Waking to sounds of wind and rain was an accidental blessing this morning.
Leaving i-devices downstairs at night should be a regular thing. I mean, if sanity matters.
It’s nice to breathe through two nostrils.
Whoever said, “You have a nervous system for every child” was wise.
I like that better than, “You’re only as happy as your unhappiest child.”
Thumb typing sucks.
Time was they’d say, “We’re in for some rain and gusts of wind”.
What’s John Bolton’s deal?
I’m sure I don’t want to know.
After hearing a talk about the relative virtues of handwriting and five-finger keyboard typing last week*, what I’m wondering is: are there any virtues of thumb typing with ducking autocorrect?
Millennials don’t answer their phones. Or mine don’t.
Finishing things makes a place to rest and
anything can become a house.
Unfinished things create points of tension.
Which do you prefer — possibilities or closure?
Sometimes I snarl. Example: “you must have a macro for ‘I’ll do it tomorrow'”.
This ‘bomb cyclone’ is just wind and rain. 
Hunger is a reliable thing. So are some friends.
You can often predict who among your friends will be afraid of dogs, but the ones that love them might surprise you.
It’s not a race. Life.
The questions (and subject of tomorrow’s post) are: how do your manage your news intake and what sources do you rely on?
* Michelle (MsUncertaintyPrinciples — side bar) posted a talk about writing vs. typing last week on FB. It’s by Clive Thompson and it’s on YouTube if this link doesn’t work.
oooh the dark cold of dismal winter rain. Do I smell some New England winter doldrums? I am very anxious for spring to arrive and I haven’t even experienced winter yet this year. You can make a house of out anything! Your houses hold love, hope and dreams in an honest glowing voice threaded in various calming stitchery. Your real house, your home; your cloth houses; the Tower, the Moons, the skies and grounds, are held together just so. A soulful stitching language that heals. “In the Company of Cloth”. I was just thinking of recent glances I’ve exchanged with people through any given day. I get the sense that many of us are looking deeper for a hope-filled set of eye balls to bond with. Then I find myself without words, and as though that were enough, and I move on… a little sad.
thank you, Maggie — always the sweetest of champions! I share your sense that our personal connections matter more than ever. I have a few friends with whom I hash out breaking news — by text, email, the sharing of links… It’s different from being a group committed to taking action and also necessary to my survival.
PS how have you not experienced winter? has it been that much milder in your parts?
Winter here is much milder! If it snows, we rarely shovel it just drive through and out of the driveway. They are now predicting 75 mph winds! I too communicate more often with friends I feel are close friends, by text. eye contact has become a precious commodity no when and where! I haven’t transitioned to thumbs, and probably won’t – tried it many times and continually failed. BTW, our millennial doesn’t answer the phone either unless it’s a scheduled call, scheduled by text. Even then it can be dicey. The apologies upon contact are always profuse and somewhat frantic. She’s female, a dog lover, a girlfriend, a film artist, a very giving loving socially engaged person – and yet! Is it the parents that occupy this space relegated to waiting and waiting? what if there were an emergency? I’ve been tracking this – because this behavior is getting old by now – and my unscientific analysis is that she reads everything and responds only that which is critical or critical mass. I know (I think I really know) that if a family member were to be born, get sick or die, she’d respond immediately. Now that she’s gainfully employed I’m sure she’d also call with her booked flight # and itinerary before her dad could book it (and you gotta be quick to beat him). I will check out Michelle’s post
I see my kids pick up calls when they’re with me (in other words, calls not FROM me), so I know they do more than text, but I think it’s pretty pervasive. The whole avoidance thing is especially irritating because we’re paying for both boys’ phones (for now). I told one of them that ongoing support was contingent on him picking up one in four calls. Mostly, I don’t even try. And yeah, even the scheduled ones are dicey in our house, too.
Totally prefer possibilities over closure .. always when I’m starting a new quilt. Always in spring when I start thinking about planting my garden. Even often when in the kitchen looking at trying a new recipe … oh yes life is full of so many possibilities.
You along with Grace and Jude … Hazel and Mo have totally opened my eyes to what is possible and for that I am so so grateful.
I prefer the possibilities too… I’m a perennial not-finisher. So so good at beginnings! It’s something I’ve been trying to manage one way or another for years.
I nodded my way through this post … and I’m ashamed to admit that I used to think my dad was hopeless for hunt-and-peck typing with his index fingers. Now I find my oh-so-swift touch-typing on a keyboard has been supplanted by right index finger pecking on a phone. Which I rarely use for talking. Irony abounds.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit to my multiple news sources: Austin American Statesman online, top stories on the NY Times app (a freebie subscription courtesy of our public library), local news on ABC, national news on NBC (usually just the first ten minutes, then I fix dinner), PBS Newshour, and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC (my guiltiest pleasure). I manage to ingest far too much, which is to say, I don’t manage my news intake at all well.
Except … I do “Hide” all “news” on Facebook. And boy do I miss Jon Stewart.
I didn’t have cable during the Jon Stewart days. I’m afraid I missed a true American treasure. Do you like Trevor Noah? I know he’s not at all the same, but I enjoy him quite a bit. Colbert gives a little of that old satire. We sometimes watch national news while eating dinner — also NBC, I think — but I tire of what I call ‘Oprah Formatting’, i.e. teaser statements, ads, 30 seconds of news, more teaser statements, more ads, then the story, which is all of four words longer than the teaser statements. ACH! hate it. Rachel Maddow is my go-to source on the Russia investigation — as she is for millions. We tape PBS news hour and I like a lot of their regulars, but sometimes they verge toward ‘soft’ (just a little. my husband disagrees). CNN, tho less so than since the campaign, still features a lot of gaslighters and I just can’t stomach them (think: Kelly Anne Conway) — tho if there’s breaking news I might watch whatever’s on.
Did you know Rachel Maddow co-authored today’s NYT xword?
I heard her gushing about her effort but missed the lead. I assumed it was a story she authored. Don’t get the times except on Sunday. Did you give it a go?
My NYT online subscription doesn’t include the xword … I hope to photocopy the paper version next time I go to the library .
I bet it’ll be erudite
love that woven picture frame!
our discount store Marshall’s is a good bet for cheap frames.
is it woven string or cast ?
It’s wicker.
just listened to the Clive Thompson talk about using a pencil or a keyboard, I want one of those Palomino Blackwing pencils and the double barrelled pencil sharpener! (((Dee))) you can type 90 words a minute, Wow! I’m impressed, I type with my two index fingers & would win the prize for being the slowest typist in the world… I can’t imagine typing with thumbs!
thanks for locating the talk I referred to that Michelle posted. The link’s been inserted above. I found it interesting. I knew exactly what he was talking about as far as typing in class being more like transcription — bec I can type as fast as most people talk, that’s what I’d do. Also typing doesn’t accommodate the abbreviations and spacing I rely on when taking notes. I’m not sure I type 90 words a minute any longer, but it’s fast. I’m getting reallllllllly sick of texting. Unlike five finger keyboard typing, you just don’t get better at it. I’m constantly inserting an exclamation point when I meant to put a question mark or putting “I” in when I meant “u” — which makes for all kinds of crazy misses.I want one of those pencils, too. I already have a pencil sharpener that would meet his criteria, I think. In my mind, along with two slots, the heft of metal is preferred, too.
I use a scalpel blade and 5H pencil sharpened to a needle
I was here the other day…read through it all, but have to say the “millennial” comment stopped me cold. Now I’m back. My male millennial will often answer a call, chat for a bit. He rarely calls, but did call the day after my surgery and calls on the important 3 (my birthday, Mother’s Day and Christmas or Thanksgiving – it depends on the year). My female millennial never calls really, sometimes during a crisis (hers), but not even then lately. She and her boy often call on the important 3. On a given day I have no idea where or how they are. It is nothing I imagined this phase would be. If I think about it I become broken-hearted, so I detatch. Wow, lots of feelings came up and here I am spouting them all. it is a safe place, they know not of my cloth people. However, on a brighter note, I was able to get both of them on the phone when my dad died (2000) and when my mom went into hospice and then died (2008). Not so easy in 2016 when my BIL died. Blech. Enough of that. I joke w/ J. that I am on my own when old, if he goes first! 🙂
As far as writing, typing, thinking etc. I found the video so good. It took me years to be able to think and type. I used to write out school papers and then type them up. Now I find it is the opposite, I think so much better when I type and edit as I go. When I write, I have to force myself to not care about spelling as I am so bad at that, and then writing hurts my hands these days. I only use my first two fingers for typing, so not fast, but it works. I took typing twice in Jr/Sr High…got a D both times. I can’t get past NOT looking at the keys! lol
In cloth I like possibilities, I’m better at starting too. In life, I like closure…I find it hard to let things drift off with no closure, but I’m getting better at it. I also stopped at ” points of tension”…boy there a lot of those. The cloth ones worry me not a bit…personal or national, world, political etc. ones much harder. As always, your posts make me think and feel and grow. xo
If I think about it I feel broken hearted too. I don’t want calls made out of duty and they are both in a lot of transition — but seriously — never? Never call your mom except on her birthday? There’s a fair amount of texting with one boy so that’s good. I just get frustrated when stuff comes up and needs to be figured out and getting him on the phone (that I pay for) is an impossibility.
Typing with two fingers seems ineffective but I’ve seen people do it relatively quickly. The thing that strains me the most is texting and blogging these days. Because I do both on my phone. Using arthritic thumbs.
I don’t text. The boy said a long time ago that if I did we could “talk” more. Sure.