Fantasy and Dreams

Friday, January 14, 2022

HERE IT COMES: WINTER STORM by Sarah J. McNeal #TheWildingsSeries

Some of you may already be experiencing the Big Winter Storm that’s laying down heaps of snow, ice, sleet, and freezing rain across most of the United States. I feel for the Canadians who are accustomed to this kind of winter weather.

As the temperatures take a deep dive and create a strong cold front that will collide with the moisture laden air from the south we are about to find ourselves in nature’s powerful grip. Those of us who have received the warning that it’s coming, at least have time to prepare. (Thank you to NOAA and the assiduous meteorologists for their calculated and scientific work to give us that warning.)

I guess preparation may be different depending on what part of the continent you reside. Here in North Carolina where snow is not seen as often as other parts of the country, the first thing southerners do is run to the grocery stores to stock upon supplies. Bread and milk are famously the 2 main items on that list. Personally, because of the frequency of power outages, I wonder why canned meals like beef stew and spaghetti that, if need be, you can eat right from the can aren’t the main items, or crackers and peanut butter, but that’s just me.

To assure that I’ll have heat in the event that I DO have a power outage, I want to make sure the gas logs in my fireplace are functioning well. Having the luck that I sometimes do, my gas logs are acting up. The pilot light is good and strong, but when I turn on the gas for the logs the wonderful warm flames only last about 10 minutes and the dang thing turns itself off. Grrr! Yesterday I took the ceramic log off, cleaned off the grill and fired it up. It took only seconds before the dang thing turned itself off again. So today I’m going to clean the whole business up and follow that up with some intense vacuuming. I’ll relight the pilot light and say a prayer. I would call my heating and air conditioning guy to look at it, but he’s probably swamped already and there’s not enough time left before the storm hits.

We are predicted to have snow in the beginning, but then it’s going to turn into freezing rain. It’s freezing rain that is the worst. Not only is it the hardest to drive on, (Thank goodness I don’t have to drive to work in it any more) but it’s the very thing that will take out power lines and bring down trees. The expectation is that we WILL have power outages and they are already assembling emergency teams from states like Florida to help us resolve those problems.

Stay safe and warm, my friends. And don’t forget to look out for the birds, too.

Are you in an area that has been, or will be hit by this winter storm? What do you do to prepare for it?

Sarah J. McNeal

Author of Heartwarming Stories

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Saturday, January 08, 2022

NURSERY RHYMES, BEDTIME STORIES, AND PARENTS by Sarah J. McNeal #TheWildingsSeries

When my sister and I were very young, we had a phonograph and colorful records, each one with a nursery rhyme set to music. I guess this was the equivalent of the modern day “Sesame Street” in which children are taught by using music and rhymes. Well, my sister and I knew all those nursery rhymes by heart and sang them often. At the time I was 3 and my sister was 4. These rhymes were so imaginative, like “Peter the Pumpkin Eater” who kept his wife in a pumpkin shell, and “Winken, Blinken, and Nod” about 3 kids who sailed off in a wooden shoe to fish for herring in the beautiful sea. Because I heard these nursery rhymes so often, I started making up my own songs. I would just start singing and make them up as I went along.

Mom taught us a nighttime prayer and a blessing before meals. In fact, we each had a cup with the blessing written on it. My cup had the prayer written in red, and my sister’s had the prayer written in blue. They were simple and short prayers. Some of you may know them. The nighttime prayer was, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” The table blessing was, “God is great; God is good, let us thank Him for this food.”

When nighttime came our parents would take turns reading stories to us as they tucked us in at night. One of our favorite books was “Finn and His Warrior Band” an Irish story filled with imaginative beings like mermaids, dragons, monsters, and witches. You’d think these stories were scary except we knew Finn and his warrior band would always come to the rescue. (The only thing I was afraid of was foxes and spiders. I had a night light to dispel those creatures.) Pop liked to affect the dialogue of the characters. It was a comforting feeling to have a parent read to us and tuck us in for that transition from day activities to restful, nighttime sleep.

Because our parents invested their time in us and how they thought of ways to teach us things like music, faith, and creativity, we developed into what I think were thoughtful, creative human beings who had values and imagination. I felt protected and loved by my parents. Children should always feel that way, but we know, sadly, that not every child gets nurturing and guidance like that. I am forever grateful for the parents I had.

What did your parents do that made you feel good and secure? Did they read to you or spend time with you in a way that made you feel special and loved? What is your favorite memory of you and a parent from your childhood?

For writers: Do you write about parents in your stories? Do you write children’s books or young adult books?

Sarah J. McNeal

Author of Heartwarming Stories

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Friday, December 31, 2021

YEAR OF THE TIGER 2022 by Sarah J. McNeal

YEAR OF THE TIGER  2022
2022 is the year of the tiger. I had to look this up to find out what we should expect, so here's what I discovered:
The tiger is one of the12 Chinese Zodiac Animals. 
The Year of the Tiger occurs every 12 years. 
In Chinese astrology, each sign is also ruled by an earthly and heavenly branch. This Lunar New Year, the 2022 Year of the Tiger will be a 'water tiger' governed by the element of wood.
Because this year is a water tiger, you can expect good fortune in relationships and family life. Tigers can expect to succeed in their career with hard work and determination.
The Water Tiger is the most harmonious of the Chinese Tigers and best at communication. They talk rather than roar. I hope this means we can expect a more peaceful year where leaders negotiate to work things out.
WHAT WILL BRING US LUCK DURING THE YEAR OF THE TIGER?
The colors green and blue will bring good luck and fortune for Tigers in 2022. Lucky numbers are 1, 3 and 7. Be sure to stay clear of the color white and numbers 4 and 9 throughout the year.
Tiger is one of the most favorable Chinese symbols and, perhaps, best known the world over.
Because of the absolute power of the Tiger, this zodiac sign is honored in China as the ultimate protector of home and hearth.
Tiger energy is believed to guard against the three main things that can bring devastation to any home: fire, thieves, and ghosts.

People born in the year of the tiger are thought to be competitive, self-confident, and brave. As a spirit animal, the meaning for the tiger is said to be willpower, courage, and personal strength.
Tigers, considered to be brave, cruel, forceful, and terrifying, are the symbol of power and lordliness in Chinese culture. If you're born in 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 or 2010, then you're ruled by the powerful tiger.

Sarah J. McNeal 
Author
of Heartwarming Stories
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Saturday, November 20, 2021

THANKSGIVING WITHOUT TURKEY by Sarah J. McNeal

I may have told this family story, but it bears repeating.

When I was about 9 years old and deep into holiday traditions and clinging to the magic of believing in Santa Claus even though the evidence disproved it, I looked forward to the traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. As far as I was concerned, you could have whatever you wanted for Christmas like that delicious Christmas ham roasted all day in the over with pineapple held in place with whole cloves, and a juicy cherry in the middle of each pineapple circle or even a Christmas goose, I didn’t care. But Thanksgiving dinner was a whole other matter; it was a turkey and stuffing or it just wasn’t Thanksgiving. Just throw down your napkin and call it over and done if there was no turkey.

Well, Pop, who had a love for roast beef which we had every Sunday, decided this particular Thanksgiving that roast beef would be on our table instead of turkey. No stuffing, no cranberry sauce (we always forgot it anyway, but that’s not the point), no candied yams, just the same ol’ Sunday dinner of a Yankee pot roast of beef, potatoes, and carrots. Phooey! What a terrible idea. Thanksgiving was ruined as far as I was concerned. I didn’t care if the Pilgrims would have loved roast beef as Pop tried to convince me, I was ready to leave home.

I hung my head in shame at school when the kids talked about their Thanksgiving turkey and all those delicious fixin’s. They would be appalled if they knew my family was having a Thanksgiving roast beef. See? The words don’t even flow together the way Thanksgiving turkey does.

I was furious and sad at the same time. Even going to the Thanksgiving parade uptown could not cheer me up. I sat in misery through the entire Thanksgiving dinner and made sure my disappointment was known. I’m pretty sure I made everybody’s holiday dismal.

We never had roast beef at Thanksgiving again. The thing is, all these years later with some wisdom and life experiences we come to have with age, I think about that turkeyless Thanksgiving. There are many people in this world that didn’t have turkey, not even a chicken on their table to celebrate Thanksgiving. The whole idea of Thanksgiving is to give thanks and gratitude for whatever we have. As so many kids, I was self-involved and lacked insight into the feelings and situations in other people’s lives. There were probably kids in my school who weren’t having turkey because they couldn’t afford a turkey. All I cared about then was what I thought I would be missing without a grain of gratitude or thankfulness. I know better now. Lesson learned.

Saturday, October 16, 2021

My First Halloween by Sarah J. McNeal #TheWildingsSeries

I'm on the left, my sister, Mary is on the right.

I was 4 years old and we were living in the small, rural village of Luthersburg, Pennsylvania in 1951. Life was very different then. Everybody knew everybody, and as much as gossip was a big entertainment, people were kind to one another and were generous to their neighbors. They also liked to celebrate everything. If a leaf fell from the tree, it was cause for celebration. So, Halloween was a big deal and, naturally, the town had a carnival for the kids.

Mom, who made all our clothes back then, also made our costumes for the Halloween carnival. She made a clown costume for me with big puffy balls down the front and poke-a-dot material with plenty of rickrack trim. It wasn’t the kind of clown from “It”, but more like Bozo the clown with a happy face. I was so excited about the costume and the carnival. I was pretty enthusiastic about the prospects of candy treats, too.

Remember these peanut butter taffy kisses you always got?

I had a great time at the carnival. I don’t remember much of what I did there, but suffice it to say, I was in kid heaven when we got home. I wanted to hurry up and get inside so I could see what treats were in my bag. In my enthusiasm to get out of the car, I forgot to wait for Pop to bring it to a stop. Keep in mind, in those days there were no seatbelts or special child seats to impede my exit from the car. I flung the door open and immediately feel to the ground. Pop brought the car to a screeching halt and ran back to me hollering, “Are you hurt?” He told me later he thought he had run over me with the car. I was completely fine, just a little scuffed up from the gravel in the driveway. Mom came running as Pop scooped me up and we all ran inside the house to see if any damage was done. I was fine, but there was a big lecture delivered by Pop about not leaping from a moving car. Of course, most of this was lost on me, a kid who was just eager to get to her Halloween treats. I’ll never forget that first Halloween memory, however, and the excitement I felt about the quirky holiday.

The picture I added is the only one I have of my sister and me when we lived in Pennsylvania. The next year we moved to North Carolina. I wore the clown costume one more time to go trick-or-treating with my sister and the neighborhood kids—no parental supervision and we made it out alive.

What do you remember about your first Halloween? Were you allowed to eat all your treats as you wanted, or did your parents dole out the treats to you in some reasonable manner? What was your first costume?

My only Halloween story from #TheWildingsSeries

Sarah J. McNeal

Author of Heartwarming Stories

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Monday, October 11, 2021

Indigenous Peoples Day by Sarah J. McNeal #TheWildingsSeries

October 11, 2021 is Indigenous Peoples Day

Today we honor the Indigenous Peoples, the first humans to enter this country and to whom we show our respect for their vigilance and courage in protecting the natural resources of this land. They remind us how to be humanitarians and they teach us how to care for the living beings both in the wilds and in our homes.

Through their dances they heal and teach about what was and what should be. They have endured many trials, and yet, they have persevered. In spite of everything, they have remained friends to all people and contributed to our mutual history.

Long before the rest of us came from our different countries and cultures, the Indigenous People were here looking after things, acting as stewards of the wild things and the wild places. Because of their devotion, we still have many of those wild places and wild beings to treasure from one generation to the next.

And so, on this day as well as every other day, I thank the Indigenous People for their stewardship, dedication, and courage. THANK YOU!

Until next time, all good things to your corner of the universe...

Sarah J. McNeal

Author of Heartwarming Stories

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