But just look. It is full of water!
We've had 11 days straight with measurable amounts of rain (not continuous of course) as of last Friday. And it's due to continue all next week too.
Today's quote:
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel laureate (18 Jul 1918-2013)
Sharing with Wordless Wednesday
My Gary Rith dragon arrived on Monday! I'm so thrilled. Tuesday's coffee will be imbibed from the lips of the mug, while dragon looks on from the handle. Isn't she cute?
Thanks a lot, Gary, for creating this charming mug!
Parking is easier for the seniors on coolish grey days because fewer families come to the pool. I've noticed one family is poolside every day, under an awning at a table, then they eat lunches out of their lunch boxes. Or maybe it's a day care, because almost all the kids are about the same size.
Another fun event happens several times a week at the pool, and that is a van load of kids from Asheville's inner city recreation sites, who come to enjoy the water, no matter how cool it is. They splash around and have a good time, some wearing a shirt to keep a bit warm when they get out of the water. I love watching them enjoy themselves.
When it's hot and sunny, there are the sun worshipers, who always smell of coconut oil as they apply tanning (maybe sun block?) products. They lie out on towels, and I don't know that they ever even get in the pool.
I hope your summer is relaxing. I read a saying which recommended for adults to let children just be when they appear to be doing nothing, that these are the moments when seeds are beginning in their thinking, whether they know it or not. I want to return to a relaxation where I don't have a single worry in my brain!
Today's quote:
If you truly want to grow, make a practice out of gratitude: the daily art of celebrating the life unfolding before your eyes. |
MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS |
Yes, living a simple life...with a few modern conveniences!
I had finally ordered one, much smaller than the free red one which smelled like it was about to catch on fire. I gave it back to the maintenance man, who carried it to the curb for household pickups.
I went with Black & Decker, because it's a brand I know. It's all made in China anyway.
Lots of the components are visible through the screen holes in the back. I never noticed that before.
Yep, it's small. But I can get a dinner plate in it to warm up left overs, and it boils water/coffee fine.
I'm happy.
I was not happy having to use a sauce pan to reheat the coffee for about a week. Not at all. But that was part of my "sickies" times. Times to be forgotten!
Today's quote:
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. |
DESMOND TUTU |
Here are 20 interesting facts about the importance of honey and bees:
Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. |
PARKER PALMER SHARING WITH EILEEN'S SATURDAY CRITTERS |
I love reading other blogs! They are such interesting people, all over the globe. And close to home. But almost always they post something worth while, either inspiring me, or bringing me into their lives to understand them better. Thank you, fellow bloggers.
Today I first clicked on a blog with a poem, by Mary Oliver. Here it is. When I am Among the Trees
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Ultimately, work on self is inseparable from work in the world. Each mirrors the other; each is a vehicle for the other. When we change ourselves, our values and actions change as well. |
CHARLES EISENSTEIN |
A vibrating vest, which has a tube where air is pushed through various smaller channels in the vest, hooked to a loud heavy machine which controls the length of time and the amount of vibration.
Yep,, everything is out of focus while I sit for 15 minutes.
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And if you're not Canadian, you might not know of the Group of Seven. Artists I discovered thanks to blogger "Ottawa Daily Photo" Here's the post on Landscapes.
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Yesterday I first read Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson, with my first cup of coffee. Not only did she speak of Kamala Harris' stunning beginning of her campaign, she mentioned Republican efforts to get a slamming campaign against her. Unfortunately still the country suffers from Republican lack of law making skills.
"In the House, Republicans have been unable to pass the appropriations bills necessary to fund the 2025 U.S. budget, laced as they are with culture-wars poison pills the extremists demand. Today House members debated the appropriations bill for the Interior Department and the Environment which, among other things, bans the use of funds “to promote or advance critical race theory” or to require Covid-19 masks or vaccine mandates.
According to the European climate service Copernicus, last Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history. The MAGA Republicans’ appropriations bill for Interior and the Environment calls for more oil drilling, fewer regulations on pollutants, no new regulations on vehicles, rejecting Biden’s climate change executive orders, and reducing the funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by 20%.
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My health is continuing very slowly to improve, so I'm terrifically grateful for friends helping out with some tasks that I felt a bit beyond my energy level at this time. I am resentful that I have to spend so much time on nebulizers and the vest to shake the mucous loose, so my coughs are productive. There is no end to the coughs, but they are mostly from about 4 o'clock on. Of course if I lie down to try to nap, suddenly that makes me cough. So I take small breaks.
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Today's quote:
The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them that we call them everyday things. |
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN |
In September of 1978, the Grateful Dead traveled to Egypt and played three shows at the Great Pyramid of Giza, with the Great Sphinx looking over their shoulders.
Logistically speaking, the concerts weren’t the easiest to stage. Rolling Stone reported that an “equipment truck got stuck in sand and had to be towed by camels.” Because the electricity in Egypt was an “a winkin’, blinkin’ affair,” Bob Weir later recalled, the jetlagged band had difficulties recording the first of the three shows. But, as with most adventures, the inconveniences were offset by the wondrous nature of the experience.
Here I shared..."the Dead performing “Ollin Arageed,” with Egyptian oudist Hamza el-Din and other local musicians, before seguing into “Fire on the Mountain.” The clip gives you a good feel for the awe-inspiring scene. Just above, we have a longer playlist of performances that took place on September 16, 1978 — the same night there was a lunar eclipse. The complete 9/16/78 show can be streamed on Archive.org, as can the shows from 9/14 and 9/15. A 2CD/1 DVD package (Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978) captures the Dead’s visit and can be purchased online.
We cannot forget that our real power is not necessarily to change the world, but to make a world of change to the people we encounter every day. |
CORY BOOKER |
Breakfast the other day!
Not exactly my normal granola with other stuff. That day I had some potato/beet/carrot salad with boiled egg crumbles.
I had half this slice...the thinner part on the right. Saving the rest for tomorrow!
And I had a normal serving (since I don't have delicacies like that salad slice every day!) of organic blueberries and Greek style yogurt. Then thinking I've been doing really well at managing things (why did I even think such a thing?) I proceeded to stack the blueberries on top of the yogurt container, and turn to open the fridge.
And blueberries went everywhere! I saved the little bit that remained in the container, and got out the broom, and hoped none flew under the stove. I didn't do more than run the broom across the front of it.
So that's my little world on one morning! Hope your day has started out better!
Sharing with My Corner of The World
Not sure where this first flying one came from into Facebook-land ... but what a gorgeous view.
These days my doctor is on leave, until November. Some kind of family emergency is what people say when asked. Someone knows, but it's not talked about. I can guess.
Anyway, the office continues to work with 2 Nurse Practioners seeing patients, and their NP students learning along side of them. I also still have my Physician's Assistant as my phone consultation once a month. They all have access to all my records....such as they are kept. On this visit I found that one medication I've taken for years wasn't indicated on my list. It was one that had just been increased in dosage.
I balked last time I was seen, that I didn't want to have a student treat me. She said, ok, you'll have to wait till the NP is done seeing other clients. What, I thought? I had an appointment too! But she got the message, and this time she was there for all the things we discussed and decided.
I've had many a mammogram in a mobile unit in their parking lot but not this time! This time a new vehicle was a trailer parked and running on this system of batteries. Since I know it has chilly air-conditioning, that must be one drain of electricity...then there are the X-ray machines which capture the bumps and blobs within our mammary tissues on digital films. I was interested to see this is how it all is being done these days.
Well, that was the day I stopped taking one drug, and started another (antibiotic) on Tues. this week. I haven't responded with any great decrease in coughing, nor the tiredness it brings on with just the antibiotic, and wish I had the addition of a sterioid boost too. I'll call them tomorrow and see if it's possible to get that addition to the antibiotic treatment.
Note: They couldn't find room in schedule to see me on Fri, and I found out they won't write any prescriptions without seeing someone. Grrrr.
And looking at promises of rain for Saturday, and my health issues, I've canceled being at the Tailgate Market this Saturday.
I've given lots of details of my Friday experiences over in "When I Was 69" yesterday.
Today's quote:
Nobody has the slightest idea how anything material could be conscious. Nobody even knows what it would be like to have the slightest idea about how anything material could be conscious.
So much for the philosophy of consciousness.
—Daniel D. Hutto
An Ideal Solution to the Problems of Consciousness
In the early days of 1913, there were plans to create a Methodist colony just northwest of Black Mountain. Part of this plan included the construction of Lake Tomahawk. However, when the colony's plans fell through, the town decided to use the area for a recreation center instead. With funding from the Civil Works Administration and later the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the town began developing the site. On Labor Day weekend in 1934, Lake Tomahawk and the Community House were officially opened with a fun-filled day of water sports. Unfortunately, a few years later in 1938, the lake had to be closed to swimmers due to water quality issues, and a pool was constructed to continue providing recreational activities for the community.
For my Sepia Saturday contribution (above) I show an old post card, undated. It was good to capture the history of the development of the lake. It's almost unrecognizable due to lots of bare areas without the current trees and homes. The roads ring true however. The dam is in the lower quadrant. Lakeview Center building had a red roof, and all along that north bank of the lake, a lot of little fingers of land had not yet been formed, nor the island.
There is little space in the aerial photo for the pool which was built on the landward side of the center building...but it's there now!
Yesterday while I ate lunch in the dining room on the second floor of the Lakeview Center, I saw a friend with her daughter and granddaughter at the pool. Unfortunately for them, a sweat bee got inside granddaughter's suit and stung her 3 times. It was the first time I knew sweat bees could sting when they feel threatened. Not the kind of thing one wants to learn!
I also learned that one should really not make big decisions when sick! Hey, I knew that!
I decided to use the last day of Amazon Prime's special discount days to purchase a new microwave. It's been a week without, and I really don't like living without one. So I picked one out, and a little boom box so I could play my CD's, since all my current players have died.
I placed the order. Then when confirmation came it was all mixed up (anything to do with my not having ordered often, or the sick brain?) There were two microwaves ordered, on two separate orders. And the boom box had been $37 on sale but I was being charged $46 for it. Not being in the mood to straighten anything out (it's impossible anyway) I just canceled the extra microwave and the boom box. Fortunately they don't place the charges until items are shipped! Then I remembered something else.
I hadn't paid that much attention to the size and they all look the same size in the photos on line. But I remembered 15 inches. So I got out my trusty yard stick, and found I barely had 15 inches clearance. Looked back at the model I'd ordered, and (you guessed it) it is 15.9"... so I canceled that microwave too.
And I checked on line this morning and there are no charges from Amazon!
Today's quote:
Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines. -R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, designer, and architect (12 Jul 1895-1983)
Sharing with Floral Friday Fotos and Sepia Saturday
Today's quote:
The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without. -Ernest Hemingway, author, journalist, Nobel laureate (21 Jul 1899-1961)