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 Life, Adventure, Family, Writing what else is there? Random thoughts. |
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WELCOME TO: GEMINI RISING   UPDATED INTRO 30 JUNE 2025: Just a little about me. I've been married for 33 years this past NOV and currently live in Southern California, but I grew up in New Hampshire. I've got 2 boys who are young adults. I work as a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. I enjoy my job a lot. Still. If you can believe that. I love to write. Thankfully both of my boys achieved Eagle Scout. My Scouting days are over and I'm back to focusing on my writing. I like to get out in nature, drink coffee and watch football. Here's a little bio about my zodiac. GEMINI: Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. The sign is linked with Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth, and its subjects tend to have the graces and faults of the young. When they are good, they are very attractive; when they are bad they are more the worse for being the charmers they are. Like children they are lively, and happy, if circumstances are right for them, or egocentric, imaginative and restless. Their good qualities are attractive and come easily to them. They are affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful towards the poor and suffering - provided none of the activities resulting from expressing these traits interferes too greatly with their own lives and comforts. Geminians can be successful in many walks of life though their general characteristics tend to make them unreliable. They are often skilled manipulators of language, in speech and writing, and may be: debaters, diplomats (though in politics they are more interested in theory than practice), orators, preachers (brilliant rather than profound), teachers, authors, poets, journalists, or lawyers. CURRENT BLOG PROJECT:
RULES: 1. Blog has to be more than 2 paragraphs, some people have tried putting a one-liner response. That won't cut it. 2.You need to respond at least once every week to other participant's blog posts. This is a 7 week activity= 7 blog responses within each of the weeks. It's fun getting to see what others noted that you might have missed or hadn't thought about. 3. You don't need to blog everyday, catch-ups are allowed if you want to go for the bigger prize award. But each entry must be a separate entry. So, if you do all 51, you'll have 51 entries. 4. Please tag me Lyn's a Witchy Woman   in your entry so I can keep track of your entries for the prizes.5. Posting in a book is preferred to keep the forum from being clogged. You can use any book you want. ALONG FOR THE RIDE: HOST: Lyn's a Witchy Woman Princess Megan Rose   and her wolf, PeytonSung'manitu  and his pet rock, Peachy AmyJo-July 2/3s done  SandraLynn  AmyJo-July 2/3s done WakeUpAndLive  and her dog SproutKrista  Jellyfish RECOGNIZATION: 10-24 Entries, MB plus 10K Awardicon 25-50 Entries, MB plus 25K Awardicon 51 Entries MB plus 50K Awardicon Merit Badges Collected from Virtual Blogging &Virtual Blogging Friends: ![Merit Badge in Let Dreams Take Wing
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To my upcoming virtual traveling blog companion. Dream big and fly high!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Let_Dreams_Take_Wing-2335469_1.gif) ![Merit Badge in Normal Is Boring
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here's to another week of creating adventures!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Normal_Is_Boring.gif) BLOG ACCOMPLISHMENTS: SEPTEMBER 2024: I participated in the
![Merit Badge in Nonfiction
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Congrats on your Honorable Mention in Blog Week Birthday Bastion 2024](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Nonfiction.gif) Big thanks to WakeUpAndLive for hosting the contest! OCTOBER 2024: I participated in the
![Merit Badge in Halloween
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Congratulations on completing the 13 Poetic Days of Halloween.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Halloween-2026567.gif) Big Thanks to Lyn's a Witchy Woman for hosting the contest!Find me at: WEBSITE: http://www.stephanieburkhart.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieBurkhartAuthor GOOD READS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4031660.Stephanie_Burkhart YOU TUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/botrina?feature=mhee  WARNING I intend to be open, honest, and forthright. No topic is off limits from religion to you name it, I'm going there. If you think you might be offended...back up now - this blog isn't for you. For those who "dare"  check out the "Gemini Rising..." 
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| Fun on Catalina Island This year for the 4th of July we made the decision to go back to Avalon, a city on Catalina Island and I as soon as we did, the vibes were happy. I'll to make a long story short - I want to say around 2000, Brent and I went to Avalon for the 4th and loved it. Everything was chill. There's no rushing around. It's all laid back. We stayed out by the golf course and watched the fireworks before the casino. It was the BEST 4th of July ever so we wanted to go back.  It took a bit, but we finally went back with baby Andrew I want to say around 2005. We had a blast. In 2006, Brent took Andy and the inlaws as I was pregnant with Joey and had to work the 4th of July. I believe we went back 2007-2012 but every year kept getting bigger and longer and the in-laws started coming along which put pressure on the vibes. 2012 the vibes exploded and Brent said we were never going back. And we didn't until now. The boat ride was smooth with a stop at 2 Harbors. To my surprise, it was not as packed as it had been in previous years. It's just me, Brent and Joey as Andy is on the island but on Emerald Bay doing his Boy Scout thing. He visited us when we arrived so that was nice and we got a pic with him. The first day we settled into our rented condo in Hamilton Cove. We like renting there because it's a very homey feeling. Mind you, prices have increased about 200-300 dollars since the aughts but we saved for it with a vacation fund. There's only 1 Vons now but it's a mega Vons (for Avalon) and it's still busy. We got some food stuffs for b'fast mainly and then had a nice dinner at the Buffalo Nickel. Yesterday, we walked around Avalon proper looking for Catalina shirts and souvenirs. I got my step count in which I was happy about. A few more people milling around. The USC Marching band gave an hour concert in Wigley Square which I loved! I love live music. I became a USC fan because of the marching band. I went to a USC/UCLA football game in 1999 when Carson Palmer was the QB for USC at the Rose bowl. I wore USC colors unknowingly, but neither college really spoke to me. When Brent and I went back with Andy in 2005 or was it 2004? and saw the Golf cart parade that's what made me a USC fan. The marching band was at the beginning of the parade and was immediately impressed. I just loved the music, the marching, the fun, etc. A USC fan was born that day. I started following their football games and realized that I could afford USC college football tickets. I usually bought single games or a mini package. I got season tickets in 2018 and I just bought season tickets for the 2025 season. Mind you, prices have gone up on the games, too, so I saved so I could afford it. That and I hit on the daily 3 and 4 a couple of times during the springtime! Thank goodness for Lotto! More thoughts later... For Now - Happy 4th of July!  |
| Well, I’d never been to Arkansas before, but I knew someone in the Army from there. Lyn's a Witchy Woman thought it would be a great idea to visit these botanical gardens at the University of Arkansas in Hot Springs and the party bus got rolling toward Arkansas with all the usual suspects: Princess Megan Rose Sung'manitu AmyJo-July 2/3s done SandraLynn AmyJo-July 2/3s done Richard ~ Looking for Luck!  WakeUpAndLive Krista Jellyfish Noisy Wren  Princess Megan Rose brought Petyon the Wolf and Sung'manitu brought his pet rock, “Peachy.”Me, I brought my Instagram account. Gotta put my pictures somewhere. The party bus drove for 2 days straight and we made it time for the 4th of July. Jellyfish couldn’t wait to see real American fireworks. Krista was already humming patriotic music. God Bless America! Noisy Wren was not impressed with the bus driver. He had a bad habit of chewing tobacco and spitting it out the window. She thought that was gross. So we got to the gardens and all signed up for the Golf Cart tour. I dunno how we did it, but we all packed into 10 seat golf cart. Peyton sat in the front next to the driver like a good wolf, and they gave him the dog rate - $5.00. Needless to say when the golf cart hit a rut, we all bounced up in the air. AmyJo-July 2/3s done wanted to find the hot springs. I didn’t think there was any in the gardens, but I kept my mouth shut. Didn’t want to bust her bubble. The gardens were surrounded by a lake, and honestly, they reminded me of the gorges in the Fingers Lakes region of New York. It was really green this time of year. Pine trees lined the forest, their large canopies keeping us shaded. The scent of earthy pine cones filled the air. We drove past waterfalls and brooks. There wasn't a tree that wasn't a pine tree. In fact, it was pretty piney. I got some great pictures for my Instagram. Sung'manitu said Peachy wanted to play in the water, but honestly, that wasn’t a good idea. Peachy could get lost. Lyn's a Witchy Woman kept telling the driver to take us to the Anthony Chapel but he didn’t know where it was. And English was not his first language. Finally, he took a wrong turn and we saw it in the distance. Then boom! The golf cart hit a rut, went up in the air, came down on a tree branch and got three flat tires. Lyn's a Witchy Woman herded us like cats (Peyton and Peachy were offended again) and we went and saw the chapel. The inside buttresses reminded me of knights who cross their swords so the wedding couple can walk underneath them as they leave the church. Richard ~ Looking for Luck! helped the driver put the spares on (and don’t ask me where the spares came from because I didn’t think there was any extra room on that golf cart and we drove really slow back to the entrance. When we got there, there were a bunch of food trucks and we stuffed ourselves silly. Afterwards, we mixed and mingled with the locals and when it got dark, we watched the fireworks while listening to the USC marching band play patriotic from my Iphone. Can’t wait to see where the party bus takes us in California. |
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