Sunday, May 25, 2025

This weekend 's entertainment

I started the weekend last evening with a viewing of one episode of Foyle's War, never fails. The acting is so good, and Horowitz -- such a great scriptwriter. I have three more episodes to go. One per evening.

I was really pleased about one part of this. I noticed on my library account that it was ready for pickup, and drove to the library without angst about getting in the car, driving etc , just back to feeling pretty normal about errands.

Then, this morning,  cool but sunny after overnight rain, I went walking, most of my aches from overdoing having left. I made it to within a couple of hundred yards of the pond, but had to conserve energy to get home. 

I saw this on the way, under a tree where I've seen robins. 

Maybe a robin's egg, right color. It looks as if the little occupant didn't make it out. I wonder if a bluejay raided the nest. But nature's so abundant, it doesn't do to mourn every loss.

And here's a chipped old favorite Chinese teapot in her second career rooting coleus seedlings.

I've been reading that Atomic habits book, which could have been a long essay, but there are some good concepts there.

One I noticed this morning. He says when you don't seem to be progressing steadily, as in my walk, the effort isn't wasted, it's stored. I really like that. It means I'm banking walking ability to draw on soon and get me to the pond. I don't have to push further every time. 

On which subject, I want to explain when I talked about weights yesterday, I didn't mean to trigger competitive feelings. I just named where I am. Larger weights than some people, smaller than others.

Everyone's different. One person gets enough resistance from four pounds as another might get from thirty. And experience counts, if you've been lifting for years or are just starting. 

But I do say whatever weight you use, please use weights designed for the purpose. Don't listen to people saying oh, start with anything, water bottle, can of peas. They're not designed for your hand the way starter dumbbells are.  

Dumbbells are balanced, with a center place to wrap your hand around. When you're starting, good form is important, to avoid injury. Your wrists won't thank you for many reps with a bottle or can. And I was advised to work in front of a mirror, to observe form.

Small weights aren't  expensive, so I don't regret buying weights meant for a hand to grip.  And if your hands are older and weaker, they'll thank you. Mine did. Just sayin. I passed on the smaller ones to another beginner a while back.

This is the end of today's dogmatic speech, stepping down from the worn out soapbox now.

Food today is about soup, toasted cheese sandwiches, tofu katsu, and whatever else I think of.  I'll bake the tofu sticks this time.

Happy day everyone, be yourself, everyone else is taken, maybe Oscar Wilde said that, maybe he just planned to and Marge Simpson got in first. Joke alert..





34 comments:

  1. Sometimes my efforts have been stored so long that they've gone beyond their 'best before' date!

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    1. Yes, I think it's about short term storage.

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  2. I like the characterization that the old chipped teapot has a "second career."

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    1. At s certain point we mostly have our chips and dents. Often they trigger a second career. Why not teapots, too?

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  3. You are always giving me "food for thought" in your posts! Thanks for sharing your wisdom! :)

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  4. How lovely to see the robin's egg! And I love the Peanuts cartoon. Thank you so much for sharing. :)

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  5. You are wise. I have never thought about the balance inherent in manufacture weights.

    Foyle's War was a good period piece. We watched it at a time when we also came across, George Gently. It was set in the 60s, and we liked it even more. Having said that, we did like Foyle as well.

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    1. I loved George Gently, too. I'd forgotten about him, thanks for the reminder.

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  6. Good advice here. Not preachy, just sensible and born of experience.
    And what a pretty rooter! The egg is the best color of blue.

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    1. That blue is just lovely. I admired it for a while.

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  7. Ah, Foyle and Sam! What a duo.

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  8. I loved Foyles War (and George Gently - saw Martin Shaw on stage once too and loved that) but OH controls the tv selector and favours motorracing over drama so I tend to retire to some creative activity elsewhere on the house. I like the idea that effort is stored, builds up if banked and added to regularly. Health bank savings.

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    1. I like the concept of a health bank,too. You might be able to find some of these series streaming somewhere? I'm now awaiting Gently and Pie in the Sky, another favorite.

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  9. I've been driving my wife crazy trying to dig a hole in our hard clay earth deep enough to put her new vine in the ground. We've come to the realization that we need is a post-hole digger but that will have to wait until Tuesday to rent. Maybe in the meantime I can gouge out the hole of a size to fit the base of the vine. Old age is not for sissies!

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    1. You're right there! No handy neighbors with post hole diggers?

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  10. I really like that saying too. The coleus looks very good and healthy. I'm happy that you share your progress. YaY for you.

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    1. I thought you'd like that saying. You live by it. I report on progress because it might be useful to other people in similar situations. It's how this blog started, sharing home care giving and home hospice.

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  11. Very good advice here, Liz!

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    1. Thank you! It feels like preaching to me..

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  12. We had old chipped teapots that missed out on their second careers at our house. A shame. That expression does sound even better in Marge Simpson’s voice.

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    1. I usually try for a second career for things I like. The good tea kettle that wasn't designed to whistle, and I kept forgetting, now I acts as a plant waterer upstairs where I kept forgetting to bring up a water container.

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  13. You’ve made amazing progress since your surgery, Boud. You’ll get to the pond soon.

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    1. You'll see the pictures to prove it, too!

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  14. Honeysuckle Weeks! What a name.

    Broken birds' eggs always depress me, but you're right -- you can't mourn every death in nature. You'd be mourning all the time. Like mourning doves!

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    1. Yes, what a name to load on a kid! And there's a lot of surplus in nature, one way and another. I just don't like thinking about it.

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  15. "Foyle's War" - such a gem. Attention to every detail of production. SO satisfying. Like the Jeremy Brett "Sherlock Holmes" series. And both the Poirot and Miss Marple series...the time I've spent poring over everything on the bookshelves or the artwork on the walls! Let's see, any from the US? Oh, the Nero Wolfe series. I'll stop there :)

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    1. Yes, the set design is a whole bonus part to all those series.

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  16. Foyles War -- so fabulous. Anthony Horowitz was such an incredibly (and prolific) writer. I love his books and all his series.

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    1. The books where he features as a character with real events and work, are so intriguing. Great concept and not too many writers could pull it off.

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  17. Glad you're able to get up and down off that well-worn soapbox! Just think how far you've come. It was interesting to read what you said about 'storing' experiences, so much better than having the mindset of having to do more, better, longer.

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    1. I checked that storing idea with my PT, who said that's how physical therapy works! So I knew more than I thought I did.

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