Tag Archives: half-baked philosophy

TGI Lame Post Friday

Posted on September 27, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here I am trying to get back to being a daily blogger plugging the Mohawk Valley, but yet I am going to have a Lame Post Friday post today. My excuse?  I have no excuse; there is no excuse for me.  I enjoyed Happy Hour today.  Can you tell?

Lame Post Friday is traditionally the place where I share random observations and half-baked philosophy.  I did observe things today as I walked from my house by the post office (to mail a post card), past the Town Offiices (to drop off my taxes), on to Cliff’s Local Market where I used the ATM and purchased some candy (don’t judge me), then to Valley Wine and Liquor where I tasted some of the wares of Beak and Skiff of Lafayette, NY (preview of coming attractions).  I mostly admired the cloudy sky, but I enjoyed different houses and their various decorations and gardens.

A little bit of color!

This picture is actually from October 2024, but it shows about the percentage of color we are seeing currently.  Still, every bit of color is welcome.  Does that lead into a bit of half-baked philosophy about Enjoy What You Have; Don’t Worry About What You Have Not?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

She seems to feel cheery!

I close with a picture of Witchy, who is not currently on my front porch, but I hope she soon will be. I obviously have no great philosophical points to share.  Yet I hope this will be acceptable on Lame Post Friday.  I hope you are all have a delightful opening to your weekend.

 

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Is It Halloween Yet?

Posted on August 23, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday I thought surely I would be able to make a Lame Post Friday Post (I don’t mind it when I call myself Shirley). And here I am, Saturday morning, wondering why I didn’t.  Then again, sometimes “why?” is not a particularly helpful question to ask.  Far better to go ahead and just correct the error to the best of one’s abilities.  At least I have coffee.

A friendly face with a friendly beverage.

I just scrolled through my Media Library till I found a coffee mug.  I am not using this lovely mug today, a favorite of my late husband Steve’s, but I do not scruple to use it year round.  In fact it is almost time to start using Halloween mugs since for me the Halloween season begins immediately after Labor Day.

Speaking of Halloween, I need to start cleaning my house more thoroughly.  My sister Cheryl suggested I throw a Halloween party, as I have been known to do in the past.  That is, Steve and I threw them, but I feel sure I  am capable of hosting a party on my own.

Witchy would be happy to welcome folks to my house.

There are other reasons to get my house cleaned up and my act together. I will not list them here, although they may constitute some half-baked philosophy suitable for a Lame Post Friday post.  However, I see I am over 200 words.  I feel a Lame Post is best kept brief.  I shall strive for Some Sort of a Saturday post later.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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Silly, Cheesy, Late and Lame!

Posted on June 21, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Thursday I brought up a bit of half-baked philosophy I deemed suited to Lame Post Friday, and I would like to address it further now.  The question was what difference does it make if a self-declared daily blogger misses a day here and there?  Appropriately (or embarrassingly) enough, it is Saturday morning as I make my Lame Post Friday blog post.  I feel I should throw in a silly picture here.

I think she is cute.

Is it early or late for Halloween decorations?  I don’t feel like looking at a calendar or doing the math.  Anyways, when I started this blog in 2011 (how the time flies!), I made up my mind to post every day for one year and see what happened.  I suppose I thought something magical, but I have gone over this before.  In fact, I believe I have even addressed it as a bit of half-baked philosophy on Lame Post Friday.  Oh dear, I am repeating myself in my old age!  Quick throw in another picture to distract ourselves!

I guess this blog is pretty cheesy.

This is from the sadly closed Herkimer Original Cheese.  I believe another cheese maker is putting out their product so I may still be able to get my beloved Chutter (tastes like cheddar, spreads like butter!).

I always come back to the fact that I love writing a blog.  It is fun for me, and I like the idea that I am entertaining people.  My ambition is to make a Saturday blog post TODAY, on Saturday in which I recount a Mohawk Valley Adventure.  Will I attain my ambition?  A little uncertainty adds interest to my weekend.

 

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A Blog Post Was Made By Me

Posted on April 19, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I didn’t make my Lame Post Friday post on Friday.  Saturday morning has never been considered too late to do such a thing.  That is, I have never considered it so.  Passive voice is sort of slimy, isn’t it?  I hate it when politicians use it.  However, Mohawk Valley Girl tries to stay off politics (talking about yourself in the third person is quite acceptable, although some find it pretentious) (you know who you are) (and dammit, I used passive voice again!)

Where was I?  Sometimes I get all bogged down in parenthetical comments.  Regular readers may have noticed.  Anyways, I am going to make a silly blog post and then get on with my day.  We’ll call that first paragraph a little half-baked philosophy about grammar.  But just to continue the point:  passive voice is not inherently slimy.  In an English textbook, an example might read, “The ball was kicked by the child.”  I call that awkward but not slimy.  “The ball was kicked,” now, that’s a little slimy.  Who kicked the ball? I’m thinking the little turd that said the sentence that way, because the ball went somewhere to was not supposed to go.

I think they’re cool.

I wanted to throw in a picture just then, because I was afraid others might not find the preceding paragraph as interesting as I did.  Of course I do not have a picture of a ball in my Media Library, nor one of an English Grammar textbook.  Then I saw these typewriters and was reminded of the line by Truman Capote that I often quote, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  I say, it is at least closer to writing than what I did last night (unless you count the letter to my sister I worked on while I waited for my fish fry at the Elks).

In any case I am over 300 words.  Perfectly respectable for a Lame Post Friday post, according to my rules by me.  Will I have any Mohawk Valley Adventures today?  Will I even manage a Saturday Running Commentary?  Or even manage to go running?  A little uncertainty adds interest to my day.

 

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Late Blog Posts Are Apparently an Option

Posted on March 22, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl
     AAAAaaand the late posts continue, as I type in my Lame Post Friday post early(ish) Saturday morning.  I probably shall never feel I am up early again unless it is 5 a.m. or earlier, just so you know.  I open today with a bit of half-baked philosophy.  I was on Facebook yesterday and a friend posted a list of advice.  Most of it was pretty good, but one said to choose to feel happy, being sad should never be an option.  I flashed on drill sergeants saying, “Failure is not an option,” meaning of course that it was a shameful option (ooh, here I go philosophizing again).  Anyways, this is what I commented:
     Except the part about being sad should never be an option. Some things ARE sad, and sometimes we have to allow ourselves to feel sad. You can’t always choose how you feel. That said, you can tell yourself things that might help you feel better, you can choose to have a cheerful attitude, you can accept feeling sad and that might lead you to feel happy sooner. The whole “you can just decide to be happy” idea has caused me no end of grief and sadness, because I felt something was wrong with me when I would try to choose happiness and only end up feeling more depressed. Sorry about the long comment. Perhaps I should put it in a blog post.

How could you choose not to smile at this scene?

     I like to put I a picture after two long(ish) paragraphs.  This fits in with the theme, because it falls under the heading Little Things That Bring You Joy.  Longtime readers know my late dearly missed husband Steve and I liked to dress our skeleton Bonita for the season.  He was really a great one for decorating for various holidays.  I am unfortunately still trying to unbury my house from the mess I let it get into over the last few years (I confess since even before Steven died).  However, sometimes decorating the mess makes me feel a little cheerful.

Bert the Birtday Gorilla wanted to get into the act too.

     I’m afraid Bert looks more Hawaiin than Easter, but I did not want to spend too much time searching my house for decorations, and I felt it was the wrong thing to do to buy more stuff when I am trying to get rid of things (although the dollar store had some cute stuff!).  I felt good about myself that I had been cleaning for a while before I dressed up Bonita and Burt.
     Now I feel good about myself , because I have managed a blog post of over 400 words. Yay!  What will my Saturday bring?  I do not know, but I hope an on-time blog post.

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It’s Still Winter, and I’m Still Blogging

Posted on January 31, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday (Thursday; I had to keep reminding myself, because I am in kind of a weird time warp) was a true blogger’s sick day.  I impulsively went out to dinner; I shall not say where, because my stomach started to bother me before I left.  I managed to walk home, barely managed to get my leftovers in the fridge, and somehow made it back to the couch to lie down, where I could not move again.  Eventually I went upstairs and got into bed, shedding my clothing, which had been bothering me but which I could not bring myself to move enough to remove (do NOT say TMI!). What a whiny paragraph!  But I am sure anybody who has suffered a stomach bug can understand.

Now I am lounged on my couch, sipping tea and wishing there was bread in the house for some toast (that’ll teach me to put off grocery shopping), and thinking I could probably manage a Throwback Thursday post.

Yikes!

I throw back to a very snowy March 2017.  For one reason, I feel very thankful the snow I have been brushing off my (only one) car and shoveling out  of my driveway (only from the back of said car to the street) (and a shovel-width on the sidewalk in front of the house) is nowhere near this deep.  Then I remember this is January and that was March, and I  fear for my future. But I try not to worry about these things.

All hands on deck!

I have not cleared off my deck, either of the junk that was sitting on it last fall or the snow that has fallen on it since.   This, also, is March 2017, when we had at least put some of the junk, uh, I mean, decorations, away.  Life was so much better with a husband, but I do not mean to begin whining again.  I must look back with thanks for when I had him and move forward with what courage and grace I can muster.  Didn’t that sound fine?  What I am really going to do is shuffle along as best as I can and try not to complain too much. But now I am veering into half-baked philosophy better suited to Lame Post Friday.  Yes, that is today, but I hope to make a Lame Post Friday post later.

Isn’t he a cheery fellow?

To end on a more upbeat note, I add a picture of a neighborhood snowman from January 2023.  It actually may be warm enough for snowman building today.  If my stomach cooperates, perhaps I will build one of my own.  That would make a good blog post.  And I thank you kindly for reading this one.

 

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Another Non-Sequitur Lame Post Friday

Posted on December 14, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

This feels like a really late Lame Post Friday post, because Thursday felt like Friday, and yesterday felt like Saturday, so today should kind of feel like Sunday.  It is in fact early Saturday morning (I consult my watch and my Chromebook to confirm). Only I am not sure that it feels like anything as I got very little sleep last night.  But let us not dwell on my myriad problems and my tendency to whine about them; let us attempt some semblance of a blog post.

Well isn’t red a Christmas color?

OK, about that picture.  As I typed the first paragraph, my headache rolled back in.  I thought to throw in a Christmas illustration but the headache got more obtrusive as I searched my Media Library so I clicked almost at random, hit Save, and went elsewhere on my Chromebook till the weird feeling subsided (I should type up a few paragraphs describing the sensations of this headache, not for blogging purposes but to inflict on my neurologist). I typed and sent a couple of emails.  It is funny how you can do some kinds of writing sometimes.  Ooh, that is a bit of half-baked philosophy, is it not?  This IS a Lame Post Friday post!

Yesterday I took a real trip to Little Falls, NY with my sister Cheryl, and I took a number of pictures at our various stops.  Later on I stopped by the Wine Tasting Room at Raindrops on Roses Bed and Breakfast in Herkimer for a chat with the delightful proprietors.  I continued to a delicious dinner at Salvatore’s.  In between bouts of headache, it was quite the enjoyable day, and I hope to make more detailed posts about the places I stopped.

I quite forgot where I was going with this blog post, but I see I am approaching 300 words.  I say that is not bad, and I am hungry for my breakfast.  Once again, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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Late But Making with the Monsters

Posted on December 3, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh dear, it feels as if it has been days since I make a blog post.  Time is so weird.  Part of me is wondering how it got to be December already while another part feels it has been at least three weeks since Thanksgiving.  However, that is half-baked philosophy more suited to Lame Post Friday than a late Monstrous Monday post.  Let’s make with the monsters, shall we? (We shall!)

Creepy, yes?

I thought I would open with a monster seldom used (is that like the road less traveled?  Discuss amongst yourselves).  I have no idea where I got it; I downloaded it back in 2017.  I would like to make my front lawn look like this, although I do not have a similar amount of space, nor as much cool stuff.

Quite the fashionable skeleton.

I thought I should get a little Christmasy, since it is December, as noted earlier.  This, as regular readers know, is Bonita, our skeleton who likes to dress for the season.  She does not have her Christmas togs on yet this year.  I’ll have to work on it.

Now there’s a Christmas monster!

Boris Karloff is the ONLY Grinch for me; I don’t care how many re-makes they do.  I also like to watch movies where Karloff uses his real voice (as opposed to when he is Frankenstein’s Monster, who is fairly inarticulate).  He says all these creepy things, and I hear in my head, “Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot…”

And now I have babbled on for over 250 words.  Score!  Will I try for a Mohawk Valley Adventure to write about later today or stay home and clean the house?  A little uncertainty adds interest to my morning.

 

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Will I Live Up to Halloweens Past?

Posted on October 4, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

Hello and welcome to another late Throwback Thursday post.  Thursday was a kind of a wasted day for me, although it had a few useful moments, a few fun moments; who is the arbiter of saying whether a day is wasted or not anyways? Not me.  But I veer into half-baked philosophy, more suited to Lame Post Friday, a post often made early Saturday morning.  And I wonder why I am in a time warp most of the time.

I throw in a photo before going to get coffee.

I thought a throwback to Octobers past might be fun, and a change from my usual theatre throwbacks (autocorrect does not approve of that spelling of “theatre” but I like it).  That is my late, beloved husband Steven at Pumpkin Junction in Sauquoit, NY, one of my favorite Halloween places.  I would like to go there soon, but I really need to clean my house more before adding Halloween decorations, which I inevitably will.

Looks like a fun party!

Speaking of Halloween decorations, here is an arrangement Steven made on our buffet in 2017.  Right now the buffet still has most of his nutcracker collection.  Oh dear.

Isn’t he cute?

To end on a cheerful note, here is the sweet little vampire Steve gave me (it came in a coffee cup), sitting in a delightful pot sent me by my friend Marsha.  The orange is a t-shirt I didn’t like much anyways (advertising something I don’t even like any more, but that’s a long, dull story).

This is all encouragement for myself to get this house in better shape today and put out some Halloween decorations.  That would make a good blog post.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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At Least I’m Not Starving to Death!

Posted on September 26, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!”  Thus said Auntie Mame, and Rosalind Russell took it as her slogan after playing the part.  If you don’t know who Auntie Mame is, read the book, see the movie, ask somebody.  Or not.  I think the quote stands on its own.  I thought of it this morning, when I lamented once again that I have too much on my plate.  It made me feel better about everything.  I just overdid it on the Buffet of Life.  I always eat too much at buffets, and I know I am not alone in that.

All this by way of introduction to a late Waste Not Want Not Wednesday post, which I came dangerously close to skipping altogether.

That is what is known in the business as a Sweet Ride.

I only have two photos to waste not.  I took them on a walk to I forget where, I forget when, but I do so love classic cars.  My father or brother could instantly tell you make, model, and year, but I can only admire.

A little too shadowed, alas.

One gift I have which helps get me through the day is my ability to admire.  As I am driving to work or walking through a parking lot or doing any number of necessary chores, if I see something beautiful, I notice and admire it.  At least I try to.  No doubt I miss some things.  However, at least I did not miss making my Wednesday blog post, albeit late. I wonder if anybody would have missed me had I skipped it (just a little fishing for compliments there, please forgive me).

 

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