Countdown to New Years, Ho Hum Ho

Afternoon, almost winter light enters my living room. I truly hate this time of year. Everywhere I wander, I see stressed out people shopping for the holidays. What ever happened to goodwill to all and to all goodnight? Where is the spirit? Is it hidden under the commerization of the event?

I would hide under my blankets, if I knew no one would bother me. 

Old Fashioned Communications

It was not so long ago, that this outdoor phone booth was the epitome of the new, modern, jet age world that I grew up in. People communicated but, it was a slower form of communication, it was a shortened form of communications, and it was a more thought out form of communication. 

We did not think of germs when we used public phones. This was so long ago, you did not worry about germs. You could sometimes smell the breath of the last user on the mouth piece. You always knew if a smoker used the phone before you did.  So, you used the phone, put in your dimes, and talked slowly, but with much more clarity than any one does today on their iphones. 

We had time to just blah, blah, blah with friends - face to face. You could walk down a small city street and meet an acquaintance and stop to talk....face to face. You could look a person in the eye and see what his soul was thinking. You could tell if they were not telling the truth.  Now we have fake news dribbling down from the top. Not facts, just lies.

Televisions had shows that were for grown ups. Late night tv shows like the Late, Late Night Show was for the adults were knew.  They watched Late Night TV and laughed, listened to interviews, and were introduced to new comics. Sure, we had TV commercials for tobacco products. Everyone smoked back then. Doctors smoked at their desks during office visits. People chained smoked in offices, restaurants, and airplanes. Everywhere you went, you saw filled ashtrays that gave off an offensive stale odors as you walked by them.

I would much prefer any tobacco ad, sexy lady with a car ad, or even Uncle Ben's Fine Rice ads to what we have today for ads.  Today's   drug commercials on TV are out of control...   ask you doctor...if you need xyz. Their commercials are all over the magazines.

Finally , all   tobacco products ads for TV, magazines, and newspapers were banned and they all went away. 

Can we do the same thing for The Drug Companies' ads? 

Don't they have enough money and control over our lives? Don't the lobbyist in Washington for The Drug Companies have enough control over the cost of drugs, injections, to make their vice presidents, and their CEO millionaires a few times over? 

How long has it been since, the common person has to rationed their RXs? Don't get me wrong. I think drug companies should make a profit. But, this 21st Century of highway robbery is too over the top.  It has to stop. Where are the Perry Masons of today who will rescue the common citizen today?

First Snow Storm and Nor'Easter Storm of the "Winter" Season

Slow morning with the woods around me white and the wind whipping up the fallen leaves as I relax listening to some opera while I gather my thoughts.

I truly do love winter. I love the smell, sounds and isolation warm inside my home. A new 1,000 piece puzzle is on the dining room table. Quiet reading. Quiet house. 

We have  now arrived  into the black and white colors of winter.  The skies stay grey for days. The sun hides. The stark bare trees sway with the wicked winds.

I sit at my desk in a foggy mood. Little energy to move, or  get away from the computer. I need this time to communicate with myself. Alone. 

I need to search deep into myself and think of the last year, and start to plan the upcoming year that will be here before I blink my eyes.

Pure patty Larkin-Tango songs while I wait for Inspiration.

Heavy rain storms came last night and continued until noon today.  Now, the NW winds are ripping down the yellow, red, pink leaves from their final bow or their last days of making sugars for their trees. The have set their seed on the winds, to help make a new tree colony in the woods.

How pretty this Fall has been.  The weather is all over the weatherman's list of odd behaviors of New England in 21 Century.

New fancy shoe orthotics, new last years New Balance walking shoes, new alpaca black or blue scarf, oh yes, my friends things are looking good for me this fall. Trying, trying so hard to break the pain cycle. I have lost, gained, and again lost some weight. The walking I have been doing has helped the weight come off. But, the walking hurts my feet, knees, shoulders and my head is killing me. So, I walk one day, I rest the next. Some weeks I walk a few days in a row. Then I rest a few days. Oiy, oiy,oiy, and oiy.

Putting all my nuts in a row, one by one, setting each carefully up for their best profile. This is what I am doing to prepare for the Daylight Savings Times, preparing for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah,  and New Years. Each step I move forward. Some days, I wake up and I have gone back a few steps. I move on. I am and have always been a plugger. Even in the worst scenario, as long as I did not panic, I plugged on. The shy kids afraid of her own shadow, could and did plug away through her life, one step at a time. Some days were shear pain.  There was long months of shear pain. Oh joy, for school holidays. Oh  joy, for My Scout Leader, Faye Ehrlich. Thank the heavens for summer overnight camps, and day camps. Time for joy, play and take that deep breath, relaxation.

So, I am planning to be stress & pain free during the months of November, December, and January.

Or if that is not possible .....can I atleast be relaxed enough to have a constant smile on my face and a look of wonderment on my face.

Frigging Full Moon .....and New Year Resolution

Full Moon time again. House filled with shadows. The moonlight streams into my conscience and plays havoc with my thoughts, jumps the nerves in my legs and keeps me awake.  The moonbeams dance  around the house until I am wide awake and sitting at my desk. Then they quickly hide behind some clouds and leave me alone in my office with a dark house, once again.

I light up my pipe, and pray for my pain to go away. Away...make me young again.

Fall is such a bittersweet season. Beautiful colors, frost warnings, and struggling flowers trying their best to produce just one more bloom before dying. I love the smell of fall especially the smell of a fall marsh.

Soon, all the colors will be hidden under the coming snow. The Little River will be filled with ice flows. The quiet marsh will be awaken with the sounds of ice flows pushing onto the banks of the river and pushing again the tides. 

The fall migration of birds is all around me. Yellow rumped warblers hunt for bugs as they flutter around our deck, and the backyard. Juncos are returned for the fall/winter season. Cormorants are congregating in large groups and are having a grand eating festivals on the Merrimack  River. 

They will be going south soon.

 First snowy owl of the season has been sighted on Plum Island. 

I walk with my camera and catch colors, textures, and shapes. It gives me such pleasure to be out with my camera. My new years resolution will be to fill time with immersing myself into discovery of new and wonderful ways to take photographs, new techniques, and new showing. 

New Blue NB Shoes, great light, and quacking Canada Geese and Spontaneous Camera Shots

Oh my good gracious, new sneakers take my breath away.  New inserts $$$400, and new sneakers. Breathless again. Must thank that young sneaker salesman for understanding my needs. Be quick, acuate, engage with buyer, and smile.

I just hated going to our local Market Basket. Everyone was so faceless. No engaging. Stocking is fast, efficient, and non engaging. Ring up someone's personal choice of food, cleaning products and ice cream...non judgemental. So impersonal. So 21st century.

Go into a clothing store, and look for the salesperson, most of the time, they will be in a far corner engaging in texting their friends, family, all personal manner of things. They are not engaging with a person who they "determine" is not going to buy anything anyway. Total judgemental.
Why bother.

Taking my camera ever where is an old habit of moine. I feel naked without it. I also sometimes take my binoculars and hang them also around my heavy neck.
I love to take spontaneous  photos...they are sometimes the best.

Just Plain Fall Thoughts That Have Fallen Into My Conscience Mind On A Quiet Afternoon.

It is that time to year to clean out all the cob webs around the house, around the garden shed and most importantly inside one's head. 

The smell of autumn leaves drying in the woods, sparks me to think, plan and execute what I will do, accomplish,  and create for the next three month until the end of the year.

Time to plan future trips and adventures. Time to think boldly where one's mind has never been before. 

It is too easy to say, next year, I will travel, go to museums, listen to great jazz and be more social with other human beings. It is way too easy to blow those thoughts away. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the life I am living. I live with a man I fell in love with over 30 years ago. We are growing old together. We live in a home that we build and it is filled with our together memories. 

We are surrounded by a forest on two sides of our home. Animals wander into our yard. Some are welcomed like the birds, and others like the deer consider our yard their food pantry. 

We are both quiet people. We read a lot of books since we retired. I love nonfiction.  We love good movies. I need to limit the number of documentary films that I rent. 

But we are human and human are mortal and we age, get sick, and die. That is the reality. So, some planning is good, and that is what I will do for the next three months.