Kuuleme T Stephens: This is the most IGNORANT argument I’ve heard in a while, so I thought I’d write about it! The arguments for what is viewed as racist is out of control! The Left loves calling everything out as racist, and in my opinion the Right appeases them with a reactionary response that does […]
TikTok and the Pro-Life Argument — Black Conservative Independent: The White Sheep of the Black Community
The writing challenge I started the first of September ends tomorrow.
It’s been a really good experience for me. I’ve been driven to write at least 1000 words a day and I’ll be honest with you sometimes it was hard to get going every day. But I did it and I’m proud of me.
My story is at least 2/3 of the way to completion of the first draft. This challenge helped me fall in love with my book again. The people became even more real. When fictional characters are so real in your mind you speak of them as actual humans the prose has weight and existence.
I posted a synopsis and the first chapter at this link https://steviawithcream.com/anchor-bay-stormy-love/
Let’s hope I can keep this going and I plan to keep my connection with Chapter Buzz for accountability.
Cheers!
-N
Hurricane season always brings the memories of the two we experienced during our time in The Philippines. Because the storms came from the Pacific Ocean they were called typhoon rather than hurricane. They still have the same construction.
One of them skirted Clark Air Base, but the other hit us full on. Philippines – Google Maps Where we were was in Angeles City which was north of Manila. In 1968 Typhoon Ora struck The Philippines as a category 4 with winds of 140 mph. Of course by the time it got to us inland, it had dropped in intensity after moving over land. Regardless it was very powerful when it struck us.
I remember my dad saying he had to get the flight line ready for the storm but would be back home. He was a crew chief and this was two or three days before it’s approach. Thankfully this was in between his TDY trips to Phan Rang, Vietnam and he was able to be there with us while it occurred. I remember all of us spending time trying to cover the windows, getting all of our towels and sheets to use for wet floors. We picked up things that were on the floor and set them on beds. Ridiculous I know but we had no experience with this situation.
I had my own bedroom and felt very possessive over my things, and I fully intended to guard my room from the storm. I was a naïve 13 year old.
It was early in the day when it finally hit us. The sky was typical thunderstorm dark grey/blue. I remember standing outside looking at the clouds. They were startlingly low and moving in dizzy, wind driven swirls. At first there wasn’t much lightning, that came later on.
I recall tree limbs, boards and other debris flying by, carried by the wind in it’s steady increase in strength. The rain went from a steady drizzle, to rain showers to heavy rain shafts that flooded our yard. Behind our house was a ravine about three feet deep, that normally had nothing more than a few inches of water in it, and a railroad track which was submerged by this little creek within an hour or so.
Our street in Josefa subdivision, a dirt road, was covered side to side in water. As the storm gained on us and the heart of it came near the sound of the wind is something I will never forget. To this day, strong winds cause me worry and anxiety. During this time, which now I realize was the eye wall, I watched as the ceiling in my bedroom would lift a foot or so then slam down. Over and over it did this as I worked to keep as much dry as possible while I would stare out at the sky with each lifting.
Being new to this kind of thing when all of a sudden it calmed, I was ecstatic. My sisters and I ran outside and the clouds were all around us but there was patchy sunlight. My dad explained it was the eye of the storm – the middle and there was more coming. I was devastated by this news. I was determined to stand out there and watch it show up.
Unexpectedly the eye wall hit, and I truly mean it was unexpected to the young teen watching. A strong wind whipped across me with enough strength to push me back into our carport. Immediately rain was flying horizontally. Dad yelled for me to come inside and just as I passed him he said the neighbors large storage building flew away. It was later found in pieces a mile away. We gathered together in the living room, all of us soaking wet, the floor with a couple of inches of standing water and sang hymns, prayed, and waited. Sometime during the night Ora left us.
The next day Mom and I took all of our clothes, towels, sheets, curtains etc., on the base to the laundry to clean everything and dry it. We only had an old fashioned wringer washer and clothes line at our house.
I will never forget that experience and I have such empathy for those who have to go through it. Each time there is a storm I have this morbid curiosity about it and end up watching videos of the storms, and the storm surge. 🌀
I hate the wind.
Cheers!
-N
Lots of people in the Tucson area have been praying to get a real monsoon storm with lots of rain to fill the underwater aquifer and help restore the Santa Catalina Mountains from the Big Horn Fire damage of last year. The mountains were a dull grey brown from the burned vegetation. They looked shrunken and sad.
But then last Friday they got prolonged hammering of rain over the afternoon and evening (we got 1.03″ in fifteen minutes) and “BOOM” they sprung back to their lush beautiful self.
So God heard the outcry of the desert dwellers and said ‘hold my beer!” and it was fabulous and scary.
Areas of Tucson got hit with heavy rain and super strong winds, and there was even a land spout tornado spotted and photographed. Along with this was some wind damage. Hubby and I remarked that we can water plants, run the sprinkler and the yard will struggle, but one – just one – big monsoon rain will change the dull, dry, brown color to me and God’s favorite color – green.
I caught video of the storm just as it hit us, and it was a deluge. This is looking from my back porch.
Cheers!
-N
We’ve had a teenage girl living with us for five days. I can honestly say it is a different world!
First of all she is the kind of teenager you want every teen to be like. She is kind, interested, funny, and respectful. She is affectionate and she figures out the dynamics of living with us and being with us. This is amazing since we are her great Aunt and great Uncle, so our age difference is considerable.
She has confidence in herself and yet she has a charming shyness that her uncle and I adore, and want to protect. She challenges without being rude or disrespectful. What I truly appreciate about her is her lack of interest in being a Kardashian which is so typical of most girls her age (13). She would rather smell like horses than perfume. I have to get on her case a bit to brush her hair or get a shower. Don’t get me wrong, she isn’t sloppy or dirty. She just doesn’t think about it.
So refreshing.
She has goals, and plenty of interests, and during the various trips we’ve taken during her visits with us, she has put her best into learning and discovering each destination. For example this year seeing her reactions to things she encountered in Tucson visitor staples like the Flandrau Planetarium, Pima Air and Space Museum, Titan Missile Historic Site and Sabino Canyon Recreation Area shows she is open to learn. Rather than showing boredom with these locations, she absorbed the knowledge available.
She visits us for about a week at the end of each school year. This is our 4th year hosting her and I love that she still wants to hang out with us. It may not last much longer. So we are taking advantage of the opportunities.
So… I just gave her a bowl of homemade whipped cream and a bottle of chocolate syrup! What can I say, she deserves it and earned it. We got hugs and so did she.
She loves hugs!
Cheers!
-N
Any one else have mask avoidance syndrome? You know those feelings you have when you want to go to somewhere, any activity you rarely avoid, but your first thought is “Yuck, I will have to wear my mask!” Or that incredible relief when you yank off the mask when you leave a building.
Hubby and I went to a “welcome home” celebration for the University of Arizona Women’s basketball team when they returned from playing in the national championship game. It was held outside at the football stadium and about 1000 socially distanced, fans were there. I didn’t mind the warm temps or the speeches. I hated wearing that mask.
My cardiologist’s nurse said in most cases, the mask keeps a sick person from spreading the virus, but the best way to avoid catching it is hand washing. Wash your hands all the time. If you wear gloves you wash your hands anyway and change the gloves after every use.
I think it’s interesting we have had no flu season.
When the number of cases was on the rise, just saying “herd immunity” out loud you got accused of wanting people dead. I read recently that “the goal of Covid precautions is to reach stable “herd immunity” so now what?
In 2020 co-morbidity was the name of the game. The number of dead, the percentage in all age groups stayed at a stable level from previous years. Old people, people with pre-existing conditions and cancers all had the same number of death rates. The Covid cases and deaths weren’t in addition to the other causes but in place of those causes. If you look at the causes of deaths the numbers of cancer, heart disease, stroke, accidents, etc., went down. Instead these were listed as co-morbidity with Covid.
What we need to learn is this…If you are sick, stay home, socially distance and wear a mask to protect others if you must go out; wash your hands often and well. The Japanese do this readily. You will see individuals of all ages in masks, going about their business. It is a country where the work/school culture is you don’t call in sick. Compound fracture, heart attack, open bleeding wound, giving birth – ok – go to the hospital. Cold or flu, wear your mask and show up.
Cheers!
-N
I’m a huge fan of The Walton’s. It shows a much simpler time of home, family and faith many humans now days still crave. They talk about the good old days with longing.
There are many things about those times that drove human improvement. People worked hard because there was no government assistance, the women tended the inside house and the children, the men worked outside the home in jobs or farming and kept up the outside house and buildings. Families who were in need, in most cases, were helped by their community. Most homes had cellars/sheds where fruits and vegetables were “put up” for the lean times. Many were like my grandparents who had gardens, raised chickens and lambs, and hunted and fished to help feed their families, and supplemented income by bartering goods and services. Children were taught respect for other people and their property. Social activity in the communities were centered around the churches along with purpose driven gatherings like a quilting bee, sewing circles and barn raisings. Most folks didn’t travel much, and the community was the focus.
However, there were some not so great things. Schools were adequate, but in rural areas not easily accessible so education was for those with means. Education, especially higher education, was for men. Domestic violence and child abuse were common, with no advocates for those victims. The abusers received no penalty since their wives and children were essentially property. Slavery in the form of adoption was also commonplace where a young boy or girl was adopted for the primary purpose of servitude on farms and in households. Sexual abuse was impossible to prosecute except under extreme situations, and rather than dealing with family incest, abuses were suppressed and kept quiet, racial prejudice was rampant as was the oppression of women. A white man would have sex with a black woman but would not ride on a bus with her.
So, there are elements of that time I agree are desirable and I would love to see happening again. However, just as much of it I am grateful that humans are actively fighting to eliminate.
Cheers!
-N
I’ve been released! Essentially this means my two weeks of post-op recuperation requiring me to stay house bound is over. On Wednesday 2 December I was sprung. I can tell you it was wonderful. It was the first time I had driven further that the local grocer a couple of miles away. I actually drove into real Tucson traffic and it was a trip!
This surgery is one of those negative check marks when looking at hiring an older individual. We are considered a feeble risk and we will drive up the cost of premiums in the company insurance policy. No matter that we are doing our best to be healthy, we are loyal and give our best. I’ve lost weight, am eating carefully, and sleeping better that I have in a while, yet I’m seen as a risk to the millennials in charge. To the company we create issues in their minds.
This is what it feels like to be profiled. It has nothing to do with who I am, who I really am as a human. It has to do with perception. To the new college graduates and the millennials in charge I am the age of parents or grandparents and we are useful only for telling stories about the past and keeping traditions going. We make them uncomfortable.
Well I have a few stories to tell.
I got memories for you!
Experience is what teaches lessons – all of the lessons – good and bad.
I have years of administrative office experience. I worked for doctors, realtors, insurance brokers, scientists, retail buyers…you get my idea. With plenty to offer and the time to offer it, why doesn’t that equal a desire for these skills?
Want more? I throw a good party, I’ll keep a confidence, and I’ll be there for happy hour. I can talk about football or laboratory sterile technique. I can kill it at karaoke too!
Now back to my writing. My female lead is about to get busted by her son coming back from a hot date with her new man.
Cheers!
-N
I follow several Instagram pages with families that are mixed race. Some because of the parents races, some because of adoption, some because of marriage. The uniform message seems to be they are strong in their trials.
One couple, she’s black and he’s white with multirace children all adopted deals daily with bigotry and judgemental ignorant humans. These people are great parents and their children lack nothing. Another couple she’s white and he’s black are doing an exceptional job in raising three beautiful blended children and her son from her first marriage. I can’t believe how many humans want to accuse her of favoring him over her other children and vice-versa.
Another couple I follow on YouTube are both black and are raising their white adopted son. That child is one of the happiest kids I’ve seen. They are now pregnant with twin girls from adopted embryos. Who cares what race those babies are, they will be loved and treasured by their parents.
Humanity is having to fight a big fight right now against racism, misogyny, Covid-19, religious intolerance, and every day struggles to survive in this world. Its hard to pay bills, buy food and necessities, gas, and keep the lights on when you can’t work full time. Hubby and I are trying to find ways to make $$ spread. At our age options are limited.
I’m proud of these families that face the struggles with love and creativity. My daughter, a single parent, does this hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly while raising an adopted child of a different race on the autism spectrum. He is well loved, well fed, and so wonderful. But its not easy.
So let’s talk about what we can do to support others in this life. Let’s be tolerant, and not accept humans that bully, abuse, and strike out in ignorance.
God bless. Cheers!
-N
The discovery of the medical condition that led to my right carotid endarterectomy surgery still exists in my body. But I can adapt and adjust, to arrest it’s progress and hopefully change the status going forward. I joyfully say I am at the end of post surgery two weeks of being careful and taking it easy and tomorrow I can get back into life…full speed.
At the bottom of this post are shots of my incision over the course of two weeks.
As a self professed ocean lover 💙 when I saw the Mediterranean Diet it made sense. Since its time to adjust my eating style and exercise efforts, pretending to be living in Greece or Italy while I do it makes perfect sense. 🏃♀️🚶♀️🚴♀️
So here are the diet deets, with the adjustments based on my medical needs.
So now I start watching for changes in my systems, and I have already noticed some. I feel different. My scar is healing but has a ways to go, and my energy is improving. As I get familiar with some recipes I will share those with you.
I am following the works of Dr. Kim Foster and Dr. Amy Riolo for guidance and information.
An exciting side note, I am doing a wedding dress alteration! It such a wonderful thing to know I can do something I love like sewing and actually get paid. How cool is that?!?!
Cheers!
-N
