Random 5 for March 13, 2022 – Digestion, age, covid, names, Ukraine

Gallery

Posted on by

Signs of aging – This past week we had breakfast out. First time in a long, long time. Food was good but afterward I didn’t feel well. I’m sure they gave me caffeinated coffee instead of decaf. My body doesn’t tolerate large doses of caffeine, but it was more than that. I don’t eat a large breakfast especially early in the morning. It did in most of my day. Next time it’s toast and crumpets!

Speaking of aging – I was explaining to a retail person why I was selecting something. It’s easier to use the age card because that’s the reason. Then I got bombed with the “you’re only as only as you feel” “age is only a number” and all those other meaningless platitudes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell that to my energy level. There is no shame in aging, and I don’t need anyone sugar coating the fact that some things are changing. It’s life and I’m still on the right side of the ground so that’s all good.

Hello normal, is this what you look like? – Most restrictions have been removed. The mask signs at stores have been removed. Except for some restaurants, workers no longer wear them. This should all be good yet I’m not getting comfortable. Too much weird stuff has been happening. I want to be prepared but I’m not sure for what.

Naming conventions – We picked out a carpet…finally. Carpet color names are as bizarre as paint and nail polish. Our color is bluff which is a light dusty camel. Most of the other names gave no indication what the color really was. What’s wrong with normal color names? It could include a descriptive. Denim blue gives you a really good idea of what it is. The contenders for our selection were named mystic, camello, lago, old country (what on earth does an old country look like?) and bronceaca. Lago was blue. All the rest were varying shades of off-white to taupe and camel.

Prayers and positive energy – No post today would be complete with my sincere wishes for the Ukrainian people. I’ve seen some heart wrenching photos this week. People clutching small children and pets. Dead people, lots of dead people. One old man and his cat broke my heart. If I could, I would have reached into the TV and saved them both. Why do humans do these atrocities to each other? Do they never have enough? When I was doing ancestry research on my country of origin (or the last one in the past two centuries as we all came from Africa), I found that the area my grandparents came from was conquered repeatedly. The Huns, Romans, Franks, Visigoths, Goths, Celts, Ottomans and even the Mongols marched through savagely pillaging, raping and killing the locals. The fact that humans survived is a miracle. Today we have the power to wipe ourselves out completely.

So how was your week?   

51 thoughts on “Random 5 for March 13, 2022 – Digestion, age, covid, names, Ukraine”

  1. It is indeed beginning to feel “normal” again, and I find it both wonderful and a little confusing at times. I haven’t yet been inside a restaurant, and only a very few times outdoors. Prior to Covid I had subscription Los Angeles Philharmonic season tickets. They’re inviting me back, and I’ve lost the momentum that it takes to make that a commitment. It’s all a little much for me yet.

    Age. I have a big birthday this weekend.. I have been getting the “stay positive” remarks from much younger people. I think it’s pretty funny. They don’t have a clue!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  3. I had to turn off what little TV I watched – actually finishing a biog about Peter the Great and the world during his time. Not ordinarily a biog reader, but it was big and I needed a distraction last year during staff’s treatments. As it turned out the book is good – written like a novel…I just scrim thorough all the battles and wars…and it appears that Europe has a been in external wars of ego and territory forever. Poor Poland who seems to have been the battlefield for so many of them. (Massie is the author. Gives insight into the motivation – and how/why people in that area think)
    the courage and bravery and love of country by those in Ukraine is incredible. Would our own be able/willing to do the same, I wonder.
    The video of the piano player, the man with the violin underscore the human universality – how alike we all are – we all. long for beauty and peace – why is it so hard?
    Glad you found carpet choice. Tedious but success!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  4. The few times I’ve eaten out in the last few years, I find that it’s all the extra fat in the food that makes my stomach churn. I can’t take it anymore. About 1/3rd of the people around here are still wearing masks. I am one of them. The mask/distancing restrictions kept me safe thus far so I’m sticking with them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  7. I like your comment on aging: “I’m on the right side of the ground.”

    Also, I like the watercolor for your Ukraine section. One minute I think Biden is being smart for not sending in troops, the next I wonder if it’s not appeasement. And when I look at all the suffering and destruction which shows no sign of ending soon, all I can think is “Somebody has got to do something.” It’s heartbreaking.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I’m with you vacillating depending on where the sun is shining. Having lived through Viet Nam which was a useless war, it’s confusing. Some of our interventions in the middle east didn’t go so well either. Yet, someone with strength and power has to do something.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

    • It’s ridiculous to use names that don’t give the buyer a clue what the real color is. Now you get larger color swatches mailed to your home free. I have 14. That’s crazy. The lighting in my house is so different than that in the stores. However, we have a winner. Yesterday, with the sun coming in the windows, I was able to select one that will work. When I bought the carpet for the staircase, it was easy. I fell in love with a subtle pattern and just had to pick out the best color for the area. No upholstered furniture to worry about in the foyer.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  9. The list of colors – wow, I’d have no clue what color any would be. That’s just crazy. When I had to get some paint for downstairs, I was looking for a pale green for the laundry room behind the sink after the new sink was a different size. Who knew how many pale green shades there were? And it had to be basement paint, so no getting the little sampler sizes to try it out. Fifty paper paint chips scattered around Two shades/cans later, I finally came close. I’ve seen some heartbreaking videos on Twitter – tonight, a woman who leaves her apartment in Kiev after shelling. Debris is everywhere in the room and she swipes debris off the piano keys cover with one hand, lifts the cover that protects the keys, then sits down to play some beautiful music. I’d have shared the video with some folks, but I couldn’t find it anywhere but Twitter.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

      • Yes she was. There was a clip tonight of the guy who brought his piano to the border and was playing “Imagine” and “We are the World” – very touching to watch. I also had to deal with basement tiles which they dug up a part of the drain – the tiles were in good shape but very old. I matched as best I could.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓

  10. Yes, being on the right side of the ground is what matters!

    Agree about the confusing names for colors! Like don’t we have enough to be confused about!

    Truly heart wrenching about Ukraine and what humans do to each other! 🙏❤🙏

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • At least at this point, choosing colors is so much easier than choosing another country to live. I know these conflicts have been going on almost continuously. Often from countries we are not familiar with (thinking of some in Africa). I am heartened by the Polish people who have opened their communities and hearts to the refugees. It wasn’t so long ago when Europe was closing it’s doors on other refugees.

      Like

      Reply ↓

      • You are so right! I just can’t imagine fleeing my country with only the clothes on my back. Yes, the Polish people have been inspiring that there is still a lot of kindness in the kindness in the world.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply ↓

  11. I am proud to be as old as I am. But I don’t shout the number. I just let people decide for themselves how old I am.
    As for the naming of colors…it’s sometimes just weird.
    What is happening to the Ukrainian people is unbelievable, and yet pictures are showing to the world what is happening. It is frightening!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • I have the same attitude on age. I just want other people to either ignore it. It does have an affect on purchase selections. New house I’m keeping simple. Don’t want a lot of stuff to dust or clean. I think of it as my beach house without a beach. Easy peasy.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  12. Glad you were able to get a rug picked out. My hubby and I continue to wear masks everywhere despite being vaccinated and having had the booster shot.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  14. I love your last paragraph for and about the Ukrainian people under the beautiful graphic. I looked for the older man with the cat after I read that seeing them broke your heart. My heart is broken with what is happening to them and I find that I can hardly think of anything else. Everything about this post just meant something to me. I always enjoy the comments because we all seem to think alike. On a much lighter note I am glad you picked out your carpeting! Aging takes courage and a sense of very good sense of funny!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

    • I’ve noticed that bloggers who think similarly seem to clump together. I have learned so much from you and everyone else here. Trust me, you don’t want to see the old man. It will rip your heart out. I’m at the point where I just can’t watch it anymore. The kids, the babies. the families and the animals all displaced because someone wants to expand their borders. Karma.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  15. That comment about “age is only a number” got me thinking. It is true…but the number varies from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. Some days I feel 25; some days I feel 95. I think people (younger people especially) are so terrified of aging that they come up with these platitudes to reassure themselves and keep the “getting older” bogeyman away. 😆 I’ve been young and stupid and now I am older and less stupid. Each age comes with it’s pluses and minuses. Wouldn’t it be better to accept and embrace them and deal with them appropriately and realistically as they manifest? That is what I am trying to do and it sounds like you are doing that also, Kate. Thank you.

    Deb

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

  16. I had a rough week, and it was somewhat related to aging, but I’m looking forward to what I hope will be a better week. Nothing I’ve ever experienced though compares to what the Ukranian people are dealing with right now. I send prayers to all of them because I’m not sure there is anything that is going to deter ‘him.’

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  17. Age is only a number until you’re around 40, give or take. Those young people who throw that phrase around will find out one day. I’ve become one of those old ladies who is constantly cold. At least I save a little on the air conditioning.

    Colors? I bought a shirt from my favorite retail place online. It was called “fog” or something like that and it looked gray. It was purple. I like purple. I wear a lot of purple. But I was trying to buy something not purple as my closet is starting to look like 40 shades of Purple.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  18. My previous car – the one that recently died on me – had a color called magnesium. Sure, try explaining that to the tow truck that’s coming to find you in a parking lot! I learned to say it was a little bit gray and a little bit green. I agree with you on the bizarre need to make such weird names for colors.

    As for Ukraine, as humans, we should be feeling gut wrenched at the photos we are seeing. Because I do try to always find a silver lining, we as Americans are united in the feeling the same way about this horror, And it’s the first time we’ve been united about ANYTHING for a really long time!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  19. Yes carpet colours names are “interesting”, and cars are going the same way. My vehicle is “Moon Rock”!! My thought when I read that was “What the hell colour is that?”

    Re Ukraine: We, as a species, have displayed generations of ” I want it/found it therefore its mine” thinking and, for all the public displays of displeasure …. clearly we are not learning anything. All we need is one mentally deranged individual in power (which we now have), and our future becomes very precarious. It brings back a lot of memories of the 60’s with the USA and USSR posturing with nuclear bombs, although I think the potential of a nuclear holocaust is greater this time. Back then WWII was still fresh in everybody’s minds.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  20. I find the names of colors totally weird these days…..give me a pile of swatches and I’ll just point but don’t give me a list of those names. My heart breaks over the photos of what’s happening in Ukraine. I saw that old man and his cat. Beyond sad. The whole thing is gut-wrenching.

    Hugs, Pam

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  21. I woke up thinking about how H.W. Bush mounted a counter attack very quickly against Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. Because oil. I guess people and the pets just don’t have the same lure.

    There were also no nuclear weapons in Saddam’s arsenal, only a very poorly equipped army compared to ours. And yet…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

  22. And then there’s the “oh, you don’t look [x] age!” Please honey, I do and feel every nano second of it. Here’s to a good week with few orerous decisions (like picking paint or carpet colors). I know I’d rather set my hair on fire than pick paint color. How many shades of white can there possible be? Sigh.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Don't be shy, I'd love to hear what you're thinking!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s