Thursday Thirteen - #685

 _____________

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 685th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Night Moves

The cosmos really is quite colorful, isn't it?

The first photo is of the full moon through the trees. The second is a long exposure star-trail. The white streak in the middle of the photo is the moon rising up.

I like how the star trails are different colors, white, yellow, blue, greenish. It's rather amazing.

The Birds Like the Feeder

 

Pandemic Journal - Day 255

Thanksgiving passed quietly here. We had no company and I sent my mother-in-law a plate. She did not complain about eating alone after having had to quarantine because she'd been to church with someone who a day later tested positive for Covid.

Also, a cousin close by has Covid, so we are all being careful and trying not to fall over one another. Not that we would, but now it seems even more incumbent upon us all to be careful.

I know people are being careful. I also know people are not being careful. Those are the ones I worry about. Then there is the decision about what "careful" entails. I am not going into the stores - but I will have to go into the pharmacy late next week to pick up my medications. The store I use doesn't have a drive-thru. While we are mostly doing food pick ups now - I call it adventure shopping - sometimes one of us has to go into a store.

My chiropractor is not seeing me now except in emergencies, at my request. I do better when I see her regularly, but I will have to get by as best I can. I am still having back issues and trouble playing the guitar, which is frustrating. I pulled out my little guitelele (which is like a six-string ukulele) and have been playing that. However, I put new strings on it and the thing simply will not stay in tune long.

Then there's the question of haircuts. I haven't had one in six weeks. I am contemplating one final trip to the hairdresser for this year and asking for a short cut. The woman I have decided to use assured me she could make me her first customer of the day and get me in and out in 20 minutes. We'd both be masked. No one else would be in her shop.

I do not speak often of how I feel about the pandemic and the things going on me. Not on a deep level, anyway. I am most fretted by my inability to simply pick up and go - make a stop at Walmart, for example. I haven't been in a Walmart since this started. Or go to the bookstore. I did not, as a rule, regularly visit people, but I did stop in and check on my mother-in-law and now I don't do that. My husband checks on her. This concerns me because he is a guy and they don't always get the hint that something needs to be fixed or changed. 

People who do not take this seriously frustrate me. Yes, I know the survival rate is 98%. That means that two people out of every 100 people you know will die. Which two are you willing to sacrifice? Go to your Facebook page and look at all of those people who are Facebook friends with you. Which two do you want to see dead simply because you won't wear a mask or wash your hands, or stay home for the holidays? Odds are good that two of them will die. Will it be your fault?

Obviously, people don't think like that. I think like that, but it's an established fact that I'm not the normal sort of person and never have been. This is not a bad thing - it would be a boring world if we were all alike.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. My biggest barrier to weight loss is . . . my mouth.

2. What is your relationship with food like?

A. I eat it, it goes to my waist and hips, and stays there and jiggles.

3. What was the last time you had fun that made you smile for a few days?

A. Fun? What is this "fun" of which you speak?

4. What are triggers in your life that lead to eating?

A. Being stressed, feeling bored, feeling lonely.

5. What inspires you to be healthier?

A. Nothing.

6. Name two foods that you think are “bad."

A. Chocolate and alcohol.

7. Are your expectations for yourself too high?

A. Probably.

8. Would you like more fun in your life?

A. Who wouldn't?

9. What is your one comfort food?

A. Chocolate.

10. How would you give someone encouragement?

A. Generic encouragement? Doesn't it depend on circumstances and whatever is going on? But I'll give it a go. Hey you, damnit, go be whatever or do whatever it is you think you're supposed to be doing. Get off your butt!

11. Do you get enough sleep?

A. I think so.

12. What activities make you feel more relaxed?

A. Reading.

13. Where do you need to practice forgiveness in your life?

A. With myself, mostly.

14. What is one thing you have not done because of how you looked?

A. It's not so much because of how I look, but because I'm so out of shape - hiked to McAfee's Knob.

15. What would you like more of in your life?

A. I'd like less procrastination, so more things completed and finished.

 ________________

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.

Saturday 9: Black

Saturday 9: Black (2016)

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

1) This song was chosen because yesterday was Black Friday, the traditional day of sales. Have you begun your Christmas shopping?

A. I started back in early October. We are not doing much this year, not like in past years. I have done all of it online because I am not going into stores. I hope folks won't be disappointed.

 
2)  Was there an adult beverage served with your Thanksgiving feast?

A. No.
 
3) Did any pets enjoy scraps from your Thanksgiving table?

A. No.

4) Are there any Thanksgiving leftovers in your refrigerator right now?

A. Yes. Turkey and sweet potato casserole.

5) Football is a popular Thanksgiving weekend pastime. Will you be watching any games over the next few days? If yes, which team(s) are you rooting for?

A. No.

6) This week's song is by Dierks Bentley. He wrote it for his wife, Cassidy Black, who appears in the video. They met in eighth grade, dated on and off, and then eloped when they were in their late 20s. Has anyone ever surprised you by going off and suddenly getting married?

A. Yes, my nephew did that about two years ago. We suspected it, but it was still a surprise.

7) 2016 was a good year for Bentley. This song was one of three hits he had that year, he co-hosted the CMAs and was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year and Video of the Year. As 2020 winds to an end, do you feel it's been a successful year?

A. Not particularly.

8) In 2016, David Bowie died. Do you have a favorite Bowie song?

A. Space Oddity (Major Tom).

9) Also in 2016, CBS telecast reran How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the 50th time. What's your favorite Dr. Seuss story?

A. The Cat in the Hat.

______________
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. 

Thursday Thirteen - Happy Thanksgiving!

These are unused photos from October 31, 2020, beginning with the Halloween moon.

 

This picture makes me hear the theme to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in my head.

Pretty little five-point buck. He had a wide rack.

A deer and a wild turkey.

Red-headed woodpecker.

The bandit squirrel doing a thorough job of self-cleansing.

And then a long stretch on the side of the tree. Squirrel yoga, maybe?

Run turkey! Run!

And a partridge in a pear tree. Not really. I think they're doves.

The woodpecker again.

Old Mother Hubbard taking a nap.

Deer tail.

Ending as we began, with the Halloween moon. The problem with this photo is the moon is over-exposed. If I could have captured the horizon with the moon like in the top picture, I'd have had something.

Lastly, some kind of finch I think. I am still not up on my birds yet.

 

_____________

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 684th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

My Music Teacher

I learned that my elementary school music teacher passed away recently. Her name was Mrs. Tingler, and she taught music from the time I was at Breckinridge Elementary School until I left there in sixth grade.

She did not instill my love of music in me - that honor belongs to my father, who has always sang and played the guitar. But she did impress me with the variety of music available, and opened my eyes to many different types of instruments.

She would bring in drums, bongos, triangles, recorders, tambourines, and other such instruments and hand them out to students to play.

Some of my favorite songs we sang were Senor Don Gato, a song about a cat, and Goodbye, Old Paint, a song about an old pony. Sometimes I call my husband "Old Paint," and he always looks at me funny when I do that.

Once Mrs. Tingler took me and another student to other elementary schools to sing. I also played the flute during the songs. The only song I recall that we sang was Morning Has Broken, but I know there were others. It was a big deal to be pulled from class to go around to other schools, riding in Mrs. Tingler's car from place to place.

A while back, I connected with Mrs. Tingler on Facebook and was able to thank her for her influence in my life. I am glad I was able to do that.

I don't know if students still have music at the elementary school level, what with the focus on STEM learning and teaching to tests. But hearing the sounds of young folks playing instruments and lifting their voices in song has to be one of the greatest delights of life.

I hope every young student has a Mrs. Tingler in his or her life at some point.

 

Birds on the Wire

A chickadee and a tufted titmouse hang out on the steel wire we used to hand the bird feeder. The feeder, by the way, is about 15 feet above ground, on a pully. I have to pull it up and down to fill it.

It's on a PVC pole that supposedly the squirrels can't climb. So far I haven't seen them trying to get into the feeder, although I have noticed that the squirrels and turkeys both like the seeds that spill from the feeder.

Pandemic Journal - Day 249

The death toll now for Covid-19 is nearing 1,000 people a day nationwide, according to the media. We've had 261,000+ die from this virus. That's a lot of folks missing from tables when the holiday rolls around on Thursday.

Still, people think this is a hoax, and that wearing a mask is infringement upon liberties. I don't think it says anywhere in the U.S. Constitution (or anyplace else) that wearing a mask during a public health crisis is an infringement upon anything.

It might be the thing that saves your life. Goodness knows, you can't bitch if you're dead. Since bitching and not minding your own business is the national past-time, I'd hate for all of these people to miss out on that because they up and died.

****

We are planning a small Thanksgiving, with just my husband and me. We will talk to family members, I'm sure, but we are not having a big meal. I have hurt my back and am not up to cooking a big dinner, and while leftovers are nice, turkey is not really something I care to eat day in and day out. We will have a turkey breast, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and apple pie. I may throw in some green beans if I decide we need something green on the table.

I had planned to decorate for Christmas on Sunday but that will now depend upon how my back is doing by then. I saw the chiropractor this morning and she said I had inflammation and muscle spasms in my left trapezius. It started after I had a rather long guitar session one night while my husband was out hunting with his buddies and I needed to entertain myself. 

Apparently, I overdid it, or maybe I lifted something that I don't remember and the guitar jam was a final straw.  It hadn't been bothering me to play the electric guitar, so this was a surprise.

It's too bad I can't find a decent small electric guitar that weighs about a pound. 

In order to keep my fingers calloused, I've pulled my guitelele out of the closet. It is small and light and hopefully will suffice for a week or so while my back heals. The chiropractor told me to leave the guitar alone until my back was all better, but she doesn't understand that the callouses and practice are necessary to my sanity.

****

I simply don't know what to do with people in general anymore. I've had folks say some nasty things to me over the past six month that I've overlooked. But I don't really want to be around them or continue to have much to do with them. I think they know they said things that hurt me, but they do not apologize.

"I'm sorry" would go a long way. I try to accept the subsequent actions as the apology I suspect it is, but I am tired. When I think I've hurt someone, I say, "I'm sorry," along with making amends if I feel it's required. I don't just carry on and hope they didn't notice I just told them I thought they were stupid. (I'm stupid because I want people to have health care. Gosh. How ignorant of me.)

Blue Jays and Cardinals

 

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What did you do for Thanksgiving when you were a kid?

A. Ate turkey, set the table for my mother.

2. What’s your favorite family tradition?

A. We don't have any traditions. We just eat.

3. What’s your favorite way to give back and help others?

A. Hand over money.

4. Name one person who can make you laugh, even months later. Why?

A. My brother.

5. What is the funniest thing you remember about a Thanksgiving past?

A. My mom made a pumpkin pie that didn't turn out well. We called it "pumpkin pudding." My mother was upset but the rest of us thought it was funny.

6. Do you have any unusual traditions, rituals or habits around Thanksgiving?

A. No.

7. What time do you eat your Thanksgiving meal?

A. About 6 p.m.

8. Name one ancestor that you think about on Thanksgiving and tell us why.

A. My grandmother, because she liked to eat at noon instead of at 6 p.m.

9. Is there a family heirloom at the Thanksgiving table? What its story?

A. There is no heirloom.

10. What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving Day?

A. When it is over.

11. What is something that was done for you this year that makes you grateful this Thanksgiving?

A. My friends have kept me sane.

12. What foods do you usually have for Thanksgiving?

A. Turkey, sweet potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, rolls.

13. How has the celebration of Thanksgiving today changed from when you were little?

A. No little kids running around, no grandparents, not a lot of people. It's a lot calmer.

14. If you could share Thanksgiving dinner today with one person in history who would it be? Why? (Note: it can be a relative)

A. Jane Austen, so we could talk about writing and how life was like in her era.

15. What is one wish you have for the next generation as they begin to establish their own Thanksgiving traditions?

A. That they actually have traditions, and understand that there are things in this world for which they should be thankful, not limited to but including their health, their brains (hopefully they will have learned to use them), whatever financial security they have (however limited), and the people who love them.

________________
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.

Saturday 9: Walking on Broken Glass

Saturday 9: Walking on Broken Glass (1992)

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

1) Annie sings that she feels she's walking on broken glass. What's the most recent item you broke?

A. One of my Corelle plates that came with me when I married. I have one of them left.

2) She sings about being cut until she bleeds. Tell us about a time you needed stitches.

A. I had thing cut out of my lip called a mucus cell. It was very painful and involved stitches in my lip. I remember I kept working, and I had to go to daycare center to take pictures for a news story. The little boys could not stop staring at my lip. The editor wanted to put the reason for their looks of fascination in the cut line of the picture, and I objected, but he did it anyway. I showed a picture last week but here it is again.

3) This week's featured artist, Annie Lennox, was born on Christmas Day. Do you know anyone whose birthday falls on a holiday?

A. I know folks whose birthdays are close to holidays, and one person born on February 29. But not anyone whose birthday actually falls on the holiday.

4) When Annie met Dave Stewart, with whom she'd form the duo The Eurthmyics, she was living in Australia and staying in a tiny apartment called a bedsit. The occupant has his/her own combination bedroom/living room with cooking facilities, but must share a bathroom. Tell us about one of your early apartments.

A. When we first married, we lived in a small four-room  house - basically a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, with a half-cellar under it. It was not well-insulated and was incredibly cold in the winter, and the only place to put the washing machine and dryer was in the half-cellar which could only be reached by going outside and then down a short flight of steps. We stayed there 7 months, and then moved.

5) After the Eurythmics broke up, Annie went out on her own. Would you rather work independently, or as part of a group?

A. Independently.

6) Among her many honors, Annie Lennox was named chancellor of Scotland's Glasgow Calledonia University. What's the last college campus you visited? What brought you there?

A. That would have been Roanoke College, when I went to see my nephew graduate, and one summer we went to Virginia Tech to see the memorial to the 32 people who died in a shooting there. I can't remember the years. I may have been back to my own alma mater's campus since then, but details are sketchy in my mind.

Memorial at Virginia Tech

7) In 1992, the year this song was recorded, compact discs outsold cassette tapes for the first time. Back in the day, did you enjoy making your own mix tapes?

A. A very long time ago, I listed to the American Top 40 Countdown and made tapes.

8) Also in 1992, Johnny Carson made his last appearance as host of The Tonight Show.  The catchphrase, "Here's Johnny!" was associated with the show. Can you think of another popular TV catchphrase?

A. "Be kind to one another," which I think is Ellen Degeneres phrase at the end of her shows. And then of course, there was, "Here's your host, Alex Trebek!" of Jeopardy! Pancreatic cancer sucks.

 

9) Random question: Think of your past week. Now look ahead to the coming week. Would you like it to be more, or less, exciting?

A. I've been sick (not Covid) and we're not doing anything except staying home. It would be nice to have an outing, but we're not going anywhere. I mean, who would want to leave this view, anyway?

______________
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. 

Sunset

 

Thursday Thirteen

The other day one of my professors posted that she had written "just" 32 novels - and that she was now removing herself from the "just" society. Thirty-two novels is quite an accomplishment, but it was "just" mass market paperbacks, or ghostwriting, or whatever.

This made me think how that one four-letter word needs to be removed from every description of ourselves. Because we're not "just" a human being. We're all human beings. We're each as important as the other, from the beggar in the street to the man who would be king. It's also a matter of self worth. I'm not just Anita. I'm Anita.

1. I'm not just a woman. I am A WOMAN. (I can roar, too.)

2. I'm not just a writer. I am A WRITER.

3. I'm not just a wife. I am a WIFE.

4. I'm not just a lover. I am a LOVER.

5. I'm not just my father's daughter. I am MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER. (His only one, too.)

6. I'm not just a sister. I am MY BROTHER'S SISTER. (His only one, too.)

7. I'm not just a poet. I am A POET.

8. I'm not just a friend. I am a FRIEND. A pretty special one, to some people.

9. I'm not just a news reporter. I am a NEWS REPORTER.

10. I'm not just the recipient of three colleges degrees. I have THREE COLLEGE DEGREES.

11. I'm not just the chief cook and bottle washer around here. I am THE CHIEF COOK AND BOTTLE WASHER!

12. I'm not just a blogger. I am a BLOGGER.

13. I'm not just a video gamer. I am a VIDEO GAMER.

That's actually empowering. I'm going to remove that word from everything!

_____________

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 683rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

37 Years

Today is my wedding anniversary. I've been married 37 years. Funny, in my head I'm only 33!

My man doing what he loves to do

Us in 2020!

Us about 15 years ago.

Us 37 years ago.

As Autumn Leaves the Valley

 

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Something held together with ribbon, string, or rope.

A quilt given to me by my great aunt.

2. Something related to travel.

Hot air balloon flying over the farm.

3. Someplace people gather

High school marching band at football game.

4. Something cold/frozen

Ash tree and fence after a snow.

5. Something with a hole in it.

My mouth after I'd had stitches
in my lower lip around 2006

6. Something striped

The remnants of a barn built circa 1859.

7. An animal.

A bee in the zinnias.

8. Something cute.

A doe washing off her second born after giving birth to twins in my front yard.

9. A food.

Cooked turkey!

10. Something warm

The sun during the 2017 eclipse.

________________
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.