This reminded me of a song we used to sing a hundred years ago or so –
“Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be!” (Except for some reason, we sang, “That’s not a monkey, that’s me. Ha. Ha!“
I’ve never actually HEARD the sound the Kookaburra makes, so I looked it up. (Isn’t the Internet wonderful?)
Filed under memories
It’s almost like a ‘wonder-of-the-world’ thing to see the SUN shining this morning. It’s BEAUTIFUL. We came through some really pervasive yellow and red blobs on the TV screen weather warnings of ‘severe thunderstorm warning’ and ‘tornado watch’ with some heavy rain and LOTS of lightning last night, but no damage we’ve found yet. We’re very lucky and very thankful.
Since my energy level has been really low lately, I was happy when our doc saw that my blood test showed that my thyroid replacement hormone dosage was too low. She increased it, so I’ll get another blood test in 6 weeks and we’ll decide if any further increases are needed.
I was expecting my electric meat slicer to be delivered tomorrow. It was just delivered by our wonderful mailwoman today! She is a really nice lady and drives up our driveway as if it isn’t a mess. AND she brought the slicer! I’m going to rearrange things on my counter so it can live and be well-used on a regular basis there. I’m thinking I’ll see if I can order a cover for it, as well.
I MAY have a line on a father/son team who can repair our driveway. I got their name from a friend, plus the name of the chat that is used on streets that my friend said we should put on the driveway.
Today we’ll go to Stu’s Clean Cookin’ in Greenwood to get some frozen dinners. My husband has always liked their dinners, but they didn’t meet our needs a while back, so we stopped going. I discovered last night that they have new low carb offerings that are also quite reasonable on sodium. HOORAY! Soon I’ll be able to cut my intake of salt in my food by at least half, if not more.
I plan to harvest lettuce and spinach from the garden and finish cleaning up in two brick planters today. Then I THINK I’ll be ready to go buy some flowers to plant. :0)
I hope you’re doing well and can make this a very enjoyable day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I’m trying to eat 20 or less grams of carbohydrates per day. I’ve cut out added sugar, and try to buy no-sugar-added or zero sugar products. I’ve cut out most starches, like most everything white (potatoes, rice, pasta). I’m not eating desserts.
I told you recently that I’ve discovered I’m eating too much salt, even though I quit sprinkling it heavily on almost everything I ate for years. (This has been a huge, difficult change for me). I have now found that even though I’ve stopped adding salt to everything, I’m eating it IN the food I’ve been eating – particularly deli meats.
I found an article that listed some much lower sodium lunch meat offerings, including the brands of Boar’s Head, Hillshire Farm, Applegate Naturals, and Oscar Mayer. Today, if we get to the store, I’m going to look for these with my lower sodium “READ-THE-LABELS” cap on firmly. Meanwhile, I’ll buy some frozen turkey breasts to cook. I have ordered an electric meat slicer that is supposed to be delivered Friday, since it looks like I’m going to be cooking and slicing my own meats for lunches in the future.
As of this morning, I’m 24 pounds down from my heaviest (nothing to write home about, but a good start). This new emphasis on avoiding sodium might result in decreasing many of the bad effects of eating too much salt, as well as hopefully resulting in a steadier loss of the lard.
“Eating healthy” is a very complicated subject and seems to be different for each of us. Cooking for two complicates things, as things I’m willing to change my husband firmly isn’t. I’m trying to research and improve what I’m eating or avoiding to make the best result for me.
Filed under DIET!, taking care of yourself
Filed under Amazing Animals
Filed under Stone/Pebble Art
My weather sources are not in agreement today. One says we’ll get some light rain this afternoon. Another says we’ll be under a severe weather watch from 2 till 10 with hail 2-3 inches in diameter and 60-80 mph winds. I would LIKE to be able to choose…. if we’ll have wind and hail of this degree, there is no point trying to spread SHEETS over my garden plants. They just won’t do the job.
We have a routine doctor appointment today at 1, and then we’d LIKE to shop afterwards, weather permitting. We’ll see what Mother Nature has to say.
Yesterday I weeded the pots on the deck.
Soon I need to find some flowers to plant here, and in various pots around the yard.
I also need to refurbish some of the critters we’ve made that are dotted around the yard and on the deck. These need to be cleaned and then a freshening of the paint.
Here’s another that needs to be refurbished. (I still have the flying pig in the shop, though, and that will be the first redo.)
I hope this will be a fun day for you, no matter what the weather.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________, weather
When I got up to let Amber out, I saw a roadrunner in the front yard! He was skittering along some rocks that divide our ‘civilized’ front yard from the ‘wild woods’ beyond.
As I watched, he crossed the whole front yard and then went into the side yard. He was just beautiful.
I love the way they run, head down and body straight, and then suddenly stop – head up and completely still for a second – and then flatten out and run again.
Filed under Amazing Animals
Filed under Blog Repost - Wonderful Posts, video
What is a ‘tornado emergency’?
“Back in 1999, a destructive tornado (eventually rated F5) was bearing down on the Oklahoma City, OK area on May 3rd. Forecasters at the National Weather Service in Norman, OK had a Tornado Warning in effect, but felt that it was not enough. They needed to enhance the wording in the warning somehow to catch the attention of people in the path of this monster. That is when the Tornado Emergency was hatched.”
The whole central part of the U.S. was under weather alerts yesterday and all night. This was the first time I have heard the term, “tornado emergency.” I don’t really want to ever hear it again.
We were only under a tornado WATCH here – and we are most of the spring and summer, so I could just keep a watchful eye and ear. I watched a couple of real time weather websites and found out that others around us were really in imminent danger.
It turned out that a small city in Oklahoma – Barnsdall – not far from Tulsa, where I used to live, was hit really hard. Bartlesville, OK had damage, too. One person was killed. I’m still researching to find out more, but that’s what I’ve learned so far.
I checked on ‘my people,’ and all are okay, thank goodness. I haven’t found any damage here, so far. Apparently lots of people north of here are without power.
We’re supposed to have a good day today with another chance of severe weather tomorrow. I would be really happy if things tame down soon.
I hope you are safe.
Filed under Mother Nature, weather
“Ghosts, after all, cannot mount daring rescue missions, they cannot pilot spaceships, they cannot fight, and they cannot save their loved ones, no matter how badly they may want to.
But I could, Ellie will say, if you show me how…”
“Her story is not about a chair. Her story is about her strengths and how they rose out of her instinctive vulnerabilities.“
“Jake Moriarity…a lost soul in a desperate search to find this lost girl. Moriarity can save her, but first, he has to find her. And the only thing he has to go on is like a watercolor painting that has been left out in the rain with all the colors running together.“
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I’m an avid reader. I love to get lost in a book – a world different from mine – a place to escape and live in another’s shoes for a while. I have several favorite authors and a good collection of a bunch of their books. I re-read them in an ongoing basis, adding to my collection if my favorites are still with me and writing, treasuring the worlds and characters they created if they’re not.
Rarely I find new authors who speak to me. Somehow in the past year I’ve found THREE – Simon Panneton, Ryan Rae Harbuck, and R. G. Ryan. I found them on X and follow them – and have actually exchanged messages with them. I’ve found them to be caring and interesting people, in addition to writing books I love. Isn’t that amazing and wonderful?
I’ve read the three books I’ve listed above and highly recommend each of them to you. I’ve provided a link to each book so you can find them easily on Amazon. Each will touch you and leave you changed – enriched – MORE.
Go ahead – dive in!
As you know, I’m in a never-ending effort to lose the lard. I’ve been logging what I eat on MyFitnessPal.com in an attempt to eat mindfully, keeping my carbs for the day at 20 grams or below.
I suddenly ‘realized’ (I know, I’m slow on the uptake at times) that even though I’ve given up adding salt to anything except the hard boiled egg I eat with lunch, I’m eating too much sodium. This is carried by the deli turkey I eat, mostly, which I thought was healthy.
I looked up “low sodium deli meat” and found a couple of brands I recognize. I went to a new store (DG Market) in Greenwood that just opened because my computer said they carry Boar’s Head Lower Sodium Meats. There were a couple of refrigerator areas not yet stocked, but they didn’t have ANY of the choices on the careful list I had with me. :0(
I did another search this morning, finding that I MAY be able to find them in the meat section of the store that has pre-sliced meat in small tubs. I’ll try that next, wearing my careful-reading-labels-hat when I go.
If I can find some low sodium deli type meats, I’ll try some. If I can’t, I plan to buy a couple of frozen turkey breasts. I keep one frozen and cook the other, slicing it myself. I’ll also look for an affordable meat slicer, since it looks like there will be a lot of that in my future of trying to avoid salt.
Filed under DIET!, taking care of yourself
I’m of two minds regarding the use of AI.
MIND ONE – I’m violently against the use of AI to misrepresent, like generating images that are supposed to be that of an artist of any type, writer, painter, musician, singer, etc. and setting things up to profit from it. It will be very difficult very soon to tell whether something is real or AI. Many creative people will be hurt because of this, losing income, having to file lawsuits, worrying about their reputation, body of work, etc. This is theft and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
It may be used to create fake images to sway opinions on important issues, misrepresent what is happening in the world. I’m violently against that, as well.
MIND TWO – many times I find something I like on the net and then find a comment, “This is AI”. My purpose in perusing the net is to find wonderful things to share on my blog. It may be a cute video that makes me laugh. It may be a painting or sculpture or other artwork that has no credit listed, like too many things I find on Pinterest or elsewhere.
If I like what I’ve found, I find I don’t really care if it’s AI. If it looks like pebble art and I find out that it’s AI and not done with real pebbles, I still like it. As long as someone is not trying to palm it off as their own work when it was actually created by someone else, that’s okay with me.
Some people make a huge distinction between paintings created digitally on the computer and paintings created uses brushes, or palette knives. I don’t care where it was created and what materials were used. I’m looking at the result. I’m certainly not in a position to consider one is superior to the other.
What is your opinion?
Filed under Opinion
Filed under Favorite Things
Filed under Embroidery/Sewing Art
Filed under paintings I love, Sonia Lera Preston
We live on top of a ridge line outside city limits. It’s a very wooded piece of land, and we had to really work to clear enough for our house, the driveway, and our shop when we built here. We constantly have to hack, saw, and dig up things in order for Mother Nature not to reclaim what we have considered “ours” for over 37 years now.
We share the land with several ‘critters’ and we try to live and let live within reason. I have our pest control people treat us for everything including elephants when they come to spray inside and out quarterly. Even though my husband points out that some snakes are good, I have to admit that I lump them all in the same category and do not want them anywhere around me.
We don’t have any choice about sharing our yard with moles, voles, and other ‘oles’ of all kinds. Yesterday I was trying to viciously cut back a bush that lives in a planter beside our front porch. I walked across the yard to dump a whole trash can full of stuff I had removed from the bush and found myself SINKING into the ground, my footsteps “squishing” as I moved each foot. This was due in large part to all the rain we’ve had. The ground is quite saturated and we’re still due for more.
The other reason is all the tunnels all the ‘oles’ have dug. We attempted to kill the grubs that all the oles eat, thinking that if we removed much of the food they want to eat, they would go elsewhere. We threw a lot of money at the problem, but it didn’t really make any difference. So now we try to co-exist.
Our dog, Amber, doesn’t like them, either. I find holes she has dug, trying to get to them, all over the yard. Filling in holes is on the list as a regular part of my working in the yard. I mainly do it to keep my husband from falling into one with the wheels of the mower.
The pictures I find of moles and voles are kind of cute, but what they do to our yard is NOT. CUTE.
Filed under Gardening, Pet Peeves
We got a lot of rain yesterday. It finally stopped enough for me to tackle the huge bush (“Japanese Yew” – thanks for the app, ML) that lives in a planter on one side of our front porch. I decided to try to basically cut it down by half. It had gotten totally out of hand and cut off the view down the sidewalk when we stood on the front porch.
I got most of the upper half cut off yesterday. I’ll work on it more today to try to make it look better – not just LOPPED OFF, as it looks now.
I have most of the planters in reasonable shape now. I have one to tweak, and then I’ll tackle the pots on the deck next.
I have some zinnia seeds to sprinkle here and there in various planters. I always do this, forget about it, and then have some nice surprises later in the season. :0)
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
I love Pinterest. I find all kinds of wonderful things there. I share a bunch of them with you. I’m frustrated, though, that so much appears there with no credit to the creators. I share whatever is there with you – the person’s name who pinned the image, credit for the artist if it’s there, etc., but so many times there is nothing. These are beautiful sculptures, and I hope that if the people who created them see them here somehow, they realize I shared the images to honor their work.
Filed under Stone/Pebble Art
Learning to savor is a skill that keeps on giving. If you can learn to slow down and really SAVOR what is right/good/enjoyable in your life, it somehow accumulates inside you, making the bad/sad/challenging stuff easier to deal with.
I’m lucky because there are many things in my life to savor –
Gathering things that bring you joy and savoring them is essential to your well-being.
Filed under taking care of yourself
As the rain comes down, the lightning flashes, and the thunder bangs and rolls outside, I feel good that I did the weed whacking yesterday. My body is telling me I overdid it, and that a more serious session of yoga stretches should be in my future this afternoon.
It’s quite impressive-looking outside right now. It looks like it is late in the evening. We’re supposed to have ‘heavy rain’ until around 9pm tonight. Since we live on top of a ridge line, we don’t have to worry about flooding (we’re under a flood watch) but we ARE vulnerable to lightning, hail, gusty winds, etc.
Now, since I was too tired to use the leaf blower on the front and back sidewalks after weed whacking yesterday, I’m hoping that it rains hard enough – at least for several minutes – to wash the debris off. :0) The forecasters are saying we could get 2 inches of rain today! I wish, on the other hand, the rain would be soft and soaky, since we’ve been under a burn ban for what seems like forever.
I have two ‘should’s’ on my list today –
On the ‘maybe’ list –
I hope that you can enjoy a really nice Sunday.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
It just started raining suddenly as if someone had turned on a faucet full blast. I think it’s stopping now, but it was really impressive.
I managed to get outside this afternoon and weed whack. I did three sessions and finished the whole yard. If the rain stops and things clear up a bit, I’ll take my husband out for an ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’ session later. :0)
There are still lots of things to do outside, but I feel better that I trimmed things up where my husband can’t go with the mower. I’ll spray some KillzAll when things dry out to keep it all from just resprouting seemingly overnight.
I hope you’ve had a happy day.
I’m feeling devoid of any energy right now. Just drinking a cup of coffee and trying not to fall asleep, hitting my head on the monitor on the way to La La Land…
Filed under Harry Huizing - @hh_painting on X, paintings I love
Filed under Andrii Frolov Art, Oil Paintings I Love
Yesterday I got lazy, but I’ve been trying to do something in our yard each day. Things are starting to shape up now, but I’m having more and more trouble finding time between rain showers to do much.
I SHOULD have weed whacked yesterday. My husband mowed the yard a couple of days ago, so he’s done his part, but I just couldn’t get motivated. I’ll try to get it done today, though scattered showers are forecast and we are under a flood watch. Adding insult to injury, the forecast is for scattered showers and thunderstorms for the NEXT SIX DAYS!
I’m in the frustrating position of feeling guilty no matter what I’m doing. If I’m outside working in the yard, I feel guilty that I haven’t vacuumed the tiled areas on our first floor. I actually saw a clump of Amber hair floating around yesterday… If I’m inside cleaning or paying bills, I feel guilty because if it’s not raining, I should be outside weeding, pruning, planting things…. THE RESULT – yesterday I read the rest of a book. (I know. I’m a slob.) :0)
SO – when I finish my blog posts for today, I’ll get outside and at least get STARTED weed whacking. I’ll try for two sessions today, plus my yoga stretching this afternoon. I’m also planning to finish off enjoyment of a rotisserie chicken by making chicken salad as part of our dinner tonight.
I hope that your Saturday has both productivity and fun.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Filed under Bead Embroidery, Embroidery/Sewing Art
creativeartworksblog 