CONVERSATION WITH…A Sunshine Blogging Award

February 16, 2018February 16, 2018 / overthehillontheyellowbrickroad / 78 Comments

Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road, a blogging award started following me. I wondered what it wanted.

blogger_award

Excuse me, Sunshine Blogging Award, can I help you?

BLOG AWARD: Actually, I can help YOU. RudyMariee from the blog: http://www.visionsandgiggles.com/ has nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Omg! That’s so flattering and such an honor! Especially coming from RudyMariee. She’s an amazing writer. Every one of her posts is so genuine. She writes from her heart, is funny, and I always relate to the way she looks at life and her family. So, I’ll take the award.

BLOG AWARD: Hold your horses. You haven’t won yet. First you have to do a few things.

Like what?

BLOG AWARD: Start by linking your blog back to http://www.visionsandgiggles.com Actually, I just did that for you.

Thanks. Now I’ll take my award.

BLOG AWARD: Nope. Now you need to answer eleven questions about yourself that RudyMariee created below.

Okay, here I go. Here are the answers to RudyMariee’s questions:

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years, I hope to reside permanently Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road.

If you could change one thing about the current world, what would it be?

Revise gun control laws in the United States.

Why did you start blogging?

Throughout my career, I’ve been a writer. I’ve always compromised with those who have hired me in order to “get the job done.” My blog is just my own writing voice. No revisions. No rewrites. For better or for worse. 🙂

What advice would you give to new bloggers?

Follow your heart. You’ll reach those who will “get you” and they will follow you.

What is the most interesting or most unusual thing about you?

I wrote for Sesame Street for twenty years, so I spent a lot of time with the Cookie Monster and the Snuffleupagus.

What would be your idea of a perfect day?

Being left alone. I’m really a cat disguised as human.

What are you most passionate about?

My family, writing, eating.

What are you planning to do differently in 2018 in regards to your blog?

In April, I have a book coming out which is based on my blog. It’s called, “Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road.” It has a story that I might incorporate into my posts.

Have you found anything particularly difficult about your blogging journey?

Making enough time to read all the amazing blogs I follow.

What kind of books do you enjoy reading?

Biographies and autobiographies about artists.

If you could be anyone for 24 hours, who would it be?

Albert Brooks. He makes me laugh the hardest.

BLOG AWARD: Nice job.

Fine. I’ll take my award now.

BLOG AWARD: Nope. Now you have to nominate eleven new bloggers.

Are you kidding me? That’s almost impossible. I read so many different kinds of blogs written by so many different, talented people. I cherish the exchanges I have with each and every one of them. How can I possibly choose eleven?

BLOG AWARD: Just do it, or you won’t get your award.

Okay, how about this? I read blogs written by people who express themselves through words, art, photographs, humor, food, poetry, fashion, spirituality, health and pets. I’ll nominate one or two bloggers from each category, and they’ll represent all the awesome blogs I read on all those topics.

BLOG AWARD: Works for me.

So, to represent all the blogs I follow, I nominate these eleven talented bloggers for the Sunshine Blogging Award. They help look at the world differently every day:

https://www.shallowreflections.com/

https://3cstyle.com/2018/01/21/the-nature-of-change-and-the-nature-of-fashion/

https://deepasthoughts.wordpress.com/

https://grapegravy.com/2018/02/01/spicy-green-salsa/

https://sevencatsandcounting.wordpress.com/author/sevencatsandcounting/

https://claudiamcgillart.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/scrutinized-people/

https://roseelaineblog.com/2018/02/15/five-little-angels-10/

https://rabbitpatchdiary.com/

https://muddlingthroughmymiddleage.com/

https://mainepaperpusher.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/guest-in-jest-30-over-the-hill-on-the-yellow-brick-road/

https://soulgifts.com.au/author/soulgifts2012/

Now can I have my award?

BLOG AWARD: Nope. One more thing. Write eleven new questions your blogger nominees must answer. HERE ARE THE RULES: To be winners, your nominees will:

Thank you and link back to your blog.

Answer eleven new questions you will ask them below.

Nominate eleven new bloggers and write them eleven new questions.

List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Logo.

Okay. Here are the eleven new questions for my blogger nominees:

From where do you draw inspiration for your blog?
What’s the title of your favorite post and why do you like it best?
If you could have a second home anywhere in the world or universe, where would it be?
What’s your favorite childhood memory?
Who is your favorite fairy tale character?
What’s your favorite food?
If you could be a flower or a tree, what kind would you be?
Where do you go if you want to have a quiet, spiritual moment?
If you could live one part of your life over again, what part would it be?
Who is your favorite artist?
What’s an adventure in your life you’d still like to have?

NOW? Now can I please have my award?

BLOG AWARD: It’s yours.

Yaaay! Finally! And, thanks again to RudyMariee at: http://www.visionsandgiggles.com/

I’m exhausted! 🙂

CONVERSATION WITH…An Elderly Shark…Reflecting on the shark inside her

January 7, 2018January 8, 2018 / overthehillontheyellowbrickroad / 58 Comments

On a hot day Over the Hill on the Yellow Brick Road, I decided to go for a swim in the ocean. Suddenly, a shark swam over! Aaaah!!!!!

shark

Shark! Don’t eat me! I’m older! But I’m too young to die!

SHARK: Calm down. I have no intention of eating you.

I thought sharks ate people.

SHARK: If you confuse us, we’ll take a nibble. Otherwise, we prefer other delicacies. Just don’t confuse me.

I won’t confuse you.

SHARK: But I should tell you, I do have one other eating related issue. Many years ago, I ate another shark. I mean, some sharks do eat other sharks, but that doesn’t make it right. I feel bad knowing I have a shark inside me. I still have nightmares about it.

If it makes you feel better, I have a shark inside me, too.

SHARK: Should I be swimming away from you?

No. Not that kind of shark. It’s a metaphor for a really aggressive side of myself. But it’s strange. I’ve noticed as I grow older, I don’t feel the shark inside me as much as I used to. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Am I settling for less? Am I depressed?

SHARK: I’m not sure I understand what you mean.

Well, when I was younger, if there was a job opportunity I was passionate about, or I had a creative goal that meant the world to me, I felt a “shark” inside me that drove me toward what I wanted with incredible force.

SHARK: Ooooh.

And when that “shark” inside me took over, I didn’t hurt anyone physically, but I might have hurt others emotionally along the way without realizing it. I was so focused on what I was going for, I’m not sure I was completely aware of my behavior.

SHARK: Ugh. What about now?

Now I feel more like a tuna fish. When I’m passionate about something I want to do, I meander steadily toward it, but I look from side to side and take in what’s around me. If something doesn’t feel quite right or off balance, I stop, think about it, and make changes till I’m in sync with the universe.

SHARK: If you don’t mind that I’m adding my two cents, it sounds like what you’re doing now might make you feel more grounded. And when you get where you’re going, you’ll arrive with perspective and wisdom.

Is it possible this is actually a good thing about growing older?

SHARK: Who knew?

Oh wow! Thank you so much for your help!

SHARK: Hold it! What about me? I still feel bad about eating that shark years ago. Any words of wisdom to help me through it?

Well…on one hand, I guess you shouldn’t have done that. On the other hand, lots of sharks have eaten other sharks, so it probably felt like a natural thing to do. On the other hand, at that time, there were probably other things to eat in the ocean, so choosing that shark was a bad idea. On the other hand, sometimes we have to learn from our mistakes. On the other hand–

SHARK: Aaaah! You’re confusing me! I told you not to confuse me!

I’m outa here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Copyrightoverthehillontheyellowbrickroad2018

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Do you have a shark? How’s it doing?

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?