New and old

 

Excellent new products from Costco yesterday

What next

 

Near the Park1-9-26, snow too deep to visit today

     

     Not expecting much today— probably a Costco trip for veggies and beef. Vacuum up the crumbs and sand from past 48 hours.  Read.  Fiddle with devices, like now.  Definitely a dog walk today. RS webinar this evening

   

      I should set a work aim for the day, but that feels hazy.  After all, I read/listened to a couple of Lee's podcasts.  And I’m lumping it vaguely into reading, specifically the German version of BT. Yes, I know how insincere and self justifying that is, going through the motions, not really aims at all…..

    Patties lost the big bowl game, but they weren’t even expected to be in it four months ago, so I’m OK with it.  Interesting postgame emo temp:  I can imagine a tingle of elation for today if they had won, and somehow I feel its lack. Yet how can I miss something I didn’t have?  But it’s not disappointment or an opp to play the blame game, all too common among media commentators.  

     C returned yesterday from MA, so we visited with her and Nola toward the end of the game.  Her daughter’s vball traveling team won all 12 of their games, and she suffered a bloody nose blow but no concussion, so stayed in the game.  Next weekend is their big TN trip. She reports that this activity is fun but more exhausting and expensive than expected. Plus she misses her other daughter and. little Nola. Both doggies have manifested some mild anxiety for their changes in habits, including their nightly visits. Like humans:  automatons.

      Alright, alright already! Stop nagging myself!  Work aim du jour:  before dinner, a serious sensing meditation. Got all those other things to do now.

Newspaper comics &. puzzles

Sudoku, 2-9

     About the only reason I want to subscribe to the newspaper these days is the comics and the puzzles. I’ve read the comics daily since I was a kid, so more than 65 years.  The strip people are generally excellent artists, offering wisdom and humor,  although I’ve had my favorites over the years whether they were excellent or not. I miss some of the ones that have disappeared permanently, such as Apt. 3G, Ali Oop, Snuffy Smith, Judge Parker, Mary Worth, Steve Canyon, and of course, Dick Tracy. I suppose Prince Valiant is my favorite oldest timer still here, and it’s a good example of how the graphics and social POV have changed over more than half century.  So is Dennis the Menace, one of the many characters not allowed to grow up, even as I did.  Mark Trail was a favorite that changed for the worse in its most recent iteration. All said, I’m glad when old strips get republished as is, such as For Better Or For Worse and Get Fuzzy and of course Peanuts.  I’m also pleased to see control and production pass to heirs of the originators.  Seems fitting. Then there are terrific relatively new comers, like Ray Billingsley’s Curtis, and Steven Pastis’ Pearls before Swine.  And I should be enthusiastic about the old folks my age in Pickles, but I really like sweet Luann’s crowd better.  So has any historian picked up the topic of this “ordinary” art form yet?  Must’ve, but if not, it’s a gem waiting to be found.

     The Jumble and Sudoku are my favorite puzzles, and I’ll boast a bit about them. I’ve worked Jumble so long that I can most often see the words intended immediately, and it’s not difficult to work out the long riddle, sometimes without the letters. Sudoku is the challenge, I rarely complete them, and I can get OCD about them often, spending up to 11/2 hours before I solve or discard, defeated.  I solved the three above in these past two days of frigid weather, what I called wasting time yesterday in a blog post.  But oddly I feel a mild sense of accomplishment, likely unjustified.  By the way, the first done was level 4, second level 2, third level 1 started three days ago.  The 1s seem so schwer zu mir.  Is this what youngster video gamers feel after hours in front of a tube?  Hmh.  

Deplorables

 

We went ‘chopping yesterday

    And met up with a fine, friendly bunch of deplorables.  Red entertained all comers, but his fave was a beautiful mini bernedoodle pup whom we encountered at the checkout with its enthusiastic mom and dad. I liked our efficient and friendly Persian clerk, very pretty with green eye makeup, reminding me of S. I advised her to get the frozen chicken pie; it’s delicious.  Also from Mass; I noticed Canadian frozen pies were also stocked and didn’t see price but wondered about tariff effect.  Nevertheless, stick with what you know.

      The evening’s activity was meditation and healing meditation, specifically for D, who broke 2 ribs and wracked up her knees in a snowmobiling flip that day. L showed video of the accident. We’re thankful she wasn’t hurt worse. I laid my hot hands on her knees, and she reported it made them “happy.”  She also said she generally felt better after this healing circle, so we have some feedback that hands-on healing is beneficial.  I always say, at least it couldn’t hurt. We also discussed healing as a spiritual practice— what’s it like for you to do it?  Not our first rodeo, but always good to weigh in. For example, L said, as a “conduit,” you can always skim off and retain some of that energy for yourself. So I tried skimming off energy for this D’s knee and sending it to my sis D’s broken patella.   Won’t know ever if it “arrived,” but as I said, it couldn’t hurt. Maybe I’ll ask her if she felt a “change in the Force.”

     So now the world gets a clue about the machinations of us deplorables:)

Beauty of the sky

 

Toward Bridge St, from the trail, 2-4-26, 12:46 pm

     I never mentioned, but the fix to my picture posting problem is simply copy and paste instead of upload via the unreliable Google command. Lesson in life, I guess figure it out yourself, can’t rely so much on what you think you can.

       

     Still haven’t talked to Sis L in 12 days, but who’s counting.  I certainly miss her and expect we will be back in touch soon. Spouse says let her call first, she was the one who reacted rudely.  Bro said she mentioned to him she regretted it.  I’m not holding a grudge, but feel it better to hold off calling.  

    

     Hope neither one of us dies while we’re on pause.  That’s not a ghoulish thought: neither of us are “spring chickens.”  If that’s not enough of a reminder, the kidnapping of Mrs Guthrie serves at least as a tangible reminder of  GIG’s abstraction of the need to constantly consider “the inevitability of …death.”

        I mentioned my tale in Tuesday webinar, and our dear Deutsch mentor, E, said he sadly had a parallel condition with his younger brother, essentially resentment over the use of their mother’s house.  They had rarely spoken in 2-3 years.

       I don’t intend to let that happen with L, but you never know how long “civil wars” will last, once started.  Or who the casualties might be. 

      That in fact is the root of our dispute: what I see as civil insurrection, she sees as government oppression.  

        We live in dangerous times, despite that serene picture  of  a small-city’s beautiful blue and white winter peace.

     

Bored is boring

 

Pothole

Road salt & weather damage. Beautiful if you look.

AKA alligator or fatigue cracking per Google

    My days are so repetitive that it’s tempting to say they are boring, especially in the heart of winter. They are certainly mechanical, as GIG says and which I want to deny.  I used to tell kids who complained of boredom, “If you’re bored, you’re boring. Find something to do.”  And it’s still true for me.  Even my “free repeaters” will yield interesting surprises, like the beautiful alligator cracks and the photos I took and edited.  That was from this noon’s “long walk” with Red, just a few yards from home, a daily activity.

     Even better, we met two houses down and engaged cheerily with three neighbor women in the bright sunlight and brisk air.  We had not seen them in a few weeks, which seemed to add to the pleasure somehow.  P told us a story with good humor, although it was certainly an irritating experience for her.  

     She had removed a false lower front tooth and laid it on a table; her dear rascally little Dachshund snagged it up and chewed it into three pieces.  “I didn’t yell at him; not his fault.  But I can’t afford an $800 replacement right now, so this is my new look.”  Of course she looked fine, it’s hardly noticeable; we all commiserated, and talked about dental health in our state a few moments before we went our separate ways. So good to have friendly neighbors!

Sun

Our source, setting, January 8, ‘26, 4pm

      Interesting newspaper article this morning, featured our financial advisor, being sued by a client who was scammed out of his substantial life savings by a bitcoin con ring, I imagine like the call center pros featured in the movie, The Beekeeper.  One court has already rejected his case, rightly in my opinion, but he’s appealing.  Sad for him, but I’d say he’s trying to recuperate from the closest “deep pockets,” to the potential harm of clients who did not make his mistake. 

     Money is our First Being Food, that which we require to literally feed us and keep us alive for  a scant few years on this beautiful planet.  But its distribution is scandalously random and uneven.  Are cosmic influences toying with us?  Testing us for honesty and compassion?  I know loved ones who say yes and suffer greatly with lives of insufficiency, if not some mismanagement.  I wish it wasn’t so.  And I wish scammers immediate departure for the deepest pits. Of you know where.

One dollar after another

Orchid, 2023

     No point in complaining or stressing. People are more important than $$. I am grateful that I have enough to feel I can share. Certainly didn’t always believe I could.  It’s been a chaotic year $$ wise. So much of our use of “our daily bread” is in our minds. I think the sense of economic security is the most significant and worrisome factor for most people between birth and death.  Does it not motivate us more than soul/spirit?

Later, Dude

Chihuly Exhibit, Franklin Park, Columbus Oh 2006 

Nothing to say today, except sis D at Dr today for broken knee.  Not much to be done except stabilizing casts. Also spoke a few minutes with I, and that is all it takes to make me a little happy .  His music posts are getting better and better. I like his singing a lot.

Ancient times

Red takes out his dogbed to go sledding, 2-8-23

 

And brings out a pal to join the fun.  2-8-23

2-16-17. Just as deep as ever.  

Red is less enthusiastic about going out in the backyard snow these days.  Older and wiser.  But that’s enough drift memory for now. We’re going to walk in the park and maybe snag Micky D nuggets.