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 The simplicity of my day to day. |
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This is where I write my thoughts, feelings and my daily trials, tribulations and happy things
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Today I thought I' d mention International Meatballs Day. Today is a celebration of the humble meatball. How do you like your meatballs?There are Swedish meatballs with gravy and Italian meatballs with tomato sauce--my favourite. Meatballs came from humble origins but can now be found at street food stalls or at a table in a fine dining venue all around the world. It occurred to me to write a story of meatballs plotting to escape from Nonna's spaghetti, perhaps I'll use it for Jeremy's new 55 word activity. |
| Prompt: March Weather “It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations How is the weather in March treating you where you are, this year? I always breathe a sigh of relief when February makes way for March as it's officially the end of summer. It doesn't mean Mother Nature knows this of course. I guess it's just the idea of the end of summer which makes me feel cooler, even though the eight days since March began have been the hottest of the whole summer! Yesterday it reached 41 degrees centigrade in my town. Today is a little cooler at only 36! I have family in the UK and my sister-in-law sent photographs yesterday of spring bulbs in her garden all flowering after one of the wettest winters on record; hyacinths, daffodils and crocus have bravely poked their heads out. So like most of the people in the Northern Hemisphere, my relatives are eagerly waiting for the sun to shine longer each day as we long for less. |
| At the airport, on the morning of our flight from Manila to the island of Cebu, the wind became ever stronger and wilder. We checked our baggage assuming we’d be advised if flights were affected. Soon every flight on the board, except for ours, read cancelled. The time came to board our flight. We shuffled our way to the departure gate with the others “I don’t want to go,” I said tearfully. Directly inside the glass door which led out onto the tarmac, there stood a statue of the Virgin Mary. At her feet a collection box into which I made a donation and a silent prayer. The wind was indescribable. It took two men just to hold the door open to allow the flight crew to get to the plane. At last, after battling the elements, each windswept passenger found their seat on the plane. No one spoke. There was absolute silence. Looking around I saw people silently praying, eyes closed and crossing themselves. I was really crying as I took my last look at my husband; I knew we were going to die. “Why are we doing this? We must be crazy.” You could feel the tension in the air as people prayed. The flight crew looked as worried as we were. The plane swayed as if it were already in the air, rocking from side to side, like a wild animal trying to escape. After ten minutes of silence, other than the sound of the beating rain and the roaring wind, the Captain told us we all must leave the plane. The flight was cancelled. Everyone gave audible sighs of relief and rushed to exit. By this time the storm was so bad it was difficult to return safely into the airport lounge. Through the windows we watched as Debris flew through the air and roofs were ripped from buildings. Having spent a night in the airport the light of day showed the damage and destruction. The typhoon had affected thousands of people, either through death, injury or homelessness. |
| Prompt: Tell us about a memorable hotel experience. What made it that way... the hotel or the location or both? Well of course at my time of life my hotel visits have been many and varied and I have many stories to tell. Most would be from our travels. Although we were both in our sixties when we set out to backpack through India, Thailand and The Philippines we were definitely on a budget. My basic criteria were that the room must have aircon and a bathroom. Now often the term 'bathroom ' was used loosely. Usually it would be a squat toilet and a trickle of cold water in the shower. But often the shabby rooms would have amazing views. The rickety bungalows were situated on white sandy beaches with uninterrupted views of the Ocean. The bungalows I'm thinking of were in Phuket and were totally obliterated in the Tsunami a year after we stayed there. Thousand of people were killed, washed out to sea. My favourite hotel room was a room on a cruise ship. Butler service and the sound of the waves through the open window on the balcony, lulling me to sleep. Unbeatable. |
| Did you know on this day in history in 1963 the hula hoop was patented? Have you ever used a hula hoop? Did you find it challenging to use?Did you use it for fun or to get in shape? For those of you who have never tried a hula hoop, what childhood toy did you use for fun or exercise? Yes, I remember the hula hoop craze so well. I actually thought it was before 1963 when I was using it. I would have said about 1960 when I was 16. Perhaps they were around at that time but before the patent. I loved it, I was 16 and lost so much of my puppy fat weight, especially around my waist. The strange thing is I can never get the thing to spin at all whenever I've tried since. I don't think we even thought of the word exercise when we were kids, we were just never still. I can't imagine sitting staring at a screen when I was young. If we sat that long, our mothers would have thought we had something medically wrong with us. I played cricket a lot with my two older brothers or we played board games like monopoly which were taken very seriously. We played a street game of badminton or hopscotch. I had a pair of roller skates which I used out on the street with the neighbourhood kids. Skipping was a big part of my childhood especially in the school yard. Someone would bring a long piece of rope, probably a piece of washing line, and we would take turns holding the ends while someone skipped.  |
| Prompt If it ain't broke,, don't fix it. Write about this in your Blog entry today. I made mention of this saying a few days ago in my blog. I was referring to the need some people exibit to cast away perfectly good household items such as dishwashers, washing machines and fridges after seeing the updated models on offer. The most wasteful in my opinion are televisions and phones. I blame the manufacturers as they produce ever bigger and better models. Well, that's their opinion of course, bigger doesn't always correlate as better. Some newer model mobile phones have barely no difference to the previous model. It might be available in a different colour or they say the camera is better, sharper. So I'll stick with my old phone until it becomes so old it won't accept any more updates. As for the television a few extra inches of width isn't going to impact my enjoyment of a movie or in fact come to think of it, or lessen my irritation at the contant advertisments attempting to take my money. |
| Prompt: In This 21st Century "Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century," said someone named Perelman. Was he right? What and how do you believe we are now doing here in the 21st century I'm unsure of what he really meant. I agree we all continue to learn each day we're alive, it would be a most unusual day to not learn something new, one only has to turn on the television. But what did he mean when he says most adults will be learning for a living? I guess he could mean technology moves on at such a rapid pace that we need to keep learning just to keep up. I've seen this in my life as I attempt to keep abreast of all the things I need to master, just to do what used to be the simplest of things, such as banking. And yet my husband has never even tried. He says he has an analogue brain. I think its a cop out, as now I'm the one to do anything thats even slightly techy. I agree it would be difficult for him now to start learning at 82. Your question was "What and how do you believe we are now doing here in the 21st century?" Now that's a biggie. I often wonder what we older people, the ones who no longer work for a living, are actually doing here.The news often report the country"s population is aging, we're a problem. We take up beds in hospitals, there are not enough care homes, adult children are getting sandwiched between their children and their parents. Honestl in my opinion seniors are no longer valued for their insights and attained wisdom and knowledge. |
| One invention I could stop being invented? Oh my goodness, my mind is flitting around and coming up with many things. I'm guessing though that even the things I personally dislike has probably done some good somewhere and to someone. After all what's the saying? It's an ill wind which blows no good? Today, when the world is looking even less secure, this question makes me think of all those weapons being thrown around causing so many deaths and injuries. So my choices for this question are: land mines and nuclear weapons. |
| Prompt "The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance." Human beings have always had to be vigilant. Whether by keeping safe from marauding beasts way back when, or at other times avoiding being robbed by a masked Highway Man. There were those times when a fellow could be hi jacked off the street and forced to man a ship heading to another land. Pioneers needed to be vigilant to avoid being killed by natives when trespassing on their lands. So it seems to keep one's liberty eternal vigilance has been called for since the days of the caveman. Certainly nothing has changed. In today's technological world it's even harder. Scams are an everyday occurrence in everyone's lives. It's even harder today as we are gradually being programmed to suspect everything and everyone. Now with all the fake news and AI we really can't believe our eyes or ears. So now we need to presume it's not real until they can prove it is. What do you think this is doing to our psyche? We live in a constant state of vigilance, more than at any other time in our history. |
| Today I thought I'd have a little rant about change. It seems to me unless something is isn't in a constant state of change then it can't be right. Mobile phones for instance, almost every few months the owners of Apple or Sanyo are shouting from the roof tops about their new and improved models. I look at the phone in my hand, which is only three years old, and wonder how did this piece of technology, which was state of the art not so long ago, be so outdated, so yesterday. The updates come thick and fast. There is a new update. It will be downloaded as soon as this phone is plugged to a power source. I feel helpless under the constant pressure. Apparently it's a phenomenon described as "production pressure. This pressure is driven by algorithms favouring high-frequency posting, the desire for social validation and the fear of irrelevance. It's not just mobile phones though, the words: Bigger and Better echo through our daily lives. I have made one true observation and that is things don't last anymore. Built in obsolescence. Electrical items are designed to fail as soon as the warranty runs out. When I married in 1965 people bought things expecting them to last for many years. Not anymore. People want change, they want new, better, bigger constantly. Why can't people see if something is working well it doesn't need to be changed. Perhaps that's the cause of the high rate of divorce, as they seek a new 'model' one which is brighter, shinier, prettier, more handsome I don't like the new updated version of WdC either, I know many do, just my opinion. As I write this the curser is doing a jig! |
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