Hey Whatever Happened To...

All the flowers!

Brown-Mauve colored Iris - kinda pretty, kinda not right

Peach colored roses

Cat Art at Pratt Institute

Interesting windowed house in Clinton Hill

Shirley Chisholm graffiti- 1st black woman elected to Congress

Interesting little tidbit that may feed your paranoias.  I took this picture and an hour later typed in the first three letters of her last name, Chi... and she came up as my first search choice.  I just find that super strange.  I've googled Chi...michurri probably 20 times in the last year but Shirley, never once.   I guess I am to assume Google Photos identified her in my picture library, so when I went to search it recognized that I may be looking for her name.  I still say that's a little scary. A similar recent example was my sister and I were speaking on text about an obscure musician, that night my YouTube feed featured him as a recommendation.  That's our privacy.  Then again, it was helpful.  I can't decide how to feel about it.  Each little freedom we release though is a loss, no matter how convenient. 

homemade Shake n Bake Chicken

Maybe it's being in a Pandemic but cooking retro meals right now feels appropriate.  Stepping away from our modern, hectic lives and going back to basics, what used to be normal, might be great learning experiment for the country.  Forced to stay in our homes, prepare all own food, intentionally support local businesses during a time when money is tight, check on neighbors, talk to more family, more often, really consider people, are all things that used to be part of our lives all the time growing up, if you are of a particular age.  I want to stay in this idea of purpose. I hope it's possible once the old wheel gets to spinning fast again.

Mexican rice stuffed roasted bell pepper with a chunk of roasted cauliflower.

Well You Can Tell By the Way I Use My Walk

Pink Peonies, always in my mom's garden growing up. We used to remake them inside with colored tissue paper.

While walking this week I realized our recent battle with the COVID-19 may have added a slight deviation to my normal walk.  And I remember pondering this thought after my bike flip accident as well.  Hopefully yoga, walking and biking will set things back in place but I'm willing to accept that your walk ends up telling your life story in many ways.  Just as some people are leg men or into chests, I always loved a person's walk, it tells me a lot about them.  Now, a little later in life it usually says my back hurts like hell, which is a real problem for lots of folks for many reasons.  COVID was able to create feelings of broken bones or severe injury that would just suddenly appear but seem so real.  As far as we know, it wasn't. So, now that I'm all better, I can't let it take control of my strut.  I think it's important to keep an optimistic stride although I've always enjoyed a good humble stroll as well.   A raised head, a good pace, tells people you're open, alert and awake and that's promising, although here and there it could also mean I'm a big asshole that's going to try to control everything, so you have to be careful.   The body and mind clearly affect each other, always.  I don't want to get that old lady walk anytime soon so I try to fake it until I can make it true in my mind.  

I won't let myself believe this ice cream cone negates the hour walk that I did or that adding frozen corn and peas to yesterday's stew doesn't make it a new dish.