Never Forget - 9/11

Remembering the lives lost on 9/11/2001 when terrorists attacked New York, Washington D.C., and heroic passengers fought back and a fourth flight crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, stopping that attack.

I especially remember the 343 firefighters who died in New York that day when the Twin Towers collapsed. As the wife of a firefighter, that loss holds a special significance for me.

On the 25th anniversary of this horrific day, may we all remember we are one people, not only in this nation but also upon this good earth, and honor one another as individual humans with love and decency.

Thursday Thirteen #975

 

Things I’m Too Old for Now

1. Pretending I like pumpkin spice. I have never liked it, and I don't intend to start now. The "spice" part is nice; the pumpkin? Not so much.

2. Uncomfortable clothes that “look cute.” If it pokes, pinches, rides up, or requires strategic undergarments, it’s a no. Honestly, I've very seldom worn fashionable clothes. Give me jeans and a T-shirt and I'm good.

3. People who can’t read a room. I've been watching the local county meetings, and wow. What a difference 10 years makes. I remember when there was decorum and courtesy in gatherings. Now all I see is mad and a chairman who doesn't know how to use the gavel and tell the police officer to escort certain persons outside. Like, be prepared, dude.

4. Standing in long lines for anything. There is absolutely nothing in my area that is worth standing in line for, no restaurant, no event. If there's more than a 10-minute wait at Cracker Barrel, I'm out of there.

5. Drama disguised as “concern.” I can spot it from a mile away and I’m not walking toward it. See #3 above, because that's all that's going on there.

6. Overly complicated technology. If it takes three menus and a hidden toggle to do one simple thing, I’m done. Make stuff intuitive for regular people, not techno brains.

7. Noisy restaurants where conversation is a sport. I’m not shouting my order over a speaker system. Have you noticed how loud restaurants are, especially the ones with music playing in the background? Between the high ceilings and nothing to dampen sound, it's like you've been tossed into a noise room with a little food.

8. People who think “just bring your dog, it’s fine.” It’s not fine. It’s never fine.

9. Being polite to someone smoking near me. I’m too old to pretend I don’t smell it. Besides, why should I risk an asthma attack just because you're addicted.

10. Furniture that’s more “statement piece” than functional. Thankfully I think (hope?) the era of "big" furniture is about over, which as a short person makes me very happy. If I can’t sit on it without bracing myself, it’s decorative clutter.

11. Trying to keep up with trends. I’ll wear blue jeans, dusty colors, and lip gloss forever, thanks.

12. Forcing myself to finish a book I’m not enjoying. Life is short and the library is large. I just sent an audiobook back that I'd listened to 9% of after deciding I just didn't want to finish it. There aren't many I do that with, but sometimes the book just doesn't click.

13. Explaining myself to people who already decided not to understand me. My energy is better spent elsewhere.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 975th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

A Clean House

 

Happiness is a clean house! The young woman who comes and helps me clean came today and it's always nice to get some of the dust gone and the floors mopped. I started using a steam cleaner on the tile floors and boy does that make a huge difference in cleanliness and in how they look.

So, hurray for spic and span!

Cooler Weather

 

The hot weather has finally hit the road, and we have cooler temperatures at the moment. I'm sure we'll have more 90 degree days before September ends, but for now it's more tolerable outside.

Whew!

Sunday Stealing

 

Labor Day Questions

1) What’s something you want to do before summer slips away?

A. I need to get outside in the darkness and look at the stars, taking my camera in hopes of catching some stray shooting star.

2) What book are you currently reading?

A. I am reading The Vaster Wilde, by Lauren Groff. It's about a young woman who fled the Jamestown settlement circa 1610 or so, as everyone else lay starving and dying. She is traveling the wilderness north in hopes of finding the French in Canada.

3) What have you been listening to?

A. Alexa plays a lot of Fleetwood Mac lately.

4) What shows or movies have you been watching?

A. We have been watching Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, Deadliest Catch, Password, and In the Eye of the Storm.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week. 

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

All By Myself

 

Today I am happy that I had a morning to myself, wherein I was able to do things at my own pace and speed, and thus managed to strip the bed, do the dishes, wash four loads of clothes and put them away, and other such tasks. I like setting my own agenda.

Saturday 9: Working in the Coal Mine

 

Working in the Coal Mine (1966)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Lee Dorsey sings that at 5:00 he's already on the job. What were you doing this morning at 5:00 AM?

A. I was sleeping. I usually get up between 6 and 6:30 a.m.

2) He's worked so hard all week that he's too tired to enjoy his weekend. What are you doing for fun this holiday weekend?

A. We aren't doing anything different as far as I know. 

3) Lee Dorsey was raised in Portland Oregon, home of the Portland Trailblazers. The NBA season kicks off next month. Do you have a favorite basketball team?

A. I root for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA.

 

4) This song was written by Allen Toussaint, who had a long career as a composer and producer. He produced Fats Domino in the late 1950s and worked with Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney into the new millennium. What job have you held the longest?

A. I started freelancing/stringing for newspapers in 1984 and stopped in 2024. As far as a job with a W-2, I don't think I stayed anywhere longer than two years.

 

5) In 1966, the year this song was popular, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey was born. Are you a good cook?

A. I am a fan of not cooking. 

6) 1966 was the year when more Americans purchased color TVs and black and white sets. When you were a kid, did your family have a black and white TV?

A. As best I can remember, we had a color TV, but my very young years may have included a black and white TV.

7) Labor Day is a big weekend for mattress sales. Do you plan on buying a new mattress before the year is out?

A. We bought a new mattress back in May.

8) Though kids go back to class earlier these days, store aisles are still full of school supplies. When she was a little girl, Sam was crazy about her big box of 96 Crayola Crayons with a sharpener in the back. Share one of your back-to-school memories.

A. When I started second grade, the teacher informed my mother that she did not use nicknames. I had a family nickname at the time, but she refused to use it and called me by my given name. I am so grateful that she had that rule.

9) Labor Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of fall. Have you had any pumpkin spice yet?

A. I do not like pumpkin spice, Sam. I do not like it, Sam-I-Am.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Zoom Calls

Today I had a really great zoom meeting with someone. I couldn't imagine growing up that I'd be dealing with folks from all over the world via my computer. It makes reaching out to touch someone have a whole new meaning!

Thursday Thirteen

Things Not Allowed in My House

1. Coconut anything. If it smells like sunscreen or tastes like disappointment, it stays outside. Coconut odor is enough to make me hurl. Why? I blame some medication I took when I was a child that smelled like coconut, but I could be misremembering.

2. Dogs. I’m allergic, they shed, and they always want to “just say hi” by humping my leg. I love dogs, I grew up having dogs, and I owned a dog for the first 17 years of our marriage, but she stayed outside. The house is for people; the barn is for animals. No dogs allowed.

3. Barbed wire. I don’t care if it’s “decorative rustic.” It’s a tetanus shot waiting to happen.

4. Poison ivy or poison oak. Check your shoes, check your pants, and if you are oozing in places from being around it yourself, please stay home, or go to urgent care for a steroid pack.

5. Ticks. If you show up with one, I’m burning your clothes and maybe the porch. These things now carry so many diseases that they're like a mini-monster just hiding in the grass waiting to get us all. Talk about the walking dead. Crikey.

6. Snakes. Live, dead, rubber, or on a T‑shirt. Absolutely not. Those things slither, slide, and flick out their tiny little tongues in ways that give me the heebie-jeebies. No way no how.

7. High wind. If you open a door and the house tries to leave the foundation, close it.

8. Anything that smells like "ocean breeze." That’s not a scent. That’s a chemical lie.

9. Tech that insists on “helping.” If it auto‑corrects, auto‑plays, auto‑syncs, or auto‑anything, it can auto‑stay outside. I don't need my microwave, stove, refrigerator, or washing machine connected to the Internet so it can talk to me. I have Alexa for that.

10. Anyone smoking or smelling like smoke. If you walk in trailing a nicotine weather system, you’re turning right back around. Sorry, but my asthma can't take it and honestly, you shouldn't be smoking it anyway.

11 Plants. If it needs feeding and watering and has dirt that routinely requires changing so that it doesn't smell like compost, it’s not compatible with my lifestyle.

12. Food described as “fusion.” First, I don't even know what that means. It sounds like you're making a nuclear reactor. Pick a cuisine and commit. My kitchen is not a laboratory.

13. Anything that sheds glitter. I don’t need to sparkle. I need to not vacuum for the rest of my life. And if you're the person who thinks putting things in birthday cards so that the stuff spills everywhere when the envelope is open, you're not particularly welcome, either.

_________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 974th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Time with a Friend

 

I spent time today with my friend T. and we had a wonderful time laughing and talking together. Nothing like a good friend to make the happiness jump all around inside.

September Happiness Challenge

In recent years I have participated in the August Happiness Challenge, but I didn't this year because I'd spent July writing gratitude poems and needed a break.

So, I will do a September Happiness Challenge all by myself, although anyone who wishes may certainly join in. I don't have to do it every day, because it's whatever makes me happy!

For today, I am happy that my husband is able to be around to wait for the washing machine repairman. I will be home during part of the wait, but I have a dentist appointment and need to leave.

Knowing he is available to ensure that this work gets done makes me very happy indeed.

Flower Power