Saturday, September 6, 2025

Freecycle, hauling rocks and other activities of old age.

I have had this Italian made easel waiting to re-home for years.  


It belonged to the sister of the friend who died last week. I helped her deal with a lot of things after her sister's death, but she kept changing her mind about the easel. I didn't push, and now I can finally give it to another artist.

There's no shortage of people interested in receiving it.  It's a complicated thing and I had to watch a YouTube video to get it unfolded and open. I hope the taker does so, too.

This is an internet image of a similar one, opened

In other news, I moved a lot of river stones Gary had taken from the area to be the future patio. They're my collection, one per day as a consolation for having to walk HPs dog when he no longer could. It made a dull walk into more of a quest.

So now they're clustered on the other side of the path. I like this. Any more I find will join them. Full disclosure: I didn't lovingly place them, like a Cordoba artisan, more of a carefree flinging idea.


We need to clear some ground cover out of here then Gary wants to put down gravel or something before setting the pavers, which will be just set down, not mortared. 

I fancy planting a few little things between them, such as creeping thyme, so you smell it as it gets trodden on, which it doesn't mind.

I didn't see heaving rocks in my old age but it just shows you never know.

I had a chat with the food pantry lady Friday morning as I off-loaded some canned food. She says she's getting a lot of unusable items donated -- expired, opened, this amazed me, half full bags of flour. What? Using the food pantry as a dumping place. 

Anyway some of us have respect for the recipients. You never know what people will do. I should stop being surprised, especially in today's US. 

But massive courage still exists, shown by the Epstein survivors taking their lives and futures in their hands, to speak out. A lot of powerful men are being protected, and need to be named and shamed.

End of political section. 

Happy day everyone, thank you for being who you are!

Take care of yourself. I'm doing this exercise challenge for September, more or less, sometimes mix up the days.  


Current update on the ETA of the checks: Friday 12th. 

Apparently they sent them bulk rate, slower than they used to. But at least I got some information from them. Up to now they were only posting that they'd shipped. So now I'll stop fretting and just enjoy the weekend.





42 comments:

  1. I'm astonished that people would donate such items to a Food Pantry. That is so wrong.

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    1. I've seen it before. Wealthy people donating broken glasses to a charity auction. I can't fathom it.

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  2. Your rocks ate potentially how a river would have placed them - if not completely randomly then grades by size or shape (depending on the power of the flow); nature doesn't carefully arrange things. Your new patio will be welcome alternative view on the world. Somewhere for a different time of day.

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    1. The rock comment was a reference to another blog, a leg pull. Yes, having a different place to sit will be nice. It's in shade in the morning.

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  3. I am sure the easel will be a real treasure for someone! And you will love your new little patio. I had to smile at your reference to Cordoba and rocks! Mitchell and that fantastic rock art in Cordoba! I hope you have a great weekend with no worries! (Besides the persistent one we all share!).

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    1. The taker was thrilled. I hope he knows how to get it open! You caught the Cordoba joke! I like this casual arrangement.

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  4. Our charities find similar donations. People dumping old clothes worn out shoes.
    Brocken toys. It’s like if your poor you should be happy with junk.
    Not a very Christian attitude

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    1. People have even done that on free cycle. I remember a complaint lodged when someone picking up what was described as floor tiles found it was just a bag of broken pieces. Baffles me.

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  5. Bulk rate? What an odd way to send checks. The Córdoba artisans will forgive you, but I’m now inspired to get a kneeling pad and see what I can create from your stones, simply because you mentioned it.

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    1. I guess they're cheaping out on shipping. The stones are really nice to handle, smooth and rounded. We find them all over, evidence of our waterways.

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  6. Thyme will be pleasant - tiny leaves. I tried a chamomile lawn once - it failed.

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    1. Now I'm hearing that wonderful Ravel music from The Chamomile Lawn!

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  7. An easel that needs a good home to be appreciated and used..that is a good one.
    Nice to hear that the pavers won't be mortared in...so many do that without thinking of where rainwater will go

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    1. We're just putting in sand and gravel and setting the pavers on it. It will drain nicely.

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  8. Don't they charge you for the cheques anyway? And every bank makes a whacking profit every year? So they are scrimping on pennies and peeving those who are their bread and butter then weep as their customers find better deals. Nice easel.

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    1. I pay for the new checks, but there's no service charge for using them in the kind of account I have. Banks make enough to be nicer to their customers, true. But changing banks doesn't make much difference as they keep merging anyway.

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  9. Those who have been protected all these years by their position and power need to not only be named and shamed but blamed, tried, and imprisoned. Only then will justice have been done.
    We have to buy our rocks. Florida doesn't have a great many.

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    1. Very hard to jail powerful people, but I agree, all support to the people working toward it.

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  10. Back when I was working, we would have a food bank drive each year. I was amazed at how much expired stuff got dumped there. Love how you have the river rocks by the garden.

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    1. I used to run a food drive every Christmas with my embroiderers guild. I was very firm on no expired or opened items. And on studying the website -- I circulated the screenshot -- to offer what they said they needed, and avoid what they had a lot of. They thought I was very picky, but Erun at the food pantry knew she could count on good donations.

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  11. Goodness, it makes you wonder where the checks are coming from!
    Your new little patio will be perfect.
    That's terrible about people dumping stuff on charities.

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    1. I texted one person waiting payment to say they were coming pony express!

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  12. I don't know why but I can still be surprised by people. Really, opened food products being donated to a food shelf? If you are able to lift rocks I would say whatever you have been doing, keep doing it!

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    1. In case I'm ever sentenced to rock breaking! Nowadays you never know.
      Yes, things you wouldn't offer even to neighbors, but if you don't know the people, okay? Strange idea that working people needing help should be glad of leftovers?

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  13. That easel will be loved by someone again. How nice!
    Some people think that poor people should be happy with whatever they get. That they don't deserve any better. :(
    Your patio will be such a nice addition!

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    1. Some people should kick rocks. Come to think of it, I could have used their help recently. The easel went to a very happy guy who kept messaging me as the time got closer, maybe worried he'd miss out! He also sent a nice thank you, always appreciated.

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  14. That easel certainly does look complicated. Glad you found a new owner that hopefully knows the secrets.
    It's certainly annoying that the cheques are taking so long, especially when you have people awaiting payment. Having a long weekend in there probably didn't help with the speed.
    Rock flinging is good exercise and, if you envision 'smashing the face of certain people' whilst doing so, it could be cathartic too.

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    1. The easel weighs a ton, too. Solid artisanal dovetailed wood.
      You guessed what I was thinking while I was flinging.

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  15. A "Cordoba artisan" -- ha!

    Good job getting rid of that easel in a productive way. It can be hard to find a home for such a niche item.

    I must admit years ago, when I was clearing my pantry of unused canned goods, I donated something like artichoke hearts -- or maybe they were hearts of palm -- and only later did I think, "Would that really benefit a homeless person?" But at least they were sealed cans!

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    1. More of a NJ rock flinger here. About more luxury items, sometimes a person with little can enjoy a little something posh. When a friend died I recycled many beautifully designed bottles of her unused perfume, via a friend, to a group of low income women, and they really loved a touch of luxury in their hard lives. I wondered, but my intermediary told me it went well. So you never know.

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  16. I'm sure many artists were wanting that easel. Some people are just A$%holes. They think people in need are not worth much. That is a shame about the food bank. Yes, the girls coming forward are brave and I'm hoping will give them some peace as well.

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    1. There were several quick requests for the easel, and the recipient was do happy.
      I agree, there are people who blame poverty on the poor, with no idea how they too could find themselves needy through no fault of their own.
      I certainly hope the Epstein scandal is kept at the forefront.

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  17. That easel is going to make some artist very happy. It's beautiful.

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    1. I think it already did. It's nice if you're an easel artist which I left behind as a teenager for different art approaches.

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  18. I wish you a nice weekend too... and keep up with the training challenges...
    hug to you.

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  19. I found a similar easel for my teen granddaughter who paints. She uses it for competition painting on street corners! She has a tabletop easel for home. I got a good deal on it. It is complicated but she figured it out instantly.

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    1. Some people get it quickly and others are baffled by its construction. It's certainly sturdy for outdoors when there might be wind and probably uneven underfoot.

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  20. It can be a great kindness to give a home to a treasured object from a friend in need, and a great pleasure/relief to hand it off to a better recipient at the appropriate time. It sounds as if H's sister's easel has gone to a most appreciative 'next home'.

    Well done on rock flinging, no need to copy the Cordoba stone artisans. That will be a nice place for a morning sit.

    Chris from Boise

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    1. It went against the grain to have an expensive easel just sitting unused, so I give myself props for not sneaking it out!
      I hope we get the patio set up before cold weather starts.

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  21. Glad your checks are coming! Interesting that many people don't need checks. I need them for local trades people, as you said. About food pantries -- we had a strange experience with our local food pantry ~4 yrs ago. They announced that they only wanted donations of name-brand items because people picking up food didn't want store-brand items. This makes no sense to me as we mostly buy store-brand items because they cost much less and are usually pretty much exactly the same thing! So, we started donating food somewhere else. I guess I could have taken the amount of money that I usually spend on food for the pantry and use it to buy fewer donated items? But what I do is buy 2x of several items that are already on my shopping list, and then donate the 2nd of each (it's always kid-friendly stuff that's on their Needed Items list, such as granola bars). Anyway, I still find that name-brand-only demand surprising.

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    1. I wonder about that food pantry request, too. Sounds like a bee in someone's bonnet!

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