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Kenya Johnson right here</span></a> and Kristi Campbell of </span><a href="http://www.findingninee.com/" style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Finding Ninee</span></span></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. This week we set a timer and wrote for 5 minutes on the optional prompt "Laughter".</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hoping today, while still early, is filled with a few funny moments. Not sure my class in American Art History this afternoon will spawn any giggles, but you never know, right? Here’s to hoping for the unexpected. Cheers!</span></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-68171519631141474072018-03-07T11:41:00.000-06:002018-03-07T11:41:51.007-06:00Because He Would Do It: Yeah Write Micro-Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7AzFDcQ9zXM/WqAicrY2QRI/AAAAAAAAD9M/z6MaOqrMeOUy1BgJn1d81LVF4Qxu6ljBQCLcBGAs/s1600/traditional-hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7AzFDcQ9zXM/WqAicrY2QRI/AAAAAAAAD9M/z6MaOqrMeOUy1BgJn1d81LVF4Qxu6ljBQCLcBGAs/s320/traditional-hall.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Blurred movements kept jerking my gaze to the balustrades above though no one else was home.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“What is it?”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“I think it’s Andrew.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Desperate to believe, she hugged me tighter than I’ve ever been held because he was the kind of kid who knew exactly how to comfort her.</span></div>
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<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/microprose-writing-challenge-360/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/micro360.png" /></a></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6575124099588454367.post-58902823781665271702018-02-02T17:11:00.001-06:002018-02-02T17:31:53.102-06:00Obsessions, Eh: 100 Word Challenge<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I never know what’s happened. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Though that’s not true.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sometimes I do. Sometimes you’re still there. Sometimes you vaporize before my blues.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You are an unpredictable one; I will give you that. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">[psst…I kind of like it.]</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ve gotten better at the spaces, don’t you know.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sometimes they still prick. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">(I did <i>not</i> just call you a prick though it has an authentic ring.)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My life is a busy buzz brimming with productive and rewarding things. Can it be too much? Too full? A bit de trop? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Sure, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a second for you.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is a very loose use of the 100 word prompt "Obsession" hosted by <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><a href="https://thinspiralnotebook.com/2018/01/31/100-word-challenge-obsession/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Thin Spiral Notebook</span> </a></span>each week. Could have used the word but chose to imply instead. </span></div>
Ginahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04841767868797265391noreply@blogger.com2