Enjoying The Photography of Paul Militaru

“Shyness” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

 

“White Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

 

 

“White Tree Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

The Magic of Music

onquotes.net via Maria Chivu

I’m really enjoying private ‘concerts’ via YouTube lately. I just click on one of my favorite artists and then am taken back to wonderful memories and good feelings as I do the things I need to do for the day.

I find it amazing how I am suddenly 14 again, dancing on a patio with a bunch of friends from school, swaying to a favorite song while I’m overwhelmed with feelings. I hope that senior centers, nursing homes, retirement places, and other facilities are using this as a way to make people happier.

Excuse me. I’m dancing with one of the first boys I ever thought I loved right now…

Thoughts on a Friday 4-3-2020

via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

I’m feeling very lucky that so far, we are safe from the virus, in a warm, dry home with our pets. We have food and water, a throw to take a nap under, books to read, paint to splatter, and some good hugs – even with social distancing.  I just enjoyed a chat with our son who is across the world from us. He is thinking about starting a YouTube page with videos on how to meditate. He is so calm and happy. I hope he does this, so he can pass this gift he has found on to others.

One suggestion on a way we can help each other through this time of economic uncertainty –  if you are in the position to do this – pay the many good people who do things for you the normal amount you would pay them, even if you’re not getting the service, to show how very much you appreciate them.  If you are not in a position to pay them, consider calling them to check on them, showing them you are thinking of them.

It’s rainy today, so we’re staying inside.

Yesterday we had to go to the hardware store because we had a leak in the well house. We were able to find the replacement parts we needed and were able to fix the leak. We were going to change the tires on the truck – from our snow tires to the regular ones – but we seem to have a reprieve for the moment due to the rain. ANOTHER reason to enjoy the rain! :0)

Today I’m planning to go up to my art room (my friend, Marsha, says I should call it a ‘studio.’) to have fun painting some wooden earrings for myself.

I hope you find a fun, satisfying way to spend your day today.

Stay safe.

 

I Love Puns 2

email from my friend Marsha

For Your Own Good

Lisa Bearnes Richey

I may have to actually start wearing one of these!

Playing in My Art Room

Yesterday afternoon I escaped to my art room, leaving worries behind and thinking only of the joy of painting.

Since I’m a slob and regularly seem to plop something on my tee that won’t come out in the laundry, I usually have a nice ‘canvas’ on which to paint! I can cover up the stained part of the tee and enjoy wearing it for a long time. :0)

 

Today I’m planning to paint some wooden earrings for myself.

I Love Puns

email from Marsha

How Soap Kills the Coronavirus

This is a video my friend Marsha sent me about how to use soap to kill the virus and why it is important to wash for 20 seconds.

New York Post

If the link above doesn’t work for you, here is the URL –

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwHMZPgxPNHJCvxvzBrrhpXkMQX?projector=1

Reward

2 STAR art

For the past several days I’ve been working hard, doing lots of ‘shoulds.’

I am now caught up on bookkeeping and tax records through March. The garden is weeded and harvested. The yard looks like someone actually lives here. The aquarium water is still clean. And the list goes on, though the to-do list continues to grow.

As a reward for my efforts, I’m going to give myself permission to play in my art room today. I have some ideas that have been rattling around in my brain lately. I’m even DREAMING about some of them.

I’m going to forget about all that is going on (because I am lucky enough that I can put it aside – at least for a bit) and I will enjoy throwing some paint around.

I MAY do some work today, but the focus will be trying to get at least SOME of the paint on the project!

Happy Wednesday!

A Smile to Start April 2020

Aaron and Lenny help us enjoy April. No fooling.

I found the Austrailian Firefighters fundraising calendar online several months ago. I loved the idea of great looking firefighters with cute dogs to celebrate each month while bringing needed funds to the firefighters. This was before they had all the awful bush fires there.

I’m happy to share the gorgeous guys with you each month. I hope that you will consider buying a calendar each year, or maybe one for yourself and others as gifts for the new year, to aid their fundraising efforts and bring yourself a mile each month.  AustralianFireFightersCalendar.

May the end of April bring us through anxiety and into better times.

Easter Mailbox Decoration

I’m of two minds about putting up decorations on our mailbox these days.

One of the school buses comes right by our house, and used to stop at our driveway years ago when our son was attending school here. I think about the kids seeing what we have put up twice each month, hoping they get a kick out of the decorations.

Since the schools are closed, maybe through the end of the school year due to the threat of COVID-19, it may be like throwing a bottle in the ocean. Maybe no one sees our decorations but us and our good mailman.

Now we put them up in a spirit of hope that the world will soon get through this awful time.

The Art of Martin Debenham

Martin Debenham Stainless Steel Wire Sculpture – photo by Mark Horton, via Emma Taggart, MyModernMet

 

Martin Debenham Stainless Steel Wire Sculpture – photos by Mark Horton and Martin Debenham, via Emma Taggart, MyModernMet

 

Martin Debenham Stainless Steel Wire Sculpture – photos by Mark Horton and Martin Debenham, via Emma Taggart, MyModernMet

 

Martin Debenham Stainless Steel Wire Sculpture – photos by Mark Horton and Martin Debenham, via Emma Taggart, MyModernMet

 

Martin Debenham Stainless Steel Wire Sculpture – photos by Mark Horton and Martin Debenham, via Emma Taggart, MyModernMet

 

Martin Debenham Stainless Steel Wire Sculpture – photos by Mark Horton and Martin Debenham, via Emma Taggart, MyModernMet

Crayon Art 2

Arts and Crafts by Darcy Magnan

 

 

Painting Valley

 

 

The Talent Bank

What to Do If You Get COVID – from an ER Doctor & Former Special Forces Medic

This was sent to me by a good, good friend. It has real information that may help all of us.

________

My name is Dr. Richard Angel, an ER Doctor & Former Special Forces Medic, and I want to help as many people as possible get through having Coronavirus and keep them well enough to stay out of the hospital. I have Coronavirus and am recovering after 2 weeks of symptoms. Here is what I have done to stay relatively well and recommend these measures to you.

Dr. Angel’s Coronavirus Care:

1. Hydration: drink plenty of fluids, water, tea, warm beverages. Especially important for the elderly who are often dehydrated. This flushes the kidneys of toxins, keeps plenty of fluid in the body to keep secretions as liquid as possible- not allowing thick mucous to fill the lungs. An occasional toddy or hot herb tea with honey and lemon is great. (If unable to take much, sip small amounts of regular Gatorade  or sports drinks and water. This will give you potassium, sodium and glucose, vital nutrients.)

2. Immune support: I like Zicam zinc throat lozenges 4 x a day, especially at night before going to bed to keep viral loads low. Also maybe Emergen-C, other supplements like Vitamin D 5000 U per day, perhaps some immune supporting mushrooms. Gargle and drink diluted apple cider vinegar may help, you may warm and add honey if needed.

3. Diet: Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and quality proteins. Oranges daily are great! Lemons and honey for your tea. This is not a time for a minimal diet: you want to be well fed with nutritious foods to prepare your body for potential loss of appetite. If you get sick enough to require hospital respiratory support, your body needs to be fueled up to “run a marathon”.

4. Medications: Zicam lozenges for prevention and treatment of symptoms. Plenty of cough drops. Vicks Vaporub is excellent and a must have item to decrease cough, open and soothe bronchial passages. Delsym 12 hr dextromethorphan extended release (the flat bottle) is a great baseline cough suppressant. You may add day and night cold and cough medicines, Tylenol (acetaminophen) as needed. NyQuil is good to help sleep with Vaporub and warm tea. Afrin or neti pot may help clear your nose as will over the counter sinus medications. There is an excellent old cough syrup that you can generally take with other medications, it is like liquid menthol, called “Buckley’s Original Mixture”. I highly recommend having some available—can be found on Amazon.

5. Equipment: Vaporizer machine and Vaposteam. Get the old school one that heats up not cool mist. This is a lifesaver. I would also recommend a simple nebulizer machine ($50) and saline ampules (the pink ones). These are available on Amazon. You may need an albuterol ampule prescription as well. In addition to a thermometer, a fingertip pulse oximeter can be very useful. A general “cutoff” for being sick is about 94%—below this you may need to see a doctor. Shortness of breath and work of breathing are signs you are getting sicker and need to see a physician. (Or call in!)

6. Exercise: sunshine, light walking if you are ill is always great. If not symptomatic, keep workouts relatively light. Now is not a great time to suppress your immune system using energy recovering from a hardcore workout. However keeping fitness—especially cardiovascular at optimum levels which may pay big dividends if you get really sick.

7. Hot baths, hot tub soaks for 15 minutes twice a day may help with an “artificially induced fever” that makes you a less hospitable host for the virus among other benefits.

8. Hygiene: Shower/bath daily with clean clothes daily, brush teeth, etc. This cannot be underestimated—decreases the virus and the morale boost is very important.

In summary, the goal is to keep your body and immune system functioning at optimal levels, stay hydrated and make yourself unattractive to the virus!

So make some homemade chicken soup, do all the right things to avoid spread and we will get through this difficult time.

Wishing all of you good health and a speedy recovery. Thanks to Jason and the GORUCK Team for their support!

Rich Angel

Crayon Art

Creative Ideas- Projects and Tutorials

 

IdeaStand.com

 

lindseydanielladidit.blogspot.com

How Grandchildren Perceive Their Grandparents

Pinterest

This was sent to me by my good friend, Marsha. I smiled all the way through and just had to share these –

1. I was in the bathroom, putting on my makeup, under the watchful eyes of my young granddaughter, as I’d done many times before. After I applied my lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, “But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!” I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye….

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 72. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, “Did you start at 1?”

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, “Who was THAT?”

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. “We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods.” The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, “I sure wish I’d gotten to know you sooner!”

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, “Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?” I mentally polished my halo and I said, “No, how are we alike?” “You’re both old,” he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather’s word processor. She told him she was writing a story.
“What’s it about?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I can’t read.”

7. I didn’t know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, “Grandma, I really think you should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!”

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, “It’s no use Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights.”

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, “I’m not sure.” “Look in your underwear, Grandpa,” he advised “Mine says I’m 4 to 6.” (WOW! I really like this one — it says I’m only ’38’!)

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, “Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today.” The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. “That’s interesting.” she said. “How do you make babies?” “It’s simple,” replied the girl. “You just change ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es’.”

11. Children’s Logic: “Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said a teacher. The small boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.” The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked. “Sure,” said the young boy confidently. ‘It means carrying a child.”

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog’s duties.
“They use him to keep crowds back,” said one child.
“No,” said another. “He’s just for good luck.”
A third child brought the argument to a close. “They use the dogs,” she said firmly, “to find the fire hydrants.”

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. “Oh,” he said, “she lives at the airport, and whenever we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we’re done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”

14. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good things, but I don’t get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

15. My Grandparents are funny, when they bend over, you hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.

Sparkling Fish

Yesterday my husband and I cleaned out the aquarium. My husband actually worked with me, rather than getting impatient and DUMPING stuff, with me struggling to catch it. We ended up with a sparkling aquarium with fish who may be smiling at the nice clean water or may be griping to each other that they were rousted, once again, while the humans made them swim in a small bowl of water with a towel over it – AGAIN.

 

I have ordered a thing that is supposed to help with ammonia now, since the other additions I’ve tried are helping, but no making it so I don’t have to clean the whole aquarium once a week. I’m hoping I end up with a combination that results in definitely smiling fish.

Veggie Garden

 

This gives you a big picture of our garden. There are two rows of three 4’x4′ wooden boxes on legs filled with Mel’s Mix, a soil substitute.  They are tied together on an irrigation system.

 

Here’s another view.

Here you see mainly head lettuce plants plus a couple of spinach plants.

 

Here you see head lettuce and red onions.

 

Spinach plants

 

So far, things are going really well. As I said in my last post, I harvested the first batch today. I just finished using the push-around weed whacker to cut things down around the outside of the garden and behind the barrels of the Mel’s Mix Components behind the shop. (You can see the barrels in the upper portion of this photo.)  I also did a couple of areas beside the garden and between the garden and the house.

My husband is mowing again now, trying to distribute all the huge rows of tall weeds he mowed down a few days ago. It’s ALMOST looking as if someone cares about this place now…

 

Our 1st Harvest of 2020!

I went out this morning and weeded in our veggie garden. I was able to do a small first harvest!

 

We will enjoy lots of lettuce leaves from the head lettuce plants. Eventually, the head comes up in the center of each plant.  I’m basically a city kid, not having tried to grow anything before, so I was like a kid at Christmas when I went out one day last year to find I had heads of lettuce – just like in the grocery store – but larger, and NICE. Nice enough I was able to share with my friends.

 

I am hoping that my spinach will produce a lot. We will enjoy this in salads, but I will also try to freeze a lot of it. I love it that there is no waste.

Happy Wisteria

We have been working to get our wisteria to grow from its base in the planter on the right of the photo to a tree off the edge of this picture on the left.

 

A closer view. Things are looking more lush each day.

 

This fills me with hope for the future. It makes my heart sing.

Caution

Tee Public

Highly Contagious

Awareness 22 via Jerri St John

Timing Is All

Very Well Family

We went out to get supplies this morning. Just as we were coming out of the store, the rain came down. By the time we had all the bags in the truck and I had returned the cart, we were both dripping. We stopped at one more place, getting even wetter, if possible, and then came home. Of course, as soon as we came home, the rain stopped. We put things away, made lunch, and then both fell asleep in our chairs.

The sun is shining now and you would never know it happened. It almost makes me feel as if I dreamed the whole thing! Such is life in the exciting Lewis household these days. Timing is all.

I am trying to have a specific goal for each day, particularly since we are trying to stay home and limit our exposure to the virus. Today the goals were replenishing supplies, paying bills, catching up the bookkeeping, and cleaning out the aquarium.  The first two are done…

Be safe.

 

 

 

Escaping Into a Book…

The Enchanted Portal

Please Wait

Amazon.com

I would love to have this shirt….

Thoughts on a Friday 2-27-2020

Patrick van Bakkum Photography via Penny Yaffe Krakow

My heart simply melted when I saw this wonderful photo, so I had to share it.

I FINALLY finished the initial yard work for the season this afternoon!  We have been battling true champion weeds – and LOTS of them, even though we spread weed killer in the yard. I finally finished pulling all the weeds out of the rock bed that goes around the base of our house. When things get back to normal in the world, we’ll get more bags of rocks and spread them. In the meantime, my husband did what HE calls spraying for weeds in the bed today. We’re due for rain tonight into tomorrow, but once we have a dry day, I plan to hose down the rocks with weed killer in a more serious fashion. I also trimmed the edges of the grass, weed whacked around the back yard, and then used the leaf blower to clean things up before our rain this evening.

I’m going to do a long, slow session of yoga stretches and then take a long, hot shower to try to get my body to quit yelling at me. I’m tired, but the main thing is that the back of my legs didn’t like all the getting down on my hands and knees to pull the weeds out of the rocks.

We called in for lunch, and my husband did the curbside pick up, and got our mail while he was out. I got a roast in the crock pot and we’ll have that, plus the leftovers from the squash casserole recipe I tried yesterday. It was really good.  If you’d like to try it, the name is, “Low Carb Yellow Squash Casserole” from  allrecipes.com.  My husband was kind of expecting the casserole his mom made years ago, even though he knows we are trying to eat low carb, low sugar, etc. He asked what the ‘crunchy stuff’ was. When I explained that this recipe substituted almonds for crackers, he decided he liked it a lot. :0)

I hope you had a good day and that you and your loved ones are staying safe.

 

 

I MAY Be Too Old for This…

Letters From the Loft

The sun came out today to brightly shine on my while I’m trying to rid the rocks in the bed around the house of weeds. I lasted about 40 minutes, then came in and drank a really large glass of ice water, and then a lot of rest. I’m making progress, but this spring has been the best encouragement for champion weeds we’ve had in my memory of living here for almost 33 years now.  So far today, I’ve cleared an area from the garage door out to where the bed turns and goes around the back of the house.

I’m going to give it one more session today. Then I’ll drink water until my eyeballs float and then do a LOOOOONNNNNG session of yoga stretches before dinner this evening.

I have some nice pads to put under my knees, and a roll-around seat, so I’m about as well set up as one could be for the task, but it is still a LOT of work.

Guess who will NOT forget to hose down the WHOLE rock area thoroughly with weed killer once the weeds are out!

Thoughts on a Thursday 3-26-2020

http://www.JimHunt.us

Since it finally quit raining for a bit here, we are scrambling to get our yard under what passes for control around here.

My husband used the riding mower a couple of days ago to cut the grass (mostly weeds) for the first time this season. We had spread weed killer earlier, but this spring has been a perfect one for all the weeds that have ever been in our yard, encouraging them to burst forth as never before. Some of the weeds were over a foot high! It took my husband twice as long as usual to mow, but he got it done, leaving huge amounts of cut grass everywhere. The next day he used the push-around weed whacker to get big places he couldn’t reach with the mower.

That left it to me to wield the hand-held weed whacker to get what is left, trim and edge the sidewalks, around the planters, under the deck, etc.. This spring has also encouraged the weeds to come up in the rocks we have around the house. Usually we can simply spray weed killer on them, but this year they are so prolific we actually have to pull what is there first. I did the front yard yesterday. My body is complaining pretty loudly today, but I’m going to try to get the back yard done today.

laughtard

When I finish, I’ll schedule a half hour to 45 minutes of gentle yoga stretching to get these old muscles stretched out again. I’ll schedule the elliptical trainer for days when I’m not doing so much in the yard.

I’m finding it difficult during this time to stick with my keto eating plan. I love the basics of it, but find I’m craving comfort type food during this stay-at-home time. I realize it’s probably just another excuse, but I ate some Blue Bunny New Freedom No-Sugar-Added Ice Cream with my husband last night.  It’s better for my husband, but it’s bad for me, as far as carbs go. It also has maltitol, which we should both be avoiding. “Being good” is difficult. Being good when my husband keeps bringing things I need to avoid into the house makes it more challenging. Being good during a pandemic is an even larger challenge.

Today I found a Low Carb Yellow Squash Casserole that sounds yummy. I’ll make that to serve with our leftover hamburger patties for our dinner tonight.  I will also make a loaf of bread from a favorite keto recipe so I can have some tonight.

It’s funny what each of us considers something that is ‘necessary’ to do in times when you are encouraged to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with other humans. Apparently washing his car at the local car wash is a necessary thing for my husband, since he has just left to do it. I’m not even sure it’s open, though it is designed to be a place where no humans are needed. We will see if he comes back with a clean car or not.  Mostly, he has complied with staying home, so I’m trying not to fuss at him TOO much…

I am grateful that we are still healthy; have a warm, dry home; have food and water; and have Internet, books, TV, music, DVDs, art, pets, AND to-do lists to get us through this crisis. May we come out the other side as soon as possible and get people back to work.

Stay safe.

 

 

 

Gorgeous Glass Mosaics by Sue Smith

Gaudi Panel – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

 

Ball – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

 

A Recycled Bowling Ball – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

 

A Table Top or Well Cover – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

 

Aquarium Lamp with LED Lights – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

 

Arched Mirror – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

 

Blue and Crystal Lamp – SueSmithGlass.co.uk

Hope Springs

T.L. – LinkedIn

 

Unknown

 

Lilac – Paul Militaru Photography

 

White Magnolia – Paul Militaru Photography

 

Yellow Tulips – Paul Militaru Photography

 

Twice Blooming Purple Iris from one of our planters yesterday.

The Cat Family

Trustful – Ingo Arndt – Germany

 

via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn

 

Peace and Love