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Musings on anything. |
 My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| In my part of the world, the weather is unpredictable. One year for a Christmas outdoor light show in the closest botanical garden, we were freezing. I wore two pairs of gloves and my hands were like icicles. The following year, I went with family and a lot of children, including a 2 year old, warning them to wear coats, heavy socks, gloves and scarves, and we all thought we would suffocate. The kids shed clothes as they ran around in the grass in the dark. Some years for Halloween it is extremely cold. Kids wear coats over costumes, and some years they sweat inside the costume alone. I remember working in a haunted house downtown for Halloween and we had fans blowing to cool us down. Tonight this year, it will be very cold. I have to cover my plants for frost prevention. Last year for Thanksgiving, we ate outside on picnic tables. So much for the snowy roads to Grandma's house. Yet I've seen it snow on Veteran's Day before Thanksgiving. At least the leaves are beautiful this year. You can't always count on that either. You can count on raking a mass of them. I'm going to wait until the trees are bare, then mow the lawn. and rake all at once. I like the changing of the seasons, I just want Mother Nature to stick to a timetable. |
| I really anticipated this show with excitement. Finally, someone was going to recognize that people don't die inside just because they get old. They still have feelings and hopes. I am going to say after watching almost to the conclusion, that it is a disappointment. First, the whole idea of a competition for love and romance is ludicrous. I'm glad that no back stabbing or devious plots have taken place yet. The drama queens are definitely toned down. However, it's such a phony setup to build a relationship. They are all attractive women over 60, but they are all "in love" with this one very nice, always on his best behavior, guy. No way. Such artificial circumstances cannot lead to undying love. It's as though they all have agreed to be let down and feel like failures. Very few are walking away like it's been a fun adventure. Next, I wonder what kind of man, no mater how charming or polite he may be, can date all those women and believe that "she" might be the one. He's a floozy. H makes out with multiple women per day. If I were there, I would be thinking, "Keep your lips away from me. They're full of germs" or "I don't want to kiss her. Why let you carry her germs to me?" It is just gross. Why aren't these women thinking about things like building exclusive relationships, not shared ones. They're only responding to chemistry at this point, and the desire to win the competition. He's thinking about earning his paycheck by courting these women. He might even be overplaying the sympathetic role, worrying that he's hurting someone. If they run this another season, I hope they pick real women over 60, not potential models. Let them show a man and women with arthritis and a steady medication routine. People with bad tickers and hearing problems want love, too. Or is it only about what the audience is willing to watch? Surely, there are plenty of sponsors appealing to senior cash reserves. |
| Why is it so satisfying to dig in the dirt? To get your hands dirty and plant things or to pull stuff you don't want to grow? Why does dyed mulch please the eye so much? I don't do it to keep up with the neighbors or to brag about it. Sometimes I wish someone would notice my hard work and pay a compliment, but it doesn't happen. I am not going to win any prizes for outstanding blooms or best produce. The work has to be for the sole satisfaction of doing it. I only have to meet my own standards, no one else's. I stay out to nearly dark, dodging gnats, and getting cold. But I do feel a satisfaction I don't get from many other things. Lawn work is a solitary activity. I am stumped by transplanting peonies. I can't get them out of the ground without destroying them. I have a trench around a clump of them. I figure they've been there 15 years or more. They're intertwined which I'm told is normal. They are shallow, but I can't get the shovel underneath them. I'm told to get the whole clump up, then separate them. But I just can't get them up out of the ground, no matter how deep I go. That's frustrating. I'm doing much better with irises in a back yard bed, and begonias and geraniums in pots. I have to bring those in for the winter. I admit I do take some pride in having them survive from year to year and look beautiful. No one cares but me, but that's okay. |
| I think it was Martha Stewart who said most women don't go through their underwear drawers often enough. How true. We adult women need to go through those drawers with a trash can handy! No one needs to hold undies until they're threadbare. Anything with stretched out elastic needs to go. Missing snaps or hooks indicate it's time to discard. If it's new, and you can sew, you might replace hardware, but usually, these mishaps only happen to something past its prime. Martha tells us we need to recycle old bras. You have to remove the hardware and mail the items to a recycling company; she lists several. I don't have the postage, but if you belong to a club or group of friends, you can join together and save on shipping and still have a clear conscience. They use the parts for carpet padding. The fabric gets shredded up, treated and formed with many other scraps. No one looks underneath the carpet to the padding. This effort saves the landfills and the use of new chemicals. You can make donations of usable decent looking undergarments to homeless shelters of clothing centers. This is helpful for people who have changed sizes, up or down, like a teen who has outgrown her training bra. I volunteer at a center which caters primarily to homeless and others down on their luck. We get lots of smaller bras in excellent shape. On the other hand, no one wants a used thong! No matter how lacy or see through, no one wants to handle much less wear something that has been in someone's butt crack. Not may people still use slips, but they may be donated along with camisoles, as long as all straps are okay and no threads are dangling. If making donations, the rules are rips, stains, or played out elastic means "Throw away". Thongs, even if only tried on or worn once, "Throw away". Panties or boxers, if ever worn, "Throw away". If a multi-pack was bought and opened, but never all used, donate. That happens when the wrong size is purchased. Thermal underwear is okay, as long as they still have their shape and no stains. Nightgowns and pajamas are like thermals. They should not look frayed or worn thin or be stained. Used socks are okay, if they do not have holes or yellow or brown soles, particularly thermal socks. Homeless people walk all over town and need warm feet. Like the ad says on TV, socks and underwear are the most requested items. I have helped many men find the right size shorts or boxers and some white socks. So ladies, go through your drawers first, then your husband's, then the kids. Condense what you have. Then treat yourself to a new undergarment. Don't over shop; how many do you really need? But there is no crime in getting something new at least once in a while. Many women go for years without new panties of bras. Give yourself a break. At the shelter where I work one day a week, we also help refugees who are settling in our town and may not speak good English. People in every language need shoes, belts, underwear, and coats. We allow shoppers of all backgrounds without any questions about finances. People with referrals from churches, shelters, or Offender groups get free clothes, but we keep records for a year's total per person. Others pay cash by the bag full, not per item. |
| Sometimes I think I missed opportunity to learn things when I was younger. Like horticulture for one. I putter around with my plants and have discovered by accident mostly that I can maintain a few things in pots year after year, like certain varieties of begonias, hanging petunias, chives, and sage. I am lousy with rosemary no matter what I try. I save the seeds from miniature marigolds and cone flowers, label, and plant every spring. Now I have read that you can keep the cone flowers in the ground and not replant. Maybe next year. I mainly grow weeds and invasive vines. They choke out my butterfly bushes, irises and trees. The deer eat crocus, tulips, hostas, gladiolas, and vegetables. Groundhogs like vegetables, too. Squirrels like tomatoes in pots that grow near railings. They hang upside down from the rails and eat. They don't bother daffodils, basil, or peonies. Peonies spread quickly after a few years and get too crowded. I can't seem to dig them up without destroying them. I've also loved old black and white movies. Now after decades of watching, I've discovered there are college majors in cinema and film history. How did I miss that? I could have been in heaven, watching films and taking notes. Reading about them, the directors, and the actors is a thrill for me. No one wants to hear me talk about it, however. I could have worked for the Library of Congress or TCM and loved it. I'm not artistic, but I wish I had some drawing lessons when I was younger. I could have been sketching with Bob Ross. I could illustrate my own children's book. It would only be a hobby, but what fun! There are some old people who meet weekly at my church who paint. They're excellent and far too advanced for any novice to join. I can't do my needle crafts any longer because of hand cramps. There's unfinished projects now; I can't add art attempts to it. I console myself with my daily visits with my plants. I talk to them, but nothing personal. I water them and trim them and pull the weeds that are inevitable in outdoor pots. The flower beds are more time consuming and frustrating. Mother Nature insists on running things her way. |
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These days I just have houseplants and one lonely portulaca that came up by seed and has bloomed this past week. I've been "home" for three months and the plants have responded well. But, I long for Thailand.
. Isn't it funny how we take things like electricity and plumbing for granted... until we don't have them. Happy for you!