Kalmia
-
Posts
1,767 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by Kalmia
-
-
I have tried to do this as much as possible all along, especially with independent bookstores. We are still getting takeout from some favorite restaurants, but if our numbers get much higher we may have to pause that for a while. I have looked to see if there are any more opportunities to support local businesses. It is a small thing, but we moved and I needed a new ID tag for the dog. I was just going to order from Petco, but looked for a Maine based business and found one that made much more durable tags that look like little medallions. Also, I remembered to check our Maine-based shoe store (ironic, because Maine used to make a good portion of the shoes worn in this country) for the brands I like rather than Zappos. They carried them and I got them in 2 days.
I love going to the movies, especially at independent theaters. There are three I would like to support. One is a not-for-profit, so I should be able to do that. The other two are privately owned. I hope they don't end up closing.
Farm stands and local food has been something I have supported for years. Took a little while to check out all the options in my area and some of them close after Thanksgiving, but I found two that are open year-round and am thankful for that.
-
3
-
-
Kathy Smith definitely has grapevines in some of her videos.
-
1
-
-
Not masked on my rural road, but have one in my pocket just in case. Always masked when outdoors in town or in stores or in medical situations. Different levels of masks for different situations: blue surgical mask for outdoors in town or busy preserves. Happymask for stores that aren't particularly busy. KN 95 for grocery store, gallery where I volunteered, or medical office (though the surgery center had us take off our KN95s and use their very large, loose surgical masks--not happy about that!). Hand sanitizer before and after going into any store or office. Wash hands thoroughly upon return. Still isolating packages (mostly because they are for Christmas and I don't need to deal with them right away). Not washing groceries (had isolated them in garage before but now too cold). Not going to any unnecessary stores, just grocery stores. Ordering other things we need online. Drive through pharmacy and bank only. Everyone doing work and school from home.
Dd had to have knee surgery so we isolated more than we had before for two weeks prior to the surgery. We weren't out much before, but before the surgery and before the numbers started growing in Maine, I was making more grocery trips than I should have (in part because there still are some shortages for things that I would have otherwise stocked up on, like the only cat food my diabetic cat should and will eat) and I was volunteering half a day in an art gallery that I love (masked, doors open when possible) and I was visiting my parents once a week in their yard about 10 feet distanced. I paused the volunteering and visiting my parents for the four weeks around the surgery (and thankfully the gallery then decided to close on the 24th anyway through January at least). Now that the surgery is over I would like to visit my parents again outside but it is cold and my mom is very sensitive to the cold. We'll see on that one, maybe park warm cars 10 feet apart and talk while masked? We'll see in two weeks (14 days after the surgery).
At the surgery center we had a 25 minute wait in the large but busy waiting room, then two hours in the individual curtained prep area. When dd was in surgery I waited in my car instead of the waiting area. Sanitized religiously and changed clothes immediately upon getting home.
So I think we are doing fairly well in isolating (other than that necessary surgery).
-
1
-
-
A garden hod for carrying and washing vegetables.
https://stores.mainegarden.com/pikes-original-maine-garden-hod/
Do they line-dry their clothes? American made, sturdy clothespins (two options)
Anything from Lehman's
-
1
-
-
Books I have read that would seemingly make good night reading:
Mystery: (these are not cozies)
The Kate Sugak series by Dana Stabenow (Alaskan wilderness, Aleut culture, sled dogs, crime/police)
The Benni Harper series by Earlene Fowler (Ranch country California, cattle/horse ranches, folk art (especially quilts), strong family ties, police)
Fiction:
Anything by Barbara Kingsolver (nature, fiction)
Her latest: Unsheltered https://smile.amazon.com/Unsheltered-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0062684736/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Barbara+Kingsolver&qid=1607563498&sr=8-4
Mythology:
Circe by Madeline Miller
-
1
-
-
I like the Burl Ives versions of songs that were on those animated Christmas specials from the 60s? 70s? (Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and the rest) because of their associations with my childhood. And I love the songs from the Peanuts Christmas special.
I am not religious, but I love Silent Night, especially when sung by Nat King Cole and The Carol of the Bells by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
I love I'll Be Home for Christmas sung by Johnny Mathis because my mom who rarely got to go to her home halfway across the country would always sing it sorrowfully on Christmas Eve while she was cooking.
Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! by Dean Martin
Walking in a Winter Wonderland by Bing Crosby
Winter Wonderland by Frank Sinatra
The River by Joni Mitchell
And because my husband doesn't like traditional Christmas music, this year I made him a "Punk Rock" Christmas playlist. I don't recommend it to just anyone with its explicit lyrics, but my husband, a big fan of punk (and similar) in his younger years likes it: Fairytale of New York by The Pogues, Silent Night by The Dickies, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by August Burns Red, White Christmas by Bad Religion, Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) by American Hi-Fi, Jingle Bell Rock by Thousand Foot Krutch, Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones, The Season's Upon Us by the Dropkick Murphys, and White Christmas by Stiff Little Fingers.
-
1
-
1
-
-
Narrative Non-fiction about Plants and Animals: (most of these are vintage, some might be available online). Narrative style might be more palatable to your daughter.
Wild Season by Allan W. Eckert (food chain)
Wild Life: The Remarkable Lives of Ordinary Animals by Edward Kanze
Watchers at the Pond by Franklin Russell
One Day at Teton Marsh by Sally Carrighar
Ways of the Six-Footed by Anna Botsford Comstock (insects)
Plants and their Children by Mrs. William Starr Dana (plants and seeds)
According to Season by Mrs. William Starr Dana (wildflowers)
The Living Year by Richard Headstrom (animals and plants go through their yearly cycles)
Tracking the Unearthly Creatures of Marsh and Pond by Howard G. Smith
Grassroots Jungles by Edwin Way Teale (Insects)
-
I know five people who have had COVID. Two of those were in NYC, elderly, one may have been in an assisted living home. Both passed away and I have no concrete information on how they got it.
Another one (48 years old) got it very early in the outbreak. He'd gone remote for teaching and was ordering food in, was not visiting his elderly mother for her protection, but he invited his nephews over to play on his trampoline (which is in his apartment--it is an acrobatic dance theater thing) even though his brother had said they were all sick (with what they thought at the time was a cold) the week before. So he was doing the safe thing, but made exceptions for family. This was back when media outlets were saying things like "If you think you have COVID, you probably don't. It is most likely just a cold or the flu. Ride it out at home" and "Children don't spread COVID" and before widespread mask use or widespread available testing. So while his brother and nephews had a week-long "cold", he was in the ICU (and rehab) for 47 days with a 2% chance of survival. Perhaps the increased viral load of having two COVID positive children breathing heavily all over him while they did tricks on the trampoline caused a worse case or perhaps something in his physiology made him more susceptible.
The other two people I know who got it are mother and daughter and the daughter brought it home from college. They have mild cases.
-
5
-
-
Oh, I have also read that distracted eating (which is often a bane to folks trying to lose weight) can be great for people who need to eat more in general or need to eat more veggies or are picky. So when the kid is engrossed in a TV show or video, set a plate of not-too-messy foods beside them without comment. Since they are not focused on the food itself, being distracted by the activity, they are more likely to pop some in their mouth without the same anxiety they would when confronting the same plate at the dinner table.
-
1
-
-
I was this kid and my daughter (15) was this kid. My son is autistic and he has some food aversions too, but in many ways my and my daughter's are worse. If I had known about feeding therapy, I would have had my daughter in it. The food-chaining idea they use seems like a good one. She definitely pruned out foods around the age of your daughter. I didn't work on it enough as I was sympathetic to her being a picky eater as well. I once sat at the table crying, refusing to eat one bite of a string bean before I'd be allowed to leave the table (the one and only time my mom tried to do something about my picky eating). I finally ate it, it was just as horrible as I suspected, and I projectile vomited my whole meal onto the table. After that, my mom let me eat what I wanted. But in my case, my few foods were a kind of well-rounded plate. My daughter was limited but well rounded, too, but then she got tenderhearted about meat animals and stopped eating meat. Generally, I would think this was a good thing, but she already didn't eat: nuts, beans, rice, soy, tofu, dairy products, eggs, or peanuts. So basically no complete proteins and down to about 8 foods--mostly fruits and vegetables and crackers that she would eat. I supplemented with vitamins and minerals. The doctor told me teenagers were "air plants" and survived on nothing. I am pretty sure her lack of fat and meat and the over-dependence on carbs in her teenage diet will catch up with her. But other than recently making a tradeoff that if she wants French fries, she has to eat a half cup of strawberry yogurt (with a Lactaid pill, because she is lactose intolerant). She loves fries more than any other food, so that was my only leverage. She does look a little bit healthier with some protein, but I am sure there will be repercussions in the future. Still, I can't encourage you enough to tackle this when your daughter is young. The teenage years are not the time for battling over food. Also don't do what I did. Once she refused foods she used to like long enough and they got wasted and tossed out, I stopped buying them. I think it would have been better not to worry about waste and present the formerly eaten foods on the plate every day so that she did not forget that they were once acceptable.
Sorry I don't have a great solution. I eat about 10 more things than I did when I was young. Many foods just really taste very bad to me (they cannot possibly taste the same to other people). I liken it to tacos for my husband with the hottest hot sauce being given to a baby used to a taco shell and cheese. Thats how other people's favorite foods taste to me. I also can taste very subtle differences in ingredients, which is usually a bad thing. No substituting brands for me! I once drove 20 minutes to a store to get Heinz catsup for the 4th of July burgers because my parents had provided Hunts, which I tried and spat out. Hence the food chaining thing might be a very good idea.
-
1
-
-
Long walk on our road.
Walking in the woods or on the beach.
Driving with the windows open and music playing (not a good idea today--cold!)
Warm bath.
Trail ride (when I am living near a good stable).
Going through the drive thru and getting some unhealthy fast food I almost never eat (such as a coke, hot fudge Sunday, and fries from McD's) and enjoying it without judgment.
Listening to Canyon Trilogy by R. Carlos Nakai
-
2
-
-
I have done day hikes on the Appalachian Trail in ME, NH, and NY. My father has done the entire Maine portion, he often mentions the roughest patch in the hundred mile wilderness with the rock passage called "Fat Man's Misery" as one he's glad he did in his youth.
By Fizgerald Falls in Monroe NY on the trail has a popular bathing hole in the stream above the falls. Several times I came across hikers, each one naked as a jaybird, having a bath there. Often bears along this portion. Also, talked to many clothed hikers there as they were passing by the falls, all commented on how much weight they'd lost.
A much loved stop beside the trail is the Bellvale Farms Creamery in Warwick, NY for ice cream. Some times of year there were many through-hikers sitting on the ground against their backpacks savoring every bit of the homemade ice cream.
I once abandoned good sense and picked up some young through-hikers and drove them to the post office in Pawling, NY. It was okay, they were a sweet couple. There is also an Appalachian Trail Metro-North NYC commuter rail stop near Pawling for hikers from more urban areas to access the trail.
There is a canoeist who ferries hikers across the Kennebec River in Maine.
Are you going to hike it then write? Or are you writing about the trail from a particular journalistic angle?
-
2
-
-
We just purchased a 2019 Honda CRV, which is a little different model than the 2014, but still similar enough to comment. We bought it rather than replacing my Subaru Outback (which I loved loved loved) because: 1. The base model Honda was $10,000 cheaper than the similar base model Subaru. 2. My husband has had a Honda Accord since 2004 that (other than a "possessed radio" electrical fault) has needed nothing but regular maintenance. It just goes and goes and goes. When we took it to a private Honda-only garage they had photos on the walls of Honda Accords that they had helped keep running for 300,000+ miles. 3. The CRV had more headroom than the Subaru Outback (though less leg room in the back). 4. Honda parts are cheaper than Subaru parts. 5. The CRV had excellent crash test numbers just like the Outback.
Things we don't like about the CRV: 1. Since it is a taller car than the Outback there is significantly more body roll when cornering. My daughter has car sickness is particularly affected by this and actually hates the car for this reason. 2. Fog lamps are not available for the base model period. 3. The tire air pressure monitor is maddening because the light doesn't go off after you fill the tires with air. You have to take it to the garage to have them turn it off or teach you how to turn it off. So you never know if the tire is staying at full pressure until you get the thing reset. This is worrying especially on a long trip. 4. The base model headlights are terrible (they also suck on the base model Outback, but for different reasons). On low beam there is literal horizontal line above which there is zero illumination. I have never experienced anything as distracting as that line.
Honestly, I know the decision to buy the CRV was the best economic choice considering our finances at the time. It is an equal safety choice. But the body roll is not okay for me. My son loves it because of the headroom. I am thinking eventually when we have more money to spare, I will be selling the CRV to him and buying myself another Outback. It is the perfect car for him, safe and economical. But I am willing to risk having to pay more on repairs to have smoother cornering and my daughter not vomit in the car.
-
1
-
-
Unless I am in heavy traffic, I sing in the car if I am alone. Everyone in my family hates my voice, but alone in the car I can experience the joy of singing without any protest.
-
1
-
-
I have published a nonfiction book on nature study and am finishing up an epistolary novel.
I find it humorous that our historian leader SWB might also be a time-traveller because the Amazon listing of her book The Revolt has it published in 1615. 🙂 : The Revolt by Susan Wise Bauer (1996-09-04) Paperback – January 1, 1615
-
3
-
4
-
-
I broke my toe 6 weeks ago by dropping a huge tile-framed mirror on it (luckily my toe cushioned the fall so I wouldn't get seven years of bad luck!). They x-rayed the toe and found I had split the first little bone lengthwise. They gave me three Tylenol and a post-op shoe like the one linked below If you get one get it large enough so that there is a good 1/2 inch + at the end to protect your toe from further stubs. I iced the toe for the first week and then just elevated it periodically. In a few weeks they let me switch over to a hard sole shoe, in my case a stiff, substantial hiking sneaker, but I had to buy one a half size up because my toe still swells after walking. I did not exercise during this time. I am still wearing the post-op shoe when I sleep because it keeps it from being pressed painfully into the mattress.
-
1
-
-
I had left/right confusion, difficulty navigating by verbal directions (unless by landmarks) though I can use a map, my initial instinct is always to go the opposite way from where I am headed (every single time I got off the subway in the middle of a block for 3 years!), am clumsy, and cannot put anything together using those visual diagrams that are so popular today (though I can do it from clearly written directions). I like to say that the grid/map function of my mind is offline and that I am a very verbal person not a visual/spacial person. I will second the person that said people are not all alike, you are not supposed to have a infinitely complete set of skills! That's what we have other people for. Also, human beings are not adapted to make split-second decisions with multiple distractions while going 30-75 mph! And guess what, many of them get it wrong a lot of times (have you watched people drive?). Most people just don't mention all their flubs and mistakes on a daily basis so your comparison sample size is smaller than you think.
-
1
-
-
Well, in the house we are signing the papers to sell tomorrow, the oldest appliance is 39 years! A Jenn-Air cooktop installed when the house was built in 1981. It worked great and could be easily repaired! However, the new owners are tearing out the kitchen to put in new cabinets and new appliances that will probably only last 7 years max. Oh well.
-
My kid with Asperger's managed five weeks at a tiny liberal arts college before dropping out. In part it was our fault, we assured him that college wasn't like high school. That there would be interesting lectures (we all learn very well from lectures), weekly readings, and maybe 3 papers or tests per semester. Well, things have changed in the decades since we graduated! This college was just like high school, with multiple daily assignments in each class and lots of group work. He hated it, and with his poor executive function skills soon fell behind. At the very end, I attempted to make a list of all the assignments he was missing and it took me 3 hours to look on every little online folder and portal for each class to find each separate assignment. It is definitely an evaluation system designed to primarily reward highly organized people. Anyway, the experience was so distasteful (and he is so rigid) that he has declared that he will never go to school again. We attempted to show him that a more technical college might be a better fit, but he's not having it. So my husband and I are so disappointed. He is creative and liked and understood much of the course content, including participating in class discussions which few other students did. Currently, he is just dabbling in creating a video game on his own time because though he wants to get a little job at the grocery store, we have too many people in our extended family with risk factors for the virus for him to do that and protect our loved ones. If there wasn't a pandemic, we'd try some other things, but with it, he's stalled and everyone is kind of sad.
Hilltopmom: There is a nanny school that I have heard is only a three month commitment. Wealthy families spare no expense in hiring a nanny and many nannies make considerably more than school teachers do. http://www.nanny-governess.com/
-
1
-
1
-
3
-
-
I am closer with my high school friends than any other group of school friends. But it was a unique high school, kind of Hogwarts meets the Island of Misfit Toys. The enrollment was 122 students the year I graduated, there were boarding as well as day students, and the place was pretty much a second home to all of us. It closed in the 1980s. Recently, I just moved within 1 minute of one high school friend and we walk together three nights a week. Additionally, I keep weekly phone/email contact with about five other friends and casual contact with about ten more on a monthly basis. I am also one of the reunion coordinators. We have reunions every 5 years for anyone who ever taught, went to, or graduated from the school. New friendships have started from those reunions. We have been told by spouses that they prefer going to our high school reunions rather than their own. The type of student the school attracted and the freedom we had on campus and in class, I think was the key to this successful friendship formula. Contrast this with my "fancy", staid, liberal arts college with a very conventional, suburban, upper-middle to upper class population of students. There I did find a husband (who interestingly went to a similar high school as I did and is still friends with his high school friends), but otherwise the place was a desert of friendship potential for me (and I would never go to a reunion there).
-
My son got the same woman twice. He said that from the moment she got in the car her vibe was condescending and negative. He failed the first time (he was making a three point turn and someone came out of their driveway and drove right behind him as he was turning), and came home really shaken, more about the attitude of the tester than the "mistake". The next time he went up, he got the same tester! He immediately got flustered and made a small mistake before getting out of the parking lot. The driving instructor told us that this woman had a bad reputation with the driving schools and she failed many more kids than other testers, so we should go to another town to avoid any chance of getting that same woman again. We drove 30 minutes to another town and the guy put him immediately at ease and he passed the test. My son said the woman had so reminded him of the discouraging, condescending, angry math teacher he had once had and that he would have never passed if she was the only driving instructor in the state.
-
The DMV in NY and I are old enemies. I have easily spent 5 hours at a time in several DMV offices there, once I had to go back three times for a car registration, another I had to go back three times for a driver's license. I have literally had nightmares about the place. My husband thought I was overreacting until he had to go register the car that was only in his name. He came back sooo apologetic.
When we moved back to Maine this summer, my town office handled the car registrations so only the driver's licenses were left for us to get. At the time (a month or two ago) the Topsham BMV was making appointments to switch an out of state license for a Maine one. Appointments were for 15 minute increments. I had the first appointment of the day. I went in, handed them the proofs and showed them my NY license and was out in 15 minutes! It was joyful, almost unbelievable experience. But my son and husband procrastinated. Now they are not taking appointments at most BMV locations and from Zebra's descriptions they might have to wait in lines for hours in a pandemic. My husband can fend for himself. I told him to make an appointment back then and he didn't. But my son has Asperger's and I know standing outside in the sun with potentially infected folks is going to cause a problem for him. I can't see any reason the 15 minute appointment system wasn't workable. They aren't doing REAL IDs right now, so just a few proofs needed. (This does of course mean in the future I am going to have to go back with the 50,000 proofs needed for a REAL ID... shudder.) Of course, taking a road test and a getting a first license is more involved, but still.
I am so sorry you had that experience. I won't post it because it has a celebrity in it, but look up the meme "The Stages of Waiting at the DMV presented by Leonardo DiCaprio." It captures the pain perfectly. (Warning: there is foul language.)
-
1
-
-
I am going to be a killjoy and ask you to read up about the negative effects of landscape lighting on the health of the trees and on insects. For something that you are going to mostly sleep through, it seems to me at the very least unkind to the creatures in your neighborhood.
These resources are from Perdue University and Smithsonian Magazine. There are tons of articles by landscape lighting companies saying the opposite, but one must question the source.
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/fnr/fnr-faq-17.pdf
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/light-pollution-contributes-insect-apocalypse-180973642/
-
2
-
-
I second the Clarifying shampoo.
-
2
-
facebook is FULL of people posting get togethers, group meals, group selfies
in The Chat Board
Posted
MOST of my FB friends either did outdoor distanced holiday things or skipped/zoomed them. But one of my friends and her husband has traveled from FL to French Polynesia and are island hopping, currently on Bora Bora with more stops planned for the two week holiday! I think they are trying to stay away from people, but planes, boats, tours! I know, I wouldn't want to be the one who spread COVID from island to island!