Vegetarian perhaps soon

As I cooked and chopped the heads off, and ripped the legs and shells off, and pulled tails off and gouged out the veins along the backs of my fresh shrimps, I thought how fortuitous it was that I was about to eat these lovely little animals that gave their lives so that I might live.  So I'm grateful for the circle of life.

But I thought, would I be willing to do this cleaning, scraping and cooking if it was a cockroach? Or some other crustacean?  I don't usually butcher my meat.  Would I be willing to take the life of a mammal in order that I might live?  Probably not.

So I'm thinking seriously about being a vegetarian.

But they were sure delicious.  My carnivorous taste is alive and well.  It's just my moral sense that rises its strict head at times like this.  I'll think about it.  After all, I eat whatever is served (almost) every day for lunch Mon. through Friday (at the Senior Lunch site for $1.50 a day) which includes meat usually.

Enough is enough extends...

A lot of women I know have been having these conversations lately.

When we listened to the Kavanaugh hearings on Thursday, we shook our heads in dismay.

Another wonderful blogger posted this and I think it's important to consider what she's saying.

why-women-dint-report

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford 

Another moment which helped change history, the 2 survivors (Achila and Gallagher) who confronted Sen. Fisk in the elevator.
elevator confrontation

School days of yore

Some old photos of my family and myself, while in schools.

 Great Aunt Margaret Miller taught high school Math in San Antonio Texas. She never married, but was my favorite aunt!

My sister, Marty Elizabeth Rogers Miller, in Principia Upper School, St. Louis MO probably 1962-3

 Myself in college, probably 1963 since I'm wearing John's locket ( who I was madly in love with and then didn't marry!)

My staff badge at University of Hartford, Hartford CT, in 1968. I was a staff assistant in the Hartford Art School.

A just discovered photo of my grandparents, George E and Ada S. Rogers, in St. Ann MO around 1956-58.

My oldest son, Marty in Cub Scout uniform, 1972-3, Tampa, FL

The Sepia Saturday gang will also be offering some historic photos based upon this meme....HERE.

The prompt includes this...

"Once again, it is school photograph time. Let us go outside to the school yard and line up for the photograph: smaller children at the front, arms and legs tied up like trussed turkeys; taller children at the back, sprouting up like supercharged saplings. And don't forget to smile! I know you might have double maths next, I know you find yourself next to the one child you really can't get on with - but at least make it look as though you are enjoying yourself. The best days of your life - that is what your schooldays are. You will be captured for history. You will be able to look back on this photograph when you are older and wiser and a chartered accountant, a painter and decorator, a nurse or - if you are very lucky - a schoolteacher like me. And even further forward in time, people from all over the world may look at this photograph and use it as a theme prompt for their blog posts. What do you think of that?"

"Please Sir, what is a blog?"

Sun has returned

The lavender plant came inside a few weeks ago, and it seems it's rained almost daily since.  Today rain is forecast, but this morning around 9 am, there was that shot of sunlight hitting the windowsill...which of course the camera didn't capture quite with its brilliance.  The green glass of my windows sure does show though on the curtain!

I admit to being a sunshine girl.  I even used that as my signature on my art for a few years...Sunshine, with a little picture of the sun with rays as it set (or rose) over a horizon.  I stopped doing it when I officially changed my name following my divorce, returning to my maiden name, Rogers.

It's a bit more complicated than that, but I won't go into it here.

I see a hummingbird in the branches of the maple, so I best make some more nectar for them.  And feed the tropical fish (guppies).  Thus a householder's tasks are never done.

Chilly weather

Suddenly it's autumn.
Yesterday may not have been sunny all the time as we drove from one place to another in the wonderful mountains, but it was 80 something outside and muggy...still summery. (I'll add the photos over on my "Living in Black Mountain" blog from our fun trip soon!

Then last night the cool front finally arrived.
This morning I closed windows because the breezes were too chilly!

I pulled the sliding storm window down on the balcony door.  I can still see if a hummingbird might visit, but haven't seen one yet this morning.  Perhaps they decided it's too cool for them.  I know they usually migrate about now.  I'll leave the feeder up for a few more days.

And just to link this post from today to yesterday, here's another vintage picture to share.

This is how my mother quilted many quilts which I slept under as a child.  I hadn't seen anyone else using this kind of frame before, but it sure did bring back memories.  She only quilted until 1949, when we moved from Houston, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri.  She started working full-time in an office then, so no more hand crafts from her talented fingers.



Quote for today:
Having the wisdom to know that life is but a dream does not mean that we ignore living. Madisyn Taylor on Daily Om

SUNDAY MORNING THOUGHTS

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS STYE
JUST LIST WHAT I'M THINKING
DOING
EATING TOAST WITH BUTTER AND JELLY
DRINKING COFFEE WITH SUGAR
LIFE IS GOOD
SUN IS COMING OVER TREES WHICH HAVE ABOUT HALF THEIR LEAVES LEFT - BUT HAVEN'T TURNED ANY COLOR YET.
THEY DROP AND TURN BROWN ON THE GROUND
MAYBE SOME ARE YELLOW
I WANT TO SHARE A LOVELY LITTLE VIDEO THAT A FRIEND POSTED ON FACEBOOK THIS MORNING...JUST 5 SHORT MINUTES OF JOYFUL THOUGHTS
Gratefulness.org/videos/10155707283118454/
I HOPE IT WORKS
GRATITUDE IS THE ROOT OF HIS PHILOSOPHY
I READ A LITTLE QUOTE EVERY DAY BASED UPON HIS PHILOSOPHY, A WORD FOR THE DAY
I USED TO COPY ONE QUOTE A DAY INTO MY BOG POSTS NOT ALL FROM THAT SOURCE BUT MANY WERE
I LOOK OUT THE WINDOW AND SEE 3 SQUIRRELS COMING OUT OF THEIR NEST AT A CROOK IN THE MAPLE
YES MY WINDOWS ON THIS SIDE OF APARTMENT ARE ON SECOND STORY LEVEL
AS I LOOK THROUGH LEAVES I CAN SEE RIDGE LINE OF MOUNTAINS ON OTHER SIDE OF VALLEY
JUST A BIT OF HAZE AS NIGHT HUMIDITY BURNS OFF
DUE TO RAIN THIS AFTERNOON
BUT WE WILL BE RIDING ALONG THE PARKWAY PROBABLY
GOING TO ALTAPASS TO GET BLUE RIDGE APPLES WITH FRIENDS HELEN AND TERESA
THINKING OF FAMILY I HAVEN'T SEEN IN A WHILE
WONDER IF I SHOULD THINK OF GOING TO OHIO FOR THANKSGIVING
IT WOULD BE A STRETCH FOR MY ENDURANCE
PROBABLY NEED TWO DAYS TO DRIVE
I'VE ALREADY VOLUNTEERED TO BE A DOCENT AT THE HISTORY MUSEUM THE WEDNESDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING
THEY NEED ME
MY FAMILY DOESN'T
SADNESS FEEING HERE
BUT I HAVE A CHOICE HOW TO FEEL
LET IT FLOW THROUGH ME LIKE A STREAM
THAT'S WHAT STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS I THINK
I CAN DWELL ON HOW LAST YEAR MY TWO OLDEST SONS INVITED THE REST OF THE FAMILY TO FLORIDA AND EVERYONE WAS THERE EXCEPT ME I WASN'T INVITED
OR I CAN THINK VERY HARD TO SEE IF I REMEMBER WHAT I DID LAST YEAR
I HAVE NO IDEA
I KNOW SEVERAL PEOPE ASKED ME TO COME TO THEIR CHURCH OR SOMEWHERE
I'LL NEED TO CHECK MY OD BLOG POSTS OR JOURNAL NOTES TO FIND OUT WHAT I DID
BOY IS MY MEMORY BAD THESE DAYS
I GUESS A NON EVENT ISN'T WORTH REMEMBERING
THERE'S A FLICKER CATCHING SOME BUGS ON THE TREE BARK NOW OR MAYBE A WOODPECKER  I DON'T KNOW WHICH
IT HAS A WHITE BELLY AND RED HEAD AND BLACK BACK AND IS BIG AS A CROW
NOW I'M GOING TO DO MY BREATHING TREATMENT AND LOOK UP AN ANCESTOR'S DETAILS TO ADD TO MY GROWING LIBRARY OF FAMILY NOTES
HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY
I PLAN TO TOO

Addendum: I had planned to go help serve at some kitchen or another, for Thanksgiving last year, but didn't feel like it so just stayed home.  I was exchanging emails with my friend who died in March of this year....so last year we were still talking together every day.  Now I really feel sad.  But I must also admit that I've asked my sons if I can come see them, and both welcomed me...one in FL and one in OH.  I think it's my time to go to Ohio.
We shall see.

Equinox today!

Happy Equinox everyone!
Saturday, September 22, 9:54 P.M. EDT

That's what the old farmer's almanac says is the beginning of winter, or when the earth's tilt decides to change directions.

Here's an older post for today...(I find my thoughts are often so mundane!)

Friday, October 26, 2012

Dawn's early light

I don't have dogs...I don't wake and go for walks at dawn.  I have cats who insist I get out of bed and open the can and put it in their bowls.  If they had thumbs they wouldn't need me at all.

So today I did something rather irregular for me.  I fed them and made my first cup of coffee at 7:30.  A. M. that is.  Before the sun came into the windows.  The sky was pearly grey, no colors, so probably no clouds.

Now, at 8:12, the sun is just coming over the treetops, and guess where it hits first, at this post autumnal equinox season?  My computer screen!

It is tilted till I can't read the screen with my wonderful new glasses.  I finally give up and use the laptop screen, which I can at least position lots of different directions as I play tag with sunbeams.  What a lovely problem to have.  I'm delighted, though slightly blind from the shine off of various surfaces.

Thanks for sunshine.  The light by which we all live.

And another old post from another year...

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Autumnal Equinox greetings

The way I've looked it up, Gaia, our glorious globe the earth, will be standing upright at 4:45 EDT this afternoon...with the sunlight balanced perfectly as she tilts away and towards her poles, like a lovely blue top.

Not my photo, from Wikipedia images

Isn't it fascinating to think of her core of molten magma, full of magnetic fields which somehow align with the poles, which somehow help birds and insects and maybe everything else, migrate in the right direction, finding home.

Everything else? Well, how about the compasses??  Simple that iron (or even a steel needle) points north...when floated on a non-metalic surface...and thus Columbus got to our shores.  Of course knowing the stars helped navigation, and having a sextant too.  And having a clock that could keep working in order to tell correct time over 24 hours.  Well, so some TV show led me to believe, all these things together helping men (sorry women, it really was men) navigate the seas and thus civilized (i.e. Western Europe) people took over the Americas.

Just think if they'd gone straight to India as they intended...

Ah, what do you intend to do today?
I intend to just be.
Happy first day of Autumn for my friends in North America.

The delightful French Broad River, Asheville, NC

Getting on down the road...

 As automobiles became part of family life, families' Sunday afternoon drives and picnics by the road became popular.  I wonder if people with wagons and buggies had taken part in similar activities before cars came along.  Sure they did.  Picnics don't depend upon cars! (There, I have taken a stand!)

And of course the other family activity was having a photograph taken by Uncle Ed or Joe, or whoever had the bug to develop his own film and make prints.  Or perhaps there was already someone who was doing that as a profession.  Mostly I think it was amateurs for a while, especially of family outings.

A hamper used to mean a picnic basket.  When I was growing up it was the place in which to put dirty clothes prior to being laundered.

The cherry blossoms are beautiful.  These were smart folks who had table and chairs, as well as...do you remember it was called the running board?

Thanks to a Facebook friend for all these great old shots of picnics...Appalachian Coal Fields.  I keep sharing almost everything they post on my FB page too.

This looks like an early bar-b-q grill.

Young people aways enjoy gathering for fun times! Do you see the early portable radio front and center?  Remember before the days of parks with picnic tables and parking lots?

These outings were forerunners of a popular pre-game activity for American football fans, called Tail-gating...where a parking-lot full of cars would have people cooking over little grills and drinking from coolers...and many sporting colors of their favorite teams.

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt shows a nice old car being given a good wash by some members of a family (possibly) while they were captured by another person with the inevitible camera!

Come on over and see what others have to share HERE.

"A much loved car outside a postwar prefabricated house: could anything be more redolent of the early 1950s. The car may not be a new one, but it has been washed and polished until you can see your reflection in it. The photograph contains equal measures of pride and hope - emotions that were equally redolent of the decade in question. As a theme image, you can take whatever element you want from it: be it as solid as a chrome bumper bar or as ephemeral as an emotion. All you need to do is to post your Sepia Saturday post on or around Saturday 22nd September 2018 and add a link to the list below. "

An antique auto was in the parking lot at Lakeview Center a few months ago.

The sun has come out!

One of my favorite stained glass windows.  But I forgot where it is, and who made it.  If you know, please comment!

Cool nights mean I open my windows, but hot days (with high humidity) mean I close them and turn on that AC.  This shot doesn't show the sun much, and the ridge tops are still in clouds.

I've had a busy week and it's only hump day.  Going to get more active in the arts...signing up to be on a waiting list for a show out of town.  If there's a cancellation, I might be in.  Big IF.  And I'm going to get active in the Swannanoa Fine Arts League again.  See, today things look much more promising.  Why? I think I am able to keep up with the plans each day again.   Recovering from Pneumonia usually takes about a month...and I'm in my 4th week now.

Yesterday I threw on the wheel for the first time in a week.  What with the studio closed for flooding (just a bit causing a wet floor for a couple of days)... and some days my coughing really puts me into low energy...well, I've been lucky to get to lunch at the Council on Aging site here...and maybe do a bit of volunteer work.  I was at the Swannanoa History Museum 2 afternoons this month...and it's an easy sitting welcoming kind of job.

Today's big adventure was having my management do an inspection of my apartment...to make sure there are no leaks, or other damages.  I did mention to the manager that the outside wall in my kitchen is so damp that a wood cutting board leaning up against the refrigerator grew some mold.  I cleaned it with vinegar (the cutting board) but I think I'll swab it with bleach before cutting any food on it.  I also got my batteries in the smoke detectors changed while the maintenance man was checking that they were working. He was happy to use my step stool, and that meant I didn't have to.

I'm about to go to lunch, which is only $1.50 donation for the meal.  Today's one of my favorites, buttermilk fried chicken strips.  I have to watch that I don't eat too much of the mashed potatoes, and I usually skip eating the buns.  But the green veggies are usually good, as well as some kind of sweet desert.

I hope a friend of mine who just turned 60 will start coming to the lunch program.  There are lots of different kinds of people.  On Tuesdays we have a Spanish Conversation table...where we each take 2 vocabulary words and bring them back in sentences the next week.  It's great when a hispanic person also joins us, and can correct our pronunciation...if she can bare it!

Hurricane Florence

Where have I been? Well, I posted about waiting for a hurricane (Florence) and that she was bad to some of my neighbors near the coast...and not so bad for me.  Here's the summary I posted yesterday.

I will be back giving you my opinions soon!

Here's today's blog about Black Mountain and Hurricane Florence.

Women's rights are human rights

A big thanks to Open Culture for giving us this article about Jocelyn Bell Burnell...

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Discovered Radio Pulsars in 1974, But the Credit Went to Her Advisor; In 2018, She Gets Her Due, Winning a $3 Million Physics Prize

Wood balls for a game anyone?

I remember hours of fun (summertime probably) as a teen paying croquet.  It was more fun when friends came over and I was among equals in skill (more or less.) When I played with my family it was pretty easy to beat a younger sister, but not my parents.  I think at some time I tried to replicate this fun when I was a parent. And it must have made some impression, because I was asked to join in as a grandparent with the little ones.

So when doing research to find a nice older picture of croquet, which I understand is quite ancient, I found this great blog already giving great art and information about croquet...19C American Women, croquet-in-garden.

I'll share one of my favorite artists' renditions of Croquet.

Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Croquet Players

Another link for me is the active croquet court (is that the correct term?) that exists next to the Black Mountain Golf Course right here in town.  I admit to never trying it out...but in the 11 years I've lived here, I have seen some players as I drove by occasionally.

From the web I found this: "Black Mountain Croquet Club || (828) 669-2281 || Two courts, one full and one 1/2. Contact: Jim Seward - mgseward@aol.com"

Players at the Black Mountain Croquet Court

Our illustrious Sepia Saturday host introduces this week's meme by saying...

Our Sepia Saturday theme image this week is - like all the ones this month - from my own collection. It features that grand old north country game - crown green bowling; in which wooden balls (or bowls) are rolled across a grass lawn (or green) in an attempt to get nearest the target ball (or jack).  If that wasn't complicated enough, the bowls have an additional weight on one side so they don't run in a straight line, and the green has a slight hump in the middle (a crown) so even if the bowls could travel in a straight line it wouldn't do them much good! So if you thought that Sepia Saturday was difficult - just have a go at crown green bowling."

Thanks Alan.  Come see what others have to offer HERE.

Stand up for...

What do you stand up for?

I started thinking about this today.
A friend stood up for herself against a bully.  She stood up for justice.
She stood up for women's rights.
She stood up for fair treatment for everyone.

What do I stand up for?

I stand up for Women's Rights.

I stand up for beauty.

I stand up for love.

I stand up for peace in this world.

I stand up for life.

Birthday gift

 You will never believe the wonderful gift Martha gave me for my birthday...no not Diamond, her new dog.

 We dropped our cars off and walked to a nearby restaurant...for breakfast.

My car had never been detailed before! It even had the headlamps shined!

This guy (Vic?) has reasonable prices and a young energetic crew working for him.

Marking time

Happy September first.
A mark that leads us toward autumn.

I'm stuck inside on beautiful days.  This damn pneumonia takes all my energy.  And yes it is damnable.

Computer: The stupid key for the words like and love...that "l" key keeps sticking. So I'm not going to type much.

I continue to read Maisy Hobbs Dobbs stories.  And sleep. (That's a computer preference, I knew it was Dobbs!)

And cough till the cows come home.  At least today the fever hasn't been the problem.

I'm glad the sun is shining, and hope it will be when I again feel like walking!
Hope everyone has a great Labor day.