The coffee is ready in record time, which just says to me, “We love you, boss.” After a sip of the precious fluid, the thought again turns to the alarm clock. Although experience is being gained on each trip to maintain control, it seems to me that staying within a specific boundary is a good idea.
Therefore, the clock is set to December 8th, 1923. One hundred years ago. The time is set for two hours, and the plunger is pulled. Immediately, the scene changes, and My location is Madison Square Garden. There are a lot of people in the garden cheering for men on bicycles.
When questioned, the guy next to me informs me that this is the finish of the annual December Six-day race. He tells me there are fourteen thousand people in attendance.
He also says Ernest Kockler of Chicago and Percy Lawrence of San Francisco, comprising the American team, were the winners of the annual race. He fascinated me with what seemed to me to be a professional play-by-play recap of the events. He breathlessly recapped that the American riders, hanging tenaciously to the precious lap that they gained during one of the jams early in the week, finished the grind with a total mileage of 2,519 miles and 8 laps, and their one-lap margin was sufficient to give them the honors.
Thanking him for the information, the bell clanging means my time is up here in New York. In an instant, the familiar surroundings of the home told me the adventure is over. My phone buzzes, and a text arrives from Linda Hill. It reads.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “to me.” Find a way to use the phrase “to me” in your post. Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy! To see what other bloggers have done with this prompt, visit Linda’s post. Here is the link: https://lindaghill.com/2023/12/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-9-2023/
To Me by John W. Howell © 2023
“To me, this alarm thing needs to be ramped up.”
“What do you mean.”
“You’re stuck in going back 100 years.”
“Yeah, like I explained so as not to run into trouble.”
“Come on. There are more interesting things to see other than a bunch of sweaty jocks on bikes.”
“I suppose you are right.”
“Darned right, I’m right.”
“I guess we could look up an event we wanted to visit.”
“Yeah, Like the ending of prohibition or Crusades. Anything but the 1920s.”
“Okay, next week we’ll try it.”
“Great. Let’s go celebrate.”
“Unlike every week.”
“Oh, come on. You know what I mean.”
“Did you order Uber?”
“He’s right over there.”
“I don’t see him.”
“That orange thing blowing leaves.”
Photo by Dan Antion
“You gotta be kidding.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Riding a blower to the pub?”
“Heavy discount.”
“And high visibility, let alone where to sit.”
“We stand behind the operator.”
“It looks to me like we might be better off walking.”
“That is another thing.”
“What.”
“We have to bag the leaves.”
“Sometimes I wonder about you.”
“It’s good exercise. Here’s your rake and gloves.”
“I can’t wait to see us on the ride home.”
Fiction Favorites 
When it comes to things that appear on your porch, I say err on the side of caution. Stick with the 1920s.
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I’m thinking you have good advice , Liz.
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🙂
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😁
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LOL!! That might be a hilarious ride on the way back.
Wouldn’t it be neat to be able to time travel and not get into trouble!
Lately, I’ve been thinking that all the raking I’ve been doing is conditioning for shoveling snow so, I’m not complaining about it…too much. 🍁🍁🍁
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Yes raking is natures way of getting you used to having a handle in your hand. 😁
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You piqued my interest with this one, John. I had never heard of the Six Day races. Our daughter and I rode in two Five-Borough races, but those were about 36 miles through the boroughs in NY, but I’d never heard of anything like this.
Great job with the prompt. I’m with Liz, though when it comes to caution.
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It appears there were six day races all over the world. Was something that predated marathons.
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Your Ubers are like Monty Hall’s Lets Make a Deal, there’s rarely a happy medium! LOL
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Thanks, Pilgrim. You are so right. 😁
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So is this one of those bartering Ubers? Rake for a ride? Good one, John. Happy Saturday!
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Happy Saturday to you, Jill *sung to the tune of Michael by the Highwaymen
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You might just want to get another friend!
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Ha ha ha. Thanks, GP. He’s been with me for 70 years so I’ll have to keep him.😊
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I guess so! 😲
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😊
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Maybe try having the beer delivered to your location. No need to worry about worker’s comp or insurance.
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Great idea. Maybe order a pail of VooDoo Ranger from Door Dash.
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Exactly, and hope they don’t deliver anything unusual, like a real life voodoo ranger.
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Ha ha ha. That would be a problem for sure.
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At least it’s not the 1930’s.
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That’s true. Could be worse.
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I can attest that bagging leaves is a real backbreaker. I’d choose to walk – unless another uber shows up. 😉
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I think you are very wise, Gwen. Maybe I can find someone to carry me. 😁
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You’re a nut case. 😄
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Yes indeed
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Excellent!
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Thank you, Rabirius.
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Without even seeing who took the photo, my immediate thought was, “Dan would like this picture.” Heck, Dan took this picture! I love the 1920’s–all those cute flapper dresses.
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Yes. This was a Dan photo. I liked the flapper dresses too. 😊 (not to wear but to look at.)
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Well heck, not much point in going back to the 1920’s then…😂
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I would mind going back.
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Good one, John! To me, the alarm thing is fascinating and educational, the Uber variants amusing. 😀
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Thank you, Tim. So glad you like them. 😁
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Me too! 😀
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😊
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Your dialogues are always wildly entertaining. lol
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Thank you, Kymber. 😁
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So much fun this week! I would love to go back 100 years to see that bicycling event. As for the Uber, well, I’ll pass this week! My leaf-bagging days are over!
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Well okay. Maybe you can hitch a ride.
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Include me in!
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Okay. 😁
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Oh my goodness, John! I cant wait to see what Uber ride you come up with each week, but this one had me laughing out loud! A fun soiree back in time.
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Thank you, Jan. It’s good to laugh. 😁
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Bag leaves? Just wait it out. They will blow into someone elses yard. This has worked for me for years.
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I wondered why your neighbors both have twelve foot fences.
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What an great idea, using a blower for transportation. 😉 Sustainable indeed. :–) Enjoy a beautiful weekend, John! xx Michael
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Thank you, Michael. I hope you have a beautiful weekend as well.
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I love your uber ride 🙂
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Thanks, Denise.
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Love the Uber, there are so many things we convert to fill various purposes. I can’t think of them right now but … maybe later. Delightful conversation John!
xo
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Thank you, Holly. 🤗
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Thank you! 🤗
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Leaves. Blah. I’ve been at it for some time now. I’ve decided the rest of them can blow and blow. I would enjoy seeing someone use that machine as playful transportation.
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It would be worth a laugh.
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Two men riding inside for 14 days. I hope they had decent bicycle seats in those days. I get sore just reading about them. Speaking of seats, that leaf blower ride is going to vibrate a lot…
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Yes it is. I don’t think it was the best choice.
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🥴
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Will the alarm work if you brave a different time? Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂
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We shall see. 😁
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Ah ha!
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Punishment fits the crime? The idea of being able to actually witness history is intoxicating and terrifying. What if we got it wrong?
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There is always that possibility.
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I’ll take the 1920s over the Crusades any day 😉 I hope you had good luck with the Uber leaf blower 🙂
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It got us there and back. Running over the mayor’s lawn maybe wasn’t such a good idea. It seemed so at the time.
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lol … thanks for the chuckle 😉
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😁
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Ah! So, you’re riding rakes on the way home?
How witchy of you.
Well, goes with Voodoo.
Umm, so the clock deal… think you’ll be hitting the early 1800’s?
Now that you’re time traveling; there’s so many places to go, so much to do.
What about that time continuum thing?
Be careful!!!
🕕⏳ 🕝⌛️ 🕤⏳ 🕘⌛️
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i have to be very careful and not rip a hole in the continuum. ⏱⌛️ ⏲⌛️ ⏰⌛️ 🕰⌛️
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Can it be repaired? ⏱🛠 ⏲⌛️ ⏰⌛️ 🕰🛠
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A tear cannot be repaired. 😳X 🙄X 😵X 😲X
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Interesting.
At first glance I had not connected this to the time continuum. A second later I knew you were talking about a tear in the continuum.
I first read “A tear cannot be repaired.” as in shed a tear…to cry… 😢
So I thought how poignant.
Accidental on your part and on mine, but I think it’s a message from inner space.
🤔X 😵X 😲X 🤔X
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Now we can say, “A tear cannot be repaired,” and be poignant al we want since the dual meaning is cleared up. 😁X
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Yes!!! 😁X
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😊X
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I always say stick with what you know …. But then my alter ego Morgarna goes all over the place time and space !
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She does well for sure.
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I’ve no trouble with the 100-year thing – I love how you are searching for what happened on that date. That said, if you start feeling the hang of this time travel, well the world is your oyster!
As for you friend… really? His options for Uber are insane. He should always be paying the VooDoo!
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He should pay but he is an indie author which means he’s broke.
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Ach… I hear ya…
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😊
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😊
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😊
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I find raking to be kind of fun, but bagging leaves isn’t. I think I’d probably choose to walk. 🙂 Good one, John!
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Yeah me too.Thanks, Lauren.
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