Day 107 of Week 16 April 2026

As the end of the month approaches, I begin to ponder Reflection Monday’s subject. Focusing on Nature is easy. Staying away from the turmoil in America and beyond isn’t. 

Personal care and growth is a difficult subject. For May 2026, that is the area I’m researching for a longer post with substance. 

The thing that brings that to mind is the time I spend on Instagram. On that platform, when you view the lives of others, a wider angle on what society is experiencing can develop. You can view yourself differently. The fascination in that can be immense or a big blah. 

Have a Big wonderful Weekend!

Create an exercise routine
Cook a new to you recipe
Explore local walking trails with 
friends and family
Bake pear turnovers
Browse summer pjs online
Read the history of jeans
Watch a comedy film 

Spring Vibes & a Discovery

Outdoors looks, sounds and feels very much Spring. The days of damp chilly air, rain and wind also have a strong Spring vibe. 

The lawn is green.

Used as birdseed stations in Winter, when the soil is frozen, planter are beginnng to sprout what might be sunflowers. Sunflowers sprout sooner as well as better than any of the other seeds.

Another bunch of pansies are ready to go outside. The soil in the flower pot will be mixed with new soil first. 

As for me, this week has been dragging. However, I’ve got a lot done moving furniture to the summer better air flow arrangement. In doing that, a dilema surfaced after the desk was moved. 

In that now open corner goes my wingback chair to create my Summer reading nook. The issue is that clear space is in front of my art easel. It is fabulous! I walk through there feeling very artistic. I’m considering keeping it open and adding a tall palette table. 

I found something I’ve been missing without realizing it was missing. My thought was as long as I can see and access my art supplies and easel, then that is enough. No, it is not enough. I wasn’t feeling the art space. What a revelation! 😳 How I missed such an important element doesn’t matter. The discovery of feeling a art space, a creative space is surreal. 

Now, what am I going to do first a reading nook!? 🤣 

After I redo the upholstery, I’ll figure that out.

Where is it and why not?

In the morning or whenever I want to check news headlines, I search the keyword News. The top websites I might read are Google and Yahoo news because I believe, they have the best conglomerate of news articles.

I also check the National Weather Service for my area and the USGS Earthquake report map.

To my surprise, there is a significant cluster of Earthquakes going on in Nevada, 13 (by my count) yesterday 2.0 to 5.4, southeast of Silver Springs, Nevada. There looks to be twice that amount on the map today. 

Why isn’t that a major headline? 

Nothing today on Google news, Yahoo news and Yahoo news Science.

About Determinations

This Summer 2026, I am determined and looking forward to doing several outdoor excursions. Hiking, despite a bad knee, is one of them. 

I have bug spray, sunscreen, backpack, water bottle, clothes, first aid kit, walking pole, and rain poncho. What I need is a compass, bear spray, whistle, and jackknife. 

Mind you, where I will be hiking has footpaths, maybe even sidewalks. I may not be wilderness hiking, but I will be wilderness ready. Besides, weight when walking is good exercise. 😎

Footwear. I buy new to me on Poshmark by setting a maximum price for a watch and wait that can take months before I buy. I began sandal hunting in late February early March. To my surprise, and delight, I found a pair of Keen hiking sandals, perfect fit, super comfortable and within the set budget.

A compass is the next purchase. I will by a new one. 

So, it is beginning to feel like summer to me.  What is next requires reading and researching locations. If I really really want to immerse myself in an outdoor experience, then I can pitch a tent in the backyard. 🤣 

Keen hiking sandals

This is one of those subjects that feels that I’ve posted this before.

Is thinking on your feet a really good idea?

Or is a better idea when on your feet to stay focused on what you are doing?

I say stay focused because I’m tired of turning around and bumping into something. It feels as if I move on scroll instead of step by step.

This time if year I move furniture into the summer arrangement. This mid month week of April 2026 has rain forecast for two days. Moving things is perfect indoor exercise. The timing is perfect. I’ll be in better shape by Summer to get outdoors more. 

I notice that when I watch travel videos, I want to travel more. Watch home improvement shows, I want power tools. Camping videos, I want to make a coffee outdoors and sit in a tent when it is raining. What we feed our brain digests what we enjoy to encourage us to engage in that activity. 

This week I’ll watch exercise videos. See how that goes.

Have an adventurous & wonderful week!

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