Monday, March 11, 2024

Art and Found Day

Have you ever found a rock with something painted on it? You know, the ones you are allowed to pick up and take home.  They could be anywhere and you just accidentally come across them. 

Years ago, a local lady who made glass beads, decided to leave little necklaces around town for others to find. I found two but, to be fair, I decided to relocate one in another town.


Now I have discovered we are about to celebrate Art and Found Day on March 12.  Artists all over the world will leave something they created somewhere for someone else to find and take home. I want to take part and have encouraged some of my friends to get in on the fun too. I have been working on a painting of a friend's horse that I will place where, hopefully, it will be found soon. With any luck, the finder will share it on social media. I may drop more than one.  They may be just bookmarks. We'll see....

If this is of interest to you, go to www.artandfoundday.com to learn more.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Painting Project

 Our local Ladies Club decided last fall to start creating a rock snake that will be installed near the library, here in our village. We gathered once a month to paint rocks with any design we chose. Three of us actually painted the head of the snake at the first meeting, so it will be interesting to see how those get used. As there were a few rocks left after our last meeting, we were invited to take them home and finish them up there.  Well, I have lots of paints so I made off with one.

I was one of the ones who had previously painted the snake's head. I had found a rock that just told me that was what it was. I put a penguin on another and finally, I painted a face on the last one. So what would I put on the one I brought home?  

I placed it on my desk and waited for it to suggest something. I turned it around and still, it didn't suggest anything in particular. Then I remembered one of the other ladies had stood a rock on its end and I wondered if this one would do that. As soon I placed it on end, I knew immediately, that this rock was a dog! 

I searched internet to see if I could locate a picture similar to what I was imagining on the rock.  I found a couple that were very different from one another but had features in the right place to fit on my rock. Even as I started painting I was not sure which way I would go. I decided to place the nose and eyes. The shape of the rock defined the snout and ears. After that, I just let go and let it become whatever dog it wanted to be.  The great thing about painting with acrylics is you don't have to worry. You can always paint over anything you don't like.

I could likely refine this a bit more but hubby says, "Don't touch it!"  What do you think?







Sunday, January 21, 2024

Forced Phone Upgrade

 First, let me assure you, I am not a phone person.

I hardly ever use a telephone if I can get out of it, so my cell phone is just a tool. I only use it for emergencies or when I need to locate someone I get separated from in a mall or large store, or when I'm at an appointment or meeting and need to be picked up when it's time to go home. Even then, I tend to text, not call. I'm hard of hearing and until just recently my hearing aid wasn't capable of having a Bluetooth connection with a phone. My old phone probably couldn't do that anyway. It had no memory and got so I couldn't even update the software. Then my provider decided it was time to update their network. That means my phone is not going to work at all within the next couple of weeks.

My old phone was a simple thing. It cost under a hundred dollars when it was new. I have never had a data plan and pay just $10 a month to keep it operational. At one point I had over $600 worth of credit racked up. They let me use that up but I'm not allowed to accumulate it anymore.

I was shocked by what it would cost me to replace the darn thing. The prices on today's phones are outrageous!  Worse than that, my hubby needs to replace his too. He did some research and asked a lot of questions everywhere they sell phones before coming to the conclusion that we would go for the Moto G Stylus 5G. The 5G won't work on my pay as you go plan, but that doesn't mean anything to me anyway.

It has a lot more memory, a superior camera and even a stylus. I  can apparently Bluetooth it to my hearing aids so I might actually be able to hear if someone does call me. (We'll see about that). It also has a virtual assistant. I was about to set that up and got to the part where Google was telling me to say, "Set the timer for two minutes" but before I could speak a voice from the other room was speaking to the cat. He said, "Are you making a mess?" And instantly, Google popped this up as a response.

(click to enlarge)

That definitely gave me a much needed giggle.  But then I had to wonder if Google just learned to recognize the wrong voice.  It's okay.  I just tested it. 

I discovered I can make a grocery list right on my phone. Big deal, you may say, but this is all new to me! I also decided to test the stylus since the existing list has little boxes to check.  I don't usually draw digitally so excuse the mess while I figure this out. 


Oh, maybe Google was right.  I might have a bit of fun making messes.





Monday, January 1, 2024

Guess What Time of Year It Is




 It's that time of year again. 

Many of us are taking stock of our lives, making plans for the coming year and making promises to ourselves that likely won't be kept. It's a time when we traditionally start over and then fizzle out of our new ways long before we should. So is it worth it to even try?

My main goal for the coming year is to cut down on e-mail. I subscribe to a lot of newsletters but there is no way I have time to read them all, especially if I start watching the art videos that often come attached. I spend more time deleting e-mail than actually reading it each day, and still, it piles up. My current method is to do a search for whatever comes up first and delete all the old stuff. A lot of that may be unread, but it's old now so it can disappear along with the newer editions.  My new strategy is to unsubscribe from the ones I find that are mostly unread. I can make a list of who they are from and the subject matter in case I ever want those back. 

If I want to keep up with what certain artists are doing, I can probably just subscribe to their YouTube channel and look to see what's new when I'm in the mood.  

Making a list of authors and unsubscribing from their e-mails for the time being would also be a good idea. Sure they offer me free books to review, but I have several years worth of reading material stacked up waiting for me as it is. I don't really need to add to it, no matter how new it is. The one author whose books I could never pass up past away this year.  Rest in peace Matthew Mather. You will be missed.

Most of what's left would be from retailers, offers for free stuff and samples and of course, surveys. I might as well get rid of the retail e-mails as many of those require apps these days anyway. I'm keeping the surveys and e-mails that offer me free products.    I love getting new products in the mail when all I have to do is tell the rest of you what I think of them. I don't even have to pretend to like something. Fot instance, I recently got three products all at once. They are meant to work together but you could use any of them individually. I love one and have no use for another. The third one is okay for this time of year but not something I would ever buy. They are full sized products and I will happily tell the truth about what I think of them when I do my reviews. The surveys provide me with enough mad money to buy things online when I want something. 

This e-mail elimination is going to take longer than many of you imagine, but if I sunsubscribe a few each day I might win this battle eventually.

The second thing I want to do (the first, actually, but if I do it first, then I'll never get around to the job mentioned above) is to get back to making my own art.  I have slipped into learner mode. I have been painting and drawing along with instructors. I must be getting better as I have had several requests from people wanting to buy things. Because they were done as part of a course, I was not at liberty to sell them. Also, I have been working mainly in sketchbooks the past couple of years. I plan to buy a new block of watercolour paper in a size larger than what I have previously used. They are not cheap so I will spend some of my survey money on that. I have already built a file of pictures to inspire me.  Wish me luck.

I think these are worthwhile goals. While I may never totally eliminate the excess e-mail, I can at least put a dent in it so I will have time to paint.

Oh, and who knows, I might get back to blogging more often too, now that life is a little more normal and I'm back to doing things.

May you all have a very happy new year.


Monday, September 25, 2023

Tomato Tsunami


Usually, at this time of year, I have a lot of green tomatoes. I listen to the forecast every night and when there is even a hint of frost I go out and gather them into cardboard boxes. I put the boxes in the basement and check for ripe ones each week. I generally have fresh tomatoes right up until just before Christmas. I love that. This year, things are different.


I planted seeds I had saved from just two of the four kinds I had previously grown. My heritage Bulls Heart tomatoes are huge while my purple ones are just two or three times the size of cherry tomatoes. I planted three of each, originally, but my purple ones must have crossed with some other variety as each of those three plants grew something different. While one continued to grow purple tomatoes, one grew beautiful, perfectly normal-sized red tomatoes, and the other grew long Roma-shaped ones that were full of seeds.


 



I have a second raised garden bed this year but since the earth for it didn't arrive early enough for me to plan properly for the addèd space, I just popped a couple more Bulls Heart seedlings in there when it did come.


 The Bulls Heart ones are all ripened now and I am pulling out the plants. The others are extremely prolific and have recently been ripening faster than I can keep up with them. I am completely overwhelmed and feel like I am drowning in a tsunami wave of tomatoes.


Besides eating more tomatoes in the past couple of weeks than most people would eat in a year, I have been processing them in various ways. I have tomatoes frozen in containers and in freezer bags. I have made a couple of batches of slow-cooked spaghetti sauce, which also went into the freezer in mason jars. My freezer is now full but I still have three buckets of tomatoes in the house and more on the plants. I have given away a large number of tomatoes to at least 9 people, most of them, repeatedly.


I gave away my canning kettle earlier this year as I never grow enough in my small garden to can anyway.  This year, of course, turned out to be the exception. This week I saw a YouTube video that showed me how to process tomatoes without a canning kettle. It involved putting the jars in the oven and the lids in hot water and getting the tomatoes just to the boiling point without actually cooking them. If all three elements are hot when you put the tomatoes in the jars and the lids on, the jars are supposed to seal.  I started out thinking I would fill about 8 jars but then wisely decided to do just two the first time, just to see if it worked. Basically that took long enough to wear me out. And the jars had not sealed even by the next morning. I'm disappointed. I managed to put one of the jars in the freezer. The other is in the fridge. I will use it tomorrow or have to dispose of the contents since there are no preservatives.  

I guess I will have to treat most of the remaining tomatoes the way people have always done with their zucchini and sneak around and leave them on people's porches. I'm really tired of dealing with the darn things! 


But really, I must admit I will really miss having fresh ones up until Christmas this year. There are not likely to be any green ones in my basement this fall. I have never had so many tomatoes ripen so soon. The overabundance is only partially my own fault. The rest I will blame on climate change and all the heat we had this year. I will not plant more than my usual six plants next year but I am already wondering if I will save seeds of the beautiful normal-sized red ones, and hope they don't grow something else.


Saturday, August 26, 2023

Found But Not Lost

 I'm sorry but I just need to rant for a few minutes.


I keep seeing people on my social media posting pictures of cats they found wandering around. They have picked them up and taken them home, or even to a shelter. I really need to know what makes these people think these cats are lost.  If it was a dog, I would understand. Dogs are not supposed to be running loose.  They are like small children and need supervision. Cats are more like teenagers and need the freedom to explore their world. They go where they go, and will go home again to be fed if nobody locks them in someplace they can't get out of.


Now, I will admit that my previous cat became part of our household exactly that way.  She was just a tiny kitten who took shelter during a big snowstorm under a pile of Christmas trees that were for sale where my hubby worked. She was brought into the building to warm up for a while but when she was still around the next day someone decided to feed her. Of course, then she was quite happy to stay there.  She was brought home to our place and presented to me. I was told she was lost. Well, since we live 12 miles from where she was found, my answer to that was, "Well, she is now!"  

My dog adopted her right away. He washed her ears and followed her around the house. He taught her the rules. No pets on the furniture and no claws in the rug.  He would pounce at her if she tried. I refused to name her for several weeks. She wasn't mine and I fully expected someone to claim her. I was afraid to get attached. I felt sorry for whoever had lost her. But she did become my cat and I had her for nine years.

My current cat is very snoopy.  Curiosity is generally a sign of intelligence.  It's how we learn.  It may be true that it can also get you, or your cat, into trouble sometimes. We have alerted our neighbours to please check their garage or shed before closing the door, especially if they are planning to be away for an extended period of time. If my cat goes missing, it will not be because she is lost. She would either be locked in someplace, killed by a preditor, or taken in by some misguided helpful person who thinks she's lost.  That has actually happened twice this past year when other people on my block thought she was lost and were determined to rescue her.  So please, unless you find a cat that is in obvious distress, do not assume it is lost, it is just exploring its world and knows the way home.


Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Use It Or Lose It


 I'm sure you have all heard the old adage "use it or lose it" but maybe you didn't realize that it pertains to a lot more things than just muscles. 

I have told people who say they are having trouble doing something that used to be easy that they need to practice it more.  I started that when I saw an elderly relative who had always been spry and active struggle to get up off the couch. Apparently, she had been sitting too much that winter, and then she thought she was just slowing down because she was getting older. In reality, it was because she had not been using those muscles as much in the past few months and needed to retrain them.  We can strengthen our muscles at any age, no matter how old we get, but if we don’t use them they get weak.

I have glasses for reading. They are prescription glasses with a prism in them, not drugstore reading glasses. I don't always use them. I'm typing on my tablet at the moment and my glasses are not even in the room with me. My hubby cannot read anything without his, and they are not as strong as mine. He has progressive glasses so he wears his all the time. His eyes, or his brain, have gotten used to having assistance.  My eyes just see what they see and my brain must fill in the rest.

Just recently I got new hearing aids. I have worn one for close to twenty years but it was once again time to get a new one. I was losing my word  recognition so I needed to upgrade to a stronger model and I finally accepted the fact that maybe I needed two. It did not take a week for my ears and brain to adjust to all this help and suddenly I could no longer  hear without the aides in place. I am hearing much better now, while wearing my new hearing aids but without them I am suddenly a lot deafer than I have ever been. Just more proof that if you don’t use it, you lose it.  As it was, I wasn't using the part of my brain that could recognize words and I think that's worse. I'm better off needing help to hear properly than I would be if I could not understand what was being said. Even so, I have now turned the volume down three clicks and can still hear just fine with the aids. Maybe that will help me be less deaf without them. One can only hope.....