Kalmia
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Posts posted by Kalmia
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Stay home so you don't spread the germs to many people, who will then spread them to even more. Maybe instead, write the bride and groom an actual handwritten letter with your heartfelt remembrances of the bride growing up and how proud you are of her and the wishes you have for them together. I think receiving that would be a treasure for them.
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My husband eats chicken and turkey and fish, but does not eat beef (though he used to and likes the taste of it) because he loves cows (I guess technically, steers, in the case of beef). He also loves pigs and won't eat pork (but he also dislikes pork). My son won't eat beef (though eats chicken and turkey) because he loves cows. He won't eat pork because he hates and fears pigs.
I stopped eating beef and pork for a while when my husband and I first married because it upset him, but I love both, and feel best on a meat and vegetable diet, and as soon as I got pregnant I craved both meats. I did switch from conventionally grown beef to local, pastured beef and pork from cows and pigs raised on regenerative farms. (Regenerative farming has a very different environmental profile in terms of wildlife species protection (including plants), soil health (microbiome of the soil), and carbon sequestration in the soil than conventional feedlot and deforestation farming.) Also, because my diet is very limited (very picky eater, eat about 20-25 different foods total), I continued eating beef and pork after the kids were born. I can't artificially limit my already narrow diet because my husband loves cows. He can do him. I do me.
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Loving the series, Dark Winds, the newest adaptation of Tony Hillerman's Navajo crime/mystery novels set in the 1970. The acting is superb! It's on Netflix and perhaps available on DVD. There are 2 seasons so far.
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20 hours ago, wintermom said:
Last year my dd and I went to Tadoussac, Quebec and went on a larger ship whale watching tour. It was really nice, but next time I'll do a zodiac tour. I was a little afraid to at first, which is why we chose the larger vessel. Tadoussac is at the mouth of the Saguenay fjord (off of the St. Lawrence Seaway), which is amazingly beautiful and comparable to a Norwegian fjord. It's worth the drive, and you can stop off in Old Quebec City along the way.
The Saguenay Fjord is visited by a type of baluga whales, this is the furthest south balugas are found. There is a marine park in Tadousac with lots of information about all the whales found in the St. Lawrence Estuary and the Saguenay. It is really fascinating.
https://parcmarin.qc.ca/get-to-know/
Here is the link for their zodiac tours:
https://www.croisieresaml.com/en/our-cruises/tadoussac/zodiac-whale-watching-2-hour-tour
Saguenay fjord photo:
I second this. Immensely satisfying. We did it for our honeymoon in 1996 and returned for our second honeymoon in 2012. The narrowness of the river makes whale sightings more likely than the immensity of the sea. Stay in Quebec City (the old city) and motor up, leaving plenty of extra time to get to your destination.
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I am in my mid-fifties. The house my grandmother grew up in had a "two-holer" in the attached barn. I remember using an outhouse as a child at a Maine state park and at a living history museum (where they used corn cobs for toilet paper!). My friend who lived in a yurt in NH in the 1990s had an outhouse as did another friend who lived in a cabin on the side of a mountain. The mountain outhouse had a Dutch door so that you could "poo with a view." When I studied abroad in Australia in the early 90s, I heard many a tale (true? who knows) of redback spiders in outhouses. My parents did a cross-country national park trip in the late 1990s and considered making a coffee table book entitled "Scenic Outhouses" because there were so very many along the way. My friend who presently has a camp on a lake in Maine has a composting toilet in an outhouse (with a cutout moon), again with Dutch doors so one can see the lake while going.
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Other than getting no sleep, I found the "becoming a mother" process fairly easy. I knew I would never want to work when I had kids. Prior to having kids, I was the educator at the zoo that cried all Thanksgiving Day because it was my year to work that holiday. I was so upset about being at a mere job when I was missing out on being with my parents and sister and other assorted relatives having a celebration together. I certainly never considered myself having the identity of a "zoo educator" or any other job I ever had. I was good at the jobs, liked them. I learned stuff. It was fun. But a job was not how I saw myself or saw anyone else. I would never think of my old dentist as having the identity of a dentist! I'd think of him as a funny man who is smart and has a nice family. I consider myself a multitude of things: mom, daughter, granddaughter, sister, friend, naturalist (not as in the job of a naturalist, but in the-way-I-see-the-world naturalist), Mainer, artist, photographer, writer, someone who is slow in doing things, a picky eater, strong-willed, funny. So staying at home or going to work would have no influence on my sense of self, who I am and whether or not I am worthy, but working while the kids were small would have made me unhappy for what I was missing out on their lives and for the understanding that they would be missing me.
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I like my eyes and the stare I can establish with them that can put a stop to almost any shenanigans.
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You looked great to me when I saw you at the book launch!
People, including mothers, blurt stuff out all the time. With relatives that say annoying things to me, I just translate them: from the worrywart "If you go to Kentucky on vacation on your own you'll be murdered!" = "I love you" and from the man of little shown emotion "Have you changed the oil in your car recently?"" = "I love you."
What she said is hurtful and not something people should say, but at the same time you also don't have to allow it it derail your good work. Try translating it in your mind to "I love you" so what she said loses its power, then tell her to please not to use that word again.
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I always keep the different size clothes I love if I have the space. Clothes made today (and I am sure in the future), even by the same companies (I am looking at you L. L. Bean and Duluth Trading), are of far lower quality than ones I bought even ten years ago, so even if you could rebuy them you would be buying less durable, more poorly made replacements.
I don't think the existence of larger size clothes in my attic has much to do with how I stick to eating right and exercising or not. My moment-to-moment life in the present and its demands pretty much are the primary support or primary stop for my healthy habits.
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I am what I call a friendly introvert. I like people just fine, go up to them and introduce myself without anxiety, and can have a really nice time with them, but I don't "need" them in the way I have heard extroverts do. I could go a month without seeing a soul if I were in nature (though I would like to have my dog with me). So maybe I am not a traditional introvert, but I like my own company and do not get bored ever if there are books and nature available. After about a month, I'd miss my family and my 4 closest friends. I do believe social contact is important, but it could be done in a way that is not stressful. Instead of joining groups that meet regularly and require one to negotiate social situations, just take classes or do activities that are sporadic and involve mostly different people each time. An art class here, attending a poetry reading there, a science lecture, a craft night at the craft store, a nature hike at the local nature center. Activities like that. Lower interpersonal investment but not isolation. Also, letter writing (snail or email) should be revived between introverts. It is the best of both worlds: engaging with others deeply without the stresses of in-person experience.
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I have a Wagner from my mother and and old Lodge (smooth one) from my aunt that I use several times a week. I bought myself some large le creuset skillets which I like a lot, supposedly they can go in the dishwasher, but they are so expensive I am reluctant to try. And I just added in two Field Co. that are light weight but still need more seasoning before I can accurately judge how they cook. I also just got a lodge portable grill and will be trying that out this week. I love the history of the women in my family using the same pans and passing them down. I like how durable they are. I like how they cook. The big old Lodge is heavy, which is why I ended up with it, but I will have the lighter weight modern Field of the same size for when I'm older.
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We are big on ingredient buying and scratch cooking rather than prepared mixes, sauces, or foods. I'm on the third year of gardening at my new home. I grow some fresh eating vegetables that carry me through summer, tomatoes, peppers, hot peppers, carrots and some storage vegetables to last through the winter, potatoes, garlic, and onions. I also have been ordering bulk organic food from Azure Standard and storing it carefully. I highly recommend them for food with a long shelf life or if you have a big family. The savings are significant on the bulk sizes. If you are gluten free or need uncommon ingredients try Azure for savings in those areas. Finally, I shop sales at my local grocery and and stock up. We only have two real supermarket chains so they don't try to outcompete each other with sales. The youtube channel Under the Median (homeschoolers and frugality teachers) has a lot of good ideas for saving money at the grocery store and they are calm people! The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn is dated, but her articles on cooking from scratch, bulk buying, and most importantly, The Pantry Principle are still spot on.
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The multiple assisted living and nursing homes my MIL was in (NY) did nothing to prevent falls. She fell so often, so many contusions, a broken rib. They don't care at all. My SIL paid a private nurse to sit with her in one of the nursing homes all day to prevent falls. This was ON TOP OF THE $10,000/mo for the nursing home. I was actually so relieved when she deteriorated enough that she could no longer walk. And when she would get hurt and went to the hospital, one refused to have her back! The elder care system is insane. If we don't buckle our kids in it is abuse, but if we do buckle in our elders it is abuse?!?!? In both cases living, feeling people can be injured, sometimes fatally from impact. And if alarms are restraint, I'm an orangutan. Yes, I have strong, ANGRY feelings about assisted living and nursing homes.
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6 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:
I know we could turn down the offer, BUT that almost 100 acres is my dream come true.
The land has its own life (animals, plants, soil) that deserves a good steward, and it sounds like you are the perfect one. It needs you! Think about how a developer would ruin it if it was sold!
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Favorites in no particular order:
Smoke Signals
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Dune 1 & 2
The Whales of August
Blast from the Past (Brendan Fraser)
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris ****
Feast of the Seven Fishes (Netflix)
The Atomic Cafe
An Unfinished Life (Robert Redford)
Back to the Future
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
The Secret of Roan Inish
Men in Black
Fried Green Tomatoes
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Black Stallion
To Kill a Mockingbird
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I've ridden, off and on, at many different stables in many areas of the country since I was 16 (I am 54) and I have only been bucked off ONE time and that is because the horse I was riding was stung by a yellow jacket. Paralysis, injury, or death are rare but possible result of being bucked off. And it is not okay to have children around horses that are not child-safe. Lesson horses should be as close to bombproof as possible. The owner has been letting these horses get away with this behavior and has not been retraining as he or she should. I would pull my kid and find a new stable.
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My MIL and mom both rapidly lost the ability to use their smart phones when dementia set in. Within months of being unable to operate a cell phone they also could not longer operate a landline, even one with the photo buttons that are programmed with people's phone numbers. I figure now that once the decline starts, it won't be long until the rest of my elders need in-person assistance not technological assistance.
My dad has never had an iPhone, just a flip phone. He can still operate it at 84 without a problem. He got rid of the landline because the spam calls were incessant and my mom's dementia meant that she would answer every single one, couldn't be talked out of answering. A few years ago she was scammed online, but she's beyond being scammed now, wouldn't know how to find her wallet much less her bank account or credit card number.
So many websites and agencies and companies are putting in place things that require phones recently. It will really impact a good percentage of the elderly. For example, I was at a different branch of my bank than I usually go to, making a withdrawal, and the teller wanted to text me a code to prove I was who I said I was! I had just given him my driver's license. I was pretty worried about this since this is the bank my father uses too, and so I asked, "So, when my 84 year old father comes in with his flip phone are you going to tell him he can't have his money?" The teller was like, well, it's for your own protection. I responded, "like if someone who looked exactly like me tackled me on the way in here and stole my wallet with my bank card and my photo ID--that looks just like me standing here right now--and used it to try and withdraw money... protecting me against that?" He was then like, well, if your dad doesn't have a smartphone, we'd figure something out to prove who he is. (We do not live in a high crime area; we live in one of the safest states in the nation.)
Sigh.
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I am no fan of lab grown meat, but banning it isn't going to work, and in this case, it is definitely political grandstanding. (But just to note, it is not only conservatives who are concerned about corporate ownership of all food, many liberals are as well, including myself. ) I would rather see subsidies for organic regenerative agriculture with mixed animal and plant cropping that supports healthy soil. I also bristle when oil and gas companies, the folks directly responsible for the climate crisis (and knew their actions would cause a climate crisis back in the early 1900s) because they brought up billions of tons of already sequestered carbon aren't the objects of absolute bans.
If anyone is interested, Michael Pollan in Food, Inc. 2 interviews the owner of one lab-grown (pieces of meat cultured from meat cells) meat start-up as well as discussing the "Impossible Burger". The "Impossible Burger" is not in any way a health food. It doesn't even seem to be food as I would define it from its ingredients: GMO yeast, GMO soy, seed and coconut oils, sugars, salt, cellulose (undigestible tree fiber), added vitamins. Better off to snack on some organic soybeans dipped in coconut oil with a vitamin-pill chaser. It exists because its inventor felt it was a better environmental choice than beef, however, health wise... looks like fast food to me. Lab grown meat is actual meat, but instead of being decentralized production as on farms of all sizes, from homestead to factory farm, it would be food that is wholly corporate owned.This is the link to Michael Pollan's latest documentary, Food, Inc 2: https://www.amazon.com/Food-Inc-Inside-Better-Future/dp/154170357X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1W551NLIKKAFK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.z1iL1JoOEnhxu7yrx6ZowetwI6FQVl6GHVnf5PaMvbBfPOJp0scRCXP0L81j3IhChvRqUMgYSXwbP3hcGdK9p65Zol40mZFycScBXQC_2Z22VkfdpTTNWEz7AJvZzG9htWRTv0aB8il6jsc6UdRXBnRmnnEva1xHXLQOpVOhox3bTABqlFOfs2kUZ_a0gOQ77vopyXHw4e_ZEr4JeMiRhInCcijWGsUArvU4mWfkJMQ.x3yOmM4XrnrSyIgokszcuG_muIA6vL_b3n1flbd4x5Y&dib_tag=se&keywords=food+inc+2&qid=1714782104&sprefix=food+inc+2%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-1
Dr. Vandana Shiva writes a lot about corporate control of food and what that means for the people. https://grist.org/sustainable-food/dr-vandana-shiva-occupy-our-food-supply/
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My orange cat had a heart murmur detected at around 5 years of age. We were told to take him to a veterinary cardiologist. Because this cat was my daughter's "best friend in the whole world," we did it. It was at least $500 (back then) for the visit and the heart scan. They prescribed three medications: atenolol, benazepril, and clopidogrel which cost us about $30/mo. He is 14 now has not had any heart incidents, so maybe this has saved his life, hard to know. The vet always wants us to go back to the cardiologist to get a new scan, to which we always say no. We have a history of picking cats from the shelter that look healthy but have massive defects. This cat has his heart murmur PLUS a bifurcated gallbladder which gets infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria about every two years and costs us $5000 minimum to save his life (and is risky because he is on blood thinners)at the emergency vet. So, no, I am not going to shell out another $500+ to check and see if he needs the dosages of his medication tweaked slightly, especially since he could die of a return of the gallbladder infection at any time.
Anyway, the point of this overly long story is for your 20 year old cat, I would say just no. No $500 cardiologists. No $360/year medications. Let nature take its course, save your money for the medical expenses that will certainly come along for your next pet.
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Clearly SWB will have to get busy on a mummified chicken pin (or bag charm), though she would probably prefer a sentence diagram: we|are\hive (maybe with "a" and "well-trained" hanging under modifying "hive"). There would be buyers!
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I always look around at the kids helping at the Azure Standard drop, that I assume are homeschooling because of the time it occurs, and wonder if any WTMers are there. I once saw a MA license plate that said "SPY CAR" but knew that our hive member, Spy Car, lived on the west coast, so close but no buddy bee.
We should have a lapel pin, like the Girl Scout Trefoil, to identify ourselves to each other. It would be possible that other people, such as honey-lovers and beekeepers and gardeners might have a hive pin, so to be unmistakable we could use a sentence diagram, a mummified chicken, or a tiny replica of a denim jumper.
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My local writers' social group friend, Ellen Baker, just published a gripping novel, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson. Her research on traveling circuses and orphanages of the past makes for fascinating settings in this novel.
I am also reading The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Lots of new research on the smartphone--mental health crisis conection.
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I use them to cover plants if it looks like a frost will come up in the night. And I have one queen size white top sheet I use with my UV moth lights that the moths land on and I photograph and identify them. I am the only one in the house that uses a top sheet. None of my bedding matches so I just use the top sheet in the clean pile. If the others wear out their bottom sheet, I would just buy them a new fitted sheet rather than a set.
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How many books do you own?
in The Chat Board
Posted · Edited by Kalmia
The estimate I come up with by multiplying the average number per shelf by number of shelves plus an approximation of how many books per small moving box in my barn adds up to about 1700. Those are just my books, not my husband's or adult children's. But I have the most of any of us. The majority of mine are specialized nature books (field guides, natural histories, ecology, habitats, etc.) and a the next most common are the homeschooling books I now use for tutoring, with a bunch of literature, fiction, and nonfiction rounding out the collection. I never feel I have too many books. There are plenty of bookshelves and I am made very happy gazing upon them, whereas I dislike looking upon home "decor." Books are useful AND beautiful.