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Q is for Quote – (Semi) Wordless Wednesday
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P is for Plumeria
I love the plumerias that grow in Hawai’i, though it turns out that they are not native to the Islands. So when we were shopping for a few gifts to bring home, I spied packages of plumeria cuttings, which are just a stick. I thought it would be nice to bring one home for Ted’s mom, who has a beautiful garden, and also one for myself. Once I read the instructions, and that they need full sun, I started to worry about mine. We don’t get a lot of sun, our little yard is mostly shaded. Nevertheless, I potted my plumeria stick in some dirt, and put it in the…
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O is for….
I’m stretching on this one. What the heck should I write about? I’m not going to write about any of the O adjectives above. I’m not going to write about ‘O’, the Oprah Magazine. I’m not going to write about Origami. Maybe a little bit about origami…when I was a baby my mom couldn’t afford a mobile to put over my crib, so she made one of origami cranes, which is an idea that I love. I should have done that for Maya, it would have been much cooler than the cute one we bought for her, but the one we bought would play music and go in circles to…
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N is for No (thank you)
Today’s post is a lazy Sunday post. Not a lot of effort. Here’s some food items that lots of people like, but when offered to me, I will say, “no, thank you.” At least, I’m working on it. I have been known to be rude and make a face and say ‘ewww’, which would be a little more acceptable if I were 5, but at this point, not so much. Nutella Bok Choy Mangoes Chorizo (I’m very guilty of the ‘eww’ on this one. Working on it.) Deep fried gizzards (That’s kind of a joke…I was driving and could not stop to take a picture, but while driving to visit…
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M is for Maid
Have you watched Maid on Netflix? I loved it. Our TV watching schedule is complicated, because Maya and I watch TV while Ted works, and then Ted and I watch TV while Maya gets ready for bed, due to work schedules. So we have the option of watching certain shows only on the weekend, or we can watch things in shifts. So if I can’t wait until the weekend to watch, I have to watch with one of them one day, and then watch with the other the next day. For me, this show was worth it. I really, really enjoyed it. It broke my heart so many times. Maid…
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L is for Lincoln Highway
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm—the wily, charismatic Duchess and earnest, offbeat Woolly—have stowed away in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future, one…
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K is for Kindred
(Octavia) Butler’s most celebrated, critically acclaimed work tells the story of Dana, a young black woman who is suddenly and inexplicably transported from her home in 1970s California to the pre–Civil War South. As she time-travels between worlds, one in which she is a free woman and one where she is part of her own complicated familial history on a southern plantation, she becomes frighteningly entangled in the lives of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder and one of Dana’s own ancestors, and the many people who are enslaved by him. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given: to protect this…
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J is for Joyful (Wordless Wednesday)
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I is for Inspiration
As in, I don’t have any. Posting via the letters of the alphabet is supposed to help, but sometimes even with a prompt, I can’t think of anything. So, let’s see, maybe I can babble my way through enough to count as a blog post. Hmm. Well, we closed on my Grandma’s house, got the money for that, and distributed it to her beneficiaries. I bought myself a new purse with a little bit of mine. Most of it went into savings, we have some expensive home repairs that are going to suck a lot of fun out of life in the next couple of years, but I did want…
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H is for Horses
I’m not sure when my love for horses started. As a small child I loved all animals, but at some point I fell especially in love with horses. Perhaps it was the influence of my friend Aimee, who lived across the street from me in Fairbanks and was a big fan of horses. She lives in California now, and she has horses. Look at that pretty face, the soft gentle eyes. I just want to pet this beautiful horse. Who knows, perhaps this horse is an asshole, but it looks like it would be so very affectionate and loving. My friend Nikki has horses, and when she goes to visit…
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G is for Green
My favorite colors are blue and green. I adore them both. Not so much for clothes or furniture or cars, but for me, they are the cool, soothing colors of nature. Because it is so dry and brown here much of the year, green is more rare for me than blue, and so I find green more precious. We get a lot of beautiful blue sky here, and not enough green. When we go somewhere that is not California, somewhere with lots of rain, and I see how lush and calming all of that green is, I swoon. Then again, there is that beautiful blue of the ocean and the…
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F is for Free
My readers know of the free tickets that we were given on our flight home from Portland in June, and that we used those tickets to travel to Maui last month. I was so thankful for the opportunity to have a real vacation…traveling to Portland for a long weekend is always lovely, and I was thrilled to see my family there, but it doesn’t really feel like vacation, especially since our main purpose for going up was to scatter my father’s ashes. As I’m sure you have guessed, ‘free’ doesn’t generally mean ‘free’. The tickets were for the cheapest possible seats, and on Alaska Airlines these days, that means you…
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E is for Eye
Our flight to Maui last month included a layover in Seattle. Soon after landing, I started seeing shooting lights in one of my eyes. I (very occasionally) get ocular migraines, which start with weird vision squiggles and blurriness, and sometimes progress to severe nausea. They are related to my sinuses, I am sure. I had some trusty sinus meds in my pocket, and just in case, I went into the news stand store and bought some Excedrin, as that is what always works for me when I have a migraine. I took it and worried and hoped for the best, and we boarded our flight to Maui. After awhile the…
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D is for Dinner
The struggle is real, people. Sometimes, I have an absolute craving and as I cook on week nights, it’s easy to come up with ideas…and sometimes by the time I get off of work, I’m still interested in eating that thing and cooking it even. And sometimes, not. If it weren’t for Ted and Maya, it would be much easier, I would just have nibbles for dinner, which is what I would prefer anyway. Actually, I think Maya would be OK with that too, but it’s hard to do with Ted’s dietary restrictions. Sometimes I think of something I want, and it either doesn’t fit with Ted’s restrictions or Maya’s.…
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C is for COVID (Wordless Wednesday)
(Ruining the ‘wordless’ part, but results were thankfully negative)