Sharing My World – April 6, 2020

Felt like playing along with Melanie today, and sharing some of my world.

If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make them? Because that’s the harder way to learn. It usually involves some cleanup or redoing or apologizing. My question is, if regular people can learn from their mistakes, why can’t our government learn from its mistakes?

How do we know that pleasure is good and pain is bad? Because pleasure doesn’t hurt, and pain does? Hurting isn’t good, so pain isn’t good. Pleasure usually involves laughing or joy or one of those kind of things that feel good.

What problem or situation did TV / movies make you think would be common, but when you grew up you found out it wasn’t?  Beaver Cleaver’s mom wasn’t real. Neither was Ajax’s White Tornado – Never has a man on a white horse ridden into my house and magically made it sparkling clean.

If you drive, do you speed when no one is watching?   Have you ever run a red light late at night on purpose, particularly if it doesn’t seem to change very quickly?   If you don’t drive, what minor law may you have broken? Problem is, you never know when someone is watching. I have been known to speed, but I try to keep it within 5 mph of the posted limit. Someone told me that was safe. No, I don’t run red lights on purpose – you never know when someone might appear or be watching.

There is always a gratitude question, and I am nearly always grateful for the same things. My kids, my furry kids, a roof over my head with walls to keep out the cold, my friends – although in these days we’re not spending time together – my hobbies to keep me occupied. The knowledge that I have enough – not everything I could ever wish for, but enough. In these times, add to that internet shopping so we have a chance of keeping ourselves supplied with things we need. Although that also includes a gripe, because I’ve noticed some inordinately high prices for some items and/or shipping costs for some items. And how can toilet paper become an item that can’t be bought? Are people eating it?

Hello World

I’ve been avoiding posting, because, well, you know – politics and the raising of my ire and my inability to keep from spewing those words of ire all over the place, and nobody needs that right now – except, maybe, a plea for people to check the real facts instead of blindly accepting the alternate facts. Please?

In the meantime, I’m doing my bit for the economy – sitting in one of my comfy chairs (I have a couple of those), shopping online. When I can’t find grocery items I could use for a reasonable price – because greed seems to be showing from some online retailers – I shop for yarn. To use on my loom. Trying to convince myself that it’ll be okay to spend that money for items that might well end up being donated. Because – limited budget. But hey, you only live once, right? And yarn – well, it has a special attraction. And if I post something I’ve created that you’d like to have – well, just message me and we’ll talk.

I’m having urges to get outside and do some yard cleanup. Nothing major, you understand, just clear some of the debris out of some of the flower beds. I fully realize that a little of that and that urge will go away because that’s how it’s gotten to be in these older years, but sunshine on my back would be so nice. Except – I also require some warmth, and 35 to 40 degree days just don’t cut it for outside work. It’s April – it’s supposed to be warmer!  I say that every year, but Mother Nature just ignores me.

I recently finished my second Ruana – the garments Peruvian shepherds wore for warmth as they tended their herds. Those original Ruanas were a heavier wool garment, meant only for warmth, not for beauty. I’m trying to produce some that offer protection for cool breezes and also maybe a little beauty. I just finished this one yesterday.  

I think this will be perfect when there are cool breezes on warm spring and summer days. The yarn used is all cotton and tercel, which produce a soft weave that drapes nicely.

And now I have what I hope will grow up to be a tunic (shirt) on my loom. These dismal, virus-infected days required bright colors, to my  way  of  thinking.

I am hoping in these times that you have enough in your lives. I am hoping these times will pass sooner rather than later, and perhaps we will all have learned something from it. If not, it seems to me too many people are suffering to have gained nothing.

Times They Are A’Slowin

Life has taken a sudden change for this world. Suddenly we have time – for some, way too much time I imagine. And less money – that’s always been the way in my life. I’ve either had time or money, but never both at once. I worry for those who live check to check, as I did during my working years. I worry for those who thrive on being busy, and now have nothing to do. All we can do is take deep breaths in the safety of our homes or in our yards far away from other humans. And hang in there.

We can also think, as we purchase items we need, about the other people that might need the same items. Buy what you need for the near future – given some time, the stores will replenish their shelves. My last trip to a grocery store showed most things well stocked – except they had no paper products of any kind, and the bread shelves were slim pickings. Yesterday I checked Costco Online because I wanted some canned green beans for my dog who is a love chunk, with a little too much chunk. All of their canned vegetables were marked as “out of stock”. Really? Costco? Out of stock? Are people out there building forts with canned vegetables and packages of paper products?

For me, I have a good supply of yarn and that is something that is still available online. I shall weave my time away. Of course, I could be cleaning my house and I might get desperate enough to do that. Maybe a little yard work too while the days are sunny and not snowing or raining.

And books – thank heaven for e-books. I have resupplied my Kindle app, so I’m ready. Or TV, either via satellite or cable, or streaming. Endless number of shows available to be streamed.

Call your neighbors when you must venture to a store to see if they need anything. Or call just to see if they’re okay. Especially those of you who are younger and less likely to suffer loss of life if you get the virus.

Times are tough and likely to get tougher. Hopefully our country, our government, will be better prepared in the future. Hopefully, in this instance, they will learn from history. The failure to act sooner, to pretend it would all “fade away”, has cost us all. Remember that when you vote – remember the ones who took action quickly, and those who failed to do so.

In the meantime let me show you my most recent product from my loom, because I want to. This one has sold, but if you’d like a scarf, wrap, or shawl either warm for cold weather or lighter for cool days and evenings, let me know. I have some I’d be happy to show you.

Questions and Choices

Living brings about a lot of questions, and requires we make a lot of choices. Some of the questions and choices are much more serious than others, but I thought I’d share a few of those things that have been niggling at my brain for awhile.

I am not an instinctive cook. My daughter seems to do just fine without necessarily following a recipe – without a recipe, and sometimes with one, my dishes could be inedible. But – recipes bring up questions. They call for a clove of garlic, for instance – in my experience, cloves of garlic vary greatly in size, so if my cloves are quite small, should I increase the number? How big is a “medium” onion? Some of my celery stalks are quite skinny, does that matter? Some of my carrots are larger than others. Does it matter?

Why do people choose Bernie Sanders over Elizabeth Warren? Their ideologies are very close. Will this country ever really elect a woman for president?

Is the electoral college of any value in today’s world?

How did this country ever vote to make Trump president? When did character and integrity quit meaning something?

Why is one of my cats afraid of his shadow, and the other overly talkative?

What am I going to do with all the items I’m weaving? One comes off the loom, another goes on. When I start something new, I am obsessive. Why is that?

But – the biggest question of all – where is my gardener, my housekeeper, my masseuse? I’m sure I was meant to have one of each. That would certainly be my choice.

So – off that tangent, on to another. A few of my recent woven pieces, just because I have them and feel like sharing:

Galveston – Driving Tour

I skipped our driving tour, which we took a couple of days ago. First were the tree carvings:

A building that attracted my attention, but I have no idea what it was/is

And several of the old manses, constructed largely during the 1890s, I believe. I’m reading a book of the history of Galveston Island but haven’t gotten quite that far yet. I no longer remember whose homes these were, but will post the signs when there were signs. Otherwise, I was just amazed at the money that some of the citizens of the Island had “back in the day”.

This last one was an Episcopal church.

And that was our driving tour, which ended at Gumbo’s for lunch. I had fish tacos:

Followed by a glass of wine on our balcony as the sun set

That photo was taken by Susan.

Galveston — Ships and Sunset

Friday was our first sunny day – a wonderful greeting when we crawled out of our beds.

After breakfast, we climbed into the car and toured the island’s ends. First, the east end, where we could see the ships that are always on the horizon when we look out our front window up a bit closer. They’re lined up, waiting to get into the port of Galveston.

Everywhere you look – the ships.

After the east end beaches, we visited Seawolf Park on Pelican Island, where we walked out to the end of the pier, reading the signs about not feeding the dolphins and saving the sea turtles

And got a closer view of the sunken concrete ship, Selma. Selma sunk in 1920, and for awhile in the 1940s Frenchy LaGrande lived aboard her, history says.

After coming home for a nap and lunch, we headed to the west end of the island in search of a good place for dinner and to watch the sunset. We did not find a place for dinner – the far west end of the island appears to be where all the new residential areas are being developed. Lovely homes, but built on what appears to be filled marshlands with some close to the Gulf and others with walkways built over the marsh to the beach. We did find a lovely sunset.

We had company

Then back towards home looking for dinner – we ended up a couple of blocks east of our place because all of the restaurants along the Mardi Gras parade route were packed – the length of the parade route on Seawall Boulevard had campers and various vehicles parked along it, presumably to have a close-up view of the parades today. We had shrimp cooked in various ways at Benno’s Cajun restaurant. No photos – too hungry to think of taking a picture before eating.

Today – a balcony on The Strand to watch a parade, or two, if we can fight the crowds, then dinner on the Boulevard to watch the evening parade.

Galveston – Wednesday

We woke to a cloudy day, but comfortable temperature-wise, and decided a walk on the beach was in order after breakfast.

Then down to The Strand across the Island

Where I made a friend at the chocolate shop (and of course we bought just a little chocolate)

Time for dinner

Inside, the lighting:

Dinner was a salad and fried oysters and shrimp with onion rings and fries. Delicious!

Oh my!! It’s now pouring down rain outside, so maybe if we have an Irish Coffee, it’ll stop before we need to walk to our car.

As we drink the coffee we watch the ships come into port

And look at the statue at the end of Pier 21

The rain did not stop, so Susan ran to the car and came back to pick us up. She was drenched, we were dry and feeling coddled.

Tomorrow – a tour of the carved trees and some of the old mansions on the Island.