WARM DECEMBER

A long day yesterday, getting through a colonoscopy, one of those unpleasant procedures we don’t like to talk about. My son took me to lunch afterwards in Lodi. It didn’t seem like a good idea to carry an expensive camera along with me, but I always have my tiny Canon as a spare. On the way home, I stopped for a haircut and a pleasant visit with friends in Angels Camp, Bill and June Foster. We had a glass of wine and went through their scrapbooks on Turkey and Nepal. The night was so warm, we could sit on their deck and enjoy the moon in our shirt sleeves.

This is December. When I got home, Karen told me the water situation is so drastic, our water company warned we will be water rationing with huge fines, up to $1000 for overages. This weekend I have to decide what plants should be allowed to die by reducing my sprinkling system to half.  I could see it coming.

My friend John Seiferth had a sign from the 1970’s during a long-term California drought. It was before I was blogging and I didn’t think to get a picture of it.   KEEP IT MELLOW YELLOW. IF ITS BROWN FLUSH IT DOWN. Oh, boy. As my kids used to say. Gross!

I know the drill, shorter showers, curb your garden water, don’t water your car, fill your dishwasher full before turning it on. Don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth.

I decided I needed to do something soothing so I went through some picture albums.  I like benches, fun signs, barns, mailboxes, birdhouses, artwork, teapots, rugs, quilts, and I take  pictures of stuff  like that wherever I go.

I love this painting so much, I keep a copy of it on my desktop. It was in a Museum somewhere, but I’ve forgotten where. I was just grateful they allowed me to photograph it.

This is a painting of Rene Wiley’s alley series. She has a gallery in Galveston, Texas.

This painting is by Lawrence LeVeque.

This is another of Leveque’s. I met the artist and when I bought this painting from him,  I didn’t think to take his picture. Darn. He gave me great advice on how to keep your oil paintings healthy. I have a big painting in my dining room I’ve allowed to get sun damaged. It happens slowly.  It only took sun for a short time each day in the winter. I didn’t notice it until the damage was done.

 

I still have medical appointments in the coming days. A mammogram and an echogram, plus never-ending paperwork. From my compromised credit cards, I have to make arrangement for those bills that were automatically drawn from those credit cards. It is easy to forget, until you get that phone call.

 

 

 

 

 

 

STANDARDIZATION WELCOME

For days I’ve tried to fit my camera cord into the trapazoid slot on my camera to unload pictures into my computer. The same cord also charges my camera battery. It wouldn’t fit. It defied logic. How could a cord I use every day and keep in the same place next to my computer, suddenly not fit. How could I  misplace something I use every day that stays next to my computer? All week, I unloaded pictures by removing the SD disk and plugging it directly into my computer. Last night, the camera battery went dead.

Desperately I searched the zillionth time.  I picked up every item from my three desks one by one again. The light bulb went off. I had used my Click Free back-up drive a week earlier. Sure enough, I’d put the camera cord into the Click Free box and the Click Free cord stayed next to my computer. Like electrical outlets, is it too much to ask that they be standardized?  It would save a lot of hair-pulling.

On the frustration meter, my credit cards were compromised over Christmas and I got new ones in the mail yesterday! Oh, happy day. It left me feeling very vulnerable when I didn’t have those little pieces of plastic for ten days.  However, it made me apply for two more cards knowing I will be going to Turkey and our trip lit explained that Turkey businesses like different cards, MasterCard and Discover. Wow. I got lower interest, wonderful rewards, and no charge for overseas ATM transactions on the Discover Card. Two reasons to celebrate.

Jubilation T Cornpone!!