Friday Randomness
Another week of randomness. I feel like the most random thing I saw this week was the woman in front of me in the checkout line at the grocery store, paying with a check. I remember when I used to carry my checkbook in my wallet, for decades of my life. Now the only time I write a check is to send money for birthdays or graduations, and that doesn’t always work. My bff’s son has a check from me that he’s had for about 18 months. Will he ever cash it? It’s probably lost at this point. Which reminds me, I have two graduations this spring, I’d better write those checks!
Seeing the woman writing a check reminded me of the time, several years ago, when I was at the grocery store, with a cart full of groceries, only one lane open, and the man behind me only had a few items. I was not in a hurry, so I asked him if he wanted to go ahead of me. “YES!” He said, and purposefully strode to the front. Where he proceeded to talk to the checker in great detail about his recent surgery, and only when the checker told him his total did he begin writing his check. What? Not even the date and the name of the store filled out? And I’m sorry to say that it bothered me that he didn’t thank me for the (admittedly basic) courtesy of letting him go ahead of me.
I was saddened to read of the death of Marjane Satrapi, author of the wonderful graphic novel, Persepolis (link to my review back in 2008). The article I read said that she died of a broken heart following the death of her husband last year. She was a gifted artist, writer, animator, and filmmaker.
I saw these beautiful artichokes at last weekend’s farmer’s market. Once the plant goes to flower like this, they are not good to eat. Why do they sell them, then? For decor? I’m not sure, but they sure were pretty.
This is Burberry, he’s been with the rescue where I volunteer for a few months now. Originally he was here with his brother, but the other cat, Anastasia, was so stressed out that they moved them to another location. We’ve had a few sets of kittens since Anastasia, and now Burberry is back. He’s great, and reminds me of a cat my brother used to have, Hobbes. Hobbes was one of those cats with a dog-like personality. Maya and I went to visit when she was about 3, and he came running every day when we would stop by their house. He followed her around and let her pile toys on top of him and was just living his best life. After we left, my mom said she could see the look of disgust on his face when she showed up to visit without Maya. Anyway, Burberry is a casual cat. He has a little bow tie collar, and I tried putting it on him, and he flipped out and tore it off within about 8 seconds. I tried to help him get it off but he was having none of that. If Ted weren’t so allergic, I would adopt him and name him Serval. I mean, he doesn’t really look like a serval, but his markings remind me of one, even though they are not dark.
You can see his markings better in this photo. You wouldn’t really know that I’m not really a cat person, would you? Mostly it’s the cat box, I don’t want to deal with that. I should probably volunteer with dogs, but then we’d have 18 dogs and Ted would leave me. (actually, the HOA would kick me out for having too many dogs, so Ted could stay if he wanted to,) So cats it is.
Is anyone else watching The Four Seasons on Netflix? My only complaint is that it’s only 8 episodes. I barely consider that a binge. One episode takes place in November of 2020, which was not as stressful as I remember it, but still stressful. What a time that was, right?
I’ve been enjoying the Connections text chat with Suzanne, Lisa, Stephany, Birchie, and Michelle. Would you like to join us? If so, let me know in your comments, and I will add you. Being on the West Coast means I wake up to a group chat with their results and encouragement, and it is definitely a nice way to wake up.
36 Comments
AC
I rmember checkbooks, but the memory is fading. It has been a long time, Checkbooks now last for years. It was good of you to let that fellow through, but I would be a bit miffed by his behaviour. As for your series, I just added it to my queue and it seems to have 2 seasons of 8 episodes. Now, adopt the cat and deal with the litter. ?
J
AC, yes, The Four Seasons is two seasons (so far), 8 episodes each. There was a film in the early 80s with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett, and the first season of the TV show basically follows that. It’s about a group of friends that get together 4 times a year for vacations. We really like it, I hope you enjoy it too.
StephLove
Very handsome cat. I’ve always wanted an orange cat, but we’ve always ended up with tabbies and black cats.
I certainly used to write a lot more checks than I do now. My kids get checks fromt the grandmothers and I think it’s the only time they ever see them, but they do know how to cash them.
J
LOL on knowing how to cash them. My bff’s son is a lawyer, I assume he knows how. He just forgets. Oh well. I remember when I used to pay my bills, and I had my stamps and checks and everything and it was a process. Now everything is online and so much easier.
nance
Oh, that little orange boy! How has he not been adopted already? That face! And orange cats are the best.
I’m smiling at the fact that what you see as a negative of cat ownership is a huge positive for me–the litter box. I’d much rather have a cat who uses a box and is cleaned in a brief moment once a day than the prospect of always having to take a dog outside in all kinds of weather and all different times of day. Litter technology is so great now that having a shitbox in your house is a nothing. Then again, Piper’s box is in the basement, and you don’t have one of those.
Rick and I finished The Four Seasons up this week. I remember going to see the original Alan Alda film in the theater with a friend and really enjoying it. Have you seen the original film?
J
Yeah, we don’t have room for a litter box…it would be in our bathroom I guess. A basement would be much better. We have a fenced in yard, so we can just let a dog out to do their business, no need to go out in all kinds of weather for that. Though they do need at least one daily walk, which is actually one reason we got Mulder. I needed some motivation while recovering from my first RA flare, to get me out there.
Like you, I saw the film version of The Four Seasons many years ago, when it came out. We watched it again when the series first came out. It was very much of its time, but very good.
NGS
J, we are waiting on a plumber to arrive at our house RIGHT NOW and my husband has his checkbook out because we are going to pay with a check. Like we’re living in 1999!
I will take Burberry and give him love and cuddles and clean his box. I don’t actually think cleaning the litter box is a big deal. Zelda’s actually a lot messier with her food and water. We’re constantly cleaning up after she shoves things in her mouth hole. I love her so much, but why can’t she just put the food in her mouth instead of all over our kitchen floor?
J
I always have our checkbook handy when we have a repair or something, but we mostly have small independently owned businesses where we kind of know them, so we just pay by Zelle.
You’re right, cleaning a litter box really isn’t the issue. It’s the fact of it that grosses me out.
Birchie
The Connections group is such a great way to start the day! Even when I totally eat it (like for that puzzle that you showed in the post) or today when I was a one row wonder.
Checks at the grocery store! Strong childhood memory right there! How did we get anything done back in those days? The lines don’t move any faster now that we’re all swiping a card.
J
I’m pretty happy about the Connections group! And I’m glad that Michelle named it, which I didn’t even know one could do, and that Stephany suggested it to begin with.
Margaret
Connections ( and other puzzle groups) are fun! My younger daughter and I exchange scores on some games while John and I do on others. Volunteering where you do, you would possibly end up with MANY cats if Ted weren’t allergic. John is somewhat allergic, but only to my older daughter’s big fluffy cats who are much friendlier than Mari. He can tolerate her because she keeps her distance and is short-haired. That series sounds intriguing.
J
Regarding the cats, yeah. So many times I think, “Oh, I would totally adopt this cat!” Which is a good indicator that I should not volunteer with dogs. Because while I like cats, I LOVE dogs.
Lisa's Yarns
I was not a cat person until I married Phil. His love of cats is so contagious. I did have a cat in HS – my HS boyfriend got the ok to give us a cat from their cat’s litter but he really became more of my mom’s cat. She swore he would meow “mom” to her. Lol. We will get a cat when Oscar has passed away but that’s probably several years from now. She lives with my MIL since she needs the company more than we do and does not care for children. So Phil won’t get a cat just in case something were to happen to his mom and we had to take Oscar back.
Connections is fun but it also makes me feel dumb at times! But chatting with you all about it really adds to the experience!
J
I say I’m not a cat person, because I love dogs so much. But if Ted weren’t allergic, I could very easily be convinced. They are much more low maintenance than dogs, and it would be nice to have one sit on my lap and purr. I had them as a kid and loved them.
ccr in MA
Wow, I did NOT know artichokes flower like that! How stunning. I can definitely see bringing some home for display.
J
I don’t think I have a vase strong enough to hold them…maybe I would put them in a bowl? They sure are pretty, right?
DB Stewart
I still have a few cheques, but yes, use them quite rarely. Those artichoke flowers are sublime!
J
Aren’t they gorgeous?
My daughter was given a set of checks when she got her first checking account (in high school I think?) and has never ordered more. She’s 30. I’m not 100% sure she knows how to fill one out.
Tamara
Checkbooks! Ah I miss the analogue days. I have seen others playing Connections but I think I’m a bit thick, I rarely can figure them out. II’m so impressed that you volunteer at a cat shelter, it is such a goid thing to do.
J
I’m a word person, so I really like Connections. Some of them are very strange though!
Michelle G.
Did I name the group for everyone? Ha! Ha! I’m blushing – I thought it was just for myself. Then there was the time I accidentally tried to FaceTime everyone. I don’t even know how that happened. I’m getting dangerous with technology!!
I’ve never seen an artichoke flower, and they’re really pretty!
J
Yes! You named it for everyone, and I was very happy because I had no idea one could do that.
I saw a flowering artichoke in someone’s garden a year or two ago, and was surprised at how pretty they are! Great for bees, I think. Not tasty for people though.
Jenny
GAH!!!! Why has Burberry not been adopted??? Everyone loves orange tabbies! He actually reminds me a lot of Foxy, except Foxy’s markings are a lot lighter. But he looks so sweet, just like Foxy. Btw my son and I have a dream of having an orange tabby named Hobbes. I tried to push that through with Foxy, but my daughter doesn’t like the name (sigh.) Now I’ve officially relinquished “Hobbes” to my son and his fiance- they want to get a cat asap.
Lol, you might want to think about switching to gift cards? I think both my kids would be baffled if they received a check nowadays. Well, my son could probably deal with it, but my daughter would be clueless.
J
I clearly should have given my bff’s son a gift card, though likely that would be sitting on the dresser at his parents’ house too, I just wouldn’t know about it. My nephew is great, he’ll do a deposit the day he gets a check. My other nibling though? Not so much. I will probably send a check anyway. I guess I could send cash? That would probably confuse them even more! LOL.
Burberry has an orange tabby that has also not been adopted. I don’t think they will be there soon, they’re both great cats. There are so many tiny kittens right now, I think people are focused on them. I would much rather have a young adult pet than a baby though.
Sue
I used to love to shop for my new checkbooks! All the designs and fonts and what they communicated to others when you used them to pay for things. Lol. No more of that. We’ve had our same set of checkbooks for almost 8 years now. I would LOVE to be part of the Connections group if you are serious! I used to have a Wordle group, but everyone fell out of doing it regularly, so we rarely are on it anymore (maybe I’ll start posting – it is Summer after all and many of us are teachers). But, I just started doing Connections recently and when I didn’t miss any, I posted it on Facebook for lack of having anyone to impress. Lol. I love Burberry. And what a great name. I hope he gets adopted soon. We have two cats we rescued! They are indoor/outdoor so we rarely have to clean their box, but every once in a while, they decide to go indoors. 🙂
J
I still like a cute check, but you’re right, they are not the statement they once were.
I sent you an email about the Connections group, all are welcome!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
checkbooks are so foreign to me. When I came to the US 99/00 i had to get traveler checks and I needed to go to the bank and aask what that was. we didnt have anything like it in Germany since I can remember.
Also, I had to look up what serval means only to realize it is an animal I had never heard about. Mindblowing.
J
I remember travelers checks from when I worked in a hotel and people would come cash them at the front desk. They are a real blast from the past. You never had checks to pay bills and so on in Germany? Because you’re young, or because you called them something else?
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I think we never had them here. At least I have never seen a grown up with it and I can not remember any stry from grandparents and such that mentioned them.
And I can not recount any substitute either. WE have slips you could drop at the bank which would then be transerfered but you couldn’t pay with them or gift them.
J
I’m intrigued. How did people pay their bills before online bill pay? Rent, mortgage, electricity, water, etc? We paid all of those with checks, which would allow the payee to get money from our account.
Diane
I still write checks for our cleaner and the kids’ piano lessons.
I do have one job that still pays me ua live check. Thank goodness for mobile check deposit, otherwise I would never get around to depoitting that fee. I think mobile check deposit saved my matriage- when I was working summers in a remote Colorado mountain town we would get paid with live checks. I used to come home at the end of the summer with a stack of checks because I had no way to deposit them up in the mountains. Walking around with all those live checks would understandably make my husband anxious. When mobile check deposit became a thing, it was amazing and angels sang
J
Mobile check deposit is fabulous, right? That’s why I don’t really understand when people don’t deposit checks, except that they forget and lose them.
Stephany
I think volunteering with cats and taking pictures and giving them love makes you a cat person! You don’t have to own a cat to be a cat person. 😉 I don’t mind the litter box all that much. I *much* prefer it to having to walk a dog all the time. Since I live in an apartment, it would mean going up and down 4 flights of stairs multiple times a day (and worse now when it’s a billion degrees outside in the afternoon). My mom has it easier since she has a yard! If I ever get another dog, I’m waiting until I have a yard. IF I ever have a yard!
I love our Connections group! It’s so positive and uplifting!
J
I’m not sure I could have a dog without a fenced in yard. When you get up in the morning, you just let them out to do their business, then they come in and have their breakfast, so easy. The walk can wait until you’re ready. Dogs are a LOT more work than cats, to be sure. And while I do not consider myself to be a cat person, I do love cats, and consider myself to be an animal person. I just love animals. We had cats growing up, and I adored them, and the cat box didn’t bother me (it was in an extra bathroom…we just don’t have any ‘extra’ space around here…)
San
Can you believe that personal checks were already obsolete in Germany when I moved to the States 20+ years ago? I never had a checkbook in Germany and was appalled that I had to write checks (for rent and bills) here. Haha. Although I did enjoy the process of filling them out (for some odd reason). I definitely operate check-free these days. 😉
Burberry is really cute. I wish we could have pets but our landlady doesn’t allow it.
J
I’m so curious, how did people pay their bills? Was EVERYTHING online 20 years ago? I feel like Europe is ahead of us but that is big.