Packing it up (or down)

For kicks tonight, I thought I’d try one of the compression packs I got awhile ago. One thing I learned during last year’s trip (right after – don’t over pack!) was that having to repack your jumbled up stuff all the time in order to find what you need is a pain in the patootie. So I thought I’d give these a try. My carry-on-sized bag came with two mesh zip packs too but these promise to make things smaller if needed.

In went a week of undies and a slip.

The bag has a partial zipper to provide an opening. Then there’s another zipper that goes all the way around and snugs down the edges and therefore the whole thing.

Days Off

Yesterday Mom and I toodled around a bit. I wanted to wander around in the little corner of Boscov’s where they have really basic shirts and stuff, always for pretty cheap. Mom found a sweatshirt type jacket in a pretty color with a lovely embroidered design and I got an armful of long sleeve shirts for work and travel.

From there, we went to Eastern Mountain Sports so I could ponder the need for hiking type shoes/boots and the weight of said shoes. I’m really a Birkies sandals year round kinda gal, giving in to closed shoes as needed. And I recently got a pair of Birkies walking style shoes. Trainers as they say. But… November. Probably just cold and rainy. I think I’ll keep pondering. But times running out for breaking in anything new.

We stopped for lunch at Bountiful Bread while we were in Stuyvesant Plaza. Then we made a quick stop at the local art supply shop, Arlenes, so I could get a couple pads of the smaller watercolor paper I have been using.

Back at Mom’s house, we saw a deer eating Mom’s neighbor’s shrubs. Watched it for a long time before it bounded off to the ravine.

I stopped at Target and got a few things including a new Bodum electric kettle to replace my original Aroma one that died unexpectedly. Well, I had a $10 coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I really like my downstairs Bodum – it’s fast and quiet. Then to the store for some eggs, and a little cheese and some wine. That left plenty of time to finish my left over sandwich for dinner and get ready for the big event of the night, the debate!

Today I’m mainly looking at stuff about places to go and doing some reading for someone else and then I’ll have to settle down and get my stuff together for the workshop I’m taking in November.

From Vincent

When using colors to recreate a general harmony of tones in nature, one loses it by painfully exact imitation. One keeps it by recreating in an equivalent color range, and that may not be exactly, or far from exactly, like the model. — Vincent van Gogh

Here, A Place to Stand

Here, A Place to Stand (More Like a Big Ball) 46 x 65 in, 2016

Here, a place to stand.
One last embrace, earth and sky;
light and dark entwine.

What I Did Today

Got to work too early so I sat in my car and admired the really big gulls up on the mall roof for a little bit and when that had gone on too long I did this:

Not sure why the gnome looks so crazy-eyed. Looks like he’s coming home with a bag of stuff after a wild night out.

Velvety Goodness

Is there anything more velvety than a horse’s nose? (and additionally, is there anything more able to seek and blobber around until it finds the slice of apple it hopes is in your palm than a set of horse lips?)

Probably not. The two horses and I enjoyed the sharing of a big carrot and an apple, aka horse candy. I was surprised how quickly they came over when I pulled my car over since I had nothing but pats for them yesterday.

From the Quote Box – Purpose

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilizing the mind as a steady purpose-a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 1797-1851

PoPoFest 2016

Even though the Poetry Postcard Fest technically ended with the end of August, there’s always a grace period afterwards where cards continue to navigate the postal system and folks catch up from various things that interfere with daily life and writing during a thirty-one day span. Some folks aren’t quite ready to put down the pen and so they continue to fire off what we like to call “bonus cards” – maybe not to your own group of 31 but pushing outward to others. And, let me tell you, finding a bonus card in the mailbox as August fades in the rear view mirror is a mighty fine thing!

All this is to tell you that I’ve added my own cards to the navigation bar above. If you click PoPoFest above you’ll see the three years of outbound cards for your amusement and edification. If you’re a 2016 Group One participant and didn’t receive a card from me, please be assured I sent one. Leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I’ll get you one, digital or reprint!

The Crazy Ones

Text of the above ad, here. Longer version below.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Sometimes I need to revisit the original. And the original reasons. Because all the rest is just all the rest. I spent a lot of time yesterday with all the rest and today I’m putting it away.

things that make you go – huh

Went to see a new doctor recently. Same practice, different doc. I asked who they had that was new because I needed a change. I got a younger woman who was ok Did a very quick, cursory physical. Declared my lungs clear and my back suspicious spot free. Asked about switching my meds to the by-mail plan that my insurance provides and I explained as best I could about how the process works. The doc allowed that she’d send one set of prescriptions to the local pharmacy and then await the digital request from the online process. She also asked if I needed nebulizer stuff. I didn’t have a nebulizer til a year ago when their urgent care sent me home with one but ok. And she wanted me to take the heavy duty vitamin D stuff, one a week for a couple months and then regular OTC. Personally I think D is the new drug du jour. Don’t go out in the sun, wear sunblock and take all this vitamin D.

A few days later I had the vitamin D, four BOXES of nebulizer stuff (one hundred treatments!) and an inhaler from the local pharmacy. I kept poking at the online thing and hoped it was going to tell me it had worked.

First a big package came with SIX inhalers. SIX! My understanding was that I was supposed to get a three month supply. A few days later I got three of the preventative drug that I really needed. That sort of confirmed the three month supply idea but what about the other one?

And that, boys and girls is how I went from needing prescriptions filled to getting a boatload of stuff for what it would cost for one month’s supply. Ummm thank you insurance company? Where to store it all…