CynBlogger™️🇺🇸 ❌👑
Aries crone emerita. I meme, therefore I am. #Thinker; #writer; #painter; #poet; #digitalart creator (no AI); #photographer; #gardening #bird & #dog lover; fierce #liberal; Buddhist-adjacent, Very Progressive Catholic; 🌈Ally. #Disabled & living life from my couch in sunny #NorCal, but my ❤️ is in #Paris. “Embrace impermanence.” “With fear for our Democracy, I dissent.” #RESIST *SFBA.social Supporter* 🔶OK TO REPOST MEMES🔶 I’ll boost butterflies but neither bat nor bug pics.
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Friday, September 4 🍁
- Two massive spruce trees, about 100 yards away, fill the long-distance view from my couch spot. I watched the screeching juvenile scrub jays spend their morning diving from the trees’ tip-tops almost 180° straight down, over & over again — amazing!
- Super-quiet day with few interruptions — just me, an audio book & a new Procreate challenge. 😬
- …and buttered popcorn for brunch! 🍿
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings #bloomscrolling #photography Wednesday, July 29🌺
- Peaceful, quiet, sunny days with few interruptions and a limited to-do list.
- Caught up with all seasons’ podcasts from Fr. Jim Martin on the Jesuit ‘America Media’ channel. He is a skilled interviewer & had some remarkable guests. Looking forward to new content soon.
- Oleander seeds look like dust bunnies & disperse wantonly in early spring, growing EVERYWHERE. This one (below) just bloomed in a pot of holly & is peeking, voyeuresque, through my bedroom window. 😳
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Thursday, Sep 10 🍁
- Holy Cow, it was hot today but our blessed delta breeze is back in order & cooling things off.
- I finally took needed pics, posted on NextDoor & in ten minutes gave away ALL my analog oil painting stuff — easels, paints, canvasses, brushes, everything.
- Had groceries delivered & ate ice cream for dinner. (Because at this age, who cares?)
- Bonus: Watched the 9/11 Memorial Mass from St. Patrick’s in Manhattan, which was lovely. Deep & sincere sympathies tomorrow for all affected. 🙏
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings #poetry Saturday, July 25🌺
- Another breezy, sunny, peaceful patio morning with tea and a good book.
- Brunch was leftover sourdough flatbread vegetarian pizza AND popcorn with Cajun seasoning. 😬
- No chores & no interruptions gave me time & space for a summer poem (below).
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings #birds Tuesday, Aug 4 🥀
- Big, fat, round, firm, juicy, succulent, balloon-like red grapes with cottage cheese.
- Our delta breeze has returned, temps are down, maybe no A/C today. 😬
- Lulled into pure relaxation by two of our neighborhood’s Swainson’s hawks circling & soaring on the thermals this morning. Next time around, I want wings!
- Bonus: This season’s Northern Royal #albatross chick is trying out his wings, preparing to fledge in 5-6 weeks. You can just feel the wind calling to his deepest instincts in this video. (lady Hawk YouTube channel)
https://youtu.be/i54mP2nblUs?si=c4qpQFouClaqElJf
(Alt text: a large, white/black, almost full-grown albatross chick stands on the edge of a grassy plateau overlooking an estuary, exercising his huge wings and letting a stiff breeze hold him aloft for a second or two as he flaps & jumps. We can feel his sense of longing to lift into his future of thousand-mile sea voyages as he struggles to learn balance, control & coordination.)
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Friday, Sep 18🍁 — catching up
- Housecleaner on vacation, gardener AWOL, no deliveries, no visits, few texts & only 2 phone calls all week. A perfect island of solitude when space opens up & I feel free.
- While creating a family history for grandkids from genealogy records & old photos, I discovered a surprising fact I’d missed previously: I’m first-generation American on my dad’s side & tenth generation American on my mom’s. (Dad fibbed, 🤣)
- Made the best dinner I can’t wait to make again: Cajun-spiced ground beef patty in the air fryer, topped with a goopy fried egg. OMG!
- Bonus. This season’s NZ albatross has fledged, the recently bereaved Big Bear Valley male eagle likely has a new mate, and there’s a humpback whale in the Sacramento River delta!
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Sunday, Aug 2 🥀
- Our heat wave has arrived, but with ceiling fans & judicious window/door management, my house stays cool without A/C until mid-afternoon. Blue skies & sunny days are worth the few HOT days.
- Tomorrow is my eldest granddaughter’s 27th birthday — the year she’ll finish her veterinary medicine degree. She’s gorgeous, brainy, and so much fun! (She’s also in NC so I’m missing the cake!)
- Long email from an Internet-only friend I’ve known for at least 15 years. She travels to Ireland annually to study Gaelic & catch up with her Clan, and she writes about Holy Wells…very interesting woman.
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Saturday, Aug 8 🥀
- After 15 years on Reddit, I deleted my account today. They’re going full-on AI in multiple ways, and there’s no “redeeming value” to posts anymore. Buh-bye!
- Lovely patio nap today.
- Most of my yard looks like the end o’ summer, but there are scads of new blooms on the oleanders. Unpredictability seems to be a hallmark of #ClimateCrisis.
- Bonus: Rosemary potatoes in the air fryer and an omelet for dinner (if I ever get off this couch & go cook.)
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings #PopeLeoXIV #Paris Friday, Sept 25 🍁
- Great Greek dinner & fun evening with my g’daughter, her partner & my co-grandmother last night.
- I’m within shouting distance of completing this abbreviated family history project (from 1636-1955). I’m stopping at 8th grade as no one gets to see my high school, college & 1970’s secrets. 🤣
- Watched a lot of the Pope’s first busy day in 💗Paris — France seems VERY enthusiastic for Leo XIV!
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Thursday, July 23🌺
- Had a lot on my “to do list before the housecleaner comes” so I drank real coffee and OMG I FELT GOOD TODAY! Got everything done, including spraying floor tile grout with bleach, which both asphyxiated me & wrecked my unused muscles — but the floor is sparkle clean!
- Filling the hummingbird feeder yesterday when a glorious ruby-red dragonfly sat on a nearby leaf. As serial killers go, they’re stunning. (95% kill rate, more than most earthly predators!)
- I may get flooded this coming El Niño winter, but this has been the nicest summer I can remember, even if the blooming shrubs & trees are out of sync.
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Sunday, Aug 23 🥀
- Dinner visit with chatty grandson last night, whose conversation skills outweigh & outlast mine by 300%. I’ve embargoed his (GOP) politics, but apparently anything/anyone before 2015 is fair game. 😖
- Very weird, haunting dreams in restless sleep, but realized it’s just the week of the stupid full/fool moon so it will pass. (We humans are 60-75% water…the tide doth riseth.)
- Back to my normal hermitic life this week; YEA!
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Sunday, Aug 16 🥀
- Stress-free, fun, gossipy visit with Vagabond son & DIL, which included presents from their recent trip to France & Germany.
- Fave veggie sourdough pizza lunch on the patio with them and “my” nearby hummingbird.
- Finished catching up on all episodes of an excellent podcast (Fr. Jim Martin on America Media). There are some remarkably intelligent & interesting people in the world!
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Thursday, Sep 3 🍁
- Eldest granddaughter passed (with a ridiculously high score) her North American Boards in veterinary medicine. She’ll be finished in May unless she opts for further specialty training; she’s only been in school 22 years, lol.
- #porchsitting today displayed waves of fluffy sky fractals, dolphins, a Bichon, a turtle & a Shitzu. The final wave was cloud cover heralding (maybe) rain. ☂️
- To avoid doomscrolling from real-life doom, I’ve cut back on Mastodon in favor of audio books, podcasts & Procreate art. (Unsure yet if it’s helping. 2026 is setting some grim records in so many areas.) Always happy to read this section of Fedi!
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Tuesday, Sept 22🍁
- Delightfully sunny Equinox Day with chilly mornings & evenings, the backyard jays have mostly shut up, and I had four hummingbirds in a crape myrtle tree without combat.
- Met the challenge of accurately sorting out Polish immigrants’ names & dates for this family history project.
- I’ve found genuine respite from doomscrolling by limiting daily time to a couple of brief sessions, AND a lovely online friend surprised me with a generous gift. 🥳
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Sunday, September 6 🍁
- Chatty grandson visited last night, bringing poppyseed muffins from his other grandma. Yum.
- Binged a lot of Season 1 of “For All Mankind.”
- Scheduled appointment for 3 vaccines on the same day as a hairdresser appt. Big day for Cyn the Recluse!
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Wednesday, Sept 9 🍁
- Local granddaughter and her partner are bringing dinner tonight, yay.
- They have asked for our family’s history & I’ve been steeped in musty nostalgia for days, digitizing ancient photos & devising a journal/memoir. Very tedious work, but I do love creating artsy graphics. 🖌️👩🎨
- Summer has returned & with it “my” teenaged scrub jays which are screeching SO LOUDLY I’ve had to shut doors & windows. I’m hoping my memory is correct & they’ll disperse to other neighborhoods soon — otherwise they may become appetizers.
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings Monday, Aug 3 🥀
- Chatty grandson came to visit last night & brought ice cream.
- Had ice cream for lunch & a carb-coma nap. 😬
- I’m breaking all our water restriction rules and running a backyard sprinkler for the birds. It’s 103° out and I’m pretty sure they’re hot.