The person behind The Hermits' Rest blog and many others. I'm a certified Texas Master Naturalist and love the nature of Milam County. I manage technical writers in Austin, help with Hearts Homes and Hands, a personal assistance service, in Cameron, and serve on three nonprofit boards. You may know me from La Leche League, knitting, iNaturalist, or Facebook. I'm interested in ALL of you!
I’ve never been a fan of those holidays that seem to be designed just to sell stuff. Sweetest Day (what?) comes to mind. And after reading years’ worth of people saying how sad they feel on Valentine’s Day, or gloating about what they got…yeah, I’m not so big on that. Except I like reminding my … Continue reading “Happy Hallmark Holiday”
I’ve never been a fan of those holidays that seem to be designed just to sell stuff. Sweetest Day (what?) comes to mind. And after reading years’ worth of people saying how sad they feel on Valentine’s Day, or gloating about what they got…yeah, I’m not so big on that.
Valentine’s DAZE
Except
This is me in my heart attire telling all you nice readers that I appreciate you SO MUCH!
I like reminding my friends and family that I am fond of them. I like seeing people smile at a little surprise. So, this year, when Anita and I were at the H-E-B (the best grocery store chain in Texas) early in the season, when there were still some “good” gifts and cards out, I picked up some little things for the gang in Cameron. It was nice-ish cards and a few little cute things.
Good quality corporate gifts.
But, where are they now? Heck if I know! At least it’s given everybody a good laugh, and we all know we like each other, presents or no. And Kathleen and her helpers DID get gifts out to all our clients and business contacts at Hearts Homes and Hands. You should just be our client for the presents!
My advice to everyone is to use a day like today to tell someone you care, do something kind for someone, or give yourself a big old hug, because YOU deserve it.
Aftermath of the Aftermath
After much discussion and many good ideas from family and friends, we decided to get some of the things you put on stairs to make them less slippery, and apply them to the area where Anita and I walk out of the Bobcat Lair house when dog walking. That’s the place we walk most when it’s rainy, since the dogs have to do their duty no matter what. We’re hoping they hold up and prevent falls until we can get the deck rebuilt with better materials.
This will help give us back our confidence walking on the deck when it’s rainy. We just won’t go out if it’s icy!
I had been all worried about my chickens when someone told me they knew of a bunch that had died from huddling together too intently during the recent very cold rain. Chris sent me a picture to prove they are alive, and Lee went out to check on them after the first freeze. I guess they figured something out!
We are just fine, Suna! Soon we will make eggs!
PS
Thanks for all the fascinating comments on Facebook about your personal prejudices. I think it helps that we realize we all have these irrational feelings about people, and maybe we can cut each other some slack about our areas for growth. I have some fascinating friends.
I got anti-falling stuff. Kathleen got little cakes! (The cup was from Lee.)
In any case, things I was reading today about other people’s biases gave me pause to think about my own. As hard as I’ve worked to overcome different kinds of prejudice, some seem almost hard wired. I have no scientific basis to go on, but my gut feeling is that these are the ones I learned when I was very young, before my ability to make judgments like that on my own kicked in.
Yep, I’m a white person. I was raised in a Southern US white culture. Some of the prejudices of that group rub off. I’ve spent many years dwelling on this, and it doesn’t make me happy. I know that having slave ancestors as well as slave owning ancestors is something to think about. I know I have biases in other areas that skew my opinions. I know I can’t fix past things. But I know I can work hard to treat people fairly today.
Where Prejudice Comes From (for me)
I sure know where a lot of my prejudices come from, and that’s my mom, whom I loved dearly, but I could tell from an early age had some extra doozies of flaws. One was her wide range of racial and ethnic stereotypes. She had a bad World War II experience (lost a fiance) and was pissed off at Japanese people and Germans (they spit when they talk) her whole life. She was also quite opposed to “white trash,” and kept telling us not to be like them. And she both loved black people personally and said awful things about them them as a group (probably from her own upbringing). All this stuff confused the heck out of me, and even though I was uncomfortable with the things she said and did, I know some of it sunk in.
Skin is just skin. Cultural differences are interesting, not scary. Yep. All images from here down from Twenty20.
Thanks to my upbringing, I was scared of black people and looked down from my barely middle-class perch at poor white people. I have a feeling many of my black and poor white future friends came about from me wanting to distance myself from my mom and not wanting to be like that. At least I stuck around to like my friends as people. But to this day, I get this tiny bit of negativity that my higher thought processes immediately slap down. Whew, no wonder racial stereotypes and prejudices are so hard to eradicate, when even someone who knows better and wants to judge people on who they are, not how they look, still deals with childhood crap.
This is just a brief note to let you all know that, after my undignified fall, I got through yesterday okay and am okay today so far. I am just stiff and sore. I am proud to say that by walking slowly around the house during a couple of phone calls, I managed to keep my streak of hitting my movement goal going, so now it’s up to 154 days. I’m glad that once I’m actually up, walking is fine. I actually got in more steps yesterday than the day before, but they sure weren’t brisk after I went BOOM.
I was proud of myself when I hit the goal.
Now that I am older, it takes longer to recover from falls and such. Actually, falling makes me feel old, but I would have fallen where I was yesterday at any age. I’m just going to make the most of it and pay attention to where the hurt is each day.
For example, yesterday my chest muscles hurt so badly that I honestly didn’t notice anything else. Who knows how falling on my back strained them, but it sure did. Today, though, my shoulders and upper back are reminding me that I fell on them, and my upper leg is tender. Interestingly, my arms now hurt from trying to break the fall. It’s not bad, but it’s THERE.
And I realize I hit my head, thanks to the headache and bruising back there. I haven’t had any “concussion protocol” symptoms (thanks to American football on television, I know what they are), so I am pretty sure I will heal fine.
Since it is still raining hard, I have been sure to put on sturdy shoes today. We’re grateful for that rain!
That looks a heck of a lot better. Photo by Chris.
I’m grateful that I don’t see any bruising anywhere, though I’m surprised, knowing how hard I hit the deck. (Ha ha, I literally hit the deck.) You just never know what the effect of an incident will be! I hope there are no lingering symptoms, like the ankle that still occasionally hurts from when Carlton pulled me down the hill as a puppy. THAT incident produced a LOT of colorful bruising.
But, I am not hurt badly, so don’t worry about me. I’ll be back to other topics now, like renovation progress. I was so happy to see that they scraped all the paint smears off the stained glass over the front door. It will look so good once everything is cleaned and re-painted (carefully).
Oh, okay, it’s about the fact that a significant number of humans do not picture scenes in their minds when thinking. It’s called mind blindness, or aphantasia. I have to admit that, in all my endless reading about how brains work, I had never realized that this is as common as it is. Apparently it affects 2% of the population!
What do you mean, some of us see stuff others don’t!? From chiller856 via Twenty20 (original and appropriate caption: The eyes are useless when the mind is blind…💀
When someone posted a link to the article and said they were mind blind, I was really surprised. I’d never have guessed. Later, people said they found out their spouses were that way and they’d never known. I got suspicious, and asked my own spouse, whose perceptions have sometimes baffled me. Yep, he has it at least to some extent, and definitely has the related issue of being face blind (THAT explains why he found me attractive!). Well, huh. I knew he was color blind (try picking out paint with that guy), but I hadn’t known this!
The article goes on to say some people become upset when they find out other people have movies going on in their heads. I don’t know; I think if I was born a certain way, it would feel normal, like being short, or prone to being gassy.
I also wonder if there’s research to show that people who are mind blind prefer to read nonfiction over fiction, as an anecdote in the article suggested. I guess it’s nice that if these folks read a book and see a movie, they aren’t bothered that the characters don’t look how they pictured them!
This also makes me wonder if some other traits correlate to mind blindness. Some of my friends have suggested their attention-deficit traits and/or social skills issues associated with the autism spectrum may go along with this. However, many people I know don’t report this. I want more research! (Here’s an article with more research, but not on my questions.)
The Other Side
What’s going on in there?
Why was I not surprised to learn that there’s another way of perceiving things called hyperphantasia, or super-visualizers. These folks have very detailed mental images and can describe what they see easily. They are folks who have been termed to have “very vivid imaginations.” According to the researcher in the article, people usually fall somewhere in between aphantasia and hyperphantasia. That makes sense, knowing how mental traits tend to work out.
Well, poop. I am not superhuman. I also don’t really think my wardrobe choices through.
Evil slippery deck in its ancient and damp glory.
It’s been raining for a couple of days, so, of course, our ancient deck is mighty wet. I wasn’t really concerned about it, since I’d managed to walk Vlassic just fine earlier today.
However, I’d changed into some really cute cowboy boots to wear to work. So, when time came to walk the dogs again, I strode out at my usual brisk pace (so it will count as exercise for my watch), and was singing a happy song.
Suddenly, my feet were in the air and I thought, “Oh boy, this isn’t good,” just as my rear end made contact with the deck and I promptly bounced on my upper back. I could feel the vertebrae as they got hit. ACK.
Landing there, of course my lungs got squished, so I lost my breath. I did manage to tell Anita I hadn’t broken anything and asked her to take the dog.
Vlassic takes care of me. I look like crap. And Supergirl is back there taunting me and reminding me that I am NOT her.
That was certainly a dumb wardrobe choice. And we really, really need to replace that deck with something that has some traction. Changing into dry clothing was “interesting,” but it appears like I just have some bruising in my ribs and my wrists (from trying to break the fall).
Dear Vlassic came and jumped on me to make me feel better, and Anita got me a hot wrap for my shoulders. I am now prepared for the chorus of “Arnica” and other remedies. I’ll take care of myself, I promise!
Maybe I’m exaggerating, and maybe I’m not. However, today I am wearing a new shirt I got on Saturday that just gets better and better the more I wear it. I’m not usually this much excited about a shirt, I swear! There is no danger of me morphing into a fashion blogger or an “influencer” (for a really funny article on how to be “Insta-famous” as an influencer, check out this post by my favorite millennial, V.
Label and fabric close-up.
I was initially drawn to this shirt, sitting there among dozens of beautiful and over-priced shirts at a shop in Round Top, because it was covered in hummingbirds. I pretty much was going to buy it unless it looked like some giant sack on me, just because of the print, but I did feel the need to try it on.
The shirt! Note my hand is in my wonderful pocket! And check out those pressed jeans, courtesy of Kathleen’s dry-cleaning account.
I’m glad I did, because I keep thinking I am huge and tried on a size much too large. Kathleen kept sending me back to put on something smaller. The M fit great, and is still loose enough. I’d never heard of the brand, but I found this on a page that sells the Shana brand:
Shana offers a diverse collection of affordable clothing in today’s current styles. Unique and exciting clothes for women who want to look their best. A portion of all sales is given to Himalayan Hands, a non profit organization dedicated to helping children and their families in Nepal and Tibet.
Well, at least some of my money is going to help people who deserve some help. That makes my shirt purchase part of my do-gooder work, too. Ha! Clever!
Back of shirt, featuring cool pleat and zipper!
Why is this shirt the BEST?
Let me share the ways:
The print is just the cutest ever and in such happy colors.
The pattern fits nicely at the top then flares out, making me want to twirl around. It is flattering to people shaped like me.
It’s really comfortable, and all cotton.
The front has buttons, so you could wear it like a jacket if you wanted to.
The sleeves roll up and have a button to keep them up, which I didn’t realize until I was getting dressed this morning and found the sleeves too long.
The back has a really cool zipper! It’s not just decorative; when you unzip it, the shirt’s back pleat is freed up, thus making the shirt even twirlier.
AND, as I only found out about a half hour ago, it has side pockets. Who doesn’t love pockets that actually work?
So, I have to say that I love my shirt and plan to wear it for years and years. It matches my hair, my glasses, my nails, my active imagination…yay!
The zipper opened, and a better view of all the birds.
I have come to the conclusion that I wear bright clothing to help keep me feeling in a good mood. And from my coworkers’ reactions today, the happy colors, shiny shoes and all that cheer them up, at least a little. And it costs no more than black (I admire people who wear only black and look so chic in doing so; I just can’t do it myself.)
I just wanted to share two little things that didn’t fit in with my previous blog.
Hens
One is those silly chickens. I realized today that their ramp up to the egg laying and roosting area was upside down, and they’d never figured out how to get up there for shelter, roosting, and such.
What’s up there? More food?
So, I fixed it and put little bits of chicken scratch on each step, with more upstairs, hoping to entice them to go up. I did see them inspecting it, but haven’t yet seen one go up. I think maybe Miss Fancy Pants went up, though I was watching from the house.
I’m thinking about it.
Poor dears. I hope they do figure it out. But, they are happy and growing away! They like spinach and clover cuttings a lot!
Dogs
I hung out with my Milam Touch of Love friends today as they held a very successful micro-chipping event at the Cameron Farm and Ranch, where there’s a really useful drive-through area. I enjoyed seeing all the dogs getting chipped, but was sad to see that some of the nicest dogs at the pound still don’t have new families.
I’m saddest that Penney’s sister still hasn’t been claimed. She is as nice as Penney, and just as soft and cuddly. But, we know better than to adopt two siblings.
I’d like a family. I’m cuddly!
There’s another dog at the pound, Ghost, who is so beautiful and sweet. He is all spotted, but has something in him other than Dalmatian. I know if I had space for another white dog, I’d be taking him home. Sigh.
Ghost is just about the cutest.
It’s hard to care so much about animals and work with them, when you know you can’t take them all home. I guess that’s why they call it volunteer “work,” rather than play.
This is Rottie. He’s getting training from Mark. He was already friendly, and now he’s obedient!
I’m grateful to my MTOL friend Danelle, who not only gave me a big hug and a crystal to cling to when she saw I was a bit nerved out, but she inspired me to take some “me” time this afternoon. I’d been worrying about a situation that I can’t do anything about, but a nice bath with lavender bath salts and some orange soap Danelle gave me really has helped.
Danelle got her precious doxie mix chipped today.
And on that note, I’ll wait for Sunday dinner and all my friends and family.
Yesterday, Kathleen, Chris and I took the day off and went to Round Top, Texas, a tiny town with a reputation for much cuteness and quaintness. We figured we deserved some R&R after the stress of yesterday. I’d never been there before, though of course I’d read about it in every decorating magazine I ever read, watched television hosts go there and charmingly buy things, and thus knew it is “the” place to go for buying the coolest antiques in Texas.
And there you have it. That’s why I never went. Since I don’t like crowds, I certainly didn’t want to go in the spring and fall when they have the huge markets there. And I figured even if I went on an off week, the prices would be super high, since they cater to the most chic of antique hunters.
It’s not only quaint, there are lovely roses.
But, hey, I am always up for a fun family trip, so I was glad to go. The area is really pretty, and we saw many attractive farms and farm animals. The little town itself looks just like its pictures (imagine that), and is about as cute as cute can be, with a dose of shabby chic cuteness on top of that.
We ended up having a very nice time in the main “destination” area, strolling through art galleries and shops just full of stuff Kathleen and I like (earrings, clothing, jewelry). Chris did a lot of people watching.
Yep, it’s darned cute. That’s where we had lunch, I think.
We had a really delicious lunch at Lulu’s (the cauliflower soup was very, very tasty and the salad had roasted grapes that had been soaked in wine). While we were there joking with the staff, we took notice of how the really old building had been restored. My eyes were drawn upward to the ceiling, which was open, like ours at the Hermit Haus, but had been painted a nice gray. Hmm. That really made the place look bright and airy. So, now I am considering having the ceilings painted in some way.
Doesn’t that ceiling look nice?
While none of the stores we went into were actually antique stores, they were full of really nice people, and we had a great time chatting, as well as getting some decor items. We were sad to find out that two really nice galleries run by lovely people with a precious dog were having to leave, because they owners of the property they were on planned to tear the buildings down to put in a hotel. I guess that’s the way the place is going.
There was a lovely and uncrowded place to sit outside and enjoy wine. So relaxing!
I got a reproduction of a painting of a donkey from the Humble Donkey gallery, and two extremely cute donkeys with painted bluebonnets that are what a ceramicist does when she ends the day and has just a little clay left over. I admit I also got some clothing, but who can resist a shirt covered with hummingbirds? Not this bird lover (no photo, sorry)
Aren’t the little donkeys cute? They will look better in my new office, I hope.
Actual Antiques
After lunch, we went out to see some of the actual antique shops and other stores that surround Round Top. It’s nice that some are open year round. I actually got a good deal on something, a red chair with grapes on it, that I’m going to call the Grape Throne in my office. It was 30% off and in great shape.
The Grape Throne chair
I did a great job NOT buying every piece of shiny glass I saw, and only got two light pink votive holders.
Meanwhile, we were looking for things to use to make bases for our door desks. We found a lot of really cool stuff at one place, which also had dozens of these weird baby-sized bathtubs on stands that must have been from some old hospital. I forgot to get a picture of that.
This is one of the metal objects of my desire. Glad we didn’t price this one.
We found some lovely old metal fencing that we liked for my desk, and an old frame for a little buggy that Kathleen liked. But, when the lady said my stuff would be “999” we were not happy to find that she meant $999.00. For four pieces of metal? Nope. But, Chris got a lot of ideas, so I’m sure he will be welding us up something.
Wine and Yarn
Just as we were about to go back, Kathleen looked at her notes and said we should also go look for the place with wine and yarn. Wine and yarn? Yes, when we found the Blue Mule Winery, they did, indeed have both wine and hand-dyed yarn for sale.
The only blue mule was a sign, but that’s okay; they had lots of other farm animals.
Once the large busload of very loud birthday party people left, we had a great talk with the owners, and I’m all psyched up to go back there in April for a yarn event they are going to have. We liked one or two of the wines a lot, too, so of course I came home with some of each.
Since they also had alpacas, beautiful chickens, AND a baby donkey, this was certainly a good decision! By the time we got home, all sated with Bucee’s jerky, we had a zillion stories to tell Lee. What a fine mini-vacation!
I’m feeling bad for CJ, who looks forward to me writing every day, because yesterday was just too much. But I’m back, and I’ll have two today.
Trying to look cheerful.
Between meetings for both jobs, I had zero writing time, and you wouldn’t have wanted a fresh rendition of the hissy fit I threw when presented with the plans for the dark, blocked-off staircase and ugly flooring at the Pope house. It must have been a good fit I pitched, because now the plan is for a lovely open staircase that will bring in light!
The area of contention. They wanted to build the staircase in such a way that my tiny bathroom would only have 6’ ceilings
Later in the day, Kathleen and I selected different flooring for the main floor, because the team sadly found out that the floors in most of the rooms are too far gone to salvage. But I’m glad that the front reception office will have original floors using the good parts of the other floors. That will be nice.
Fixing brick.
We also picked a really nice metal ceiling, because I thought I was supposed to get the fake stuff. Turns out they wanted real metal. I also was a little annoyed at how long I spent picking stuff out, only to find out it was the wrong stuff. Not my day.
Fixing brick from the other side
Oh Quit Complaining
It’s not all bad, honestly. The house has been leveled, and that’s amazing!
Reinforced floor joists. They also added concrete footings. It’s steady.
And electrical work is going on! We’re just hoping the inspector likes it. He isn’t as fond of our exposed brick as we are, though we’re fixing it right up. Chris will get it all worked out. He is doing great with coordinating and schmoozing.
I will have outlets in my office!
Plus, Tina gave me these hilarious Valentine nails. She wouldn’t let me see them until she was finished. So cute! How could I stay annoyed, especially since I went straight from there to wine with friends!
Happy nails.
I’m human. I can lose it occasionally. The key is to get past it and get back to being kind. I can do that!
It’s been interesting lately, but at least not bad, just interesting. Yesterday was another long, but productive, day at work. I enjoy those a lot, when I get to have ideas and help other people out. Plus, some of my favorite “drudgework” is coming up, so I’m all pleased. I am grateful every day to have work and a place where I’m appreciated. It was a long time coming.
See, I’m a person at Planview, even though that was a couple of job titles ago.
But, I had to leave a little early to go get the mammogram the doctor ordered yesterday. I wasn’t worried, since the 3D ones aren’t as awful as the other ones were, but as I was standing there, extremely awkwardly, I began to itch. Yoga breathing to the rescue, and I got through it, but wow, was I itchy.
Oh look, I had a rash.
Yep, I was covered in a rash, everywhere I had touched the machine (I kindly cropped the photo). All I can figure is that whatever disinfectant they use between patients (which is, of course, a very good thing) disagreed with me rather violently!
So, I ran off to the haircut place, where I had a nice glass of wine and was comforted by Dan, who also removed a ton of hair, with no disasters involved. I’m glad I finally found someone I like to do my hair, and that it is CLOSE to the house. Next time it will be a lot more fun, so stay tuned for late March.
Earlier in the week hair.
Less hair. Slept on it, though.
Snowpocalypse!
It was really cold when we came back from having a Chinese dinner (chicken and broccoli, healthy and good with no rice!). Declan came over and chatted with us while we ate, which was a nice break. It is always so nice to catch up.
On the way home, little frozen rocks were spitting from the sky, I guess graupel. So, I was not surprised to see what passes for a “winter wonderland” around here when I woke up.
It was crunchy.
Better mark myself safe from Austin Snowpocalypse 2020! I think Cameron got a little bit more, from photos I saw (it will be long gone by the time I get there this evening). Be safe out there, Texans! Everyone up north, enjoy a chuckle on us!
This much snow is pretty. And once a year is often enough!
The Hermits' Rest 