CONVERSATION WITH…A Gallery of Art by Bloggers

December 5, 2017 / overthehillontheyellowbrickroad / 20 Comments

Today I arrived at the “Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road Art Gallery.” It gave me an idea…

gallery
Hey Gallery, is there a manager I can speak to?

ART GALLERY: I’m the manager. As long as my walls don’t crumble and my plumbing works, I’ll keep running this place no matter how old I get.

Yeah—you must be really proud of all that you hold on your walls.

ART GALLERY: It means the world to me. I carry thoughts, dreams, visions, statements. I carry the hearts of so many gifted people.

Totally. In that case, would you mind if I set up an exhibit here? There are five bloggers who have invited me to guest post or have shared my blog on theirs. Their art, photos and writing is so beautiful. As a way to say a heartfelt thank you and let the world know about their work, can I set up an exhibit of links to some of their best creations?

ART GALLERY: Absolutely. I’ll keep it here forever.

Okay bloggers reading this post! Click on each link, and you’ll definitely smile:

1.Linda has invited me to post as a “Guest in Jest” on her site on February 2. Her blog is about “crazy stuff that happens and things that amuse me.” I’m in love with Linda’s skunk photos. Click and scroll up to them here:

https://mainepaperpusher.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/black-white-vs-color-challenge/#comment-5668

2. Da Al invited me to share my post about a kitten I found Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road. She posts on arts/cooking/dancing/joy/writing/tales and tails. I have a special place in my heart for a piece she calls “silk hand and eye.” Click and scroll down to it here:

https://happinessbetweentails.com/2016/09/05/art-love/

3.Raili was inspired by one of my posts and shared it on her blog. She’s always “creating magic with words” through poetry, stories, and thoughts about health and well-being. I can’t stop staring at her purple tree photos:

https://soulgifts.com.au/2017/11/24/echoes-of-purple/

4.Elaine did a very kind shout-out to my blog. Elaine paints and writes while “living and following the light.” I especially love her fantasy work. Here’s her display of amazing paintings.

https://elainespaintings.com/

5.Barbara shares every single one of my posts on Facebook. She does incredible paintings and photographs. The expression in the eyes of every animal she paints blows me away:

https://www.facebook.com/RosenbergMuseumOfArt/

That’s all for now! Hope you enjoyed the art show!

CONVERSATION WITH…An Older Vampire Overwhelmed By Too Many Choices

December 2, 2017December 3, 2017 / overthehillontheyellowbrickroad / 31 Comments

In a mall Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road, I heard a strange moaning sound. I realized the sound was coming from an older vampire bat flying beside me. I figured I’d try to help.

revised older vampire

Uh–Vampire? Got a problem?

OLDER VAMPIRE: Obviously yes! I’m in pain! I’m too old to rest in my coffin box! It’s killing my back! I need a mattress!

I can understand that. I used to be able to sleep on anything. But now, my back hurts in the morning if I sleep on a mattress that’s too hard or too flimsy—

OLDER VAMPIRE: Well that’s the whole ridiculous problem. I came here to the mall to buy a mattress to put in my coffin. But there are too many kinds! I don’t know which one to get! Why can’t there just be one mattress?

I went through the same thing last year. I wanted to buy a mattress. It used to be there were soft, medium and hard mattresses. That was all.

OLDER VAMPIRE. Yes, like with The Three Bears.

Right. Those were the only choices. But now we have—

OLDER VAMPIRE: Mattresses with memory foam! A little foam! Or a lot of foam! Or they lift your back up and down with a remote! Or they have extra coils! Or no coils! Or they’re thick! Or they’re thin! Or they’re attached to a sofa bed! Aaaaah! I can’t take it anymore!

I admire you for getting angry about it.

OLDER VAMPIRE: The truth is…my anger actually covers up my fear. What’s happening to me? Is there more to understand in the world? Or am I just not able to understand as well as I used to?

Maybe it’s a combination. Sometimes the whole thing embarrasses me. I’m self conscious about it. So to cope, I focus on exactly what I want and reject the other choices, even if a different choice might save me money. That’s one way to deal with it. At least I don’t go insane.

OLDER VAMPIRE: I don’t get out a lot during the day. Is this sort of problem just happening with mattresses?

No, it’s everywhere. Like, I had a new window put in my house recently. But you can’t just buy a window. There are types that have extra panes, or picture windows that don’t open, or there are windows that open if you tilt them at a certain angle, there’s another kind of window that opens if you pull it up and down and–

OLDER VAMPIRE: No wonder I’ve been having so much trouble flying into bedrooms.

It doesn’t end there! When I go to the supermarket, there’s low fat yogurt, no fat, 2%, 4%, no sugar, less sugar, Greek, regular–

OLDER VAMPIRE: Alright already! Shut up! You’re giving me a headache!

Sorry.

OLDER VAMPIRE: So, what should I do about the mattress? How did you resolve your problem with it?

Well, instead of asking a million questions and trying to understand how every mattress works…I went to a store that offered a special deal. You can buy a mattress that seems comfortable, but after a month if you don’t like it, you can exchange it for a different mattress in the store.

OLDER VAMPIRE: I like that! I’d like to go with your mattress deal if you don’t mind directing me to that store.

I’d be happy to. Just keep in mind, if you’re thinking of returning the mattress, don’t drip blood on it. They won’t take it back with stains.

OLDER VAMPIRE: I don’t know if I can pull that off.

Well then, just buy a mattress protector. They sell lots of them in Bed Bath and Beyond.

OLDER VAMPIRE: What do you mean by “lots of them?”

You can buy a simple plastic type—

OLDER VAMPIRE: That’s for me!

But… in your case, you might want to pay extra for one that protects against stains and odors, and you might want the kind that zips all the way around the mattress so it won’t fall off easily, and you might want the kind that…

Copyrightoverthehillontheyellowbrickroad2017

CONVERSATION WITH… AN OLDER SPONGE…Wondering If Gratitude Includes Feeling Everyone Else’s Pain

November 27, 2017 / overthehillontheyellowbrickroad / 46 Comments

Walking Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road, I noticed an older sponge crawling in front of me. He was having a lot of trouble moving, so I offered to lend a hand.

Sponge? Need some help?

SPONGE: Yes, thank you. I’m older and I’m on overload.

What do you mean?

SPONGE: Well, I’m on my way back from a high school reunion. Everyone I knew from way back was there. The dish detergent…the Brillo…the bar of soap… We’re all aging. But some of us are feeling better than others.

It works that way with people, too. It’s very hard to be part of whatever this phase of life is supposed to be.

SPONGE: It IS very hard! And my problem is, as a sponge, I absorb it all. I take in everybody’s pain, plus my own, and now it’s weighing me down. In my older age, I can’t hold in all these feelings without having symptoms. I can hardly move. Sometimes it paralyzes me.

I know what you mean. I’m most grateful to be here. But when I meet up with someone who has very serious health issues, I take in their feelings. I experience their feelings as mine, too.

SPONGE: Today I saw the plastic bottle of dish soap I grew up with. She’s almost out of liquid soap. She’s scared. What will her life be like without the soap? They’ve been together forever. My heart hurts for her.

I know someone who’s so sick he has no fight left in him. He doesn’t want to be here anymore. I feel his pain even though I can’t quite understand it.

SPONGE: I know a bar of soap like that, too. She’s so thin she’s wasting away. She says being like that isn’t living anymore. When she speaks that way, I absorb her pain.

But…are we supposed to be experiencing gratitude this way? Or are we supposed to separate our lives from theirs and live the best way we can at this moment?

SPONGE: Maybe both.

Copyrightoverthehillontheyellowbrickroad2017

CONVERSATION WITH…LITTLE BO PEEP…A BITTER EMPTY NESTER

October 31, 2017November 1, 2017 / overthehillontheyellowbrickroad / 27 Comments

Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road, I noticed a woman with a sheep. Was it possible she was the famous Bo Peep who lost her sheep (from the Nursery Rhyme)? Had one of her sheep come back? If she was Bo Peep, we had a lot in common! I’m an empty nester, too. I had to check it out…

Hey there, by any chance, are you Bo Peep? You know, from the rhyme that goes, “Little Bo Peep, lost her sheep, and didn’t know where to find them. Leave them alone and they’ll come home, wagging their tails behind them?”

BO PEEP: That’s me. One sheep came back for a quick visit. I’m smiling on the outside but crying on the inside.

Why?

BO PEEP: Here’s the part they never tell you about when you‘re an empty nester. When your kids come back to visit, you notice they’ve changed. And it hurts.

I get that. My daughter moved far away and when she comes back to visit, I see she’s adapted to her new environment. She’s not exactly the same person she was when she left. It hurts to see that. Selfishly, I miss who she used to be.

BO PEEP: Right! And why do they have to go so far in the first place? I mean, I raised my two sheep in a beautiful meadow with a sturdy fence so they’d always be safe. I made sure they had organic grass to eat. We settled in an area where the weather was perfect—not too hot and not too cold. There were lots of nice sheep to hang out with. What more could sheep want?

Don’t ask me.

BO PEEP: Obviously it wasn’t good enough for my son sheep. He whined it was too confining and homogeneous growing up in our meadow. He never wants to live here again.

So where did he move to?

BO PEEP: The African plains. He’s exceptionally fuzzy, so I worry he’ll pass out if he gets too hot. He’s not fenced in, so he wanders around wherever he wants to go—which makes me crazy. And he’s seriously dating an elephant.

It’s a changing world.

BO PEEP: But it really hurts my feelings. I tried so hard to make a nice home for him.

All this hurts my feelings, too. On the other hand, I remember when I was in my twenties and moved out of my parents’ house, I was sooo happy! It was so freeing! I went out and did whatever I wanted whenever I felt like it! And I told my parents I hated where I grew up! I said it was boring and superficial and I’d never come back. I must have hurt THEIR feelings.

BO PEEP: Yeah. Same here. Before I was Bo Peep with Sheep, I was “Bo Peep with a Jeep.” I drove that thing all over the world any time of day or night. My parents never knew where I was. I was a wild woman.

I guess back in those days, we weren’t ready to be the women we are today. We were…different.

BO PEEP: And… now that my sheep are living away, I’ve become less active. I’m quieter and take life a little slower.

Me too. Maybe when our kids come home to visit, they also notice…we’ve changed.

BO PEEP: And it hurts them.

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Hey there dear blogger friends, I’m still struggling with this. If you’re an empty nester, how do you feel when your kids come back and you notice they’ve changed? Or if you’re a younger person and have left the home where you grew up, how do you experience your parents when you return for a visit?