K.D. Dowdall's Blog, page 17

Smorgasbord Health Column – Major Organs and Systems of the Body – The Digestive System Part One – The Mouth by Sally Cronin

Everyone needs to read this post by Sally Cronin. If a long healthy life is your plan, the most important part is to have a healthy digestive system and this post by Sally Cronin on her Smorgasbord – Variety is the Spice of Life blog tells it as it really is.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

As we move through the body there is one system which contains a number of major or essential organs.. this is the Digestive System and it is designed to extract the nutrients the body needs from the food we eat… It is a system that we try to second guess frequently, especially when the latest official guidelines are published by the ‘experts’ or the a new fad diet becomes all the rage.

The digestive system is not voiceless…if you get a stomach upset, feel nauseous, get a headache or a rash.. it is your gut brain letting you know it is not happy. It works on the principal that after hundreds of thousands of years evolving, it knows very well what it needs and if it comes in a packet along with additives and artificial sweeteners, colourings and chemically produced nutrients… that is not it.

Over the next few weeks…

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A Bit Of Clarity

Na’ama Yehuda writes about Clarity for Sue Vincent’s #WritePrompt for this week’s Thursday prompt. It is beautifully written, philosophic, heartfelt, and deeply meaningful.

Na'ama Yehuda

Photo: Sue Vincent

She always went to the beach for a bit of clarity.

The movement of the water on the sand brought her back into her own breath. The rush of energy reminded her of the push of arteries, the pull of veins. The predictably irregular rhythm of the surf reminded her how ebb and flow do not mean that things will be uniform. They’ll come and go. Each unique. Each set its own and inseparable from what flowed forth before and what is following.

She could count on a wave and then another and another, on the rise and fall, the crash and wash, the small detritus that each leaves and yet is part of what had been and what will be and what just is.

Like life.

Like the muddy, murky, uncertainties of everything.

Where the one thing she could trust was that another wave will come…

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Let Us Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing!

charles french words reading and writing

(https://pixabay.com)

50 years ago, the human race set foot on the moon, the culmination of a journey begun in 1961 with President John F. Kennedy’s call for the U.S.A. to gather around this project, “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too” (JFK). He made the challenge, and the United States of America accepted it.

The moon landing remains the most extraordinary scientific and technological achievement in the history of the human race.  We should celebrate this event, remember its importance, and…

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Sue Vincent’s Writephoto Photo Prompt: Clarity

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                          Clarity
https://scvincent.com/writephoto-photo-prompt/

I see, feel, hear, and know in the dark of night, a world of beings that beg to be heard, like a cry in the night a thousand times over as each second of every moment crosses into the annals of time.  Each sigh a precious thought, only to be echoed across a silent world that hears them naught.

I stand, head bowed, as though I must attend an ocean burial of all the human sighs that cry out in the night. I feel my feet move toward the ocean’s spray.  My arms are full of white roses to give to the sighs that have drowned within these crystal clear waters that now cover my ankles.

I wade into the crisp, cold waters, wondering if there is any peace of mind as their sighs sink into the sandy tide that washes the shore. I wonder if, perchance, the warmth of the sun will come to bathe these now silence sighs, to give them warmth on their silence journey. Although their sighs were not heard by all, others who awakened in the night heard them too, but did nothing. I feel my tears flow into the salty sea, and as each petal drops, I say a whispered pray.

If there be clarity at all, this I know, the earth heals its wounds though eons shall pass, and one day each sigh will be heard by all, as a giant wave covers the earth to wash away all the sins of mankind.

Sue Vincent #writeprompt Photo July 12th 2019 – The Castle

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                                              The Castle Walls

As I stand here underneath this ancient tree, looking out over a wide expanse of dark water, I wonder at the lives once lived in this Castle. What secrets does it still hold.

I wonder about the wandering spirits that surely abide there, still, wandering, about the Castle walls, not really aware that their time is long past. I wondered too, how they felt or if they felt lost and alone or did they still live in that long ago past. Are they in anyway aware that time passes, and other lives are lived as they once did.

I also wonder what loss or trauma has kept them wandering on this earthly plane of existence as spirits. Are they angry at some betrayal or did their grief over some earthly matter take them by surprise. I wish I could spare them their anguish.

I remain standing, alone, under this ancient tree, yet, I do not see the color of its leaves, or feel the breeze through my hair, or the brightness of the sun. I don’t hear the chirping sound of birds, or the flow of water on the nearby spring that flows through the forest.

My world is now shades of gray, for I am also a wandering spirit. How I came to be standing under this ancient tree, I do not know. So many memories are lost to me. How long have I been gone and how long must I remain in this lonely state of being? I do not know. I can only hope that my life was spent in good deeds to others or did I commit some terrible deed that I must repay in some way.

     Only time will tell.

“Fake News,” #Tanka

This Tanka poem by Colleen M. Chesebro, “Fake News” says something so true, so real, in such an elegant and intellectual way that it soothe the pain of knowing we live in a time of “Fake News”.

The Faery Writer

This week, I shared my ideas about writing political poetry. You can read that article HERE. Political poetry is difficult to write. You don’t want to preach, but you also want to get your feelings across to others. How do you do that?

To start, you can choose a topic that brings you the most outrage. From there, describe how that topic affects you – what you believe in, and how that makes you feel.

For my weekly poetry challenge, I chose to write about fake news using the Tanka form. I like the Tanka because you can assemble your thoughts into short bursts, which I think resemble fake news phrases. At least, that was my intent.

Those two little words (fake news) do more damage to our freedoms than any other. If we can’t believe what we hear from our elected officials, where does that leave us?

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Smorgasbord Poetry – Colleen Chesebro Tuesday #Tanka Challenge… #Etheree – Fairy Tales by Sally Cronin

Wow. This Tanka poem is amazing and is beautiful too by Sally Cronin. I love it.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Time of the week to respond to Colleen’s Tuesday Poetry Challenge 135 and this week the two prompt words are ‘Pretty and Ugly‘…. And I have selected the synonyms ‘Fair and Unsightly’

Image Pixabay.com

Etheree – Fairy Tales by Sally Cronin

Fair

maidens

grace the plot

of old fables

and of fairy tales,

gaining princes and crowns.

How unfair of the writers,

to deny those more unsightly,

all the riches within the pages

and the right to happy ever after.

©Sally Cronin 2019

If you would like to participate in this week’s challenge you have until Sunday: https://colleenchesebro.com/2019/07/09/colleens-2019-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-135-synonymsonly/

Your feedback is always appreciated thanks Sally.

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Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – New Sunday Interview Series – Human In Every Sense of the Word – Starting Sunday June 30th 2019.

Sally has intuitively designed something for us to write that reaches into our experiences about our senses that is very unique and exciting to do.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

Welcome to the new series of the Sunday Interview..Human in every sense of the word.

As humans there are five main senses that we rely on to navigate through this world.  And there is one that we all possess but do not necessarily use all the time…

Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell….Sixth Sense.

For some people however, one or more of those senses do not function and we can only imagine the challenges this results in.

I don’t know about you, but I take my senses for granted, expecting to see my surroundings when I wake up each morning, hear the birds sing, feel the bedclothes as I throw them back, and the carpet beneath my feet. I expect to taste the marmalade on my toast, and smell the coffee I am about to drink. I also rely on my sixth sense, the one that people cannot really define, that…

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THURSDAY PHOTO PROMPT: SPAN #WRITEPHOTO

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The Promise

I walked alone through a forest of maples, birches, oaks, and pines, happy to listen to birds chirping, as they called to one another hoping for a mate. I marveled at the beauty of this spring day. Beneath my feet I felt the soft spongy layers of leaves becoming one with the earth. It was this fresh feeling of renewal after a long cold winter that was so invigorating, and it lifted my spirits, ferreting away my winter doldrums.

I was so deep in thought that I walked without seeing where I was going. I just blindly put one foot in front of the another. I don’t remember how long I was walking or where I was going when I came across an enchanting burn, that flowed with such energy. The waters were crystal clear, flowing from the melting snow drifts of winter, and mixed with spring water from deep within the earth.

Above the burn was a span, an ancient walkway, now covered with many years of moss and grass. I marveled at the construction of the span, and its ability to survive for how long I didn’t know, but perhaps a few hundred years or more. I imagined how life must have been so long ago. How many young lovers must have made promises to each other as they gazed into the waters, promises that wouldn’t or couldn’t be kept. No different than the raging burn as it too would soon cease to keep its passion.

I let my eyes wander, once more, as I stood at the edge of the rapid flow of the burn. The sound it made was eerie yet enticing as it raged through the burn. Life is so similar, I mused, its passion rages only to burnout more quickly than one would think. Yet, like the winter that has come and gone, the spring of life continues to renew all hope, love, care, and we, like springtime, will once again be filled with the passion to live our best lives.

 

 

Author of the Week

I just had to reblog this guest interview with Sally Cronin. I am sure everyone will agree that you are an amazing woman who is above all else, a giver and a supporter of others. I feel so fortunate to know you and to learn from you. Thank you.

Campbells World

Hello everyone.

A week or so ago, I reached out to a few fellow blogger authors I follow and asked if they’d participate in my new guest author posts column, and I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten some great responses. It gives me great pleasure to share with you the following guest post from author Sally Cronin.

Thank you so much, Patty, for inviting me over to talk about myself and my life. And thank you for such interesting prompts to get me thinking…..

Perhaps I can set the scene by briefly telling you how I got to this point in my life. My father was in the Royal Navy and we travelled around the world until I was fourteen years old before we settled back in the south of England. There have been a few hiccups in my personal life but in 1980 I met and married…

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