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 |   Here you will find my daily journal of small stones and inspiration! |
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| Prompt: It’s a work day. Pick a place you’d like and pitch in. I’m thinking of something like a dude ranch or helping clear a trail at a park. The work can be something you are skilled in or something you know nothing about. It can be something like teaching Haitian children or mucking out a sheep pen in Tibet. We are all going to pitch in and help a cause near and dear to my heart. We are all going to volunteer for the Welcome Home Ceremony for http://honorflightrochester.org/. The first flight of the season is this coming weekend and I am on the 'wheelchair retrieval team'. If you aren't familiar with the program, Honor Flight flies WWII veterans, for free, to Washington, DC for two days so that they can see their memorial on the National Mall. They are accompanied by a guardian, usually a family member, and they stay overnight in an area hotel. Recently, they began flying Korean and Vietnam Veterans as well. When the Vets return to Rochester they are greeted by a huge crowd at the airport. Their families, local fire departments, the Patriot Guard Riders, a brass band, Boy and Girl Scouts, local politicians and the general public all gather to welcome them home. I have attend four of these and I have yet to not tear up at one of them. The Vets are so darn cute and they have to kiss all the girls! They are just too fun! I am going to assign everyone a job to do and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do... Cubby  and Alexi  , I know you guys are very busy and aren't always on board but I wanted to include you, so you guys are going to show up on Wednesday evening for helping pack the backpacks for the Veterans. Each one will receive a backpack with information sheets, a shirt for the vet and their guardian, a small snack bag, a tissue pack and Purell. It might have more in it but I don't remember. Each backpack is labelled with a colored ribbon with the vet's name on it. The color of the ribbon signifies the group the veteran is in so they are easy to keep track of.ElaineElaine  , Prosperous Snow celebrating  , Dragon is hiding  are all part of the information table. When the volunteers come in you give them their nametags, info sheets, parking pass, and tell them where their group will meet.Charlie ~  , ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy  , Lyn's a Witchy Woman  , skeason and pinkbarbie are all on the second floor helping with crowd control. You will be at the gate where the veterans first arrive and your job will be to keep the traffic flowing and keep the families from rushing the vets.sunnystarr , Being Diane , Cheri Annemos  and missbiggs are going to be at the second floor elevators. Your job is to keep the veterans moving along to the elevators where they will go to the first floor reception area. Their will be two patriot guard riders posted at each of the elevators. If the wait becomes to great at the first elevator you will need to have some of the vets go to the second elevator. Make sure you thank each vet for his/her service and address them by name, please. Noyoki , Kate - Writing & Reading , Brother Nature and ROSΣANNΣ|NaPoWriMo|WGT|JDI will be in charge of crowd control on the first floor. Just make sure the crowd stays back behind the barriers and the vets make it into the International Room for the ceremony.groovygirl, Fivesixer  , and Cobe will be in the International Room making sure the vets have water and are seated.Finn O'Flaherty , Kit_Carmelite , and ~Minja~  will join me with wheelchair retrieval. After the ceremony is over, the veterans will go their vehicles. It is much easier if we walk them to their cars with their families. Then we walk the wheelchairs back to the airport entrance and wash them off for storage until the next flight.I hope you all get as much satisfaction from this service as I do. I welcome you all to visit the following website and join Honor Flight if you are so inclined. http://www.honorflight.org/ |
| Prompt: We’re going to a party/festival! The party can be anything you like: quiet, loud, formal, informal. Tell us where we’re going, what’s happening, and what you’re wearing. We are headed to Galveston, Texas for the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. I have always wanted to do this in Galveston. I don't want to go to New Orleans because I fear it may be too out of control, but I have been to Galveston and I think I can handle a party there! We will be going to every parade they have plus we will get one of the balconies for our 'party central'. Everyone and I mean everyone, even you skeason has to dress up for the event. This is a picture of what I will be wearing...http://data1.whicdn.com/images/5974964/large.jpg And I expect to get lots and lots of beads! If we have time we will go to Moody Gardens. There are all kinds of stuff to do there. Plus we can go to the Pleasure Pier and check out the giant roller coaster! There is a great little seafood restaurant, http://shrimpnstuff.com/ that I want to take y'all to. And we have to go souvenir shopping. What is a trip to the gulf if you don't buy some goofy souvenir! While we are in Galveston we will go to http://yagaspresents.com/ and grab a few drinks and then we can go site-seeing! This is going to be a blast! Here is the website with all the events we are going to do! http://www.mardigrasgalveston.com/ http://www.galveston.com/pleasurepiervideocam/ [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
| Prompt: We’re headed to an excursion underground or underwater. Where are we going and what happens? I have a fascination with the sinking of the Titanic and we have decided to investigate the wreckage. Not everyone goes but I would go by myself if need be. We get a submarine and start our descent. What an experience, we are kind of like The Magic School Bus, we have shrunk and we can travel in and out of the wreckage without disturbing anything and without the need of separate oxygen tanks. The trip is somber and amazing. Even Andre remains respectful of the underwater tomb. We are tempted to take a souvenir or two but out of respect we leave everything as we find it. The ship is surprisingly well preserved with barnacles and other marine life making it their home. We pass in and out of cabins, on occasion coming across the remains of a passenger or crewman that was lost so long ago. The magnificent stairwell remains almost fully intact and we explore the grand ballroom with awe and reverence. What a grand loss of life, we don't stay for too long because we start to feel an unusual presence and I personally begin to feel creepy. With one last tour of the main deck we head back to sea level but we will always remember this awesome trip. http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wnpr/files/styles/x_large/public/201310/T... |
| Prompt: One evening you are looking out your porthole and see something. What is it? I am having a small dinner party in my cabin. Fivesixer , Brother Nature , ElaineElaine and myself are relaxing drink our preferred beverages, two Labatt's (I assume for Fivesixer and Joel) , a mocha latte for Elaine, and I am sipping a nice White Zinfandel. I look out the porthole and I see something a bit shiny bobbing in the waves. It is a fairly calm night with no rain so we all go out to the deck to see if we can ascertain what the shiny object is. It takes about five minutes but we finally spot it about ten feet off the port side of the ship. Fivesixer uses a pole he has found and we manage to get it on board. It is an old bottle with a cork in the top and inside there is an old yellowed piece of paper. We take the bottle back to my cabin and we open it. Unfolding the paper we find writing on it. It is a love note from a girl in the United States to her boyfriend fighting overseas. The date on the letter is from 1943. It gives the woman's home address and we decide to follow through and try to find her. This is a magical ship, is it not? We gather everyone together and we set off to find the mystery woman. We hope she is still alive but it has been so many years that it is hard to remain optimistic. We arrive at the house she lived in during the war and knock on the door, we lose hope when a young man opens the door. We explain what we found and to our surprise find out that his mother wrote the letter. He invites us in and we meet Annie. She is brought to tears when we show her the note we found, she finds it hard to believe that it survived for so long. Then the front door opens and an old man walks through the doorway, she smiles a huge smile and explains to him who we are. We discover he is the man she wrote the letter to. He reads her letter and plants a kiss on her forehead. We leave the house happy that we got to share in this romance. |
| Prompt: We’re a bit tired after our adventures and gather in the galley after dinner for an evening of board games, jigsaw puzzles, books, or other quiet, group activities. Electronics aren’t working at this time. What are we playing and what happens? We are all involved in some kind of activity in the galley, and boy are we having fun! ElaineElaine , Prosperous Snow celebrating , Dragon is hiding and Charlie ~ are busy playing Monopoly; ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy , Lyn's a Witchy Woman , pinkbarbie and sunnystarr are enjoying a game of Clue; Cubby and Alexi have returned and are in the corner playing jacks. skeason is working on a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle and if you are smart you will NOT ask if she wants help OR tell her where a piece goes! Being Diane , Cheri Annemos , missbiggs , Noyoki , Kate - Writing & Reading and ROSΣANNΣ|NaPoWriMo|WGT|JDI are 'quietly' playing charades...well maybe not quietly. Myself, Brother Nature , groovygirl , Fivesixer , Cobe , Finn O'Flaherty , Kit_Carmelite and ~Minja~ are playing Pictionary. Andre, meanwhile has stolen the dog from Monopoly and the rope from Clue and a few of the jacks! ANDRE!It is amazing what happens when you turn off technology! |
| Prompt: Today is a time for heading outside the usual paths - the wilderness, the wild, outside civilized society with few to no people. Tell us where we are and what happens. Today we are on Earth, in the most remote areas. We each are going off by ourselves to become one with nature, a day late for Earth Day but it inspired us! I am wandering the paths at Allegheny National Forest in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The woods are filled with the wonderful smells of the forest, the musky smell of last fall's leaves, decaying on the forest floor. I can hear birds fluttering from treetop to treetop, collecting scraps for their nests, chirping and singing away as they go. Little chipmunks and squirrels scurry through the fallen logs; they spot me and sit up to take notice then they go about their business. I find a small creek and follow it upstream. I find a little waterfalls and sit down by it. In my knapsack I packed a small lunch and here is where I am going to eat it. I packed a Diet Pepsi and a sweet Arizona Iced Tea, I have celery sticks stuffed with walnut and honey cream cheese. My sandwich is smoked turkey and fresh spinach on a bagel. I have some kale chips and for dessert I have raspberries. As I eat I dip my bare toes in the cool refreshing water. I let the stream bathe my feet and I shut my eyes and breathe deeply. I hear a rustle next to me and slowly open my eyes. There is a little black bear cub next to me and mama bear is close by, but I know I am not in danger. They amble off and I make my way back to the ship. |
| Prompt: Today we’re mooring outside a floating edifice known as the Imagination Palace. This place is an advanced arcade where you may put a headset on and enter a virtual world. Tell us what avatar (imaginary body) you decide upon. Do you change sexes? Age? Do you want to be an animal? Do you even want to stay human? You could imagine yourself as a stick figure or flower, for example. Tell us a bit about your adventure within your virtual game. This is so cool. I am a little yellow circle with a triangle for a mouth and a bow on top of my head! I love mazes and in this one there are little yumyums that I gobble up as I go around. There is only one small problem, well one problem times four. In the maze there are these colorful ghosts, they chase me and chase me and if I eat one of the 'special' pills I get to chase them. Sometimes little fruits and snacks appear and they give me extra points. If one of the ghosties gets me I have to start all over again but that is okay because we have plenty of quarters on the ship. Anyone want to go all old school with me? |
| Prompt: On one of our visits, the weather turns bad/weird. Tell us where we are and what kind of weather messed with our excursion. Not everyone is excited about the weather here on Planet Amazon. I mean Andre is thrilled because of all the bananas, but not thrilled about the precipitation. Fivesixer seems annoyed but I am just enjoying the scenery...and I do mean scenery, as in eye candy , as in...[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
| Prompt: Andre insists he found a treasure map. We decide it doesn’t hurt to let him lead us to it. Where and what is this treasure? We follow the map to a deserted island. We have all brought shovels and are ready to begin our hunt when little Monkey Breath starts jumping up and down and chattering. We have no idea what the problem is until he begins to point. Great! Andre founds us banana trees! Oh yippee...bananas, our treasure is bananas! |
| Prompt: You’re in your bed after a long day of touristing and you hear something. After investigating, what do you find out the noise was? I just climbed into my comfy bed. I keep the room a bit chilly but I like that. I can pull my fluffy comforter up over my head and hunker down for a beautiful, peaceful nights sleep. Wait, what is that noise? It starts out really soft and rises into a sonorous bellow. Then it stops, and begins again. Where is that coming from, there is no way I can fall asleep with that bellowing noise! I turn on my light and try to ascertain where the noise is coming from. Okay, the noise is not coming from my main cabin, so I will check the hallway. Nope, it is much quieter out here. Matter of fact it is really quiet, maybe I will just grab my pillow and comforter and sleep out here. Wait, I see Andre at the end of the hallway, I am NOT sleeping in the hallway with Monkeybrain! Brother Nature , shouldn't Andre be sleeping in your cabin? ElaineElaine , can't you control that monkey? He seems to be going door to door, knocking on doors and then running away. Seriously, he is trouble isn't he?Okay, back to that noise in my cabin. I think it is coming from the bathroom and it seems to be getting louder! I open the door and I can see the shower curtain billowing in and out with every bellow! What could this possibly be. I grab the end of the curtain and whip it aside and there is the culprit. skeason has fallen asleep in my bathtub and is snoring! I mean SNORING! skeason WAKE UP, go back to your own cabin! |
| Prompt: It’s shopping time! Where are we and what are we buying? You always have enough local currency to pay for the usual touristy stuff. I wouldn’t try buying the Taj Mahal, though. There isn’t enough supplied money for something that expensive! I am just chillin'. I have this weekend off, I know I have been sick and missed abunch of work but I had asked for this weekend off over a month ago, (not that I need to explain myself)! I am a huge NASCAR fan and the race on Sunday is at Bristol and it is my absolute favorite. There is a great deal of 'trading paint' during the race because it is a rather small track. So anyways, I am just chillin' today. Catching up on my NaPoWriMo entries and just colored my hair again. I hope to go outside this afternoon and 'play' in my garden. It is way to early to plant anything but I figure I can work the soil and get it ready so when I can plant all I will need to do is buy the veggies and plant away! But...what am I going to buy...? I think I am going to get two types of tomatoes, beefsteak and cherry, maybe I will get some yellow variety as well. I might grow some bell peppers and plant some corn seeds. My husband likes cukes so they are a must-have. Zucchini and yellow squash are musts as well. I think I will try to grow some bibb lettuce as well, from what I remember we tried this when I was younger and it turned out bitter, but we shall see. Watermelon plants are on the list, though they never do well I still try. I think I will do green beans, too. I am going to buy patio strawberries as well! They supposedly bear fruit all summer, hmmmm. But tiday, I am going to buy everyone on the Magical Ship an ice cream cone. Not just any ice cream cone but a super huge, giant cone with as many flavors as you want! http://images.clipartof.com/small/1243443-Clipart-Of-A-3d-Panda-Holding-An-Ice-C... |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Oh Andre! Where are we going? You should have taken the right turn at Albuquerque! I think I saw an island back there, but I can't be sure. Wait, there is again. Andre! You have us going in circles....come on Monkey breath I am getting sea sick! Half of my books are falling off the shelves! Damn it Andre! Stop this insanity! Can anybody get the helm from that little monkey brain! ElaineElaine , Brother Nature where are you guys? How could the two of you let him get control? Where was your sense of responsibility? HUH? I mean you take a group of wonderful passengers on a 'safe' trip and then let a monkey take over! I am sure glad I opted for the travel insurance! I am so going to sue! |
| Prompt: It’s time for art. What place do you want to see? Do you have a craft you want demo’ed? Would you like to take a class somewhere? I want to go back in time to Ancient Greece to see the Pantheon as it was constructed and brand new. I have been taking an online Art History Class on https://www.khanacademy.org/ and it covered several lessons on Ancient Greek art. I had no idea that the Greeks actually used paint on their wonderful statues. I would love to see these beautiful works of art as they were intended to be seen and enjoyed. The Greeks also turned beautiful pottery and I would love to see them make one of these and give it a chance myself. |
| Prompt: Several people have already mentioned a beach. Today our excursion is to a beach. Where are we going? What are you wearing? If you hate beaches, what will you be doing while the rest of us bask in the sun? Be sure to wear sunscreen! We are going to an all-inclusive secluded resort beach on an island in the middle of the Caribbean. And I ain't wearing nothing! |
| Prompt: On one of our excursions you meet an animal. Tell us where we are and what happened in the encounter with the animal. Were you thrilled, scared, amused? We were all taking a leisurely stroll in the woods when lo and behold I spotted a wonderful black and white animal. It was a little mini-me and it was adorable. Everyone stood amazed as I walked towards the little guy. You all seemed a bit alarmed but I had nothing to fear, it may be an omnivore but so am I and I was larger. I wanted to find it and catch it and pick it up and smother it in wonderful panda kisses. Big, slurpie, messy panda kisses, you know the ones! This little guy was quick! He ran across the ground quicker than any other panda I had ever seen. But I was sure I was going to find him and kiss him! I just don't understand why you all were telling me to stop! All of a sudden the little guy stopped running, turned and looked at me and then turned again. Then it happened, he raised his long tail (since when do pandas have such long tails?) and he sprayed! I turned to all of you guys and stated..."Hey that wasn't no panda!" (I hope there is tomato juice on the ship) What did we find? ▼ |
| Prompt: The group is between sight seeing excursions. To pass the time, let’s tell a twisted fairy tale -- something where Cinderella was a fellow, Red Riding Hood was the wolf, or Mother Goose is running Wall Street. There was an old man who lived in a choo choo. He had some many children in diapers with poo poo. They stunk to high heaven as poopie diapers will do. He called all of the king's horses and all the king's men, but the kids just kept pooping again and again. He vowed he would never feed them after ten. Soon Mother Goose came to check on the brood. She held her breath trying not to be rude. But then without mercy and trying not to be crude, She exclaimed very loudly Change these diapers, dude! |
| Prompt: It’s time for music! Tell us where we are going to hear some. Are we going to an opera? A concert? Are we listening to some chamber music or a grand choir? Tell us about the evening. We have one heck of a bonfire going! we are all sitting around drinking Umbrella drinks and eating s'mores. I just like watching the marshmallows burn on the end of the sticks and then flinging them, but Lyn's a Witchy Woman tells me to stop and says "it's all fun and games til someone loses an eye" to which Fivesixer , Brother Nature and Charlie ~ all say at the same time "then you start keeping score!"  . Lyn is not amused, but I am! We are all jamming to the Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffett! What an awesome time! |
| Prompt: One of the aftermaths of the cosmic storm is someone has dreamed up Captain Hook along with his ship, the Jolly Roger, and associated crew. His ship pulls up along our ship and a battle occurs. Tell us what happened in this battle. I was sitting in my cabin, on my comfy chaise, enjoying a mug of mocha latte and reading The Great Gatsby when I heard a ruckus outside the window of my cabin. I put my book down and wander over to check things out and what do I see? Captain Hook in the Jolly Roger has pulled along side our ship and is trying to take it over. ElaineElaine is on deck gathering our troops and leading the way. We seem to be gaining the upper hand in the battle ,but we are taking quite a few casualties as well. That is when I see Fivesixer on the deck, he is wearing a toga and has a trident in his hand! He still thinks he is Poseidon. He raises his trident and commands the seas to capsize The Jolly Roger. Much to all of our surprise a mighty wave sweeps across the bow of Captain Hook's ship and away it went. So ended the great battle and my latte was still warm....http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120217232017/villains/images/7/7e/Poseid... |
| Prompt: Pick a color. Now describe a place we visited and various instances of things that are that color. Teal, yup there is a lot of teal, and greens and blues! Yup, I am going to cheat and do two colors, green and blue! Teal! Yup, teal! Okay, I am back at Long Beach, Ontario, Canada. The cottage we used to rent from Uncle Bill, he wasn't really my uncle but I called him Uncle Bill, was green and white, the top half was white shingles and the bottom a hunter green. The yard was a lush green grass, soft on the feet, which was great because we hardly ever wore shoes! He had green plants all along the house and Mom would tend his gardens for the month we would rent the cottage. She would weed the garden and water the plants. In one very large green tree in the front of the cottage, there was a swing. I used to love to swing on it and gaze upon the sandy beach and blue green waters of Lake Erie. On the lake shore there were gobs of green seaweed. Sometimes there were just some pieces but after a strong storm, when the waves would turn from blue to brown the seaweed could be knee-deep in spots. It would extend into the water for about 30 feet and then you could have clear water after that. I used to hate wading through the seaweed, afraid of what was hidden in the slime. I always worried that some poor soul would gave drowned in the lake and washed up on shore and I was going to step on their fish-bitten body. (gotta love a kid with a vivid imagination). I need to save up the money to rent a cottage there again, but I fear that it would never live up to the memories of my youth. |
| Prompt: We’re being good, polite tourists. (I hope!) Each of you meet someone. Tell us about the encounter. Where are you and did this person tell you a story, perhaps their life history? While visiting one strange land , I encountered the most beautiful hummingbird. She had translucent, yet iridescent, purply-pink wings on a turquoise body sprinkled with teal glittery feathers. Her most amazing feature was that she could talk. Curious, I inquired about her life and this is what she told me... IamahummingbirdandIliveinthetropics.IhavetoflyveryveryfasttostayintheairandeverythingIdoIdoquickly.Italkfast.Ieatfast.Myheartbeatsveryfast.ItisamazingthatyoucanevenfollowwhatIamsayingasIamtalkingtoyounow.Doyouwanttoseemyhouse,comeflywithme,ohwaityoucan'tflyyoudon'thavewings,doyou?Ihavetogonow,Ihavetoeatmorefood,doyoulikebirdseed?Ihaveextra. Wow! She needs to try the decaf. Anyways, she then told me she was 56 years old and had twenty children and fifty grandchildren. |
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