Tuesday, 22 February 2022
We needed a high-quality leg-stretch today, and walked to the park. From the bridge we could look into the orchard. The weedy orchard. I think this overcast is exaggerated by a smear on my lens.
See? Also, note the aggressive green algae bloom. [Which our walking companion says was known as frog snot (was that it?) in the part of the rural Midwest where her husband grew up.]
Monday, 21 February 2022
I remember there are eleven hollies native to Georgia, although I may have the number wrong. I suspect this hedge is an Asian interloper. I thought it looked far perkier than the rain-weighted drooping daffodils I might have photoed.
Of course, the most famous holly of southeastern North America must be “Ilex vomitoria,” famously used by native peoples to make a beverage with a name translated as Black Drink. Which is what we call our morning coffee around here. Yes, incorrectly.
Saturday, 19 February 2022
We’ve watched a few minutes of Olympic competitions lately (and very little blah-blah filler), mostly curling, pairs skating, bobsled, and half-pipe. In the latter two, the competitors get more than one chance to perform, and the best score is the one that counts. My head is a bit dizzy with this to beat the best competitor so far and that to get a medal and this other to win the gold…that kind of thing.
Me, I have stats, too. I still think that my AppleWatch’s “Move” figure is the most useful metric for daily activity. And the threshold I like is based on basal metabolic rate (BMR;several websites estimate this), that is, a metric for being active beyond the minimum of just being alive (roughly).
I strive to have my Beyond exceed 40% of my BMR, and I prefer it to be above 43%. On active days, I’m over 46%, and super active, for me, is over 50%. These days, anyway.
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
I tackled, in a limited manner, window-washing today, and managed to clean inside and out of the three largest downstairs (public area) windows. I used soap-and-water initially (this stuff) to get the worst of it off (or loosened)…followed by a typical window-washing mixture…for shine?….
Monday, 14 February 2022
I’m promoting a non-religious revision of today’s holiday, rather like Festivus is to Christmas…since I’m not a Catholic and don’t believe in Catholic-fanatical saints. So: Happy Twizzle-day!
Can you tell the Olympics free-dance skaters are busy on the big(ger) screen in front of me. Yay: Chock and Bates (who?).
Sunday, 13 February 2022
I meant to write about this yesterday…I happened be on the same street as an AmazonPrime delivery truck. I counted nine deliveries over perhaps a third of a mile, most of that with houses on only one side. And, is it no surprise that Amazon’s upping their annual fee?
Saturday, 12 February 2022
And all you taxpayers out there. We received our government nasal swab covid tests.
Friday, 11 February 2022
The public air is near-brimming with talk about sporting events, most with snow or ice, except for the one in LA; however, I am distracted by the situation in Ukraine.
Olympic curling stones are two kinds of rock, both from a tiny island, a pluton, off the coast of southwest Scotland. The island’s modern Gaelic name, Aillse Creag, means fairy rock. The title? I’m just kidding.
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
I was so focused on the sun-lit golden beech leaves hanging on, as they do, that I missed the (probably privet) branch boldly sneaking into the frame from the left.
Friday, 4 February 2022
This Brit phrasing worked/works for today. All day the temp dropped. It was breezy then windy. And the morning’s intermittent drizzle finally ended late afternoon. Unless you were immersed in [fiction] [something else], weather likely dominated your psyche and awareness.