The Week Between

In the NFL, a week in which no game is scheduled.
 

I like the week between Christmas and New Year.  It's a week in which nothing needs to be scheduled; some breathing space.  A week of rest, recuperation and, if you wish, rumination about the year past and the year to come.  Some catching up, if absolutely necessary.

 "Peasant Woman Resting" by Leo Lhermitte

Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Sunday's newspaper ran annual Year In Review articles.  Locally by various newspaper staff; nationally by humorist Dave Barry of the Miami Herald.  I chose not to read any of it.  Once was enough for what I found to be an uncomfortable year in the news.  My personal life was more than plenty good enough though, and I might have to do a bit of a roundup. But can I remember all the way back to last January??? 

For various reasons, the week before Christmas was busy with both scheduled and unexpected activities.  It has been no small relief that my calendar has been clear this week.  Saturday's jaunt to the Aquaplex for a swim was the first time I've driven to town for a week.  Highly unusual for this busy body!  We've had some snow and cold weather, making it all the more enjoyable to huddle up around the home fires.  I will admit to some absolutely necessary catching up, but also progress on the current tome accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate spiked with brandy!

Don't get me wrong, though.  All systems are go for a New Year's Day extravaganza of planning, making and updating lists, and envisioning the new year.  It's comprehensive and satisfying; I've been doing it for years with better results the longer I'm retired!

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  

WTF??????

Take it easy, people.  It's What The FLU?????!!!!!

How often does this happen?  In your personally and socially responsible way, you get your flu shot every year.  And way too soon afterward, you fall victim to.....the flu!  It's just WRONG!  A little WWW snooping revealed what's really going on. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The flu that has you cozyed up to the commode, dealing with a faucet going at either end or maybe both, fever and headache, ignoring your usually meticulous personal hygiene and sleeping lots is popularly known as the stomach flu.  It's more properly called Gastroenteritis.  According to WebMD, it's an inflammation of the intestinal tract caused by various viruses and involves the well-known symptoms mentioned above.  It's spread mainly through respiratory secretions, and loves to run through groups of people in close contact. It's uncomfortable while it lasts, but has a high recovery rate.

The flu for which you get immunized is Influenza.  It's caused by a couple of different viruses, and lands in the respiratory system.  It's a more severe illness, and can lead to complications such as pneumonia and death.  It also loves to run through groups of people in close contact.  Historically, Influenza has been epidemic and pandemic.  Though 100 years might seem like a long time ago, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1917-1919 wiped out ONE THIRD of the WORLD population.  50 million people died; 675,000 of those in the United States.  That's the approximate size of present-day El Paso or Detroit.  Yowza!

Source:  Kenton County (KY) public library

A lot of knowledge and experience has been gained since then. (The world population has also more than rebounded, breeders that we humans are.)   The World Health Organization gathers information from 114 participating countries to monitor and investigate influenza patterns world-wide.  This constant information gathering is how they arrive at the best-guess components of each year's influenza vaccination.  It's still risky, though.  Last year's vaccination was a miss, and was partly responsible for an estimated record 80,000 people dying of influenza in the United States.  That's the approximate size of Bloomington, IN or Troy, MI. 

There's a vaccination concept called herd immunity.  According to Google's dictionary, herd immunity is  "the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease, especially through vaccination".  Though health officials recommend everyone over the age of 6 months be vaccinated for influenza, current vaccination rates are 50%.  For herd immunity to take effect, 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated. (Source: www.cnbc.com.) The concept holds that not only do you decrease your own risk for getting influenza and/or lessening its effects, your not getting influenza exponentially reduces the number of cases of influenza you could cause if you got influenza yourself.  That's the herd part.

Source:  www.immunology.org

You've probably heard the old saw about how similar babies and older folks are.  My current experience with that has to do with vaccinations.  As a child I was fully vaccinated;  within my memory are the polio vaccinations given on sugar cubes and the smallpox vaccination - the one that left a scar.  At about age 55 I decided I was close enough to the old-age high risk group for influenza and started getting that vaccination each year.   I got the old version of the Shingles vaccination a few years ago, and recently got the two-dose new and improved version.  Add to that the first of the two-dose Pneumonia vaccination this past Wednesday.

FreeStockPhotos.biz

Source: babycenter.com

Yep, I got my influenza vaccination.  Yep, I got the stomach flu.  All better now. 

2018 is Winding Down

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a little bit dangerous.  The year IS winding down.  Daylight starts late and ends early.  There's a strong temptation to call it good enough and let the year slip away goofing off, reading, going to movies, watching football and basketball on TV, getting ready for Christmas.

 Excuses and replies for sloth:

Source:  pixabay.com

     Christmas shopping?  Very little, and on-line.
     Christmas parties or events?  We'll go to the annual Theatrikos production next week, and do a drive around Kachina Village for Christmas lights. That's it.
    Travel to visit family for Christmas?  Nope. We'll plan our usual small Christmas here at home, with gifts and food. 
    Christmas music?  My violin teacher Emily usually arranges some assisted living-type concerts for her students to play in.  I've done it a couple of times and missed a couple of times.  I'm planning to lay low this year.
    It's too cold to (fill in the ________):  run, hike, dog train outdoors, bike.  C'mon, don't be a sissy!
    It's too late to accomplish any unaccomplished Annual Goals. It's not over 'til it's over! 

In order to fight this inclination, I've decided The Best December of 2018 is my theme for the rest of the year.  No doubt I'll indulge in some sloth, but here's a short list of what I'll do to keep myself from complete decadence:


Maintain my Ordinary Life:

Source:  flickr.com

• Chores, laundry, making dinners, washing dishes, taking care of mail/email, playing with the dogs, giving Kitty Pop her daily ration of pats, schedule Jasmine's winter grooming, etc.

 Do the necessary Christmas preparations:

Source:  pexels.com

• Mail Christmas cards, see the Theatrikos play, shop for both Ron and myself (my gift this year is particular and needs a lot of input from me), plan our Christmas Feast.

 Maintain a fitness schedule:

Source:  pubicdomainpictures.net

 Run when the weather permits, swim twice a week, do strength and conditioning workouts twice a week.  Sadly, I'm wrapping up my Pilates experience.  My instructor Corinne and her husband are moving to Spokane, WA with their two small children to pursue variations of their professional careers, be closer to family, and live in an environment closer to water.  December 7 is my last Pilates class.  Corinne is becoming certified in another body movement discipline called Gyrotonics, and she's invited me to be her guinea pig for a few sessions as she practices.  It's win-win; I can always use the work!

Maintain music practice:

Source:  pixabay.com

•  Emily wants me to play a piece I've just finished for an as-yet-unscheduled recital in January.  In my opinion, it's too far from ready.  My goal is to play it twice a day 'til then and see if it settles down.  Piano practice as usual.  Not a Christmas tune in sight!

    I do have a few things I want to finish before the end of the year:

•     1) If I'm very consistent, I can finish up the 9 seasons + season finale of Everybody Loves Raymond.  It's been fun to watch it, but it needs to be done.

Source:  enwikipedia.org

•   2) Yes, there's a little bit of my every-so-often housecleaning that needs to be finished.  



Source:  maxpixel.net




•   3) I had specific goals this year to start regular home practices of both yoga and meditation

 

Source:  commons.wikimedia.org

  I've dabbled in them for years and have always found them to deliver as advertised.  Well, here it is December and they're nowhere in sight.  It's never to late to start!

Last, enjoy the change of season.  We've had a series of storms come through since Thursday, and they've left enough snow to make it fully winter.  

An outdoor walk can reveal winter's sculptures and shadows. 

 

The San Francisco Peaks had a topping of clouds as the storm cleared.

"No animal, according to the rules of animal-etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter."  

    ---Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

The Four Days of Thanksgiving

Ron and I spent the holiday weekend in Flagstaff, as we usually do.  If you're retired like we are, you know the little bit of oddness about holiday weekends....EVERY day is the weekend!  If you're not retired, well, jealousy is allowed!  Back to the topic, to mark the holiday I chose a theme.  

During a break in our diner preparations, I was able to get out for a One-Woman 5K Turkey Trot.  

It was the perfect preface to our traditional Thanksgiving dinner with trimmings.  Afterwards, it was pretty much this:

My Pilates teacher loves to hold a tough class the day after Thanksgiving.  I accepted the challenge.

Turkey leftovers this day were delicious! 

Not one to let my Pilates teacher get the best of me, I did my own workout at home.

A year behind on our movies, we watched "Black Panther" on Netflix and loved it! 

Source:  vimeo.com

Flagstaff is primo hiking country and Sue, Gypsy and I were happy to take advantage.

Sue and Gypsy are tight, and Sue's always up for some doggy kissy-face.

 Up-to-date this day, Ron and I went to the theater to see "Green Book". Loved it.

Source:  greenbookfilm.com

It's all over now!  We hope your weekend was pleasurable!   

A BLOG ABOUT BLOGGING

     When I decided to start blogging again, I considered things I wanted to stay the same and things I wanted to change.

STAYING THE SAME

     First and always this is a personal blog; an on-line journal.  It is about things going on in my life that interest me and I hope will engage my readers.

      The purpose of my blog is to share our doings with family and friends.  Mostly my doings, sometimes Ron's. We're all involved in busy lives, and it's a low-investment way to keep tabs.  I have no interest in gaining an on-line readership, though as a public blog anyone who happens upon it is free to read it. 

     The blog is a way to scratch my writing itch. I've long kept a personal journal and have enjoyed letter writing since Big Chief Tablets and  #2 pencils hit my radar.  I find blogging satisfactorily combines these writing expressions.

CHANGING 

     Tech:  "a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge"(www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary).

     I could never, ever be described as a techie.   I have progressed since my early days of complete resistance, and now enjoy the occasional tech challenge.  Because my knowledge base is piece-meal and on the minimal side, I've chosen to abandon a logical approach and subscribe to "jump in and see what happens".  Here are some ways I'm diving into the tech pool.

STRICTLY TECH

     One of the first things I wanted to change was to rein in my blatant use of copyrighted internet material without permission or acknowledging the source.  Yes, even the most modest of bloggers is required to respect copyright laws..  No more borrowing (okay, stealing).

Source:  Flickr

     The first way I've chosen to address this is only use content that is "free to use or share".  Lo and behold, I asked Google and (s)he helped me with that!  Google Images has a setting that searches by various criteria, one of which is the above "free to use or share."  Too easy!  The down side is the quantity and quality of material is greatly reduced.  All the really cute stuff is copyrighted.  Go figure.  Still, what's available is not nothing. There are also websites that offer free images.  I've used some of those and find them less than up front about exactly what's free.  At any rate, my plan is to use free content as much as possible, and always acknowledge the source.


     Although I have in mind to do weekly postings, that's not been happening and may end up to be unrealistic.   Because of that, I've been working with a way for readers to be notified when I post so they don't have to keep checking back and eventually giving up or forgetting altogether.  The first way I'm trying is from my end.  I can put people on an email list for notification. This is still a work in progress.  I'm currently testing whether I need to send the notification with each post.  It does require the receiving party to accept the invitation to be notified, so there's some action necessary on the reader's part.  I'm following up with a couple of readers, but I think I'll put my own email on the list and have some first hand knowledge of the process.  I like this method because it gives me the control of who gets notified.

     Another way to accomplish the same thing is to put the invitation to be notified directly on the blog post.  Once I do that, any reader that wants to be notified takes the necessary action to be notified.  I haven't fully researched this.  Part of the reason I'm not in a hurry is because since the blog is public, ANYBODY could ask to be notified.  Since I'm not trying to build an audience, do I want that?  If it sounds like I'm trying to pretend my blog isn't public, you're right.

FUN/STRICTLY TECH

    In the post I did with Dwane singing, it turned out the most effective way to get the video to play on blogger.com, the home of my blog, was...to...create...a...YouTube site....load the video to YouTube, then link YouTube through my blog. 

Source:  commons.wikimedia.org

  Did that make my head explode???? You betcha!

     I read several blogs and since I'm blogging again I've been paying more attention to how the blogs are put together.  I have been quite interested in a cartoon figure one blogger uses that looks amazingly like her.  Over the past week, I've been doing a little here-and-there research. Through some techie sleuthing, I was able to identify the source of the cartoon, and was introduced to the most tech fun I've ever had:

BITMOJI!

Source:  itunes.apple.com

     I'm using Bitmoji as a smart phone app.  "The basic premise of Bitmoji is that you create a cartoon version of yourself that you can insert across a variety of web-based services from Snapchat to Gmail and beyond. It's definitely about adding some fun to your communications. There are no real productivity-minded features here." (Source:  www.lifewire.com/bitmoji-explained).   My favorite personal source for all thing smart phone is the young woman who does my pedicures.   I conveniently saw her this week, so I asked her what she knew.  Oh, yeah, she knew plenty!  And showed me enough to allow me to download the Bitmoji app, where I created my Bitmoji (aka an avatar).  To create a Bitmoji, the app offers endless ways to customize the appearance of the avatar.  You start with "female" or "male" and go from there.  It's very easy to change the Bitmoji to meet a particular need.  There are then endless pre-set messages you can send with your Bitmoji through text, email and social media.  Meet my Bitmoji!

FUN/MOSTLY NOT TECH:  Accessing My Inner Elementary Creativity

     The other way I'm choosing to address the copyright issue is to create more original material.  I've dipped my toe in this a little, and boy is it fun!  As fun as Bitmoji, only not tech!  Truly, my creative skills are so elementary that it doesn't take much to make me feel accomplished.   Besides a title for the post, I like the header to include some visual interest.  It was in my mind to use some sort of lettering, but what?  With a background in elementary (!) education, I had a bulletin board style in mind.  A bit of looking on the WWW resulted in the discovery of whole sets of alphabet letters for purchase! They come in colors!  For a nominal price, I ordered this set from Amazon

and started makin' magic!  For the header in the previous post, I laid out the lettering on a finished board we had laying around, took a photo of it and edited it to the size I wanted in Windows Live Photo Gallery, which is the program I use for processing my pix.  For this post, I tried using a rubber mat for a black background.

     In both cases, I then accessed an already-familiar creative assistance partner, on-line photo editor PiZap (www.pizap.com).  So far you've seen it used for collages.  It has a limited free version and a for-pay version.  Natch, I'm using the free version.  I got to looking around more and found even the free version  has all kinds of options for enhancing photos, including backgrounds, frames, shapes, etc.  It fired me right up!  I chose a background, added my photo, and voila, the headers you see on this and the last post.  Oh, am I pleased with the result!

     Another blog I read recently had a picture of a small felt board lettered with an announcement relative to their topic.  Sure enough, Amazon has a plethora of felt boards for a reasonable price.  I like it as another option so much that I ordered one last night! 


     At this point, the ways I want to grow and change in my blogging has to do with expanding ways to create and integrate original material.  It's a grand experiment, with no promises!  I hope you enjoy the process.