Category Archives: personal

Nice Walk, But Little Spring in my Step

Posted on March 20, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Monstrous Monday post on Tuesday, Tired Tuesday post on Wednesday, I’ve done it before and I will no doubt do it again.  I took a walk yesterday after work, thinking to do a Pedestrian Post with Pictures.  I took two but passed a few places I have pics of in my Media Library.  Let us see what I can come up with.

It was cold.  With Mother Nature’s macabre sense of humor, she gave us spring-like weather last week and winter weather on the first day of spring.  I dressed accordingly, wearing a lovely red cape/coat I picked up at a rummage sale but have rarely worn.  Searching for a hat worthy of it, I found one that had been crocheted for me by my dear friend Heather (I had sent her baby afghans for her beautiful newly-adopted twins) (oh, I also sent her a scarf I knitted; maybe the hat was in thanks for that) (and here I am bragging about stuff I send other people. What an ego!  What have I done for anyone lately?) (that last was a rhetoric question).

Where was I?  Ah yes, taking a walk.

Two venerable buildings.

I walked from my house to German Street, eventually turning down Main Street, where I passed my beloved Herkimer Historic Four Corners.  I continued down Main past the former Christ Episcopal Church, which I used to attend.  It is no longer a church, and the For Sale sign is gone.  I wonder what the future will bring for that lovely building.  The other building in the in the picture is the Herkimer County Courthouse.

There was a bank on the side of the road I was on.  I noted a Do Not Enter sign on the drive-thru. Regular readers know that I just love to enter when they say not to.  No cars were currently using the drive-thru, so I walked through it the wrong way.  I took a picture to commemorate the event.

I maintain my rebel cred.

The wind picked up as I continued my walk, so I cut things short.  I went through the park by Basloe Library (must make a trip there in the near future), went by a No Not Enter sign onto Bellinger Avenue and thence home.

I KNOW they mean cars, not old ladies walking; let me enjoy my little rebellions!

I took a selfie when I got home, thinking to post it on Facebook, so Heather would know I am still wearing her lovely hat.  I take terrible selfies.  They remind me that I am not nearly as cute as I like to think I am.  Then again, we are none of us the best judges of our own looks.  And I tell myself, “For heavens’ sake, how cute does a sixty-year-old lady have to be?”

Don’t look at me; look at the hat!

My walk ended up being 20 minutes, just under one mile.  I was and am glad I took a walk.  Exercise is a potent anti-depressant, and I need all the help I can get!

 

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Late Post with Lugosi

Posted on March 19, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I think we’re all agreed that a late blog post is better than no blog post at all (oh, I suppose YOU don’t agree) (you know who you are).  Therefore, I sit here Tuesday morning (lounged on my couch, ten-finger typing into my Chromebook, just to give you the picture) and indulging in a Monstrous Monday post.  Full disclosure:  My Monday was not all that monstrous. Until the end of the day, when I got hit with a massive case of “I CAN’T!”  I knew it wasn’t true and proved it by doing just a couple of things.  But making a blog post, alas, was not one of them.

He looks a little malevolent to me.

I was going to caption this, “I bid you velcome,” which he says at some point, but then I thought, that is not a welcoming face.  It is, I add for the sadly uninitiated, the late great Bela Lugosi in the role that made him famous, Count Dracula.

Apes had a bad rep in Hollywood at the time.

Here’s Lugosi later in his career, in The Ape Man.  That was a pretty good one if I recall.  I have it on my DVD Collection of 50 Horror Classics (some of which are more classic than others, as you may imagine).  Perhaps I will watch it again in the near future.

Is that a smile you can trust?

Since this seems to be turning into a Bela Lugosi Post, I add one more picture of the master.  Would you follow that face up a long staircase by the light of just one candle?  Points to ponder.

In the meantime, I have gotten over 250 words, and I believe they weren’t too whiny (except when I shared my bout of “I Can’t,” but you’ll have that, especially in this blog).  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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Some Blog Post, Any Blog Post?

Posted on March 18, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have been writing the following in my head for a number of days now:

I look at my pile of dirty dishes and think, “This is what depression looks like.”  I look at the unwashed laundry and think, “This is what depression looks like.”  I lie down, unable to sleep yet do not get back up and do something and think, “This is what depression looks like.”

And when I think about typing that into a blog post, I think of readers who will say, “Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself!”  Sometimes I say it to myself.  More often I just force myself to do something, anything.  Wash a few dishes.  Do one load of laundry.  At least move some dirty clothes from the floor into a laundry basket.

Make a blog post.

That last is what I have emphatically NOT been able to do lately.  What the hell, me?

Sign of spring, sight of hope?

I thought I should throw in a picture before I got too bogged down in discouragement.  I found these crocuses in my back yard the other day and took a picture with my phone.  I was happy to see them.  Since I never raked up any leaves last fall, I wondered if any crocuses would be able to bloom.

Ooh, a deep metaphor just occurred to me:  The un-raked leaves are my depression, and the crocuses are the little baby steps I take to try to help myself.  Oh well, maybe it is not a deep metaphor, or even a particularly accurate one.  My excuse for not raking the leaves is that I read somewhere that it is environmentally better:  bugs, birds, etc. use leaves for shelter or something like that.  I read it in a Facebook meme.  No, I do not believe everything I read on the internet.  Only when it provides a handy excuse for my own laziness, I suppose.

Funny thing: I am feeling a little more cheery now.  The magic of writing something, anything?  The act of using my brain to delineate a metaphor?  Or just laughing at myself for getting so profound over my failure to rake a few leaves?  As I have observed many times:  It is not easy being me, but it is at least mildly entertaining.  But once again, I thank you for tuning in to my little blog, and I will try for more regular and entertaining posts in the future.

 

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Where’s That Chaise Lounge When You Need It?

Posted on March 11, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am having a dreadful case of I Just Can’t Do It.  And by “It”  I mean anything.  Of course this is not true.  I have done a few things today.  I do at least a few things every day. But the list of things I have yet to do grows ever longer.  I believe I have just started making a Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post.  For those just tuning in, Wrist to Forehead signifies that situation when all you want to do is swoon, dramatically posed with the back of one write to your forehead, on a handy chaise lounge.  I really need to get myself a chaise lounge.

This looks like an unrelated photograph, but I will explain.

I was looking in my Media Library for a picture  of myself having a wrist to forehead moment, but then I saw this one from Witness for the Prosecution, one of my favorite movies.  I watched it earlier and thought maybe I could find this picture and make a Sunday Cinema Post.  Then I thought, “Probably not. I can never find anything in my Media Library.”

What I feel like now.

I took a quick look for a picture from the other movie I watched, And Then There Were None, but no luck.  Both movies, in case you didn’t know, are based on works by Agatha Christie, the acknowledged queen of mystery writing. Oh, I suppose YOU never acknowledged her (you know who you are).  Anyways, I thought the picture of fake poop was apropos.  See, I don’t even feel like real crap, just the plastic stuff.  Oh, stop playing those miniature violins (again, you know who you are)!  It was a joke!

Hey, look what I found!

While looking for a cheerful picture to end on, I found And Then There Were None!  How lucky was that?

OK, one more from the movie.

I think this might have been a publicity shot, because I do not remember seeing these two characters so posed in the movie.  The woman is the marvelous Judith Anderson.  I do not remember who the man is, but my late husband Steven played that role onstage when Ilion Little Theatre did the play version some years ago.  He was wonderful, and I am not the least bit biased.

And now I see I am over 350 words.  I am feeling a little less inclined to swoon.  I will feel even better when I get back to making real blog posts about Mohawk Valley Adventures.  I do hope you will stay tuned.

 

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Blame it on the Rain

Posted on March 7, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sporadic posting.  It’s a thing now, at least with me.  As a matter of fact, I would not be posting right now, except that it is raining, and I do not want to walk in the rain.  I have walked a mile (but not in somebody else’s shoes) Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week before breakfast (today being Thursday, despite what my WordPress timestamp may say).  I believe it has made a positive difference in my mental if not physical health, although I am sure it has not hurt me physically, either.  So my usual morning blogging time has at least been positively spent.

In the meantime, I allow precious time to escape when I would like to be writing. Whatever happened to me writing after work?  For that matter, whatever happened to me writing on breaks at work?  These days I obsessively work on pencil puzzles such as crosswords and cryptograms.  I struggle to finish a letter to a friend, and I totally owe my last two sisters in law letters

So here I am in the middle of a blog post about not making blog posts, and about not writing in general.  A fellow writer once pointed out that writing about not writing is still writing.  Truman Capote once pointed out, that’s not writing, that’s typing, not about me, of course, but I think it may apply here.  Then again, ten finger typing is fun (I am on my Chromebook, in case you were wondering).

Me, pondering my fate.

I threw in a picture to pep things up.  This is from a visit to the Arc Park in Herkimer, NY, with my sister Cheryl and her grandkids, Sheppy and Evie.  I wrote an article about it for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  Evie made the cover.  I need to work on my article for next month.

The thing about writing, as with many things in life, is you just have to do it.  I observe this and have mentioned it about my MVL articles:  I can’t write the article, I can’t write the article, I can’t write the article, I sit down and I write the article.  I just have to figure out how to get to the last clause sooner.  Likewise with my blog posts.  Thank you for tuning in while I blather on for,wow, over 350 words.  Let’s hear it for the rain!

 

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Once Again, I Return to the Blogosphere

Posted on March 5, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Last week was a bad blogging week.  I actually have a couple of pretty good things to write blog posts about but not much brain with which to do so.  However, I wanted to make some semblance of a post so my readers would not feel I had completely deserted them.  My last post was a Monstrous one, I think (if I go back and read it now, I may lose my momentum and never finish this post) (which some would feel was no tragedy, but I can’t worry about them).

Random photo to liven things up.

I found this picture in March 2017 of my Media Library.  It is our sweet pooch Spunky.  Speaking of dearly missed loved ones, Sunday was my late husband Steven’s birthday.  That  could explain the funk I have been in.  Grief is a weird, unpredictable kind of chronic pain.  Of course, I am a kind of a pain myself, so make of that what you will.

Steve in his natural habitat, surrounded by murder suspects.

Here is a picture of Steve doing something he loved: acting.  He is the handsome dude in the suit.  It is the cast of A G.R.A.V.E. Murder, an interactive murder mystery we did to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  It was a really fun show.  I am, of course, grateful for all the wonderful memories I have.

We really were the perfect couple.

One more memory:  Fabulous and Fatal, another murder mystery for the Historical Society.  We were drag queens, or thought we were.

I will try to follow this with posts about my Mohawk Valley Adventures, of which I have had a few recently.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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Monday? Tuesday? Anyways, Here Are Some Monsters

Posted on February 27, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Since I feel I am making a late post for the day before when I make a blog post early in the morning, I will feel free to make a Monstrous Monday Post on Tuesday (today).  I am on my Chromebook, enjoying the ten-finger typing but concerned about my difficulties navigating my Media Library and (so far) inability to download pictures from elsewhere on the internet.  I know, first world problems.  Then again, any blogging problems are bound to be of the first world variety.  Let me stop complaining and get on with the post.

This is one of my all time favorite memes.

Now I am a little non-sequitur-ish or is it time-warpy?  I am pretending it is still Monday yet had to share a Tuesday meme.  I loves me some Bela and Boris.  That is Lugosi and Karloff, for the sadly uninitiated (at least, I am sad for you if you do not know them; it may cause you little or no distress).

I don’t know him, but he looks fun.

I have no idea where I got this delightful picture, but I wish my front lawn looked as good.  Maybe I can work on that.

“Just a little off the top. And put some product on it, would you?”

I appreciate a well turned out wolfman, don’t you?  I recently got a haircut at the Hot Spot Salon and Spa in Herkimer, NY, but I did not start out that hairy.  I was shaggy enough that I wanted a cut, though, and I was very happy with the results.  So I have now given a brief shout-out to a local business.  I guess I can multi-task in a blog post.

That puts me over 250 words, so I say Score!  As I am unable to multi-task outside the blog post, I will stop blogging and fix my breakfast and lunch.  Once again, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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Fun Saturday, Late Post

Posted on February 26, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

How about a fast Scattered Saturday Post before I go back to enjoying my Saturday.  I feel it is important to enjoy my Saturday and, indeed, to enjoy all my days.  As they say, life is short.  I feel it is longer than they say, yet I agree that we must enjoy now, because more than that is not promised.  Come to think of that, nothing is promised.  Where was I going with this?  Enough with the half-baked philosophy, on with the post.

I did not take any pictures as I enjoyed my day, and I am not sure if I have anything appropriate in my Media Library.  Do I have the dedication to look?  We shall see.

My friend Kim picked me up this afternoon for some thrift-storing and other activities. First we stopped at the Post Office, where I dropped off my weekly postcards that I send to various recipients.

I still don’t know whose car that is.

After the post office, we went to the thrift store at the Methodist Church across the street.  I do not know if I have any pictures of that.  However, I definitely have a picture of Salvatore’s, where we adjourned for lunch after buying just a few really cool things.

Yum!

I guess there was not a whole lot of scatter to my Saturday, yet I had a fun time with my friend Kim.  Back home I watched movies and crocheted, pausing to begin this blog post.  I was unable to finish it, however, and am not trying to do so early Monday morning.  Will I enjoy my Monday, as advised to do in the first paragraph of the post?  An little uncertainty adds interest to my day.

 

 

 

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I Ask Myself…

Posted on February 23, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Every other day blogger?  I guess that is what I am for now.  And here I am Friday morning, ten finger typing on my Chromebook, which I still cannot navigate handily but is becoming more familiar. I sip Irish Breakfast Tea and ponder my day.  Will I do anything blogworthy?  Perhaps.  I had a rather blogworthy Wednesday, but did I write about it?  Um, no. Once again I ask, what the hell, me?

I like old buildings against a grey sky.

I throw in a random picture to pep things up.h  I am going to call this my Lame Post Friday post, so the pressure is off.  This was taken during a walk on Main Street in Herkimer, NY, the former Christ Episcopal Church and Herkimer County Courthouse.  The latter is part of Herkimer’s Historic Four Corners, which regular readers know I love to walk or run by.  I walked by them the other day but did not make a Pedestrian Post mentioning it.  See, I have all kinds of things I could write blog posts about, I just don’t.  What’s that all about?

Do Not Enter my brain; it could get scary.

Another landmark I passed on Wednesday’s walk.  I do love to defy a Do Not Enter sign.  Oh, don’t worry; I never do it in my car.  Sheesh!

Will I see any of these any time soon?

I close with a bit of hope for spring.  I’m afraid my crocuses will have a hard time showing up this year, because dead leaves from last fall lie thickly on my lawn.  Once again I neglected to put down more crocus bulbs, as I have intended to do every year since I moved in (2005).  That is, I put some down in 2005 but have never done so again.  I am not even going to ask myself why not.

However, this bit of nonsense is now over 300 words, so I say, good enough for Lame Post Friday. I adjourn for another cup of tea.

 

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Not Too Lazy to Look for Monsters

Posted on February 21, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Did I jinx myself by Monday’s headline?  Or was it my innate laziness that caused me to miss posting on Tuesday?  I called myself lazy at work, and a co-worker nicely said I was not.  I replied, “There are worse things to be than lazy.  I’m a few of those, too.”  I did not specify.  Be that as it may, I am lounged on my couch, ten finger typing on my Chromebook, a little later that my usual morning posting time, because I took today off.  I have an appointment in the morning and fun plans for the afternoon.  A Mohawk Valley Adventure or two?  I hope so!

In the meantime, I would like to make a blog post now.  A late Tired Tuesday Post or an on time Mid-Week Monsters Post?  One could argue that Tuesday is mid-week, but I am no hand at argument.

Me fighting my own laziness.

I have not idea who those two monsters are, but I downloaded them to the blog in February 2023, which was a monstrous month, to be sure.

That’s my problem! No coffee!

I am, in fact, on my second cup of tea, so I am somewhat caffeinated.  I gave up coffee for Lent, which I realized yesterday is in fact longer than 40 days.  I am not exactly a practicing Catholic or even an Episcopalian (which is one of my all-time favorite words), but when Lent rolls around, I feel I should mark it some way.  This is the most drastic sacrifice I have made in years; usually I just do something extra, like read  x chapters of the Bible every day, or pray a Rosary. However, I do not mean to get into religious discussions. I just see a bunch of pictures and memes in my Media Library pertaining to coffee, which is on my mind to a greater extent than I had anticipated.

I might scream, only my throat is a little sore.

Here is a picture from one of my favorite cheesy horror movies, The Screaming Skull.  I have written about it in this space.  I wonder if I can find it and link back to the post.  Am I un-lazy enough for that?

Random picture to mark the passage of time.

As it turns out, not too lazy.  I think it was a pretty fun post, but perhaps I flatter myself.

And this post is over 400 words. Woohoo!  Were they good words?  Where they un-boring words?  Let us not ask for miracles.

 

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