A Few Photos

The cold weather over the past couple weeks has produced some rather picturesque river ice. This week has been a little warmer and caused the ice to recede a bit, so I'm glad I took pictures of it when it was it its peak with just a channel of water running in the middle.

One of the advantages of these extensive ice shelves is that they provide plenty of area for wildlife. In the past decade there have been an increasing number of bald eagles nesting along the river and they've successfully hatched eggs and raised offspring. It's now a pretty common occurrence to see eagles and their eaglets. The ice shelves make a perfect place for the adults to show their eagles how to rip apart the fish they might have caught. I'll spare you any of those barbaric photos, but this one just looks majestic.

 

 

I didn't take this picture but it's from a friend of John's brother. Everyone around here looks for piebald deer, and there are lots of photos sent around if anyone spies one. The snow makes a nice background for this one. 

 

 

This covered bridge is about a mile from where John grew up, so we've driven through it plenty of times. I tend to take it for granted, but snow always makes it look even more scenic.

 

 

My last photo isn't wildlife or nature, but two lovely people that I love. Justin was in a friend's wedding last weekend and both he and Jess cleaned up nicely. He never dresses up, so this occasion was photo-worthy.

 

I hope your weekend is full of fun and relaxation and a photographic moment or two! 

 

No More Snow, Please

Officially (though I’m not sure who is in charge of officially measuring) we got 15 inches of snow, topped with another 1–2 inches of ice. Clearing all of that, on top of what was still hanging around from two weekends ago, was not exactly fun, but we managed to get it done.

John handled the snowblower, and I shoveled places where the snowblower couldn't be used. It was 12 degrees when we started and eventually warmed up to 18. I don’t mean to just complain about the weather, especially since we were incredibly lucky and never lost power.

Ryan spent around seven hours clearing his sidewalk and driveway, but Justin wins the prize. He worked 16 hours of overtime on Sunday plowing and shoveling, then another eight hours of overtime on Monday cleaning up more snow, shoveling, and salting. Hopefully, those 24 hours of overtime will help cover his slightly exorbitant gas and electric bill.

I didn't take any photos because I was shoveling, so I’m including a couple that friends sent me. It all looks very picturesque and peaceful, but no more snow, please!

Hold On!

A friend and I were recently discussing author Frieda McFadden and she asked me what I thought of her books. I told her that I had never read any of McFadden's books so I really had no idea what they were like. They are certainly popular and I found out just how popular when I tried to place holds on a couple of Frieda McFadden books.

I'm used to seeing long hold times in Libby. Oftentimes, they are ~ a month or so, but for popular books they can be much longer, as you can see above. Dear Debbie isn't even published January 27, so I'm sure that hold time will get much longer after the publication date. 

One of my libraries uses Cloud Library instead of Libby and this hold just made me laugh. 

I didn't actually place a hold on this on this one. There are some books I'm curious about, but not curious enough to actually buy the book or wait 13 years. Thrillers aren't my genre of choice, but they certainly are popular with other readers. 

 

Here's hoping your library books are available and if not, that your hold times are short!  

 

 

 

 

The World May Be Imploding ...

 ... but the bread still rises. My SiL (let's call her Phyllis) and I write each other weekly newsy emails and she told me about her plans for a dinner party she was going to be hosting for friends. Phyllis was making bone broth to use in preparing beef stew and listed the various dishes that friends were making. These included stuffed mushrooms, a salad with winter vegetables, cheesecake, and one friend would be bringing whatever bread she had baked that week. Phyllis said that this friend had started baking bread in January and kept baking as things got worse and worse. She told Phyllis that "The world may be imploding, but the bread still rises."

I was struck by this and felt compelled to start a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, especially because I hadn't baked any bread in quite a while. It was done baking later at night, so it was dark and the pictures aren't terrific, but it was one of the nicest looking loaves I've made.  

 

 

It looked just as good when I cut a few pieces the next morning, and tasted wonderful. 

 

 

Everybody has to find the coping mechanisms that work for them, whether they involve voodoo dolls, reading, knitting, appreciating nature, music, or baking bread. Just thinking about what my next loaf will be makes me feel better because even though the world may be imploding, the bread still rises. 

 

 

It's A Little Tarnished ...

 ... but I still like my angel chimes in spite of their slightly bedraggled appearance. 

I got this 33 years ago at Ryan's insistence. We were at a little 5 & 10 store (which has sadly closed) and they had one on the counter with the candles lit and the angels whirling around. Because he was two, Ryan was fascinated by the candles but also by the angels and chimes. I think it was $2.99, so of course I bought it.

 

 The base has some spots of rust on it, 

 

and the angels have also dulled over time and have their own areas of wear. But I enjoy watching the angels whirl around and dinging the chimes for a few minutes each year. It always reminds me of good memories, like the kids promising to be good if I would light the candles and laughing hysterically when I accidentally installed the angels the wrong way and they flew around backwards.

 

 

I've thought about replacing it for several years, but I haven't found another red one like this. Now it seems as if they are all shiny brass and cost about 10 times what I paid. More importantly, they also don't come complete with sweet memories, so a little bit of rust and tarnish is just fine with me. 

Look What I Got!

Some family members were visiting last weekend so I had brunch on Sunday for John's sister, her husband, their oldest daughter, and her son. They are always wonderful people to visit with and I wish we could have spent even more time together. 

We were having so much fun talking to each other that I didn't take any pictures but I do want to show you the very special gift that my SiL made for me. 

My very own voodoo doll! I love everything about it - the colors she used, the hair, the tie, the tiny hands, and that expression. I have wondered many times how I was going to cope over the next three years, and I think this might actually help. When I read the news about the destruction of the White House, deportations, Venezuela, the demise of the CDC and vaccine policy, and everything else, there is very little I can actually do. But it's surprising how poking a few pins in strategic places can help. 

My SiL has made four of these voodoo dolls so far and gifted them to friends in New Mexico, Sweden, PA, and NJ. We even joked about coordinating and poking our pins at the same time just to see what might happen.

At the end of the day, after we’ve done what we can to make our voices heard in real and constructive ways, I think it’s healthy to laugh together. There’s no reason we can’t also laugh at the absurdity coming at us from every direction these days. Honestly, I think we need laughter more than ever.

Let me know if you’d like me to place any pins for you!

 

I'll See in a Month or Two

I have bursitis in my hips and they have been aching, stiff, and sore for a long time (as in several years). I have been to two different orthopedic doctors, gotten cortisone shots three or four times, done physical therapy four different times, I do exercises at home, and figured out how to manage the pain on a daily basis (ibuprofen and Diclofenac gel). It's not ideal, but lots of people have chronic conditions, and there really isn't anything else to do. My current orthopod has said that hip replacements won't help, but he can manage the acute pain with cortisone shots and he will refer me to the chronic pain clinic if/when I feel like I need it.

A little while ago I saw an ad for Osteo Bi-Flex and wondered if it really did anything. I've read several studies on the efficacy and the results are honestly all over the map. It has helped in some studies (often patients with knee pain) but shown little to no effect in other studies. So I decided that I needed to order some and try it for myself. I have 60 capsules so I will take one a day and see if there is any difference in a couple months. I don't take any other supplements or vitamins, but decided that a multi-vitamin couldn't hurt. It was hard to find one that didn't have 300% of some vitamins because that's just too much, but this one is a bit more realistic. 

I'll admit that I'm a bit skeptical, but I also did some reading about the placebo effect. Dr. Ted J. Kaptchuk, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has been studying placebos for more than 20 years. He says, "People can still get a placebo response, even though they know they are on a placebo. You don’t need deception or concealment for many conditions to get a significant and meaningful placebo effect, especially in conditions that are defined by self-observation symptoms like pain." 

That sounds promising to me and I'm giving it a try.  

Please Don't Make Me Drive to Newark Again

On Monday, I was grumbling about having to pick up Justin and John late Tuesday night (well, late for me) at Newark airport. That trip actually went fine and we were home by 1:00 am. But what I didn’t know when I wrote that post was what Monday night itself would hold. 

Jess, who works at a vet’s office, had been told she absolutely had to be at work Tuesday for surgery day. That meant she was flying home from Montana on Monday. She had a friend lined up to pick her up, so all I needed to do was stay awake long enough to hand her the car keys; her car had been parked in our driveway since I dropped her at the airport back on September 20th).

Easy, right?

Well, the first sign of trouble was a text from Jess in Chicago saying her flight was delayed. Cue hours of updates: more delays, more waiting. Eventually, her flight left three hours late, which meant she landed at Newark at 12:45 am. By then, her friend had bailed on the pickup.

She checked Uber and it would have been about $200 for the ride. Beyond the cost, I couldn’t imagine having to climb into a stranger’s car in the middle of the night. So I did what any mom/aunt/friend with a semi-decent sense of responsibility would do and drove to Newark to pick her up. By 1:00 am, Jess and her luggage were in my car, and by 2:00 am, we were home. She still had a 45-minute drive back to her own house, but I went straight to bed because I had to turn around and go back to Newark the very next night.

All told, I made four round trips to Newark in two weeks (each about 110 miles), with the last two trips happening less than 24 hours apart.

The silver lining? I snapped this odd but kind of wonderful photo. I can’t tell exactly what’s happening in it beyond headlights and taillights, I think, but I like it.  

 

Still, I suspect the next time someone asks me to make an airport run, I’ll have no trouble saying no. 

 

Here's hoping you have a lovely, restful weekend! 

 

 

Hello Again

I cross this bridge a lot; it's the one from Milford, New Jersey to Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. There is a more direct route to PA via the Frenchtown bridge, but that bridge is under construction (possibly until the 12th of Never). So I take this detour that adds about 20 minutes to my trips but it also gives me time to really look at the bridge and think about what I'm seeing. 

After a longer-than-anticipated break—thanks to an ongoing series of medical tests and the unpredictable detours life tends to throw—I’m finally back. The time away has been necessary, sometimes frustrating, sometimes clarifying. But now, even though the sign says no diving or jumping, it’s time to dive back into writing blog posts.

Blogging isn’t always easy. Some days the words come slow, and the doubts come fast. But what I’ve missed most isn’t just the writing—it’s you. The people. The connections. The quiet encouragements and the kind messages from those who reached out to say they were thinking of me, and even missed me.

It’s amazing how much a simple “you were missed” can do. So I offer a big thank you. A little encouragement truly does go a long way—and here I am, back at the keyboard.

See you in the comments. Let’s pick up where we left off.

 

What to Write About?

I seem to have run out of things to blog about, so today I am reduced to writing about that. Summer doldrums have hit before, usually in August when it's desperately hot and dry. This is just the beginning of July, but I think I have arrived in the doldrums. 

NOAA's picture of the doldrums. I thought it was kind of pretty

 

 

 

• I only know one definition of doldrums- a period of inactivity or stagnation, but did you know that the "doldrums" is also a nautical term? It refers to the belt around the Earth near the equator where sailing ships sometimes get stuck in windless waters. NOAA has a page about it if you're interested. It says sailing ships can be becalmed for several weeks, but I hope my period of doldrums is shorter. I am fairly sure that I will feel more like doing something when the heat and humidity abate (so maybe in September).

• Be careful how much you earn if you are receiving Social Security. John knew there was a limit as to how much he could earn as a consultant without a penalty, but someone's math was off and he made $144 too much last year. We just paid back Social Security over $6000 in overpayments, and this was an expense I hadn't budgeted for. I'd like to assure Elon that we are not responsible for any waste or fraud. 

• I've told you about two slightly negative things, so it's time for something more positive. John and Justin went to Alaska on a fishing trip and brought back 50 lbs. of salmon and halibut. I rarely make fish, but I have been enjoying it a lot. It's easy to do a few filets in the air fryer after seasoning them with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika, and I'll probably like them even better once I get motivated enough to go to the grocery store and get some lemons. Fish and lots of garden vegetables make a dinner that I can prepare even if I'm stuck in the doldrums.  

• I am becoming impatient with Patience, a British show on PBS Masterpiece. I really enjoy the show, but only one episode is released each week. There are two more episodes to go, and I'm sure I'll be sad after I've watched them and there aren't any more. But I have also enjoyed Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders, and Maryland while I wait for more episodes. What I'd really like is another season of Unforgotten, but maybe I'll just have to rewatch the first five seasons while I wait for the sixth season. I'd be glad for any suggestions you might have, and they can be about other things besides murder!

• It's amazing how quickly I can knit in my mind! I haven't yet reached the heel on the second rainbow sock and after I finish that pair I still have to knit the second sock of the blue and green striped pair. And yet, I've found myself wondering what other self-striping yarn I have in my stash. I just checked Ravelry and it looks like there are two skeins of watermelon yarn in my stash. All I have to do is leave the doldrums and go upstairs to my yarn closet and find them. It's certainly a relief to know that I'll be able to continue my sock knitting kick. 

• Here is a great summer salad recipe that I made for the first time this week. I made it pretty much according to the recipe, but I didn't have any hoisin sauce for dressing and I only added chicken to John's portion (because he has to have meat to call it dinner!) but I thought it was delicious. I like how the ramen noodles soak up the dressing and the mandarin oranges taste like a treat when all you want is a nice cold salad. 

It seems that I found a few things to write about even if none of it was of any real consequence. I wish you a lovely weekend and I'll leave you with a quote that I like:

There is no panacea, or utopia, there is just love and kindness and trying, amid the chaos, to make things better where we can. And to keep our minds wide, wide open in a world that often wants to close them.

 ~ Matt Haig, from Notes on a Nervous Planet ~

 

Peas, Peas, Peas, & Beans

John left yesterday morning to get his truck fixed so I took the opportunity to get started on blanching all the peas and beans that we have picked this week. I have a system that works for me, and not surprisingly, it works much better without any extra "help" in the kitchen. 

First, fill the blancher with water and get the water boiling. Get your peas and beans out of the refrigerator and line them up next to the stove. This photo was taken after I had already done one bag of peas. 

Boil the peas for five minutes. Be sure to use any spare moments while waiting to read the book that you are really anxious to finish. In my case, it was Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild, but any book can be substituted. 

After five minutes, drain the peas and cool them down in an ice bath to stop the process. This takes a lot of ice because you are dumping boiling hot vegetables into your ice bath, so I just make ice in five or six plastic bowls when I know I'm going to be blanching.

Keep the process going while you fish the cooled peas out of the ice bath and put them in a colander to drain. 

 

 

Keep blanching, cooling, and draining and place the drained peas in labeled freezer bags.

 

 

Place all the bags of peas and beans to the freezer and lay them out in a single layer so they freeze better. Pro tip: Be sure to seal all the bags completely. It's surprising how quickly damp peas will freeze directly to the cold freezer surface if they are accidentally spilled out of an unsealed bag. A long-handled metal spoon works well to scrape them off. 

 

Dump out the remaining boiling water as soon as possible, wash all the pots and utensils used, put all the dish towels and pot holders in the laundry, and don't forget to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. 

 

I don't like blanching and freezing vegetables much, but future me loves to go to the basement and get out a pack of frozen vegetables to serve with dinner. Here's hoping you have something good for dinner tonight (we're having burgers on the grill and lots of fresh string beans) and a wonderful weekend.

 

 

Things Are Looking Up

 

Today is looking so much better than the rest of the week. We had some rain and best of all, the temperatures have cooled down ... a lot. Today's high is only supposed to be 70 degrees, and I'm thrilled with the 30-degree cool down. Next week looks like another hot one in the 90s but I guess that's summertime and it shouldn't reach 100. 

I'm going down to see Nugget tomorrow and have bagels with Jess but other than that, I've got a blissful weekend to myself. I hope you're anticipating an equally satisfying weekend!

Sometimes Monday ...

 ... is a day when you just want to lie in front of the air conditioner with a wet washcloth on your forehead. Our weather this week looks quite warm too d**n hot, like much of the rest of the country:

This is one week I'm really not looking forward to, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for 78 degrees on Friday.

I hope your Monday is a good one and you can find a way to stay cool this week!

My Parade

I heard something about a big birthday/military parade in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. My birthday was yesterday and while there didn't seem to be a parade in my honor, I've been thinking about what I would like to see in my parade:

• Cats
• Yarn and/or knitting in some fashion
• A float with librarians giving out books to spectators
• Another float where people give away pieces of carrot and chocolate cake

This parade wouldn't last long so I could leave with several pieces of cake, some yarn, and a new book to go home and read on the porch. Maybe a nice cat would even follow me home.

In case you're wondering what this might look like, it could be something like this:

 

That is far better than soldiers and tanks, and you are all invited to my birthday parade with smiling cats, yarn, books, and cake!

44

Forty-four is the number of years we've been married, so Happy Anniversary to us. That is kind of an amazing number to me, especially when I consider that John retired three years ago and that means he's always around. This has meant some big adjustments (mainly on my part), but I'll bet that we make it to 45.

 This is what we looked like on June 13, 1981.

Here's what we looked like on June 14, 1981. 

I'd post a picture of what we look like now but we don't have any recent photos of us together. Maybe I'll ask Ryan to take one when we see him later today, but that's probably not necessary. We look exactly the same and haven't changed at all. (Insert hysterical laughter here.) 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Small Celebration of Small Good Things

Things are still Going to Hell in a Handbasket, but I only have control over so much and those things are going reasonably well. Here is a small celebration of some small good things.

Good Thing 1: My youngest son celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday. That is a good thing, but the fact that Justin is a truly wonderful young man that I'm incredibly proud of is the best.

Good Thing 2: When we went up to Ryan's on Monday, I was thrilled to find that he had baked a carrot cake. It's one of my favorites, and he was kind enough to send me home with some of it. I've been enjoying carrot cake for breakfast!

Good Thing 3: Jess and Justin will be visiting Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio over Memorial Day, and that means I get to kitty-sit for Nugget. It's just a long weekend, but I do welcome any chance to visit her, scratch her ears, and give her plenty of pets and treats. 

Bonus Good Thing: Typing "Hell in a Handbasket" above prompted me to smile at a nice memory. I was driving one day and Ryan was in the backseat. I don't remember exactly how old he was, but it was whatever age kids learn state capitals, so he was probably around 10 and in fourth grade. I was quizzing him about state capitals while I drove, but our town has three traffic circles in a row and traffic gets crazy if you're not familiar with how to drive on them. Traffic was worse than usual and after narrowly avoiding rear-ending a car that had just stopped in the circle I said, "This town is going to Hell in a Handbasket!" Ryan was quiet for a little while, and finally he said," I think that Helena is the capital of Montana, not Nebraska." Now whenever I write that expression, I always think of Helena Nebraska. It's one of those gentle memories that always makes me smile. 

I'd love to celebrate the small good things in your life, so please feel free to share them in the comments!

 

Piles of Stuff

Last weekend we got into a discussion when I asked John if he could consolidate his piles of stuff. I tried to ask this question in a non-confrontational tone, but he didn't hear it that way. So I decided to document our piles of stuff throughout the house to better assess the situation.

These are things I need to give to Justin the next time I see him. It's a small manageable bunch of things on our dining room table, handy to where everyone will see it when they come in the house. 

Ryan's pile is even smaller, just some Tupperware I need to return to him and a new AAA card. These are in a tote bag on the mud porch, ready for when we go to Ryan's to tend the garden next week. 

 

For the sake of honesty, here are my own piles of books and knitting stuff on the table next to my chair.  

John has quite a few more collections of important things. One on the dining room table,

another small one next to his chair in the living room, 

a small pile of reading material and somewhat important mail by his place at the kitchen table,

and a much larger pile on a chair in the bedroom of clothes that are new or worn and may or may not be dirty.

He also has a pile of boots, empty boot boxes, and slippers on the mud porch. 

And then there are the antlers. He loves antlers, and I can even understand that. Justin worked on two different deer ranches and had many opportunities to collect large and impressive shed antlers. John can't stand to part with any of them. Here are two of the largest collections:

 

 

and I didn't want to bore you with at least three smaller bunches of antlers in various places throughout our living space. 

When I was an assistant supervisor at a lab in Syracuse, I remember going to a seminar about how people organized things (physical items and ideas) differently. I know that there are many ways to approach organization. Some people (like me) do better with "a place for everything, and everything in its place" while others need to be able to see everything and have it readily available to be able to act on it or boost their creativity. The second one describes John. 

So no piles of stuff were moved, consolidated or cleaned up last weekend, and I don't have a lot of hope that this will happen in the future. We have lived together for over 46 years, so by now I have learned to grudgingly accept that John's way is not my way. I enjoy having open, uncluttered spaces; John sees them as places for new piles of stuff and that's just life.

So how are things organized in your house? Are the people in your household compatible with the way you organize things, or do their important things all over just look like a mess to be cleaned up? I'd love to hear about the piles of stuff in your house and your life!

Better Late Than Never

I had to run to the grocery store for a few things on Saturday, and they had a display of Easter flowers right by the front door. I picked up a pot of three hyacinths to inhale their heady fragrance, decided I needed them, and carefully placed them in my cart. 

Later I came to the floral department and saw one of those mini orchids and it was in an adorable bunny rabbit planter. I felt like I had to decide whether I wanted the hyacinths, the orchid, or neither of them, but in a complete departure from my usual, I bought both. They make me happy every time I see them! 

Jess texted me last week to ask what time they should come over for Easter and could she bring anything. Easter has never been a big holiday for us and I honestly didn't feel like cooking a big meal, but for a few moments I did consider making Easter dinner for just Justin and Jess. Ryan was playing D&D and wasn't willing to drive for an hour for a meal he didn't really want. I ended up telling Jess that I didn't have anything planned but maybe we could get together next week so I could hear about her trip. (She just went to the Galapagos!) She said that was fine; she and Justin would go fishing. I didn't have to do something that I didn't really want to do and I needn't have worried that I was going to hurt someone's feelings.

I was working outside on Sunday when I noticed that a bunch of my grape hyacinths had spread (or the squirrels spread them) and were now blooming in the yard rather than the flower beds. My mother had a fairly strict rule that outside flowers were meant to be enjoyed outdoors and we were not allowed to cut them and bring them inside. (Why? I have no idea!) I often still stick by the "rule" and leave flowers outdoors where they bloom. But since these were in the yard, I picked them and brought them inside before John mowed them. I'll be 68 in a couple of months, so I guess it's finally time for me to do what I want to, even if what I want to do is relatively minor. 

These are all small things, and while I don't see myself throwing caution to the wind, heading to Atlantic City to gamble our retirement savings, and taking up with a suave and handsome Italian gigolo, it is interesting to see that I can break some "rules", do some things that make me happy, and nobody gets harmed when I do that. Who knows, I may even order some yarn that I've been lusting after, take a nap, or eat three of my homemade peanut butter bites just to make sure I've really learned this lesson. Better late than never!