5 minutes of slow motion campfire. Watch a little, watch a lot, maybe it lights your fire, maybe it doesn't. It's all ok. Personally I hope someone needed just this for a second right now...
Trail running in box ironbark remnant, recovering woodlands. It's a landscape severely modified by artisan / goldrush mining, and over-zealous introduction of fire. Still, it's a great space to catch some quiet, reflect, heal, grow stronger. And share that process of healing and strength with the landscape. Kind of mutual support huh
Anyway, see you on the trails...
Apparently no one does laundry on Friday mornings around here. I have the whole place to myself. NGL, it's quite pleasant. Clean machines, great AC, comfortable task chair, grocery store with snack foods across the parking lot10/10 will be back.
We can call this Chapter on this day....
"Rainbow In The Dark"
(shout out to brotha buzzy for that one)
Brother
It's so much easier for me to focus on the positive earlier in the day, so that's what I'm doing right now.
- A tree I was worried about seems like maybe things will be ok, or in any case my worry is less than it was a couple of days ago.
- It's sunny but cool, my favorite kind of weather. These same temps are supposed to continue into next week.
- I have today, Wednesday, and Thursday to rest before I have to do anything stressful again.
- I'm able today to adhere to slowing things downas slow as I need them, in parts and pieces, whatever works for me.
- Two weeks without weed (this is the longest I've gone without it in almost 15 years) and my sleep is getting better. I can remember my dreams again
- I got all of my glasses adjusted yesterday so that when I wear them they no longer feel like they're sliding down my nose which helps me to better relax my face muscles (they're always so tense).
- The ability to be able to appreciate this stuff is not always an ability I have and that in itself is a good thing.
This is not so bad. I liketh it. I can taste the smokiness of the bourbon barrel.
20 days post op, I managed to sit comfortably for long enough to do a little painting on these mixed media studies of Haddon Hall's windows
"Riyaad Sampson, a Capetonian train driver, has been honoured for his efforts in saving a dog that was lost on his line, by stopping the train in its tracks."
Good ThingsThe second thing is...have you ever tried the "Lotsa Mozza" brand of frozen pizza It's a discount brand at our grocery store, but damned if it doesn't have the best cheese and best sauce I've ever had on a frozen pie. The crust is merely good, but taken as a whole It's shockingly good.
*I won on a scratch ticket
*I listened to music while doing diamond art
*I lol'd while watching Whose Line Is It Anyways (U.K. version hosted by Clive Anderson) on YouTube
I'm going to share two good things today.
First, the YouTube channel Todd In The Shadows. Good music criticism is really, really hard. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Todd is the absolute best I've ever encountered in 40+ years. Even when I don't agree with him, his takes are solid and reasonable.
This is pretty cool. There's a restaurant in that's created a special menu for people.
The idea is that you can go in, order food from that menu, pay for it, and they'll set it aside. When a homeless person comes in, they can choose from the meals people have purchased for them.
The joys of living in a . Phoned a local electrician who sent someone round to look at my plug socket within 10 minutes. He needed a new facing for the socket so popped 6 miles up the road to get one at Screwfix and was back within 20 mins. Rewired the socket. All done. Also turned out that he was the son of a lady who has gone to school with Grant
went to contract on a book translation time to go have a happy hour (or two)!
What's on my mind Tea. How good tea is, specifically, is on my mind. Tea. All day. Every day. Everyone thinks I have too much tea. No. There's never enough tea and all teas are different.
Nettle tea, dandelion tea, ginger tea, Earl Grey tea (caffeinated and decaf), Chai, Rooibos, Orange Spice, Oolong, Tumeric, Licorice, Butterfly tea, matcha, peach, berry, Irish Breakfast
Yes, there's a lot of tea in my tea pile, but they're all different.
One of the kids calls it my "leaf water" because I don't drink it with sugar. I blame McDonalds for calling their affront against tea "sweat tea". It should really just be called "syrup".
Tea is good. Yes, I have probably 10-15 boxes of tea around at any given time, but that 'leaf water' is good for what ails you. So there.
Hey People!
Did you have a tough week I did!!
We made it to Friday!
Woot!!!1!
Best thing I did today was quitting my job.
I've worked as a school psychologist in a city and a small village, very far apart. I hated working at the village school, mainly because of the claustrophobic countryside culture that permeated the place.
I'm so relieved.
Bring it, 2024, bring it on ,,,,
Happy New Year and all the best for 2024!
May 2024 be a year full of good health, lots of happiness and beautiful experiences for all of you
+ Ein bisschen weiter renoviert
+ Gearbeitet
+ Hbsch gemacht
Reusable fabric bags for the win! After spending 16 hours last year wrapping presents only to have them open and in the trash in less than one I decided I was done. I instead spent more than forty hours making reusable fabric bags and now have a tradition to keep with my kids for years.
My favourite noise in the whole world is hearing my littlest nephew say his breathy "wow" in my ear while I hold him and he sees something he loves (like the vacuum cleaner, a car, or Christmas lights).
It was his first word after "Mum" and "Dad". It sums him up pretty well.
Big day. Hustle time.
I get to invent my next job and persuade the people who would hire me that they need that function.
Plus, I get to interview an interesting man.
And I have time for a great museum inbetween.
To top it off: sunshine bike ride.
Rediscovered the teachings of classical Stoicism.
on :akkofistup: :BigBlobhajHug:
1. New hot water bottles arrived! They have cute little sweaters to keep them extra warm. Now me and the kids each have our own again.
2. An unexpected new delight: Michelle Sagara's Shards of Glass. Magic school/dark academia, and no need to have read anything else set in that world first. Loving it!
3. Fiiiinally got my market list out, and replied to a few long-overdue emails. .
1. If the day's not going well, you can take a nap and when you wake up it's a whole new awesome day. And by you I mean me.
2. When the gives me potatoes and cabbage, I have to make borscht (see pic) or my ancestors would disown me. Oh noes. And the chive cheddar buttermilk biscuits turned out AMAZING, too.
3. New clothes for the fam arrived (thanks, Old Navy's Black Friday sale...) and they all fit properly!
Today, we picked out a Christmas tree, had gluhwein (wei!), shared a slice of Stollen, worked out. I finished knitting a hat I started 2-3 years ago. We checked on our folks. We watched some football. We admire the snow.
Currently working, courier driving and picking up pathology samples.
Just went to a reproductive and IVF clinic to pick up specimens.
There was a tradie down the road playing Led Zeppelin full blast. Walking out of the IVF Clinic and hearing "I'm Gonna Give You Every Inch of my Love!!!" Seemed weirdly appropriate.
1. I climbed on the roof and put up Christmas lights! In Minnesota, getting this done before Thanksgiving is a victory, because soon ice and snow will make roof-climbing ... inadvisable.
2. SFWA weekly Zoom writing dates. Camaraderie + writing productivity = what's not to like
3. My kids' Sunday School assignment was making protest signs and doing a peace march along a busy street, and that warmed my Mennonite heart. Very proud of them.
1. I fixed broken wiring on my desk's fairy lights (I NEED their light and hygge now!). It took 20 minutes and was very fiddly and I really thought I was going to fail, but I did it!
2. I scheduled a plumber to fix a leak in the basement slop sink.
3. I tackled editing the written-incredibly-out-of-order, missing bits, important beginning of my WiP's final act. Gotta get it straightened out before errors iterate.
1. Election Day tacos at Cocina Latina! Years ago, we were promised a taco truck on every corner if Hillary won. We keep that dream alive with tacos every election day.
2. I rewrote the Amazon description of my post-apocalyptic steampunk western, A Circus of Brass and Bone. I am SO MUCH happier with it. Reader quotes FTW.
3. 4theWords' special NaNoWriMo event is awesome. I'm more productive, even though I'm not NaNoing!
1. Helped a friend dig her yard up, with my 12yo son, and my bad knee is not even angrier than usual at me today!
2. Actual blue sky in November.
3. My ridiculous cats continue to be ridiculously amusing. Yes, Creamsicle was trying to sleep *literally* upside-down.
So, yesterday was my one year anniversary of being here on Mastodon. I have to say, I have not regretted being here, or leaving the "bird site," for even a nanosecond. Here's to more greatness with more great people, for years to come!!
1. I got my car back!! It's been 1 1/2 weeks, thanks to trouble getting a part for the old rustbucket. Highlights included an epic bus/walk to get my kid's school computer to him yesterday morning.
2. The unparalleled commentaries of noted giallo horror historian Tim Lucas (If you like horror and you haven't heard a Lucas commentary, treat yo' self!)
3. IKEA. Tins of Christmas ginger cookies are out! And their veggie dogs are sooooo goooood.
Evening run. Its dark early, but we have a nice place to run near home that is well lit and always busy even in the evening.
I found out that a Korean book I read last year and loved had been recorded as audiobook, so I listened to it that while running. Even though I already know the stories, I dont mind listening to them again.
Received my agenda for 2024. Now to wait two whole months before I can use it
1. The feel of wrapping my electric lap blanket around my back and feeling that radiant warmth seeping in.
2. Made a new hoisin chicken stir-fry recipe using CSA veg. including mibuna greens and jicama (great sub for water chestnut), plus okra (fried) and ALL MY PICKY EATERS LIKED IT. Miraculous.
3. Wrapped up listening to all the Author Ad Challenge Q&A and bonus videos before they disappeared. Learned some stuff.
1. Friday! I didn't have to browbeat the kids into doing their homework that evening--I have the whole weekend for that.
2. I wore my winter coat to the kid's bus stop. So when I also accidentally locked myself out of the house ... I didn't freeze. It was only mildly inconvenient to wait for Phil's rescue with his keys.
3. Publication! A Halloween-themed quarterly anthology, including my "You Are in the Heart of the Corn Maze."
Wore my favourite oversized hoodie.
Bought a new Nebula notebook because Im reaching the end of the current one. Ill start the new one just for November, its perfect!
Ginkgo trees are turning yellow. It was really a beautiful sight this afternoon.