We just knew

I stumbled on to this series of videos, Meet Cutes NYC and got sucked into the stories! Of course I started thinking about how I met David and what we would say if stopped on the street. 

How did we meet? David and I were thrown together when we both worked at different newspapers and we had committee meetings every weekend to put on a large newspaper gathering called Society of Newspaper Design in San Francisco. Every time we had a meeting I would asked my boss if David was going to be there and if I could go. One meeting he acted completely uninterested and went back to work and told my boss, he must have a girlfriend, he is not interested in me. David later told me he was so taken with me that he didn't know what to say. We both knew in the first couple of dates that we would be married, it was unspoken but you just knew. I was 35 and he was 36 and I soon got pregnant. We got married, moved to Seattle, bought a house, started new jobs ... and away we went with our new lives within a year of meeting. 

The time flew by quickly with us busy with Matt, little league, work, school, remodeling our home, learning about gardening ... all fun, all consuming. We were together for 33 years.

What did I like most about him? His sincerity, his integrity, his talent, his generosity (that could get him in trouble), that he would do anything for me and I had to be careful what I asked for. All my friends and family loved him. 

He was THE SMARTEST person I ever met. He knew all history, everything about music, art, sports stats. He loved and lived for sports, especially baseball. There was hardly a subject he did not have all the facts and figures in his head. He knew every musical artist, old and young and owned almost every album. We never googled anything with David near.

We could have fun discussions about jazz music, civil war history, world wars and we loved to watch historical documentaries. We both loved Band of Brothers. His favorite movie was The Natural, he cried at the end every time he watched.

What is advice for other couples? My advice is the same as most couples said, compromise. Try not to get angry about every little thing. Don't be jealous. Enjoy every single day because as I know now ... you don't know how many days we have left.

I didn't know anything about collecting fun stuff before I met him. He taught me all about interior decorating and what colors to paint walls. We would spend months picking out favorite colors and hours in Home Depot looking at paint chips! 

I think I was an empty vessel in many ways and he filled me up! He was the one person I would talk to about my obsession with my favorite theme songs and what emotions they drew out of me ... and he understood! Theme songs of all things! We both loved cowboy and indian themed stuff and collected until our hearts content. He loved to shop! I never met a man who could spend more time shopping than he could ... or spend more money.

I forgot all about Christmas. I don't think I thought much about Christmas or Christmas trees and decorations before David. I have never met a person who loved Christmas more, the season of giving. He took gift-giving, wrapping, to a whole new level and we are all having a hard time now with the low-key, cheap, on budget Christmas's that we now have! 

Go watch some, you will become addicted! And if you recall your love story, let me know! 

Proof that I am not dead yet, because these images excite me

 

 

Straight out of Tehran

Okay, I am not a fan of Iran but I completely disagree with what is going on. With the encouragement of bibi, we have gone in and started a war without even checking in with Congress.

BUT ... these Iranian Lego cartoons mocking the piggy president ... boy, do they have his number. And I really hope he is watching them too. There are a bunch on YouTube and well worth watching.

 

Falling down the dark hole of the Manosphere

I wanted to write about this days ago but then I got obsessed with the piggy president destroying our country, attacking Iran, posting himself as a savior and got sidetracked, you understand.

One day I fell down the rabbit hole of the manosphere! I realized I have been so focused on the one big beautiful orange asshole that I forget there is a whole back alley of them waiting to be discovered. I just remembered why I fell down the rabbit hole ... I watched the Netflix Theroux's alpha male documentary, definitely worth watching.

I knew who Andrew Tate was and have watched a few videos about him, but if you dive into too far you will need one of showers they offer in a nuclear fallout site.

Then that lead me to this guy who renamed himself clavicular and then by chance he appeared on a 60 Minutes Australia segment yesterday. Clavicular is all about the looksmaxxing, perfect look, perfect body and goes as far as to lightly smash his jawline with a hammer to "sculpted his look". And there are many of these guys out there, hammering their jaws and yammering about how perfect they want to look... and honestly, I think they are look hideous... not to mention they are stuck with their narcissistic, narrow-minded views of the world and can hardly look up from a big, exposed set of tits.  

After hours of watching these guys I stepped away feeling pretty negative about the future of our world, but then I crawled out of the rabbit hole and realized it is a narrow segment of our sick, young society paying some outrageous monthly fee to find out how these guys are becoming famous ... making these influencers wealthy little megalomaniacs. 

  

 

A smart combination

Maria Fernanda Smart is combining art techniques in a beautiful way. Thank you Angie for telling me about his fantastic artist.

"What's for dinner?"

I really miss writing my thoughts down! I think them ... but I don't collect them unless I blog. I was reflecting on my statement about being furious which seems incongruous with what I feel about my life ... content and calm. Yes, content and calm right now, with my lifestyle, with my day to day. I sit here in my family room, at beautiful skies, watch the clouds glide by OR, was in the last week, watch rain come pouring down. But it all seems wonderful right outside my window.

The cats lay around, snoring, content in their complete laziness. The dogs are only interested in what food I have on me. The girls come in and out of here, visiting, or telling me a story. The crows fly over. A jetliner is heading someplace exotic. I listen to the birds serenade the neighborhood, wrens, sparrows, junco, house finch, crows. They are all happy because Bri is good about feeding them. The neighborhood kids laughing. 

I mean I am still angry about losing my job, I miss my job ... I really miss being creative and productive but I have almost cut that out of my life. I know it is still hidden there somewhere because I get so tickled and excited when I find myself on Pinterest. My mind starts racing about all sorts of creative ideas. But my heart just isn't quite up for jumping in.

And I am angry with the world. So much so that I don't really want to be around other humans right now. I am angry with men that sit behind trump laughing when he makes some sick, stupid joke about God knows what ... usually at someone's else's expense. I am angry that the entire world isn't as upset as I am about having this fucking criminal sitting in the Oval Office, shitting on our constitution. I want the whole effing world to be as enraged as I am. They probably are ... I am just not talking to them (or anyone).

I know this is not making sense.  

My favorite time of day now is the hour we all start discussing dinner. "What's for dinner?" Someone will throw it out there. Then the discussion starts. My suggestion is always refried bean/cheese quesadillas. And everyone laughs. I could live on refried beans and tortillas. My next suggestion is always, bell pepper, cucumber and humus. More laughter from the group. 

Then everyone gets serious. I start thumbing through my Something Yummy Pinterest board. Matt usually has the winning suggestion. Nothing sounds good to the kids because they are picky little eaters.

I didn't have that luxury growing up ... being a pickly, little eater. I ate what was put in front of me, no questions asked. The same as I do today, I might add, because I am just glad and thankful that someone else has cooked a hot meal for me to enjoy. 

Matt has driven off to the store ... with that question in mind ... "what's for dinner?".  

And I am still pondering my anger question.

And what is on TV tonight? I watched the New The Four Seasons (I loved the original too). Netflix then suggested I would like Friends From College, which I did! Alpha Males (Filmed in Spain, is dubbed). Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole is back on Netflix! ...  And Bri made homemade brownies to eat while watching ;) I bought walnuts to make walnut crescents cookies. 

We (the collective WORLD-WIDE-WE) don't deserve anything nice!

I am f*cking furious this morning. Okay, I am furious every morning, but I am especially mad THIS morning. I cried, I swore.

I was just having this discussion with Bri yesterday about how short-sighted it is to just go blow up countries! Homes, housing, businesses, not to mention the lives lost! Destroying other countries, what is the point of that????

My point was, that if the US was at threat of being bombed to smithereens every day, I bet we would be a little more considerate about bombing other countries. 

I have also been posting some historical sites in Iran. I mean HISTORICAL... not 250 year-old stuff, but thousands of years old. Beautiful, intricate mosiacs.

Ancient & Achaemenid Sites

Persepolis (Shiraz): The ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Darius I in 515 BC, famous for its grand staircases, palaces, and detailed reliefs.
 

Pasargadae (Fars): The capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great, housing his tomb.

Bisotun (Kermanshah): A significant site along an ancient trade route featuring a 6th-century BC inscription and bas-relief of Darius I, crucial for understanding cuneiform.

Naqsh-e Rostam & Naqsh-e Rajab (Shiraz): Necropolis featuring rock-cut tombs of Achaemenid kings (like Darius II) and Sassanian-era reliefs.

Susa (Khuzestan): One of the world's oldest cities, serving as the Elamite and Achaemenid capital. 
 

Islamic Architectural & Cultural Sites 

Naqsh-e Jahan Square & Ali Qapu Palace (Isfahan): A massive 17th-century complex featuring the Ali Qapu Palace, Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, and the Shah Mosque, representing Safavid architecture.

 

 

Jameh Mosque of Isfahan: An architectural masterpiece tracing Islamic artistic evolution over several centuries.

Golestan Palace (Tehran): A 19th-century Qajar-era palace complex combining traditional Persian design with Western influences.

 

 

And now these imbeciles have gone and bombed   The Golestan Palace – often known as the "Rose Palace".

 

We, I mean the collective world WE don't deserve to have nice things. We can't  protect the wonderful animals we have. We can't help ourselves from destroying our air. We can not treasure anything of importance. I am disgusted with this world!

Cleaning 101 from a toothpick cleaner

I am a toothpick cleaner, always have been. I can live in messy ... but once I start cleaning, I can't stop until it meets my standards.

Having a mother and grandmother who were constantly frying for dinner ... chicken fried steak, fried chicken ... I learned at an early age now to clean a greasy kitchen thoroughly. (I am sure this is one of the reasons I love to eat cucumber, bell pepper and humus!)

My grandmother NEVER deep-cleaned her greasy kitchen and once I started, I could not stop. I mean I would SCRAP the dried, old grease from her Formica back splash.

Having a 'clean' kitchen was a requirement in my childhood home. Thankfully, I really love to clean but more importantly, I love a clean room. The way it makes you feel accomplished when you finish the task. My finishing touch is always a spritz of good smelling room fragrance. 

So the kids fry a lot of meals here and I am compelled to do my "grease" cleanup routine. This means, around the stove top, back splash and side tiles, the vent hood, wash the grates, wash down grease from teapot that sits on the stove top.

So when I say "I did the dishes" ... this is what I am really doing! 

My favorite part of the day is when we start thinking/discussing "what's for dinner". Especially since I never have to cook it ;)

The Camellia is blooming in the neighbors yard, big, luscious, pink flowers. I tried to grow on in our yard a long time ago and it died. I always feel so lucky to have it right there at my eyesight from my desk window.

Bri reminded me the other day, we have a lot of cleanup and pruning to do soon in the yard.

The rain. It rains in one direction for a couple of hours, then in another direction. I am tired of watching raindrops pour down the windows, even more tired of having the wipe down poor Murphy, who comes in soaked. But he loves to be wiped down.

Murphy is such a 200-lb baby. In the middle of the night, he gets lonesome, or sad, or something and I wake up with a huge nose in my face. Him, just standing there, staring at me .... waiting for something? Sometimes he will get up and lay on my legs, which means, you can not move one inch. Or I check his food and water or give him a couple of pretzel/peanut butter treats from Costco. He is such a great, gentle dog with the kids and family members. So intimidating elsewhere. But Murphy is the most sensitive dog I have ever been around.

 I am doing, watching anything to try NOT to pay attention to the madness going on. I think I mentioned I have LOVED watching Turkish Rom Coms! They are almost all dubbed whereas the Spanish Rom Coms or Novellas are subtitled. The Spanish could learn something from the Turks.

On Netflix: Love Tactics, Thank you, Next, Old Money are a few. The women are beautiful (usually all lawyers), the men are fabulous, they are all rich, the plot, silly, even they classify them as "goofy, romantic". But I can not get enough. You can thank me later ;)

PS the trailers are not dubbed but the show is. 

The reality of death

I have been spending time in the car driving back and forth to Seattle and have been writing this post in my head for a couple of days now. 

It is a little painful but I was talking to another friend who said she had been thinking about the same thing. Death. At my age, I think about death a lot, not in a morbid sense but the thing of what is to come. And I saw my old place of work from the highway and was thinking about the loss of my job. Then I was insulted by a friend of mine and decided I don't think we can be friends anymore. Another death, death of a long-time friendship. I have experienced lots of death with the ending of my relationships with friends and family in this political climate. The loss, the feeling of loss really took shape in my brain. Death of family, death of spouse, of parents, of careers, of jobs, of friendships. These things just happen at our age, it is inevitable and coming to terms with it is the healthy way to go. 

I  brought this up with another friend who wishes I wouldn't be negative about life but I don't see this as "negative", I see this as acceptance.

Ending a friendship is painful but when you have been shown how that friend really feels about you, you must take action. 

I am not afraid of dying. The kids and I talk about it all the time. I want us all to be prepared for it will happen, if we want it to or not. In the meantime, we have a great life we are living in the here and now. I think us all watching David pass, laying on the grass in the backyard made life and death even that much more real. I lost Pixie not long ago, a 16 year relationship. We all know how painful a death of a beloved pet can be. I held my mom's hand as she passed away here in her bedroom, then Matt and I stood at the end of the bed, crying and saying goodbye. 

And even though these losses are hard, I feel privileged to having been there, being a part of their lives until the end. Mason and Noah talk of David daily as if he was just in the other room. We tell stories and laugh at his expense. We all have great memories and I am glad we share them with each other.

I am also hoping as I end my long-time friendship that I can think of her in the future with love in my heart and remember all the memorable times we spent together. But when someone shows you how they feel, revealing a truth that they had not meant to ...  how can you ever go back?

We are also giving David's old Subaru away to a family member in need of a vehicle. The car has been sitting in the driveway for years. And as much as I hate to see it go, it is really time. 

Matt was cleaning it out and told me that the interior smelled just like David and I should go out and "have a sniff". Matt cleaned out 100's of cash cards, loyalty cards, gift cards, he came in with a huge stack of them. I was thinking how many places that car has taken David and I and Matt over the years. Back and forth to Winthrop to the skate park every weekend. Matt and I going on Oregon trips on the weekends. David and I taking out road trips. It was a very good car for almost 30 years!

On a brigher note, Bri has been faithfully feeding the birds and our yard is the most popular in the entire neighborhood. We have a flock of bushtits that fly in and out, flickers, chickadees. It all makes me happy! And a couple of visiting squirrels that keep the cats at the door window in a riot.

I don't know what this is ... but I love it

Sedjroxx is creating his own fashion magazine. Sign me up!

A cast away

It is so weird to be so passionate about something for 30 plus years, and then in a blink of an eye, you are not.

I am helping my friend with her new book and I can not remember ONE SHORT CUT KEY to anything. It is very frustrating. Something I loved for years, Abobe Illustrator and Indesign just mentally cast aside. I miss them but they don't seem to have meaning to me with an ultimate goal of creating something. Oh, but cast aside just hit me hard when I typed that. I guess I do feel like I too was cast aside in a field that love. And then of course, no one is going to hire an old lady close to retirement years. All bad timing.

Interesting I should type those words that have so much pain for me now.

I keep finding little work files on my computer like this one. I thought I threw them all away. Someday perhaps I will clear it all away.

 

I think more than anything, I am just frustrated with myself for not being proficient at Indesign anymore. 

Magical connection

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Ours was very quiet. Bri, Matt and I decided Christmas will never be the same without David. But we tried! All the holidays seem uneventful, unmemorable the last couple of years. I probably could put more effort into the process. Maybe next year will be different. I received a few Christmas cards and they just made me feel guilty for my complete lack of effort. 

It would also be the hateful state of our country. I think about the years I have fretted over this madman and it makes me crazy. I hope I live long enough to see him GONE FOR GOOD.

With all of that said, I told Bri the other day that we will look back at this time in our lives as being very calm and peaceful. Matt is home, working on the house, cooking dinners. Bri works a part time schedule, her salon is about 10 minutes drive down to Edmonds. NO commuting. The girls are happy and have lots of friends that they hang out with, run around the neighborhood with, they give me little "shows" most of nights of dancing and gymnastics, or do lots of art. And I just hang out with essentially no worries, watching the birds hang from the suet cages, flutter around the yard eating and chatting. Bri has a bird feeder obsession, so we have lots of birds.

I enjoy watching my really silly shows. Occasionally I find a really good movie and feel thankful. I pay bills, do the dishes, keep the kitchen clean, watch TV, watch the weather float by. I feel calm and content and it is a wonderful feeling. I do have some dental work that needs to be addressed but I am trying not to get all agitated about that.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday and New Year! Let's make this on better than the last.

Charlie Moon's work celebrates the beauty and complexity of life by blending specialized techniques with personal stories and experiences. It offers a moment of refuge from the harshness of reality, inviting viewers to focus on the softer, more enchanting sides of existence.

Loving the beetle details.

 

Dreamscapes

My SIL comes in one day! And we are still trying to get the drains fixed. We have been "roughing" it for a couple of days and the house is out of control. But whatever ... is my new motto. The rain and wind have been out of control. Raining today. Predicting high wind again today. 

The entire house smells like a sewer right now, the plumber is here replacing a drainage stack. It is that or the cat shit I just found in my closet!!!! Welcome to bliss. At least we will have a working sink very soon. 

Jonathan W Gemmell is known for his vibrant detailed use of color and dynamic brushwork, creates pieces that blur the line between imagination and impressionism. His Instagram.

Between a dream and reality

I can't even start to understand the complexity of AI. Nor am I completely onboard with what is about to hit our society, world with AI taking over everything. But I did get caught up watching some of these beautiful AI creations and could not turn away.

I saw an AI trump scam today on YouTube selling crypto currency! It was obviously AI but you know they (not trump, someone) is going to scam lots of money from some viewers.  You can tell this was AI by watching his horrible mouth move.

Birds Dancing Between Dream and Reality | Surreal Music & Art, AI Dreams Gallery NeuR. 

 

 Visual Poems | The World in a Van Gogh Painting | A Canvas of Living Color [AI Music Video] by Nox

  

 “Betrayal” – A Surreal Journey Through Strange Beauty (AI Animated) by Kelly Boesch AI Art 

It is Tuesday, cold and raining

When I am cleaning, I always have pithy ideas to post, start writing it in my head. Then I sit down here, at the computer and I am not sure where they have gone!

After watching Sean Combs documentary of shame, I am convinced the he and piggy president are related. It is pretty salacious. He comes off as a complete narcissus who uses and abuses everyone around him ... he has to be on top.

It has been two months since Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to four years in prison as a result of his landmark federal racketeering case. The hip-hop mogul was cleared of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, and only found guilty of the lesser charge of transportation to engage in prostitution—a more lenient verdict than some expected, all things considered. But that didn’t stop one of Combs’ longtime rivals, rapper 50 Cent, from going ahead with his previously announced plans to executive produce a documentary chronicling Combs’ alleged misdeeds. Last week, that docuseries—Sean Combs: The Reckoning—arrived on Netflix, where it rocketed to the No. 1 television slot on the platform.

The series aims to cover a lot of ground in four hourlong episodes, going over the recent sexual assault allegations against the entrepreneur (which are still mounting in filed civil suits that currently tally over 70) as well as various prominent questions of his past, like, What, if any, is his alleged involvement in the murder of beloved rapper Tupac? Netflix has certainly promised a number of bombshells in the docuseries detailing Combs’ rise to prominence in the industry—but whether the streaming platform delivers on those promises is another matter. Here’s a breakdown of what to know from Sean Combs: The Reckoning.

I really love the depth of texture of Lindzeanne's handywork! It inspires me to want to create something.