Share Your World – 6/14/21

Sharing my World seems like a fun idea this morning – my forever search for ways to avoid doing household chores, you know. I should perhaps warn you all that I’m trying a new blog editor app, because WordPress is continuing to fail to give me the ability to actually type a post when I go to my blog on their website – it’s been that way for awhile now. So here goes, we’ll see how this works!

What did you learn the hard way? It would probably be easier to answer “what didn’t you learn the hard way”. I seem to choose the hard way in everything. Apparently I’m a very slow learner.

Which activities make you lose track of time? Anything I’m really interested in – reading, browsing the internet, weaving, sitting pondering the state of the world – joke, that one. Rarely do I ponder the state of the world these days. It’s just too sad.

Why do we seem to think of others the most after they’re gone? Good question. The answer would probably be the same for why we always portray others as much bigger in life than they were, or much better, or much anything else positive after they’ve gone than we did when they were alive.

Is it possible to know the truth without challenging it first? My first thought about this question is a question: What is truth? It seems in this country in this time there are multiple truths, each dependent upon the individual and what he/she chooses to recognize as truth. I think “truth” has become elusive – but I do believe that when we hear or read something purported to be truth we should investigate it, so I guess my answer would be yes, truth should be challenged. Or “facts” should be challenged. The problem with that thought is that it seems one can find verification of almost any “fact/truth” if you look hard enough – which just gets us back to square one – truth is what you decide it is.

GRATITUDE SECTION (always optional)

Please feel free to share your gratitude with everyone! We can all use a boost in spirits from time to time! Ahhh, gratitude. I have people I love around me, I have my furry girls around me, I have a roof over my head and food to eat. I have the freedom of choice. I have the freedom of movement. I have an upcoming vacation on the coast with my family – family time and ocean time. Our gardens are growing and developing their offerings.

I have enough.

I’m Having a Tantrum

So. Here it goes. The news last night reported that we have had 200 mass shootings in this country in this year, the year of 2021. The year for which I held so much hope. And Google just told me we have had 232 of them. So much better!

I don’t understand. I just don’t understand. How can we humans, we people, we residents of this United States – oh wait! That brings up a whole ‘nother thought – be so tolerant of the stupidity that is happening around us? Elected officials still saying Trump won the election. Elected officials demanding yet another audit of the election results in Arizona. Elected officials making it their purpose in life, their complete goal, to block anything this president proposes. That, of course, is not new. It was the same as it was in 2008 and 2012, and, oh my gosh – it was the very same person initiating the whole blocking thing. “United” States? Hardly. There is no unity going on in this country right now.

People, please tell me how you can tolerate 232 mass shootings in less than six months of a year. Please tell me how you can tolerate the racism – the current anger towards Jews, Asians, Blacks, anyone that seems to not fit into the mold required by the white supremicists. Because that’s what I’m seeing – a frightening surge of white supremacy, and man, I’m thinking we are anything but supreme. Smart, we are not. Wise, we are not. Tolerant, we are not.

Then there are all the complaints about fake news – yet, we tolerate our politicians who are spouting what is clearly fake news. And then we turn around and re-elect those same politicians, the ones who are promoting the dysfunction of our government. And – we elect someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and we pass laws that make it harder for people to vote, and we pass laws that infringe on a woman’s right to control her body, and we applaud the efforts of the right to life people but yet we murder people in our prisons and that’s okay, and I don’t see the right to life people offering any options to help out those unborn fetuses once they’re born to moms who are unable/incapable/unwilling to raise them, and we perpetrate hatred and unkindness and intolerance, and man oh man! What are we? What have we become?

As to fake news – I cannot disagree that too often the media hypes the sensational aspects of what’s going on but, on the other hand, we just soak it up, don’t we? We buy magazines and newspapers with sensational headlines, we watch TV shows and movies with too much violence – we encourage the very thing we condemn. And then there’s those politicians/activists/regular folk that promote the fake, the false, that absorb the lies that are told and pass them on.

And all of this makes me glad I am old, because people, I would not want to be young and face 70 or 80 or 90 years of life in a world like this one has become/is becoming. People, I do not like green eggs and ham, people I do not like the hyper-sensitivity we exhibit on the one hand, and the complete intolerance we exhibit on the other hand. And so I stay inside my home, anti-social and isolated, because I feel the need to hide from the world out there. I do not wish to participate.

I did warn you that I was having a tantrum, didn’t I?

We Come and We Go

I’ve been thinking about a blog post for a few days now. Loose thoughts, not very cohesive – undoubtedly a post that will largely be stream of consciousness, words coming out of the brain as they find their way into the brain. I’ve been thinking about how so many of the bloggers I followed when I first began this journey back in about 2009 – with a host other than WordPress for the first three years – how those bloggers have disappeared from the scene. There are a few remaining, stalwart souls that they are.

I first began my blog journey to keep family and friends apprised of our activities when my husband and I went on a summer trip to visit my brother and his wife in Minnesota, meandering thought the states between our home in Oregon and Minnesota at a pace we chose on a daily basis. No hurry, no worry. My blog has undergone many changes, but has never had a real plan, a real format, a real schedule. Because then it would become a job, work, something to be resisted.

I’ve been thinking about how the only real constant in this life is the change – change in large ways, small ways, in-between ways, but always there is change. For better or worse. It comes and it goes, just as we bloggers come and go.

I’m finding myself wanting to be a hermit, frustrated with the way our society is going, frustrated with the way truth, reality, has become so ambiguous, so difficult to determine. Frustrated with not being able to trust – wary of everything we hear and read. Frustrated with how everything has become so politicized. So labeled. Maybe that desire has contributed to my lack of posting – I’m not sure. I am weary of writing posts ranting and raving, yet I am also weary of forced cheer, the “let’s all only post happy things” movement I see so frequently on Facebook.
So here I am, on a bit of a rant.

Happy things: 1) I am working on starting an Etsy shop for my weaving. It’s slow going, because I’m having problems getting as enthused as I’d like to be. Perhaps a bit of that hermit thing affecting my energy. I’m critical of much of what I’m done, perhaps more than I should be, and that slows me down.

2) my daughter’s vegetable gardens are flourishing, with the peas already in bloom, a couple of the tomato plants showing little yellow flowers, and a Clary Sage that serves no purpose but is vigorous and lovely.

3) I have planted some shrubs and some flowers; tiny things yet, as most of them were purchased online, but small areas of flower and shrub gardens are happening.

4) While my Shasta’s body is showing her age, her eyes and ears are alert and filled with love. Because dogs are love.

5) WordPress has been fighting me all the way this morning, not wanting to allow me to do a post on the website on my laptop, making it difficult to find the photos I want – but I have persevered and managed to get through it. That warrants a cup of tea!

All of which is a reminder that, despite the comings and goings of things in our lives, I have

Questions are Meant to be Answered

I first saw this post on Melanie’s blog, but she found it on A Guy Called Bloke’s blog. These questions are apparently on a road trip, and I decided to try to answer them because it’s a really good way to avoid what I should be doing – like vacuuming, dusting – you know, that kind of thing.

When was the last time you were totally lost?
[Be this physically, mentally, emotionally or so on, interpretation is yours]

Physically – every time I try to go someplace new without proper directions. I have no sense of direction. Emotionally – a few times in my youth, but that does not need to be elaborated upon. Mentally – now. When I try to understand what on earth has been and is going on in this country.

Do you think that we as viewers of the entertainment industry have much higher and perhaps unrealistic expectations of the content that we read, watch, or listen to today in comparison to previous years and or generations?

I’m not sure our expectations are any more unreal than they have ever been, although we might be a bit harder to please now than we were in the early days of movies and television.

Does Money ‘Really’ make us happy or is that just a myth and more importantly it is ‘what you do with it’ that makes you happier?

Money can’t buy happiness, it says in fine print. I agree, it cannot, but it can make life a whole lot easier. Although having too much of it probably complicates issues. For some, what they do with their money can make them happier. For others, maybe not.

How important is being right to you? I like to know what I’m talking about, but being right is all a matter of opinion in many instances. I guess my answer would be that I try to do enough research when I express an opinion on most topics to make sure my facts are right, but I recognize my right is not always what others view as right. That isn’t really answering the question, is it?

How often do you find yourself completely confused with life and the way it is changing and has changed over the last ten or twenty years? Quite often lately. I’m confused with how so many people can believe so many things that are factually not true. But I think I’m more frustrated with things now than I am confused.

When out shopping and carrying your goods or groceries which do you prefer to use more often – paper or plastic bags [reusable] or cotton totes or something else? I prefer reusable bags and my Trader Joe’s reusable bags which I guess are a kind of woven plastic, are my favorites. Unfortunately, in these times of Covid, what bags I get to use are very often not my choice since so many stores will not allow their cashiers to touch my reusable bags.

How many emails do you get a day [roughly] and from who do you get the most? Probably 35-50. Most are from people who want me to buy their products – websites from whom I’ve purchased, or those Facebook spies who pay attention to what I’m paying attention to. They really need to just back off though – quite often I clicked on that ad only because I was curious, not serious about actually buying.

Have you ever made for yourself ‘homemade wine/spirits’ and if so what was it made from and how was it? Nope. Some things are not meant for me to try to reproduce.

In your opinion and from no ‘fixed time period’, what have been in your eyes the top 5 most memorable television series you have ever watched and what made them special to you? Oh gosh. Too many years of too many shows. I think the show that stuck with me and that I would rate as a very top show was The West Wing. Oh if that could only be today’s reality.

What’s wrong with today’s music as opposed to the music of your yesterday’s – do you consider the music now to be far worse or greatly improved and why? Well, being an old person, for me to try to say what’s “wrong” with it would just be wrong. I’m in no position to try to be a judge and jury. However, I will say this – in every generation of music there has been some I like, and some I don’t want to listen to.

Does world history really matter to our daily lives – is it that important – l mean it’s not like we can change anything right – what do you think? Oh my, yes, world history matters in our daily lives. If we were smart enough, we could learn from history, and maybe even not repeat the many mistakes that have been made over the years. What will be in future history books, I fear, is many examples of how we failed to learn from history.

Do you believe that a good night’s sleep and waking up refreshed the following day helps you make better decisions or worthier improvements to your life – or it makes no difference at all? Absolutely. Without a good night’s sleep I’m completely worthless, and you don’t want me making any choices or decisions that might affect you if I’m tired.

Look at that! I answered all those questions, more or less.

Sharing My World

I am sitting in the recliner if my silent home, with the black princess cat sleeping peacefully on the arm of the chair next to me, because that has become her morning routine, as I go through my morning routine of reading and responding to my mail. It is silent in my home because the other occupants have gone to work. The silence coupled with my lack of interest in doing anything constructive just now makes it seem the perfect time to share my world, as Melanie has suggested.

Which would you rather throw away: Love or Money? Money I think, because real love is harder to find and to keep. Then again – love will not fill the emptiness in your stomach, only in your heart. I guess the real question here then is, which is more important, to have an empty stomach or an empty heart? I have it! I’ll throw away money, but not all of the money, because I need to keep enough to fill my stomach and provide a roof over my head, and the love will keep my heart warm and keep me from becoming hardened and mean. Yes?

Do you believe you should do one thing a day that scares you? I believe I should challenge myself, but every single day? That might be a bit much, don’t you think? Also, I don’t think I am given the choice of something that scares me every day. So I’m going for doing something that scares me (something challenging) once a week. That seems a good compromise to me.

What’s the last thing you do at night? Go to sleep. I mean really, how else could you end a night?

If you could own a mythical creature (unicorn, phoenix, etc.), which one would you pick? (A nod to the soon ending 2021 A-Z Blogging Challenge, my topic this year “Mythical Creatures”) I am not coming up with any mythical creatures other than the two you mentioned right now, so of the two you mentioned, I think I would choose to be a unicorn, a unicorn who spends its days happily wandering through the wooded lands, over hills and dales, with stops at the beach to breathe in the beach air and wander along the sandy shores, hearing music only the unicorn can hear because it is, after all, lovely unicorn music. Oops, I misread the question, and answered as if it asked which one I would prefer to be. Still, if I could own a mythical creature – wait, I need to think of more mythical creatures before I answer that. Ask this question a bit later, would you?

As always, next is the gratitude section – which I almost always answer the same way. I am grateful for my loved ones, family and friends. I am grateful for the roof over my head, the ability to get out of bed every day, the privilege of doing things I enjoy, the fact that I have enough. I am grateful for this life. I am grateful for having gotten both of my Covid vaccinations, for the sense of freedom (masked, still) that gives me.

To end this, on my loom right now:

And a morning visitor

Share Your World – 4/19/21

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve shared my world with Melanie and the rest of you, but I feel a need to stop posting about the things in this world that are thorns in my side and find some lighter topics. Sharing my world seemed like the perfect opportunity.

What was the last TV show you binge-watched?   If you don’t watch TV (congratulations by the way) what’s the last thing you binged ON?

I’ve been binging on home improvement shows for quite awhile now, but recently have felt a desire to vary my viewing habits, so I binged on PBS’ Atlantic Crossing, and the last couple of evenings on PBS’ No Second Chance, based on a Harlen Coben book. No Second Chance was a French film, or series, and had captions for the dialogue, which I thought would bother me, but did not. I enjoyed both shows, so perhaps tonight I’ll check out what’s on BritBox, or maybe go all out and rent the award-nominated film Minari on Amazon Prime. I did watch Nomadland on Hulu a few days ago and liked it. Oh – although DirecTV is connected to the main TV in the house, I do not have it on the TV in my room, preferring to use streaming services.

What’s your most prized possession and why?

This question made me think – at first I thought of my kids and my furry kids, but then realized the question said “possession”, and they really aren’t possessions. Or are they? Okay, we’ll go with they’re not possessions. So, of the material things I own, what do I prize the most? Right now I guess I’d go with my bigger loom – but – there’s a competition for that prized possession thing, because I’d really be lost without my electronic devices now. Especially in these days of Covid coupled with living a distance from any real shopping centers, the internet is my friend. And life without Google? Nope, not a good option.

If you had the time and inclination, what would you volunteer for?

I’ve always thought I’d like to volunteer at the Humane Society – a no-kill Humane Society. But I’ve also realized I’d want to bring too many of the animals who weren’t being adopted home with me, so nope, that’s not a very good idea after all. I do have the time and kind of an inclination, but my current attitudes have me thinking staying home and keeping busy there are probably the best thing for me to do.

Do you think that humans will ever be able to live together in harmony?

I would like to think they could and would, but not holding out a lot of hope that I’ll see that day.

Gratitude – what is it I’m grateful for?

I’m grateful that my daughter and her husband have provided a home for me, since I’ve proven that living alone might not be the very best option. I’m grateful that I am able to get outside and create some gardens and work in the existing gardens. I’m grateful for the end of winter, the coming of spring, and the promise of more seasons to follow. I’m grateful for my family and my friends, non-furred and furry.

How could anyone not love that face?

Wishing you all days filled with enough.

Hope Fades

I’ve been wanting to write a post about happy things. I’ve been wanting to be light and cheery and happy and free. Those feelings are not coming to me, those words are not forming in my head. Because – each day brings more shootings, more violent protests, more politicians creating laws that are not reasonable, not just, not humane. Each day brings less kindness.

I’ve been hoping for change. I’ve been hoping we’d become more sensible about things like gun ownership, how we view people who were colored with crayons different than those we were colored with, how we select those who govern our country, and so many things. I have had hope – each time yet another mass shooting occurs, or another unfair killing of an innocent person of color, I have had hope. But nothing changes.

I’ve reached the conclusion that nothing is going to change. Until we get off our high horses, until we start thinking with our brains, until we recognize there is much for each of us to learn and we take advantage of learning opportunities, nothing will change.

I often see posts on Facebook – you know the ones – the ones that say “how many people will dare to share this post” and the post is about supporting the police, or the military, or ownership of guns that you might need sometime in the future when your government goes rogue. Those posts raise the hair on my back because it’s not a matter of “daring” to share, it’s a matter of “wait a minute, think about it”. Just because I do not share your post doesn’t mean I don’t support – whatever – the police, at least those who are there to do their job as it needs to be done, fairly, reasonably, with forethought. The fact that I am against war does not mean that I don’t support those who are willing to join the fight in their belief that this is the right way to win a battle.

What I do not support are the police who are in the jobs for the power it gives them – the elected officials who are there for the power it gives them – the wars that are fought instead of using our facilities of reason and compromise. Just as I don’t support those who believe races other than their own are “bad”, are “dangerous”, are “less than”. What matters is not our color, but our actions and the reasons for those actions.

This is my proposal – instead of arguing about our political differences, let’s discuss the
“whys” of our political differences. Instead of assuming that person whose color is different than ours is bad, let’s talk to them, let’s listen to their stories – let’s give them the same benefit of the doubt we give those whose color is the same as ours. Instead of assuming people who condemn a police action are against the police, let’s investigate that action, let’s think about it with our brains and not our emotions, let’s realize that they are human, some good, some less good, some not good at all.

In fact, why don’t we start reading all sides of a story, using our brains for thinking instead of reacting according to our emotions? Can we do that? Until we can, we will be lost.

And so my hope now is that we can change.

I Can Feel Spring

It’s spring out there and my heart is happy. It’s spring out there and we’ve been outside ridding the yard of last year’s yard debris, preparing beds for new plants, doing a little planting, painting, all those things that the warmer, sunnier weather makes us happy to do. So far we’ve:

Planted a few primrose in a pot, leaving room for another plant to join them:

Planted some peas – if you look really hard you can see the little guys popping through the surface of the soil

Planted our first hanging pot with Calabrochoa and Bacopa

Filled the planting bags with soil, putting the one shrub (a Pieris Japonica Dorothy Wyckoff) we’ve gotten so far in one bag while the others wait for the plants we’ve ordered to fill them to arrive. We did buy two Corydalis to join the not-yet-here plant in one bag.

Last year’s spinach planting is celebrating spring

I’ve always wanted a brightly colored front door, and it turns out that Kat wanted the same thing. So on our shopping trip the other day, we chose some paint in a color called Sugar Beet, and this is what it looks like on the door.

The color was more Kat’s choice than mine, but I love how it looks. There is just the tiniest bit of clash with the bright red pots planted in front of, and on either side of the door. Maybe I’ll post a photo of them together after the pots are planted with – yes, the plants that have been ordered to fill them.

When we’re not outside celebrating the blue skies, bright sunshine, and warmth, I spend time at my loom. I still have not taken photos of my more recent projects, but what’s on the loom right now is this:

It’s intended to grow up to be a V-back shawl, and I will post photos when it’s done. Really, I will. And someday I will also post photos of some of the other things I’ve done. You know, this might be a good time to go outside and take some of those photos. Maybe. Or maybe I should go out and do a little more work on what’s going to be a flower bed when the plants that have been ordered arrive to fill it. We have lots of plants on order.

In the meantime, I’m working at ignoring what I view as stupidity going on around me in this country and just enjoying the passage into not-winter weather, new blossoms, new life, happiness. Enjoying the knowledge that truly, I have

There Must be a Reason

Warning: Rants follow, although following the rants are non-rant paragraphs.

There must be a reason that we have this new Block Editor, right? I mean, the WordPress gurus wouldn’t have made the change willy-nilly, for no reason whatsoever, right? It has to be in our best interests, wouldn’t you say? Or. . .

The WordPress gurus are really part of the evil axis, deciding we have become too complacent, too relaxed, and it’s time to wake us up, make sure we’re paying attention, then bring us to our knees. Because, you know, the national stress level has been reduced, what with no Twittering from the White House.

Except I question whether the national stress level has been reduced. Our political parties are still more interested in maintaining their party status, their party structure, their “protect the party at all costs” stance. They are still not doing what we elected them to do – or at least what I thought we elected them to do – and that is, govern. Govern, you know, make the government function in a way that is for the people. By the people – which requires that you listen to the people, not the talking heads for the party.

That rant is over now. So now for a different rant. What is it with the guns being drawn and fired, seemingly all over this country, these days? What is it with our defensive attitudes about protecting our rights to have guns, with no restrictions, no controls? What is it with our apparent fear that we might need to protect ourselves from our own government which would require that we possess guns? Seems to me from my apparently skewed viewpoint that the risk of that happening has been reduced by the same action that ended the presidential twittering. Except, of course, I’m wrong. I know this, because I keep getting told I’m wrong. And it’s okay that people who should never ever have access to a firearm have access to firearms and are busily reducing our population with no regard for anyone else.

On the other side of my world, I have had my second vaccination against Covid-19. I got my shot, and spent the next day taking naps, because the vaccine was busy working inside my body, doing its job, which was very hard work and made me very tired. Now I feel a sense of relief, a sense of freedom, despite the fact that I am fully aware that I must still maintain a reasonable distance, fully masked, when I am out in public. That’s not a problem for me – I don’t feel doing the things that make it safer for me and those around me are an infringement on my freedoms.

I do enjoy the idea that maybe I can have lunch out now and then – following guidelines. Maybe even get a massage, fully masked, sometime this spring. I have missed things like massages and pedicures, and the feeling of being pampered, like someone special.

To live like this – no stress. Knowing there is enough in this life.

Answering Five Brilliant Questions and Other Things

This morning Ally Bean asked some questions and today feels like a good day to answer those questions before I head out to work in the yard because it’s spring out there and the birds are twittering and singing songs of happiness. But first, the question of who gets this lap must be answered. Will it be this cat

Or the laptop? (how does one adjust the size of photos in this editor anyway?)

Q1 – What’s your favorite movie? Maybe Patch Adams with Robin Williams? I’ve seen a lot I loved, but none lately because Covid, cost, distance to a theater, and I find I’d rather stream a documentary, something HGTV, or a BritBox show.

Q2 – When trying to buy shoes, what’s your biggest problem? Finding a pair that is comfortable on both feet. I have a bunion issue on my left foot, which complicates matters greatly.

Q3 – Ice cream cone or cupcake? Ice cream cone for sure, preferably chocolate with a waffle cone.

Q4 – What’s one good thing you have learned about yourself during this pandemic? Truly not much has changed for me, other than wearing a mask when I go shopping. Oh, but then there is this wee bit of angst about the inability to go out for lunch with friends or maybe take a train trip to visit a friend. So maybe I am a little more social than I would have said I am.

Q5 – Any eccentric people in your family? Discuss. Ha! Of course! Doesn’t every family have someone who is eccentric? Like maybe me? Beyond that, I prefer not to discuss.

I gotta say, this day this block editor is making me much crazier than it did when I last used it. I feel like the software is winning at deciding how things are going to be done on this blog.

Then I have this ongoing quest for how to try to sell some of my weavings – I’ll probably end up on Etsy, which is already overloaded with handwoven items, but it’s also the best-known and easiest way to go. In the meantime, a look at another shawl I’ve done, which is available if anyone is interested:

Off now to see if I can learn more about using this editor. Please.