Day 1612: Aficionado

Any aficionado of this blog knows that I often start by defining my terms.

a·fi·ci·o·na·do
əˌfiSHəˈnädō,əˌfisyəˈnädō
noun
a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime.
“aficionados of the finest wines”
synonyms: connoisseur, expert, authority, specialist, pundit, cognoscente

Yesterday, when we were eating salmon for dinner (prepared by cooking aficionado Michael) …

I announced that Oscar …

… was a fish-ionado.  My son, Aaron, who is a comedy aficionado, thought that was a good one.  Michael, who is irritated by puns, gave me the fish eye.

I don’t see myself as a photography aficionado, but that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures of other aficionados.

 

Later today, I am seeing a tooth aficionado (who reads this blog) for some dental work. Tonight, I’m meeting a building aficionado at our new home by the water to discuss some possible remodeling.

My sister Ellen, who is an aficionado of fun videos, showed me this last week:

I assume the talent aficionados appreciated that.

I am an aficionado of blog comments and expect to be seeing some great ones soon.

I hope you’re an aficionado of gratitude and know I am sincerely grateful for all the aficionados who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — for you.

Day 1611: Did you know?

Did you know …

• my blog posts are often inspired by a photo I’ve taken the day before?

• I like it when colors match unexpectedly?

• one of our cats is named Oscar and when my son picked him out at a shelter over ten years ago, Aaron said, “That’s a really nice cat but Oscar is not a good name for him!” but after Aaron sat with the cat in the back seat on the ride home, Aaron declared, “Oscar is the perfect name for this cat”?

• we looked at gas cooktops yesterday?

• Yale Appliance and Lighting, which was recommended by my friend Deb, is a great place to shop?

• my boyfriend Michael and designer Kelly Wearstler worked together years ago at a Boston restaurant — she as a waitress and he as a line cook?

• because of technological advances, you and your children can now draw directly on refrigerators?

• Michael and I created something together yesterday?

• Michael sometimes suggests that I not take certain pictures and I ignore him?

• we like visiting a local cat shelter (where we found our other cat, Harley) even though we’re not looking for another cat?

• cats like to sleep on mysterious purr padds …

… and in beds that look like fish?

• Michael cooks incredible meals, including gnocchi with  fresh tuna, snow peas, basil, cannellini beans, and two different kinds of tomatoes?

• I would make a terrible food photographer because I’m often in a rush to start eating?

• there are many things titled “Did You Know” on YouTube?

• there is no image of a man kissing a snake in that video?
• how to post comments on this blog?
• I am always grateful for all who help me create these posts and — of course! — for YOU?

Day 1610: Enter here

Enter here, dear readers.

As I enter another blog post here, I wonder why I entered this image onto my iPhone yesterday.

I shall enter here my best guesses:

• It’s good to know where you should enter.
• No matter where we are or where we’ve been, we still need to enter different places.
• Soon I shall enter a new home.
• Next year, I shall enter a new position of responsibility.
• Yesterday, after I entered the place where I saw the “Enter Here” sign, I ran into somebody who had previously held that position of responsibility.  When I asked him if he thought I had what it took to enter into that position successfully, he entered a vote of confidence.
• I have entered many blog posts here and hope to enter many more.
• Today is Memorial Day in the USA, where we honor those who entered battle, never to return.

I shall now enter here, with gratitude, my other photos from yesterday.

Day 1609: Prime Numbers

A number of posts ago, Prime WordPresser Christopher  commented that 1601 is a prime number.  When I saw this yesterday …

… I had a number of thoughts, the prime one being, “I wonder what Christopher would think of that.”

Speaking of Prime Numbers,

• 2 is the number of cats we have.
• 2  is the number of kitchens, bedrooms, and outdoor decks there are in our new home by the water.
• 3 is the number of people in my household.
• 5 is the number of chairs in the new dining set we might buy.
• 7 is the number of days in every week I’ve ever lived.
• 11 is the month where lots of bad things have happened in my life.
• 13 days from now I’ll be attending a Group Psychotherapy conference in Boston.
• 17 is my lucky number.
• 19 is how old my son is.
• 23 is  my age when I met my son’s father.
• 29 is how old I was when I decided to go back to graduate school and study film.
• 31 is the number of days until the closing for our new home.
• 37 days from now we’ll be watching July 4th fireworks there.
• 41 is the number of additional photographs I’ve decided to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m now including two prime numbers (here and here on YouTube).

I wonder what number of comments I’ll get on this post. It’s sure to be a prime one.

Prime thanks to all who helped me create this prime-number post and — of course! — to YOU.

 

Day 1608: Pick Your Battles

Whenever I pick a title for this daily blog post, I check to see if I’ve ever picked that title before.  Even though we all have to pick our battles …

pick (one’s) battle(s) To choose not to participate in minor, unimportant, or overly difficult arguments, contests, or confrontations, saving one’s strength instead for those that will be of greater importance or where one has a greater chance of success

… this is the first time I’ve picked this title.

Why did I pick “Pick Your Battles” today?

1. “Pick your battles” came up in group therapy and in individual therapy several times this week,
2. I’ve been needing to pick my battles lately,
3. Sometimes I battle to decide which battles are too minor, unimportant, or overly difficult, and
4. I took  these two  photos with battles last night:

Let’s see if there are more battles in the other photos I’m picking today.

Pick your favorite battle music (battling here, here, here, here, and here) on YouTube):

I know there are a lot of things battling for your time and attention, but could you please pick some words to share in a comment below?

Here’s the image I’m picking to express my gratitude to all who helped me create this pick-your-battles post and to you — of course! — no matter what battles you’re picking today.

Day 1607: Magical Places

Last night, in the magical place of group therapy, people shared thoughts and feelings about magical places.

As you can see, my magical places included Monument Valley, the ocean, The Land of Lost Treasures, and the human heart.

What are your magical places?

Here are more magical places I visited yesterday:

Music brings me to a magical place (here  in the magical place of YouTube).

Somewhere, there’s a place for your magical comments, below.

As always, I’m in a magical place of gratitude when I finish a post. Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — for making my blog a magical place by being here, now.

Day 1606: Self conscious

I am very conscious that many selves have shared being self conscious this week, in individual and group therapy.

Yourself, are you conscious of the meaning of “self conscious?”

self-con·scious
adjective
feeling undue awareness of oneself, one’s appearance, or one’s actions.
“I feel a bit self-conscious parking my scruffy old car”
synonyms: embarrassed, uncomfortable, uneasy, nervous

Why do so many selves feel embarrassed, uncomfortable, uneasy, and nervous about awareness of oneself?  This week, self conscious people described pain, mind reading, personalization, paranoia, projection, isolation, and a drastic restriction of activities.  This self is conscious of a wish that consciousness of self could lead to  self-confidence and self-worth, not self-judgment.

Should I feel self conscious about today’s photos?

I don’t think cats are particularly self-conscious.

Here’s Ellen being self conscious:

I am conscious that I, myself,  love comments from my readers.

Conscious gratitude to all who helped me create this self-conscious post and to you — of course! — for being yourself, here and now.

---

Minutes after I published this post, I became conscious of today’s New York Times piece on being self conscious.

Day 1605: Guess what? I’m nuts! Really nuts!

Guess what? I’m nuts about getting my morning-blogging inspiration from a nutty snapshot.

Guess what?  I’m nuts, really nuts because I

• am losing sleep over how to fit our old furniture into our new home by the sea,
• forget how lucky and blessed I am,
• worry about the very things I advise my clients not to worry about,
• mind-read, fortune-tell, catastrophize, label, over-generalize, jump to conclusions, personalize, compare, etc. and
• eat too many unsalted, in-the-shell sunflower seeds every day.

Guess what?  I’m nuts, really nuts about taking photos and putting them in my blog.

 

Is it nuts for me to repeat the wisdom in that last photo?

It’s the strangest thing,

how happiness comes out of nowhere

and inflates your soul.

Guess what?  I’m nuts, really nuts about nutty music.

I’m nuts, really nuts about

• getting comments from my readers and
• expressing thanks to all with words and nutty pictures.

 

Day 1604: You can live as if everything is a miracle

As I was living my life yesterday, I encountered this small miracle:

“You can live as if everything is a miracle,” said Albert Einstein.  You don’t have to be an Einstein to see the truth there.

I like to take pictures as if everything is a miracle.

It will be a miracle if I get to work on time today, but I still want to find some miraculous music for this post.

We can live as if everything is a miracle. Thanks for the miracle of your presence, here and now.

Day 1603: Yield

Whenever I start writing a blog post, I consider millions of ideas and then usually yield to the simplest solution:  sharing an image I captured the day before, which is often the first photo I took.

What does that “Yield” sign at Mount Auburn Cemetery mean to you?

To me, it means yield to the beauty of your surroundings.

While I was yielding to the beauty of Mount Auburn Cemetery yesterday, I captured another “yield” in two photos:

“In surrendering

life for Eternity,

I yield to and

trust implicitly

in the Power that

created me.

Oran McCormick

 

Let us now yield to contemplating other images from Mount Auburn Cemetery, accompanied by sounds similar to what I heard yesterday.

 

I now yield to any thoughts and feelings you have about this post. 

Yielding and profound thanks to all who helped me create this post and to you — of  course! — for meeting me, here.