Tag Archives: half-baked philosophy

New Years Lame

Posted on January 2, 2026 by mohawkvalleygirl

New Year’s Day always feels like a Sunday to me, and not a holiday Sunday, just a run of the mill Sunday.  Imagine my delight when I realized it would be followed by a Friday!  Thank you, calendar.  Now I can make a Lame Post Friday Post.  This post will be heavy on the half-baked philosophy, so buckle up, butter cup (I don’t know why I said that).

 

I thought I should put a picture in.

I wanted to use the picture of Bette Davis in All About Eve, where she says, “Fasten your seat belts, It’s going to be a bumpy night,” but I couldn’t find it in my Media Library and I don’t know how to download a photo from the internet on my Chromebook.  But I digress.

 

A friend posted a meme on Facebook saying that the new year really begins in spring, when the earth reawakens from its winter slumber. My friend saw the point but preferred having the new year begin as it does now.  Given that the calendar is an entirely human construct and that Facebook is a specious source of rules for life, I think both the meme and my friend are right.

There are many points in the year when we can feel a new beginning. For example, fall and the start of school feels like New Year to many. Spring is indeed an awakening that can refresh us. And personally, as we meet goals and challenges, we often feel a rush of relief and renewal. For example, after I complete a 5K or a murder mystery, I feel like, “Ah! Now I can concentrate on other things.”

The above paragraph was what I put as a comment on the post.  I followed it by, “Oh dear, this is sounding like a blog post.”  So I copy and pasted it to WordPress and saved it. I thought I might expand upon the idea, but I see I am over 322 words.  I think that is sufficient for a Lame Post Friday post.  Now I must get on with 2026.

 

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I Lollygagged About Making My Resolution

Posted on December 28, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Some people are making New Year’s Resolutions.  Others are loftily saying they refuse to have self-improvement dictated by a calendar; when they see something that needs fixing, they fix it.  Still others feel they are already perfect (you know who you are).  Of course, everybody must do what works for themselves.  Personally, I believe in making a New Year’s Resolution right around Thanksgiving.  Then you have a perfect excuse to overindulge during the subsequent holidays:  “I can eat these cookies; I’m going on a diet January 1st!”  Alas for me, I neglected to do so and had to overindulge with no excuse.

Random picture to denote passage of time while I get more coffee.

What could be more festive that Joan Crawford with an ax?  At least candy is seasonal.  For accuracy’s sake, I point out that I am nobody’s mommy.  I was Mama Q to the boys in my national guard unit, back in the early ’00s, but that was a long time ago.  But I digress.

I think New Year’s Resolutions can be a useful tool.  New year, new beginnings, new hopes.  They don’t always work, of course, but then nothing works all the time in every case. What a lot of pressure to put on a little bitty resolution, not to mention to our own psyches.   “I WILL improve my life, starting on this arbitrary date, and if I do not, I am clearly dirt!”  To me, that is not a helpful way to do it.  Then again, “I will NOT make a New Year’s Resolution, because they clearly do not work!  I will stay just the way I am, so there!”  Well, that is fine if you are one of those perfect people I mentioned earlier.  A friend once said she had some goals.  I like that.  Words matter, and to some of us, having a goal can seem much more attainable than a Resolution (the song about “A Resolution! On Independency!” from 1776  is playing in my head).

Some people have no perception.

I guess this has been a whole lot of half-baked philosophy, more worthy of Lame Post Friday.  Then again, many people find themselves confused about what day it is this time of year.  As regular readers know, I am no stranger to confusion.    I would like to just mention I have made this entire post with a whanging headache (autocorrect thought I meant “changing.”  I would like it to change!) (and autocorrect seems to think autocorrect is not a word, but does not change it) (again, I digress).  Thus I prove to myself that I can so make a blog post when I have a headache.  There goes another excuse!

My skull is screaming.

I close with a shot from The Screaming Skull, another beloved cheesy horror movie, with or without robot heads.  I see I am over 400 words.  Wow!  That must be some good coffee I made!

 

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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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