Category Archives: personal

I Cut Myself a Little More Slack

Posted on June 9, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here I sit, trying to make my Slacker Saturday blog post early Sunday morning.  At least, it is not early for me, but as Sunday mornings go for other people…  Not that I know that much about other people, but I have heard.

I put off making this blog post while I had some coffee, scrolled Facebook, played Solitaire, then read another blogger’s weekly post.  Oh, and I re-read one of my posts from 2012 which I had been thinking about.  I have been writing this blog for a long time, haven’t I?  Or, as Truman Capote famously said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  I fear that lately my blog has become me rambling on, not saying much of any substance, much less sharing Mohawk Valley adventures as I intended to do when I began the blog.

Like KO Grainger at the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown.

I sometimes mention one I am going to write about, then when I sit down with the Chromebook… not so much.  What, I ask once again, is my problem?  More to the point, what is the solution? I confess I do not know.  I am not having much luck with the Do It Anyways method.

Am I too chicken to write?

Yesterday, by the way, was in fact a Slacker Saturday.  I went running, as I mentioned in my late Lame Post Friday post.  I puttered around, doing a little bit of cleaning here and there.  My house, as I have also mentioned, is quite the disaster area.  I express great determination to get it clean one way or another, then wander around, feeling ridiculous for not knowing where to start.  Then I put some things away and hope I have made some progress. Yesterday I discovered the Columbo method of cleaning:  I cleaned for a set amount of time, then when time was up, I said to myself, “Oh, one more thing!”

I am obsessed with Columbo, you may have noticed.

Eventually I wrote a few postcards and walked them to the post office.  It had stopped raining by then.  Returning home, I made some popcorn and watched, you guessed it, a couple episodes of Columbo.  I crocheted while I watched (after I had eaten some popcorn and washed the butter off my hands) (I’m not a barbarian, after all), so I could feel a little productive.

Once again, I have rattled on for an appreciable amount of words (just over 400!).  I shall end with a random picture, so that my Saturday post can be Scattered as well as Slacker.

Will the curtain rise on a new act for the play of my life?

Too dark, but I feel a picture of a closed curtain is always evocative.  It is the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY, a good place to visit for future Mohawk Valley adventures.

 

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It’s Never Too Lame!

Posted on June 8, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Once again I make my Lame Post Friday blog post on Saturday morning.  I thought about making it last night, but bed seemed like such a good place to be.  It’s been a difficult week, although it has had its good points.  Nothing is all good or all bad, I hope.  At least, I hope nothing is all bad.  All good, I would like to try and see.  There is some half-baked philosophy for you.  We are used to finding the silver lining in bad times, or at least it is a good idea to do so.  Do we ever look for the fly in the ointment in good times?  Are there any other hoary expressions I can throw in?  Really, me, “silver lining”?  “fly in the ointment”?  Have some more coffee.

Ah ha ha! Coffee can be evil!

I throw in a random picture while I go get another cup of coffee.  I do not want to speculate on whether coffee is or can be, in fact, evil.  I put the caption because I believe that coffee mug looks malevolent.

Since this is my second cup of coffee,  one might think I had just rolled out of bed, but that is not the case.  I got up prior to six and went for a run.  The problem with running before coffee is that sometimes I forget to make coffee.  I had my recovery beverage of chocolate milk (it’s science!), made myself an egg sammich for breakfast…  oh yes, coffee. Ahhh… coffee.

I got rained on during my run, off and on.  Now it seems mostly on, so I am sorry about the local events going on today, for example, Little Falls Pride 2024 and Dolgeville Violet Festival. I had been thinking of running the Pride Stride 5K in Little Falls.  There used to be a 5K associated with the Violet Festival, too, but I don’t know if there still is.  How uninformed of me.  Anyways, I am not in 5K shape at this time.  I am in shape, though, because round and puffy is still a shape, you know.

I don’t think these two are in 5K shape either.

Here are Bonita and Bonaparte to wish you a happy Saturday.  I will never be as skinny as Bonita.  Puffy little Bonaparte is more my speed (almost literally).  I suppose I am not as cute, although my husband, Steven used to think so.

 

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About Those Blog Posts…

Posted on June 7, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I put off making Wednesday’s post till Thursday morning, then Thursday was a Blogger’s Sick Day with all capital letters.  I spent the whole day in bed, unable to do anything but lie there and try not to toss and turn.  I tried to get up in the late afternoon, thinking I would never sleep at night.  I thought, I’ll eat something, I’ll call my Mom and Dad (which I try to do every day), I’ll make a blog post at least saying why I am not making a blog post.  I walked downstairs.  No food looked or sounded the least bit appetizing.  I walked back upstairs.

What a dull, boring, whiny paragraph.  It is just as well I did not attempt to make a blog post yesterday.  Quick, throw in a picture to pep things up.

Aren’t they pretty?

Here are some flowers I used to have on one side of the front porch.  They stopped coming up, but I do not rule out planting more.  Still, if I want to plant anything, I had better get moving on it or it will not happen this year either.  Just to continue whining, everything is so much effort these days.  Maybe I need to eat my Wheaties.  Too bad I hate Wheaties.

Doesn’t this picture look like it was taken by accident?

I still have these sneakers and wear them sometimes, although I have more recently acquired running shoes.  I had planned to go running Tuesday, then put it off till Wednesday, then till Thursday.  Let that be a lesson to me.  In my defense, I was dreadfully tired on Tuesday and busy on Wednesday (not that I got much done) (see previous paragraph about everything being too much effort).  And now I am back to whining.

I guess I’ll bill this as a Non-Sequitur Thursday post.  Full disclosure:  I am still feeling a bit woozy but think I can make it through the day at work.  Then we’ll see if I can manage a Lame Post Friday post.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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More Writing About Not Writing

Posted on June 5, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is well known that good habits are difficult to establish while one falls back into bad habits with ease and sometimes a sense of comfort.  Thus I continue late posts, making my Tired Tuesday post early Wednesday morning.  I have a very good Mohawk Valley adventure to write about, because I attended the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown with some friends on Monday.  However, I am letting that marinade in what is left of my brain.  A wise woman told me you can’t rush into these things (“these things” being any number of chores and tasks that arise) (by the way, the wise woman was my mother, the same wise woman who also said, “Oh well, what the hell”) (I know she was not the first so say it, but she may have been the first to say, “As a wise woman once said,” etc) (I stand by my story).

Where was I?

I guess it isn’t Tuesday any more.

This meme is now late, but is my favorite one to use in a Tired Tuesday post.  As you may have guessed, this will be another post where I rattle on for 200 words or so, hit Publish, and hope for the best.  I am so dreadfully tired all the time lately.  Perhaps I do not eat enough vegetables.

Me, questioning my path as a writer, or at least as a daily blogger.  

Of course this is not me.  It is Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys, a movie about writers, among other things.  He plays a blocked writer.  At least, not exactly blocked, because he has written over a thousand pages on his next book, but, well, it is complicated.  I have not written over a thousand pages of anything lately, and I have never written a thousand pages on one project.  That might be a good challenge for me:  write a thousand pages on something, anything.  They say anything that gets your pen moving is a good thing (as usual, no idea who “they” are).

No blockage of daisies.

I leave you with a picture of my prolific daisies.  They are symbolic of two things: spring, as in “hope springs eternal,” and sheer number.  May my writing flourish as my daisies!

 

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I Need More Monsters

Posted on June 4, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I feel so ill-used when I oversleep and still feel so tired when I wake up.  I was dreadfully tired when I went to bed last night, too, but managed to put on coffee for the morning, so I can be mildly functional now.  But enough whining from me, on with my late Monstrous Monday post.

You can’t see the monsters, but it is a scary shot nonetheless.

In a previous post I used a shot from Invasion of the Body Snatchers but foolishly did not identify it.  I remedy the omission with another shot from that movie.   It is a pretty good flick, but I confess my favorite scenes are early on, when the menace threatens in an undefined manner, and the characters are drinking martinis.  I like martinis.

Watch your head!

Here is a monster of the human variety, Joan Crawford in StraitJacket.  That is one of my go-to movies.  William Castle was a highly entertaining producer and director.  I love his stuff.

Why is she so horrified? I forgot.

I continue this rather disjointed post (Non-Sequitur Monsters?) with a shot from a silent movie that doesn’t get a lot of attention, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  I have not seen it in a while but remember liking it.  I will have to watch it one day while running in place on the mini-tramp.  That is my usual way of watching silent movies.  Otherwise I want to knit and crochet while I watch, and you really need to keep both eyes on a silent movie.

Now I am over 250 words, so that is enough trolling my Media Library for today.  I hope to get some new monsters to share one day soon, but you know me: No promises.

 

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More Lawn, Still No Order

Posted on June 3, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I did not have a majorly productive weekend, but I did manage to do some yard work today, Sunday.  That gave me a good reason to have a Wrist to Forehead moment, but I shall try not to whine.  Too much, anyways.

When mowing my lawn with the non-power mower, I have left a lot of crap around the edges.  Today I tried to clean up some of that.  One thing I learned, or perhaps was reminded of, is that wild grapevines are quite invasive.  The roots go on forever!  And the vines cling with tenacity to everything handy.  I clipped, I pulled, I hack-sawed.  I added to a growing pile of crap.

One nice thing was becoming a pricker bush slayer again.  You see, some years ago I spent a Sunday taking down a huge pricker bush behind our garage.  When Steven got home from work, he took me out to Miner’s Table at the Herkimer Diamonds Mine.  I wrote about it for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  For the article I took a picture of Steven toasting me.  When the article appeared, the caption of that photo read, “Steven toasts Cindy, pricker bush slayer.”  I may not have that word for word, but close enough.

Evidence of my pricker bush and wild grapevine slaying prowess.

I soon filled a couple of containers for yard waste pick up tomorrow.  I posted on Facebook that I had literally put my blood, sweat, and tears into my yard work.  I do have some bloody-looking scratches on my arms and legs, and I was ready to cry by the time I gave up and went inside.  I have a lot more work to do, but I felt I had made some progress.

I guess it isn’t all that beautiful.

I was thinking I should have taken a “before” picture but it was too late by the time I thought that.  So I took a picture of a section I did not get to.

Something to look forward to.

My father gave me some advice on getting my power mower going, and offered to come over and work on it if I continued to have troubles.  So I may be making more progress on Lawn Order soon.  In the meantime, I have to be pleased with what I was able to get done.  I can only hope it made an entertaining blog post. Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

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I Slack, But I Post

Posted on June 2, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am afraid this is another post I am making just for the sake of making a post today.  I wonder if I should make that a  category.  It is important to me to post every day.  When one skips a day, it is easy to skip the next one, and the next, etc.  I will try in the future to make more substantial blog posts.  For tonight, however, I will continue to indulge in my Slacker Saturday.

Old slippers but same position.

I am lounged on the couch, feet up, Chromebook on lap, Columbo on DVD player.  The slippers are a pair my late, much loved husband Steven gave me for Christmas some years ago.  I wore them out but show the picture to illustrate my slacker mentality.

Another happy lounger.

Looking in my Media Library for another illustration, I came across this one of our late, dearly missed pooch, Spunky.  He looks so relaxed.  He was an old guy when we adopted him, so he was never very active.

I was not very active today, although I began with great ambitions.  A headache got in the way, alas.  I did get a run in.  No, I did not have a run-in with anybody; I went running.  Sheesh!

Not the sort of run I went on.

This was the first picture I found that had anything to do with running.  I am now over 200 words.  Score!  I hope you are all having a delightful weekend.

 

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Feeling Friday, Feeling Lame

Posted on June 1, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I strive to conquer the type-it-in-backspace-it-out disease at least for long enough to make this week’s Lame Post Friday post.  I am typing it in, at least with all ten fingers, on an unfamiliar computer, never mind why, explanations are tiresome.  All I want to do is make with a few random observations, spout a little half-baked philosophy (the traditional components of Lame Post Friday, I add for anybody just tuning in), hit Publish, and drive on.

“This is a good boy!”

Or I could resort to my Media Library and throw in a few random pictures.  This one is from Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, one of my very favorite movies.  I quote it often.

“Ah-OOOOOOH!”

I was feeling Friday all day long today, which made it an enjoyable day.  What will the weekend bring?  Perhaps not much howling on my part, but one can always hope.

I gotta say, that hood is not a great look.

Perhaps the weekend will bring some cheesy movie watching for me.  The above is Horror Hotel, which is also known by another name which I cannot remember.  Something about a city, some sort of city.  Either way is not the best title, because it concerns an inn in a village, not a hotel in a city.  Can you recognize a young Christopher Lee in the hood?  I did not even know who he was the first time I saw the movie, but after watching a few Hammer Horror films, I recognized him here.

I love that purple!

I go a different way for my final picture.  I am afraid this has been a rather disjointed post (Non-Sequitur Friday?), but I am approaching 300 words.  I must think of a title, hit publish, and get back to enjoying my Friday.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

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Lawn Order? Not So Much

Posted on May 31, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday I mentioned how I did not work on my lawn, in consideration of my aching back.  Today once again my back gave me grief, but I chose to ignore it.  I thought, I’m old and overweight:  I’m going to have back pain.  I might just as well get what I can done.  With great effort, I got the garage door open.  Despite great effort, I could not get the power mower going.  I hauled out the  non-power mower and had at it.

My overgrown lawn from a different year.

Off I went, up and down the yard, pushing, pushing, getting caught in sticks, throwing said sticks aside, throwing other sticks aside before I got stuck on them.  I soon found I could see a difference between where I had mowed and where I had not, so that encouraged me.  I did the back then the front.  Then I grabbed a set of clippers and tried to chop down a few tall monstrosities that had popped up out front.  I think I got most of them, throwing their corpses into one of the plastic trash cans I keep for such a purpose.  I went out back for more chopping but had pretty much run out of steam by then.

My ambition for the future.

This is my container garden from another year. You can see the lawn not overgrown in the background.  I have a long way to go to get such a backyard oasis for this summer.  Will I manage it?  A little uncertainty adds interest to my spring.

 

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Don’t Wuss! Walk!

Posted on May 30, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

So there I was, sitting on my couch feeling utterly exhausted.  I mean not just tired, but entirely used up.  It is a feeling I get a lot lately.  Oh, stop playing that miniature violin (you know who you are)! One thing I do not need is condescension.  My original plan for today was to go running after work.  Unfortunately, I did something to my back and it was quite painful by the end of my work day.  At first I thought I would go ahead and run anyways.  Worst case scenario:  I stopped running and walked.  Then I thought the real worst case scenario is that I wake up tomorrow with an even worse backache, so I told myself don’t be stupid.  Run tomorrow.

Picture to pep things up.

Still, a walk might help a sore back.  It probably would have been a better idea to take said walk right away, before I sat there on the couch feeling like a big lump of I Don’t Care.  It was the thought of taking a couple of pictures on the walk for blogging purposes that got me into my sneakers and out the door.  I can’t break my streak of posting daily, can I?

The first place I walked was into my own backyard, to check on my rhododendron.  I had seen some neighbors’ rhododendrons blooming and hoped mine was doing the same.  It is blooming but is being overshadowed by a pine tree that grows nearby.  A few years ago I cut a bunch of branches off the tree for that very reason.  I felt like much woman, as my sister Vicki would say.  I guess I need to do it again.  I tried to get a picture of what blooms there are, but the sun was in the wrong place, so I couldn’t get the shot.

While I was out back, I could not help but notice how badly I need to mow.  I need, in fact, to do more than mow, but do some major yard work.  I almost opened up my garage and hauled out the mower.  Once again, consideration for my back stopped me.  Even opening the garage is quite the effort, because some spring or other broke after not being in the right place to begin with (I don’t properly understand these things).  I promised myself to try it tomorrow.  Or the next day.  Saturday at the latest.

Out front, I realized I could take a picture of my daisies, once again taking over the yard.  I just can’t bear to cut them back till they stop blooming.  They are so cheerful.  I put the picture of them after the first paragraph, because I did not want to make my readers wait too long for an illustration.  Then I took a picture of the two peonies that managed to bloom.

I love the smell!

My back was still hurting, but I at least walked around the block.  There were not many photo ops, because I do not like taking pictures of people’s yards without their permission (although I have done it on occasion).  I saw a flowering tree in front of one house, and I wondered what it was.  I took a picture, zooming in so you can only see tree, nothing of the house.  That makes it anonymous enough, doesn’t it?

Perhaps one of my readers knows what it is.

I felt somewhat revived after my walk, at least enough to open the Chromebook and make the blog post.  And I believe I have successfully avoided having a Wuss-out Wednesday.

 

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