Interesting

One of the words I tend to use too much is "interesting."

That describes pretty much everything. It describes something you're telling me that I think is interesting or intriguing. It also is what I say when I think someone is telling me something that reveals stupidity. It is my non-committal response to anything I don't particularly want to give an opinion on.

Of course, if you want me to be less serious, there is my general response to potatoes.

"'Taters? What's 'taters, precious? Eh? What's 'taters?"

"You know, po-ta-toes. Boil 'em smash 'em stick 'em in a stew."

Those are lines only Lord of the Rings fans will get.


__________________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 28 done! (The prompt was: Word or phrase you use constantly.)

These Clothes I Wear

Today is a sick day, and I have on sweats and a T-shirt.

No makeup, either.

This isn't much different from how I dress anyway when I am home, except I usually put on makeup. I didn't see the point of it this morning since I have a blinkin' beak (i.e., a very red nose) from all the sinus drainage. Plus my eyes are watery and weak. No amount of makeup is going to help that.

When I go outside of the house, I wear nice clothes - almost always pants - and a nice shirt of some kind. My problem is shoes; aside from my tennis shoes, I have no other pair that my custom orthotics fit in. This makes it rather hard to dress up, but sometimes I make do with black sneakers.

I have never been much into fashion. I consider this a personal failing, but at my age, I'm too old to care anymore.

__________________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 27 done! (The prompt was: What you wore today.)

Otis Media and Sinusitis

A few days of sniffling quickly turned into something major Tuesday night.

I thought I was fine. Pollen's in the air, and I have allergies. Considering that, I seemed to be doing well.

Tuesday evening, though, I developed a severe sore throat, seemingly within moments of being fine.

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I was in full-blown sinus and ear infection mode. I rose at my usual 6:15 a.m. and by 7:30 a.m. I was watching the clock so I could call the doctor as I felt worse every minute.

Fortunately my doctor had a 10:15 opening, and in I went. It was a different sort of doctor visit. I expected to be waiting a long time, as is often the case when I get a sick visit. But I'd only been waiting about 25 minutes when my doctor herself opened the door to the waiting room and said, "Anita, get on back here. I want to see you now."

Surprised, I followed her into the back and she pointed me toward the far room. "I want to see you in there," she said.

No weighing, no vitals, no temperature-taking.

She's seen me frequently for similar issues, enough so that she went straight to my left ear. "Raging infection there," she said, moving to the right ear. "Not infected yet but retracted and heading that way."

She shone her light down my throat, felt my glands in my neck. "Oh boy. Yeah. You need an antibiotic."

It was short and sweet, and I was out of there quickly. It felt like an old-fashioned quick visit with a friend who knows me all too well. All business but I had what I needed and she had one person off her list.

Apparently those early warning symptoms I'd been chalking up to allergies was really an infection brewing in my head.

So today is a rest day while I hope the antibiotics kick in as quickly as the infection seemed to.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Ex-pert



2. Ex-perience

3. Ex-patriot

4. Ex-treme

5. Ex-pire

6. Ex-tort

7. Ex-plore

8. Ex-ample

9. Ex-ecution

10. Ex-act

11. Ex-change

12. Ex-cellent

13. Ex-clusive


______________
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 549th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Also linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 26 done! (The prompt was: Things you'd say to an ex.)
 

Weird Me

Four weird traits you have . . .


1. I like to be alone.

2. I have trouble recognizing people I'm supposed to know.

3. I almost always have to return home after I've made it down the driveway to ensure that I've unplugged the curling iron.

4. I see faces in things like curtains, linoleum, etc.

_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 25 done!

Something I Miss

A long time ago, when I was in college obtaining my bachelors degree, students talked to one another. I miss that. (When I finished up my masters degree in 2012, I had found, to my dismay, that the older students did not spend time with one another during breaks or in between classes. Instead, they went to their smart phones, off in some corner.)

I miss learning the old-fashioned way, with pen in hand, eyes and ears rapt with attention as a professor either entertained or droned on, depending on topic and personality. (I've recently been trying to learn new things via streaming videos. It's not the same.)

Atmosphere in an education of learning is breathtaking and inspiring. I miss that.

My professors brought out the best in me, making me think, feel, anticipate and argue. I miss that.

Professors gave me deadlines to do things. I miss that.

My classmates offered discussion on a variety of things, from the courses we were studying to new ideas about, well, anything. I miss that.

Learning never stops, and I hope I haven't stopped learning, but I do miss the environment of the college - the environment from the late 1980s and early 1990s, not the one in 2012.

****

Note: In the newspaper today, I read an obituary that I think belongs to my 7th grade English teacher, Mrs. Kiker. The obituary doesn't say if the person was a teacher, but I think this is the same person. I loved Mrs. Kiker. She was another one of those teachers who knew I would grow up to be a writer someday. She was encouraging and kind, and she left a big impression on an impressionable kid. **Update** My mother-in-law doesn't think this is the teacher.


_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 24 done!

The Ernest Pig Robertson Fishing Rodeo

One of the things my father did with my brother and me when we were children was to take us fishing.

Specifically, he would take us to the Ernest "Pig" Robertson Fishing Rodeo in Salem. The event is now in its 67th year.

I don't remember my mother being at these things, but I am sure she was there somewhere. Maybe she sat over in the grass preparing a picnic. All of the excitement centered around several hundred youngsters sticking fishing poles with bobbers on them into the water, hoping to catch a trout. I think the ponds were stocked the day before the event.

One year I won a prize of a bag of a potato chips because I caught a catfish.

My brother won a prize for catching a large trout one year. Somewhere I have seen a news clipping with his picture.

I learned to bait my hook and I learned to fish at this event, for the most part. I remember it as being very crowded. I have a very vivid memory of my father leaning over my brother to help him and saying, very loudly, that my brother's line was caught on some asshole's hook, and it turned out to belong to the child beside him. The kid's father glared at my dad, who said, "Sorry buddy," and turned his attention back to us. I don't know why I remember that.

As the eldest child I was expected to pretty much take care of myself while my father helped my brother fish. That was okay with me. I remember catching fish, so I must have figured it out.

_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 23 done!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. If you could eliminate a single type of insect in the world, which would it be?

A. I wouldn't eliminate any of them. They all serve some purpose, even if we aren't sure what it is yet.

2. If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have seen?

A. The invention of printing, which actually occurred in China in the 7th century or thereabouts.

3. If you had to paint your entire home inside and out a single color other than white, what would you pick?

A. Antique white.

4. If you could decide what will be written on your gravestone, what would you have inscribed?

A. She feared life, but still she tried.

5. If you could have a secret listening device in any one room in the world, what room would you put it in?

A. I just am not going to go there.

6. If you could have any music group that no longer exists play at your birthday party, who would you want?

A. Well, most of the groups I like have returned in some reincarnation of themselves. The Rolling Stones is still together, Fleetwood Mac is sort of still together, Heart is still together. So maybe Abba?

7. If you were to perform in the circus, what would you do?

A. Play the accordion with a monkey.

8. If you could master one type of cuisine, which one would you choose?

A. Something healthy. (If I knew what that was, I'd be eating it already.)

9. If you had to have one piece of music softly playing in your mind for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?

A. Vincent (Starry Starry Night) by Don McLean.

10. If you could ensure one single personality trait in your children, what would you want it be?

A. Couldn't have children, not relevant to me.
              
11. If you could resolve any single dispute, anywhere in the world, what would you solve?

A. The Middle East. The whole thing is just one big dispute over who-knows-what.

12. If you could be a guest on any talk show, which would you like to be on?

A. Oprah, except she doesn't do that anymore. So maybe Ellen.

13. If you were to be a news correspondent posted to any foreign country, where would you like to go?

A. Norway. I don't think much happens in Norway.

14. If you could have been on the Supreme court for any single case in its history, which would you select?

A. Bush v. Gore

15. If you could pick one person from history to live next door to you, who would you pick?

A. My many-great grandmother, Mary Magdalene Etzler Painter. (She lived in the early 1800s and died in 1867.)

__________

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.

My Morning Routine

I fall out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen

(not really, I get up and go to the bathroom, take a pill for my cramped stomach muscles, then put a heating pad on my belly for 20 minutes)

Pour myself a cup of ambition

(I only drink tea, so I start the tea kettle and take the rest of my medication)

Yawn and stretch and try to come to life.

(I go into my "office" and turn on the computer and read the news.)

I jump into the shower and the blood starts pumping.

(I do love a hot shower.)

Out on the street the traffic is jumping.

(Every now and then I hear a turkey gobble or a cow moo.)

For folks like me on the job, from 9 to 5.

(I just work at home.)

(The lyrics are from Dolly Parton's song, 9 to 5, if you don't recognize them.)

_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 22 done!

Saturday 9: Love Don't Cost a Thing

Saturday 9: Love Don't Cost a Thing (2001)

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

1) Love may not cost a thing, but everyday stuff does. What's the most recent thing you bought? How much did you spend?

A. I went to Walmart and spent $118 on various personal items, 2 pairs of jeans for my husband, a pair of cheap earphones for my cellphone, and some plant food.

2) This video begins with Jennifer Lopez on the phone, on a veranda with a view of the sea. What's the view from the room you're in right now?

A. I see the branches of a dying blue spruce, oak trees that are starting to leaf out, and the Allegheny Mountains, Tinker Mountain in particular (which could also be considered a Blue Ridge Mountain, but it depends on the geologist).

3) She sings that she doesn't want her lover's gifts or money, she just wants his attention. Let's change that a bit. Which would you prefer: a gift that was personally chosen but you know you'll never use, or cash?

A. That's a hard one. I try to gracefully and gratefully accept anything given to me.

4) She met her first husband, dancer Cris Judd, while working on this video. She met Ben Affleck, to whom she was once engaged, while working on a movie. Think of those you're closest to -- where did you meet them?

A. I met my husband at a football game, although we also rode the school bus together when I was in elementary school (he doesn't remember me). I met one of my close friends at a job, another at a volunteer organization, and two others when I wrote articles about them.

5) She and her current boyfriend, former Yankee Alex Rodriguez, are both workout fanatics. How often do you exercise?

A. I try to walk at least 5,000 steps every day along with 10 minutes of "moderate activity" according to my Fitbit. I generally get in more than 5,000 steps but I don't always make the moderate activity. Given my health issues, my doctors and my physical therapist think those are good goals for me.

6) Her high school nickname was "La Guitarra," because her curvy shape reminded her friends of a guitar. Share a high school memory about you and your friends.

A. One time several of us skipped school and went to see The Rose at the theater. The movie blew us away. We did not get caught, either.

7) JLo just completed filming her third season playing a police detective on NBC's Shades of Blue. Did you see anything memorable on TV this past week?

A. Not really, no.

8) Jennifer Lopez posts often on Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram. Do you feel you spend too much time on social media, do you wish you posted more often, or do you try to avoid it altogether?

A. I don't wish I posted more often, nor do I avoid it. I'm more of a voyeur, reading others' posts and keeping up with news stories. But mostly I blog here on this blog if I have something to say, and that's a more limited audience.

9)  Random question: You're at a yard sale and come upon an unusual little knicknack that would make the perfect gift for your best friend. The tag says $7. You think that's rather high for a castoff. Do you pay it? Do you pass on it? Or do you try to get the seller to lower the price?

A. I would ask if they'd take $5 for it and if not, I'd probably leave it. It would have to be something pretty special for me to buy to give away. I usually don't give my friends reused items.

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

Gemini

I am Gemini under the zodiac. Well, that's my sun sign. My moon sign is Sagittarius and my rising sign is Aries. But that's more than you want to know, I'm sure.
 

My astrological birth wheel from Tarot.com. Ain't it pretty?

Here's a description of a Gemini person (from zodiac-signs-astrology.com)

Gemini people are many sided, quick both in the mind and physically. They are brimming with energy and vitality, they are clever with words. They are intelligent and very adaptable to every situation and every person. Curious and always want to know what's going on in the world around them. They are not one to sit back and watch the world go by, they want to be involved. This can sometimes make them nosy, they do not mind their own business! This is because they really enjoy communicating, more so then most other astrology signs, they are the ultimate social butterfly. They can talk and talk, but they have interesting things to say, their talk is not mindless babble. They have interesting opinions and thoughts on things and are not afraid to speak their mind. They are always in the know and are the one to see for the latest juicy gossip.


Lacking perseverance, they easily goes off topic to explore another thought or idea. Often superficial, they will form opinions on matter without diving into them and exploring them fully. This can lead them into thinking they know everything, which they usually do but their mind is too busy to be concerned with fine details. Routine and boredom are their biggest fears. They would rather be naïve then know the depressing truth, they do not want anything putting a damper on their freedom or positive energy.

 
Do I fit that? Not the physical part. Or the energy part. Actually I think I'll go back and bold the things I think might apply to me.

Like any of these astrology things, different "readers" think different things about the signs. However, the mixed sides of being born in the twin sign seems to apply to me. I can blow hot and cold within minutes of an event. Just ask my poor husband (who is also Gemini, as is my brother).

Many aspects of Gemini do fit me, but I am not a social butterfly. That part has never fit me, nor does it fit my husband. We are more homebodies and are content to sit around and enjoy each other's company.

It's a good sign to be born under. If you do something out of character, you can just say it was the other side of you. Ha.


 _____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 21 done!

Music Shuffle

Put your music player on shuffle and write the first three songs that play and what your initial thoughts are.

1. Talking to My Angel, by Melissa Etheridge
      (Don't be afraid. Close your eyes. Lay it all down. Don't you cry. Can't you see I'm going where I can see the sun rise? I've been talking to my angel, and he said that it's alright.)

2. Into the Dark, by Melissa Etheridge
       (There were stairs they were steep/I was falling falling deep/You were there you were small/
There was screaming down the hall/I've been here sleeping all these years/There comes a time we all know/There's a place that we must go/Into the soul into the heart/Into the dark.)

3. Home, by Sheryl Crow (The video for this song is incredible.)
      (I woke up this morning/And now I understand/What it means to give your love/To just one man/
Afraid of feeling nothing/No bees or butterflies/My head is full of voices/And my house is full of lies/[Chorus] This is home, home/And this is home, home/This is home.)

My initial thought was this should be a pretty plain list, because I only have a couple of albums on my cellphone, and what I have are by only three artists - Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and Fleetwood Mac.

Upon listening to the first two songs, I'm struck by how the lyrics of the songs reflect my life and how I feel about a lot of things. Into the soul, into the heart, into the dark - places we must go. Introspection and inner growth, something I think many people do not do enough of. So many people reach a certain point and simply stop thinking their own thoughts and instead parrot the news or their preacher or whomever. I value originality, but the world doesn't, does it? It doesn't seem to.

And then there's Sheryl Crow's Home, which is full of incredible longing and a song with a video that maybe Democrats should watch. They might understand why Mr. Trump won the 2016 election if they look closely. The video was made in 1996, I think. Not much has changed.

These are rather melancholy songs, full of longing and loneliness. These are the songs I listen to when I'm feeling sad and contemplative. They aren't dance tunes, they're thinking tunes.

I think I do a lot of thinking. Maybe even a little too much.

_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 20 done!

Thursday Thirteen

The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears. - J.R.R. Tolkien

Things that I fear:

1. Growing old and losing my mind (losing myself).

2. Having a body that doesn't do what it needs to get around.

3. Being a burden to others.

4. Losing my husband.

5. Not fulfilling the prophecy I was born to fulfill (except I don't know the prophecy, so . . . )

6. Not having enough money in my dotage to live decently.

7. Being alone and living under a bridge.

8. Strangers in the night.

9. That I might actually be boring and uninteresting.

10. Being unable to die a good death.

11. Not being true to who I am in my spirit.

12. Snakes

13. Mean people.

______________
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 548th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Also linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 19 done!

My Favorite Color

My favorite color is blue. It has always been so. I find it calming. It reminds me of sky, water, my husband's eyes, and blue jeans. What would life be without blue jeans? Forever in blue jeans, babe.

I used the word "blue" in my very first online name. You find the word in many songs. It describes a depth of feeling that we are all familiar with, some more than others.

A bridge holder-upper (I don't know what it's called) against a brilliant blue sky.

_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 18 done!

April Sunrise

April 12, 2018

Quotes to Live By

"First, do no harm," which is the oath that medical students take, is also a version of the Wiccan Rede, which says, "An ye harm none, do what ye will," and, with a little stretching, it is Romans 13:10, which says "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

All say the same thing, more or less, though they may have different implications and mean different things to others. I take the three of them to mean to live my life with love for all, and to do as I please so long as I harm no one in the process.

This I try to do. I am human and thus I fail, but I try.

However, a quote that actually describes me, I think, comes from Tolkien: "Not all those who wander are lost." It is my favorite quote and I think it is descriptive because I am such a curious person, a seeker who is always searching for something else over the next ridge. Sort of a Jill-of-all-trades kind of gal, if you will. For I have always been eager to learn and to see what else there is to know.

So while I wander (and wonder), I am not lost. I know where I am (usually). I'm just always peeking into corners and looking around the bend, whether that is in front of me or behind me.

_____________
Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 17 done!

Tom Turkeys

The tom turkeys have been very active around here in the last few days as they strut about chasing hens.

Looks rather magnificent, doesn't he?

Look at me, honey!

The hen and the rear of the tom.



Two toms strutting their stuff. Which one did she choose?

My Entire Day

• Wake up
• Get out of bed
• Pee
• Go into the kitchen and make a pot of tea
• Go into my office and turn on the computer
• Play Elvenar
• Read the news
• Eat breakfast
• Shower
• Dress
• Do laundry
• Do the dishes
• Make the bed
• Put away laundry
• Straighten up
• Work on 2018 tax information
• Write something. Anything.
• Talk to a friend on phone
• Walk 5,000 steps while talking on phone
• Fix dinner
• Clear up dinner mess
• Play Elvenar
• Take another fast "rinse off the pollen" shower
• Watch TV with husband
• Go to bed

Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 16 done!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Have you ever had a movie both totally captivate and complete confuse you?

A. The Matrix movies

2. When watching a movie, do you prefer things all laid out or to have to 'hunt for your own clues' along the way?

A. Depends on the movie. Mysteries should not be all laid out, but other things should be.

3. Do you want an ultimate ending to your movie or do you prefer to have it open for conjecture and discussion?

A. Depends on the movie.

4. Do you talk during a movie (preferably one in your home, not in the theater)?

A. Not usually.

5. Have you ever seen a blockbuster movie and not get what was so great about it?

A. Yes.

6. What book frightened you as a young person?

A. Bambi, by Felix Salten. I read it when I was too young for it, like 7 years old. Wuthering Heights was another book I read when I was too young for it, and it was scary, too.

7. If you had to become a ‘living book (i.e. able to recite the contents of a book cover to cover upon request – reference Fahrenheit 451), what book would it be?

A. Lord of the Rings

8. What movie or TV show scared you as a kid?

A. SSSSSSS, the Planet of the Apes movies, and Rosemary's Baby.

9. What movie (scary or otherwise) will you never ever watch?

A. The ones with Hannibal Lector in them.

10. Do you have any phobias?

A. Probably.

11. What's the happiest thing to ever happen to you?

A. I married.

12. What's the saddest thing to ever happen to you?

A.  Too personal.

13. What's the thing that got you the most angry in your life?

A. Too personal.

14. What's the most frightening thing to ever happen to you?

A. Surgeries.

15. What's the most unbelievable thing to happen to you in your life?

A. Too personal.


__________

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.

Three Pet Peeves

1. That the U.S. is an "opt out" nation with everything while other nations are "opt in." This is why we have so many stupid telemarketing calls. We have to "opt out" to stop them. Other countries don't allow this and citizens don't have to put up with that crap.

2. Books with bad endings.

3. People who think it is their job to remind me I'm overweight, as if somehow I forgot that for even one second of my life.



Linking up with the April challenge from Kwizgiver. April 14 done!