A look at the living room on this about-to-be-stormy day.
And it’s going to hit 85 degrees! No wonder we’re getting storms.
All tax info is now at our accountants. I had a good coaching session with Ben yesterday and we’ll do it again tomorrow.
I’m planning on taking it easy today, with the usual vacuuming, etc. But the thing I really want to do today is finish my Roseville painting. I’m determined. I’ve had a lot of other things going on, all of which kept me from painting. I don’t know if I’ll do more. I do have two other vases that could be the subjects of a painting. If I paint them, I’d have twelve paintings in this collection. We’ll see.
Don is too wonderful for words. This morning, during our second cup of coffee, the subject of Blythe dolls came up. He didn’t understand the concept of customizing the dolls, so I explained it to him. Then he asked if he could see photos of some basic dolls and customized versions, so I went to Etsy and he looked through several listings. He said, “I can see why they’re collectible – they’re art dolls. I think they’re really neat.”
What did I do to deserve him?
Thank goodness for the results of the ridiculous California recall election. What a waste of millions of dollars because a small minority of Californians didn’t like the Covid restrictions Newsom put into place. I’ve had it with these people. Truly. Howard Stern said something this week that really resonated with me. “When are we going to stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it’s mandatory to get vaccinated? F*** ’em. F*** their freedom. I want my freedom to live. I want to get out of the house already. I want to go next door to play chess. I want to go take some pictures. This is bull****.
That’s exactly how I feel. These people are holding us hostage. They’re also contributing to the unnecessary deaths of others. They’re clogging up hospitals, which – though they renounce science – they seem to be perfectly willing to run to when they’re sick with the very thing they didn’t want to get vaccinated for. One man with heart problems died because so many hospitals were full up with Covid patients and couldn’t admit him. That’s heartbreaking.
Enough, already. Either get vaccinated or stay in your house for the rest of your life. Those are your options. Of course, I am not including those who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons. They have no choice. However, if everyone got vaccinated, we could end this virus and those who cannot get vaccinated would be free to live their lives again.
I don’t know how many years I have left, but I sure as hell want to live them. I want to travel. I want to work. I want options. I don’t want to have to worry about yet another variant.
I’ll stop there. End of rant.
Sigh.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
Claudia……my sentiments exactly. Why are we catering to the uninformed, foolish and selfish. Didn’t we set the bar so low with Trump for four years? Enough pandering to them. I am downright hostile. I am also going to be ready willing and able to get any booster shot when it is available. Right now I am unable to go outside because of the particulates in air. My eyes burn, my sinuses are driving me crazy and I have a constant headache. Okay….enough of the complaining. I love your cozy living room. I bet everything in it was carefully and lovingly chosen. It certainly reflects the personality of the inhabitants. I have little energy lately but today I am going to purge…..look out closets here I come. Have a Great Day.
Same here – my eyes burn and my sinuses are out of control!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Maria. And take care of yourself!
Stay safe.
Love the rant Claudia! Love your wonderful husband! Love you!
Love you back, Tana!
Stay safe.
Yes we want our life back.
To be able to visit our family in Ca, it has been so so long.
Even though there are other places to visit now that we are retired our only desire is to see our family.
To be able to go to church without watching online.
Yes why does it have to be like this?
I agree. Time is precious and we are losing so much of it.
Hang in there, Linda.
Stay safe.
Your rant has been mine for the last 6 weeks.
There is an “unmask our children ” brigade that is going on in CT now. How stupid is that!
Enough.
Incredibly stupid. Kids don’t have a problem with masks. It’s their idiot parents that do.
Stay safe, Betsy.
I am happy about the results from California also. That vote showed the strong support for common sense in our country instead of the crazy conspiracy kooks!
Stay safe, Claudia!
Thank goodness!
Stay safe, Ellen.
Hi,
I agree with you about the vaccines..Just get it! I must confess that I do not feel bad or feel any sympathy when any anti vaccine people get covid. So be it.
I think it shows Don’s character that he is willing to explore and do some research into something he does not understand. I am sure this willingness extends to all other areas, too.
Take Care,
Kaye
Park City, UT
I don’t either, though I don’t wish Covid on anyone.
Don loves learning new things. I’m grateful for that.
Stay safe, Kaye.
I agree with your rant 100%!! I could not have said it better.
Thanks, Cathy.
Stay safe.
Great rant! Wonderful election results. My rant is now, with every election we have, unless the crazies win, it is “fixed” & “rigged”. Not only once it is over, but as soon as the polls predict a loss for them, they are reading their crazy tea leaves & predicting how it was stolen. We know the only way they feel they can win is by limiting who can vote. THAT is the scariest thing ahead.
The only way Republicans think they can win is to cheat, gerrymander, lie, and say an election is stolen. Doesn’t say much for their platform, does it?
Stay safe, Chris.
The part that also really corks me is the state Republicans spending $650,000+ of our tax dollars on the recounting of the votes bull****! Guess my hours in the garden trimming, pulling and raking didn’t get my rage out yet! ;)
Oh, don’t EVEN get me started on Robin Vos and his gang of thugs…. it seems in the foreseeable future, every single election will be recounted and recounted and recounted. I know my husband, and the rest of the people who work the elections here in our little village, take pride in their job and their accuracy in both overseeing the election day and counting afterwards. I believe that is the rule, and not the exception throughout the country.
Well, l totally ‘get’ the rant; I rant similarly. Linking my arm with yours on it! The thing that is also so tragic is how these unvax’d people have created such a dangerous scenario for our dear little children of the world who cannot yet BE vaccinated. I can’t imagine what it is to see your precious little one in the hospital hooked up to tubes and struggling to breathe. How can these unvaccinated-by-choice people be so callous and selfish? Didn’t I just read about a husband/wife with several children, wherein they as the adults in the equation decided not to vaccinate themselves, they both have now died in the hospital, leaving the kids parentless? Was it worth it? Your children (God help them; I hope they don’t have Covid too) are now ORPHANS.
I have a cousin in another state (low-vax state with I believe zero mandates now) who lives as part of a multi-generational household: It’s him and his wife in their early 70s, their adult daughter in her 40s, and the daughter’s little girl who’s a kindergartener. No one is vaccinated. They are ADAMANT anti-vaxers and only wear a mask when they can’t go in any other place otherwise. The 70-year-olds have many underlying and serious health issues like cancer and heart disease. I probably have mentioned them before; they are both college grads and she has a master’s. The daughter also has her master’s. It’s not like they aren’t capable of processing health warnings and information. I’m just waiting for the call, preparing myself for it, when I learn bad news about this; my cousin’s nephew who died from Covid a couple of months ago (also an anti-vaxer in yet another low-vax state in the U.S.) hasn’t even been buried yet.
As a Californian, I can say that I haven’t known anybody who was ‘for’ this (indeed expensive!) recall; thank goodness it wasn’t successful. I personally have no problems with Gov Newsom; yeah, he made a pandemic mistake at eating out with his family when the rest of us weren’t; frankly, I never cared; figured he was careful; you have to look at his overall job so far, and he’s done fine at a very trying time for our state. I stayed up last night to hear his remarks/statement when most of the votes were in and I’m glad he was dignified about it, didn’t take questions; just back to the business of running a large, troubled state in our equally-troubled U.S.
OMG, my husband had known about the Howard Stern thing and, yes, he’d told me what Howard had said. I remember being shocked by Howard Stern in the late 80s, maybe earliest 90s when my brother first mentioned him as the shock jock, but sometimes he nails it for sure. I’d seen him a couple of times on Letterman back in the day, and he was pretty human even then. Michael Moore was on Brian Williams’ show last week and was shaking his head over Americans and Covid, “What has happened to us?”
Claudia, this is a nice photo today; taken from your kitchen and looking across, right? I’m always amazed that you can successfully showcase/enjoy your collections, plants and other stuff without it ever seeming cluttered. In my book, that takes SKILL. I’d like to plop myself down and share a cup of Peet’s in that pleasant surrounding!
Yes, the most upsetting thing about this is the children, some of whom have died from Covid. And yes, those five children, one of them a newborn, lost both their anti-vaxxer parents to Covid. Heartbreaking. And it didn’t have to happen.
Yes, from inside the kitchen facing into the living room.
Thanks, Vicki.
Stay safe.
UGH! I couldn’t agree more! This is ridiculous. They are raging idiots! I am with Howard Stern on this…..
Me too. It’s insanity.
Thanks, Mamey.
Stay safe.
Good rant! I am totally with you.
We have the same idiots here in the Netherlands.
Hold on, keep sane and safe.
I’m sorry to hear you have the same thing going on in the Netherlands, Dorien.
Stay safe!
I am so 100% with you on the rant. I am so tired of others taking away my freedom just to live a halfway decent life.
Exactly. And I use the F word frequently!
Stay safe, Linda.
Yes, F word in frequent use here as well!
Thank goodness it’s not only me!
Stay safe, Jen.
Your rant could not have been any better! Everything you said is right on. And yes to the California recall!! My sister lives in San Diego and we love going there to get out of the heat. Their house overlooks Lake Miramar in the Scripps Ranch subdivision. Your right though, they don’t get rain either. Every time you post a picture of your cottage, I love it more and more!! I bet you will miss it when you are in New York. Will we still hear from you every day? I could never live in NYC….too much stimulation!! Stay safe!
I will miss it terribly and will be more than ready to get back home at the end of the shoot. You’ll hear from me, maybe not every day. I just have no idea yet. It depends on how long I’m gone every day. Film shoots are 12 to 13 hours long – for everyone. So I will be working long, long, days.
Stay safe, Deborah.
Another thumbs up for your rant. I very much agreed with Biden when he came right out and said that our patience is wearing thin. Pretty much what Stern said but without the language. I want my life back!
What is it about fruit crate design that’s so evocative? I love yours! And your sweet husband is just the best, and exactly what you deserve!
Off to enjoy this lovely day now. Voting rights finally on the table, Newsom is still governor, I feel like there is hope as well as sunshine.
The illustrations on fruit crates were works of art, in my humble opinion!
Thanks, Roxie.
Stay safe.
I’ve spent a lot of time researching and looking at crate art. I worked for Southern California and San Joaquin Valley (sort of middle Calif) ranchers who started up operations in the late 1800s, really peaking in the first thirty years of the 20th century, so we had a wealth of labels from all those vintage years (framed in the boardroom).
When I was a young gal in my 20s, my L.A. County boyfriend of the time was REALLY into crate art. Between us, we created a collection of quite a few original/vintage labels (although, when we broke up, I gave most of mine to him [rats, why did I do that?]; I did keep two which I have framed [original labels {you have to be watchful; there are a lot of repros out there} range in price but the most I paid for one in the 1970s was $50; I can’t imagine today what the really-rare labels must cost!]).
These labels were designed to attract people to California and its agricultural bounty, so the depictions were so often of our beautiful landscapes of orchards and ocean under sunny skies and framed by palm trees, except that this also went in phases where sometimes, depending on which years, the themes were railroads or ships and cars, or pretty girls, exotic animals, flowers, birds, etc.
Yes, yes, yes; ORIGINAL art, artists mostly unknown (many hailed from the San Francisco Bay area), and those landscapes and/or depictions of fruit, like oranges (and orange juice) or grapefruit and (lemonade) lemons, tangerines (avocados came much, much later) were often gorgeous, lush, SATURATED color to catch the eye.
I have copied over hundreds I’ve found online in various archives here in Calif (of course crate labels weren’t exclusive to California, not by any means; also not exclusive to fruit, but also beans, honey, nuts, vegetables; all kinds of stuff [my former employer’s mid-Calif properties’ labels depicted stone fruit like peaches and plums; apricots; table grapes]), and I often look at them from time to time on my computer. They evoke a time and place which makes part of me wish I’d lived in California in those decades; of course, much of my family/ancestors did live in the southern part of the state (from 1903 or so), so it’s also a looksee into what was popular when they were alive, but also what our various counties must have been like, especially in the Los Angeles area, before so much urbanization from the mid-50s and onward.
So, for me, the Southern Calif crate labels are about my own heritage but it is indeed the ART of them which just makes my heart sing, and the COLORS in the labels are a feast for the eyes.
Yowie, I didn’t mean to pick up the ball on this topic and run with it so hard! I LOVE THE ART OF THESE LABELS. Is something dear to my heart!
Claudia, your butterfly/squash label is, to me, really unique. I’ve never seen one for squash that I can recall. I don’t know exactly what all the row crops were for Southern California in the early 1900s (in terms of label art); I think lettuce was big in the Imperial Valley (not far from San Diego/east of [essentially irrigated desert!]) around 1915 (maybe beets[?], and I think melons like cantaloupe [I had ancestors who went there for work in those years]). In my own SoCalif county today, we’re more strawberries in the flat lands (coastal plain/valley floor); celery; tomatoes; artichokes; peppers; cabbage (cauliflower/broccoli); kale; cucumbers. No squash, not even zucchini (they’re for home gardens). Of course at this time of year, we do begin to see some pumpkins in the fields!
It’s for a company that was based in NY where we do plant squash and love it!
Stay safe, Vicki.
They’re wonderful. I know there are collectors out there who deal in only fruit crate labels!
xo
California’s agricultural heritage is dear to my heart on so many levels, Vicki. It’s art. It’s family history. It’s personal experience. It’s delicious flavor in every sun-warmed bite. I feel blessed to have grown up in the loveliest, best place in the world. It’s wonderful to know I’m in good company in my love of labels, Vicki! And fun to learn a bit more about them too.
Claudia — 100% agreement re: rant !!!!!! Why is our country being held hostage by the people who are THE problem????? in Ky, hospitals overwhelmed w/unvaccinated sick people, not enough personnel, not enough space, Ky Nat Guard units working thru out Ky to assist where ever they can — my Mr says unvaccinated should be at the END of the line for treatment–here heart attacks, auto accidents, etc can NOT even get in em rooms and then wait 9-24 hours to be seen by dr/nurse. we all (my fam/me) are so disgusted — just hoping none of us ‘has the big one’ hope you/Don stay safe/healthy
It’s so unfair to everyone who has been vaccinated and to those who have illnesses other than Covid. In some cases, the fallout from full hospitals is just plain tragic.
Stay safe, Linda.
Your rant was and always is spot on!! I have no sympathy (don’t know if that makes me a bad human or not), for anyone who is hospitalized with Covid and unvaccinated. They’ve brought this virus on themselves as far as I’m concerned. The problem is that they are taking a spot way from a vaccinated sick person who really needs a bed. How many souls will be lost as a result? I personally have no time for my BIL and his family, spreading lies the way they do about the vaccine and Covid. It’s unbelievable!
But the way…your cottage looks lovely today as always! ;)
Yes. I agree. I’m over it. No sympathy left.
Stay safe, Donna!
Your rant reflects my feelings exactly. With freedom comes responsibility — and there is nothing responsible about not getting the vaccine. I feel very hard these days when I am not moved by the death of someone who refused the vaccine. It bothers me, that feeling. But I’m just done. So angry.
It bothers me, too, but the fact is, I’m done. There’s no sympathy left.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
If a child can get several vaccines in order to go to school, I would think a grownup would have the courage to get a couple of shots for the sake of his children, grandchildren and/or grandparents. they strike me as supreme cowards.
Exactly. Well said, Jan.
Stay safe!
Well said
Thanks, Brenda.
Stay safe!
Amen, Claudia !
Thanks, Sandy.
Stay safe!
Excellent post- your rant made my morning! I have very dear friends who refuse to get vaccinated. I was worrying so much about them-but have now grown weary of their ridiculous excuses for putting their lives & those around them in jeopardy.
After a while, we just have to pull away and not get involved with their ignorant nonsense. I know. But it’s hard.
Stay safe, Liz!