Thought for the Day - 10/06/26

There comes a point when you realize it's time to e-walk away from some tihings.  I reached that point with Instagram today and deactivated my account.

It was the place where I death-scrolled to death.  It was the place where I had only one friend, someone I know in real life.  The rest are e-acquaintances and/or business accounts. The line never blurred between reality and online as far as interaction goes, although my bossy-boots self was trying to emerge.  Yeah, no.  No one wants that.

Facebook, the other side of the Meta coin, is similar, although I have both family and friends there along with e-acquaintances.  I also never death-scrolled on Facebook.  I know you can, but I don't plan on starting now.  I don't have a Tik-Tok or other social media account, although I tried to set one up at one point.  But in my old age, I found it too hard to navigate.

My Instagram days, like many, started during the COVID pandemic.  Although COVID hasn't gone away, the reason for being isolated by it and needing distraction and e-interaction has definitely waned.

It's not for everyone to take a set back from social media platforms, and for many it's the only thing they have.  I get that and won't begrudge them for it.  But for me, it's time.

Thought for the Day 10/04/26

When you need to clean

But it's too nice outside

And your body's betraying you for either cleaning

Or taking a pleasant fall walk

What do you do

I think I need a housekeeper

Too bad it's not in the budget

Walking's free

Even if it's slower and more uncomfortable

Than I ever thought would happen

Happy medium will be found

Thought for the Day - 09/27/26

 Excuse you - it's only been close to ten months since you last posted.

Yeah, yeah, I know, and what's it going to take to restart a blog that is rarely viewed, and is totally inane to begin with?

Don't know.  But I'll think of something

A Final Toast - Poetry for a New Year's Evening

As I tick down the minutes

    to the new year

In my comfy jammies

    with my ginger beer

I resist the temptation

    to ask Hey Universe WTF

Why did this prior year

    universally suck

Yes a few did well

    but so many did worse

It's like we were hit

    by some vicious curse

Each day brought a new dose

    of surprise shock and sadness

Taking away yet another bit

    of joy hope and gladness

But not every year's like this

    I know this to be true

So I raise my glass in toast 

    to possibilities anew

Let good change of changed things

    replace all the bad

Let us remember our humanity 

    and all that we had

Let us help all not just some

    achieve all that they can

And bring us to a new place

    For every woman every man

Let us find a place of peace

    without fear or dread

From beginning to end

    in this new year ahead

It can happen I know

    if we can believe

Make this new year one to be proud of

    let's see what we can achieve

                                                       Lauren Swartzmiller (c) 12/31/2025

Countdown to Fall 9/1/25

If ever there was a year that I couldn't wait until summer was OVER, this was it.  Too warm, too humid, and too many non-weather related issues to contend with.  

But now,  we've reached September, and there are only a few weeks between me and my favorite season.

Fall.

Autumn.

Not summer.  

Trees have begun losing their lush green look, with some even starting to take on a little autumnal color.  No, it's not early and the result of climate change.  It normally starts here in late August.

I'm also seeing migrating birds starting to group.  They're not leaving yet, just getting acquainted for the long trip ahead.

Other little fall signs as well.  But my biggest and most welcome sign that fall is on its way are the cooler temps at night.  The air conditioner and fans are starting to get breaks, and so is my electric bill.  

Anyway, the autumnal equinox is making its way around the seasonal corner, and I'm going to savor it like good wine when it does.

Only 21 days until fall.

Thought for the Day – 2/2/2025

So, Punxsutawny Phill saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter.

As I stare at my thermometer, which reads 8°F, what can I say except WELL, DUH!

Stupid woodchuck – go back to sleep.

Thought for the Day – 2/1/2025

Wait – it's February?

We made it out of January?  

Oh, thank goodness.  I thought that stupid month was never going to go away.  

Thought for the Day - 1/31/2025

If you've got it, flaunt it 

If you wrote it, own it

If you sang it, say it

If you performed it, promote it

If you created it, take pride in it

Thought for the Day - 01/25/25

To Sid

In this world there are no surprises

The moon sets and the moon then rises

Lest you think that this makes sense

Seriously, Dear, you're being dense

Open your mind to that which calls

Beyond your normal homestead walls

In this new place, your muse awaits

Just beyond those airport gates

So go and work, then go and play

Have fun, be safe, be creative, okay

(Apologies to any other readers for this poetic personal message)

Thought for the Day - 01/22/2025

 Five seconds before this shot, it was -4°F.  It was taken at 7:50 AM.  The sun was up, but not over the local horizon.

You can call it winter and normal for this time of year.  You can call it the result of climate change.  It doesn't matter.  It's too damned COLD.

Hope my car starts.

Thought for the Day - 1/21/2025

 

You would think I'd know better than to even think about buying this so early in the game. 

Gone in less than 10 minutes - and it wasn't even a bad day.  

There's no way to allow for or exercise away the 1110 calories this indulgence costs me.

But I'd been so good since the middle of December.  Yes, I started this journey in the middle of the holiday season and I had been responsible in eating until this point.

Ah, well – back to proper eating.  Thanks for the tasty memory, Ben & Jerry.

Other Thought for the Day 1/20/2025

With regard to other events of the day, today's celebration of a great human being should not go unnoticed.  Martin Luther King, Jr - a voice for equality, a voice for peace, an extraordinary man.  In honor of his memory, please volunteer your time to a worthy cause for at least an hour or two on a regular basis.

As to anything else that happened today, I don't really have anything to say.  Actually I do, but ...

Thought for the Day - 1/20/2025

If all the snowstorms were 4" of fluffy snow, I wouldn't mind.

If visits from the polar vortex (the frigid air reaching us from the Arctic) only meant day temps in the 20s and nighttime temps in the teens, I wouldn't mind (sorry, Florida).

Yeah - welcome back to Upstate New York winter reality.  More snow coming, not necessarily 4" and not likely always fluffy.  Temperatures in the teens during the day and single digits above and below zero at night until the end of the week.  Hope to have running water from all taps and a car that wants to start in the morning for the next few days.

Can't wait to hear what that woodchuck down in Pennsylvania has to predict on February 2.

Thought for the Day - 1/12/2025

Vertigo - when you discover that the world really does revolve around you.

Wheeeeeeeee!

Thought for the Day - 1/10/2025

 "I have a sore throat, a cough, and a fever of 103.  But I'll be in tomorrow."

Uh – no you won't, and we don't want you, anyway.  

People, no one is THAT indispensable.  The Big Four of Winter 24-25 (COVID, Flu, RSV and Norovirus) don't need to be perpetuated by the overly dedicated.  If you've got the symptoms, regardless of whether you chose to get checked out for them or not, use some common sense and wait at least 24 hours after your symptoms have gone (especially fever) before you decide to expose the rest of us to what you had.

In other words, STAY THE  %#&#  HOME !!!!!

Thought for the Day – 1/9/2025

I finally heard from an old college friend who lived in the Malibu area and he, his wife, their two dogs and two cats are safe.  They lost their home, but got out everything they wanted and needed.  I also made contact with two online friends who I know were also in the line of fire(s) out in the Los Angeles area, one a fellow hobby writer and the other a fellow autoimmune disease person.  Both got the hell out of the hellfire zone with their loved ones and what they needed.  My fellow creative soul has COPD and ended up briefly in the hospital from the smoke.  Eventually, they'll go back and assess the damage.

I am relieved to have heard from them, but it's hard to not be out there to help.  I can donate mony, but it's not the same as hands-on assistance, something that I'm just starting to physically feel up to again.

But we all need to do what we can.  This is not over by a long shot, and recovery from these fires, once eventually out, will take weeks to years and for some, recovery will be impossible and they will have to move on. 

Please give your support in whatever way you can, and keep those positive thoughts and prayers going.

Thought for the Day - 1/8/2025

Multiple thoughts, not just one, for all impacted by the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area.  

If you're out there, please don't try to "save" your home.  Things can be replaced, you and loved ones can't.  Take yourself, your family, your pets and what's important and essential  (documents, medicines, photos, clothes, foodstuffs) and please GO.  Don't stop until you're safe.

A special thought of respect and thanks to fire, police and emergency medical personnel for what they're doing and enduring for everyone's sake.

May the winds calm and the fires slow enough to be contained sooner rather than later.

Thought for the Day - 1/6/2025

On this less than happy anniversary on our country's history, let it be a quiet day.

Thought for the Day = 1/5/2025

Why can't laundry do itself?  Why doesn't ever listen to me when I ask it to?  It just sits there in a disobient lump.  It only has to crawl on the basket, invite the detergent and fabric softener along, drive two miles to the laundromat, wash, dry and fold itself, come home and put itself away.

Wow - no wonder it doesn't want to.

Thought for the Day - 1/4/2025

I feel Iike a runner who hit their physical/mental wall at Mile 4 and pushed through to Mile 6.

Never mind that my wall was at Mile 0.5 and I pushed through to Mile 0.99999, and I wasn't running.

Accomplishment is accomplishment, no matter how humble.