Toast

Vintage Toast Rack
E.P.N.S.

Do you remember the first time you had toast? Held it? Made it?

Guessing here, my first piece of toast might have been when I was a toddler. There is a photo of me with a lollipop when I was 3 years. It makes sense to me that I could handle a piece of toast on my own, as in held toast. 

A toaster, guessing again, was iffy when I was a kid. I remember the (scary) type with the two sides that you pull down. Watching adults not burning toast in those days, looked to me as skill to learn.  I also recall toast being made in a black frying pan.  In the 1950s, the round 2 slice marshmallow shiny toaster doubled as a mirror to comb my hair before school.

There are sandwiches that are the best when the bread is toasted, tuna fish or egg salad, for example. When I feel poorly, cinnamon toast rules (cinnamon sugar sprinkled on buttered toast). Oh! A hot dog on a toasted bun raises it to the fancy food level. Up late at night, toast and tea are my comfort snack. If running late for an appointment, grabbing a piece of toast is the meal on the run.

How does toast fit into your life?

🍞

P.S.

Wordle on 2 today!

#5 in my life time

Thrilled I be!

What are the retirement good old olden days like?

Chicken Soup (canned)

For the first meal of the day, it is all right with me, to have chicken soup. The day before, things got in the way of a nice hot bowl of broth, carrots, noodles and chicken bits. A can of anything can become lonely sitting on the counter too long. One must pay attention to the foods they keep.

The same can be said of blog posts. When you begin a subject, it is best, I believe, to stay on track by finishing the thought. A subject also needs attention.

So what is that unfinished post (below) all about?  As I recall, the issue is about managing one's daily flow, the benefits of routine blended in with the doing what you feel like. 

In retirement, it can feel frightening to wake up to an epiphany you having nothing to do that will make any difference in this world. There is nobody to tell you what to do. There is nobody going to judge your accomplishments or lack of. 

The unfinished blog post:

Why am I blogging when all I want to do is have a McD sausage biscuit and a real coffee? 

There's no telling why things aren't the way you want them. You can, though, make decisions. There are goals out there waiting for you to embrace them. Right now, I have so much stuff to do, all I want to do is leave. (I'm laughing.) Going out and about isn't always to be out there to get things done. It can be about not being indoors so you don't have to face the messes you need to square away. Escaping for a moment can ease the transition from not doing to doing.

As it happens, being out of packing tape means a trip to the store. If I'm already out and about, then a short stop for a coffee is all right.

I did go out to buy tape. I did have a sausage biscuit and coffee from McD. I got a lot done that day. That is what matters most to me, to keep on going.

Tee Shirt Make-over

Cardboard inside the tee shirt

Dimensional fabric paint rough outline of scene

Acrylic paint added

Let dry over night

I turn tee shirt inside out in the dryer or hang to air dry.

I will eventually dye the entire tee shirt a light blue.

Reflection Monday February 2024

When Looking Above

or

Below 

 Remember there are two sides.

Please, be on America's side

Vote on 5 November 2024

On the Branches of Time

Oh my! 

A relative sent me a photograph of a watercolor I did January 1995. 

I use to stare at the way the very thick main trunk leans over with its branches waving at the sky. 

It was the first painting I did that year. There is another watercolor of the same tree that I probably did as a sketch before painting the one above. With no camera or cell phone in those days, I don't have a photograph of the tree. I painted it from sketches and looking out the window.

I feel inspired to start another sketchbook for plein air sketching. 

Open Water

Dead Creek East Branch
Cold & Windy

There is still open water on the lake 

and at Dead Creek in Addison, Vermont.

Lunch outdoors was not a good idea.

It was too cold and windy.

Connections Commentary

Making sense?

If being outdoors refreshes your spirit, helps you feel less depressed, gives you a clearer outlook on life, brightens your day, makes you feel at peace, then consider adding indoors viewing of outdoor material via books and videos to your love of the outdoors.

The last blog post here provides a few links to YouTube videos that I have watched in full. No browse and post what's looks good for the subject there going on there.

There is a caution, however, on what videos to select for viewing.

What I have noticed is that YouTube either doesn't have or there are so few outdoor camping videos done by women they aren't suggested. Thus, I did a couple of YouTube searches for women camping solo. 

Both results are not impressive. Up front, pardon the pun, it appears that highlighting a woman's breasts is a video must have. After that, butts, tight clothing and suggestive poses. Oh, and none of the women in those results are homely. They look like super models.

I did a similar YouTube search: men camping solo.

The results are an impressive spot on the subject. Up front are men, young and old, fully dressed, whiskers, beards, hats, tents, tarps, dogs, snow, chopping wood, making camp. I've seen not one removing his pants, in a bathing suit or in tight pants. 

However, the ads on YouTube that go with such male focused videos, a high percentage have a sexy female vibe. I don't see a comparable ad line up on the women camping solo searches.

In Conclusion, my opinions as a not a prude person: 

Sex sells is a no brainer.

The women posting videos highlighting their bodies isn't as much about camping as it is to generate ad income and/or fame. I will not watch their videos.

Men don't have to act like wannabe porn stars to attract attention. I watch their videos.

It is disappointing that online soft porn has polluted the Internet, especially in advertising. 

I think YouTube would be better if they stop posting soft porn ads, and select better ads for the outdoorsy wilderness camping videos.

An Adventurous Soup Thermos

Say hello to the new to me soup thermos Iris by Barcelona.  After I return home from thrift store shopping, a nice neighbor brings over a container of her stew.

Saturday's lunch (today) will be in the great outdoors. Forecast to be mostly cloudy, I feel mentally prepared after (recent) watching a few below zero degrees winter bushwhacking YouTube videos.

Lost In the Wilderness...Clay Hayes

30:13 minutes

Caught in a Storm...Wargeh Bushcraft

37:55 minutes

-33ºC Winter Camping in a Christmas Tree House...UPNORTHOF60

48:56 minutes

Discover the Secrets of the All Night Fire...Clay Hayes
15:53 minutes

Day 33 of Week 5 February 2024

Fake Cat & Real Carnations

 Well now, it is another dreary winter day here at this lower Vermont elevation of 282 feet. There is plenty to do to keep busy, cleaning, laundry, cooking, looking out the window, napping, crafts, art. Running in my brain background is grasping the fact it is February already. New Year's Day feels like just a few weeks ago. It was a few weeks ago.

Latching onto something that takes time can create a feeling the hours move slower.  When I am deep into a painting, for example, even meal times can go by unnoticed.

Have a big stretched out fabulous Weekend!

Have a big bowl of cereal for lunch

Draw a cat 

Read about local authors

Consider joining a library book club

Learn how to read music

Write a poem about your weather

Research growing watercress

Watch a video of how rope is made

Design a pair of sandals

Bake a squash with maple syrup

Have you noticed?

On the Blogspot page for Posts when you are logged into your blog, there is a Share symbol on the right next to the posts on the list. If you click on theShare symbol, a black background pop up box appears with a list of places to Share that post with and more. I don't know why or how those places are chosen.

 I know very little about what Feed is. I know that a Share button allows you to send the post to various places easily. 

 I click on share on YouTube. A list appears with optional places to Share with. Here, for example, on Blogger, the video link appears with the option for me to Publish. What happens to a Share to someplace else, I have no idea what goes on there. I only know about the places I am logged into.

In summary, I need to learn more about things I don't know what they do or are for.

😕

Watercolors & Downsizing Fabric

There is, somewhere in my memory's forgot it space, a blog post in the brain storming stage that these two photos are meant to illustrate. Instead, I'll tell the story of that painting.

The small watercolor sketch is of a place that doesn't have good memories. I was very ill at the time. Looking out the window for hours was a height of activity for me then. Slowly, as body chemicals adjust, I took up a brush. Months later, things did get better. 

Tearing up old artwork isn't done very often. This time, though, I threw away the pieces. It felt good. When I pass the area, I still feel an uncomfortable shadow over that episode in my life. 

Will I find another sad piece in my stuff? 

Not so far. 

This morning I went through two fabric bins with the intent on making them one. Downsizing to one bin is not possible at this time. I tried. 

The best part is the unfinished projects I found are far fewer than I expected. One is a sweater I took apart to makeover as a bright colorful yarn embellished tabbard. 

Next is going through costume jewelry. That will be fun.