Gracious, Remember When

A recent comment started me to thinking about  what Blogspot was like  circa 2010.

How we got so far away from 2010 is mind boggling. Remember the days of comment glitches, and every time Blogger changed something or added a new feature, things got wonky? Do you remember when the new magazine style templates were added to Themes?

I thought then that they would be very popular. Without statistics, a guess wouldn’t be useful. 

Fun question : What are things you remember about Blogspot from 15 years ago?

Than you for visiting

May

Dollar General purchase
Planting 2 every 4 days
to spread out the blooming times

A Saturday summery view

Visitor numbers here have been low. (yesterday’s post deleted). The last few days, the amount of visitors has decreased to a few dozen. When compared to the age of this blog, that’s sad. 

The amount of comments, however, has always remained steady with highs and lows, but never a very high count. 

In summary, this is not a successful blog. It isn’t a bad blog though. There is a difference. I don’t network as much since depression is heavier. I expected a decrease in readers, but not the low recorded now. 

About popularity 

Popularity in this style of blogging, IMHO, will always have genuine folks in the audience. Those out looking to build a brand or followers, in general, will not stick around. That makes sense. 

What seems to attract visitors in blogging:

Major city base like NYC 

Big house, land, pets, posting often, as in puts the work into blogging good content

Signs of wealth and/or fame

Travel news

Follows high end bloggers

Educational content, tutorials, giveaways

What do you think?

🌸🌷🌺☘️🌹🌼

Thank you for visiting,

May

Day 100 of Week 15 April 2026

Any day now

In 3 weeks, one third of 2026 will be in our past. The weeks at this point on day 100, don’t feel like they are flying by. At the end of March, the speed of time felt fast. Why not now? Are there months that are inherently slower? 

Sure. That makes sense to me. Early Spring has always felt easy, calmer, less intense to me than Winter. Anticipation of blizzards and freezing temperatures greatly decrease as the April days go by. 

Question: Is Earth’s rotation speed constant all year?

Internet search results: No

Climate change has slowed the rotation speed of Earth…at a slower rate than in 3.6 million years, according to LiveScience.com. 

Have a Lively Weekend

Dance

Play a board game

Talk with friends

Read about Earth wind patterns

Bake a custard pie

Tell a raincoat a funny story

Browse sleeping bags online

After a Novel

After you finish reading a book, do you ever have the sense of feeling eager to know what is next? 

After reading a novel, I feel like I just came out of a dark movie theater into daylight. Open to new ideas. From the narrative, images created in my imagination play as my brain voice with closed captions without the sound on. 

This summer’s reading list for me, will a variety of genres, a biography, and one re-read title, as opposed to all mysteries. 

Any recommendations for a biography is appreciated. Thank you

Summer Reading List in progress

Re-read: 1984, G. Orwell

Biography: Emerson: Days of Encounter, J. J. McAleer, Little, Brown & Company, 1984

Mystery Thrillers:

First Lie Wins, A. Elston
Heartwood, A. Gaige

The Old Bookmark

~~~~~~~~~~🌼~~~~~~~~~

I had to start over editing.

All the work put into editing this post disappeared. The page is not in browser history. Blogspot typing page is full of glitches. Add italics or underline is a major hassle. The cursor returns to the top of the page instead of where in the text you are typing. Huge glitch. 

Add Normal for the paragraphs is also a major hassle. Add photos places them on the top of the page instead of where you place the cursor. You have to cut and paste photos when typing and then adding pictures. 

The Benefit of Fake Flowers

Flowers are the best interior fake it tool for signaling one’s spirits to be in a good mood. I have all sorts of fabric flowers and greenery around all year. As soon as winter is over on the calendar, up goes the big forsythia and pussywillow stems. They are wedged into my vintage storm window and old cabinet door divider.

One of the most beautiful signs of Spring is a wild mass of real forsythia shrubs in full flower. On Route 7 in New Haven, Vermont and as you go south into Middlebury Vermont, there are rows of stunning forsythia. 

There was another location, but I think it was chopped down years ago. I see that happen on home renovation shows, forsythia and sometimes old lilac trees are removed as if they are useless. Sad it is. 

This is a good time of year in northern climates to plant forsythia in the ground. If you have the room, especially a corner where it can grow wild (no shape pruning), then check out your local garden nurseries for forsythia. 

Faux flowers

Happy April 2026 🤣

 

7 April 2026
No Words

As it happens, I fell back to sleep this morning only to wake up to snow all over the place. The birds are busy plowing through the white stuff to get at the last if this season’s birdseed. Bear have been sighted locally, next door actually. Therefore, I have slowed putting seed out. The last bag was emptied a few days ago.

Chili sounds good today. I’d like to have nachos for dinner.*  Problem is that I don’t want to go outdoors to buy the cheese. I am not interested in snow as I’m content to be done with it. 

So, I’m sitting here working on a new budget, figuring things out, creating a better menu and shopping routine. Paperwork stuff. 

In my working years I did a lot of paperwork as a retail assistant manager, customer service senior correspondent, customer representative, receptionist and such. Lots of paper, people and office dynamics. 

In it all, none were a career of choice. Single parenthood has it’s requirements. Being a frerlance artist, for me, was not an option. 

Lately though, as I watch social media videos, I think more on what life as an elderly lady do I want. This is my Hm? era, time to ponder the possibilities left in my end zone years. 

Career? As an artist and writer?

Why not.

What is your why not? Do you have one?

If not, then why not?

😎🤣

* Switching to mashed potatoes, ham and a green salad

The Story About Birds in the Trees

You hear a bird.

You look in the song’s direction.

The bird is spotted.

Camera ready, you position to take a picture of the bird.

There is no bird in the frame because it flew away, moved to another branch or behind a branch.

A downy woodpecker was spotted in a tree. I end up photographing a starling behind a branch. No woodpecker in sight. Sigh. 

Starling 

Dependable Things & a Discovery

Today’s weather forecast has possible snow flurries predicted. I have seen snowflakes falling on this day. In the distant clouds, many have signs of falling snow. Seeing Nature being busy creates in me a sense of well being. Well being that there are elements on Earth that are dependable. 

Pot hole season is such an element of Spring.*

Parking next to a puddle or patch of ice outside my driver’s side door is another.

Sticking to my to rule not to buy sandals in the Spring because I do not need them is a dependable fail for me. (New to me sandals arrived today. ❤️ them)

Finding at the grocery store another packaged food item had shrunk is an increasingly dependable discovery. Three minis make up for one normal size ice cream sandwich.

New to me mini size
ice cream sandwiches

* I prefer to capitalize Spring because I don't consider the seasons as common nouns.

Timberland Earthkeepers

Reflection Monday April 2026

Every nice Spring day this year feels like a gift.

Enjoy the gifts of Nature

 

What do you do when you feel like blogging but don’t have a subject?

Easy answer for if you publish:  

You either select a subject, post a nice photo,  post a stirring quote, or ramble on about stuff. 

Things that bug me:

Viewers going back reading multiple old blog posts because it looks like (nefarious) snooping. It could be. It could also be that a reader finds my blog interesting. ☺️

Social media videos that build suspense and then don’t deliver. What is it!? Who was there!? What happened!? Tease headlines like that. Some will post to see the next video or part two. I see Block as a big part for no thanks. 

When I forget something and/or do something stupid. While it makes sense that as we age, we change, it makes no sense being distracted takes on a less than stylish flare. In depression, feeling things is difficult. Add aging and already I’m creating a guidelines to explore dementia or Alzheimers. I’m distracted by other thoughts. There are things that don’t enthuse me. No big deal. I’m old. Have a cannoli. 

And a lovely photo or two or more

Day 93 of Week 14 April 2026

 

As the days of disbelief continue to happen, adjusting to the reality that none of us are safe is difficult. Prices are so high, there is a fear not easy to explain shadowing our lives with increasing frustrating. 

Prayer. 

Being with love ones. 

Being good to yourself. 

Stay informed.

May the Lord bless all y’all

Humor Too Close To Reality

An Instagram video is suppose to be posted here but, I had to delete it because Google something or other changed the link from the reposted video to my Instagram account. 😱

I confirmed the link directs to the copied and pasted video. Next I check the link, the video is replaced. It might have to do with how apps work. Whatever it is, that snafu is on my top ten utterly dumb Google glitches. 

Anyway, the video is from the laughingsnchor on Instagram. Hilarious! 🤣 About: a wife asks husband to take her to an expensive place for her birthday. He takes her to a gas station.

April Fool’s Day

 What a fun day!

Think back when you were a young adult laughing at a clever April Fool’s Day prank. Those opportunities for a good laugh are as good as candy.

Humor nowadays is much needed. In the news the causes to feel outrage and heartache keeps piling up. 

Find places to be your sources for laughter. Visit them daily. Laugh daily.

🤣🥳😂

Happy April Fool’s Day!  

If Mother Nature Says So

First Crocus Spring 2026

A planter was removed last week to reveal bulbs had pushed through the soil. Today the first crocus have bloomed.

Note: Only Crocus sativus produces saffron. It blooms in the fall. Spring blooming crocus don’t produce saffron.

This morning my last cataract removal  procedure went well. Doctor Gregory and her team at the Porter Surgical unit and the staff there are the best! I am amazed how smoothly my visit was. Everyone is friendly and professional. 

Feeling safe and cared for at a hospital, I feel, is an important element of healing. 

This morning, I napped until lunch time. Last night I slept about 2 hours. It was one of those shut the light off and the alarm rings seconds later kind of sleep. 

Taking it easy this week with spring in the air will be nice. 

Wishing y’all a pleasant week!

Resemblings

Not a cross

Many things in Nature resemble other things that jog our memory. Tree branches are particularly good for resembling symbols. I often look for branches crossing to form a phi symbol, π. 

A group of trees (photo) forms what looks like a type of cross. A Saint Andrew’s cross it isn’t nor is it a Constantine cross. There are no cross types that I’ve found to match.

It is, however, a graphic symbol for the asterisk , * better known as the star symbol. 

Yet, my mind won’t give up that those branches are not a Christian cross variant. 

Nature wants what Nature wants.

A group of tressπ¥

What happens during a blog pause

It is possible to lose track of time. Blogging can serve as a date anchor that when active, acts as your schedule reminder. 

This week I forgot the Salty Pumpkin Road travel blog had a scheduled post for today that was going to be filled in (unpublished now). I have another date planned.

Problem is a week before a medical procedure, in order to manage anxiety, I go on slow stay at home mode. So, when the travel blog shows up today published, I go all what is this!? Ah, not blogging, I traveled to forgetful city. 😢🥴😳

Other than that, this week has been slow mode for me. I know cataract removal is an easy procedure to get through. My anxiety reservoir  doesn’t care. Ironically, it takes more assurance from me to calm than it does when facing high anxiety events. My mind is not used to my not having more intense anxiety to deal with. 

Anxiety management isn’t a clear do this when that happens to create this result. Learning how takes time with every tense situation. The logistics of anxiety can be very complex. 

I have safety zones to access: sounds, surfaces, thoughts, places, objects. When used, they signal my brain with I am safe waves. It works for me to have that structure, to depend on it. I don’t suffer alone when I have safety zones.

Day 86 of Week 13 March 2026

Next week when April 2026 begins, I think it will be nice to start the first day with a moment of thanks that Winter 2026 is really over. A long cold and snowy Winter is comforting in that it is a winter being winter.  

However, the brain wants the warmth, the sunshine, blue skies. That sounds poetic. April is Poetry Month.  

Have a poetic weekend

Draw a houseplant

Arrange a vase of flowers

Bake herbed veggies

Read about pollen

Browse Steampunk art online

Design your logo 

Make parsley pesto

Spider Plant in Basket

A gentle posting pause

A Wednesday Vibe

 Posting pause 

Back on Friday

Spring on day 2

It is almost, uh, it is 10 AM EDT as I type. Up once earlier, I looked out the window to see yesterday’s snow is not melting yet. No worry  because the ambient temperature might go up to 40° Fahrenheit this afternoon.

Half of Spring is ready while the other half catches up. Like me. Catching up. On days like this I want food that is easy to heat up because I don’t want my attention taken away from whatever task I’m doing. 

Cooking is a whole other task block. Easy food when busy is good planning. Lentil soup with chunky vegetables and a tall glass of ice tea is a good busy day menu. 

Making soup requires prepping the veggies. Without realizing it, I’ve been brainwashed to feel unpeeled carrots are bad. They are not. Peeling carrots is not required, especially when they are cut up and boiled in soup. 

My busy day will start with making lentil soup. 

Being busy requires prep work as well.

Day 79 of Week 12 March 2026

You know those days after a brief illness, when you suddenly realize you feel better? Well, that’s what this Spring feels to me. And now I’m thinking about what I’m going to do with that energy. 

Last fall I started a travel blog (after being on my mind since my early blogging days). March is the month I planned to publish the first excursion post. 

There are eleven days left this month to get that done. I have notes on a few places, all fairly local, as well as ideas to focus on. 

The weather forecast for the next few days is grim calling for some rain and snow.

Have a Sunshine On the Mind Weekend

Read about paper making 

Play a board game with friends

Browse UV umbrellas online

Mix a big green salad

Sing from a song book

Visit a bookstore

Bake a pumpkin bread

Won’t be long now