I am hoping our April theme will keep our heads held high and help fill our lives with social connections and squares filled with joy….The theme is top, and you don’t have to go outside to find topping squares…Create your post with a square photograph
A chilly day at the beach a month ago…which now feels like many months ago.
A seagull surveyed the beach from the top of a light pole. Most likely looking forward to the return of warm weather visitors. Tourists settled in canvas chairs. Books open. Umbrellas up. Sand castles under construction. Spreading their beach towels on the sand…along with an endless supply of sandwiches, snacks and drinks.
This seagull and its buddies are going to be waiting longer than usual for their pick of the leftovers this season.
Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year….Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year?
~~~
This post is from April 17, 2018
Two years ago…when the beach was open.
It is now closed.
I look forward to the predictable again.
******
the beach
Here is where I want to be:
It has been raining for 2 days; puddles and small lakes forming everywhere I look out my windows. The grass disappearing underneath. The sun hiding behind stubborn clouds.
As soon as it clears and the sun comes out…and it warms up a bit, that’s where I’ll go. My favorite place to walk. It fills me up; its peace, its soothing sounds – the ultimate room with no doors, no walls – infinite space. There is power in the ocean – an energy, a purpose. The tide goes in and goes out. Predictable. Not much in life is that predictable.
Often I pass by small children digging holes – trying frantically to avoid the waves that ultimately wash away their castles. Joggers of all shapes and sizes. Dogs run and jump despite the “no dogs allowed” signs. Couples pose for selfies; the ocean at their backs. A lone walker will stop and stare at the horizon. And nobody bothers her. I get it. It is hypnotizing and calming and energizing all at the same time.
Seagulls run up and down the sand. They stop. They look around, shake their heads as if bored. Same old, same old.
I am hoping our April theme will keep our heads held high and help fill our lives with social connections and squares filled with joy….The theme is top, and you don’t have to go outside to find topping squares…Create your post with a square photograph
~~~
More chocolate chips Mom…
A common plea…when I assembled the topping for our annual Christmas Morning sour cream chocolate chip coffee cake.
The sugar & mini chocolate chip & cinnamon mixture is first sprinkled between layers of thick batter carefully spread into a tube pan. The remaining is saved for the top.
A recipe is a recipe. Everything measured in cups, tablespoons and teaspoons. A scientific blending of ingredients designed for baked deliciousness.
Would too many chocolate chips weigh down the inner depths of the cake? Causing it to bake unevenly? As the sole family member with a food science background, those were my (and only my) concerns.
I am happy to report that nobody ever complained about the results…one way or the other.
Coffee Cake Topping
And I never had a satisfactory answer to the eternal non-scientific question:
Is it ever really possible to have too many chocolate chips?
In the midst of chaos, what transports you to simpler times?
~~~
I was struck by the synchronicity of my two favorite blog challenges this week. Both numbering 91. It seemed quite natural to combine them together.
To be honest, the current – as V.J. so aptly describes it – chaos has made me want to crawl into a corner and wait for “this” to be over. However, that only momentarily happens in my imagination – and as tempting as it sounds, I realize it is not a tenable solution.
Being trapped. Isolated. Cut off from what I love to do and who I love to be with will never be a “new normal” no matter how long “this” lasts. I know the confusing uneasiness hovering everywhere isn’t unique to me. So there is solace in knowing…as is written with colored chalk on town sidewalks and on “Closed for Now” signs taped to store windows…We’re All In This Together.
Yes, we’re all in this together…at least six feet apart.
It’s far from simple or easy to understand. Too much change too fast. Too much horror for too many around the world.
So I try to remember nature’s simple pleasures.
My favorite spots…unchanged by the invisible invader lurking in all of our lives.
Where I am transported to “before.”
Whether it be the familiar soothing sound of the surf.
I am hoping our April theme will keep our heads held high and help fill our lives with social connections and squares filled with joy….The theme is top, and you don’t have to go outside to find topping squares…Create your post with a square photograph
~~~
I was stuck indoors on a recent rainy day.
One lonesome forgotten can of beer left in the refrigerator. Craft beer no less…probably past its expiration date. But…no matter. It still served as a welcome diversion as it qualified for the April squares challenge.
It had a pop top on its top.
So here goes.
Side note:
At least pop tops now remain attached to the cans. We don’t have to worry anymore about stepping on a pop top when we blow out a flip flop…
Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year….Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year?
~~~
This post is from April 3, 2018. I had not yet gone “public” with my blog. And, yes, I still have all those photos…
******
downsizing and stuff – part 2 – photos
It shouldn’t be surprising, but too much stuff can still survive the process of downsizing. Despite the carloads and truckloads and endless Craig’s List posts and sales, too much stuff snuck into our new – smaller – home.
I wonder…so what? I found room for it – piled in closets and the 2 tiny storage units that we own. And there it stays…possibly mocking me.
Hundreds of photographs, negatives (remember negatives?) and slides (remember slides?) neatly organized by month and year in those fancy decorated shoe boxes you get at Michaels on sale for $2. Who will ever want them? Will they all end up in the nearest dumpster someday?
Photos are now mostly digital…poof! no boxes. No spaces to fill up. You can fit thousands on one of those little flash drives that fit in your pocket. But nothing to hold in your hand….in their hands. Pieces of photo paper – glossy or pearl finish, with borders or without. Images of history. Flip them over and if you’re lucky you’ll find dates, names, places. The older ones may be faded or yellowed. Well loved ones may be creased or lightened from the sun where they were tacked to a bulletin board or hung near a sunny window.
Remember this? When we went to watch sunsets at Sunset Beach? Remember when she was learning to eat with a spoon? Remember when he shot a 3 & pretended to be on the Dream Team? When Opa and I played Pinochle for hours? Look at us sitting there, both of us with cigarettes alight. Memory triggers….
They all tell stories if you look close enough. I think that’s what fascinates me the most. Body language. All lined up sitting on the couch but not touching. Or with arms entwined. That smile, that frown, that wink, that grimace. Who is there and who isn’t. It all tells a story. Some happy. Some not so happy. Some painful. It is all important. To someone. I am the keeper of all that.
And there are the photographs from a hundred years ago – long departed relatives and friends posing for photos only taken a few times in a year. Most are carefully posed with older women and men standing stiffly in a back row behind the younger women or children. Or, as in the case of my grandfather’s family; his father and uncle standing with arms crossed, others grinning, others not. Three generations together. What was the reason for the photo – bow ties and all? A turn of the century family story.
circa 1915
This still doesn’t solve my problem. All those photos in the Michael’s boxes. And the rest in file size storage bins – including the aforementioned old photos plus polaroids and instamatic prints. Then there are school pictures of….everybody. I can’t imagine that my adult children will ever want the full extra set of their toothy grin fifth grade photos. Plus the bookshelf stuffed with 40 years of photo albums.
A new friend said to me recently – do you want to leave behind a gift or a burden? Not that I am planning to get to the “leaving behind” stage of life for a while.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 