I’m working on rebuilding my health. Work still needs significant coping.
Emotionally I’ve come to realise that it’s ok to excise anyone who has lied to or about me. Same goes for people who manipulated me. It looks bad from the outside, especially when the liar in question is now ill/dying/destitute and I can’t summon any concern. But, all I can feel is the pity I feel for a stranger. Odd.
I’m oddly content on a personal level.
Be well, Sure Thing!
Sure Thing, When my mom was in her last years and I couldn’t handle what she was like and all the baggage I carried, a psych nurse told me not to think of her as “Mom” but as “Mrs. Allen.” The advice worked: I was able to distance my problems with her; instead, I reacted to her and supported her as I would a stranger. So, you are not odd, you are coping successfully.
This means so much to me. Thank you.
Elizabeth & Sure Thing, Me, too. I grew up with a passive aggressive mom who did a pretty good job making excuses my father’s physical violence toward me. Didn’t realize her P-A ness until a very wise and good therapist pointed it out. She recommended I refer to mom by her first name as a way of distancing. It does work; the distance grows lengthier the more I did it. When D passed away, I didn’t feel much beyond “I hope she went peacefully and without pain” – about the same thing I would wish any stranger. The good news was that, in my early twenties, my dad asked to visit, came to my house, and with profound seriousness, apologized for all the harm he had inflicted. He & I grew to be great friends.
For years now I’ve had to exercise similar distance.
Boundaries are healthy. If this person has never apologized or taken responsibility for their behavior then there really is no reason you should forgive them.
And the only person whose judgment about your behavior matters is you. If you feel you are doing the right thing, don’t worry about others. I doubt you made the person sick or destitute and I doubt you could heal them or finance them.
Pie does sound good. Reminds me of the movie Waitress.
Something that makes me constantly happy is listening to the Marsh family. It’s a very normal but talented English family trying to cope with the pandemic in their very won way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQF2R5A6x8
Check out the Holderness Family, I think they’re the American equivalent!
It has been a good week. I worked in the yard some, but I need to plant the roses.
I got my first Covid vaccine shot. I was able to get it at work since my department is considered essential. I’m not really essential, but alot of the guys are and I’ll just go with it.
Sad start to the week – one uncle died and learned that another (my mother’s youngest brother) has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I connected with my cousins and offered my condolences and on-going support. They can always say no but one of my aunts did this for me when my mother died and I am forever grateful to her.
We had a few days of above freezing weather and the snow is melting! It was lovely to walk the dog in a spring coat, rather than wear multiple layers. Plus, it means gardening season is getting closer. Another 4 weeks and I will be half way done my Horticulture program.
I belong to several FB plant groups and a woman reached out to me about trading my begonia cuttings for a cutting of a plant on my “in search of list”. Received my final seed order so anxious to get started planting my seeds.
My parents finally got their first shot and the appointment for the second one. That made me very happy since they’d been waiting for months now while everyone in their group of friends and neighbours seemed to have got it already.
Tomorrow, the kids start going to school again. Well, for two weeks until they go on Easter vacation. What makes me happy about it: written exams are off the agenda for those two weeks. We had feared that there would be a sudden rush to get all the oral and written exams done that couldn’t be held those past three months. Things will be hectic after Easter, but who knows – numbers are rising and no-one expects life to pick up again (more likely there’ll be another lockdown as in Italy).
With a fourth vaccine approved lately, there might even come life into our debacle of a vaccination rollout. So having more ground for hope makes me if not happy at least more positive.
Dd’s birthday is approaching real fast: March 18th and she’s not too stressed about not having a big party. She’s allowed (being younger than 14) to have her two friends over, this seems to be acceptable as a good alternative.
I’ve attended a community college’s presentation on resilience today and realized that we’ve coped quite well so far. I still am not about to murder neither dh nor the kids. Whenever I’m stressed out by the kids, it’s due to puberty related things that I would stress out anyway, lockdown or no lockdown. So a very positive result over all.
And my heel spur is almost gone: my physiotherapist is such a great girl and very good at her job: another reason to be happy!
Happiness was almost all the snow melting, after months of non-stop white (and brown and gray). Washing my car, even though I knew it wouldn’t stay clean. Celebrating one year since the House Guest moved in to hide from the pandemic and eventually became the House Mate. It is strange adjusting to having someone else live here after spending most of my adult life living alone, but in this year particularly, I suspect it was good to have company. We share the same strange sense of humor for the most part, and laugh a lot. (When we’re not ranting about politics.)
I had my browser window at half screen, and it shortened my tab to read “Happiness is Argh Ink which is true and made me laugh!
I have been feeling like my reserves are low – I am fine until that one negative comment too many, or being kept 15 minutes later than I wanted to leave work, or the conflicting desire of wanting my nearest and dearest to feel free to say anything to me against my desire NOT to hear their political opinions for the umpteenth time….. and then I have the disappointment of not being the person I want to be when I turn into a negative instead of source of light. sigh. All that being said (and thank you for the space to say it) life is actually going pretty well! Someone is going to help me with a stalled project, and I feel excited about it again. My darling niece told me two things I said to her years ago that she still remember and is amused by. My darling spouse brought me something nice to eat. My laundry is in the drier and I have already walked 1.5 miles. I have chocolate. Life is good.
I have supplies for pie but we still have chocolate cake so I will probably bake a pie tomorrow (apple). The sun has been shining the last few days. The daffodils and the cherry trees are blooming.
Also it makes my nerdy little heart so happy to celebrate a math joke.
A pie would be nice, especially one that someone else would make for me.
It’s mother’s day here in the UK.
I am still waiting for my 21 year old son to bake the cake that apparently he told his nearly 18 year old sister he would bake for me. My 24 year old did wish me happy mother’s day after I said « is there anything you’d like to say to me today ? ». In the meantime I have made breakfast and lunch, cleaned the shower room and gone to the supermarket. I treated myself to a bunch of daffodils just because.
Isn’t it lovely having all your adult kids at home during lockdown?
I am sorry… I am not feeling the happiness today, it’s more sarcasm sunday for me.
As the button on my jean jacket says, “Sarcasm is the only defense against the dark forces of logic and reason”. I can’t offer you that one, but if you send me your address, I will send one that says, “I wish sarcasm burned calories “.
My son is coming tomorrow to drive me to his home, where we will watch some Japanese anime he likes on his big screen. I think the movie is called The Dragon Prince or something similar. Should be good. He also promised to make pancakes for me for dinner, if I bring jam. And then, he’ll drive me back home. Full service offered and accepted, in dual, if late, celebration of my birthday (Feb 20) and his (Mar 8). I’m happy.
Happy Mother’s day! May cake be in your future!
I saw this (as a photo strip with speech bubbles)
Person A: sarcasm gets you nowhere
Person B: It got me to the Sarcasm World Championship is in Uruguay in 2008
A: Really?!
B: No
So simple, so obvious and narky, cracked me up.
Getting my first vaccination on Wednesday (!), then I’ll come home and try to bake Irish soda bread that’s not only good for a door stop. That has happened. Also, I won’t double the soda. That has happened. At least it was too light for a doorstop.
Making apple pie today, to mark the moment. We had two warm days on Thursday and Friday, and it was a bit of a holiday. I went to an art museum I hadn’t been to for a long time and saw an exhibit of beautiful clothing created by women designers over the centuries. Even with all the beauty and luxury, my heart leapt most for the Donna Karan black turtleneck and wrap skirt.
The next day (60’F) I walked around a local port town with a friend, then we came back across the bridge and ate Mexican food outside. THEN toddled down the the brewery and drank beer with more friends at a picnic table outside. That’s March in New England, you take those “just kidding” Spring days and run with them if you can. You know that you have plenty of Winter left.
Saw a bluebird just hanging out, and a kestrel flying over head. Not at the same moment.
Like, wheaten soda? Or white farls? Food of my childhood. At least every Wednesday in winter to go with soup. Wheaten still warm, with butter and honey is super comfort nostalgia food for me.
Or fried soda farls and potato bread with bacon and eggs as a Sunday evening supper. Omg suddenly I’m starving. Good luck!
I’ve never heard of a farl, I had to look it up. It looks tasty, so it’s going on the list.
I don’t have the energy today to bake a pie (or, really, the energy to clean up the mess afterwards), but maybe an apple crisp. It’s pie without the crust, right?
For happiness, I got my Helen Binney series re-released on Amazon (rights reverted to me a couple months ago), and it was less hassle than I’d anticipated. And I’ve been writing new manuscripts fairly consistently since the beginning of February when a writing friend and I decided to become accountability buddies. There’s no judgment, just an awareness that we need to account at the end of the day, and sometimes life does really get in the way, but it feels like letting the other person down if we skip too many writing days. I dunno. It seems to have helped both of us with our productivity.
Plus, I got some seeds to grow on my deck, and it’s way too early to plant them, except maybe for tatsoi, which can go out later this week and then it’ll sprout whenever conditions are right. I grow a non-hybrid version, so I can let a few plants go to seed and collect the seeds, but for some reason I’d run out a few years ago, so I’m happy to start the cycle again.
Mothering Sunday today. I gave hand knitted socks. I got Tunnocks tea cakes and a handmade card. And I gardened. And made chocolate babka. Perfect day.
My favorite pie is homemade blackberry with blackberries picked just before baking. We are supposed to get two feet of snow by Monday.
This morning I made cranberry and orange muffins from a mix and used half butter and half oil. They were ok but that is not the story I want to tell. I had to refill the bottle container with the spigot from the mother container in the cabinet above the refrigerator. The cabinet is too high for me to reach so instead of using my fabulous step stool I used the handy dandy long armed grabber thingy. Someone and I’m not naming names didn’t secure the screwtop to the bottle and when I made a grab for it the bottle tipped. Thank my lucky stars it tipped sideways and not over my head. The oil ran down from the top of the refrigerator along the sides and into a puddle on the floor. All before eight o’clock on the first day of daylight savings.
Argh!
Definitely argh. What’s a mother container?
The mother container is the larger bottle of vegetable oil that is poured into a smaller bottle with the spigot on top. It clutters the counter along with a similar but smaller sized one of olive oil.
Cherry pie for me, please!
Happy Mothering Sunday for Arghers across the pond!
It’s another pack/purge/ooh, what’s this shiny object I had tucked away? day for me.
Happiness is having Dmitri 6 months old and finally allowed to come out into the yard when I am working. He is not at all shy about it. There is nothing like the exuberance of a young cat having discovered direct sunlight, green grass and a whole extra world. “Look, Mom, I can run non-stop from one side of the yard to the other! And back again! And Again! Oh look, bugs! OH, OH, OH Trees!”
My daughters kitten disdains the outside and won’t go out but will watch it suspiciously..
Finally got an appointment for my first shot; it’s Saturday morning at 9am. Can’t wait. Now I just have to keep limiting my exposure.
Some of my crocuses are blooming and the daffodils are starting to sprout. I’ve been seeing a cardinal pair and hearing the woodpecker so that makes me happy.
Happy pi/pie day. Does rhubard/blueberry crumble count?
Rhubarb/blueberry crumble most definitely counts, in my book!
Went for a long walk in the hills with a friend on Monday. Penguin put their freelance rates up (this used to happen annually, but it’s been several years since the last raise). I did a meditation/visualization, which I haven’t done for months, and felt much better for it. Got more freelance work, including another edit, which looks interesting. And the seeds I sowed last Sunday have started sprouting.
Not making pie but am making muffins if that counts:)
Happy for the sunshine and that it’s only a few more days until my book finally comes out. As I said on my blog at some point, I’ve been sitting on this book so long it’s about time it finally hatched. Very apropos since it’s an Easter novella:)
Also nice pup got to finally wear her new cotton collar today! Nice to have since she has skin issues and this one is all cotton and easy on her system. Looks cute, too. And fits! Which is good because it took months and two tries with the order before it arrived and wasn’t sure how the sizing would work out since we haven’t always had the best of luck re accuracy of online sizing charts. So win-win:)
I’m watching The Great Pottery Throwdown final, and they’re doing 20’s Art Deco style, so they keep talking about Clarice Cliff and showed some of her work!
Ooooh, is this on Netflix?
I still have some beautiful Clarice Cliff. And a lot of Susie Cooper. Such gorgeous stuff.
It’s on channel 4 in the UK, not sure if it’s on anywhere in the USA.
The first few seasons of the GPT are on HBO Max. I presume (HOPE) the season currently running in the UK will show up soon. Need to check.
Or I need to get a VPN that works. My current one appears to be blocked by Channel 4.
It is on the Makeful channel along with The Portrait Artist of the Year, the Landscape Artist of the Year, Great British Baking Show, in Canada. Does the US get Makeful?
Just saw this morning that the latest season will be on HBO max next month.
My sister, the Queen of All Pie, informed me that she is making at least 3, but more likely 4 or 5, pies today because her DH informed her that they had quite a list of friends they needed to supply. When I asked her why he always had these big ideas that she had to implement she said that this time it was okay because he was cleaning another part of their apartment while she baked. I was supposed to drop something off for her today, but decided I didn’t want to brave the Sunday train schedule. Perhaps if I had heard the list of pies earlier in the day, I would have made a greater effort to get out there. So far she has made apple, cherry and Lincoln Del chocolate cream. I wonder what will be left when I go out there on Tuesday?
The weather made me very happy this week. It was sunny and warm most of the week and my feet rejoiced at being back in sandals. I got a birthday card or 2 and reconnected with a friend who I hadn’t spoken with for most of the year. And I got to skype with my brother in France twice. Such luxury!
The big surprise came yesterday when I checked my email. For the last 2 weeks I have been getting emails telling me that I qualify for the Covid-19 shots, but there are no appointments available. When I logged in yesterday, row upon row of open times popped up! I will go for my first shot on Thursday! I was beginning to think that my lack of experience doing things online would prevent me from being able to get a shot, but it looks like it is all set. There were stories earlier about appointments at this hospital disappearing from the computer before the people showed up to get them, but every time I check, my appointment is still in the system. Naturally, once I made the appointment, I started receiving replies from other places I had contacted in an effort to sign up. It is such a relief to be this far along in the process.
There was also a very funny cartoon in the Sunday comics today. If any of you live in a city where you get Frazz by Jef Mallet. I advise you to treat yourself.
Hooray, Aunt Snack! I’m so happy for you. Good things DO happen to good people sometimes.
I’m not sure how good a person I am, but I surely feel like a lucky one.
And if I hadn’t made Bailey’s Irish Cream Brownies yesterday I would definity go for cherry or chocolate pi. Maybe I’ll orderBlaze Pizza for dinner. Doingvolunteertaxes today and then babysitting so no time to cook. If you would like a recipe for the Bailey’s Brownies its in my newsletter along with recipes for Soda Bread and non alcoholic Irish cream. The brownies I made were deliciously boozy. https://mailchi.mp/e9f7a5e5acc9/st-patricks-day-quarantine-edition?e=5b4aeaf89e
Oooh, those recipes ALL sound wonderful! Mmmm…
I made pizza.
I spent the weekend watching the Texas Storytelling Festival online and they did a VERY good job of it. I have discovered some new to me ones that are very good!
I am also enjoying my hangout group on Sundays with friends, that went really well today. One of them did a divination for me and it was very good news 🙂
Crush’s birthday was Friday and he actually wrote back to me for a bit before going to visit his vaccinated grandparents, so there’s that.
I had a small apple pie this week, as dessert for a chicken and red potato dinner that I won’t be repeating. The pie was very nearly adequate.
I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, first physical presence appointment since 2019.
There’s a Covid Vaccine clinic at work on the 23rd.
Yay.
Since this past Thursday, I noticed a sensitive lump at the base of my thumb, which my practitioner says is a ganglion cyst. She said the traditional treatment was to lay the hand flat, cyst up, and whack the hell out of it with a bible. A bible likely being the largest book in the house. Modern practice is that if the cyst is causing great pain by pressure on the ganglion, it might be drained with a needle or surgically excised. Absent severe pain, the course of treatment is to ignore it. It will go away on its own. That’s what I opted for.
As for my chronic procrastination, she laments with me that medical science has not yet gotten around to a cure.
Oh, and daylight saving time – Bah! Humbug!
Gary, Until recently Baker’s cysts, which are similar to ganglion cysts, were also treated with bibles (telephone books, as I heard it, but it was from an older physical therapist). If you decide to do away with your ganglion cyst, you might be reassured to know that treating a baker’s cyst is quick and painless. On the other hand, both cysts tend to be reactions to a real problem, not the problem itself. For example, after my knee replacement the physical therapist told me that the Baker’s cyst near that joint would disappear.
I appreciate your correct use of the verb “to lay” in your post.
Happiness is feeling better, after 3 rounds of antibiotics for a persistent E Coli infection. Happiness is also being notified and getting scheduled, on Friday evening, for a pop-up vaccine clinic on Saturday! Very well run by the Shoreline (Washington State) Fire Department, EMTs, Police Department, and volunteers. Johnson vaccine, so one shot, and by March 27th I am COVERED. My only caveat was that, by golly, those guys were protective. Granted, I am 68, my hair has silvered, and my hips bother me so I walk stiffly, but they wanted to escort me EVERYWHERE. I think one wanted to carry me, but didn’t know how to suggest it.
Come to think of it, maybe I should have suggested it. He was cute! And probably all of 30. Argh.
I am positively giddy about scheduling appointments (two weeks out) with my dentist, optometrist, hair stylist, hearing specialist, etc. Remember Albert Einstein’s hair? Right here.
Shoreline. We visit our friends in Lake Forest Park regularly. Nice area to live in. My husband’s family are long time residents of Marysville.
I’m in Kenmore, really close to the Bothell line on Bothell Way NE. I agree, this is a lovely area to live! I traveled extensively for work (for Boeing, I fixed broken airplanes) for 37 years, both nationally and internationally, and I never saw another place that tempted me to move there from Puget Sound area. Moderate climate, I don’t care about the rain (actually, I like it!), great sports teams, tons of cultural activities, ski in the morning and boat in the afternoon. Love it here. Now, if the darn real estate prices would just drop, or at least slow down! I still want to buy a piece of land and put a Tiny Home on it, but the land has gotten so expensive, I don’t know if I will ever be able to do so. Tacky to wish for a recession?
Marysville! Talk about pie!
I think the Village no longer makes mile high pies. The Autorest in Cle Elum (long since defunct) also made those pies.
My cousins had their second shot this morning. Both were rather languid, but we had a quiet day — I had to sign blank checks until my hand quit, but I did finish the checks — and they were both so RELIEVED to have finally been vaccinated. My county, on the East Bay side of San Francisco Bay, is currently so short of vaccine that they’re reserving what they have for second shots, as they should. Not a problem for me — teachers and school support people certainly go first, and, as my cousin said, retail checkers, etc.
I have now finished reading 111 pages of Greenville Ferguson v. Administrators of James Ferguson and can report that William Ferguson, Greenville’s brother, eventually negotiated and settled with Right Booth, a defendant, on approximately a 50-50 split. The uncomfortable part for me was that they divided the enslaved persons. At least by this time it’s 1863, so we know they’ll be free before long. I doubt my own ancestors got anything much out of this, but it will probably be some months or a year before I can access the land records to find out about the property sale. If anyone would like to read this file for themselves, it’s at https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/full_case_detail.asp?CFN=063-1863-001#img, the Library of Virginia’s collection of Chancery cases.
Good for a laugh — I seem to be descended from the Ball family of Virginia (or perhaps “A” Ball family of Virginia), so I originally thought it was possible they were connected to Mary Ball, George Washington’s mother. Apparently the problem is that no one knows much about HER Ball family — MINE is really well documented, it just didn’t produce anyone famous or distinguished or noteworthy, just enough people ending up in court giving depositions . . . .
I missed pie day, but followed up roast lamb on Sunday with apple crumble and cream, so figure that’s a nod in the right direction.
Here we follow dd/mm/yy formatting, but really any excuse for pie is a good excuse for pie.
Meat pies are kinda integral to kiwi culture. Here are two iconic clips:
https://youtu.be/aEAHLFvD3v4 (a 45″ clip from a police reality show, where a cop is trying to delay a possible suspect. Safer communities together is the police motto here).
Ok I was feeling a bit flat, but just rewatching these clips has brightened my day.
Nectar? Er, because. Yay for not checking the prediction.
I made a couple of cute little hand pies for pi day (apple with a smidge of quince-lime jam for sweetener).
On Saturday I visited my mom UNMASKED. And she went to dinner at some friends who are also vaccinated. Her neighborhood is pretty well vaccinated at this point, so she’s finally able to socialize. One less worry for me.
We planted a few things in the allotment and I cleaned up my herb garden a bit.
All in all, a good week.
Found out yesterday that the in-laws get their shots today which is great news as neither one is in super fantastic health. Apparently virtually all of the province’s stash of AstraZeneca vaccines they were releasing early have been spoken for so Paul and I have to wait our turn. My mom can book her shot on Wednesday.
Since I am only 55, can work from home, and have no risk factors I am not even looking into when a vaccine might be achievable for me. I may not look into it at all until/unless my employer decides to bring us back to the office (please, no, I dread going back to a commute). The husband is 61 and should probably get the vaccine. ‘Should’ being the operative word.
Happy is, I spent three hours in the yard Saturday and destroyed many weeds. This morning we got 5+ hours of rain and now are being buffeted by winds gusting up to 50 mph. Also I read three Georgette Heyer Regencies over the weekend, and watching ‘Shanghai Noon.’ There was no pie chez nous, but we did have deep-fried asparagus with last night’s steaks and Syrah.
Happiness here is that I bought my first apartment on Friday! The contract should be with the lawyers soon and then finally I will know when I can move out of here, thank all the gods. It’s been occupying most of my mind for the last few months.
Work has stabilised a bit but government subsidies have stopped for my industry so if I get stood down from now on I will be on my own. Scary with a new mortgage until you realise the property market where I live is so messed up it will actually be cheaper than renting. And as a border worker I had my first vaccine two weeks ago, and will get the second shot on the 24th, so that takes a lot of the stress out of working.
Really, nothing but good times ahead down here.
We celebrated pi day in the backyard with neighbors—probably our 20th year or so. I should try to figure it out. Pizza pi, raspberry peach pie, cauliflower pi, a lasagne pi, lemon meringue, and mud pie. It really made me feel like we are coming out of this even though it was socially distanced ans we could have done this safely at any point. Maybe it’s just knowing that with warmth coming we can do this more. Still no vaccines for our group—rumors our county is getting too few as political pay back since we are the most progressive county in the state and the governor is Republican. Hopefully this will get resolved and we get vaccinated soon.
Mmm. I want a milk tart, now. ðŸ˜
Here’s a very well written Pi Day romance. https://jackielaubooks.com/books/the-ultimate-pi-day-party/
I’m working on rebuilding my health. Work still needs significant coping.
Emotionally I’ve come to realise that it’s ok to excise anyone who has lied to or about me. Same goes for people who manipulated me. It looks bad from the outside, especially when the liar in question is now ill/dying/destitute and I can’t summon any concern. But, all I can feel is the pity I feel for a stranger. Odd.
I’m oddly content on a personal level.
Be well, Sure Thing!
Sure Thing, When my mom was in her last years and I couldn’t handle what she was like and all the baggage I carried, a psych nurse told me not to think of her as “Mom” but as “Mrs. Allen.” The advice worked: I was able to distance my problems with her; instead, I reacted to her and supported her as I would a stranger. So, you are not odd, you are coping successfully.
This means so much to me. Thank you.
Elizabeth & Sure Thing, Me, too. I grew up with a passive aggressive mom who did a pretty good job making excuses my father’s physical violence toward me. Didn’t realize her P-A ness until a very wise and good therapist pointed it out. She recommended I refer to mom by her first name as a way of distancing. It does work; the distance grows lengthier the more I did it. When D passed away, I didn’t feel much beyond “I hope she went peacefully and without pain” – about the same thing I would wish any stranger. The good news was that, in my early twenties, my dad asked to visit, came to my house, and with profound seriousness, apologized for all the harm he had inflicted. He & I grew to be great friends.
For years now I’ve had to exercise similar distance.
Boundaries are healthy. If this person has never apologized or taken responsibility for their behavior then there really is no reason you should forgive them.
And the only person whose judgment about your behavior matters is you. If you feel you are doing the right thing, don’t worry about others. I doubt you made the person sick or destitute and I doubt you could heal them or finance them.
Pie does sound good. Reminds me of the movie Waitress.
Something that makes me constantly happy is listening to the Marsh family. It’s a very normal but talented English family trying to cope with the pandemic in their very won way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQF2R5A6x8
Check out the Holderness Family, I think they’re the American equivalent!
It has been a good week. I worked in the yard some, but I need to plant the roses.
I got my first Covid vaccine shot. I was able to get it at work since my department is considered essential. I’m not really essential, but alot of the guys are and I’ll just go with it.
Sad start to the week – one uncle died and learned that another (my mother’s youngest brother) has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I connected with my cousins and offered my condolences and on-going support. They can always say no but one of my aunts did this for me when my mother died and I am forever grateful to her.
We had a few days of above freezing weather and the snow is melting! It was lovely to walk the dog in a spring coat, rather than wear multiple layers. Plus, it means gardening season is getting closer. Another 4 weeks and I will be half way done my Horticulture program.
I belong to several FB plant groups and a woman reached out to me about trading my begonia cuttings for a cutting of a plant on my “in search of list”. Received my final seed order so anxious to get started planting my seeds.
My parents finally got their first shot and the appointment for the second one. That made me very happy since they’d been waiting for months now while everyone in their group of friends and neighbours seemed to have got it already.
Tomorrow, the kids start going to school again. Well, for two weeks until they go on Easter vacation. What makes me happy about it: written exams are off the agenda for those two weeks. We had feared that there would be a sudden rush to get all the oral and written exams done that couldn’t be held those past three months. Things will be hectic after Easter, but who knows – numbers are rising and no-one expects life to pick up again (more likely there’ll be another lockdown as in Italy).
With a fourth vaccine approved lately, there might even come life into our debacle of a vaccination rollout. So having more ground for hope makes me if not happy at least more positive.
Dd’s birthday is approaching real fast: March 18th and she’s not too stressed about not having a big party. She’s allowed (being younger than 14) to have her two friends over, this seems to be acceptable as a good alternative.
I’ve attended a community college’s presentation on resilience today and realized that we’ve coped quite well so far. I still am not about to murder neither dh nor the kids. Whenever I’m stressed out by the kids, it’s due to puberty related things that I would stress out anyway, lockdown or no lockdown. So a very positive result over all.
And my heel spur is almost gone: my physiotherapist is such a great girl and very good at her job: another reason to be happy!
Happiness was almost all the snow melting, after months of non-stop white (and brown and gray). Washing my car, even though I knew it wouldn’t stay clean. Celebrating one year since the House Guest moved in to hide from the pandemic and eventually became the House Mate. It is strange adjusting to having someone else live here after spending most of my adult life living alone, but in this year particularly, I suspect it was good to have company. We share the same strange sense of humor for the most part, and laugh a lot. (When we’re not ranting about politics.)
I had my browser window at half screen, and it shortened my tab to read “Happiness is Argh Ink which is true and made me laugh!
I have been feeling like my reserves are low – I am fine until that one negative comment too many, or being kept 15 minutes later than I wanted to leave work, or the conflicting desire of wanting my nearest and dearest to feel free to say anything to me against my desire NOT to hear their political opinions for the umpteenth time….. and then I have the disappointment of not being the person I want to be when I turn into a negative instead of source of light. sigh. All that being said (and thank you for the space to say it) life is actually going pretty well! Someone is going to help me with a stalled project, and I feel excited about it again. My darling niece told me two things I said to her years ago that she still remember and is amused by. My darling spouse brought me something nice to eat. My laundry is in the drier and I have already walked 1.5 miles. I have chocolate. Life is good.
I have supplies for pie but we still have chocolate cake so I will probably bake a pie tomorrow (apple). The sun has been shining the last few days. The daffodils and the cherry trees are blooming.
Also it makes my nerdy little heart so happy to celebrate a math joke.
A pie would be nice, especially one that someone else would make for me.
It’s mother’s day here in the UK.
I am still waiting for my 21 year old son to bake the cake that apparently he told his nearly 18 year old sister he would bake for me. My 24 year old did wish me happy mother’s day after I said « is there anything you’d like to say to me today ? ». In the meantime I have made breakfast and lunch, cleaned the shower room and gone to the supermarket. I treated myself to a bunch of daffodils just because.
Isn’t it lovely having all your adult kids at home during lockdown?
I am sorry… I am not feeling the happiness today, it’s more sarcasm sunday for me.
As the button on my jean jacket says, “Sarcasm is the only defense against the dark forces of logic and reason”. I can’t offer you that one, but if you send me your address, I will send one that says, “I wish sarcasm burned calories “.
My son is coming tomorrow to drive me to his home, where we will watch some Japanese anime he likes on his big screen. I think the movie is called The Dragon Prince or something similar. Should be good. He also promised to make pancakes for me for dinner, if I bring jam. And then, he’ll drive me back home. Full service offered and accepted, in dual, if late, celebration of my birthday (Feb 20) and his (Mar 8). I’m happy.
Happy Mother’s day! May cake be in your future!
I saw this (as a photo strip with speech bubbles)
Person A: sarcasm gets you nowhere
Person B: It got me to the Sarcasm World Championship is in Uruguay in 2008
A: Really?!
B: No
So simple, so obvious and narky, cracked me up.
Getting my first vaccination on Wednesday (!), then I’ll come home and try to bake Irish soda bread that’s not only good for a door stop. That has happened. Also, I won’t double the soda. That has happened. At least it was too light for a doorstop.
Making apple pie today, to mark the moment. We had two warm days on Thursday and Friday, and it was a bit of a holiday. I went to an art museum I hadn’t been to for a long time and saw an exhibit of beautiful clothing created by women designers over the centuries. Even with all the beauty and luxury, my heart leapt most for the Donna Karan black turtleneck and wrap skirt.
The next day (60’F) I walked around a local port town with a friend, then we came back across the bridge and ate Mexican food outside. THEN toddled down the the brewery and drank beer with more friends at a picnic table outside. That’s March in New England, you take those “just kidding” Spring days and run with them if you can. You know that you have plenty of Winter left.
Saw a bluebird just hanging out, and a kestrel flying over head. Not at the same moment.
Like, wheaten soda? Or white farls? Food of my childhood. At least every Wednesday in winter to go with soup. Wheaten still warm, with butter and honey is super comfort nostalgia food for me.
Or fried soda farls and potato bread with bacon and eggs as a Sunday evening supper. Omg suddenly I’m starving. Good luck!
I’ve never heard of a farl, I had to look it up. It looks tasty, so it’s going on the list.
I don’t have the energy today to bake a pie (or, really, the energy to clean up the mess afterwards), but maybe an apple crisp. It’s pie without the crust, right?
For happiness, I got my Helen Binney series re-released on Amazon (rights reverted to me a couple months ago), and it was less hassle than I’d anticipated. And I’ve been writing new manuscripts fairly consistently since the beginning of February when a writing friend and I decided to become accountability buddies. There’s no judgment, just an awareness that we need to account at the end of the day, and sometimes life does really get in the way, but it feels like letting the other person down if we skip too many writing days. I dunno. It seems to have helped both of us with our productivity.
Plus, I got some seeds to grow on my deck, and it’s way too early to plant them, except maybe for tatsoi, which can go out later this week and then it’ll sprout whenever conditions are right. I grow a non-hybrid version, so I can let a few plants go to seed and collect the seeds, but for some reason I’d run out a few years ago, so I’m happy to start the cycle again.
Mothering Sunday today. I gave hand knitted socks. I got Tunnocks tea cakes and a handmade card. And I gardened. And made chocolate babka. Perfect day.
My favorite pie is homemade blackberry with blackberries picked just before baking. We are supposed to get two feet of snow by Monday.
This morning I made cranberry and orange muffins from a mix and used half butter and half oil. They were ok but that is not the story I want to tell. I had to refill the bottle container with the spigot from the mother container in the cabinet above the refrigerator. The cabinet is too high for me to reach so instead of using my fabulous step stool I used the handy dandy long armed grabber thingy. Someone and I’m not naming names didn’t secure the screwtop to the bottle and when I made a grab for it the bottle tipped. Thank my lucky stars it tipped sideways and not over my head. The oil ran down from the top of the refrigerator along the sides and into a puddle on the floor. All before eight o’clock on the first day of daylight savings.
Argh!
Definitely argh. What’s a mother container?
The mother container is the larger bottle of vegetable oil that is poured into a smaller bottle with the spigot on top. It clutters the counter along with a similar but smaller sized one of olive oil.
Cherry pie for me, please!
Happy Mothering Sunday for Arghers across the pond!
It’s another pack/purge/ooh, what’s this shiny object I had tucked away? day for me.
Happiness is having Dmitri 6 months old and finally allowed to come out into the yard when I am working. He is not at all shy about it. There is nothing like the exuberance of a young cat having discovered direct sunlight, green grass and a whole extra world. “Look, Mom, I can run non-stop from one side of the yard to the other! And back again! And Again! Oh look, bugs! OH, OH, OH Trees!”
My daughters kitten disdains the outside and won’t go out but will watch it suspiciously..
Finally got an appointment for my first shot; it’s Saturday morning at 9am. Can’t wait. Now I just have to keep limiting my exposure.
Some of my crocuses are blooming and the daffodils are starting to sprout. I’ve been seeing a cardinal pair and hearing the woodpecker so that makes me happy.
Happy pi/pie day. Does rhubard/blueberry crumble count?
Rhubarb/blueberry crumble most definitely counts, in my book!
Went for a long walk in the hills with a friend on Monday. Penguin put their freelance rates up (this used to happen annually, but it’s been several years since the last raise). I did a meditation/visualization, which I haven’t done for months, and felt much better for it. Got more freelance work, including another edit, which looks interesting. And the seeds I sowed last Sunday have started sprouting.
Not making pie but am making muffins if that counts:)
Happy for the sunshine and that it’s only a few more days until my book finally comes out. As I said on my blog at some point, I’ve been sitting on this book so long it’s about time it finally hatched. Very apropos since it’s an Easter novella:)
Also nice pup got to finally wear her new cotton collar today! Nice to have since she has skin issues and this one is all cotton and easy on her system. Looks cute, too. And fits! Which is good because it took months and two tries with the order before it arrived and wasn’t sure how the sizing would work out since we haven’t always had the best of luck re accuracy of online sizing charts. So win-win:)
I’m watching The Great Pottery Throwdown final, and they’re doing 20’s Art Deco style, so they keep talking about Clarice Cliff and showed some of her work!
Ooooh, is this on Netflix?
I still have some beautiful Clarice Cliff. And a lot of Susie Cooper. Such gorgeous stuff.
It’s on channel 4 in the UK, not sure if it’s on anywhere in the USA.
The first few seasons of the GPT are on HBO Max. I presume (HOPE) the season currently running in the UK will show up soon. Need to check.
Or I need to get a VPN that works. My current one appears to be blocked by Channel 4.
It is on the Makeful channel along with The Portrait Artist of the Year, the Landscape Artist of the Year, Great British Baking Show, in Canada. Does the US get Makeful?
Just saw this morning that the latest season will be on HBO max next month.
My sister, the Queen of All Pie, informed me that she is making at least 3, but more likely 4 or 5, pies today because her DH informed her that they had quite a list of friends they needed to supply. When I asked her why he always had these big ideas that she had to implement she said that this time it was okay because he was cleaning another part of their apartment while she baked. I was supposed to drop something off for her today, but decided I didn’t want to brave the Sunday train schedule. Perhaps if I had heard the list of pies earlier in the day, I would have made a greater effort to get out there. So far she has made apple, cherry and Lincoln Del chocolate cream. I wonder what will be left when I go out there on Tuesday?
The weather made me very happy this week. It was sunny and warm most of the week and my feet rejoiced at being back in sandals. I got a birthday card or 2 and reconnected with a friend who I hadn’t spoken with for most of the year. And I got to skype with my brother in France twice. Such luxury!
The big surprise came yesterday when I checked my email. For the last 2 weeks I have been getting emails telling me that I qualify for the Covid-19 shots, but there are no appointments available. When I logged in yesterday, row upon row of open times popped up! I will go for my first shot on Thursday! I was beginning to think that my lack of experience doing things online would prevent me from being able to get a shot, but it looks like it is all set. There were stories earlier about appointments at this hospital disappearing from the computer before the people showed up to get them, but every time I check, my appointment is still in the system. Naturally, once I made the appointment, I started receiving replies from other places I had contacted in an effort to sign up. It is such a relief to be this far along in the process.
There was also a very funny cartoon in the Sunday comics today. If any of you live in a city where you get Frazz by Jef Mallet. I advise you to treat yourself.
Hooray, Aunt Snack! I’m so happy for you. Good things DO happen to good people sometimes.
I’m not sure how good a person I am, but I surely feel like a lucky one.
And if I hadn’t made Bailey’s Irish Cream Brownies yesterday I would definity go for cherry or chocolate pi. Maybe I’ll orderBlaze Pizza for dinner. Doingvolunteertaxes today and then babysitting so no time to cook. If you would like a recipe for the Bailey’s Brownies its in my newsletter along with recipes for Soda Bread and non alcoholic Irish cream. The brownies I made were deliciously boozy. https://mailchi.mp/e9f7a5e5acc9/st-patricks-day-quarantine-edition?e=5b4aeaf89e
Oooh, those recipes ALL sound wonderful! Mmmm…
I made pizza.
I spent the weekend watching the Texas Storytelling Festival online and they did a VERY good job of it. I have discovered some new to me ones that are very good!
I am also enjoying my hangout group on Sundays with friends, that went really well today. One of them did a divination for me and it was very good news 🙂
Crush’s birthday was Friday and he actually wrote back to me for a bit before going to visit his vaccinated grandparents, so there’s that.
I had a small apple pie this week, as dessert for a chicken and red potato dinner that I won’t be repeating. The pie was very nearly adequate.
I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, first physical presence appointment since 2019.
There’s a Covid Vaccine clinic at work on the 23rd.
Yay.
Since this past Thursday, I noticed a sensitive lump at the base of my thumb, which my practitioner says is a ganglion cyst. She said the traditional treatment was to lay the hand flat, cyst up, and whack the hell out of it with a bible. A bible likely being the largest book in the house. Modern practice is that if the cyst is causing great pain by pressure on the ganglion, it might be drained with a needle or surgically excised. Absent severe pain, the course of treatment is to ignore it. It will go away on its own. That’s what I opted for.
As for my chronic procrastination, she laments with me that medical science has not yet gotten around to a cure.
Oh, and daylight saving time – Bah! Humbug!
Gary, Until recently Baker’s cysts, which are similar to ganglion cysts, were also treated with bibles (telephone books, as I heard it, but it was from an older physical therapist). If you decide to do away with your ganglion cyst, you might be reassured to know that treating a baker’s cyst is quick and painless. On the other hand, both cysts tend to be reactions to a real problem, not the problem itself. For example, after my knee replacement the physical therapist told me that the Baker’s cyst near that joint would disappear.
I appreciate your correct use of the verb “to lay” in your post.
Happiness is feeling better, after 3 rounds of antibiotics for a persistent E Coli infection. Happiness is also being notified and getting scheduled, on Friday evening, for a pop-up vaccine clinic on Saturday! Very well run by the Shoreline (Washington State) Fire Department, EMTs, Police Department, and volunteers. Johnson vaccine, so one shot, and by March 27th I am COVERED. My only caveat was that, by golly, those guys were protective. Granted, I am 68, my hair has silvered, and my hips bother me so I walk stiffly, but they wanted to escort me EVERYWHERE. I think one wanted to carry me, but didn’t know how to suggest it.
Come to think of it, maybe I should have suggested it. He was cute! And probably all of 30. Argh.
I am positively giddy about scheduling appointments (two weeks out) with my dentist, optometrist, hair stylist, hearing specialist, etc. Remember Albert Einstein’s hair? Right here.
Shoreline. We visit our friends in Lake Forest Park regularly. Nice area to live in. My husband’s family are long time residents of Marysville.
I’m in Kenmore, really close to the Bothell line on Bothell Way NE. I agree, this is a lovely area to live! I traveled extensively for work (for Boeing, I fixed broken airplanes) for 37 years, both nationally and internationally, and I never saw another place that tempted me to move there from Puget Sound area. Moderate climate, I don’t care about the rain (actually, I like it!), great sports teams, tons of cultural activities, ski in the morning and boat in the afternoon. Love it here. Now, if the darn real estate prices would just drop, or at least slow down! I still want to buy a piece of land and put a Tiny Home on it, but the land has gotten so expensive, I don’t know if I will ever be able to do so. Tacky to wish for a recession?
Marysville! Talk about pie!
I think the Village no longer makes mile high pies. The Autorest in Cle Elum (long since defunct) also made those pies.
My cousins had their second shot this morning. Both were rather languid, but we had a quiet day — I had to sign blank checks until my hand quit, but I did finish the checks — and they were both so RELIEVED to have finally been vaccinated. My county, on the East Bay side of San Francisco Bay, is currently so short of vaccine that they’re reserving what they have for second shots, as they should. Not a problem for me — teachers and school support people certainly go first, and, as my cousin said, retail checkers, etc.
I have now finished reading 111 pages of Greenville Ferguson v. Administrators of James Ferguson and can report that William Ferguson, Greenville’s brother, eventually negotiated and settled with Right Booth, a defendant, on approximately a 50-50 split. The uncomfortable part for me was that they divided the enslaved persons. At least by this time it’s 1863, so we know they’ll be free before long. I doubt my own ancestors got anything much out of this, but it will probably be some months or a year before I can access the land records to find out about the property sale. If anyone would like to read this file for themselves, it’s at https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/full_case_detail.asp?CFN=063-1863-001#img, the Library of Virginia’s collection of Chancery cases.
Good for a laugh — I seem to be descended from the Ball family of Virginia (or perhaps “A” Ball family of Virginia), so I originally thought it was possible they were connected to Mary Ball, George Washington’s mother. Apparently the problem is that no one knows much about HER Ball family — MINE is really well documented, it just didn’t produce anyone famous or distinguished or noteworthy, just enough people ending up in court giving depositions . . . .
Should just add that the most drool-worthy pastry I saw today might just possibly qualify as a Pi-day entrée — it was a lovely YouTube on an Individual Beef Wellington.
I missed pie day, but followed up roast lamb on Sunday with apple crumble and cream, so figure that’s a nod in the right direction.
Here we follow dd/mm/yy formatting, but really any excuse for pie is a good excuse for pie.
Meat pies are kinda integral to kiwi culture. Here are two iconic clips:
https://youtu.be/aEAHLFvD3v4 (a 45″ clip from a police reality show, where a cop is trying to delay a possible suspect. Safer communities together is the police motto here).
https://youtu.be/nYsUKPoW-Qo (a 30″ tv ad that I can’t describe nectar spoilers).
Ok I was feeling a bit flat, but just rewatching these clips has brightened my day.
Nectar? Er, because. Yay for not checking the prediction.
I made a couple of cute little hand pies for pi day (apple with a smidge of quince-lime jam for sweetener).
On Saturday I visited my mom UNMASKED. And she went to dinner at some friends who are also vaccinated. Her neighborhood is pretty well vaccinated at this point, so she’s finally able to socialize. One less worry for me.
We planted a few things in the allotment and I cleaned up my herb garden a bit.
All in all, a good week.
Found out yesterday that the in-laws get their shots today which is great news as neither one is in super fantastic health. Apparently virtually all of the province’s stash of AstraZeneca vaccines they were releasing early have been spoken for so Paul and I have to wait our turn. My mom can book her shot on Wednesday.
Since I am only 55, can work from home, and have no risk factors I am not even looking into when a vaccine might be achievable for me. I may not look into it at all until/unless my employer decides to bring us back to the office (please, no, I dread going back to a commute). The husband is 61 and should probably get the vaccine. ‘Should’ being the operative word.
Happy is, I spent three hours in the yard Saturday and destroyed many weeds. This morning we got 5+ hours of rain and now are being buffeted by winds gusting up to 50 mph. Also I read three Georgette Heyer Regencies over the weekend, and watching ‘Shanghai Noon.’ There was no pie chez nous, but we did have deep-fried asparagus with last night’s steaks and Syrah.
Happiness here is that I bought my first apartment on Friday! The contract should be with the lawyers soon and then finally I will know when I can move out of here, thank all the gods. It’s been occupying most of my mind for the last few months.
Work has stabilised a bit but government subsidies have stopped for my industry so if I get stood down from now on I will be on my own. Scary with a new mortgage until you realise the property market where I live is so messed up it will actually be cheaper than renting. And as a border worker I had my first vaccine two weeks ago, and will get the second shot on the 24th, so that takes a lot of the stress out of working.
Really, nothing but good times ahead down here.
We celebrated pi day in the backyard with neighbors—probably our 20th year or so. I should try to figure it out. Pizza pi, raspberry peach pie, cauliflower pi, a lasagne pi, lemon meringue, and mud pie. It really made me feel like we are coming out of this even though it was socially distanced ans we could have done this safely at any point. Maybe it’s just knowing that with warmth coming we can do this more. Still no vaccines for our group—rumors our county is getting too few as political pay back since we are the most progressive county in the state and the governor is Republican. Hopefully this will get resolved and we get vaccinated soon.