A spooky typewriter. I LOVE this! I’m sad it’s not real!!
When I saw it, I immediately thought how perfect it was. In fact, as it has a page in it already, I thought of this old dusty piano my grandfather had that played music by itself. This would be similar.
Imagine you get up in the morning, depending on the keys you hit, the typewriter starts typing! You sit with your coffee, feet kicked up on the desk, reading the newspaper. What a glorious morning. Typewriter makes a cackling sound when story is done. You rip off the pages. THEN – Off to the editor!
My girlfriend’s birthday is on Halloween. She’s been doing research on her Irish family. They have some haunted cemeteries there. She could use this typewriter to RECORD family history. What do you think?
I HAVE SOMETHING BETTER. Although, if she survived the heart attack on opening the birthday box, I’m not sure we would still be friends. Imagine my fright, when I was “innocently” looking at Halloween stuff, turned TOO QUICKLY and saw this boa constrictor.
Oh my gosh — I DID JUMP BACK!! Realized it was a FAKE, then said a few… well, BAD WORDS!!
So, I decided neither of these were quite right.
The search continues… I did see a HUGE purple spider in someone’s yard. It had googly eyes. FUNNY!
I enjoy seeing the decorations. Some people go ALL OUT with their Halloween decorations & costumes.
Since we can’t travel very far, suddenly we are exploring our area. Someone told me about a Sheep & Wool Festival in Wisconsin. I went, it was FUN. They had a lot of sheep and some goats too.
Here is one of the sheep, I caught him while he was eating. He was kind enough to pose, so perfectly for me. They sold yarn and wool for felting. I’ve never heard of felting. I do knit, but haven’t for a while, so it was fun to see what shawls, hats, socks and scarf patterns were out there. Also, I was amazed at how many sheep farms there are in the U.S.
I found this lovely sheep painting. As soon as I saw it, I smiled. Isn’t that a good determining factor for making a purchase?!
So, I leave you with thoughts of sheep. If you are having trouble sleeping at night, we are told to count sheep. Here you have two, just keep it going… and SOON you will be FAST ASLEEP!
I’m looking forward to exploring a pumpkin patch next!
Why do I resist eating oatmeal? Same feelings toward Greek yogurt or smoothies. As soon as I hear those words: oatmeal, greek yogurt and smoothies — I GET MAD!
I think none of us want something shoved down our throat, so to speak. Media, any kind, is on a health kick. That’s fine! I do my best to eat healthy, but sometimes they go OVER BOARD. They make us FEEL guilty. If we don’t eat oatmeal, greek yogurt and smoothies that ANY health issues we have are DIRECTLY RELATED to not eating these foods, THAT they TOLD US, we needed to eat, to STAY ALIVE!
Phew, my rant is complete!
I don’t mind these foods, I just don’t want to be told EVERY DAY to eat them. I feel like a little kid annoyed with his mother for telling him to drink his milk. Trying to change my mind set.
My ex/father/n/law was a doctor. He LOVED oatmeal. At 99 years old when he had his leg amputated from diabetes — YES, this was a sad situation, ALL he wanted was — OATMEAL!
I need to lower my cholesterol. First food on the list to help with this — OATMEAL. Laughing, the dreaded oatmeal. To enjoy oatmeal and cross off a lot of healthy food boxes, I got creative. I read walnuts help lower cholesterol. Also, they say, “An Apple a Day, Keeps the Dr Away.” So, walnuts and an apple went into the oatmeal.
I ONLY used 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup too much. Start out small. Learn to EMBRACE the love of oatmeal.
See photo, my oatmeal looked and tasted good. Apple adds a lot of sweetness. Food is about presentation, Folks. I made the effort.
WARNING -> Eat oatmeal warm. Once it gets cold, it becomes a blob, not liquidy anymore.
You know what will happen, don’t you? Soon, I will ONLY want oatmeal for breakfast. I’ll even bring instant oatmeal packets on vacation.
I wish the media would share MORE uplifting stories like this. Miracles happening when we least expect it. Here is a Kev Crane, 49, a plumber who enjoys singing, he even sings on the job. He’s hired for a plumbing job, by a man who “happens” to have his own record label.
The owner hears him singing, LIKES his singing AND there is the miracle!!
A STAR IS BORN!
A DREAM FULFILLED!
Keep doing what makes you HAPPY!
Share uplifting stories.
We need to stay positive and know that break throughs can happen ANY DAY at ANY TIME!
Last weekend, as I was driving, I saw a sign for a RUMMAGE SALE at a church. Why not, I thought, stop in and see what they might have. As you can envision, it was an auditorium FULL of junk. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, it’s just that on FIRST inspection it’s piles and piles of STUFF. You really have to “look” for those hidden gems. Luckily, they did have everything nicely organized.
I always like to look for small tea pots, so I went to the glassware/china section. Imagine my surprise when hidden in the back of the glasses, I saw these two ANGELS. They must be meant for Xmas, because you can put a candle in the back of them. After the past year and a half with COVID, world in turmoil, I SMILED and thought — I want those Angels for Xmas, price: $2.50 each. We need HOPE!
Another GREAT find, as I looked down was this pearl bracelet. I wasn’t interested in jewelry, but I do like pearls. As I looked at it, I realized it was REAL fresh water pearls, only $2. So, into my basket.
At this point, I was having fun! On to the china, they had different things, not much of interest for me, but I did see this cute little tea cup. It was so small, was it for espresso or maybe it was from a child’s tea set – you know, when they “pretend” to have tea. Anyhow, it was $1, into my basket.
And… we can never leave a Rummage Sale without looking at the books. I love looking through to see what they have. I found one really OLD book of The Hardy Boys. I did buy that, it’s from my childhood, but I thought you might like this book – The Spell Binder’s Gift by Og Mandino.
I had never heard of this author: Og Mandino, turns out he is an Italian. He flew planes in WWII with Jimmy Stewart, the actor. I flipped through the pages, it reads nicely, it’s about his life and miracles that happened. When I say miracles, it seems like he had fallen on sad times, when our life’s direction changes and not for the better.
While he was contemplating life for a year or so, suddenly miracles started happening or coincidences that started to show him his direction in life. I LIKED that. I had a period of my life where in 7 years, I was laid off 2 jobs. It was NOT a happy time. Like Mandino, I needed a SIGN, finally I found a good job, but it was not without heartache and turmoil. SAME happened for him, life circumstances helped him RE-INVENT himself. If we have FAITH / KEEP TRYING, miracles do come – not on our timing, but they come.
I SMILE — I was in a CHURCH, so it was fitting that I should find Angels and books on Miracles, RIGHT!
COVID has been TOUGH, continues to challenge us.
Little SIGNS like this, that warm our hearts, give us HOPE, remind us to BELIEVE in God and that GOOD THINGS will start happening. We need to see the SIGNS! Our direction and path will become clearer!
Yesterday was a strange day. I drove to the store to buy groceries. When I came out and started to drive, I noticed something weird flapping on my windshield on the right hand side. I drove a little bit, made sure I wasn’t being followed – nowadays, we have to be careful – got out of my car and saw it was one-dollar bill under my windshield wiper.
I immediately did what we do, went for my phone. Imagine, of all the days to leave my phone at home. I could not capture the BIG event!
It had been raining, so the one-dollar bill was wet. Seems to me, someone must have gotten out of their car, saw the one-dollar bill, rather than keep it, put it under my windshield wiper. WHAT other scenario could it be?
I didn’t know what to do with it. I mean, I could have kept it, but did not feel like it was truly mine. So, I decided to pay it forward. When I got out of my car, I walked by an apartment building and put the one-dollar bill in front of the door for THE NEXT PERSON TO FIND!
This felt like one of those TV shows where they have a hidden camera and they want to see what you would do in a situation. Well, that’s what I did.
Years ago, I was walking with two women to our cars after work. It was really windy outside. One of them kept complaining about work associates, it sounded terrible. I told her she needed to stop. I didn’t want to hear it. Just as I was saying that — a gust of wind, brought a $20 bill right at my feet.
WOW — I immediately grabbed it and showed the lady. See, if you say, “GOOD things,” you will be “REWARDED.” We ALL had a big laugh! Too bad it wasn’t a $100, but no complaints.
The SECOND thing that happened to me today was seeing a RAINBOW. My phone could not capture it’s beauty, but it was a HUGE rainbow, mostly hidden by the clouds. Unfortunately, it was the tail end, it was fading fast. I did my best to take a picture, hopefully, you can see it.
So – I’m still SMILING!
Every once in a while, we just FEEL that LUCK might be on our side!
You know something is up, when ALL you want is schnitzel.
Lately, I kept thinking of ⏤ NO, I was craving ⏤ SCHNITZEL. I haven’t had it for a long time. I wondered where the sudden desire came from.
Then the other day, I got a message from TimeOut – Chicago. Do you follow TimeOut for your city? It’s really good. If you sign up, you receive weekly updates with events going on in your area.
THAT is how I found out WHY I was craving schnitzel. Of course, it’s almost the end of September, time for Oktoberfest! I was reading that Oktoberfest was cancelled in Munich. I’m sure they will have smaller celebrations around the city. COVID can’t cancel everything this year, RIGHT!
Turns out, Chicago has a lot of Oktoberfest events, it’s not cancelled here. Even something at our Zoo with a band. LOVE the German lederhosen, dirndls and Bavarian music. I have a dirndl, need to dust it off, see if it fits.
YES, we need to be careful with COVID and big crowds, but at the same time, can’t cancel Oktoberfest!
I’m off to find some schnitzel, pretzel, beer and gotta have a brat! Is it asking too much to have red cabbage and Dampfnudel (steamed dumpling, see photo) with vanilla sauce (my favorite)?!
Laughing – I’ll put on “THE- COVID 10 lbs” just celebrating Oktoberfest!
When I was a child, it was a big deal to see or have a ladybug land on you. We would immediately ask our Mom, “WHAT did this mean?”
We were told ladybugs brought Good Luck – Good Fortune!
Imagine my surprise to see a ladybug on my shirt. I have not seen a ladybug in years. She… maybe a he… was very tiny.
LUCKILY our phone cameras can ZOOM in.
Here is what my ladybug looked like up close. Sorry, a tiny bit blurry, but still pretty clear to see. Amazing coloring and those black dots – ADORABLE!
So, of course, I made a WISH.
I read that ladybugs eat berries, so gave her/him a blueberry to eat. By the next morning, my special ladybug was gone, but my SMILE remains.
Good Fortune is on the way! That would be nice, right!
Do you have a ladybug story… we want to hear it! So, share.
Sometimes we get LUCKY! I was in Michigan at a fair. They had an historical center with different log cabins.
A I explored the buildings, I came across this Wishing Well. I’ve always wanted to see a Wishing Well up close, throw a coin in and make my wish. Of course, I was a bit disappointed when I got closer. Turns out it was a “fake” Well, no water, and you can probably see from the photo a plastic container inside that was very shallow for a plant maybe.
So, I could not make a wish. It would have been ridiculous. Throwing a penny in, would have felt like throwing my penny in the grass – no meaning. Sigh, but from a distance, the visual of the Well was GOOD!
When I got home, I did a search for Wishing Wells. Amazon sells quite a few, people buy them as a decoration for their garden. I had no idea. I know, it sounds silly, but I live in a city, we don’t put Wishing Wells on our roof tops. I think of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairly Tales when I think of Wishing Wells.
On to my next adventure. Blueberry and raspberry picking. Take a look at this. A field of raspberries, it was amazing. They are a thorny bush, so next time I wouldn’t wear shorts. Your legs can really get scratched up.
I met some really nice people who were picking. There was an older couple in their 70s, who have been coming to the same farm for years. They said they pick about 8 lbs each time. Their grandkids love the blueberries. There was one mother who said she had been coming for 22 years with her daughter. She was sad, because this summer her daughter could not make it. Kids grow up, but she was picking some for her. Keep the tradition alive.
I got to say, it was wonderful to get out of the city and be on a farm. Smell the fresh air, hear the farm animals.
Oh, guess what, while I was getting gas, I found TWO Lucky pennies.
So, the Wishing Well DID WORK — in a round about way! Don’t you enjoy coincidences like that!
I was taking to my Italian mother the other day. She said was one of her cousins was in Florence and it felt so strange. There aren’t many tourists, so to be able to walk and “see” the city was an eery feeling. We are used to so many tourists that we are elbow to elbow with them. Instead, my mother’s cousin arrived in Piazza Della Signoria with open eyes, as if seeing the Piazza for the first time. BEAUTIFUL!
I remember that feeling years ago. I was in Florence in June, it was so packed with people that I could not enjoy the city and I wanted to leave. I thought, I am DONE, I do not need to visit Florence for a long time.
THEN, one year, I visited in late November. I was walking the streets, hardly any people. Like my mother’s cousin, I had this strange feeling that something was wrong. Where were the people? My next thought was… ah, it’s late November – no tourists – this is GLORIOUS!
Fast forward to COVID 2021. My friend is in Florence right now. She said that August is SO HOT, over 100 degrees, she can see why the Italians go to the seaside the whole month of August. She remembers going around town with me, but couldn’t remember where restaurants and shops were.
So, I marked up this quick map for her. Once I did that, she had her bearings. She said there are not that many tourists. When outside you don’t need a mask, but inside you must have it. Also, because of COVID there were no new things to see in the market place or the shops. Everything seemed as it was from 2 years ago. Oh… this was funny. She was looking forward to a good dish of pasta. The pasta came, but it was SUPER AL DENTE. Not good.
My Italian girlfriend said her husband did that sometimes. I mean, there is AL DENTE, and there is ULTRA AL DENTE. She would tell her husband, “You must have been REALLY HUNGRY to serve pasta like this! YUK!”
Anyhow…
Traveling right now is challenging and different, because COVID rules / regulations keep changing.
Brilliant Viewpoint 