Posted on January 30, 2025
My interest in blogging isn’t lagging, but the time I have to devote to it right now is. In the ten days since the inauguration, it’s become more difficult to focus on interesting things that are not political. Perhaps this will pass as Donnie and Mikey settle down.
Additionally, I am working on a longer writing project that has been on the back burner partly because of blogging. The way to focus on this project is to make room for it. So blogging is going to take the back seat for now.
Then there’s two important trips that are coming up and must be organized, as well gotten in shape for. And the Spring prep for gardening.
Etc.
I’m not giving up blogging; just taking a break for a while. And because I’ve done this since 2004, you – my small group of readers – can be sure that I’ll show up on this site again and surprise you sometime.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene
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Posted on January 28, 2025
This morning my friend S and I went to the local supermarket to walk again (and it is really a SUPER market in terms of offerings: groceries, fishing and hunting licenses, clothing, gardening supplies, you name it). There was a thaw going on outside, but it was still blustery; so we opted for the produce department and the frozen food section instead of nature.
We had a ball. In fact, we walked 1.7 miles before we realized it as we discussed if plastic bins are substitutes for rose cones, which are difficult to find these days; what our favorite section along the store’s perimeter is (She likes the fish; I like the televisions.), and whether to buy the cinnamon rolls that we walked by six times.
We didn’t buy the rolls. Instead we rewarded ourselves by going to Dunkin’ Donuts and getting their rolls. Dunkin’, as it is now officially called, has branched into other kinds of foods: avocado toast, egg bowls, sandwiches, and tater tots loaded with cheese and bacon. We’ve sampled some of the new items, but we always return to the tried and true sugary donuts.
Which probably negated all the walking we did beforehand.
See more 10 Minutes in category Small Town Life
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Posted on January 25, 2025
The weather this month has been relentless: snow most days, temperatures below freezing, snowplows doing their best while we wait our turns.
It’s hard to get to a health club; and, if you’re like me, it’s even harder to exercise at home alone. I am not that disciplined. Still, since I’ve got a couple trips in the coming months I need to be ready. So . . .what to do?
There is a very large supermarket about half a mile from my home. A couple weeks ago a friend and I decided to walk inside there because the weather outside was so precarious. We left our wallets in the car since this wasn’t about shopping, clocked the perimeter of the store, and did four laps to equal a mile.
The floor was dry, unlike the parking lot. There was no wind, also unlike the parking lot. And it was warm, except for when we walked past either the frozen food section on the south end or the entrance on the north end.
We found our mile to be most enjoyable as we walked past departments and items where we never shop. Like pet supplies; neither of us has a pet. Like baby supplies; our “babies” are now middle-aged. Or like the bakery that offered clever cakes; we actually stopped there and admired them before S said: “Hey, this is supposed to be about walking.” (I was the one who stopped.)
It might not be as glamourous as a health club to stroll the cheese displays or the milk options or the jumbo TVs that are all on the store’s perimeter, but we’re going to continue walking there. And when we tire of the same route, we plan to zig zag up and down the aisles for variety.
Who knows what we’ll find before the Spring thaw.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene
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Posted on January 24, 2025
It’s been three days since I quit Facebook, and you can’t believe how much I’ve gotten done without that distraction.
I’ve written blogs ahead of their time schedules. I’m prepped for my book club this Sunday, where I’m the leader on O. Henry’s work in the early twentieth century. (Usually I’m fidgeting to finish the book before the 7 PM meeting.) I’ve cleaned a cluttered drawer and repaired a nick in a doorframe. I’ve napped and played piano and ate KFC chicken for dinner, compliments of Earl who brought a bucket home on Discount Day.
It makes me wonder about Facebook. What is its purpose?
To share information or lull us into scrolling instead of doing other productive things? To learn or become zombies. (No offense to zombies.) To keep in touch with friends and family who live far away or to keep in touch with a myriad of companies pushing their wares in front of our eyes.
Facebook was launched by then-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, which means it is over twenty years old. I didn’t join until after the first decade and only then because a couple friends thought it was a great way to share photos of grandchildren who didn’t live nearby. But since then I’ve noticed there are fewer and fewer personal posts – at least among my friends – and more and more sales pitches. Besides, I don’t have any grandchildren; and my own children communicate with me via other more old-fashioned means.
I might still be on Facebook; but when Mr. Zuckerberg said fact checking was a form of censorship, I decided to call it quits. And, yes, I fact checked this statement about Mr. Z before I posted it.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene, Things to Ponder
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Posted on January 23, 2025
I have officially left Facebook for good. So if you want to keep in touch you have my email, my cellphone, and my Zoom link with which to do it. If you don’t want to keep in touch, that’s okay too.
I am still absorbing the new world in our country and am searching for a name to describe those who have taken over: 45/47, the Speaker of the House, the oligarchs, and the Republicans. In yesterday’s post, I noted that I needed to find an easier way to refer to them all; and that’s still a challenge.
While I ponder it, let me share what the daughter of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King said about the situation. I found it on Facebook before I deleted my account. I have tried to corroborate it online, but to no avail. So even if Bernice King didn’t make the following suggestions, they are worthy of consideration if you’re unhappy with the current situation.
- Don’t use his name; EVER (45 will do)
- Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone;
- Do not argue with those who support him-it doesn’t work;
- Focus on his POLICIES, not his orange-ness and his mental state;
- Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow;
- No more helpless/hopeless talk;
- Support artists and the arts;
- Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it;
- Take care of yourselves; And
- Resist! When you post or talk about him, don’t assign his actions to him, assign them to “The Republican Administration,” or “The Republicans.” This will have several effects: the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don’t like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves.
I’m not sure I can follow all of this, but for those of us who feel bereft it is solid advice.
See more 10 Minutes in category Annoyances
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Posted on January 22, 2025
I’ve read the term “shock and awe” in more than one media outlet regarding the inauguration of Donnie, Mikey, the oligarchs, and the Republicans. (I need to come up with a clever abbreviation for this group.) According to Wikipedia, “shock and awe” is a “military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force.” Its goal is to demoralize any opposition by making it appear futile.
I’m not ready to discuss the current political situation yet, and perhaps I shall never be. But I would like to use shock and awe in another context to lighten some of our hearts in these scary times.
I use Kleenex® tissues, the cube variety, and my current box shows a winter scene with snowpeople. When you consider that no two snowflakes, much less two snowpeople, are alike isn’t that really a shock and awe situation?
The current Kleenex cube has a sign that reads: “The largest snowperson ever built featured a 130-foot long scarf, truck tires for buttons, and an eight-foot nose designed to look like a carrot.” But there is no documentation of this feat.
So I went to Google® for confirmation. And I learned that in 2008 a group of residents in Bethel, Maine aimed to create the largest snowperson ever built. (Bear in mind I am not sure this is the same snowperson featured on the Kleenex® box, but you can be assured that what I’m telling you about Bethel, Maine is documented.)
The snowperson was named Olympia and she measured 122 feet and one inch tall. She required 13,000 pounds of snow and possibly several pounds of money. As word got out, the community rallied to raise funds and its teamwork got Olympia into the Guinness Book of Records. Now that’s what I call shock and awe in a good sense.
See more 10 Minutes in category Changing Scene
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Posted on January 17, 2025
This is the last weekend before the Donnie and Mikey Show airs in Washington on Noon on Monday. I for one will not be watching. In fact, I am going to enjoy this weekend by not reading about all the hoopla, not learning the names of the dignitaries, and definitely not listening to any inaugural speeches. I don’t plan to blog either.
Instead, I am into a good book, will wander by our den as Earl watches pro football, and fix sloppy Joe sliders for supper.
I’ll be back on Wednesday.
See more 10 Minutes in category 2024 Election, Special Events
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Posted on January 16, 2025
Once a week I take a Pilates class on Thursday mornings. It’s supposed to be a group class, but I’m the only one in the group. So I’m getting private lessons at a group rate.
I grew up in an era where there were few team sport options for women. And I went to schools where there were no gym classes, only dodgeball at recess to work the body. I’m not an exercise freak, but I do have a personal trainer I see once a week, an exercise class I go to on another day, and Pilates. Then I walk with a couple friends on other days.
But of all the exercise modalities I use, the Pilates class is the most challenging and the most beneficial. I always come away from it feeling years younger, because it uses every muscle, bone, and core components of my body in the 75 minute session.
An added benefit, however, is that when I’m in this class I am so focused on the workout that it feels as if I’m on another planet . . . or at least another part of the country. I am not tethered to my cellphone, not trying to multitask, and not worrying about what comes next. It’s a great feeling.
Posted on January 15, 2025
I’m in a quandary every time the quarterly bill for our local newspaper arrives.
The Herald Palladium has shrunk in size and content for several years. But the annual subscription has stayed the same despite publishing five days a week instead of seven. Once a morning paper, it is now delivered in the afternoon by the mailman. And, the paper no longer prints at all on any day when mail is not delivered.
We could cancel. But I believe printed newspapers are important even in this day and age of instant communication. They bring a local focus to obituaries, high school sports, and various events sponsored by merchants, churches, and community leaders that one doesn’t get on the national news.
It isn’t just our local paper that’s struggling. It’s a broader issue. I read a report from the Brookings Institution that identified four factors that are contributing to this situation.
- Advertising revenues, which supported newspapers, have moved online.
- Since 1989, the number of journalists who work at U.S. newspapers has dropped 39 percent.
- Americans get their information from many other sources.
- With online and social media providing instant information, readers spend less time with print publications that are perceived to respond in a less timely manner.
It seems like a losing proposition, especially when this report from Brookings was first published – online – in 2014. In the intervening decade, things have only gotten worse in my opinion.
I shake my head in dismay four times a year, but I’m still supporting The Herald Palladium.
See more 10 Minutes in category Annoyances, Small Town Life
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Posted on January 14, 2025
When you have a king sized bed, buying linens is expensive. I learned this when we moved from a queen to a king about ten years ago. In fact, I added to the cost by working with a local decorator who was sure I needed a bedspread in a certain color from India. It was markedly more pricey than ordering from Bed, Bath, and Beyond or The Company Store; but the decorator was equally sure I’d be happier following his recommendation.
So he took measurements, accepted my deposit, went back to his shop, and called me several weeks later that the exotic spread had arrived. I was to come by the store and pick it up. It was unspoken but my checkbook was to come too.
Fast forward to last week when I ordered a replacement bedspread from an online store for one-sixth the cost of the decorator’s choice. (And this also takes inflation into account.)I figured if I didn’t like it, there wasn’t that much money invested.
The thing is: I absolutely love the new spread. Earl does too. The royal blue color works much better than the previous aquamarine one, and the quality is on a par with its more expensive predecessor. But what I like best is that, even though the previous one was ordered with professional measurements, this one actually fits the bed better. It hangs way longer on both sides. And I didn’t take a single measurement when ordering it.
This might seem like a small thing, but it is a game changer. Since we use the spread as one of our covers, when one of us rolled over the other was often without a layer or two. Not any longer. We have lots of room to roll over and still stay warm and comfy, particularly in winter.
They probably don’t have snow in India like we do in Michigan, so perhaps a smaller spread works there. I think I’ll let the decorator know.
See more 10 Minutes in category Me/Family
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