the calm after the storm...



the lake behind my BIL's house



Wow! I feel like I've missed more than just 4 days.  Having my computer die on Election Day made me wonder what was up? But after the storm of election rhetoric, everything seems so calm now...

... unless you go to FaceBook where there's a lot of 'ranting' going on.  Don't go there. It's counterproductive. People need to 'try' to separate personal and political, which is difficult because the issues are personal.  But like the country, if you don't make this separation, families and friends become alienated. And people have a right to their own opinion. It may not seem reasonable or rational or even valid, but that's not anyone's call. Name calling is immature. Throwing 'facts' in people's faces doesn't change anything. Everyone have their own set of facts. People believe what they want to believe and they trust who they want to trust. Nothing will change that.  Enough said.

Now... where was I?  My computer just plain wouldn't come up on Tuesday morning. Apparently there was nothing major wrong, just a combination of something that had to do with  registration issues (?) and malicious software (?).  I asked if I did something to cause the problem. They said no and that it is hard to avoid totally. We have a good Virus Protection program. They did say that a lot of the malicious software comes in on 'games'. I don't play games. But my grandson does... did... (not anymore). He has an X-box and several other game systems, so he won't be hurting if my computer becomes 'off limits'.

Anyway, we're up and running again. This computer is a bit old. We still have 'vista'.  But as long as it works, we'll keep it. If we do have to get another at some point, we'll probably get a laptop. Being retired does change our perspective a little. We're more cautious with our spending... probably should be even more so, but we do think twice about most things.

In class, we're still working on finishing those 25 piece clay projects... and I will post some pics when they're completed.  At the moment I'm working on some small birdhouse ornaments for the Christmas tree. Here are a few that I've done so far.

And also remember today is Veteran's Day!  I keep a poem that someone had written taped up here by my computer because a long time ago when I read it, it moved me.  This is it:

Dear Lord, lest I continue
my complacent way,
help me to remember
somehow out there
a man died for me today.
As long as there be war,
I then must
ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?  (W. H. Auden)



B. W. O.

                                                 

Saw this on someones site recently and thought it pretty cute. Most of you probably know what it means, but I didn't.  For those of you who may be clueless (like myself) , it means "blogging without obligation" and I got it here.  I didn't know how to copy the whole message, so I did it my way and linked it.  Anyway, I thought it an original idea... kind of a waiver saying "I'll blog when and if feel like it!"

Today is a quiet Monday. I won't have many of them in the Fall when Pottery takes over again, so am trying to enjoy them now.  I did a little more 'clearing out' of my computer room... just in case grand daughter decides to come spend some time with us.  She usually does for a week or so each summer, but this summer I have had some health probs that interfered.  But it may still happen.  We have a guest room upstairs, but she prefers to stay in her mom's old room which is adjacent to ours and is now my computer/study (it does have a daybed in it). Unfortunately it is also used as a 'store it all' throughout the year... so it gets a bit cluttered.  In some places there are attics or basements that accommodate this problem, but here we don't have basements and the attics are too friggin hot to even attempt putting much up there. So here I sit with a Santa Claus and old wooden sign saying "Merry Christmas!" on the side of my desk... not to mention boxes of files and old papers that need going through. Oh well, such is life.

This afternoon DH and I plan to visit the town of McKinney.  It's only 15- 20 minutes from us, but has a quaint little town square with shops and eating places.  His brother and wife are coming in a few weeks to visit and we thought we'd take them to a restaurant that I went to with friends a while back.  DH wasn't with us, so I thought we'd go today and have some pie and coffee... and let him check it out.  We need to take the back roads as the highway is being worked on and a real pain to navigate at times.

This is one of our male box turtles that come by to eat the cat chow we feed the ferals (they should call it 'cat, turtle, raccoon, & possum' chow). I marked his shell with a bit of nail polish to distinguish him from some of the others that live in our yard. He's a nice size, but not as large as some of the females. He also likes strawberries, figs, and apples (the figs and apples grow in our yard, the strawberries we get at Central Market and share with him on occasion). We live on a creek and the box turtles and red sliders seem to be abundant... (we also keep our area as organic as possible - no insecticides).