Friday Randomness
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Friday Randomness
The most exciting thing this week was time spent with Birchie and San (!!!), but that deserves its own post, so you will have to wait on that. Instead you will get my regular weekly roundup type post. What else then? Well, I had a lovely Mother’s Day weekend. On Saturday, Maya took me to lunch downtown, where she had Penne con Vodka, and I had a citrus and arugula salad. We did some shopping and she bought me expensive face cream to add to my collection. Ted’s mom is awaiting hip replacement surgery, and isn’t up to going to a restaurant, so he brought her a seafood lunch from…
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Friday Randomness
Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend, and I wish you all joy. If you have kids, I hope you have a good relationship with them and are able to celebrate in some way. If you still have your mom, I hope you have a good relationship with her, and are able to celebrate in some way. If you have a bad relationship with your mother or your child(ren), I wish you peace. If you no longer have your mother or your child(ren), I wish you peace. Mother’s Day can be a complicated and difficult day. Ever since my mom died in 2008, it has been a complicated and difficult…
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Friday Randomness
The pretty flowers above are from a little tree I saw in Berkeley last week. Well, I did it! I blogged every day in April. It was a lot easier than NaBloPoMo, because you all weren’t trying to post every day at the same time, and I wasn’t trying to keep up and read your posts. I did get behind a couple of times on reading and commenting though, so that’s one downside. One thing I notice when I blog more often is that I find a lot more blog fodder in my life. When I find myself in a blog drought, and don’t post anything for a couple of…
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Friday Randomness
Apparently I’m blogging every day in April. This was not intentional at first, but once I got to the middle of the month, I figured, ‘In for a Penny, In for a Pound’. Now that I’m near the end of the month, but not quite there, the suspense is growing. Will I make it? Will I find enough content? Time will tell. One thing I could do would be to NOT do Friday Randomness, and instead take each of these little tidbits and make each its own blogpost. Nah. I didn’t take any pictures of last Saturday’s protest, but it was well attended (between 1,700 and 2,000). I have clicked…
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Friday Randomness
In addition to many wonderful signs, I saw this wonderful FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) t-shirt at last week’s rally. So pretty, right? I also liked the ‘Turd Reich’ sign. This is not my photo, I took it from our congress member’s FB page. He comes to the rallies when he is in town. He’s in the center front of this photo, with his back to the camera. The rally was much smaller than the previous Saturday’s Hands Off rally, but that was to be expected. Still about 1,000 people came out. Tomorrow is more rallies, 2 around here, and I have to decide if I want go to both or…
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Friday Randomness
Here I was thinking likely I wouldn’t have anything to share with you this week, but then along came life and I have some content. Mostly good this week, so that’s good. First off, the picture above is a little hummingbird (or maybe a big hummingbird, I don’t know) at the feeder outside our kitchen window one autumn. The other night I went outside for a minute and saw it on the ground. The top, where the hook holds the feeder, is plastic, and after many years of service, it gave way and broke. Did something hit it (Bird? Squirrel?), or was it just time? I don’t know. Anyway, I’ll…
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Friday Randomness
Isn’t the Maya Angelou quote above lovely? I found it soothing. We had a lovely time at Maya and Sloan’s birthday party last Saturday. We started off by stopping at the Ramazzatti wine tasting room for a wine that was recommended by Ted’s boss. Ted bought a delicious Chardonnay and an even better Cabernet Sauvignon, and we brought those to the party along with our bottle of Champagne. They were really, really good. I hope we will splurge again and have these wines in the future. (Oh, maybe for Ted’s birthday next month!) Ted’s cousin made the cakes. They are both a really delicious carrot cake. Sloan’s cake has no…
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Friday Randomness
In an example of what we call ‘Cognitive Decline’ around here, Sunday found me at a local nursery, looking for a specific flowering plant, but not finding it. When a helpful employee asked me if she could assist me, I said yes, I’m looking for a flowering plant, often (but not always) a hanging plant, kind of fuschia in color, likes shade and cooler weather. “A fuschia?” She asked. Yes, a fuschia. Hence the color. Sigh. I bought 2. I liked the story of this complaint tablet chiseled almost 4,000 years ago, decrying the inferior quality of copper received, as well as poor customer service and mistreatment of the writer’s…
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Friday Randomness
Apropos of Elisabeth’s FIG challenge, where we looked for moments of joy in the (very stressful, dark, and for many of us, cold) month of February, the other day I heard a piece on NPR about searching out ‘glimmers’. The author being interviewed said that searching for glimmers is not the same as toxic positivity. “They’re not so that you forget the challenges or look away from the suffering,” she says. “But what they do is they build capacity in your brain and body to be anchored enough in safety and connection so that you can turn toward the suffering and the challenges and not be pulled into them, not…
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Friday Randomness
This week has felt pretty blah. I’ve felt pissy and grumpy, which is ridiculous because the weather has been truly lovely here (sorry to those of you still in the depth of winter). But it’s also not at all ridiculous, because there’s just so much bullshit going on, and it’s wearing on me. I don’t want to ‘fake it till you make it’, I don’t want to let the motherfuckers steal my joy, but I do want to stay engaged and find comfort in my family, and in making what difference I can. Engie had a great post yesterday, about how she’s feeling like crap and stressed out and how…
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Friday Randomness
I’ve long done Friday Randomness posts, and Elisabeth’s FIG Collective fits in so well, so here are my Random Thoughts/Figs for the week. Saturday – Time spent with friends. Ted’s BFF and his family moved away about 2 years ago, and I know that Ted misses him a lot. They were in the area for his MIL’s funeral. So it was a very sad occasion, but it was really nice to see them and spend some time together. After we came home, Ted was hungry, I was peckish, and Maya was not. So Ted and I walked over to a nearby hotel (which has a spa and is where I…
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Friday Randomness
Today’s randomness post is mostly my contribution to Elisabeth’s FIG Collective, finding joy and gratitude wherever I can. The world is a lot right now, and I’m finding this exercise really helpful. Saturday – We had a nice day on Saturday, Maya went and had brunch with a friend, and Ted and I went to see his parents, and then we had dinner with some dear friends. They were in a horrible car accident several months ago, one that could have easily been fatal (but thankfully was not) – The wife is still healing, but is getting better all of the time. That’s a relief. Sunday – We blew off…
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Friday Randomness
The cartoon above is one I have shared before, first in the summer of 2020 I think, but boy oh boy does it resonate now. HOW ARE WE HERE AGAIN? Onward. This is the first full week of Elisabeth’s FIG Collective, and I’ve been enjoying keeping track of little joys in my life. Appreciated in the best of times, much needed right now. SaturdayWicked – Ted is a member of SAG/Aftra, left over from his days working in radio, and he gets screeners of the films that are nominated for SAG awards. Saturday’s mail included a DVD for Wicked, which we hadn’t bothered to go see in the theater, but…
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Friday Randomness
Elisabeth is encouraging interested souls to write down one thing for which they are grateful every day in February, and is calling this group of interested souls the F.I.G. Collective (FIG = Finding joy In Gratitude) In her comments, Engie said she’s in, but instead of waiting until February, she’s starting NOW. I feel like we could all use a little joy and gratitude, so I’m diving in early too. I started this post on Monday, so I could keep track. Monday – I’m thankful that Monday is Maya’s turn to cook, and that Ted made enough delicious food for dinner on Sunday that we had leftovers, which meant I…
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Friday Randomness
The Return of Fabulous FridaysLet’s start with the excellent news that Fabulous Fridays are back! Technically, they never went away. In past years, either the CEO or HR sent an email telling us that the perk of a 4 day work week was continuing. When we heard NOTHING this year, our boss decided to err on the side of caution, and told us to work 5 8-hour days instead of 4 10s. So we worked last Friday, and we noticed that gosh, most people were not around, so our boss checked with HR, and it looks like it’s a manager discretion type thing, so YAY! Back to having Fridays off!…
