“Nondescript” or “The Opposite of Kinetic”
Tag: dailyprompt
At My Age…
Dad had been retired for a few years, golfing, painting, and singing in a local chapter of a barbershop chorus group. Mom was semi-retired, still involved in the music ministry at the nursery and preschool she once directed, and also at the church where she’d been a member since baptism. Mom was also perfectly content to be at home, receiving company and enjoying afternoon coffee and goodies.
They were traveling periodically, visiting family, celebrating birthdays and other occasions. They were getting away to Florida and several other destinations with family members and friends. So, still quite healthy and active.
Unwarranted Overreach
Daily writing prompt
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
If I had the power… it might be to restore Roe v Wade, because no woman should have to live under the thumb of people– including a fair share of men– who ignore or misread the separation of church and state.
Restoration would of course involve, in most instances, leaving an inherently monumental decision and its consequences to the woman and anyone she chooses to consult.
No earthling gets to play God, or act as if he or she possesses proper authority over someone else’s bodily autonomy– as odious and “un-Christian” as the outcome may seem to them.
A Dream, Indeed
I think of such things through the lens of a shared dream with my wife, but personally speaking, my dream home would have some land, maybe two acres, well drained, with an outbuilding big enough to store items we use on a regular basis for yard care, etc., and space for a well-appointed wood shop.
The house itself would be modest but well-conceived, with room to host company. It would utilize solar power–both passive and panels– and geothermal wells; there would be an attached garage and a finished basement with TV/entertainment room. Maybe a rancher with an open floor plan. There’d be a sewing room, an office, and a well-appointed kitchen with induction stovetop and room for an island and storage of essential food prep items– a place in which people would want to gather and linger without being packed like sardines.
There would be a sunken living room with a higher ceiling, baby grand piano, comfortable seating, a properly vented gas fireplace, with an adjacent dining area and giant table.
It would have a substantial back patio with some sort of protection from the elements, open to a good-sized lawn with a glorious shade tree, several fruit trees, and a pleasing mix of flowers and shrubs and space for a vegetable garden.
Ideally, on a hill or at least high enough ground to enjoy an unfettered view of sunrises or sunsets, and far enough away from light pollution so we can stargaze and see the Milky Way, maybe even warranting a small backyard observatory.
Ecstatic
Daily writing prompt
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
Hard to say for sure, but maybe an understated, subdued fist pump, followed by a brief look skyward, for some reason, then share it with my wife.
Fixing a Hole
Daily writing prompt
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
Going to church. And I’m still not sure what to make of that. I contemplate returning, but can’t come up with a good reason for doing so– which feels like a loss and I’m not sure why.
Easy
Dark chocolate anything, including those solid Lindt bars, with SweetTarts a distant second.
Noisy
Yes! From the barrage of bad news and angst and manufactured drama and loudness that often accompany news reports and newsfeeds I check. I need to take a break from checking them, find a good book or a hobby, walk away for a while. Or just take a walk.
Of course, I lack the discipline to refrain for very long, so the stress and frustration are mostly self-inflicted. Gotta stay informed, though, so I guess anyone who takes the world seriously just picks their poison and guts it out, looks for ways to make sense of whatever can be made sense of.
There’s probably a better way to explain that.
Debatable
It could be a lengthy list, but beyond the advent of the computer and the internet, I’d have to say advancements in medicine– vaccines, surgical techniques, other pharmaceuticals. Honorable mentions go to lasers, fiber optic cable, satellite and wireless communication, and advancements in auto safety.
A 10, Maybe
Should have taken a peek at this one yesterday, so I could mull it over for a bit.
Let’s see… on a day predicted to be sunny and in the 70s, with family visiting, arise at 5am, pour myself some cold brew, write for a couple of hours, get dressed, go out for breakfast somewhere, then just take a leisurely drive to places we’ve never been, take some pictures, maybe poke around in some local shops where my wife could get ideas for her next sewing and embroidery project. Then we’d find a nice spot for lunch, linger there, and take our time driving home, where we’d have an invite for supper at our son and daughter-in-law’s place and we can visit with the six of them and their loveable pooch. Then we’d finish the day, if it was a Tuesday, with a snack–maybe some popcorn or something– and a new episode of Finding Your Roots, or maybe a movie we’d been wanting to watch. Then, before retiring, we’d step outside and take in a rare planetary alignment and a highly visible comet.
An alternate ideal day, from a more personal perspective, would start the same way– with cold brew and writing and breakfast out– but would include time at our son’s outbuilding, working with him on some woodworking venture, or maybe, if the weather was good, playing 18 at our favorite local golf course, lingering at the 19th hole for lunch and a cold beer, then heading home to mow the lawn and work on the yard for a while, finishing with some sort of meal on the grill and a leisurely evening sitting in the back yard, maybe reading for a bit, just letting the day wind down, and topped off with an ISS sighting– traveling 275 miles overhead at seventeen-five mph.
OK. With apologies for the length of this… a third scenario, and maybe the closest to being the most honest and realistic: getting up early, pouring myself some cold brew, writing in my journal and in here, and having the rest of the day be a blank slate, where I call the shots, totally unencumbered by anyone’s expectations, and my choices for how the day unfolds are left totally to me. That sounds ideal.
So, a day that involves some autonomy, solitude, food, drink, visiting, satisfying activity and maybe a change of scenery.
3 Cents' 