seasons – pamelascanepa

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Some of you may be warming by a fire, but I’m drinking iced coffee with the ceiling fans going today. Grab a cup of iced or hot energy and pull up a chair!

Yes, it’s 75 degrees today in Jacksonville, Florida, and I’m getting ready to have a pedicure in a little while. We had a cool spell last week, but this weekend feels sort of like Spring. We do have a few fall colors, though.

And….this is what Christmas time looks like for us! (taken at 5 p.m.)

I’ve been considering going a little bit minimalist this Christmas. The idea of minimalism appeals to me right now as I ponder retirement and how little I have for emergencies or the desired vacation abroad. I get by fine, but I could really make a difference for myself if I just don’t buy the ugly Christmas sweater I was browsing last night.

Not me:

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

Why should I pay 20 or even 10 dollars for something I would only wear once a year? I shouldn’t. Nor do I need to buy two or more gifts for everyone. Families go through this, too. I don’t have a big family, but buying for people I haven’t seen in four years isn’t easy, so I don’t see spending too much. If they tell you the exact gift they want, where is the surprise? What am I saying with this gift? Handmade or even little gifts with a personal touch are much better than the latest gadget. A friend posted about this on social media, and I totally agree with her sentiments.

I was going to go to a holiday event last night but we had a refrigerator replacement delivered, something that is a necessity. It’s smaller than the old one (minimalism), but it works! I plan to go to church in the morning where there will be Christmas music, and I think that will help set the seasonal mood…not for shopping, but for peace and kindness.

Hopefully, the minimalist spirit will stay with me. It could just be the thing to supplement my retirement savings plan!

Have a great week, everyone!

Imagine yourself in a beautiful vacation beach town. Photo taken in 2015.

I love to watch speculative and sci-fi fiction, things which also start with “S” and are quite fitting for this post. San Junipero was an episode of Black Mirror, a show that covers possibilities in technology in the near future and is usually very dark and sardonic. This particular episode covered what may transpire in a person’s end of life, and it had me crying at the end. At the start of the episode, I didn’t even see what it had to do with modern or future technology. The characters were at a vacation town in the 1980s, after all. Boy, there was much more beneath the surface.

This episode reminded me of a senior woman from my church that I visit occasionally. She is in assisted living. Sometimes her mind doesn’t seem like it is in the present. But I can say, she is well taken care of where she is, and always seems to find a smile at some point. If I see her and her mind is in the past, there is always the possibility she is simply reliving a happier time. How exactly that ties in with the episode I won’t explain in detail, but these visits also make me think a lot about the phases of one’s life. After all, everything has a beginning and an end. The end can be quick or can take a while. Most important is the quality of life and having your mind in a grateful mindset. I am in awe of her ability to conjure a smile even when she seems tired.

San Junipero is about two friends seeking happiness. I should not spoil it for you, but yes, it made me bawl and it gave me happy goose bumps.

Which brings me to this quote of a song that borrows from a Bible passage:

“To everything there is a season,…

and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

What does the Bible have to do with speculative fiction? I like to ponder things that some consider impossible, for example, the resurrection. I believe there are so many possibilities of what the afterlife may be like; I also believe time is fluid. I tend to stay very busy, but if it was time to rest, I hope I’d simply enjoy the passing hours the best I could. I also hope, when my body is no longer capable of keeping up, that my mind will delight me or at least take me to interesting places.

**The AtoZ Challenge theme for my blog is “Who I am.” Yes, it’s wide open. In April, I will blog from A to Z to include little tidbits about me, poems I’ll share, and stories. Each day I will write something based on the next letter in the alphabet. It’s been fun so far, yet it has really given me a chance to pause for reflection as well.

Want to know more about the A-Z blog challenge? Visit http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com