Category: Random

Monday, October 6, 2025 The Ten O’Clock P.M. Post

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I don’t actually have anything to say at 10:00 at night, and I’m sorry for you to have received this, thus wasting your precious time. However, to make it a little more interesting, I’ll drag a couple photos out of the “never used” photo file.

It’s all quite startling isn’t it? What bold colors! A bird in mid-flight! I took that photo last March or April and upon looking at it realized that I’d forgotten to take the camera off “vivid setting.”

So I fixed it and took another photo of the same three birds, although by this time both the finches were perched and the cardinal looked like it was ignoring them. The finches were probably having the kind of perky conversations that finches have – you know how they go on. If you were there, you might have ignored them, too.

But enough of that. I’ve taken up too much of your time already.

This perky post will be ignored in the morning.

Monday, April 28, 2025 The Cat and the Girl

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The Cat: Put me down, please.

The Girl: She’s so cuddly!

The Cat: Are we done yet?

The Girl: She loves it when I hold her!

The Cat: I see things I’d like to chase.

The Girl: What could be better than holding a soft cat?

The Cat: I should try squirming around. That ought to do it.

The Girl: Look at the camera, Puss!

The Cat: Nope.

The End.

The Blog: Finish me off.
The Writer: I’m not sure I’m done.
The Blog: You are.
The Writer: Delete.

Tuesday, March 25, 2025 Ode to Pistachios

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A reprint of my second blog post back in March of 2018, waxing eloquently (I hope) about pistachios:

March 27, 2018 Ode to Pistachios
What I really appreciate about pistachios, aside from their charm, good looks and impeccable taste, is that you really have to work for all that goodness.  By the time you’ve amassed a handful, there’s a certain amount of moral high ground you’ve reached in earning the luxury of eating them.

Contrast this to what happens every year on Christmas Day when we go to my sister’s house for the extended family celebration.  My sister and her husband are fabulous hosts, and one of the little extras they provide on that day are bowls full of pistachios without their protective armor. That’s right: bowls full.  Every year on our way there, I tell myself firmly (very firmly) that I will not lose control with the pistachios, but each year the same, sad story plays out. It wouldn’t be so bad if I were able to forsake the Christmas cookies to make room for the pistachio gorging, but no.  I hear a little voice in my head saying “YOLO” and off I go. Well, it’s only once a year…and YOLO.

When I buy them for our home, they come with protective gear and the seemingly impenetrable ones get left for last. By the time one of those bad boys gets cracked open, the last shreds of potential guilt have melted away and it’s smooth sailing right down the gullet.  Amen.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

Monday, March 8, 2021 Multiple Musings

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1. My grandma used to decline to eat certain foods because they didn’t agree with her. It was all very mysterious to me when I was young and had an iron stomach. It is no longer a mystery.

2. Woke up to a beautiful misty morning recently and the first utterance out of my mouth that day was “Ooh!!” I ran down to get the camera and went out the back door. Can you ever get tired of seeing things like this? I think not.

3. Went for a long-ish hike yesterday since it was such a beautiful, balmy day. We are both looking forward to the hiking season this year, chipping away at our goal of going to every Minnesota State Park to do their Hiking Club trails. Yesterday was a bit of a warm-up and sure enough, my legs ache a little today. It’s good for me, right?

4. I watched a Dog Whisperer episode today that featured an Animal Communicator. It was hard to take her seriously. She kept saying things like “Zeus was communicating to me while he was running with Cesar and he was telling me that it was awesome!” Am I the only one who finds that kind of weird and laughable? Meanwhile, I challenge you to figure out what Luna is telling me:

On that note, I’m going to take my leave to go make pizza for supper. You can stay as long as you’d like, though. Feel free to tell me what you’ve been musing about lately. Or just tell me what you’re making for supper. That’ll do in a pinch.

I’ll probably delete this, but maybe I should ask my cat first.

April 13, 2018 Fallen

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It was a spectacular fall. The dilapidated home across the street from us had been used for training exercises for fire fighters and when they were done, they burned the whole structure – razed it to the ground. The last thing standing was the brick chimney, tall and regal, doing its job until the very end. One was reminded of the sea captain, the last man to abandon ship when all hope is lost. Finally, even the chimney toppled with a satisfyingly loud crash, sending ash and smoke into the air all around it. Brick and mortar, sturdy and dependable…fallen. Whatever we build will eventually be undone; that is the way of things. Only souls last forever.

We went over the next day to survey the carnage and take photos. A place that was once someone’s home and that held countless memories had become just a pile of rubble. I thought of those words at the end of Shelley’s poem Ozymandias: “Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.” When the mighty have fallen, the hubris is gone. Just a hint of sadness was in the air.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

March 27, 2018 I Will Awaken The Dawn

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This seems unnecessarily complicated.

I’m switching to WordPress from Blogger to get access to the photos on my iPad (my blog there was called “Further Up and Further In,” a nod to C.S. Lewis). https://fari-blog.blogspot.com/

Now that it comes to it, I don’t have much to say about this photo, one of the first I took on my new Nikon D3400 camera with the nifty 70-300 lens that came with it.

I was in my bathrobe and slippers outside on a frosty cold morning when I took this, hoping to see birds in yonder tree, but had to be content with yonder tree against the dawn sky. The Psalmist said, “I will awaken the dawn.” Something tells me that I would have had to be awake before dawn to be able to use that quote accurately.

I’ll probably delete this blog entry later when I get this all figured out (this is somewhat akin to the Dread Pirate Roberts telling Westley everyday “I’ll probably kill you in the morning.”).