New Years Eve

Tried a new pizza combination for 123123. Salami, apple, and goat cheese. Interesting flavors. If I felt better it might taste better. It's not bad; I won't be throwing the leftovers away. lol

 

123123

End of the year is approaching.  Gotta make plans for next year? The last day of 2023 is 123123... seems as though I should celebrate/commemorate it somehow. Something profound. Write a song - "The Ballad of 123123". I don't know. Future generations will ask "Where were you on 123123?" Me: Oh, I watched some TV and drank some wine. Sad.
The moon will not be full which is probably a good thing. I imagine a lot of weddings will take place.  Now, that's profound. Not in the cards for me however.
I will watch my step as I also do not want to become deceased on 123123.
Overthinking: it's what I do. 

 

Check it off

The decorations are packed up and back in storage. I enjoyed them but I'm not sorry to see them gone. 

I know I sound like a grinch but Christmas has become so outrageously commercialized and overhyped, it is a sin. People get depressed because they don't have what the ads and social media say they should. It's absurd. IT'S JUST ANOTHER FREAKIN DAY! 

Bah humbug rant over. 😀

 

Bye-bye

Christmas Eve. Thankfully, it's almost over. I'm going to do some baking today and this evening I will light the Christmas carousel given to me by my son. This is not a religious thing, although the carousels often have nativity figures on them. 

Back from baking... sausage cheese balls. I'm in heaven. 

Looking forward to Tuesday when I will put away all of the decorations.   

Nativity

I hadn't intended to put out the nativity figurines because I don't have a lot of display space in my apartment. And, if the cats were still living, I would have to keep these in a high, safe space. But now, ten days before Christmas, I decided to take them out of storage and enjoy them one more year. Hopefully, they're safe from my clumsiness as well.

 

Clean-up

I wasn't sure if it was worth all the cleanup but after I tasted the cake, it was totally worth it. 

And here's a poinsettia for the season.

 

 

Rainy Sunday

Hot chocolate on a rainy Sunday. My son and daughter-in-law came by a few days ago and put up the Christmas tree for me. I was inclined not to decorate this year but I'm glad they changed my mind. The sparkling tree lifts my spirits, especially on such a dreary day. 

Healthy, Mostly

Well, the annual 'wellness' visit is over. No surprises, plenty of areas to work on to be healthier. Bone density test and mammogram scheduled for January.  

On this day in 2009, I was cruising the Windward Islands aboard the Royal Clipper. It was a lovely trip although I realized I don't like traveling alone.  

Thanks

Ah, Thanksgiving.  

This is a pastel chalk on chalkboard that I did several years ago. I should repair the smearing before I put it away for another year.

Cross, lost and found

Oh my gosh, I have been looking for this necklace for two days. I lost sleep trying to imagine where it could be. I don't remember who gave it to me although I think it was my Aunt Marge. She was so sweet and would often send little trinkets. Needless to say it was not with any of my usual jewelry boxes (BTW, I need to consolidate these). I found it in a small, heart-shaped trinket box that was my mom's. I will definitely need a nap today.  

I wish this was a better photo but in my excitement,  I put it on and it's not easy to focus from this direction.

 

Reddish

Another leaf, a bit faded, posed on a golden plate. 

 

Leafy

One more leaf-on-my-car photo. Still working out the sync between Lightroom Classic on my laptop and Lightroom mobile and cloud storage. I believe everything is working as it should now, with a few adjustments in my work flow.

Cloudy weather here, typical for mid-Nov I suppose. I cannot believe Thanksgiving is next week.

  

Watercolor Work

Autumn

My watercolor landscapes aren't any better than my photography landscapes but this effort (after Edward Wesson) didn't end up in the trash at least. (Note: the first two attempts did get thrown away and I scolded myself for even trying a landscape)

 

Out of Sync

My desktop is pretty much useless, at least for editing photos. Getting my laptop synced has been frustratingly tedious. Between the two computers I managed to salvage one photo of autumn on top of my car. 

Loaves

I baked two loaves of italian bread this morning. First, the aroma in here is fantastic and the taste is so very good. (If I do say so myself)

P.S. I think my desktop computer is in its death throes. Everything is backed up so I'm sad but not frantic. I doubt I'll replace it, which for me is a huge deal. But I honestly don't use it that often. 

The Blue

Out running errands

Appreciated the blue

While stopped at a light  

(close enough 😉)

Pumpkin

Decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today and I'm happy to report that they are worth all of the cleanup. 

Autumn Days

These are the days that I love. Cool mornings, warm afternoons, and sunshine. 

And now we are in November.   

Found!

 My sister's husband passed away earlier this month and then she found herself in the hospital with her own issues. She's home now and we had a long chat yesterday. We were talking about old times and I mentioned a photo of the two of us as teens. What I remembered about this particular photo was that as we were getting ready for school, we had a big argument over... a comb. We've argued a lot over the years but we seem to accept each others differences better today.

After our chat, I went looking for this photo and nearly 20 hours later - I finally found it. It's so exasperating when you can't find something that you know IT.IS.IN.THIS.APARTMENT.SOMEWHERE.

 

One Leaf

Found on my doorstep, what could I do?

 

This and that

Busy morning - updating laptop, a little watercolor, a couple of pics, figuring out why the Nik photoshop filter won't work (it works with tiff files but not jpg, bah!)  

Memories

I decided, on this Friday the 13th, to retrieve two bins of photo albums from storage. Being heavy, they were on the bottom of a stack of stuff. I think I may have pulled something trying to lift them. Cause of death: Memories. Funny.

 

Be like a cat

"When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself. The cat becomes completely relaxed, and lands lightly on the ground. But if a cat were about to fall out of a tree and suddenly made up its mind that it didn't want to fall, it would become tense and rigid, and would be just a bag of broken bones upon landing.

In the same way, it is the philosophy of the Tao that we are all falling off a tree, at every moment of our lives. As a matter of fact, the moment we were born we were kicked off a precipice and we are falling, and there is nothing that can stop it. So instead of living in a state of chronic tension, and clinging to all sorts of things that are actually falling with us because the whole world is impermanent, be like a cat. Don't resist it."

~ Alan Watts 

PS The whole damn world has lost its mind. 

Watch

Thanks to the plethora of videos on Instagram, I have decided that the title of my memoir will be 'Watch til the end'. I have no intention of writing a memoir but what a great title.

I thought about Ted Turner this morning (thought sequence: Atlanta Braves->TBS->Ted Turner). I was working for Scientific Atlanta (Mfr of satellite antennas) when Ted founded CNN. Honestly, my initial reaction was 'who is going to watch the news for 24 hours'. The man was a visionary, I am not. I googled him and unfortunately he is battling a form of dementia. Such a shame. 

Sofia, 2004 

Royal Clipper

On this day in 2001, we arrived in Monaco to board the Royal Clipper and cruise the Mediterranean. Less than a month after 9/11, everything was still pretty tense. The captain, in his pre-departure meeting, advised that as we toured various ports, we should not call attention to ourselves as Americans. All of the passengers were from the states. The trip was wonderful and there were no negative incidents. A fighter jet from the Italian air force buzzed the ship one day as we sailed in the Med and there was a strong military presence in the airports but otherwise our trip was uneventful and fabulous.   

Change

Change is in the air, at least for nursery-grown trees. Still, it feels/looks fallish. 

A creative prompt for today is 'a bad habit'. There are so many... where to begin? We all have them. Fortunately, none of mine are illegal or life threatening. So we're good.  

Two Times

I wear a watch on each wrist. No, I'm not obsessed with what time it is. The watch on my right wrist is one that my late husband gave to me when I was going through chemotherapy. It's my sentimental watch. On the left, a smart watch. I like having info like steps taken, heart rate, outside temperature, etc. I can answer my phone with it if necessary. It's my smart watch. Oh, and I can change the background to whatever photo I choose. This might be my favorite feature.  

Autumn

Autumn has arrived, literally. The outer bands of Tropical storm Ophelia knocked over some of my plants during the night and although it's a cool 60 degrees this morning, it's humid as heck.

A sad anniversary, Sofia passed away three years ago today. I miss my pretty girl.

I made french toast for breakfast and it was delish. I hadn't made it in a long time and I tried to talk myself out of it (cooking has become a chore) but I'm glad I didn't listen to myself. 

Margaritaville

Sad to hear of Jimmy Buffet's passing. He was young, too young imo. Makes me crave a margarita.

 September has arrived and we've had a couple of cool mornings. I'm liking the trend although there are more 90 degree days forecast next week.

Holiday weekend once meant a vacation to the beach. To be honest, I have no desire at the moment. I refuse to set foot in Florida and the Carolina coast will be a crowded mess. So I will stay-cation and paint.

Be safe out there!

Summer

Summer is slowly fading. The heat has been relentless. 

I was surprised to see (via Facebook memories) that one year ago today I was in the hospital with chest pains. We never did figure out the cause. A cardiac MRI showed that my heart and lungs are normal. Myself, I think it was stress. I was in the middle of moving for the third time in three years. Moving, no matter how much help you get, is stressful. There's been no recurrence, something I am grateful for.

Motto

There was a word in my morning crossword that I haven't seen or heard in quite a while - motto. Seems as though I used to hear "our/my motto is..." quite often. I don't think I've ever said "this is my motto" so I'll say it now. My motto is "tomorrow is another day". It's similar to "this too shall pass". Always a reminder that whatever storm is raging at the moment, the "sun will come out tomorrow". There's another one!

Motto.

Photo from 2020

 

Maui

I am fortunate enough to have visited Maui several times, most recently in 2009 (2009 feels 'recent' in my memory).

Visiting Hawaii was on my bucket list, a list created as I went through the hell that was chemotherapy and radiation therapy in 1987. We booked a trip in 1989, when my hair had grown out enough that I no longer needed to wear a wig. We flew to Oahu and boarded a ship that would take us to each of the four main islands. We made this same voyage two more times over the years before deciding Maui was our favorite island and booking a vacation there. I didn't visit again until 2009, after my husband's passing in 2008.

The point I wanted to make is how gorgeous Maui is and what they are going through now breaks my heart. 

What is true today?

The sun had just risen this morning when I asked myself this question. What is newly true today. I saw David's Instagram post later and it rang true, so it's new to me.

"Making more art leads to better art." David Duchemin

And here's a pic for Monte - a squirrel feasting on mushrooms.

Restart

 Perhaps I put too much pressure on August, because we're off to a disappointing start. So today, August 4, I'm restarting the month. Facebook hack forgotten. Fedex snafu forgotten. It's a brand new month. Hallelujah!

Pfft

What a morning! Woke to emails from Facebook that my password, email, etc had been changed. Since the emails came at 5am, I didn't/couldn't respond 'This wasn't me'. I think I finally have control of my account now but who knows. Very aggravating. Bah!

I enjoyed painting this guy, reference photo from Pixabay. 

 

Pink

The crepe myrtle outside my window is in full bloom and tiny pink petals are everywhere; even decorating my doormat.

August has arrived. The temperature might be backing off slightly from the 90s of July.  Fingers crossed.

A fellow photographer lost her husband yesterday.  I feel much sympathy for her as I understand how difficult it will be in the coming months and years. 

Painting has stalled, lack of subject matter is my problem at the moment. The heat seems to have zapped my enthusiasm.  But I believe I found an inspiration this morning so we'll see if the paint meets the paper.

Bye July

Birthday aside, July was a rough month. Not sorry to see it go. My optimism meter will reset to 1000 for August. 

 

Gear Sale

 I'm selling all of my Nikon gear, including the D700. The 80-400mm is currently with KEH, waiting to see if their original quote holds up. If it goes well, these lenses and the camera body will be next. 

She said yes!

Every morning I watch the sun rise in New Smyrna Beach, FL via a live webcam. This morning I witnessed a marriage proposal! I don't know who they are but I hope they have a happy life together.