Interpreting art
I took a little detour with my latest pallet scrap. I mostly draw squiggles and such because I’m not skilled at representational art. If you handed me a salt shaker and said, draw this, I probably couldn’t.
This piece includes a few attempts to capture something real, as well as a loose interpretation of something real. On the real side might be the beer mug and the slice of pizza.
As for loose interpretation, pink cats perhaps? Also, on the right, I was going for a cracked egg with a runny yolk. I didn’t quite pull it off. Dale thought it looked more like a cheeseburger! I think of it as a distressed white orb with yellow oozing out of it. You may think of it as you like, and that is the beauty of art.
Outsourcing for retirees
It’s a pre-Christmas miracle, but it appears Dale’s life will be spared. Instead of madly throwing poisonous darts at him for sticking me with the seasonal clean-up of our backyard, I threw money at the problem and hired someone to do it for us.
Of course, that’s my job, too, and it isn’t easy. You find someone, you call them, you leave a message and they never call you back. I ended up going with one of the higher-end services, simply because they answer the phone. Hopefully, they will make up for it with speed and proficiency.
Dale and I will still “share” routine maintenance, but it feels good to know someone else will do the heavy lifting for a change.
While I’m not ready just yet, I am also going to hire a monthly housekeeping service. When I first retired, I took great pride in doing all the housework – partly because I hate spending money on something I can do myself, partly because I think there’s honor in doing your own shit work and partly because any kind of movement is good.
All that to say I actually don’t mind some of it, but again, I need help with the heavy lifting.
We’re having work done in the kitchen soon and getting new flooring downstairs. Assuming we live through that and don’t kill each other in the interim, I’ll wait until the work is finished before I start the search. Finding contractors is practically a full-time job.
What tasks do you outsource? Worth it?
Thinning hair
As I approach 66, I’ve noticed my hair thinning around the temples, and I thought it was something new to worry about. Because, you know, I’m always on the lookout. Then I saw pictures of me from several years ago, and it appears my hair started thinning early into the Trump administration.
So far, so good. I wear it longish and parted in the middle, so it’s really only me who sees the thinning. And I looked at click bait pictures of older women’s hairstyles, and even those touted as having great hair had some thinning action going on. It looks fine. It’s normal.
My hair has pretty much grown back from my post-vaccination haircut, and I like it in its as is condition. Sadly, I did not get the extended warranty. However, I’ve decided if my hair eventually goes, it goes. I was bald when I was on chemo, and I looked pretty damned good. Oh, that’s right. I was 43. Oh, to be young with cancer!
Just kidding. I dreamed last night I ran into some guys I used to work with who had thinning hair, and they had all retired and shaved their heads and looked fantastic. I said I was going to do the same thing, and Dale was cool with it. I told Dale about the dream this morning as a way of thanking him in advance for his support.
When Rain is Rain
We had unexpected rain, and I got so excited, convinced it was the Miracle in September – the miracle that would put out California’s raging forest fires. It was midnight, and I opened the front door to stand on the porch and watch it come down, silently saying a prayer for relief from the seemingly incessant burning.
By morning, the media reported it was barely enough rain to register on any meter that matters, and lightning sparked a few new fires. I was devastated, thinking life sure does suck lately.
I mentioned my disappointment about the rain to Dale, my life partner of more than four decades, who has annoyed me more during the past 18 months than all the other years combined. I’m told the feeling is mutual. These are testy times, indeed.
He said he didn’t think of it that way at all. He thought, rain! Rain is nice. I like the sound of it. The air smells pleasantly damp. It was like we got a little hosing off. And even though it didn’t put a dent in the fires, it was good for our yard. Our little piece of the pie.
Sometimes rain is just rain.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I get over being mad at my husband.
For what it’s worth – when I first looked at the photo of the pallet, I thought it was a cracked egg with a runny yolk, even before I read your text. So – mission accomplished! Kudos!
I saw the cracked egg immediately too!
Kudos to Donna!
And I agree, sometimes rain is simply rain!
Wow, two votes for the cracked egg! I’m thrilled it was recognizable.
Yes, rain doesn’t have to be a miracle to be good rain.
Yay!
Art is very personal. My attitude – as long as I like it!
Outsourcing is wonderful – I just don’t have the energy or strength I used to … so … I can’t work the way I used to. I still dust the art, clean drawers and cupboards, polish the silver, etc. The cleaner does the heavy lifting. I realize I am fortunate that I can afford to hire someone to help me maintain my home.
Thinning hair is something I have learned to live with. I don’t like it … but have finally accepted that I have no choice. I have shaved my head three times in the past three years, almost bought a couple of hair pieces and tried a variety of hair products. I have been able to grow it out during COVID (shoulder length). It’s my thinning eyebrows that are now causing me grief … I have tried a variety of “growth” serums and many different brow products to fill them in (I am using three – all at the same time).
Growing old has its challenges. Yet there are many benefits to being more mature!
I feel the same way about being fortunate to hire someone to help us maintain our home. I’ve resisted it, but no longer.
Good for you for shaving your head. I would not hesitate if it should come to that. I can’t quite see me wearing a wig, although there are some very nice ones these days. If I felt the need to cover up, I’d wear a bandana. That’s what I did during chemo. My eyebrows never fully grew back in after chemo, so I fill them in with liner. I think they tattoo eyebrows.
I, too, saw the egg right off. Love the pink cat and, of course, all the vivid colors you use.
We started outsourcing window washing once a year. This year our son is going to clean the gutters because my DH is getting a new knee in October. I don’t mind cleaning the gutters, but I don’t want to get on the roof and blow the leaves out of the roof valleys.
No thinning hair (at least on my head or eyebrows), but I get annoyed by the hairs that pop up under my chin where I can’t see them.
Death to chin hairs!!
We outsourced our window washing for the first time this year, and I will NEVER do it myself again. I need to put gutters on the list.
And I think we got all your rain. But we need it, too, like most every place in the west, it seems.
I’m team egg too.
But what catched my eye first was the beer mug with the german flag;-)
During our professional life I outsourced housework and twice I was lucky to get kind of a “deutsche Hausfrau” who did a great job. Now I share the chore with my husband, but we don’t seek for perfection any more.
During my surgeries I lost a lot of blood with the result, that I lost the most of my hair. Luckily it regrew! But if not, I always had prefered a bandana over a wig.
Oh, and what comes to my mind is Eartha Kitt’s “It’s so nice to have a man around the house” the line “he’s the neccessary evil in your plan”…
I thought of you when I was painting the flag on the beer mug! I looked at our collection of steins, and I didn’t think I could copy a detailed crest. The flag was ideal.
Your comment about not seeking perfection was … well … perfect. We can all learn from that.
On the outsourcing, when we moved to a smaller house, I said I would deal with the housekeeping and so far, it’s been OK. But we have outsourced the mowing and fertilization. Our lawn is actually larger here than it was at our previous house (surprisingly), and we’d probably need a riding mower. So, paying someone… he does it less frequently than I think hubby would (he was the lawn person in our chores split), but we deal.
On the hair side of things, for me it’s noticing the increasing gray. I thinned a lot when I hit peri-menopause, so am used to it now. Of course, I wear my hair 90% of the time in a ponytail, so the thinning and the gray are not really that noticeable.
And rain… we are in the rainy season here. Thunderstorms almost every single day. (The lawn is growing like a weed and totally needs to be cut!) I’m finding I really like watching the rain come in over the bay. Of course, have not experienced hurricane rain yet…we’ve had only edges of hurricanes so far this season. Fingers crossed! I’d be happy to stay with rain is rain.
I am coming around to the idea of paying people to do these things.
Personally, I love my gray. I never had thick hair to begin with, so I guess thinning isn’t that big a deal. My hair is up most of the time as well. Long hair pulled up is easier than short hair (IMHO).
As for thunderstorms, I do love those big crash boomers you get in the south. I’m hopeful we’ll have a wet winter here in California.
I have always loved the rain, as I grew up in the tropics with monsoon rain. It’s rarely that heavy here in the UK and it’s generally colder, but I still take the “it’s only water” view and refused to get stressed about it. I love how it smells after the rain, I love the sound of it as it falls, I’m also partial to watching a storm – while safe indoors 😉
I have thinning eyebrows from over-plucking – so can’t blame anyone else, and thick coarse hair on my head, which I inherited my hair from my Dad who died with a full head of hair in his 80s. Being blind as a bat, I wield tweezers around dangerously once I can feel the hairs on my chinny chin chin (what is that childhood rhyme?) I embraced the grey early on as that same hair doesn’t play nicely with hair colour, turning into wire wool.
Finally, thanks to Barbara for that fabulous Earther Kitt line 😀
Watching a storm when you’re safe indoors is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Perhaps with a bit of whiskey. Neat.
Those chin hairs are awful, but I have to be careful. Me, a magnifying mirror and tweezers are not a good combination.