Tag Archives: the Ultimate Blog Challenge

What do I Know for Sure

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Day 7 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m scratching my head, not knowing how to start the day or write a post. What I know for sure is if I don’t make a move, nothing will happen. It is also very true simple as it sounds, it is not all that easy to make a move. Sometimes I feel/am immobilized, stuck to the chair, as if one wrong move could cost me and not in a good way. What I also know for sure is life is mostly filled with tedium. I’ve often wished there was a camp for adults like they have for children. I wouldn’t mind being taken care of totally.

I’m sure that you would like to slap me. I should do that myself to snap me out of this thinking. What I know for sure is in reality, I wouldn’t like to be totally dependent with no will. So, I’ve slowly and painfully making efforts. I’ve gone up and down the stairs a few time, taking needed stuff down and bringing needed things up. I’m killing two birds with one stone. I’ve boiled water for a second cup of tea, doing toe raises while waiting for the water to boil. I’ve thrown out the dill in the fridge. It was causing someone to complain about its taste getting into everything.

I’ve cooked the cassava that was hanging out forgotten for weeks in the fridge. It was a new thing introduced to me by our friends on coffee row. It was bought in excitement and quickly forgotten till now. The root is quite hard to cut but easily peeled. It boiled easily within 30 minutes. The aroma was mild and pleasant. It tasted delicious. A word of caution- cassava is poisonous eaten raw. Makes one think twice, doesn’t it?

I’m so glad that I made an effort to move. Thank you to Oprah for the phrase, what I know for sure. Do you know she’s written a book by that name? Having read just the first few pages, I am not in love with it though I am an Oprah fan. She sounded too privileged talking of “hanging out with a group of girlfriends in Mauri; I’ve just come back from India and wanted to have a spa retreat at my house to celebrate turning 58. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. She’s earned it. Still, it didn’t sound right to me. What I know for sure is that I am not quite as big a fan of Oprah as I used to be. I am sure it is not breaking her heart.

On Coffee Row

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A sunny October 6th morning at 10:51. I’m sipping my second cup of tea and tapping on my trusty keyboard. I hope for sunny cheery thoughts and words. No one really likes a sad sack. I have pizza and a salad of cabbage, cucumber, pepper and tomatoes in mind for lunch. What I really like is to go out for a Japanese bento box at the neighbourhood Japanese restaurant called October. Since our cooler is overflowing with our own garden harvest, I thought best to make our own lunch.

I will going out on coffee row in the afternoon. I’ve been taking my father out for coffee every day since summer. He is still living on his own in the house since my mother passed last year. I take him out to the nearby mall to walk and cruise the Dollar Store, Giant Tiger and Freshco. Then we head to the food court to have a coffee. Sometimes we run into a few people we know, friends of my mother. We share some conversation. Now it’s become an almost regular thing. We’ve met some new Chinese people, some my age. Now I have some Chinese friends for the first time.

Coffee row is good for my father and myself as well. We get an outing. We get a walk. We see and interact with other people. We get out of ourselves for a little while. The days are getting shorter and cooler. I shall see how it goes when winter and snow comes. It’s still do-able. There’s underground parking in both malls near us. I can always have coffee with him at his house like I did this past winter.

Am I Having Fun Yet?

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A beautiful sunny October 5 albeit very cool and crisp. I’m feeling very cosy and full of gratitude for the shelter and all that I have. I’m comforted that my mother is safe and at rest in her eternal home. It is almost a year now. Today I am not feeling the sadness of yesterday. That is how it is. One day I’m feeling and mourning the loss. The next, I’m grateful she is not suffering anymore.

Today is day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m already feeling the struggle and challenge. I can’t say I’m having fun yet. I’m feeling the mundanenss of everything. Perhaps it would help if I have a business or product to promote. I see many of my fellow bloggers have shopping carts and services on their web page. I have to be satisfied with my idle chatter. What I know for sure is I am not an entrepreneur. My eyes glaze over just thinking of selling something.

So I should just snap out of envying others’ entrepreneurship and be happy they have a business to promote. It is not for me. I am showing up here. That is my number 1 goal. I am trying my best. The fun can come later. I enjoy just chattering. I do not have to be profound.

Time

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Isn’t it funny how time slips away? And isn’t it funny how memories can bring tears to your eyes? So not to let memories fill me with sadness and tears, I’ve made another run at my day. I don’t want my precious time to just slip away. What better way to bring myself back to the here and now than to step out of the house. I’m greeted with morning sunshine and blue skies. Hello Saturday! It’s nice to see you.

Then it is into the greenhouse. It is still green and lush with growth. I can’t complain of it being barren and empty. I might even get a bitter melon or two afterall. Aphids destroyed most of my plants early in the season. So I’m crossing all my fingers and toes.

Getting Unstuck

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A cool grey October 3. I’m late in rising in the dark of the morning. I’ve had a hearty breakfast of porridge, a boiled egg and a thick slice of toast. I’m ready for the day. I’m ready to take a run at it. I’ve been in stuck this past year. It’s time to dust my self off, pull up my socks and hoist myself out of the rut. It is not an easy thing and I will fall back time and time again but I have to at least try. It is best to strike when the iron is hot. The saying also goes to say, Do not wait till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.

I’m going to use both quotes to add fuel to the fire. Once in awhile I’m buoyed by good vibes and things flow effortlessly. But I’m often afflicted with acedia. This is how Wikipedia describes it -“Acedia has been variously defined as a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one’s position or condition in the world.” When I’m in acedia I need a stick to prod me into action. That is why sometimes I have to take a run at it. I’m using this month to write myself out of acedia into a better space.

No doubt that life is hard. It is for everyone. I want it to be a reason to live and to give it my best go. The day is grey but I have 2 pink doors to lighten up my world. And the garden still grows. Cooler weather is coming so I better get off my duff and finish harvesting.








Bliss and Inspirations

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October 2 and the second day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’ve never had a plan of how I tackle this challenge. I just sit down at the keyboard and hope my fingers will find the words. I found that there is a rhythm when I get going. It soothes and smooths me. It stirs a physical pleasure in me. I love seeing how the letters and words march across the screen. It is a meditative process, an exhalation of my soul. I sigh with my fingers as well as my breath. And life is beautiful again in the moment.

Finding bliss is a good reason to keep writing. Meeting and connecting with like minded people is a good reason for participating in these writing challenges. It helps to keep the juices flowing. It’s good to have a cheering section. Excitement at the start wanes after a few days. Writer’s block sets in pretty fast. Then it is hard work to carry me through to the next bliss. I look for inspiration everywhere.

Inspiration is all around. Sometimes I have to be wakened to see it. The other day I found it in the story of the Grand Hotel in Shaunavon. I’ve been following the journey of its restoration on Facebook for awhile and had forgotten about it till the other day. It’s been sitting vacant for over 40 years till Kent Karenmaker bought it. The project was to help his mental health and to find purpose. I find that pretty inspiring since he suffers from depresseion and was working on it by himself. It is a grand hotel with a grand history. It holds a fascination for me because the original owners were Chinese. Two members of the family were murdered in front of the hotel in 1940. It’s a story forgotten but not lost.

A New Month, A New Challenge

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October 1. Another new day, another new month. Today is the first day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It’s a month of writing a blog post a day and posting it on the Challenge page, reading 2 others or more and commenting on their posts. It’s an opportunity to meet and interact with other bloggers and supporting each other. I see many new as well as familiar names.

My main goals for this challenge is to show up each day and to enjoy and learn from the process. I do not have a business to promote. I have no products or service to sell. An online friend, Tom Fisher, introduced me to the world of blogging many years ago. I started on Blogger in 2005 and switched to WordPress in 2012. I’ve been blogging on and off since. I love how photographs and words come together. One can say a photo is worth a thousand words. In the same way a word can tigger a kaleidoscope of pictures.

I hope my keyboard will be magical this month and help me get through the challlenge with flying colours. It’s easy to get stuck. A month can be a long time. I am wishing myself and fellow challengers luck. May we see each other at the finish line.

The Ultimate Blog Challenge Finale

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Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

For this last day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I have clear skies, sunshine and clean air. I have to love that. I’m bringing myself to the keyboard early to bring a closing post to the month/challenge. Intentions and goal setting do not get the job done. They help but I need to physically set my butt down in front of the keyboard and make my fingers work for the words and sentences. As I’ve said many times, I write for the love of it. Sometimes the love is not there. Then I have to do the hard work. Ironically when I am not loving but sweating it, the results are most satisfying.

In the past, I had the the do or die mentally. I MUST write a post every day for the challenge. I would stay up late. After being revved up, I would find it hard to fall asleep. I don’t do that anymore. Now I weigh my priorities. No more do or die. I give myself breaks. Writing and this challenge are still very important to me. They still give me much pleasure and a routine. I am engaging with others in the challenge. I am engaging with myself. Both writing and engaging helps my brain heallth. They help keep me in and with the world.

I hope I haven’t sounded too maudlin and depressing. I am a serious and melancholic person by nature. I do sigh alot. Sighing does make me feel better physically. I think it’s because I draw in more air/oxygen. I do try to write in a hopeful voice because I am a hopeful positive person. I am always in pursuit of being better, finding solutions. I put it all on the page. It’s my way of working things out. I’m a self-help junkie.

Many thanks for Paul Taubman for hosting and guiding us on this event. Thanks to all the participants and readers. You all add to the pleasure. You are much appreciated.

Prickly

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I’m feeling a bit prickly like the cactus I drew and painted this morning for the Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge. I’ve been busy as a beaver with the weeds in the garden, harvesting, blanching and freezing peas and more peas. There’s lots more coming. So I am tired. Then I get another airduct cleaning scam phone calls. I get them almost daily, more than once daily. The thing to do is to hang up but sometimes I get angry. Today I got angry. I hate myself when I try to get to the bottom of something. There are no bottoms and I get madder.

One of the reasons I write often is to soothe my ruffled feathers. The rhythmic tapping on the keyboard is almost like a pacemaker,putting my nervous system back on track. I hate it when I’m out of kelter. I lose and waste so much energy to these kinds of episodes. When I am aware of what is happening, I try to channel the energy into something useful. Often the easiest thing to do is washing the dishes. Writing a post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge is another way. It is not as easy or quick. I have to sit myself down before the keyboard, quiet my mind and find words and ideas. On busy days it is very hard. It is the most satisfying when I can push through all the road blocks and make it happen.

There’s 2 more days left in the UBC and the Daisy Yellow Index Card Challenge. I have to admit I am not feeling very excited or motivated at the moment. These moments are very challenging. I know I can somehow push through. There needs a beginning, a middle and an ending. It’s a long and tedious journey. It’s ok to sag in the middle but I need to cross the finish line. I’m giving it all my effort.

On With the Show

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Saturday reminds me of childhood days when we watch the Bugs Bunny Show. It’s theme song On with the show, this is it got me on my way this morning. It’s a lively and very catchy tune. It put a bounce into my step as I bounce my way out the door. It’s another beautiful sunny day. Time is marching along. No time to be maudlin. There’s work to be done – gardens to be weeded, books to be read, tea to be sipped, art to be painted and blog post to be written. I wonder if I could get it all in.

The first stop was at the community garden. Being community, I took time to chat and visit with a few other gardeners there. Sometimes the opportunity isn’t there. When there is, I try to make the best of it. I spent a little more time than I intended but it was worth it. I still got home in good time. So many tasks was calling out. I quieted their voices. I need to take time to sit, rest and enjoy the beautiful morning before me. I got out a lawn chair, made myself a cup of tea and sat behind the herb spiral. Everything was at their best. The grass swaying gently in the morning breeze. The bees flying to and fro between the clover and borage. It was a peaceful and magical moment.

The moment passed, the tea sipped and the magic went. It was time to work again. I got the water hose, hooked it to the rain catchment behind the garage and started filling the pails for the greenhouse. It was not all work. I had a bit of entertainment. The guy had painted the story of Puff, the magic dragon on 2 board panels to camouflage the rain catchment. It had a practical use and it also provided magic and a show for the kids at the daycare nearby.

Now it is getting quite late for this 26 day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I must close shop and say good enough.