Author Archives: lifelessons

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

Name-Dropping Confessions #2–By Ann O’Neal Garcia

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My challenge was to tell us about an unusual meeting with a famous person. This is my friend Ann O’neal Garcia’s description of her meeting with Ursula K. Le Guin:

I met Ursula leGuinn at a garden party maybe 7 yrs ago hosted by a mutual friend who was in Ursula’s book club. So we were introduced and my mutual friend said, “Ursula, Ann is a fantastic writer. Perhaps you could read something she’s written ” Ursula’s little tiny old face hardened. Her lips became a skinny red dash, her eyes shut tightly for a moment. She didn’t answer. She walked away and talked with a mutual acquaintance. I was hurt and embarrassed but I knew it was my friend who sounded the death knell. You don’t ask a famous writer who’s living out her last years on earth if she’d like to read another damned hopeful writer’s efforts! I felt how this must have felt. I probably would do the same thing if I were old and famous. I’m old now but not the other. But still .. I forgive her with all my heart.

And, more from Ann: I saw Roy Rogers and Dale Evans perform at Cheyenne frontier days in the 80’s? Not sure of date. It was just embarrassing. They sang a bit and mostly talked about Christianity. The sparse crowd slipped out, little by little.

Now…tell us yours!!! Once I’ve heard enough of yours to be satisfied, I’ll tell you mine.

Name-Dropping Confessions #1, May 4, 2025

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:The challenge was to tell us about an unusual meeting with a famous person—giving as many details as possible!  Here are a few answers given in the comments section of the blog I published the prompt in. If you have a longer story to tell, please put it in a blog and send me a link in comments. Once my appetite for stories has been partially sated, I’ll tell you mine. It just awaits telling.  Here are a few early answers to the prompt;

3h ago I Walk with My Dogs

I consider my entire life to be a bizarre circumstance. I met Sir Edmund Hillary at Arapaho Basin. We were in line for hamburgers being grilled over a woodfire halfway down the mountain.

……………….

3h ago serial monography: forgottenman’s ruminations

I’ve only met one – Duncan Renaldo! Who, you ask? Better known to my generation as The Cisco Kid. I even did a lil blog about my encounter. (Read about Forgottenman’s interesting encounter, with a picture, by clicking on the link below:

https://okcforgottenman.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/the-day-the-cisco-kid-rode-into-town/

………………

Tiffany Arp-Daleo has a very interesting twist at the end of her story:

I’ve met a few, but maybe the most bizarre is Greg Douglas, the guitarist for the Steve Miller Band. My ex was the sound guy for USO shows, he befriended Greg so we all hung out a bit, he was all set to play guitar at our wedding, but I called off the wedding the day before, never saw  Greg again!
Now, tell us yours!!!!

Name Dropping! (Tell us about your most interesting encounter with a famous person.)

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A chance encounter with a name led me to memories of bizarre encounters with two famous figures from the sixties and seventies–one who was notorious and the other who was a legend.   Who were they? I’ll tell you my story if you’ll tell me yours. 

To participate, tell us the name of the most famous person you have ever met under bizarre circumstances. Then tell us your story.

“Sing” for SOCS If Only I Could Play Guitar, May 3, 2025

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The bromeliads looked perfect in the Oriental lacquer cup in front of the guitar,

If Only I Could Play Guitar

At times when now I only hum,
I’d pull out my guitar and strum;
and by the time that I’d be done,
completing my last pluck and run,
perhaps whoever sees and hears
would be reduced to sobs and tears
by every perfect tone and note,
the sentiments that I emote,
and tender lyrics that they knew
because of course I wrote them, too.

But I would be so humble still,
(my hubris would be less than nil)
that when they laud me at the Grammys,
I’ll be home curled up in my jammies—
still unaffected by my fame,
astonished at my new acclaim!

And when Bob Dylan asks me if
I’d like to come and share a riff,
of course I will not turn him down.
In spite of all my new renown,
I’ll take the time to show him some
new ways I’ve found to pick and strum.

Mick Jagger would hang out with me
(and Leo Kottke, probably.)
We’d get together to sing and jam.
The whole world would know who I am!
My fame would spread to presidents
and queens and Knob Hill residents.
I’d be so busy that I fear
my writing would fall in arrears.
I might forget to feed my dog,
forsake my friends, neglect my blog.

So all things taken to account,
as negatives begin to mount,
and though I know that I’d go far
should I decide to play guitar,
I’ve penned a note unto myself,
“Put that guitar back on the shelf!!!”

For SOCS the prompt is “sing.”

“In The Pink” for the Weekly Prompts Color Challenge, May 3, 2025

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I admit, I was married in hot pink suede cowboy boots!  The two gals on the right standing behind me came out to California from Wyoming for the wedding.  We went to school together from 1st through 12th grade~

The Weekly Prompts Color Challenge  is pink.

Mystery Solved. Thanks, Google

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I figured out what my strange night visitor was.  It was a cacomistle!!! This is exactly what it sounded like and if you hear it, you’ll see why i was so mistified!!!! Go HERE to hear it. Isn’t this the oddest animal sound you’ve ever heard? It is also called a Mexican ring-tailed cat, but it is related to a raccoon, not a cat. I found a web discussion from 2018 where a resident of Chapala had seen and photographed a cacomistle in a tree near their home, so I guess they have been seen here, albeit rarely as they are more common to Central America. Fascinating. I hope the one I heard stays safe and high up in the tree away from the dogs. Perhaps it will move on. I’ll continue to put them in for a few nights until I hear no nore midnight clicks and squeals.

To see my original post leading up to this one, go HERE.

But…now a further solution to the mystery.  It seems coatimundis make similar sounds.  Go HERE to hear them.

Procyonidae – cacomistle, coatis, raccoons, ringtails

White-nosed CoatiThere are 18 species of small to medium-sized species in this family. They are found in North, Central, and South America. They have medium to long tails, brown to gray fur, pointed noses, and rounded or pointed ears. Many species have masked faces and ringed tails. The species in this order are omnivores. They eat a fruit, berries, seeds, small mammals, birds, eggs, fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians. All of the species in this family can climb trees. Some species are social and live in groups, other species are solitary and live alone.

 

 

 

Life With Dogs

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2:10 A.M., May 2, 2025
Dogs just woke me up ten minutes or so ago. Barking at some very very strange animal sound…I can’t even figure out what it might have been. Got Coco in but Morrie plugged up the space of the door so Zoey couldn’t get in. I let Morrie in through doggie domain but by then Zoey was down in garden again, barking. Finally got Zoey in my dropping treats into dishes in doggie domain and slammed the door.Now Zoey is locked in doggie domain and Morrie and Coco in bed with me with screens shut so they can’t get out through the bars of the security bars.  Now animal back again..strangest sound like a loud chirring..I don’t think a bird. What is it?
Now sounds like someone scrubbing something off a window glass. So strange.

Now a churring and a sort of wheezing and slight pounding. I cannot figure out what it is.
and a waaa waaa waa sound. Going on constantly now. What is it?:??”?????

02:58 AM
OMG now a screeching.. It is never going to stop. JUST WOKE up the dogs again. It’s kept me awake for nearly an hour.
Guess I have to go outside to see what it is.
I’ve shut doors so dogs can’t get out.
Coco is barking from inside the sliding glass door of my room..Now he’s jumped up on my lap. Silent outside

03:29 AM
I had to get up. I couldn’t breathe.
Looks for sure like I won’t go to the Writers group tomorrow. Perhaps I can go down to hammocks and sleep. It is at least quiet, finally, outside. Lights on terrace are on but would need to go out in the doggie domain to turn them off and don’t want to disturb Zoey.

Life with dogs!

3:49 AM

Finishing up this blog. Guess I’ll try to sleep on the sofa.

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!! Go HERE to discover who has been making all that strange noise.

Mind Twisters, For Fibbing Friday, May 2, 2025

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For Fibbing Friday, the task at hand is:

1.  What is a Lover’s Knot? A menage a trois gone wrong.
2.  Where is the Milky Way? The Freeway after a collision between a milk truck and a semi carrying a load of candy bars. 
3.  What is a belly flop? The result of a failed diet.
4.  Why do they say ‘Break a leg’ before a performer goes on stage? Sour grapes.
5.  What is a goof ball? A football thrown or carried over the opponent’s goal line by mistake.
6.  What is two for his heels and one for his nob? (Remember: FAMILY FRIENDLY!!!!!) A pair of shoes and a matching hat.
7.  Why should every woman have a LBD? Because they are out of BLTs.
8.  What is an Updo? A face lift.
9.  What do pearl, silverskin and button have in common? Two types of onions and a type of mushroom..
10. Why does the rain in Spain stay mainly in the plain? Because it has a speech impediment.

Theater, for MVB, May 1, 2025

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Opening Night at the Theater with a Famous Screen Legend’s Guest Appearance


photo by Jordhan Madec on Unsplash. Used with permission

Opening Night at the Theater
with a Famous Screen Legend’s Guest Appearance

There’s an air of raw excitement in the theater tonight.
The ingenues are nervous and the grand dame wants to fight.
Her makeup isn’t done right and her hairdo is a fright.
The set is way too yellow and the stage lights are too bright!

She regales them with stories of when she was at her height.
They wonder just how many great successes she will cite.
It is a frosty evening, yet they brave the cold wind’s bite
to stand out in the alley to escape the much worse plight

of the thirtieth retelling of the star’s first opening night.
The male lead finally gets here, but, alas, high as a kite.
The orchestra begins their opus, hoping to incite
the audience to wild applause as they get their first sight

of the famous lady, surrounded by pink light
that obscures those telltale wrinkles and a costume that’s too tight.
The ingenues are all in place, ready for the fight,
waiting for the star to speak, then exit to the right.

Then all their minor lines they are ready to recite.
It will be a war of words, and they’re ready to fight.
This era, it will be their turn the audience to excite.
Will they outshine the brightest star? Yes, perhaps they might!

The prompt today for MVB is “Theater.”

18 Word Story, May 1, 2025

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With the sale of the company completed, the chairman’s gobbledegook had been heard for the last time. Celebration!!!!!

For “Can You Tell a Story In. . . ”  the assignment was: Can you tell a story in 18 words using the following words in it somewhere: GOBBLEDEGOOK CHAIRMAN SALE.