Sandra Heska King

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10 Things I Learned in October

November 2, 2016 By Sandra Heska King

ocean-sunrise

 

1. I learned that it doesn’t matter if you move cross-country under cover with the Poet’s Protection Program, Tweetspeak Poetry will dare to track you down.

2. I learned that I can survive and even thrive in a small space without a lot of stuff.

3. I learned that breaking and binding sometimes go together. For the first time in almost 30 years, our immediate family has been separated by more than a few miles. Yet we’ve come to understand and appreciate how close we are in heart.

4. I learned that it really is possible sometimes to blitz out an article/essay in a couple hours and find out it’s publishable with only minor edits.

5. I learned that if you ask God for a lake, He sometimes gives you a whole ocean–at least for a season.

6. I learned that alligators have the ability to produce male or female offspring at will through something called “temperature dependent sex determination. Depending on if mama places her nest in sun or shade, she can hatch out the gender needed for a particular area. I learned that young alligators have yellow stripes on their tails and that adults have dark stripes. Alligators can go through 2000-3000 teeth in a lifetime, and an adult may need to eat only six times a year. (I hope any of my close encounters are with ones who are toothless and have recently eaten.)

7. I learned that I might see wild parrots or parakeets here in South Florida. In fact, I think I saw and heard a flock of the latter. I’m on a mission for photos. (I also learned a group of parrots is also called a pandemonium.)

8. I learned how to grip a golf club so I might not always be the caboose on the miniature score card.

9. I learned that Siri is my best friend.

10. And I learned about the Curse of the Billy Goat. According to Wikipedia, Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis called it down on the Chicago Cubs franchise in 1945 because the odor of his pet goat, Murphy, was supposedly bothering other fans. “Sianis was asked to leave Wrigley Field, the Cubs’ home ballpark, during game four of the 1945 World Series. Outraged, Sianis allegedly declared, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more,” which has been interpreted to mean that either the Cubs would never win another National League pennant or that they would never again win a World Series.”

I also learned that the Cubs lost the 1945 World Series to “my” Detroit Tigers and have not won a World Series Championship since they beat the Tigers in 1908–which is the year in which my so-called, once-started-writing novel takes place would take place.

I have to say that since “my” Tigers didn’t make it this year, I’m invoking the Curse of Rocky Colavito. And maybe it would help to give a little money to Heifer International.

 

ocean-sunrise-2

 

 

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Comments

  1. Donna Falcone says

    November 3, 2016 at 7:21 am

    This sure has a whole lot of learning in it!
    #1 cracked me up!
    And the aligators, I know right? Gender is determined by climate! That blew my mind.
    Many blessings to you and Dennis, and your whole family, as you move through this moving move. 😉

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 5, 2016 at 2:16 pm

      Ha. Now #1 becomes a little more clear…

      And yes. Who knew about alligators. What surprised me down here was that I thought natives would just shrug them off–like we Michiganders do about some of our native wildlife. I mean I did chase down a coyote so he’d pose for me. But they really aren’t–at least the ones I’ve encountered. They reinterate… they are careful when they walk their small dogs… don’t go near the edge of the water…

      I can’t wait to find a place for my mandala…

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This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at This is called a sweetheart plant. I bought it at a farmers market in Ponte Vedra in Feb 2023. And it hasn’t done a thing except not die. I did repot it a few months back just cuz I thought it might need it. A few days ago I noticed it was sprouting a sprout. And today—10 days after having my aortic valve replaced and the day after having a loop recorder inserted—it has UNFURLED!!! A new heart. 🩷
Looking west this morning. “Sometime, enough o Looking west this morning. 

“Sometime, enough of us should plan
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So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it So after 13 years of checkups and annual echos, it's finally come to this. One week from today I will have my aortic valve replaced. Eeeek! I know it's done all the time--piece of cake. But that's to other people. 😂 Speaking of cake, I've always hoped to blow out 100 candles (at least), and I keep singing this line in my head...

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Hi! Long time, no post. So… I grew this from a Hi! Long time, no post. So…

I grew this from a pineapple top. We repotted it again over the weekend. Still no fruit, though. Our neighbor has a baby growing on a small plant, though. What’s up with that?

(Also, I do not have a green thumb. Currently the only things still living are this, an avocado, and a little Boston fern.)
We got out here early today, but it was already so We got out here early today, but it was already soooooo hot (later on the"feels like" was 110), and I was just plodding one foot in front of the other wishing I was still in bed. There was not much to see--except the crane family, some blackbirds, a dove. And it was buggy. And a deer fly bit me on the forearm, and it swelled up, and I still have a 1- x 3-inch reddened area. But then... a pink parade.
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Photo taken in Israel, 2022.
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