Spring never happened,
Summer is here.Quick trade of hot chocolateFor a cold frosty beer.
Was sitting, just looking out the window, wondering what time I would have to close the windows and turn on the a/c and – the above popped into my head. Just that, nothing more.
A quatrain is a 4 line poem with alternate rhyming lines so technically speaking that’s not a quatrain. But close enough for government work.
~ With everything going on right now it seems insensitive and irresponsible to write about the everyday bushwa that goes on in life – yet here I am.
~ Had my six month opthamologist/retina specialist appointment on Wednesday. I have mild to moderate AMD in my right eye and very mild AMD in my left. With glasses my vision is 20/30 in the right and 20/20 in the left. The good news is that, according to my doctor, within 1 to 2 years there should be an effective treatment for both wet and dry AMD.
What made me laugh was my doctor’s phrasing. He said “If you can just hold on…” which sounded like I had a terminal illness or something. What he meant was if my AMD stayed dry and it’s progression stays as static as it is now. It seems that dry AMD can turn to wet AMD almost instantly and wet AMD is not something you want – it’s pretty much guide dog territory.
~ Super good news – the baby princesses and their parents are coming for a visit again in July. How cool is that! I am so excited. I send the girls little videos, using all kinds of funny filters. They LOVE them. My poor husband says they love me more than they love him and he may be right because I interact with them more than he does. They “know” me better. But I felt bad when he said that. He also said “You love those girls, you REALLY love them at lot” and my response was “I do, I really do”
Anyway, Silly Nonna is all excited (that’s pretty much how they refer to me – Silly Nonna.)
~ There is one grammar error that will always get my attention – homophone errors. The other day I saw 3 in one short article. Peak for peek, unphased for unfazed and bear for bare. I used to correct people about such errors but no one appreciated it. I still can’t stop wondering why homophone errors are so prevalent these days – I don’t recall seeing them as much 20 years (or more) ago. What has changed in our educational system?
~ Today was cool and sticky and we had a couple of just-passing-through thunderstorms – like that was unusual. I just checked the 10- day weather forecast and this should be the last of the rain until next Thursday. (It’s thundering as I type this.) Oh my – a entire week without rain, how will we cope?
I’ve been humming this song for so long now it’s on a permanent loop because “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” –
I’ve been up since 3:45am. Sunday night I didn’t sleep all that well or all that much and last night I figure I clocked about 5 hours of sleep. I should feel way more tired than I do.
But – I look like I haven’t slept – I have circles under my eyes down to my chin. Looking in a mirror is down right scary.
I started writing about something that’s been on mind and as I saw the words on the screen I realized how absurd it sounded – perhaps that was the point I was making – the absurdity of thinking what I was thinking.
(So I deleted it and yet here I am continuing on in a similar vein.)
I have to keep reminding myself of that. My initial reaction to everything is MY reaction and therefore I need to keep my mouth shut. Outbursts of “What the hell is wrong with you?” need to be kept safely tucked away in my mind – silent screaming is the only screaming I should do.
Except at home. My husband is the only one who I can trust to hear my outrages at what I see, hear, read. Sometimes he laughs and sometimes he just shakes his head in disbelief of my self-centeredness – that I think that everyone has the same values that I do. That I seem to think that everyone interprets common life experiences the same way I do.
A part of me knows that’s wrong. The intellectual part of me. The emotional part of me is more than a little naive. And it’s the emotional reaction that always comes first. To just about everything. And the emotional reaction is who I am. But isn’t that true of everyone?
And there it is again – everyone is like me and I am like everyone.
That’s all very vague, isn’t it? And I’m going in circles here. And I know I am not making my point.
Or do I even have a point.
I live too much inside my head.
After 3 or 4 days of 90+ temps and yesterday’s awesome thunderstorms (yes, I love thunderstorms) Monday has dawned cool and crisp. Not all that sunny yet (I’m typing this at 8:30am, been up since 5:30am), but the sky is a light blue with streaks of light clouds –
Just a heavenly day – if only every day could be like this – weatherwise. I could just sit here and look out the window all day. The trees are crazy full and lush, swaying in a light breeze and the birds are very, very chatty. Usually they are off to “work” by this time of the day but they seem to have decided to stay home and hang out.
I’ve already done the laundry so aside from some cooking in the middle of the day, I’m free and clear. It’s a good day to make cornbread. This will be the fourth week in a row and I finally figured out why the first two batches were not all that they should have been.
First time not only was my baking powder old but I had bought the wrong corn meal (white instead of yellow and some weird brand – my grocery store is still low on stock of everything – that’s been going on now for two years *sigh*). And one other thing.
Second time out I had the good corn meal, fresh baking powder but still – not the best result. Then I had my aha moment. Salt! I was using the wrong salt.
“How could salt be wrong” you say. Well, I’ll tell ya.
I’m not a big salt user, I don’t like it and it’s bad for my blood pressure. I switched to coarse Kosher salt some time ago. When I was making the cornbread the first time around I wondered if Kosher salt would work in baking. 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt weighs less than an equal amount of regular table salt. Also Kosher salt is less salty. I had that in the back of my mind and used a bit more but still.
Last batch of cornbread I had the good cornmeal, the fresh baking powder and regular table salt and voilà – perfect cornbread!
I’ll leave you with a glimpse of what’s distracting me this morning –
I’ve always thought the fun of blogging was the interaction with other people, the exchange of thoughts and ideas and POVs. It seems other people (most people?) have a different take on it.
There was a blog I followed, and read, on WordPress that was often amusing. I commented infrequently since there was little to comment on besides the usual bland ‘Nice post”. This person occasionally says “Please remember my comment policy and post your disagreements elsewhere.”
And that gets a Wow from me.
If I ever write something that you have a different take on, please do not hesitate to share your thoughts. I welcome them. Obviously civil discourse is a requirement. We can even agree to disagree.
I joke a lot about pumpkin spice belonging only in pie, my pumpkin spice loving readers know I am tweaking them and I hope we both get a laugh from it.
I’ve read some push-back on the agree-to-disagree.
“Agree to disagree but also that I am right” or “…you are wrong” is not what I am talking about. That’s unacceptable in my book. There is no respect in that sort of exchange.
Sometimes the problem I face is that someone who is dear to me may voice an opinion that I find – um, uncomfortable. I don’t engage them on it, that is just a waste of time because no one can change another person’s POV; people have to come to that on their own. Yes, you can present them with facts or well reasoned opposing views, what they do with it is up to them.
I don’t think I write about any controversial subjects anymore, music and books just aren’t that divisive. At least not the ones I write about.
Not talking about the current book-banning bru-ha-ha going on now. And no I don’t support book banning, I do support a parent’s right to decide when it’s appropriate to discuss certain topics with their children. I also believe when a person reaches the age of 12 or so they should be free to make whatever reading choices interest them.
The problem with that of course is that children are exposed to such a wide range of human experience at such early ages, despite whatever controls the parents have imposed, discussions may come sooner than later. I think a lot of parents are not comfortable with that.
My personal views range from the very conservative to the very liberal. And sometimes both on the same topic. Humans are complicated and very little is straight up black or white. There are certainly more than 50 shades of grey.
And there are folks who will disagree with me on that.
When I was young I had no problem with absolutes, I favored them. Now – not so much, maybe not at all. I have my own biases to deal with.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, it’s getting on to late morning, still not super hot, time to shower and dress, looking forward to thunderstorms this afternoon, may they come early and stay late.
It’s 9am and the temp is 76º, the humidity is 67%. It’s not brightly sunny neither is it totally overcast. No breeze to speak of; the birds have been chattering incessantly since around 5am.
Our apartment faces West so mornings are always cool and shady. Just lovely.
But – the high heat of the day hits this part of the world in late afternoon – highest temperatures usually hit around 4pm, and our apartment faces West.
So, yes, late afternoon, in the Summer, this apartment is a sauna. Yes, we have a/c but I hate a/c – especially in this building because the HVAC system is old and weird – and noisy. When the heat is on – noisy. When the a/c is on – noisy.
We’ve had hardly any Spring – it’s been like late Winter since, well, late Winter. The past few days, since the rain stopped, have been glorious – sunshine, gusty winds, temps in the mid-70’s – Heaven. Open Windows! Heaven!
Now we will have 3 days of high Summer – high temps, high humidity. Remind me again why I live in this part of the world.
Being an extremist (and a Libra) I crave moderation. I aim for moderation. Take me down the middle, please.
Alas – it doesn’t happen as often as I would like. Neither my behaviors nor my reactions. Nor it seems, the weather.
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| I created this image for my Instagram |
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – I took this book a little more seriously than the reviewers. It elicited anger, sadness and laughter. Everything the critics criticized I loved! Especially the dog and no, he doesn’t die.
If you didn’t live through the late 1950’s – early 1960’s as a woman then yeah, sure – ha, ha – things have changed. Look around, read the papers – have they really changed? Not so much, not if you’re a woman.
So screw the reviews, all of which, BTW, recommend the book. And yes, of course it will soon be television-ized, I’ll be skipping that. Whatever they make of it, the book is better.
Read the book. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry – then share it with your mothers and grandmothers. They’ll tell you more.
Subject to Change Without Notice 