What I did on my Christmas/Channuka Vacation

I watched my 12 year old cat Mandy warm herself by the fire. . . .

Then

Jesse boy preferred the comfort of his favorite blanket at the foot of the bed. . .

Deb took her turn at warming in front of the woodstove. . .

We enjoyed our fiber optic lit Christmas tree. . .

Today it was cut up firewood day with a great assist from brother in law, Mike. . . .

Two hours later, finishing up. . .

Although I did my share of helping. . .I did use my position of elder-stateswoman to be the picture taker and enjoyer of several breaks in the action!

How about you with cameras and many pictures. . . care to share?

Here is a wonderful gift from Deb’s sister Sue that added to Deb’s decorative birdhouse collection. . .

Everyday in the Middle Of Nowhere is vacation. . .I wish you all the same enjoyment that we have had this season!

Love and Hugs

Shirl

User’s Guide to Success

Yes, yes, yes… I’m still yammering about that camera. It finally DID arrive.  The instruction booklet is 208 pages long… all in English. There’s a separate book for attaching it to your computer, another one for how to create pictures. And this is supposed to be a simple device in the point and shoot category. I’m trying not to jump out the window. I’m trying to be very zen about it, using the Vulcan mind lock to glean as much information from it as I can. But like all technology of the last three years, this is not a gadget for someone already living on the edge

The good news is, I’ve already attached the wrist strap, loaded the batteries, the memory card and powered it on.  Only 200 more pages to learn. The camera itself is smaller than a slice a bread, so I dare not put it down anywhere or it will get lost in the shuffle of my life, pieces of which I have put down everywhere so I could find them again. ha!

No, I gingerly return everything to the box. Maybe I will put a strap on the box and carry that around. I am hoping to be able to take pictures soon, if not this holiday – then some other holiday. I can do this, I chant. Deep breathing and speaking instructions aloud helps. Everything is so small… teeny-tiny buttons, arrows, compartments and the wording in the instruction manual. ”It’s all good.” I affirm. But I’ll have to cut out the caffeine if I’m going to succeed at this situation. “Photography is fun” I repeat while my fingers clutch and tremble around the plastic

 

Best wishes, Whisel* Shuddering Bug

Winter Solstice

Let us light candles and whisper blessings to the Earth as it lies in slumber under winter’s covering. Let us keep the spark of renewal kindled in our hearts and minds. Let us call to the Sun, Moon and Stars to cycle dependably through the skies of this season. The dark place is where mystery mingles, where you and I give thanks for transitions from one unknown to another….. alive, alive-o. Happy Solstice to all.

 

Best wishes for a Bright Season

Whisel*

Extreme December

It’s very cold in Minnesota this week, the onset of below zero wind chills: hats, scarfs and gloves, people packed in thick, thermal fabrics erratically hopping over snow mounds in frozen parking lots, icy drifts whipped into waves on an asphalt ocean tundra of glare ice.

Stocking the pantry shapes my thoughts for the day, especially if I run out of cat food, although plan B works nicely, meaning the cats will be treated to boiled chicken from the savory soup on the stove. Perhaps next week or the week after, one can try again to brave the chilled air, the white, crackling, slippery earth beneath the car tires.

Every year I have to plan better for ‘extremes’, only I don’t know what my new limitations will be until I get there. Every year I think I am the same person who barreled through the last winter. But each new winter now growls a little bit louder, encroaching on my endurance a bit more strongly, like a bully taking over more of the playground.   

I look out through my windows at Winter wandering down the streets, howling its hoarse call, scattering the plump puffs of pillowy people into the nearest open door and I think: I am grateful that there are neighbors and friends who can still manage the seasonal extremes and have offered to bring the cat food home.

 

Best wishes, Whisel* at -11 below

Camera

 

So I finally did make a decision.  After comparing, reading about and reviewing customer comments. Maybe it’ll arrive by Christmas. Maybe not and that’s ok too. It could take me several days to figure out how it works.  Yep, it’s one of those fabulous point-and-shoot varieties, but it comes with a few embedded gizmos that require at least some kind of awareness, if not deliberate and actual mastery.

Only $100…. and then the price went up $13 when I was doing the research. Still, I bought it from the least expensive place I coud find. However, I needed a memory card – $8. Then I had to have a camera case so as not to clobber the fragile lens against anything harder than a loaf a bread, another $18. Finally, the good news is that it takes AA batteries, but the other news is…. it eats them for breakfast. A battery charger was added to the list, $40. 

It all sounds good at first notice. But inevitably, one must add the accessories for any kind of functional usage. I know now it’s that way for most electronic items and appliances, so I wasn’t that surprised. Ah for the ease of disposeable cameras except for the fact that you had to take them places to be developed. Now it’s point, shoot and upload. Huzzah!

I DO love photography and have had several excellent camera over the years and more lenses, cases, accessories and tripods than I want to remember. I’m looking forward to my current purchase, enabling me to take photos of my art work and other stuff. Cell photos are just too itty-bitty to put on websites.

Have you taken any photos recently, Diane?  And yes indeed, Shirl, your visuals are stunning. Mas, mas, mas.

Best wishes, Whisel*

 

 

 

Two or More

 

 

I believe the best of Life is at least Twofold. It is what it is and It is what it isn’t. It is both clarity and confusion, sunny days and gloomy weather. It speaks to the humon condition and the spiritual character. Each life and its inhabitants are at least doubly different in nature so that inner and outer interactive energies never rest. I am not quite where I seem to be or where others think I am. And neither are they. There is no there to contain me.

 

There are questions. There are answers. And more questions. Consciousness repositions itself from moment to moment. Though I may intentionally narrow my field of consideration for temporary focus, choosing one thing is never just choosing one thing. One thing is again… multitudinous. And all of those possibilities divide and divide again.

 

I cannot say THIS is how I am and THIS is my life, unless I include everything that is and everything that isn’t. Not that I am an infinitely expansive entity, but a whole number of years in my past, present and future contain every single emotion, temperament and inclination possible in humon guise. I am here today, representing only the smallest fragment of ‘me the one’, or ‘me the many’, in this significant moment of individuation.

 

Therefore, I take you in and accept you as the same, no matter you say, what you do, no matter what I think it might mean or how you might be interpreting my interpretation. I suppose all we can do is watch and listen and remember and forget, laughing at all the silly questions, like: What is your favorite food? What are your hobbies? Do you live with animals? Clues…. we are looking for clues, something friendly and familiar we can reach for…. as we are constantly moving and evolving, opening and closing….. pirouetting personalities turning inside out, end over end, now in this moment and over and over again.

 

Best Wishes, Whisel*

 

Holiday House

A friend of mine dropped by this week with an edible Holiday House. It wasn’t made from a kit, just something put together by hand and creative intuition.

I marvel at folks who make the time to make gifts. It’s all so easy to buy and ship these days that home-made gifts are almost nostalgic.

It was so very clever with a garage, car, path and logs outside to tote home for the fireplace.

Cell phone pics don’t do it justice, but it was so fun I wanted to share it with you just the same.

It’s been nibbled off it’s foundation already. Yum!

Best wishes, Whisel*

Deck the Walls

 

Yesterday, the box of holiday decorations came down from the shelf, including long strands of blue mini-lights. They were deigned for the balcony. How to string them? What to make?

 

First a large dreamcatcher was strung round each webbing and circumference. It looked like a compacted, constellation of stars in collision, so that was rejected. Then the string was wound round and round a beautiful old tree root and hung on the wall. Ah, much better….. and to my happy surprise, it looked like a UFO when lit at night. What a great theme for the nights of a snowy, winter season.

The next string found it’s way, coiling around a basket full of cottony snow, accented with poinsettia and holly. Unfortunately the fake snow didn’t quite keep its original intent. When finished, the basket looked like a bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes framed by blue lights. Maybe I’ll remove the floral pieces and add a ladle, a packet of gravy and some onions <g>

 

This year I just couldn’t quite pull off a Christmas-like theme. But it was jolly good fun and loads of laughter trying to put it all together. I still have a miniature scene to put together. I wonder what that’s going to turn out to be? I’m not an enthusiast of a regular, decorated Christmas tree, so I must muddle through boxes of ornaments and such to come up with something agreeable for me.

 

It was suggested that perhaps for next year a pre-lit Star or some other purchased, finished object might work. Hmm…… what?!? and miss the pandemonium of creation?? I’ll have to think on that, cuz I do so enjoy the shock and awe of accidentally making something original. However, it is tempting.

 

How about you? What do your holiday decorations tend to be?

 

If you were to put together some miniatures around a theme, what would you enjoy having around your house for a few months? I might like: “The Nightmare Before Christmas’ or maybe ‘The Grinch and Whoville’. What would be your interest?

 

Best wishes, Whisel*

 

Point and Shoot

The POINT is…. I’m wanting to purchase a   s i m p l e  digital camera for ordinary use. Something inexpensive and easy to learn.  The problem is ~ even the least complex of camera systems are written about in jargon and code.  Here is the product description of one item I’m considering:

32mm wide-angle Leica DC Vario-Elmar lens and a 5x zoom, … also an Extra Optical Zoom function that boosts zoom power to 8.9x in 3-megapixel resolution mode. Simply set the Lz8 to iA mode and let the camera do the rest. Intelligent Scene Selector chooses the mode that best fits the situation; MEGA Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) helps prevent blurring from hand-shake; Intelligent ISO Control helps prevent motion blur; ….The brightness and contrast of the large 2.5″ diagonal LCD adjust automatically in 10 steps as ambient light conditions change, so images are clear, bright and easy to see day or night, indoors or outdoors. f=5.2-26mm (35mm Equiv. – 32-160mm) Focal Length 2.5 Diagonal Polycrystalline TFT LCD Display (230K dots) Focusing Area Normal – Wide 50cm/ Tele 100cm – infinity, Macro / Intelligent AUTO – Wide 5cm / Tele 100cm – infinity 8 – 1/2,000 sec. Starry Sky Mode – 15, 30, 60sec. Shutter Speed Auto / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 (High Sensitivity Mode – Auto(1600 – 6400) ) ISO 27MB Internal Memory (additional memory recommended to store more photos and video) Built-in Flash, Microphone and Speaker SD/SDHC, MultiMedia Card Slot DC Input, AV Output (NTSC/PAL), USB Connections PictBridge Compatible Approximate Battery Life – 260 Shots (Oxide Batteries) Approximate Unit Weight – 0.33 lbs

Yeehaa!  Just SHOOT me!  By the time I figure out what the heck all this means and how to compare it to other brands and features, the holidays will be over and technology will have advanced another five years.  I’m a product of disposable cameras and simple cell phone photos.  Still…. I think… there must be a camera for the likes of me, a dabbler in the pixilated ‘image & likeness’ arts. I shall not give up my quest, though poring through all their promotional material is making me cross-eyed. 

 

On another note, it’s Saint Nicholas day and though I put my slippers outside my door, no one stopped by to fill them.  Maybe it only works if you have wooden shoes. At least, that seems to be the customary visual. But, I shall not have my spirits dampened.  I gifted myself this breakfast-time with walnuts, an apple, a banana and a chocolate.  Therefore, the life of the legend continues. It’s all magic anyways and I’m a believer in the *olde wayes* be they miracle, mystical or humonly methodical. 

 

 

And a splendid Saturday to you, whatever is on your mind or in your heart.

 

Best wishes, Whisel*

 

  

Holiday Shopping

Like many happy, home persons, I’m shopping the internet for Holiday gifts. Yeah, everyone tells me they’re cutting back this year and I say: I’m cutting back this year, but we’re all still asking for lists and looking for that special item with which to surprise each other. 

I tried to negotiate not-gifting this year. My dearly beloveds listen intently to my idea, how we could exchange home-made cards or a poem or something and they cheerily agree to me sending them something more creative, less commercial. They say: That’s fine, Whisel*… but I’m going to STILL send you a gift. ……haha…. So again and again as every year in the past and most likely every year to the future, we are exchanging gifts. 

I like to give something very practical or something food-like. One of the choices for a family member is Coffee. Oh not just any coffee but something that will bring a big smile to her brewing pleasure.

Now I don’t know how Elvis got around to having a Signature Coffee line, and it may be a gimmicky thing, but by golly, it combines two of her favorite interests…. going to Graceland and getting caffeinated. lol

How is your holiday shopping going?  Are you exchanging gifts with folks or have you canceled this ritual? Have you found any fun gifts or websites that you’d like to share? Do you shop early or late?

Best wishes, Whisel*

 

http://www.uglymugcoffee.com/index.cfm?category=5