%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c   |
| I have finally handed over the job of treasurer of my writing group to another volunteer. I was beginning to think no one would ever want the position, and after five years I could understand why. Not that there was a whole lot of work to do, just the idea that I was tied to it all the time. Five years is long enough. It does seem strange not having to go the post office to pick up mail or to the bank to make deposits, and my emails have decreased with no "please reimburse me for blah blah." And now since I'm only doing the group's Facebook page and updating a few things on the website, I'm not even obligated to attend the monthly meetings. So happy and free..... Free to devote more time to writing and art. My memoir has been on hold for a while now but with no excuses, I'm digging out all those pages and getting down to business. I joined another critique group to keep me answerable, believe me, it works. When you know someone or two or three are counting on seeing those new pages on a certain date, you make sure you are writing and ready. I never liked bookkeeping when it was my job, and I can't imagine why I volunteered in the first place. Up for a new beginning. |
| I made some darn delicious banana muffins this afternoon! I had this poor little, almost black banana lying in the fridge, I'm sure you know the kind, so I posed the question to Google, who answered with the following easy one banana muffin recipe: Ingredients for 9-10 banana muffins (preheat oven at 350 degrees) 1/4 cup melted butter 1 mashed banana 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1 tablespoon milk (mine was almond) 1 beaten egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 cup all-purpose flour I melted the butter in a bowl in the microwave and let it cool some, then added the mashed banana, the two sugars, the milk, and the egg, and stirred them all together. Into that mixture, I dumped the rest of the ingredients and stirred it well. I dropped 2 heaping tablespoons into each of 10 paper cupcake holders, and baked them for 23 minutes. Let them cool completely (if you can) before you try to take off the paper or you will lose a lot of your cupcake. I went back to Google and added up all the calories for each ingredient ending with a total of 1500, which divided by 10 cupcakes gave each one a caloric total of 150...not too bad considering how good they are. I'm really looking forward to having (another) one with a cup of green tea later on this evening. Lots of other things could be added in but I had nothing else handy...walnuts, chocolate chips, craisins. And they are so good as is! |
| My Jax daughter was to come today but she texted this morning that her sciatica was bad and couldn't stand the long ride. I understand because I've had sciatica too. Unfortunately, I had just put a peach cobbler in the oven. And have a whole pound of fresh asparagus in the fridge. Oh well, I'll think of something. Her kitty is not well either, 21 years old, not eating much and shaky when he walks. Hope they are feeling better by now. It got up to 98 degrees today, 96 right now. I'm having to water my outside blooming flowers twice each day to keep their leaves from shriveling. No rain in forever but I'm sure in June it will be raining every day. That's Florida's rainy season...one of them at least. Grass is scorched too. County rescue took my neighbor across the street to the hospital this morning. He's having problems with his dialysis site plus other things, been on dialysis for over 15 years. He's such a pleasant fellow, hope he is okay. I just had my planned Memorial Day dinner minus the cobbler, gave that away. Coconut shrimp with oven baked asparagus and a sweet tater. Then, vanilla ice cream and strawberries. Life is so good and I am so grateful. Hope everyone had a good and restful Memorial Day. |
| My husband, who passed away in 2012, always took care of any maintenance on our home. Either he did it or he hired someone to do it. It seemed not a big deal when he was doing it, but now that I have to deal with it, reality has arrived. I've had to make the decision on having several things done and who to do them in the years since his death. Some decisions have been okay and some have not. I remembered he would always get three bids on any big job so I try to do that too. I never remember him giving contractors any advance payments but he may have and I didn't know it. Now, that seems to be a standard policy...30% minimum of the contract price. And always make sure they have general liability and workmen's comp. But how do you really know they will do a good job, and do it within a reasonable amount of time? Sure, you can get a written contract, but how do you enforce it when things go wrong? Even friends' recommendations have turned out badly. But saying anything is not a good idea...if you want to keep your friends. You can check out some things on the internet but who knows if they are true or not. Have you seen all those 5 star reviews? Are they real? I'm looking for an exterior painting contractor. Our house was last painted in 2005 so it is due, and showing it. I talked to my fourth painter today because one thing or another wasn't agreeable with the other three. And this one had alcohol on his breath. He's to email me his bid sometime next week. I'd like to say forget it all but that's not a possible solution. |
| I was reading on the back porch today, something I do often when I'm not napping, and when I looked up, this black snake (racer I think) was slithering through the grass. It stopped and seemed to be looking up at me and the end of its tail was sort of twitching back and forth. I watched and watched and wondered how long this snake could stay in one position like that. It was nice and warm and sunny so I guess it was enjoying itself. Then I saw a little baby snake slithering toward it. So...mama (or papa) must have been calling junior and I didn't know snake talk. They both wiggled off into some taller weeds that are growing where I had two pine trees cut down last fall. Fascinating to watch. |
| I went for a walk today and saw two dead animals. Both had been laid beside the road near the sidewalk and both were badly decomposed, but I could tell one had been a squirrel and the other a Siamese cat. I had to turn around and go back home, so very sad. The Siamese must have escaped its home somehow because I've never seen one roaming around anywhere ever. Up until that it was a beautiful day and a nice walk. I'll probably dream about it tonight. People drive too fast. Animals don't have a chance. And then on my Neighborhood website some lady was complaining about a black cat stalking her bird feeder, and she facetiously threatened to do something to it if the owner didn't keep it in its yard. She said if anyone reading her message knew who owned it, they had best be told about it. Like "or else." Sorry, it's been a rough day. |
| My life history group met yesterday and I had no new story to read so I listened to others which was just as good. One lady wrote about her old address book, interesting. I would never have thought to write a story about that although I'm sure most of us have one. She got the idea from an article in Readers Digest. I have address books that go back to the 1960s when Jim and I owned a mobile home park. We got previous addresses from everyone who rented a space so I looked at that when I got home. The names triggered some old old memories, good for a few stories. What a goldmine, lovely to find stories in the most unusual places. Do you have an old address book? |
| I actually took a walk today although I admit it wasn't far and it lasted only 23 minutes, but, hey, that's a start. The weather has to hold up its end of the bargain though, 80°F and sunny right now. I saw some wild violets and daisy-type flowers along the way, surprised they made it through the cold weather. The retention pond in the development next door was filled with water from all the rain we've had. Mopsy, my cat, gave me her demeaning look when I got back, like where have you been? And went right back to sleep. She has to get her beauty rest during the day so she can wake me up at night...just when I've gotten to sleep. I'm trying to think of something to write about for our life history group tomorrow but haven't come up with anything yet. Politics and religion are definite no-nos since we have such a diverse group. I have shared every story in my "memories" folder and may have to read one over again in hopes everyone will have forgotten it. I know I tend to do that except there's always one little thing that makes me think I may have heard something before when others read repeats. You'd think in 74 years I could write more than I have, but believe me, what's left you probably wouldn't want to hear anyway. |
| I worked on Writers Alliance stuff today (I am the treasurer...have been for almost 5 years...can't seem to find anyone else who wants this "wonderful" job). Anyway, that took a couple of hours to get the January income/expense journal ready for our board meeting on the 10th of February. Are you depressed by gloomy days? I find the weather affects my mood more and more as I get older. Although it was fairly warm today (high of 60-something), it was overcast and rainy which made me want to do nothing but read and nap and surf the web, looking up stupid stuff like how to make soda crackers. We seem to be having so many of these days lately, I know my brain is shrinking. |
| Since it has been in the 30s in the mornings here in Gainesville, Florida, for the past few days, I wouldn't mind being back in ac weather, broken or working. That comes from looking at my last post which I can't believe was so many months ago. Lots has happened but the most important is that I became a great grandmother on December 19th, a baby boy, a wonderful pre-Christmas present. He is growing big and strong. I continue to volunteer for my writing group, Writers Alliance of Gainesville, and participate in other local writing get-togethers. Also painting a little, donated a canvas again to our local Harn Museum for their December fundraiser. That is such fun. I cannot not do it. My arthritis is no fun, so much worse when it is cold, but I try to ignore it. I think old age must be a test for something and I'm not sure I'm passing. My cat, Mopsy, has been sick off and on with chronic kidney disease. She will be 16 in April, just a spring chicken in my opinion but not in cat years. She is doing well at the moment, taking her hyperthyroid medicine and trying to ignore the rest, much as I am doing. Hope I can get back into the swing of things here. I do miss posting and hearing from wdc friends. Since all of you don't have blogs, except for Facebook, this is the only way I hear from you. Communication is a wonderful thing. Wishing you all the best in 2019! |
 Log in to Leave Feedback |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
and doesn't cover everything.
