20 days of chill writing challenge

There’s something to be said about being outside.

The wonderful smell of trees or freshly mowed grass, or anything else like that. Going for a walk in the serenity of the woods. Seeing flowers start to bloom.

Ahh, vitamin N.

What, you’ve never heard of vitamin N? Me either.

Get outside and get some vitamin N.

Turns out vitamin N isn’t real vitamin after all. It’s thought by some to be vitamin Nature – so being outside and enjoying life, basically. Maybe getting out and doing some exercise etc.

I like it!

I probably don’t get enough Vitamin N in my life and I know I need to get more of it, whether it be a walk or just being outside. Maybe it’ll be searching for a geocache. Maybe it’s trying something new. But getting the chance to be outside and breathing in fresh air is a good thing.

Apparently there are pediatricians who actually write prescriptions for kids to be outside with nature. Seriously! Can you imagine?

I’m not sure how it was when you were a kid, but when I was a kid, there weren’t cell phones and the like. An iPad? Ha! Video game systems were an Atari 2600 and eventually the original Nintendo.

We’d be out all day, riding bikes and playing ball or whatever. We explored. We got dirty.

I say all of this and then I am now writing a blog post about being outside …

A few years ago, I’d take a laptop with me and go write sitting in nature. It was actually pretty nice to do. I found I got more written because I’d just look around, breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the beauty of being outside.

It was also one of the reasons I got into geocaching. I enjoyed the aspect of having a reason to go walking in the woods. And photography – need I say more?

I am sure most of us could use some additional time in nature. As I write this, I laugh a little as I’m not going to go wandering around too much when it’s cold. But when the warmer weather arrives, I need to start pushing myself more to be out more. Maybe it’s a bike ride after work. Maybe a walk. Maybe I should pick up running some.

Just getting outside is an important thing.

I know I need to start doing it more and pushing myself to be more active. As the weather turns this spring, I’m going to start exploring more and seeing what’s out there. Maybe I can find some new and interesting things. One thing I’d like to do is work on a couple of photo projects and that might help me spread the wings a little, so to speak.

So how about you? Do you get enough “vitamin N?” If so, what do you do? And if you don’t get enough, do you think you should change?

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Rained out.

That seems like the worst call to get in the summer.

No game. Rained out.

That summer rain can end things in a hurry. We have a big game and it’s beautiful all day and then the rain comes at like 4 p.m.

No chance.

Summer rain takes out a game.

The worst thing about the summer rain is making up games. We might have to play on a Friday, or the season gets longer.

Why can’t is just rain a bit overnight and let us have beautiful summer weather?

Heck no. The rains come and down it goes. No game.

Two years ago, our season went on and on and on. I didn’t think it was ever going to end. This season, we didn’t get as many rainouts, though we got a little hosed in the playoffs.

The end result was, thankfully, the same – champs.

Still it would be nice to begin the season on time and end it on time, without any of those pesky rainouts.

The problem with summer rain is how heavy it can be, even when it’s a quick one. Though there have been times when those summer rain storms hit elsewhere in the area and not on the fields.

That’s always a bonus.

You can’t avoid the summer rain, though. It’s going to come and get you, that’s for sure. You just hope it doesn’t come when you want it the least.

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

When did life turn for you?

Was it when you graduated high school? Turned 21? Finished college? That first job? Bought your first house?

Something else?

In life, people will probably have several turning points in life — sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. That’s life.

For me, I go back to two times — and it’s all put me where I am today.

February 11, 2011 — when I was let go from my job as an award-winning newspaper reporter because my position had been cut.

And November 2013, when I interviewed and was offered my current job.

So you may be saying … how are two times a turning point. To that, I say “they aren’t.”

It’s that time in between that served as a turning point in life.

You tend to figure out a lot of things when you are unemployed for two and a half years, that’s for sure.

I can’t say I was all happy-go-lucky for that time. It was hard, without a doubt. I don’t even know how many job applications I sent out and didn’t hear back. I had phone interviews and got nothing. I applied for things I was perfectly qualified for. I applied for things I wasn’t qualified for.

I also tried to get into jobs with big-box stores and all that.

About the only thing I didn’t try was to be a waiter or a server somewhere and that’s because I wouldn’t have lasted.

This also happened when we were in the midst of the really bad economic times.

So why was this a turning point? I realized there is still humanity.

I found out how important family was.

Friends were amazing during this time.

People helped in ways they never could know.

I could have easily gone into a state of depression. But I made myself push forward and be as upbeat as I could.

People helped.

I learned to go for walks in scenic places by myself. I learned who I was.

It was a massive turning point for me.

I’m still turning, to an extent. That was a long and dark period in my life and there are parts I am still trying to get over. But, I also know things continue to look up. I look back that time not with fondness, but knowing that it was an important part of my life that helped me shape myself to I am today.

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

The old saying is “Life is short.”

While in a true sense of time and the world and the universe and everything else, that’s totally true, the realization is life can be long in some parts.

Throughout life, we make many memories. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are a little of both. Life goes through phases, too. You are young and a child; a teenager; an adult; middle age; retirement etc.

And I’m not a scientist and I can’t say I truly understand how the human brain works, but the reality is most people aren’t going to be able to lock away years and years of memories without anything fading.

How many of you truly remember your childhood.

I have some memories, though they are spotty. I remember little things, like adventures and such. But there are many details I can’t recall. Others, I have pieces of what happened, but the rest has faded over time.

But what do you forget? What fades? It can be a mix, of course. In life we have to deal with loss and death. We get to experience joy with births and marriages and things like that. We get the times where we feel lost.

All of those aspects create memories.

Certain memories, when you don’t get to relive them often, start to fade.

For example, I still remember the smell of my grandmother’s house when she was cooking. She was an Italian lady and when she cooked – she cooked.

But other things – my father’s voice, for example, are harder to still hear, to remember. Fading memories is what they’ve become. I feel, at times, I can remember the sound of voices of people who have passed, but most of the time it’s distant and hard, thus a continually fading memory.

There are a lot of memories I wish would fade, but they stick with me. There are things in my childhood that make me have a hate or a severe dislike of certain times or people because of how they played part in making my life not so fun as a younger person. These memories can often be vivid and easily seen.

But friends and family who have passed on, sometimes those memories fade. The smiles, the advice, the sound of their voices – fading away.

It’s part of how life is.

It’s different now, though.

Technology helps us as a society have memories that may not fade. Digital photography, voice recorders, videos, etc. All of these items will allow people have memories from different parts of their lives. I’ve probably taken more photos of my godson/nephew in his two years on earth than were taken of me for most of my childhood.

It’s a different time.

Selfies and quick videos will allow people to document different things as well as keep records of what people looked like and sounded like.

Whether that’s good or bad is something that will likely be debated for many years. The human mind will continue to work as it does and there will be ways to trigger these fading memories.

It’s a different time now than when I grew up, that’s for sure.

Fading memories happen. It’s a way for the mind to be able to store more memories. In time, some memories fully fade away and that’s part of life. Embrace those memories of yours that don’t fade as they will hopefully allow you to smile and know that life is a wonderful place – most of the time!

This post is part of the 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here. 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!