Category: SYW

Cee’s Share Your World 3-12-18

Questions this week are great!! Very thought provoking!

If a distant uncle dies and you were always his favorite and leaves you $50,000 (any currency) in his will, what would you do?

Put it in the bank. That would buy us another whole year in our house!!!!

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Bedraggled though she is, I adore my funky old house!

 

What sound or sounds do you love?

Have to agree with Cee, that it’s usually the ocean…but at this time of year it is the bird orchestra that tunes up and plays it’s Daily Opus…just before sunrise. It is truly spectacular! You probably have an orchestra in your area too. You may just need to get up early to hear it.

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Love the morning songs from my local covey

 

What’s your middle name?  Why?

I also have a middle-name story.

I never had one as a kid. Always just Kathie Bessey. Then I found out Mr. Bessey was not my biological father. So I rebelliously took it upon myself to add my birth father’s last name as my middle name. I became Kathie Kelly Bessey. Then I married my son’s father and again, still a little miffed about the childhood deceit I experienced, dropped the Bessey and became Kathie Kelly Arcide. That Arcide guy did not stick around for long but now it was my son’s name too, so I kept it.

Then, as time passed (and I did some serious personal therapy), all was forgiven so I added back in my “real” Dad’s name and became Kathie Kelly Bessey Arcide.

One of the best stories I have ever written is about that. You can read about it here…

https://chosenperspectives.com/2016/02/25/its-never-too-late/

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Dad about to “give me away”

 

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?

Honestly, I appreciated Blogging. The whole experience. The discipline to write and post often. The wonderful new friends I’ve made. A terrific excuse to carry my camera around with me everywhere. The kick in the butt to go for a walk even when I can barely move my legs, just because I might capture a photo for my blog!

I love all of it!

 

 

 

 

Share Your World – March 12, 2018

SYW (Share Your World) for 1/22/18

The questions posed by Cee Neuner in this innovative challenge:

List 2 things you have to be happy about?

Have you ever owned a rock, pet rock, or gem that is not jewelry?

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

 

My Answers:

List 2 things you have to be happy about? 

  1. I am so happy that James is home. He’s been in this 2 weeks here and 2 weeks gone cycle. It is a little hard on us because we both do really well being alone so there is a big adjustment on both ends of his travel: when he leaves, remembering the comfort of solitude, and when he returns, adjusting again to the joys of sharing the everyday life again.

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2. I am relieved and blissed out (oh, it is too a word!!) that my 17 year old “Heart-Cat” is still alive since I was told back in October he might only have days to live. He definitely has kidney disease and has lost a ton of weight, but he is still here and as ornery as ever.

Well, maybe not. This is a cat who, for 17 years, has let no one pet him but me. And even that never included him being on my lap…but these days, he accepts pets from everyone and will sit on my lap for a whole hour if I let him.

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Have you ever owned a rock, pet rock, or gem that is not jewelry?

I have been a “rock hound” since I was a small child. My Dad, in his quiet genius, got us a rock polisher. We would find rocks on the beaches and from the mountains and everywhere in between. Then we would wait…literally for months. Opening that polisher was a miracle every time. I learned so much from that experience, especially about delayed gratification and memory and anchoring experiences. I could write a book about all the lessons from this amazing, covert teacher. (Oh wait, I AM writing that book. My Dad is who taught me about choosing perspectives.)

Early in my therapy practice, I learned that some clients really needed concrete reminders of the things they were leaning, so, being my father’s daughter, I gave them Quartz, Lapis, Hematite or Amethyst hearts….and over the years, hundreds of polished rocks.

And, I have a basket of what’s left of a really old collection of pieces of polished petrified wood, from long before it was illegal. Not exactly rocks, but in my mind they qualify as “gems”.  (There is a great story there, too long for today’s post but this has reminded me to write about it.)

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Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?

Oh I am definitely a hugger. You might even say I have hugged for a living for more than 40 years.

I’ll just let that sit there and see if you have any questions.

 

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?

David Letterman’s new Netflix show, called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. His first interview was with President Barack Obama. I laughed and I cried, and I longed for more of the intelligence, humor, depth and light these two men bring.

What a waste……..

 

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Share Your World from Cee 1/1/18

What one word describes you best?

Searching……..

What is set as the background on your computer?

My sweet James

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not this photo but I realized my background shot of him is too cluttered…

 

 

 

If you have been to a foreign country name those you have been too?

O man, a great way to answer this question would have been to put a small photo from each country right here. But they are all paper photos, in albums, in boxes, in the storage cabinet…the absolute last things to let go of in our current downsize (and the first things to save…well, after cats and people…if there is a fire.)

But here are the countries…not very many:

Mexico-all through childhood, having grown up in San Diego

Canada-also often, having lived most of my adult life in Washington state

France-for the 1192 Paralympics, Albertville and Tignes were the two places I visited as I was then married to a cross-country ski team member who was blind. (He got the bronze.)

Fiji-twice, sailing the Southern Lau Group both times and for more than a month each time

Jamaica-three times, twice for USATAA conferences and once, a just for fun trip

 

This could be seen as a pretty boring list but I wonder how many STATES in the USA others have camped in? For me it is FORTY SEVEN out of fifty!

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

View from my street

 

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View from my window

 

Share Your World – January 1, 2018

SYW 10-23-17

OK, hit another writing snag and am using this great challenge to loosen up the writing muscles. Thank you Cee.

The questions (and my answers) this week on Cee’s “Share Your World” challenge are as follows.

Was school easy or difficult for you? How so?

Really difficult, for so many reasons…mostly an undiagnosed learning disability, I suppose, but a lot of mixed messages. In the 4th grade, I wrote the story of my pet duck (Fluffy). My teacher told me I was failing the 4th grade (how can that even happen?) and that my writing was stupid. (She should have failed the 4th grade.) But the principal, who read my story, gave me a “Writing Award” and posted my story in the class case outside his office for the rest of the year.

Read more about Fluffy here:

Fluffy, the House Duck

List some of your favorite types of animals.

See question number One. Of course, I love ducks. It has grown to all birds now. But I really can’t think of an animal I don’t like. Maybe not all of them up close and personal, but I love learning about animals. Do you know much about Lemurs in Madagascar? Fascinating!

What is your favorite large city you have been to? What is the one thing you remember most?

Well, I’m torn between San Diego and Seattle, both cities I have lived in. I guess what strikes me the most is the similarity between the surrounding areas of each. Though there is a major discrepancy in weather, as well as flora and fauna, the topography is so much alike. Desert  nearby, as well Visible mountains. And water. It’s everywhere in both cities. Bays, inlets, streams and rivers, islands that require boats or ferries to access, and yacht harbors!! So many yacht harbors.

I can’t actually remember if the seabird above is from San Diego or Seattle…

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

Sreejit Poole’s Dungeon Prompt. The topic is so fascinating and his description, very compelling. He calls it Rage against the Machine. I sat down immediately to write out my response. I’m not done yet (see above comment re:hitting writing snag) but have enjoyed being so immersed in the way I am answering his challenge. Very inspirational, and a great balancing exercise, for me, about Dark vs Light. How to write about the dark without going dark myself….

Take a look at his site if you haven’t yet.

Rage Against the Machine Month in the Dungeon

 

 

 

Share Your World – October 23, 2017

SYW (Share Your World) 10-9-17

Share Your World – October 9, 2017

I’m responding to a Challenge from a blogger I admire. Another great way to get the writing juices flowing. She posts 4 questions that we are to answer, with or without photos. Here are this week’s questions (with my answers). If you already know me, you will be able to guess which of the questions got me thinking the most!

(I’m experimenting with changing text color so hopefully my answers will be in BLUE!)

What do you consider is the most perfect food for you? (It can be your favorite food to something extremely healthy.) The POTATO! I can’t think of a single way a potato can be prepared that I don’t absolutely LOVE. Maybe because my mother was born in IDAHO and most of my ancestors are IRISH! I’ve loved potatoes since I was a kid when my Dad would fry up a bacon-onion-egg-cheese-potato mix. He’d hand us a salted, raw slice for crunching on while we waited for our favorite breakfast!

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Are you focused on today or tomorrow? Lately, neither. I am apparently focused on yesterday for a while. Reminiscing, revisiting, reclaiming, reuniting, remembering…all things I’ve spent this year doing, and enjoying every minute of it!

I’m slowly writing up stories from the Epic Roots Road Trip we took this summer.

 

If you could interview one of your great-great-great grandparents, who would it be (if you know their name) and what would you ask?

I would ask John Ray Young:

“What beliefs did you get from your father Joseph Young, that you passed on to your son, my great great grandfather, Brigham?”

“What did you teach him about religion?” 

“What did you model for him about the treatment of women?”

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What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

I was inspired this week by my friendship with Karuna.

https://livinglearningandlettinggo.wordpress.com/

If you have not seen her blog, she shares an amazing spiritual journey and is becoming quite adept at photography!

Our history is so long, with its ebbs and flows, and yes, bumps. I love knowing someone for a really long time. Karuna is the reason I started blogging and I am so grateful. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process, even when writing about difficult subjects.

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