Streaming AKA Screaming

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Photo by Matthew DeVries

Take a Leap

Just do it! Get on board. You’re going to have to do it sooner or later.  

These were a few, among many, thoughts I had while surrendering to  streaming and a cell phone only existence. There was no other choice, so I jumped in.

The leap was and continues to be traumatic!

I dislike this fast pace, speed talking, push a button. . . data collection, artificial intelligence life style.

Do you?

And Streaming aka screaming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The learning curve is high. But my cable bill was $246.

So let’s talk about AI.

Someone else writing your term paper is plagiarism. Am I wrong?

I was befuddled to learn WordPress now offers an AI component to help bloggers write a post. An individual’s uniqueness is what readers like.  Will this have a cookie cutter effect? Personally, I will not put my name on someone else’s work, especially if it enhances, and enriches my writing.

In my opinion, that would be cheating.

I would love to hear your thoughts.   

. . . just saying

Below is the email sent by WordPress. Perhaps I don’t understand the program.

WordPress.​com is built for writers.

One of the key elements of an effective website is its content. And because high-quality writing differentiates your website from others, it’s the primary reason visitors return and is instrumental in attracting new traffic.

But what if you’re not sure what to write, or you’re dealing with writer’s block? No worries! Your WordPress.​com plan gives you access to Jetpack AI Assistant, which will help you create engaging posts in a jiffy.

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With everything you need to get started at your fingertips, we think you’ll enjoy planning and writing your posts even more than ever.

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What Is Vogue

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A Michael Knors Design

Vogue is synonymous with fashion, trend, craze, fad, style and the latest. . . exclusivity.

Designer fashion has always been for the rich, however, now even the rich question. . . what they can afford.

Yesterday the March issue of Vogue magazine came in the mail. It is two hundred and seventy-five pages of beautiful photos and many articles.

My daughter used sky miles to subscribe, but since she’s not billed, doesn’t know how to stop them from coming. I don’t usually read the articles because the print is too small, but the title, What Is It With the Price of Clothes?, intrigued me.

Apparently only the richest of the richest are buying. But designers aren’t complaining, because prices are climbing. Channel’s classic quilted flap bag now sells for ten thousand dollars, double what it was five years ago. Why would Channel increase the cost and why do the rich pay the significant jump?

Well, if only the richest of the richest can afford to buy their status increases and so does designers’ profits. . .a win win

However, none of that is my concern. My worry is what to do with the magazines filled with pretty pictures.

Before Covid I would bring magazines to the hospital for their reading cart. Remember reading carts? Sometimes I’d leave them in a doctor’s waiting room. I can’t do that any more. So out of desperation I stacked them.

What do you think?

I’m still conflicted about throwing them out.These are some of the photo from the current magazine.

Ruff, tough and baggie are stylish. I don’t go for any of these looks, although the shoes are classy.

The pictures below aren’t from a photo shoot, but from a professional photographer on the street looking to prove that messy is a trend. I thought a large open over filled hand bag a pick-pickets dream. Wrong! Today, it’s “a marker of modern womanhood”. Go figure.

To make matters worse, I’m binge watching Project Runway and haven’t seen anything I’d buy it I could afford to.

I was never cool, but. . . still. . . is it really fashionable to look frumpy, and messy, your hair in disarray?

Please let me know if there is a way to cancel a subscription you aren’t paying for.

. . . just saying

Cruising

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I’m back from a cruise. I went with a group better known as Girls Night Out, or GNO. My mind struggles to state acronyms correctly, and this is no exception, so I tell people I’m going on a cruise and men aren’t invited.

 It doesn’t matter where we’re going. All I need to know is the date and boarding time. . .  so I don’t have to shop for food, cook and clean for seven days, all in a row.

We left from Port Canaveral, which is within driving distance if you live in Florida. The ports were Norwegian’s or NCL’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, Falmouth/ Jamaica, Georgetown/ Cayman Islands and Cozumel/Mexico.

The ship docked in Falmouth port rather than tender, and shopping and restaurants were a few steps away. But walk a little further and you’ll see how most locals live. Signs pave the way into the town center and tell the real story of Britain’s attempts to enslave Jamaicans while passing their efforts as freeing them from poverty.

 In Georgetown almost everything was beautiful and we went to the Cayman Turtle Center.

Green turtles are very large, friendly and native to the island. For a time they were endangered and consequently, now protected by law. I did buy something to remind myself they will swim to you and like to be stroked on their head. It’s a  new grocery bag to replace my 15 year old one. The photo is the two bags side by side. I planned to discard the old bag but if still has life in it and can’t.

In Cozumel we took a trolley city tour and I bought 12 ounces of Mexican chocolate for $30. I’ll let you know if it taste different from other chocolates. The chocolate factory located on the island employs many people.   We do no cooking or cleaning. We mostly. . . just laughed.

. . . just saying

Welcome To My World

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     Photo by Lynn Milburn

Mundane Sunday

Mundane Sunday

My Tandem insulin pump, wakes me up at 6 A.M., like an alarm clock would, to let me know I am going low. So, like it or not, I am up for the day.

 It’s Sunday morning, January 7th.

Like it or not, I drink a glass of juice, then fix a cup of coffee and a piece of toast.

Now. . . it’s Wordle time.

I started doing the word game last January. In the beginning I struggled. Now I’m fairly good. This morning I figured out the five letter word of the day in less than five minutes. My current winning streak is thirty-seven days long and I feel proud.

At my last eye doctor’s visit, hoping  to engage him in normal conversation, I asked if he played the game. I expected to chat about fun or finding time to play. But, his response was a dissertation on vowel versus consonant approaches. His take on a mundane pastime was genius, the only one he had, and why he’s a retina surgeon.

According to him, I use a vowel approach. I always use the word years, because it has three vowels. If none are in the word, I attempt to use the remaining vowels, i o or u.

Well, it is time to shower and blow dry my hair. Then I will bake a crumb cake for my grandson.

Yesterday, January 6th is a date I will always remember because. . . it is also my grandson’s birthday.

The day won’t be totally mundane. Dominic, his wife Marcela, and our daughter Janine, will join us for dinner out, then we’ll come home.

I will light a candle on the crumb cake and we will sing Happy Birthday.

P.S. It’s not snowing in Florida, but I wish it were.

. . . just saying

Metaphor Dice January 2nd 2024

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Today I rolled the Metaphor Dice. The words; wonder, memory and unspoken spoke to me. If you would like to use the words in a poem or short story in a post please do. After you post, copy its link in my comment section.

Photo by Philippe Donn on Pexels.com

Unspoken

Memory is an unspoken wonder

Disappearing quickly over time

Delete the past to make space for the present . . . or vice verse.

We cling to the passage of time.

Fond memories become fonder, an unspoken wonder of days gone bye.

       . . . Claudia just saying

 

123/Photo Selection

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Thank you Judy. I’m having fun.

Push Pin Travel Maps

Happy New Year 2024

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Photo by Anna Tarazevich

The temperature is forty-five degrees this morning in Ormond Beach and I am sitting outside with blankets and a hot cup of coffee. My nose is cold and occasionally I slip my hands into my robe pockets to keep them warm.

 I feel optimistic about the new year, and don’t know why. Certainly world affairs and political agendas paint a dismal picture at best. Perhaps it is the realization of  how little power or influence I have. Frequently I have offers, from other seniors, to help me load my groceries into the car. I accept their help gracefully.

As I look back on 2023, the highlights are trumped by health events and staying alive. Please don’t be nervous. My husband and I are well, however, it is a time consuming effort.

Moving forward into the new year, call them resolutions if you like, I’ve decided to stop worrying about; recycling, global warming, the wars in Israel and Ukraine, and how to get people to delete stored emails, or if a semicolon or comma should be used after about in this sentence.

Good health and publishing my novel, Morningside Drive, will be my focus. I planned to publish in February, because Roxanne Hart marries on Valentine’s Day. However, staying healthy got in the way. You’ll be hearing more about Joy Webb, the main character, and her return to Daytona Beach after missing thirty years, to confront her father about the past.

Thank you for supporting my writing.

I wish each of you good health and happiness in the year ahead.

. . . Claudia just saying

Merry Christmas 2023

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It is seven a.m. in Florida, and there is no snow on the ground, no chill in the air. Only a dank blanket of humidity threatening rain. There are a few presents under the tree.

I close my eyes and hear children’s feet coming down the stairs and laughter, see icicles dangling off the eves and give myself a hug.

It is a different time in my life. I’m lucky to have memories, years of sitting around a table of twenty-five and more. The smell of duck or crown roast permeating our senses.

There will be three of us today and we’ll celebrate differently. We’ll go see The Boys in the Boat and then have Chinese for dinner.

I’m looking forward to the day.

. . . just saying. . . Merry Christmas

(The post below is from a few years ago.)

Christmas Card by Meredith aka Merf

Christmas Cards

Remember when we decorated doorways and arches with Christmas Cards? It was a simpler time. The tree went up on Christmas Eve and an evergreen scent, hard to described, filled our hearts and minds. Today I shop for a fragrant candle  to duplicate the scent unsuccessfully. The reality of a fresh Frasier Fur tree is short lived, needles drop quickly and the tree is so perfectly trimmed it appears to be a fake.

Over the years I’ve saved cards that were too pretty or special to toss and tuck them inside the branches (fake or real) of our tree. They bring me a smile. Below are some of my favorite ornaments. I have many birds on my tree.

. . . just saying

You don’t need a WordPress account to comment. Write your comment in the box below or click on the caption icon to the right of the title above. Ignore requests for a name/ username and press post or save. Your comment will be posted anonymously. Please follow me though, to receive notification of new posts. Thank you, Claudia

Suing Santa

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Life becomes more challenging as we age. Do you agree?

Why do I say that?

Well, in spite of my desire to write and post more often, staying  healthy interferes. I am either at a doctor’s office, the ER or on hold in an attempt to solve technical problems for mine or my husband’s diabetic pump. So, I was happy to get dressed up and go out with friends. First we had lunch at Rose Villa

Rose Villa is a comfortable casual restaurant in a unique historic setting in Ormond Beach, Florida.

We feature Southern inspired cuisine, including our signature southern fried chicken,

classic craft cocktails and an ample selection of wines.

Built in the late 1800’s, Rose Villa was established as a bed and breakfast in 1901.

A small exclusive adjunct to Henry Flagler’s Ormond Hotel, it accommodated important guests

who preferred more privacy than the famous hotel afforded. It thrived for many years,

later became a real estate office, and eventually began to suffer from its age.

The beautiful old building came back to life when it was purchased by Bill Jones in 2007.

With an amazing vision, he transformed the original Rose Villa into the Victorian jewel it is today.

or a leisurely dining experience, you will be charmed.

From the bold cranberry and apple green colors on the outside to the magnificent custom

wallpapered walls and ceilings throughout, you are transported to the era

of the 1920’s with every minute detail.

Today, Rose Villa offers a polished casual atmosphere with Southern hospitality.

After lunch, we gathered at Juliette’s home for fun and games. Dan The Man joined us, but was on his best behavior, available only for pictures.

Playing the game, Suing Santa was a blast! So I searched on line, but only found the Santa Left Right game, on Etsy. You pass a gift bags left then right. It cost $3.49 to down load. I paid!

I didn’t want to sue Santa anyway, it would have cost sooooooooooo much more.

What a different world we live in.

 My grandkids are coming and I’ll put money in the gift bags.

I had fun with the girls.

. . .Just saying

Do You Wear An Apron?

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Happy Thanksgiving to Family, Friends and Readers

When I put on an apron to start cooking today, memories of my grandmother’s flowered aprons came to mind, and the loud unruly Thanksgiving dinners of the past. At least twenty people were crammed around a dinning room table in her one bedroom apartment. Today there will be three of us, but. . . it is still Thanksgiving, a day of gratitude.

I didn’t cook turkey. It is too much work. I cook Lemon Chicken from the Sopranos Family Cookbook, stuffing and green beans. It was delicious and we didn’t miss the turkey.

I made an apple tart, thinking of my grandmother’s pies; apple, pumpkin, and mincemeat.They rested on an ironing board in her kitchen.

After dessert, the girls chose an apron to wear while cleaning the kitchen. Grandma visited with the other relatives until the dancing started; which was followed my turkey sandwiches, made of white bread, cranberries, and mayo.

Do you still wear an apron? I do.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

. . . just saying, Claudia