Confusing times, confusing minds, but I am OK- maybe
All great changes are preceded by chaos.” Deepak Chapra
Blogger is going to change. Oh Lord, on top of all we have been dealing with, do I really need this? How much of a change will it be? Should I check it out now and face the inevitable? Will it be so different that it will bring more anxiety into my life? Am I so old that I am no longer open to change? (I know that answer). Will my whole post be in question marks?
Captivity In Covid times with My Retired Man and two indoor and three outdoor cats was difficult at first, but is now doable. We venture out to drive around and silently judge those sitting at outdoor restaurants who don’t seem to have a care in the world. We hate them. Our state is in the process of opening up, but the virus is still here and we are at risk people. Everything is delivered to our house or we order and have a no-contact pickup. Wiping packages with disinfectant wipes gives us something to do. My wardrobe is very casual and doesn’t vary between day and night. Long showers and baths are some of the best moments of the day. Social distancing occasions with family in my yard is more than a joy, they are everything. I have adapted to this change, sort of.
My outside environment is different now also and I have learned new words, Derecho, Mesoscale Convective, and graupel. (Actually, graupel was from a storm of a few weeks ago). Some of you might know what they are, but I didn’t until the weather people told us what caused the destruction in my neighborhood last week. We will be paying people a lot of money to cut up the large parts of trees that fell on our property. It is hard to look out and see all the broken trees, but we are very fortunate that the 60+ foot trees didn’t fall on our house. We will handle this Many others weren’t so lucky.
We are all dealing with so many changes and these are such difficult times. Some should have come long, long ago and others, well, no one could ever have been ready for what this virus has done to us all. I live in a bleeding nation and it’s wounds are deep. On June 1st, a very dark day for democracy in the US, my heart was broken by what I heard and saw in my beloved country. I went to bed thinking how could this be happening here. The next day I woke up and saw that the world was with us in support of what is just. Bless you all. Our eyes all need to be opened and change MUST come.
I leave you hoping that I will have the whereabouts to figure out Blogger next month. If I was only able to see my grandchildren, I know they could help me. I am on my own but I will carry on, hoping more brain cells don’t pop.
All great changes are preceded by chaos.” Deepak Chapra
Blogger is going to change. Oh Lord, on top of all we have been dealing with, do I really need this? How much of a change will it be? Should I check it out now and face the inevitable? Will it be so different that it will bring more anxiety into my life? Am I so old that I am no longer open to change? (I know that answer). Will my whole post be in question marks?
Captivity In Covid times with My Retired Man and two indoor and three outdoor cats was difficult at first, but is now doable. We venture out to drive around and silently judge those sitting at outdoor restaurants who don’t seem to have a care in the world. We hate them. Our state is in the process of opening up, but the virus is still here and we are at risk people. Everything is delivered to our house or we order and have a no-contact pickup. Wiping packages with disinfectant wipes gives us something to do. My wardrobe is very casual and doesn’t vary between day and night. Long showers and baths are some of the best moments of the day. Social distancing occasions with family in my yard is more than a joy, they are everything. I have adapted to this change, sort of.
My outside environment is different now also and I have learned new words, Derecho, Mesoscale Convective, and graupel. (Actually, graupel was from a storm of a few weeks ago). Some of you might know what they are, but I didn’t until the weather people told us what caused the destruction in my neighborhood last week. We will be paying people a lot of money to cut up the large parts of trees that fell on our property. It is hard to look out and see all the broken trees, but we are very fortunate that the 60+ foot trees didn’t fall on our house. We will handle this Many others weren’t so lucky.
We are all dealing with so many changes and these are such difficult times. Some should have come long, long ago and others, well, no one could ever have been ready for what this virus has done to us all. I live in a bleeding nation and it’s wounds are deep. On June 1st, a very dark day for democracy in the US, my heart was broken by what I heard and saw in my beloved country. I went to bed thinking how could this be happening here. The next day I woke up and saw that the world was with us in support of what is just. Bless you all. Our eyes all need to be opened and change MUST come.
I leave you hoping that I will have the whereabouts to figure out Blogger next month. If I was only able to see my grandchildren, I know they could help me. I am on my own but I will carry on, hoping more brain cells don’t pop.
Since some of us have gone ahead and started with the new blogger and shouted loudly at the flaws in it, quite a few have been fixed. So they listened. Not so good that they rolled out a buggy version expecting early adopters to be their bets testers. But it will be easier for you than a couple of weeks ago. So it's okay, you can do this. And there's time to practice before they roll up the old one behind us!
ReplyDeleteThe rest of life, well, good things and a lot of bad. But major light from SCOTUS today. That cheered me up anyway.
The SCOTUS decision was a bright light among all the darkness. Wins can still be had and celebrated.
DeleteThank you, Boud, for letting me know that some kinks in the new Blogger have been fixed. That gives me hope.
Hi, Arleen!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see you posting, dear friend!
I too am upset over the mandatory switch to the new (and improved?) Blogger interface coming at the end of the month. I resent Blogger for fixing something that isn't broken. The Legacy interface has served us well for many years and now it is being retired. I have been testing out the new Blogger for the last few weeks. It isn't very hard to use but it is not as user friendly as Legacy. I have already submitted several complaints hoping the techs are able and willing to address them and correct the problems.
I'm pretty sure Derecho, Mesoscale Convective, and Graupel is a law firm. :) Seriously, the only one of those meteorological terms I knew before reading your post is "derecho," and that's only because I have another blog friend in Eastern PA who told me her power was knocked out and limbs ripped from trees by a "derecho" that swept through her area a week or so ago, no doubt the same ferocious wind storm that snapped trees in your vicinity. I needed to look up the other phenomena just now to learn that (according to Wiki) "a mesoscale convective system is a complex of thunderstorms that becomes organized on a scale larger than the individual thunderstorms but smaller than extratropical cyclones, and normally persists for several hours or more." I also needed to use the dictionary to learn that "graupel" refers to snow pellets.
Dear Arleen, I hear you about the people disregarding the COVID guidelines and doing whatever they please, putting others at risk, especially folks like us who are over the age of 70. I also share your deep sadness over what has become of our country with regard to the issue that our country has grappled with for hundreds of years, that of White Supremacy and rampant systemic racism. It is poisoning our society. I'd like to think that America is better than this, but sometimes I worry that bigotry and hate are gaining a foothold and threatening to erase the progress made in race relations during the last half of the 20th century. We can only hope that the recent terrible events have set in motion a wave that will continue to build through November and that a sweeping change will come, one that will restore honor and dignity to the office of President of the United States of America. "It's been a long, long time comin' but I know, a change is gonna come." - Sam Cooke
Take good care of yourself, dear friend Arleen. The world needs you and I am proud to have you as a friend.
Your comment was beyond wonderful, Shady. We live in chaotic times and each day seems to bring more with it. I try to spend as much time in my gardens and keeping busy helping and watching things grow, as that soothes my soul. I can no longer work at my volunteer job and I miss it so, but I was able to grow and give away over 60 tomato, pepper, and spinach plants to our clients at the food bank and to my neighbors. There is so little I can do to help during these times and I feel useless, but I do like feeding people and this helps me as much as it does them.
DeleteI have heard many jokes about lawyers, but yours was one of the best. Thanks so much for the laugh, friend Shady.
Don't be frightened of the new Blogger format, it's best to play with it a bit; spend some time finding out where things are. At first I couldn't see how to reduce or enlarge the size of photos, so I asked a fellow blogger, and the answer came through at once. These things are sent to annoy us, but I think you'll find it OK. Ask others if you can't find something.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely ask for help when I try the new Blogger. Thank you, Cro; you have given me hope. Sometimes my fears of the unknown overwhelms me. I used to be a person who embraced new things, but so much keeps coming at us now and coping with it has not been easy.
DeleteI have had a couple of looks, and retreated to the legacy version. Which I hope they keep.
ReplyDeleteCro Magnon mentioned the photo sizing issue - which is still one that bothers me.
I don't think it is a friendly interface but perhaps as more of us try it and identify problems it will be improved.
The world wide dreadful events break my heart. I do hope that the groundswell of people asking/demanding change is heard. And that action is taken. My hopeful self longs for the day that the current pandemic is replaces with one of kindness.
I am so happy to get all this encouragement about what lies ahead in Bloggerland. I will try it this week and get a feel for it. I was glad to read that some kinks have been found and fixed. Then, dear Cro, said that help can found by just asking blogger friends.
DeleteYour last sentence was beautiful, Sue, and one we all hope for.
"Captivity In Covid times with My Retired Man" That could be a blog post in itself!
ReplyDeletewhen the new blog format comes in, I will see. Spent a few days on my own trying to figure it out. We will have the option to return to the "Legacy" if we wish. I sure hope this is true.
Yes, Captivity in Covid times is a good title, Susan, but I covered some of that in my last post.
DeleteI am encouraged that if we don’t like the new version, we can go back to the Legacy. I will bite the bullet this week, though, and try to go where I have not gone before.
Dear Arleen, Shady Del Knight's delightful "law firm" theory unfortunately leaves out Haboobs (Arabic: هَبوب, Lat.: habūb, lit.'blasting/drifting'). Haboobs occur in dry regions throughout the world, but have never been accepted into legal partnership. Point is, we must all keep our humor alive, our eyes open and our trust in the prospect of an enlightened future.
ReplyDeleteYou are a wise and wonderful man, George. I was blessed with a good sense of humor through my mom’s genes and it has gotten me though the times and troubles in life. My trust in an enlightened world, though, is not quite there yet. I guess we will see that in November.
DeleteI have heard that because of the backlash Blogger will allow us to keep the Classic Version, I hope that's not just a rumor, I'm with you on not knowing if I can handle non-user friendly changes? I have heard the new version, for those that risked trying it out early, was not good. We need our online community during Pandemic more than ever, so I don't want to risk it messing up my Blog or making it difficult to visit other Blogs or receive visitors. I think so many of us don't know what to do next with the daily disasters, death and destruction going on constantly.
ReplyDeleteI hope that isn’t a rumor also, Dawn. I would like to have something to fall back on if my brain can’t handle new and improved.
DeleteArleen - you do have a lot to contend with over there. I hope you can get the trees sorted soon. I have just tried the new blogger (just for a post) and it seemed much the same but I have never altered the size of photos when I blog. I had not heard any of the weather terms you mention. I wish you well. Thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteWe got some of the cleanup done this weekend with a young man who has been helping us with landscaping the past few years. He had a lot of work with all the damage due to the 15 - 20 minute storm and we told him that he could leave us to last since others had more destruction than us. It is looking better but there is more to be done. Winds of over 90 mph is something I have never seen before and hope to never see again
ReplyDeleteYou will be able to choose to use the old blogger, if you don't like the new one. So never fear. :-)
ReplyDelete"Hate" is a strong word... strong emotion... strong way to feel about people. We are each the ruler of our own actions. You folks (us too!) have decided to live your lives more cautiously and safely. The others have not. At any given moment they can decide to live differently, as can you folks. My husband and I are homebodies by nature, so our lives haven't changed much since this virus. But we do find we're getting a lot more done around the homestead than BC (before coronavirus). My flower gardens have never looked so beautiful as they do this year.... because, rather than going out & buying new plants, I'm nurturing what I have already.
Doing with what we have... it's a theme that has presented itself since the start of the virus and one of the "lessons" of it all that we've embraced.
Stay well, Andrea xoxo
I used the word “hate” in a tongue and cheek way hoping to to put some humor into my post. I don’t hate anyone but when we see groups of people partying with no mask and having no fear of the virus, we wish that we too could be carefree like that again.
DeleteI also have retreated to my gardens and from them, I get so much joy, and, I hope some veggies. Everything is looking good.
Hi Arleen. Your situation is VERY similar to our own. My 15 year-old grandson had his first day back at school today (just one day a week currently) but he is very careful with social distancing and likes to walk to school. Fortunately, during Lockdown we have had wonderful weather. May was the sunniest on record in the UK. Today has been hot but I can hear distant thunder...
ReplyDeleteWe get groceries delivered and our two daughters and their partners have been just terrific. My older daughter won't let us thank her. She said, "You two always put us first while we were growing up; I'm glad to be able to pay you back."
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s unexpectedly uxorious Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
That is all wonderful Barry. Our May was rainy, as usual, but perfect for planting, and even despite the Derecho, my gardens are still looking good.
DeleteLike your children, my flock has been taking very good care of us also. We get more phone calls, texts and social distancing visits than we did before the virus struck us in March. We, like you, are blessed. We must have done a lot right when we raised them.
Oh yes. And we are having endless Zoom meetings with everyone!
DeleteDon't be frightened of the new Blogger format, I switched to it and you can do it.
ReplyDeleteAlso Georgia has opened up and we are CAREFULLY going out.
Lastly I think we need to pray for our nation - all the time - I can't believe what is happening.
Thanks, Sandie, I know I can do it; I just worry about too many things now.
DeleteYes, our country is in big trouble in many ways. It breaks my heart.
I thought we had the option to stay with the current blogger system? Haven’t we, in spite of them saying so?
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, for the rest of your pain, I don’t know what to say. It is all so difficult; like you, I feel to old and unwilling to make major changes to even small parts of my life.
If only we could be allowed to swim in our old familiar current and not be made to learn and adapt all the time. As well as bear the pain of what the world throws at us.
I wasn’t sure we could stay with the present version, but now others are telling me that we can. I am a little more optimistic now. I will try the new Blogger grudgingly.
DeleteFriko, your last paragraph was perfect.
It's OK Arlene, just do it. New Blogger. Anything you can't figure out you won't need, and I can Pinky Promise you that, you who made the Pinky Hat march on DC.
ReplyDeleteThank, Joanne, for cheering me on. I appreciate that.
DeleteIf it wasn’t for Covid, I would still be marching.
What can we do but try to get through one day at a time.
ReplyDeleteI hate change. I like being at a point where I am comfortable and don't feel stupid. I'm old and I admit learning new things doesn't thrill me at my age.
Great Post!
Thanks Jan. I just want some time to breath between the things that are being thrown at us. 2020 will make the history books.
DeleteBlogger has said everyone will be switched to the new format by late in July, like it or lump it. I do hope they have re-thought that and will allow those of us who wish to stay with the old version to do so. I worry about bloggers who may not have read the whole notice and get caught by surprise at the changeover. I'm not looking forward to the change, either, but I will be trying it out soon.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your trees in that storm. Trees are like old friends and it is sad to lose them. I expect that young man is glad to get the work, although it has all come at once.
I noticed in your reply to Shady that you grew many plants to give away - what a helpful thing to do. Kudos!
Hang in there, my lovely friend.
Oh well, I thought that may be the case. I will plod forward, and hope that all will go well. I know I will get help, if needed, from my Blogger community. It is just another thing that we are all in this together.
DeleteI hope all is well with you, Jenny
Dear Maybe, some years ago we had a great storm in England when many old trees were uprooted and people thought it a national tragedy. A year later they were marvelling at what was emerging in the undergrowth, plants that had not been seen there before were responding to the new space. That is how we have to think, that there is always the possibility of good coming from bad.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen my family since Christmas, all the fun with our 2 year old grandson is via FaceTime. I love him to bits.
I am very thankful that although we lost quite a few trees, one did not fall on anyone or my house. The other night, while sitting outside, I noticed that I now have a better view of the moon. Mother Nature always gives back.
DeleteNot seeing family has been one of the most difficult parts of the quarantine. Zoom helps, but I can’t touch any of them and I so want to hug them. I know it must be so hard for you not to be around your grandson, Rosemary, but when this over I hope you can make up for some of that time.
There is a Bashu haiku
Delete'Barn burnt down
now I can see the moon.'
🌜🌗🌝
DeleteCopied from the Blogger Notification.
ReplyDeleteWe’ll be moving everyone to the new interface over the coming months. Starting in late June, many Blogger creators will see the new interface become their default, though they can revert to the old interface by clicking “Revert to legacy Blogger” in the left-hand navigation. By late July, creators will no longer be able to revert to the legacy Blogger interface.
PS, Practice now, you will be ok.
DeleteThank you. I will.
Delete2020 … not a good year!
ReplyDeleteI just take one day at a time and so look forward to being able to see family again in the flesh and not just on the internet, although I have been so grateful for that.
All the best Jan
We have had some social distancing (13 feet apart) meet ups with family members in my backyard. It takes some planning and definitely not what it was before but seeing our loved ones is so wonderful and needed at this point.
DeleteLike you, new blogger will pose challenges. Last month, I gave it a shot, wasn't happy. Will see what happens next!
ReplyDeleteI tried it today. It will take some time to get used to it.
DeleteThese are difficult times and I agree with what you say. And we still have climate change to think of. My opinion of the human race has gone down a bit, and most certainly of the people who are leading both your country and mine (our leaders seem as if they're aiming to be dollar store versions of Trump and Co. bungling and thoroughly nasty. I agree that new Blogger is something we really don't need. I can't be bothered to learn all this unnecessary stuff
ReplyDeleteYes, Jenny, it seems like our two countries are going down a dangerous road and hopefully we will not fall off the cliff. I am a hopeful person but these days and the actions being taken by my government and the absence of empathy, I fear like I have never done before.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see a post from you Arleen. I too find the new blogger to be unnecessarily complicated. I like things simple. X
ReplyDeleteSimple is all I can handle now, Jules, and I know that there are many of us who feel that way.
DeleteArleen, my life is a question mark at the moment and I'm just like you - NOT open to change, especially when it comes to technology. I think you can ease into the new Blogger a little bit at a time while you're learning where they HID, ahem, changed the location of things and somehow made it more complicated...ugh. I'm trying my best to use it too.
ReplyDeleteI think that adapting to the new way of life is difficult for many people. Our world is foreign to me these days. I'm very grateful to be living a life of solitude with Alex and the furries here in our rural home. I almost don't even want to venture out anymore.
I'm sorry about the trees that fell on your property. We don't get such violent weather here thankfully.
Take care! xx
This has been a year like no other and Blogger “upgrading” was just one more thing that I don’t want to deal with at this time. I am working with it and getting used to it. I have no choice.
DeleteWe got the trees mostly cleared except for some very high branches that are barely hanging on. The next storm should bring them down but I will have to avoid walking near them till that happens.
We have to deal with our roof now that also got damaged in that storm. Owning a home is a wonderful thing but you will find out that there is always something to do and fix. You and Alex, though, are very handy and that will make things easier.
dear Arleen
ReplyDeletewhat me glad is that you are doing fine during lockedown ,
"change" and an inevitable change is hallmark of these times and all we can do is hope that it will be for better eventually
i am sorry to hear abut storm passed by your area ,i hope and pray that affected are not hurt much y the grace of Lord!
i hope you will be meeting your grand children soon ,
politics is unpredictable indeed ,who can do what and when is part of game of politics ,it is good that people people allowed to protest if they are not satisfied with present situation which means democracy lives still
how great you are learning new words my friend , i think positive investment of time add strength to our existence and beautify our life :)