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 weeks or even months, nothing really seems blog worthy. When I’m in a blog flood, everything seems blog worthy. Book reviews, TV shows, sometimes politics, random thoughts. Having said that, I think I’m going to try to slow down a bit, and purposefully NOT blog every day in May, just to keep myself from getting all caught up in it. Hopefully this will mean more time visiting your place.
OK, on to this week’s Randomness.
It’s always fun to run into a T-Rex (um…sure, since they’re extinct), right? I met this one at last Saturday’s weekly protest.
More snail mail! This time a lovely homemade Easter postcard from Tobia! It may have had a rough time getting here, but hey, it came all of the way from Germany. Thank you Tobia!
Last Sunday we took a walk to one of our local parks, and stopped to see if we could find any turtles. It was a cold day (for April in our town, that is) so not many turtles, but there’s one popping its little head above water. Mostly we enjoyed watching this mama duck with her ducklings, which were feasting amongst the reeds. If you find the mama duck, and look just a bit behind her, you can see the turtle’s head.
The little clementine tree that my BFF sent me for Christmas has little flower buds!
I told you a few weeks ago about how my hummingbird feeder broke and fell. I replaced it within about 48 hours, but the hummingbirds have been slow to adopt it. I thought perhaps I hadn’t cleaned it well enough and it might have an odor they didn’t like, so I ran it through the dishwasher. That didn’t seem to help. I wonder if this plant with its riot of flowers is too tempting for them? The good news is that I’m finally starting to see a hummingbird at my feeder again, just within the last couple of days.
I swear, I’m done with ChatGPT and boiling the oceans, but I did play one more time…I loaded a photo of myself and asked what I would look as a dog. Gosh I’m pretty. Fake, but pretty.
I saw this sweet cartoon on Facebook the other day. Sweet because in it, the cartoonist is honoring his beloved cat, Jack, who had recently died.
The other day, Maya (of Pocobrat fame, not my Maya) mentioned a classical guitar performance that she had hoped to attend, which reminded me of the amazing classical guitarist, Andres Segovia, which then reminded me of the time I was at a payroll conference in San Antonio and on the final evening, the entertainment was Charo. Charo is mostly known for her sexy/comic ‘cuchi-cuchi’ persona, and I remember her mainly from guest star spots on The Love Boat when I was a kid, but she is also an amazing classical / flamenco guitarist, trained by Segovia. She changed out of her cuchi-cuchi outfit to put on her serious clothing, because one was fun silliness, and one was art.
Isn’t she fabulous?
What else…well, Anne inspired me to clean out my email inbox. The last time I cleaned it out entirely was January, and before that it had been a couple of years. My tricks are that I don’t look closely at emails and decide whether to keep them or not. I mean, I get rid of junk, but I don’t read every email from my sister and think about whether I want to have it forever, I keep them all. I have folders with different categories, and I just sort them and file them. The easiest way for me to get through the job quickly is to sort my inbox by sender, which makes sorting much quicker. That way I have all of my electric bills for the last 4 months together, and I can put them all in my ‘receipts’ folder. I have all of my Ulta ads together, and I can just delete those. It feels good to have that done.
Yesterday I stopped at our local Habit Burger and tried the tempura avocado wedges. They are tasty, crispy with a hint of spice in the batter, creamy in the middle. Very creamy. Would I order them again? Probably not, I didn’t like them as much as I like their tempura green beans. But it was fun to give them a try. I came home and ate an apple to try to counteract some of the deep fried effect.
Today I’m going to get my hair done. I did a root fill in about 4 weeks ago, and felt like my roots were too orange, but they calmed down so I just lived with it. Now it’s been 12 weeks since my last visit, and my hair could use a trim as well. I did relent and buy some of the correct color via Amazon recently, for next time I’m trying to make a salon coloring last longer, but that has been my only purchase since I cancelled my Prime membership at the end of February.
Tomorrow we will gather with Ted’s family and a couple of friends to celebrate his birthday! We’re having BBQ, though the weather is not cooperating and is supposed to be cool, mid 60s. Wednesday it was 81, so that would have been the right day to have a party, I guess.
32 Comments
Elisabeth
You tried the avocado!!!! It’s like my Dr. Pepper experience. Glad I tried it, don’t need to repeat it.
Congrats on the daily blogging. Woot, woot!
J
Yeah, I liked it OK, but didn’t love it. And I love avocados. There was nothing wrong with it per se, just not sure that creamy center is best with the crispy outside.
Suzanne
I am loving your frequent posts, but completely understand the need to dial it back. You are so on point about more posting = more blog fodder. I guess blogging is a muscle like anything else??
Your note about getting your hair colored reminds me that I need to schedule an appointment with my hair stylist. My hair is getting SO grey and it also needs a trim.
J
That’s exactly it…it’s a muscle. It’s not like my life is that different when I post every day vs. when I don’t post at all for a month or two. Just looking at the world differently.
AC
Congrats on your April achievement. I don’t blog daily although it sometimes seems like I do. Every now ans then I take a day or two off because if I am getting a little sick of myself, others must feel the same way. ?
J
LOL, I hear you. I get tired of hearing myself too.
Michelle G.
I was BLOWN AWAY by the Charo video! I had no idea she played the guitar like that. It makes me sad that she had to do that cuchi-cuchi stuff to make her career. Ah, well, what do I know? Maybe she enjoyed it.
Anyway, thank you for sharing the video – I love it!
J
I hope she had a lot of fun with the cuchi-cuchi, she has a great sense of humor. But yeah, she can sure play.
nance
Yay! You tried the avocado fries. I suspect I’d feel the same way that you did; our tastes are so similar. Once would be enough, and I’d go back to green beans and zucchini.
You make a beautiful dog, and that’s something I know I’ve never, ever said to anyone.
The weather is going to be chilly and a bit inhospitable here tomorrow, too. Spring has been very, very capricious in NEO, and I’m losing my patience with it. Nonetheless, the family will be here (Theo!), and we’ll be together for my birthday regardless of the weather. That’s the best gift I could ask for.
Happy Birthday to Dr. Ted, and I hope the barbecue is delightful.
J
Nance, perhaps you should say that to Z? That he makes a beautiful dog. 😉 BTW, have we had a picture of him? I’m not sure…
I hope you have a wonderful birthday and have a great time with Theo! <3
NGS
Huh. I’m on the fence about avocado fries. Maybe I’d like that? Maybe not?
Congrats on posting every day in April! That’s such a fun project. I’m suuuper behind on all things in life, including blog reading, but I was so happy to see a new post from you every day.
J
I think I’m still on the fence about the avocado fries. They weren’t bad, I just didn’t love them. I love fried things, I love avocados, but something was missing…
Karen Meg
Congrats on blogging everyday! I was trying too, but was unsuccessful life keeps getting in the way LOL.
I’d only seen the ChatGPT capability to make Cody a person, not the other way around! You look very pretty as a dog.
Charo, I hadn’t seen that name in a while, I used to watch the Love Boat religiously too. I think I sort of knew she was an amazing guitarist, so random!
Have a great weekend!
J
Thanks Karen, I’ve been enjoying seeing your A-Z posts! Charo is great right? I don’t remember how I found out she was so accomplished.
Margaret
I love tempura green beans and avocado but probably wouldn’t be crazy about those wedges either. I find such small things to blog about most days and enjoy reading others’ slice of life posts. That’s a beautiful dog! I haven’t done it for myself yet; I’m a little nervous. What if I’m a bulldog? LOL Great job on the daily blogging! I did that during the early days of the pandemic for a while when I had nothing but time on my hands.
J
LOL, I doubt you would be a bulldog, but if you were, you’d be a pretty one!
I agree, tempura green beans are so good. Avocados are so good. These weren’t bad, I ate them and enjoyed them, but I didn’t love them.
Lisa's Yarns
I’ve never blogged every day during a month, even in my hey day of blogging when I posted 5 times/week! It sounds overwhelming but I can see how the more you write, the easier it is to write!
I hope the weather turns out ok for the bday party! We are having Paul’s belated 7th bday park party tomorrow afternoon. It will be 60 which for us is nice for this time of year. I just hope it’s not windy! He invited all the boys in his class and about 12 total are planning to come so it should be fun!
J
I hope you have a wonderful party tomorrow!
Nicole MacPherson
Ooooh avocado fries! The one time I made them, I dipped them in coconut milk and then rolled them in panko, and baked them and omg, so delicious. Then again, I am an avocado super-fan. But I think you are too! So I recommend this course of action.
Bummer about the weather but as long as it’s not raining, maybe just sweaters will suffice? Fingers crossed!
Great job with all your blogging! I agree, when you’re on a roll you’re on a roll, and when you take a break it’s harder to get back in the saddle. And by “you” I mean “me.”
The ducklings and goslings have hatched around here and it’s so cute seeing the little families swimming around. I can’t wait for the quail babies to hatch, they are just the cutest little things.
J
I love avocados, so thought I would love these more than I did.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quail baby…they sound so cute!
PocoBrat
Thank you for the Charo link, J–I thoroughly enjoyed it! (I’d only know her from the silly catchphrase, or heard other people repeating it.) It made me think of what people have to do to get ahead.
I usually have a zero inbox because anything that doesn’t look important goes to a folder I’ve labeled “Binbox” lol. It’s there when I have time to examine it more closely, or I can do a search if there’s something I’m missing, but it’s not messing with my clean look.
Avocado is my favorite, and yet one of those things I can’t bear cooked, for whatever reason. Is there any cooked avocado concoction you’d recommend? (Purely rhetorical Q. 🙂
J
I admire your zero inbox status! I keep that for work, but for home it gets unruly sometimes.
Cooked avocados…I think this may be the only time I’ve tried them, so I’ll say no, nothing that I recommend.
Stephany
You would be a BEAUTIFUL dog, that’s for sure. Just like you are a beautiful human! I need to turn myself into an AI dog/cat. I wonder what ChatGPT would choose from me (probably a cat, lol.)
Congrats on blogging every day in April! That’s such an amazing accomplishment. I can only handle NaBloPoMo, although there are weeks when I have enough blogger fodder that I try to get up 5 posts/week and that can be super difficult!
J
Interesting to ask Chat what pet you would be…I just asked it to show what I would look like as a dog.
Posting daily was much easier in April than in November, because I didn’t feel the pressure to visit everyone else every day.
K @ TS
Nice work posting every day in April!! I had no trouble posting every day in November, but you are right about the rest of it. I could barely comment on everyone’s posts (and didn’t) but if nobody else was doing it, that would make it easier!
The avocados sound good, but I imagine it depends on the flavor of the avocados and the batter, so maybe you need a different take before you decide? Have you had fried dill pickles? Those are so good!
J
I keep hearing that fried dill pickles are really good, but I haven’t tried them. Next time I see them on a menu, maybe I’ll give them a shot.
Daria
It’s great that you blogged every day in April! I very much enjoyed Aunt Flo and your mom post.
A surprise for me was about Charo- I have heard of Andre’s Segovia before but never heard about her- but she is a virtuoso in that flamenco guitar. Beautiful!
J
Thanks Daria, I’m glad that you enjoyed the post about my mom and my Great Aunt! <3
Yeah, Charo can definitely play, she's amazing. I'm glad I could spotlight her here!
Ally Bean
Dinosaurs for Democracy is my favorite thing I’ve seen today. Nothing better than a light touch about a serious subject.
I knew you were popping up more often in my Feedly account, but didn’t realize you’d posted every day in April. That takes effort and commitment and seems like a throwback to when we all did that. Congratulations.
J
Thanks Ally! Yeah, I was a bit surprised to post every day in April. And you’re right, it’s like the good old days.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I dont think I could get fried avocado anywhere in Germany. Takes probably another two years until they sell it here. I would try but not sure I’d like it.
So happy my postcard arrived even though it had a rough time getting there. And it took forever. Man, I need to send my cards and letters like 6 weeks prior if I want them to arrive at a certain time.
I really need to sit down and clean out my mail box but it is such a broing job. Same with my phone. I am so low on storage space that it’s hard to do my job somedays. Argh.
J
Oh yeah, I need to clean up my phone and photos for sure. Bah!
I’m glad I tried the fried avocado, it was fun, but pretty sure I wouldn’t bother again.