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Red Clover |
Summer is closer, and so is 2024.
Reflection Monday December 2023
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| Felt Snowwoman Ornament |
There was a time when handmade had a charm that spoke of hearth, home, family, community, love. I'm not sure that holds as much anymore when so many consumers buy foreign factory made goods that are handmade, (as beautiful as they may be).
There is a lot of detail in the felt ornamant*. I can't tell if it is handmade or a made in an assembly line. The stitching says handmade. Yet, I have seen the photographs of factory line women sitting on the ground making things by hand for foreign markets.
Did the person who made the ornament do it with love as a gift or dream of the people that have the money to give it as a gift?
🌲
* On closer inspection, wearing my trusty reading glasses, I see marks on the felt indicating where to stitch. I believe the ornament is made from a craft kit. Still, somebody put together that kit.
Photograph of the Week
That is what happens when I decide to not
pull out a lot of holiday decorations.
I buy more ornaments at the thrift store*.
Thinking this is a neat plot plan to try
a different theme this year,
homemade holiday ornaments.
I don't have to go through the decorations boxes.
I only put on my faux tree what I make
or buy at the thrift stores.
Chairs and snowpersons are a cute combination.
* I returned today hoping the scarf I didn't buy is still there. Somebody bought it. sigh.
I bought 3 ornaments, a sled, a flying Santa, and a hunting cap. Make that 4, a felt snowman.
Thoughts About the Breaking Point
Breaking Point, Merriam Webster
noun ~ The point at which a person gives way under stress.
noun ~ The point at which a person gives way under stress.
Everyone has a breaking point.
There are, I believe, 3 types of breaking points. The high and low strength, and, then there's the selective breaking point that can't be relied on from one event to another.
Why is that?
In some cases, a person can be trained to endure. In other cases, life unchosen, trains us to be strong, weak or meh.
At present, there is a lot going on in the World that makes me wonder where the breaking point will be for all the craziness going on. There are real human men with the power to, that have threatened to use nuclear weapons. (Note, to date only one woman might be eventually be in that group.)
I've touched on this subject in past posts. Old folks can be like this, repetative, even in the same conversation. Every time I clean out email addresses, change passwords, take a look at my online presence, I compare where I am to where the World is; and here I go with another post about it.
Not to brag, but I feel the World is more depressed than I am at the moment. I'm guessing, in 2024, people might turn around and realize that common sense is a safer way to live. Less strain, longer life, no breaking point to deal with.
Welcome to December 2023
Easy Squash & Turkey Soup
3 quart sauce pan
2-3 cups of chopped squash
1-2 chopped celery sticks
1 cup cooked and cubed turkey
A few shakes of black pepper
Teaspoon of garlic powder
Add water to cover squash and celery
Cook on medium low until soft
Add turkey, black pepper, and garlic powder
Add 1-2 cups broth or water
Simmer about 15 minutes
Note: If you want to freeze some of the soup, then don't add the cooked turkey cubes if the turkey has been frozen once already. You can add other ingredients when the squash soup is thawed.
The turkey was frozen in my soup. Thus, I won't freeze the soup.
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Ready for December?
I'm not. There's a bit of anxiety going on via December arriving in what feels like way too soon. It is unsettling. As a distraction, I've been reviewing my list of nice things to do for myself. I want to add more.
Remember the blog subject I wanted to post that I forgot what it is? Well, it happened again. This time I forgot within minutes. I'm guessing this is either a part of the aging process or I'm such a genius, my brain only has room for so much. What doesn't fit, gets truncated. I remember it was there as well as I remember it isn't, (whatever it is).
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| Ice Forming |
To break the spell of December woes, I've been watching videos on subjects that aren't necessarily me-ish. I do notice a lighter attitude as I spend time pondering lanes of thought I don't stroll down often.
One such lane is the training elite soldiers go through, endure, survive. Years ago I saw a documentary about U.S. Coast Guard training. I shiver to this day just thinking about a person jumping into a cold choppy ocean.
I'm such an unadventurous (out of shape) person, I didn't even watch the entire episode of "SAS Australia,*" Season 5, episode 1. I felt uncomfortable watching people in such difficult situations. They are there for a reason, good reasons.
Would I consider such a program? Yes.
Alas, I'm too old, bone density, stamina, and such being what it is. Age does have a few perks.
* I did watch 96% of Episode 2, Panic. I skip over most of the interview section.
Farewell November 2023
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| A Vermont Southern Horizon at Sunset 28 November 2023, 4:06 PM EDT |
One more day to go before it is December 2023.
It is Unreal how fast this year has gone by.
Let's try to slow down December by being outdoors more.
P.S.
I found the dinnerware set with the same colors.
P.P.S.
In 1964, Teaneck, New Jersey, there was a Wetson's hamburger place.
One night there was a Jaguar XKE, stunning gray with saddle tan leather interior. The most beautiful vehicle I ever saw. I was mesmerized.
That sky reminds me of that Jaguar.
Thoughts About a Milkweed Seed
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| A Milkweed Seed |
On a very windy afternoon, one lone milkweed seed caught my attention. The wind is blowing towards the east. I thought to let it go because it is on its way to Vermont. Windy or not, I catch the seed and put it in my pocket. I hope to sow it in the spring to encourage milkweed to grow in my tiny garden. Alas, heartache follows because when I searched, the seed is gone.
It was a windy afternoon.
Here's the thing though.
As soon as I held it, I began to wonder, given picking up wild bird feathers is prohibited in many American states, if picking up a seed pod is not allow, falls under a regulation of some kind.* If something is blowing around in the wind, are you allowed to catch and keep it?
Silly question? Maybe not because nowadays, there are so many things that are regulated, take what we can say for example, there's no telling what is against the law to do or even say.
A solution. Save up the money to buy a plot of land. That way I can capture all the milkweed seeds that fly by.
I'll be a milkweed seed harvesting fool, arms in the air, twirling around, singing, and laughing.
* Reading a few pages, I have yet to find information about collecting seeds or picking flowers in Upstate New York.
Hello to the Last November Monday of 2023
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| Ice forming on Dead Creek Addison, Vermont, 25 November 2023 |
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| No Ice on Windy Lake Champlain At the Fort Frederic shoreline Upstate New York 25 November 2023 |
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| Earth's Moon Over Vermont Waxing Gibbous 94.29% 25 November 2023 Northern Hemisphere Beaver Full Moon on 27th |
Have a Lovely Week!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scheduling a post means there's no news on what's going on when you wake up, unless, of course, you can tell the future.
That said.
This morning my most unfavorite weather is sleet. Sleety slush (nice ID name) is covering everything. Thankfully, I have no errands to run today.
I've been researching pan watercolors because they are so easy to use. Thus far, I'm staying with Winsor & Newton. Pans, maybe not. I have dry watercolor in tubes that are about the same thing. Adding up my palette of watercolor 5 ml tubes, there isn't much difference in the cost of pans versus tubes. I don't know how to figure out the volume of pigment difference.
There was a time when I was mainly a watercolorist. I changed over years ago to acrylic because it suited the depression better.
Now that I'm lifting out of an episode of the horrid blues, I'm rethinking things in various areas of my life.
Thankfully again, not blogging hasn't resurfaced. Art has because painting has been a real struggle. Wardrobe is another area as I want to down size my volume of laundry. I didn't buy a beautiful sweater at a fantastic price on sale because it is chenille aka bulky lint city. There's no longer an entire wash of chenille pajamas and sweathers for me to do since I stopped buying, and tossed most of them. I also tossed old tee shirts into the rag bag. Cooking is on the list as well. When I was a stay at home married person, I daily fed my family. Sure, there were new recipes that created laughable surprises, but I cooked more good meals than bad. Frankly, that burnt pumpkin pie was rather attrative with a rustic vibe.
Today I'm filling a big soup mug with the different teas for a teast tasting. Most are repeats I forget the flavor of. The trick is to taste any of them because the 2022 covid booster took away about 90% of my sense of taste. The covid booster this year hasn't brought it back as I had hoped. However, I was able to taste tea the other day.
I could rattle on as I hear what sounds like a plow truck. I think it is probably a sander. It is thickly slushy outside. I woke just after 4 AM EDT. Maybe a nap* is in order.
*Nap was nice, but not long enough. ☺
The Nice Things To Do For Yourself List
Me first...
- Make a holiday ornament
- Set up a weekly tea tasting
- Cook a new recipe once a week
- Read a biography of a person who was born before 1950
- Weekly foot soak using scented soap, herbs and such
- Daily watercolor sketch
- Blackberry brandy & hot chocolate toddie on dark windy afternoons or at 3 AM when I wake up because I napped too long the day before
- Mail homemade greeting cards
- Sing a Christmas carol
Your turn.
Faux Tomato Cage Lighted Trees
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| 2023 |
- Upside down Tomato cage
- Bend over bottom wires into a top
- Tie with twine
- Wrap faux greenery around the tomato cage
- Wrap 100 count fairy lights around faux greener
- Holes in the sides of a planter
- Put twine through the holes and tie up the tree
- Wrap planter with garden burlap
- Secure with twice to match
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| 2022 |
Day 328 of Week 47 of November 2023
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| Maple Leaves & Rain December 2018 |
Should we think of ourselves in terms of cyber years? Think dog years where in comparison one dog year is 7 human years. The last 5 years for me have gone by as if in one year. In cyber years, if I add up the about 20 years years I've been online, I'm in barely in my fifties.
It's no wonder that the new 70 is the 60s. In other words, could it be that the longer we are on the Internet, the slower we are aging?
The new fad for shorts (videos on YouTube, Tik Tok) feels like the new neighborhood of sitting on porch in the afternoon to catch up on everyone's news, and talk about what is going on around town and the World, a dash of community via cyber space.
Have a refreshing weekend!
Do a tea tasting with new flavors
Learn to crochet
Draw your own vehicle design
Have an egg salad sandwich & chocolate milk
Talk a walk with friends
Read about Chronoception
Build a cardboard bird house ornament
Pray for Peace
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