The smell of a wood fire in winter, the smell of beef stew cooking on the stove, the smell of a Spring or Summer day, certain songs, visits to childhood haunts, looking at pictures taken years ago.
Tag: dailyprompt
Consistently Present
My marriage, our children and their children, my siblings, most of my in-laws, a couple of friends from my time as a pastor, and a couple of college buddies, who I’ve known now for over fifty years.
Certain Preferences
Daily writing prompt
If you started a sports team, what would the colors and mascot be?
I guess it would depend on the sport. If it was football, maybe a mixture of royal blue and black– and I’d be sure to require that the actual team city/logo was visible and not a small patch that gets lost amidst all the advertising on the uniform.
If it was baseball, I’d probably go with white home uniforms and gray away ones, with a dark blue hat and red lettering.
Mascots are silly.
Heightened Awareness
I have started to vote in local elections more often, and my party affiliation has been established for awhile now. There was a stretch when I valued the label of Independent and voted based on whatever candidate struck me as likeable and seemingly capable. But anymore and until convinced otherwise, I am a one-party voter, and it’s not the party of Donald Trump, if he even has an affiliation. He may just be a one-person party, all in for himself.
My worldview and political sensibilities shifted for good during my years as a Lutheran pastor.
Refuge
Daily writing prompt
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?
Some sort of loft with good lighting and comfortable seating, or a small outbuilding in the woods or at the back of a property, again comfortably appointed with a wood or gas fireplace, good lighting, a couple of comfortable chairs, maybe a decent sound system. Not too Spartan– having electricity would be nice, along with being comfortable in a variety of weather conditions.
Wheels
Of the cars we’ve had in our life, I’d have to say a 2004 Buick Rendezvous. It offered a nice view of the road, it was a roomy, solid 4000 pound vehicle, and I didn’t have to lower myself in to drive it.
In general, my favorite brand is Toyota. I drive a Camry now and would probably get another one, though in a perfect world, I’d probably hold out for a Tacoma extended cab.
Flow
Most often as I sit at the piano and doodle– try to devise a progression of chords that makes some sort of sense and is maybe even melodic. Other than that, and on rare occasions, I feel like I zero in on what I’m feeling inside as I write in my journal or in here. I could never be a fiction writer– I feel like I have a stunted imagination. Or maybe it’s just a paucity of experiences.
In any event, every once in a while, thoughts and feelings get translated to a page the way I want, almost as if the passage writes itself, words somehow materialize.
Casting Shadows
Everyday, I’d say my wife, our kids, and the grandkids to a certain extent. Politically in a good way, probably Rachel Maddow, Pete Buttigieg; in a bad way, Donald Trump and the cast of doomsayers still propping him up.
Then there are the memories of folks no longer with us– my mom and dad, my brother. Certain comics and authors and a couple of seminary professors come to mind, along with an athlete or two.
Goings On
Off the top of my head, I know that Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, and that the Brown V Board of Education case came before the Supreme Court, a case in which the court voted unanimously to find segregation in schools to be unconstitutional.
The rest is with an assist from Wikipedia… the year 1954 started on a Friday; Jonas Salk announced the polio vaccine, and the first doses would be administered in Pittsburgh; West Germany won its first World Cup title, over Hungary; Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel; there was a coup d’etat in Guatemala; Hurricane Hazel devastated the Caribbean, U.S., and Canada; the Castle Bravo and Castle Romeo (hydrogen) nuclear tests were conducted in the Marshall Islands; the first operational subway line was opened in Toronto; The U.S. Air Force Academy was founded; Arturo Toscanini’s retirement was announced after a performance at Carnegie Hall, during which he had a memory lapse; President Eisenhower laid out what became known as the Domino Theory at a news conference in April; April 11 was denoted as the Most Boring Day in the 20th Century; Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe got married; Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4 minute mile, in England; the words “under God” are added to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance; Diane Leather was the first woman to run a sub-5 minute mile, also in England; Joseph McCarthy’s popularity declines after Special Counsel Joseph N. Welch lashed out with his now famous attack–“Have you, at long last, no decency?”
There is much more, but one last entry: food rationing ended in Great Britain, 14 years after it began early in WWII, and almost a decade after the war ended.
… seen it all before
I form first impressions based on what I see and hear. Sometimes the red flags are plainly visible. My time as a clergy person allowed me to hone those skills a bit, but I wouldn’t want the job of Personnel Director or work for a SVU or the FBI as an interrogator. I might be able to smell a rat or know when someone is simply full of themselves, or when a grandchild is outright lying about eating their vegetables.
When I think of a good judge of character, I’m thinking of a seasoned veteran like the ones on any good cop show (they must exist in real life), or maybe a CIA operative or a prosecutor who does their homework and persists in exposing the bad guy because they trust the evidence or have an educated hunch.
One could argue that there was a paucity of good judgment in light of the results of the 2024 Presidential election.
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