Did you find yourself sweeter and kinder after Whole30 reintro?

[MeadowLily]

One more for the road and Happy Awareness.

The best part of childhood was sunshine. Lots of sunshine and no one worried about sunscreen.

The pavement would bubble UP and you stomped on it. Oooo, there were all of those safety films with graphic pictures. Offal awful.

There was Tang and Instant Breakfast. Whopping boatloads of cinnamon toast that you made yourself.  The only way you could stay level-headed was dumping half a cup of sugar and half a cup of cinnamon on one piece of toast slathered up margarine. Yesss, butter was OUT and margarine was IN.

Everyone decorated their house in orange and brown and avocado appliances. Hi-larious.

No one wore seat belts. Ever. You stood next to your folkaronies while they were driving. Aaaahhh, Heckatoot, if you had a sunroof, you stuck your head out of the roof just for some extra special fun.

TV was very limited. So few programs that everyone watched the same thing at the same time.  Grandmaw lurved Lawrence Welk for crying outloud. We had to watch Sissy and Bobby glide around the dance floor. I still remember being bored out of my head while Grandmaw had a big wide grin plastered on her face.

Everyone was on the Atkins Diet. They were eating big blocks of cheese and chunks of roast beef for lunch. Those were the roots of dieting. Look how all of that turned out.

Maw didn't seem to pay attention to where we were or what we were doing for hours and hours on end. We rode our bikes, had picnics in the piney woods...total bear bait. Ripe for the picking. 

You can't let your kids run around by themselves anymore. Those days are over. People can't let them be out of their sights.

Life was so easy then. The music was great. We're overdue for a musical renaissance. I don't listen to the music, I listen through the music.

There was a tree in my small corner of the world that released the most heavenly aroma of the woods. Winter, spring, summer or fall. This special area was cedar, spruce, pine, fir in one whiff.  We walked through it before we ran for the school bus and on our way back home again.

In the winter, the spray of the snow with the wind blowing would shower it through your hair. The mist would land on your face.  This tree was extra special. It was a gift.  It's still there today.

I am 'simply' inspired. It doesn't take much to make me happy.  Universe, bring back Herbal Essence. 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Who wouldn't want to go back and recreate their childhoods?  We can't.

It's not bragging if it's true. I had the best childhood a kid could have. Paw and Maw gave it all they had. They gave us their best. 

It's not imaginary. My siblings would agree with me. 

Paw didn't leave his kids with anyone. If we couldn't go along as a family, we didn't go. Every weekend, we were together.  Camping, fishing, hiking, enjoying all of the wonders and beauty of the world.

Grandpaw and Paw were so proud of the family. Grandmaw's house was a tee-total wreck. When someone pulled into the yard, those aunts of mine could clean house like a whirlwind. Throwing everything into cubby holes and closets. Everything was stacked on the bias. You didn't dare open anything while the company was there or it would all fall back out on your head.

The kids were allowed to decorate their rooms any way they pleased. We painted the picnic table the loudest lime green you can imagine. I would love to go back and do it all over again.

We had everything that money can't buy.

So go ahead and throw all of your belongings away if it makes you happy. Or don't.

We can't go back in time and recreate those Happy Days of our childhood. I lived in the woods with really large predators. I'm sure the other kind were around but you didn't have to worry so much.

Times have changed. I've changed and still I can't help it. I always want to decorate and take you back there with me.

I want you to be happy in the midst of everything that's going on around you. I wish you well and Whole.

Oooo, I wish we could do this all over again. Yes, I wish the Whole El Groupin would come back here.

Steely Dan.  Let's Do It Again.

It's all fun. Really. 

 

[MeadowLily]

We are a product of our raising.

When I finally stopped looking for the right one, the Universe sent me the right one. He's over there keeping Maw company and helping her out right now.

Bear says that Maw is the Maw he always wanted to have. He tells her that. Bear and Paw were tight.

Paw could barely leave the house the last couple years of his life. When you get used to staying home, you have to remind yourself that you're free to roam away from home.We've been taking some small trips and I'm taking lots of pix. These days are precious and I'll never get them back again.

People are pouring in from everywhere. They say that this will be the most visitation we've ever had because we are in the direct path for the solar eclipse.

I'll be sooo happy when that thing is over. There are all kinds of prognostications about what it's going to do. I know, I know. It's a big distraction from what's really going on in the world.

Keep your eyes on the horizon like a watchman on the wall.

Oooo, brother. There are eclipse cakes at the grocery store. We're out of the special eyewear for the 7 minute event.  Do you remember the Harmonic Convergence.  It was exactly at this same time on the calendar and everyone was talking about it back then, too. Excited gatherings. Pesky converging.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_Convergence

We're not going anywhere. Too much traffic on the roads. I took you on a field trip a few years ago and we didn't even leave the farm.

I can't go back too far or I just want to fall through the floor. Ooo, Felicias. dcducks once asked me...What in the world are you smoking?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.  I don't drink either.

Snarkity but not snackity. Compliant without complaint. Nitwittery.

Bear told me that a speaker from his workplace seminar came up to him and told him that this is the wildest bunch of people he's ever met in his life. People who live here are free and wild.  The wild, wild west. She ain't what she used to be but we are.

 

Bring TeeDee back, Universe. Friend to all W30'rs.  

 

[MeadowLily]

http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/eclipse/eclipse-is-monday-the-mob-is-already-arriving/article_ba3543d8-62d5-5efa-abb9-be4c45213a03.html

 

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/drawing-energy-from-the-eclipse-witches-head-to-casper/article_8c877aa6-596a-535a-9447-e33b0794754a.html

Druids, witches, Pagans and Wiccans are looking at this eclipse as a significant event, and many are heading to the Casper area, where the time of totality is one of the longest in the country. Those who practice magic will cast spells, form circles and direct their will toward a purpose.

[MeadowLily]

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[MeadowLily]

Oooo Tiny Hiney

I wish to collect as many years

With you as possible

We'll pursue a solitary pathway

Through the green meadows

With only this one dream

That you will follow behind

Tiny Hiney

Big Moon rising

Blooming over trees so piney

Whiny Tiny Hiney

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

The eclipalypse will be over in 24 hours. They've been prognosticating for months that we can kiss our tiny hineys goodbye. 

I'm planning on being here after pesky goes home.

There's already been 4 crashes in 3 days.

 

[MeadowLily]

Fear mongering gives me a really big pinch.

Scaring the older folkaronies is useless. I lurve them. All of them. They're vulnerable. They need tender loving care just like the kids.

Behold the elephant.

Pesky from afar have created all kinds of revenue streams - surmising our demise. If any of those fear based predictions came true, their revenue streams would all dry up. What then. Would you be happy, saying seeeee I told all y'all it was gonna happen.

I don't believe any of them.  We don't live our lives in fear. Running doesn't solve anything. They say, Ooooo, you need to run, make a run for it. 

Where?

I don't base my decisions on what others say. We use our heads besides something to part our ears with. We only know in part. No one has all of the answers. 

If they did have all of the answers they would use those abilities for preventing all kinds of disasters. But they don't do it because they can't.

Being comfortable in your own skin is allowing yourself to unfold with the process. All of the processes.

Come what may, you can roll with it, Felicias.

Don't worry. Be happy. Let's gather here long after the eclipalyspe is over.

It's not bragging if it's true.  We all have the gift of faith. Some believe in disasters, some believe in nothing, some believe in fate, some believe in miracles, some believe in the sun, the moon and the stars.

It takes the same measure of faith to believe in all of those things.

I believe. I care.

I don't care for fear mongering. We can't stop the earth from shaking. Running won't solve anything. I'm not running anywhere. 

I'm still standing. Defending my pea patch in my small corner of the world.

It takes faith to believe in recovery. It takes faith to believe you can make it through 30 Whole days. Compliant without complaint, no Whiny Tiny Hiney.

The last shall be first and the first shall be last. Your thank yous may not ever be forthcoming on this old earth. But one day, it's possible.

I'm staying home. Some order out of that chaos must be imposed. I'm gobsmacked that peoples would come from all over the earth to watch a 7 minute event.

I'm keeping my eyes forward on the horizon.

I'll walk a mile in your shoes. That way, I'll be a mile down the road and have your shoes, too...while all y'all are still looking UP.

 

 

 

 

[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

One more for the road. Literally.

Seeee, if we'd put our heads together a long time ago, we'd all be flying above the power poles on a grid. Think of all the crashes that would've been prevented by now.

Running?

Ya gotta be kiddin' me.  Can you imagine everyone trying to make a run for it on narrow 2 lane highways. That's where the rubber really meets the road. Pile up - after pile up.

Nuh huh. I'm not running anywhere. Ever.

[MeadowLily]

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[MeadowLily]

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[MeadowLily]

[MeadowLily]

Three hours = totality

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Westward Hoa the Wagons. The locusts are still swarming but they'd better hurry UP.

[MeadowLily]

I will resume Food Addiction Recovery when the Big Kahuna is over. This is a once in a live-lifetime event. I enjoy visiting with peoples from all over the world. It is getting soooo bright outside. There is a temptation to look UP and I have to watch Maw like a hawk. 

The eclipalyspe is tangible. I can't tell if it's from the collective excitement of the people or the PULL.

You could feel it at 6:00 AM. It is different. They say you can't leave your pets outside and the wildlife will be confused. I'm watching for the signs and hopefully no smoke signals.  It's dry as a bone out there.

 

[MeadowLily]

What a nice pairing to draw you to.

10:15 a.m. First contact. The sun and the moon will appear to touch in the sky. Over the next hour-plus, the moon will encroach more and more on the sun. When you’re looking at the sun, make sure to wear your eclipse glasses.

11:35 a.m. Totality. The moon will move fully in front of the sun, blocking its light. The light we see from the sun is coming from the corona, its halo like atmosphere. The moon’s surface isn’t exactly even – it has peaks and valleys – so sunlight will flow around those low spots. That’s when we see Baily’s beads, which are bits of bright light streaming around the moon. If one is especially bright and concentrated, we’ll see the diamond ring effect, which looks like a thin band adorned with a bright gemstone. For this very short time, viewers don’t need eclipse glasses.

11:35 a.m. Totality ends. The moon will begin to slide away from the sun, continuing its journey across the sky. Make sure to put your eclipse glasses back on.

1:09 p.m. The sun and moon are no longer paired in the sky.

 

Not really. No fear mongering... but it's the best song on the planet for the event.

There is a very emotional aspect to all of this.  For real.