Burnt Breakfast and Random Thoughts

Yes, my oatmeal is scorched.

I got distracted by my monkey mind.  Luckily, no fires, and enough saved to have breakfast.  Oatmeal is perfect on cold mornings, with raisins, walnuts, and yogurt.  I’d go for brown sugar, too, but as I am addicted to sugar and could happily main line it, I try to keep it toned down in my daily life with a square or two of Valrhona 72% dark . . .

I got the first of my two Covid vaccines yesterday, the Pfizer version.  I can return in the next 3-6 weeks, per the County, for the second.  I don’t understand how people cannot take this virus seriously, but as my husband pointed out, many people in the generation after me (like from 1812 on) have not seen or had the diseases I enjoyed in my childhood – chicken pox, measles, polio, diphtheria,  etc.  That may well be the case.   However, I wonder about their failure to realize or understand science and so on.  Certainly I don’t get people who follow conspiracy theories, such as those proposed by QAnon – and I know some who think such things are true.

Having worked with people who are schizophrenic, I do understand that there are different versions of reality for different people.  And, in novels, I love a good conspiracy theory!  However, there are some that are just too weird to think of as real.

What is reality?  What is belief?  What is a potential not yet seen?  Think about TV – it wasn’t “real” until the last century.  Airplanes in 1903.  There are things we imagine that may not come about for a long, long time, such as travel and colonization of other planets.  These make for great stories – but what about germs and virus and other things on those planets to which humans are not immune?

Belief is defined as an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.  But is that belief grounded in fact?  Some religious people say that in order to pray, you have to believe.  Others say in order to believe, you must pray.  That is a dichotomy.  Also, what we now know to exist was often a myth or a thought or a potential reality at one time.

Well, enough rambling.  Time to get the day moving along with the excitement of doing dishes and other mundane tasks before wandering about in my own planned fun activities!

In Bloom

I have been updating some of my photography stuff, and part of that process is going through the archives. I took this with a film camera, and I have no idea when I did. It was taken at the local botanical garden.  I also didn’t see it in my quick scan through my media files on this blog, so I thought it would be a good one to share.  If I already published it, well, enjoy it again – I am.

Spring is such a wonderful time of year, and it doesn’t pay to miss it! I was at the garden yesterday to see the daffodils and narcissus toward sunset and did not have time to wander through this area – but I will in the not too distant future, and hopefully be able to capture more trees in bloom.

Quiet Morning

For some reason, winter is just in my head and in my paint brush these days. Probably I like it so much because I don’t have to deal with its less lovely elements, such as shoveling snow to commute on icy roads. Rather, I would be walking through the countryside for hours as I did when I was a kid back east, enjoying the cold air and the silence and the gentle falling of flakes.

Namesake

This is a beautiful amaryllis which my mother-in-law had sent to me for a Christmas present. It’s called a “Naomi,” which pleases me no end! It’s a rather stunning one, I think (much like its namesake); a bit short, but with 6 flowers on each stem. It’s also a lovely pale salmon, more pink than orange.

Gifts like this really do “keep on giving” because I have been enjoying it for several months now!

Marshland

As the Midwest and other parts of the world endure and enjoy subzero weather and snow and ice, it is summer somewhere in the southern hemisphere!

Where I am, it is neither; just a crisp and lovely day, with the winter light canted lower in the sky. I really enjoy painting landscapes, imagining myself in the middle of it all. I think I need to get into town, though – my hiking boots need replacing. 😉