Motivation ... or Not

Due to a lack of real interest--mine--I'm taking a break. If I get an interesting photo, I'll try to post it here. Otherwise, I should probably work on the words on my other blog.

Ursula ... Get It?

Meet Ursula, the newest member of our plush family. She was a gift from younger son's significant other. The husband told her not to get me a "big rabbit," said rabbit being 26 inches tall. So she got me a 53-inch tall bear. Ursula is oh so very soft and will read many a book with me. As for the name Ursula, get it? Genus Ursus ... bear.

Peach You Say?

I figured it was worth it to show what was inside the jar I put up yesterday. No, it doesn't look at all peachy. Never again will I leave jars of anything in a box. Out of sight out of mind for 16 years! I think that's one for the record books around here.

Shelf Life

From the depths of the basement storeroom came this and 23 of its friends, peach jam made in, yes, July of 2000. Sixteen years ago or 15 years past its expiration date. No peach color. No peach taste either. Younger son actually tasted it. He said it tasted sweet, which is not how it smelled. It did not reek, but if you put your nose close and inhaled, there was an unpleasant odor. No, I will not let this happen with the several dozen jars I've made of strawberry jam.

In a Jam?

I had one box of Sure-Jell pectin left over from the jam-making in early July. I can't let it go to waste, so I bought one more and plan to make two more batches of strawberry jam tomorrow. Every time I get a jar to give away, the husband looks at me with hurt eyes. I figure with two more batches, or about 14 or 15 jars, I'll have enough to keep him happy while still gifting people sweet enough to deserve it.

No Longer on the To-Do List

I took this photo at a Myo Sim karate rank exam two nights ago. I used to do things like this. It was one of the most fun things about practicing karate. Not going to happen again, though; karate and I are no longer close friends. I've now had each shoulder fixed once, and that's enough.

Thursday Just a Wee Bit Late

These are not one of my current pairs of running shoes, but I put them here to mark that I will soon be wearing one of my two new pairs of running shoes, surgeon's report willing and the creek don't rise. One of the new pairs is purple; the other is orange. Colors are fun.

You Doll, You

For those days on which you are asked via email if you have a doll with the head and limbs still attached to the body. (The ruler for scale is 15 inches long.) When subsequently asked if one has clothes for such a doll, you find a baby-sized Harvard t-shirt and answer," Why, yes. Yes, I do."

Years in One's Life

The good intentions of a photo every day are not immune to lying in bed thinking, "I didn't post a photo today. Screw it! I'm not getting up and posting one now."

Self Portrait?

Another blast from the past from about two years ago. Her hair has since been pulled out, and the facial features--lips, eyes, eyebrows--removed with acetone. Her featureless, bald head sits with several others in a box in the basement awaiting...well, I'm not sure yet just what they will become. Sometimes art waits to happen.

It's the Little Things

Yoda and Clay Matthews sit beside my work computer and my home one. Yoda conveys wisdom, something I am sometimes in need of. Clay reminds me of younger son; they could be twins if Clay were smaller or younger son were larger. Should younger son ever manage to meet Clay and gives me a photo of the occasion, I will get a tattoo of a red heart and the word "SON."

Real Guy? Real Person!

Given that I am still iffy on backing up my single vehicle, it will be a while before I'd try it with a trailer attached. I should go to a parking lot early Sunday morning and give it a try. Of course, doing it with vehicles to each side may be quite different from doing it with just the pavement lines there.

Something Salty, Something Sweet

Here's what I said about this photo on Facebook: What an Extraordinary Life I lead, documented photographically thanks toTerri Usher. Our nest has emptied, which somehow convinced me that I need to do a bit of cleaning and re-organizing. The sheet protectors hold recipes culled from a stack of pages torn out of magazines and newspapers or printed from the webworld. Now to sort them and find new notebooks big enough to hold these and the others I sorted two years ago.

Autumn Is Coming?

This is not the first yellow leaf to fall from one of our trees. It is only the first one I have photographed. I'm wondering if the leaves are leaving their trees because of the heat. Temps are supposed to be 100 (F) or more this weekend into next week. While I love hot weather, three digits are a bit too much even for me.

Doubled Helices

I'm in a University of Michigan study that runs through a Facebook app called Genes for Good. Complete enough health tracking and health history questionnaires and they send you a "spit kit." Return everything correctly, and they will run your DNA. I don't know any other way to get that done for free, well, for a little bit of time. Stay tuned for how this all works out.

Morning Shadows

On one of my portable hard drives, I have a Shadows folder containing all sort of shots of my own shadow, the dog's shadow, other shadows. There may even have been some moonshadows in there. The shadow-light composition above was the driveway this morning. I was getting in the car to go to a physical therapy appointment, but had to take a couple of shadow shots first. Fortunately, I had a camera other than my phone with me. The phone is okay, but one goal of this blog is to get me back in the habit of using a camera camera as opposed to a phone one.

Watch the Birdie!

The deer around our house are pretty calm. They can be grazing in the yard when we come out of the house. They look up, then go back to eating. They've learned that we aren't the enemy. (I just hope they realize that other people might be.) The birds who come to our feeder are also getting quite brazen.. The two pigeons (and one squirrel) who were on the ground beneath the feeder ran off when I approached, but the little guy at the feeder just kept right on eating. I went there to take a photo of the fleece ball the birds and squirrels pull at to get materials for their nests. I decided I liked the photo with the bird, wee thought it may be, better than the close up of the fleece ball.

Black, White, and Shades of Grey

This basket holds 18 blocks in blacks, whites, and shades of grey. I was hoping to add one more, which would have been the penultimate one, today, but the quilting goddesses were displeased with me. After sewing what would have been the penultimate seam, I realized that I had placed one of 36 squares (each made of two pieces) incorrectly. I decided that setting everything aside until tomorrow (when I'd hoped to be making the ultimate block) was better the frog sewing (rip-it, rip-it, and sew on). I want to get the last block pieced so that I can move on to the next effort, which will be repairing the first quilt I ever made. That's not going to be easy, but it will be done.

Yesterday? Oops!

I was settling into time-to-go-to-bed mode when I realized I had not taken or posted a photo for yesterday. My bad. It won't promise it won't happen again, because I expect it will. Just not today.

When the nest empties, there is suddenly empty space that can be occupied. The desktop computer that used to sit on this desk in the dark area of our living room behind the fireplace is now on the empty desk in what was older son's bedroom. He did such a good job of moving out that his former room was easy to convert into the husband's office and wife's (yes, that would be me) yarn storeroom. Older son had floor to ceiling bookcases that now hold my yarn and will help me remember what yarns I have or don't have. I'm trying to repress thoughts of any I don't have because being able to see all my yarn tells me that I do not need any more. There is more than enough yarn there for, thinking optimistically, the next 60 years of my life.

Which Way to the Beach?

I work part-time from home for the reason that I don't want to work full-time nor do I want to go to an office every day. I did darken the office doors today for carrot cake for a colleague's birthday. To visit my office, I park in one of the university's parking garages and then trek some distance to the building in which my office is located. It was in the 90s (F) with humidity feeling in the 90s as well today, plus they had closed the sidewalks I normally use making me trek over all get out to get there. On the way back to the car, I passed the university's beach volleyball court, where I did not expect to see a group of Mennonite youth playing volleyball, males vs. females. I'd say the males had the advantage given the attire of the females. They got props for me for even being outside and active. I was sweltering in a tank top, walking. I don't want to think about how they might have felt.