See Ya Later

We're on the road for the next couple of weeks, visiting family and friends in Texas. And doing a little real estate scouting too, since M will be (gasp!) retiring next year and we'll be moving back to the land of our ancestors.

So I'm taking a little break from blogging for a few days. Be back soon.

It's Not Me, It's Them!

Just wanted to let you know: If you've tried to leave me a comment lately and it hasn't shown up, it's not because I've rejected it or anything (I appreciate all your comments and I'm still getting them via email notifications). It's just that Blogger apparently has been having major issues with comments for a while now. I've reported the problem and hope it clears up soon.

Such a Gorgeous Award!

OK, I have to start out by apologizing to Smiling Sally, the gorgeous blogger who awarded me the Gorgeous Blogger Award last week. I'm very grateful for the award and flattered she thought of me. And I've been meaning to post my "six things about myself" list, but somehow real life and wonky Internet connections (and a really wonky memory) just keep getting in the way. So, here it is – just a little later than planned. I've done something like this once or twice before, so some of these fascinating facts may be repeats.

1. My memory isn't what it once was (see above). But then, neither is my body, for that matter.
2. I'm part Welsh, part English, part German, and possibly part Dutch and American Indian (Cherokee, I think).
3. My first pet was a chicken who drank himself to death. My most recent was a tabby cat who lived to the fine old age of 23 years.
4. I'm a terrible cook, but a pretty decent baker.
5. I don't much like the color orange. Except on oranges, of course. And on tabby cats.
6. I've eaten snails, rabbit, rattlesnake, and squirrel. It all tastes like chicken. Except the snails. They taste like snails.

And I'll be passing the award on to six other worthy and gorgeous bloggers as soon as real life settles down a bit. Thanks again, Sal!

Over the Top!

Wow, I've really been a lazy blogger lately. Got this lovely and challenging award from Smiling Sally, and it's taken me a week to get it posted. Sal has passed along the Over the Top award to Joysweb, and it's challenging because it comes along with a survey to fill out, and the rule that you can only use one-word answers. Well, if you know anything about Joysweb, you'll know how extremely difficult that's going to be for me. But I'll try (almost) anything once – so here goes:

The Rules: 1. Use only one word! 2. Pass this along to six other bloggers. 3. Alert them that you have given them this award. 4. Have Fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? hidden
2. Your hair? messy
3. Your mother? short
4. Your father? tall
5. Your favorite food? fattening
6. Your dream last night? chaotic
7. Your favorite drink? coffee
8. Your dream/goal? longevity
9. What room are you in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? weird
11. Your fear? cancer
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? alive
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren’t? male
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. Wish list item? liposuction
17. Where did you grow up? Texas
18. Last thing you did? breakfast
19. What are you wearing? nightie
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pets? gone
22. Friends?! nice
23. Your life? smooth
24. Your mood? sleepy
25. Missing someone? sometimes
26. Vehicle? Ford
27. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
28. Your favorite store? many
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? hmmmm?
32. Your best friend? hubby
33. One place that you go to over and over? bookstore
34. One person who emails me regularly? Vicki
35. Favorite place to eat? out

Now the other rule is to pass the award along to six other bloggers, and I'll have to work on that one. But if it looks like fun, feel free to go right ahead and try this one yourself.

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted (just like The Go-Gos)

Don't know how much blogging I'll get done this week because Joysweb is going on vacation! We're off to the beach for a little R&R (that's reading and relaxation, naturally!).

So . . . back in a few. Catch ya later.

Happy Easter! Happy Springtime!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Blog Every Day in April (Who, Me?)

Over on my Joy's Blog blog, I just posted a note about Blog Every Day in April (BEDA). It's one of those blog events or phenomena that people come up with from time to time, specifically designed to shame me into spending even more time blogging! Even though my poor hubby already has to pry my hands off the keyboard every night, to get me to come fix dinner!

Well, as I said on the other blog, I'm probably the last person alive and computer-ing to hear about BEDA, but if you're here at the end of the tunnel with me, you can read all about it on Maureen Johnson's Blog. She came up with the idea of blogging every day in April, and it quickly spread around the Blogosphere and took on a life of its own. Just one of those ideas whose time had come – like votes for women, or solar power, or Potty Time With Elmo.

Now I can't promise to blog every single day this month. In fact, I'm not really sure why Maureen wanted to set herself and the rest of us up for that kind of stress attack. But it's a cute idea, so I might play along in my fashion ("in my fashion" = slipshod, scatterbrained, hit or miss, etc.). And, paltry though it may be, please accept this as my first BEDA offering.

Inauguration Day

It's a cold day in Washington DC today, but the thousands of people who've come to watch and celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama don't seem to mind the low temps. Their enthusiasm and excitement will keep them warm.

I know this inauguration day is particularly historic. The eyes of the world are focused on Washington DC today, and rightly so. The election of an African-American President has been a long time coming and is vastly overdue. But personally, I'll always see the 1993 inauguration as probably the most important and memorable. For one thing, it was the first time in many years that the candidate I had voted for was actually the person being sworn into office; I had thought that would never happen. Also, Bill Clinton was the first Baby Boomer to become President – and that was a very big deal for me.

The other inauguration I'll always remember is/was the 1973 swearing in of Richard Nixon. It was memorable because I was in Washington DC that day, attending not the inauguration, but the "counter-inaugural" demonstration. We were living in Baltimore MD at the time, and I believe we drove into Washington for the day – security was a lot looser in those days, and there were no metal detectors, no checkpoints, and no Metro. As I recall, the Smithsonian museums were all open that day, and we popped in there occasionally to take refuge from the cold. These are a couple of the photos we took that day – one is a shot of the crowds near the Lincoln Memorial, and the other is yours truly (with a friend) on the edges of the chaos.




















Well, now I live even closer to the District. But I'm not venturing in for today's festivities. My inclination these days is to stay as far away from that sort of activity as possible. I'll watch it on TV, and I wish the very best for our new President and his family.

And I hope it doesn't snow!

Bracing Myself for the Future

Yes, it looks like it's come to this – as it probably does to most of us who do a lot of "computer-ing." My right hand and wrist were so painful yesterday, I really couldn't use them. And I'm extremely right-handed, so that was pretty depressing. Finally, I took M's advice and tried the wrist brace he'd bought me. It's ugly and it itches, but it does seem to ease the pain quite a bit.

Of course, the whole episode has resulted in a lot of cutting back on my blogging activities. Oh, well – more time for reading, I guess. (Look on the bright side, JL.)

Now what I want to know is – do these things come in any more attractive colors?

Darkness At the Break of Noon

Well, not quite noon. This was actually taken around 1PM yesterday. But those lyrics from Dylan's song kept running through my mind all day. There was no sun - just cold, murky rain and fog. My seasonal affective disorder is kicking in. Excuse me while I go turn on every light in the apartment.

Getting Organized

I'm afraid my photo of the day isn't all that interesting – but it does totally represent my day today. It's a shot of my newest storage "room" which is really just a section of our master bedroom partitioned off with a homemade screen. Well, when you live in a small space, you have to be creative (as they say on HGTV). I'm still in the process of storing stuff in there – you might be able to tell from the photo that I've actually got some empty spaces to fill! And here in Condo Canyon, empty space is a real luxury.

This Is Not a Christmas Tree

No, it's a very old potted palm, in dire need of repotting. It's my photo of the day, and it's occupying its regular place in our living room – after having to move to temporary quarters while the Christmas tree usurped its position. Yesterday we took down the tree, put away all the decorations, and ate the last of the Christmas goodies. So now the Holidays are over, and it's back to normal life, normal decor – and normal dieting.

Project 365 and a Sign of the Times

Just read an article about something called Project 365, on a website called Photojojo, which seems to be an online photography newsletter you can subscribe to. Project 365 was originated by photographer Taylor McKnight, who started taking a photo a day on January 1st, 2004. When he took the first photo:

"he never imagined the project would not only serve as a way to remember a year, but also help him understand what was important to him in his life.

Whether it was his relationships, his career, or his fashion sense, recording a photo a day for a whole year left him with a rich visual history of his life. And it made him a better photographer to boot!"

Interesting idea. Well, I doubt that I could keep up the photo-a-day pace. But I did take some photos yesterday that pretty much represent how I spent most of the day. We're in the process of reorganizing the space in our bedroom – trying to clear out a lot of the junk that's gotten lost in there over the last decade or so. Throwing lots of stuff out – including a bunch of very old floppy disks. Computer technology has advanced many generations since we started out with our old IBM. We really can't get at the data on these anymore, so into a garbage bag they went, and I snapped my Photo of the Day, below.

First Post of the New Year

Well, it's 2009 now. A bright, shiny new year has arrived (yes, it really is bright and shiny around here today). And, like just about everybody else, I find that really hard to believe. I'll be writing 2008 on letters and checks and blog posts for the next few days, if not the next few weeks – until my brain wraps itself around the new concept (that seems to be taking longer and longer these days).

I suppose it's time for the traditional listing of New Year's resolutions and rehashing of the year gone by. Well, I usually try to avoid making resolutions at the beginning of the new year – I find I hardly ever keep them, and that just depresses me. And in the middle of winter (not my favorite season), I really don't need any more depression than I've already got!

I did write a little run-down of my reading plans for the coming year – it's posted on my other blog (Joy's Blog). But aside from doing more reading and trying to use my time more productively in general, I really don't have a lot of plans for 2009. Try to stay healthy – that's a plan. Don't watch so much TV. Well, actually I think I've got that one covered already. Our new digital TV set-up is so complicated, I can't even turn it on without coaching – so I don't think I need to worry too much about the tube taking over a lot more of my time!

And as for year-end summaries and wrap-ups – well, I'm not very good at those, either. For years now, M and I have said it might be nice to write one of those newsy "what-we-did-this-year" letters to include in our Christmas cards to friends and family. And every year, we talk ourselves out of it. Summing up a whole year in two or three paragraphs just seems overwhelming and stressful and pointless. Maybe next year, I'll just point everybody to my blog! "Here," I'll say. "If you want to know what we've been up to, just look at this!"

New Year's Message

Happy New Year to all!

And I just want to say a brief thank you to everyone who's visited my blog (make that blogs) during the year – especially you wonderful people who've left comments and said hello. I've met so many great bloggers during this past year – the experience has been much more rewarding than I ever could have predicted when I started out. You guys are amazing!

Best wishes to you all and your families – I hope 2009 brings peace, prosperity, and lots of good times your way.

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Cross-posted on Joy's Blog.

Change Is Good (So They Tell Me)

Well, Christmas 2008 is now a memory. So Joysweb is un-decorating today. I've been playing around with several different blog backgrounds, including some splashy New Year's layouts. But couldn't find one I really liked – they were all too busy and cluttered, or a little too cute for my tastes.

So I'm experimenting with doing my own header. And I think I like this one pretty well. I do love a beach, so maybe I won't mind looking at this view every time I come here. Have to give it a chance to grow on me, I guess.

Back On My Feet

Well, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to keep it going very long – this posting everyday, that is. Missed yesterday. So it's probably just as well I didn't sign up officially with NaBloPoMo. Don't have any excuses – just laziness, really.

Not that I would have had that much to write about, even if I weren't so bone lazy. But I did get out of the apartment yesterday, for the first time since wrenching my knee a couple of weeks ago. Which was great – I was beginning to feel like the recluse brother on Monk. Had to be very careful about where I put my feet, and almost had a set-back after tussling with the front door, coming back into our building. But I made it OK, and without a cane, too. So I'm feeling pretty much like a normal human being again.

Now if the Cowboys just hadn't lost that *%$#^&* game last night, things would be looking really peachy!

At a Loss for Words? Who, Me?

Hmmmm. I have nothing to say. I know I said I was going to experiment with posting here everyday this week, but I really can't think of anything of interest at the moment.

It's been cold and rainy here today – the kind of weather I hate. But at least it's been relatively quiet. Our condo building has been having a lot of maintenance work done (facade upkeep) this year. It involves a lot of scraping and drilling and banging and brick replacement. And sometimes the noise can be deafening. And the dust is like an evil entity.

And generally, rain doesn't even slow the workers down. But today must have been especially bad because there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity out there.

We've had to tape all our windows shut and have them covered with plastic, to keep the brick dust out. So this is the view we've had out our bedroom window for the last few weeks. Lovely, isn't it?


And the second photo is a shot of my hubby clearing out books from a corner of his study last week. We had to have the building inspectors come in and make sure there were no leaks in the work they've done so far. I'm happy to report there were no leaks, but the inspection (which took about half a minute) meant that M. had to spend a whole afternoon, moving books and bookcases away from the wall, and then another evening moving everything back. It was a lot of work, but at least it gave him a chance to play with his books.

Just What You've Been Waiting For!

A Blather a Day.

I just found an interesting phenomenon called NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), which basically seems to be a bunch of people dedicated to posting a blog entry every day, for a month. You join up for a month at a time, any month of the year apparently. And you don't have to join on the first of the month – their FAQs say you can join anytime. I know this is probably old news to everybody else – I'm always the last to find new stuff in the blogosphere.

I've been toying with the idea of trying a daily post on Joysweb. I doubt that I could keep it going for a whole month. So I'm not signing up with NaBloPoMo. I can hear the blogging community breathing a collective sigh of relief.

But I do like the idea of the self-discipline a regular posting schedule would involve. And it would certainly be one more weapon in the fight against the dreaded LAN syndrome (Long Afternoon Nap).

I'm wondering how many other bloggers manage to post everyday? Do you? Do you blog at a certain time everyday? Do you have set subjects for different days? Or do you just pick a topic out of the air when you sit down at your computer?

Well, I think I'll just give it a go this next week, and see what happens. Then, maybe the rest of the month will follow. See – I've already posted twice today! Now just twenty-seven (twenty-seven!!!) more posts to go.