“Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put your offering (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before Sunday evening UK time. If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here. Thank you for taking part.”
The inspiration for this list is my friend Tom. He sent me an e-mail with a list of ten things to do to be happy. Of course, my schtick is “things not to do,” so I turned it around a little. I hope you enjoy the list.
Top Ten Things Not to Do if You Want to Remain an Unhappy Grump
10 If you want to remain unhappy, do not take care of your health. If you don’t take care at best, you’ll have a lot to complain about. At worst, we will all be glad to be rid of you. (Not a nice thing to say at the memorial service, eh, Ralph?)
9 If you want to remain unhappy, do not engage in a hobby that you are passionate about. If you don’t engage, at best, you’ll have nothing to talk about with others. At worst, Tiny, the WWF champ, will engage you in his hobby. (Tiny loves to bounce grumpy people off hardwood floors, Ace. Is that him heading your way now?)
8 If you want to remain unhappy, do not connect with some good friends and laugh heartily. If you don’t connect, at best, the frown will become permanent. At worst, you’ll become that old guy that people call in for a welfare check. (Better put away that hash pipe Stewart. The police are checking on you again.)
7 If you want to remain unhappy, do not concern yourself with having enough income and bank balance to live comfortably. If you aren’t concerned, at best, you could collect aluminum cans. At worst, trying to make a living with that “Will Work for Food” scam is tough. (Is that snow falling, Skipper? It might be time to call it a day.)
6 If you want to remain unhappy, do not help disadvantaged people in any way you can. If you don’t help, at best, you’ll keep your Howard Hughes profile. At worse, you need not expect anyone to give you a hand when you need it. (Forget that lift to the gas station, which is only ten miles from here, Dork)
5 If you want to remain unhappy, do not travel to new places with friends and family. If you don’t travel, at best, you can keep looking at those travel magazines. At worst, you will believe your trip to the corner store is a major outing. (You want to try a different direction this time, Ferd?)
4 If you want to remain unhappy, do not listen to music you like. If you don’t listen, at best, you can hum that same tune off-key. At worst, you’ll fall for every conspiracy theory proffered on talk radio. (I see you have your new tin foil hat in place, Nerd.)
3 If you want to remain unhappy, do not take pleasure in seeing your children grow into fine individuals who do well for themselves. If you don’t take the pleasure, at best, you can cuddle that fur ball you call a cat. At worse, maybe you can apply to adopt a grandpa and take pleasure in someone else’s kids. (Of course, you have to be nice, Putz.)
2 If you want to remain unhappy, do not read a book that is of interest. If you don’t read, at best, those coloring books may help. At worse, you can stay glued to the TV and go from one mindless show to the next. (With any luck, most will be reruns. Excuse me, but does it feel like your brain is running out of your ears, Slug?)
1 If you want to remain unhappy, expect everyone to give you what you need, and do not accept what life throws at you. If you want this attitude, at best, you should not leave the house. At worst, every day will be a monumental hill of disappointment to climb. (You are the pessimist’s pessimist, Roy. I’m glad you don’t live next door to me.)
Today we were going to go on a Valentine’s story walk, but due to the danger of falling limbs, from our ice storm, the walk is canceled. So we will have to do whatever we can to salvage our trip. We are catered by Olamaie in Austin. Our entertainment is Chris Isaak.
Menu
So let’s go.
Our first stop is a house filled with love.
This one shows better at night. There are red up lights which you can see a little.
A wise dog with a heart headband.
Warning signs regarding falling limbs.
Yes we have deer and everyone is warned to drive carefully.
Lots of downed limbs to clean up this week.
Someone definately loves Valentines Day.
Here is the best display ever. What’s not to like about Snoopy and Minnie Mouse.
I hope you liked the brief tour and now it is time for food and music. I hope you have a great week and a Happy Valentine’s Day.
Ah, Saturday. The day that requires no intelligence or energy. The day when the mind and body take some time to themselves. The day where the agenda is free style and time a seemingly squanderable resource. It is also the day when the AI in charge of coffee has an iron grip on my heart. Begging and pleading only slows the process of turning roasted South American bush fruit into the hot, frothy, aromatic liquid that quells my addition.
It is usually a test of wills on who will crack first. The machine or me. Returning the cursed thing to the store is an idle threat. The machine knows giving up the soothing mainline caffeine delivery system would be harder than losing a limb. Pounding and cursing have little effect. There was a time when the machine shut down entirely and accused me of being technically insensitive after such an episode. Three days of shlepping to Starbucks cured me of any future violent overtures.
So how long will the wait be? There is a stirring, and low rumble followed by three sputters indicating the life-restoring fuel is about to be dispensed into my cup. Be still my beating heart; here it comes. Ten ounces of glory are delivered. Trembling hands caress and move the cup to the lips. One sip and, like Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein, seeing the monster rise from the table, scream, “It’s alive.”
Linda Hill’s message hits my computer screen at my moment of ecstasy. It says Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “heart.” Use it any way you like. Have fun!
If you would like to have fun, visit Linda’s blog and read how. Here’s the link.
Our Good news comes from the Goodnews Network. I have reported on this ocean cleanup system before, and now there is more good news. Here’s the story in its entirety, with major typos corrected.
Boyan Slat, Founder of The Ocean Cleanup, and Joe Gebbia, Co-Founder of Airbnb – Released
Ocean Cleanup Nonprofit Gets $25Mil From Airbnb Co-Founder to Launch Massive Plastic Pollution Cleanup.
The co-founder of Airbnb.org has just donated $25 million to support the Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup as they prepare to assemble and deploy the largest plastic capture system ever developed for use in the ocean.
The Ocean Cleanup’s pilot-scale ocean cleaning system, System 002, has been deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) located between Hawai’i and California since late 2021. It has so far removed close to 200,000 kilograms, or roughly 440,000 pounds, of plastic that otherwise would have remained trapped for decades or more.
This pilot system is now in the process of being scaled up to the largest, most cost-effective ocean cleaning system ever developed. It will feature a capture area of 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) across and a three-vessel team that will allow it to operate 24-7.
“I’m proud to partner with The Ocean Cleanup in their crucial work to remove harmful plastics from our oceans,” said Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and Samara. “The Ocean Cleanup has created systems and technology that actually work at scale. In order for them to deploy across our oceans and rivers, they now need to scale their funding. It is my hope that this donation can inspire others to act.”
As the only group currently cleaning the trillions of plastic pieces in the GPGP, The Ocean Cleanup has streamlined its cleaning systems to be as cost-effective as possible, allowing their entirely not-for-profit income generation and any potential donations to go far.
Dutch wiz kid and Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat has been developing the capture system for a decade and has gradually enlarged and improved it based on fieldwork harvesting plastic from the GPGP. System 03 cleans ten times faster than the previous system and could clean all the plastic patches of the world’s oceans with about 10-50 systems.
“Joe’s continued support of The Ocean Cleanup’s mission has a direct impact on our operations all over the world,” said Slat. “Thanks, in part, to his generous assistance, we are able to scale up our work in oceans and rivers, helping us reach our goal of ridding the world’s oceans of plastic. On behalf of the world’s largest ecosystem, we are immensely grateful for the support.”
Slat’s work in the GPGP will go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in the 21st century. In front of him was a true leviathan of a problem—a patch of plastic trash twice the size of Texas swirling in International Waters where even the loudest climate-hollering nation-state had no desire to even crack an idea about how to clean it.
Relying only on his team and his vision of basic scientific deduction and elegant engineering solutions, Slat proved that the most absurd problem was nevertheless solvable.
His vision attracted millions in private contributions from philanthropists like Gebbia, even while government scientists sneered at his use of fossil-fuel vessels to pull the nets to capture the plastic.
Here is a photo of the system.
Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup
The good news here is that with additional funding, the oceans become closer to being cleaned. Today’s Johnku talks about this important project.
Today I am on the last stop of The Last Drive tour. I’m so pleased to be with Diana Peach. You can go HERE to connect to her post.
Diana is one of those amazing authors who is able to write wonderful books and attract readers to them no matter the reader’s preferred genre. She does this because all her books are so well written that they draw the reader in until the end. Diana has written twenty books, and you can check them out on her Amazon Author’s Page.
Here is more in her words.
I didn’t care for reading as a child – I preferred Bonanza and Beverly Hillbillies reruns, Saturday morning cartoons and the Ed Sullivan show. Then one day, I opened a book titled The Hobbit.
Tolkien … literally changed my life.
I love to write. It’s a luxury I never expected I’d have time for – life got in the way. You know how that goes – kids, work, chores… sleep. I worked for 18 years in business where amassing coin was the all-consuming objective. It required huge amounts of time and mental energy. And for me personally, it was soul-slaying.
Then on September 11, 2001 two planes flew into the World Trade Center. I was working in Connecticut, about 2 hours from ground zero, and remember sitting in a conference room, watching the second tower fall. That tragedy initiated a process of redefinition for me, an evaluation of what was vital and important. Life felt short and precarious, and I started to wonder if it was time to do something that actually mattered.
In a moment of loving kindness, my husband suggested that I quit my job and go back to school (he still wonders what he could possibly have been thinking). I graduated with a Masters in Counseling and a mountain of debt. Oh well. I worked in Burlington, Vermont for peanuts – but, oh, they were chocolate covered! The human experience was sweet and rich. I had the pleasure of working with people who cared deeply about the challenges facing children and families, and I came to understand how the power of relationship, in all its myriad forms, can change the world. In Myths of the Mirror it is called the Belonging.
Then life got in the way again, and Randy and I made a move to the lush, wet, green wilderness of the Oregon rainforest. We live on a mountain a half-hour beyond the edge of civilization in a wonderful community where, once again, I encountered the Belonging. In another regrettable moment of loving kindness, he suggested that I write a book rather than work, and Myths of the Mirror poured onto the keyboard. Fast forward a decade and more than twenty books line my Amazon shelf. They have each been labors of love and I hope you enjoy them.
Diana’s latest – Click for Amazon
Thank you so much, Diana for helping spread the word about The Last Drive
I have closed comments so you can be brillant at Diana’s place
I am so happy to have Joan Hall visit today. Joan is a fellow member of Story Empire, and she has a new book that sounds fascinating. Come on in, Joan, and tell us about your latest.
The Homecoming
Thanks so much for hosting me today, John. It’s a pleasure to visit you and to share news about my latest release, Menagerie. It’s a mixed-genre compilation of thirteen short stories. Each tour stop features a different story and what inspired me to write it. Today, I’d like to talk about The Homecoming, a contemporary fiction story about a military family.
I have a deep respect for the men and women who serve and have served in the military. While I’m grateful to all the generations who have served, I have a special place in my heart for those who served in Vietnam. I had two cousins who served during that time—one in the Navy, the other Army.
In 2019, I first heard the story of Colonel Roy Knight, an Air Force pilot whose plane was shot down over Laos in 1967. He was listed as missing in action for many years before being declared killed in action. In February 2019, fifty-two years after being shot down, his remains were identified. That same August, his remains were flown home to Texas, his final resting place.
The story itself is touching, but what made it even more of a tearjerker is the fact his son, a pilot for Southwest Airlines, flew the plane with his father’s casket into Dallas Love Field Airport. The same airport then five-year-old Bryan and other members of his family last saw him as he departed Texas for what proved to be his final tour of duty.
I shed a few tears when watching the video and still do each time I see it. Colonel Knight’s story inspired me to write The Homecoming.
It’s the story of the Atwood family. Four generations have served in the Navy—except for the youngest son. Brady Atwood decided against a military career, which didn’t make his father happy. Brady reluctantly joins his family when his grandfather’s remains are returned from Vietnam a half-century after he went missing.
Told from four different points of view—Brady, his father Bruce, his mother Cindy, and his brother Chris, The Homecoming is story of family dynamics, mending relationships, and most of all honoring a fallen hero.
Excerpt:
I had long given up hope of this day ever happening. Now that it’s here, it seems surreal. I was six years old on that February morning in 1968 when we saw my father off at this same airport for what proved to be his final tour of duty. As the youngest child, it was hard for me to grasp what was happening. Growing up in a military family, I was accustomed to him leaving from time to time. It was all part of life, but Dad would always come back.
Vietnam was on the other side of the world. I’d seen clips of the war on television but never expected it to change our lives forever.
It’s funny how my memories of that day are as plain as if they’d happened last week. Dad was a handsome man with dark hair, twinkling blue eyes, and a smile that would light up any room. Mom said his smile was what she first noticed about him. It’s also what I remember most. He’d started up the jet bridge when he turned back. He waved and flashed a grin at us then continued toward the plane. It was the last time we saw him alive.
Blurb:
King’s. The Tower of London. Glass. What do these have in common?
Each is a famous menagerie.
While this Menagerie doesn’t focus on exotic animals, it does contain a collection of stories that explore various trials people face and how their reactions shape their worlds.
Survivors of a haunted bridge. Women who wait while their husbands fight a war. Former partners reuniting to solve a cold-case murder.
These are just three of the thirteen stories in this compendium, encompassing past and present, natural and supernatural, legend and reality. The genres and timelines are varied, but there’s a little something for everyone who enjoys reading about simpler times and small-town life.
Sally Cronin has a new feature for 2023. It is called Potluck, and she hand-selects posts she feels her readers might enjoy. She is featuring one of my Top Ten lists from 2022. I am very honored and hope you’ll visit. She has a lot going on at her place, and I’m sure there is something she offers that will help you get better known.
Welcome to the new series of Posts from Your Archives 2023 where I will be sharing posts from the last six months of 2022 I have selected from the archives of willing participants. If you wish to be included the information is at the the end of the post.
This is the second post from John Howell and another Top Ten Things Not To Do which strikes a chord, since over here in Ireland, particularly this last few weeks, high winds accompanied by lashing rain has been a feature.
Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash6
The inspiration for this list is the over twenty-five-mile-an-hour winds we have been experiencing since Thursday. Most of these warnings are a matter of common sense, but in the spirit of public service, I will state the obvious. Hope you enjoy it.
I am delighted to be with Robbie Cheadle for the last stop on the tour of The Last Drive. You can visit Robbie’s post HERE.
I enjoy following Robbie. She offers so much on her blog. There are recipes to try, book reviews to follow up on, and Children’s stories to delight a child in your life. There is always something new at Robbie’s place. In addition, Robbie works full-time as a Charted Accountant, which is the equivalent of a CPA here in the US. She is also a spouse and a mother of two boys. With all this and 25 published titles, to say she is very accomplished is an understatement.
Here is a little more about Robbie.
Roberta Eaton Cheadle is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres, and her writing has been influenced by famous authors, including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.
Roberta has short stories and poems in seven anthologies and has two published novels:
Through the Nethergate, a historical supernatural fantasy; and
A Ghost and His Gold, a historical paranormal novel set in South Africa.
Roberta has ten children’s books published under the name Robbie Cheadle.
Roberta was educated at the University of South Africa, where she achieved a Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1996 and an Honours Bachelor of Accounting Science in 1997. She was admitted as a member of The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2000.
Roberta has worked in corporate finance from 2001 until the present date and has written seven publications relating to investing in Africa. She has won several awards over her 20-year career in the category of Transactional Support Services.
One of Robbie’s Books – click for Amazon.
Thank you, Robbie, for helping to spread the word about The Last Drive.
I have closed the comments, so you only feel the need to scribe once.
