Day 3073: Big Dreams, Small Spaces

Yesterday’s blog post was about strong encouragement, and today I am strongly encouraging you to watch the charming gardening show “Big Dreams, Small Spaces.”

After Michael completes our big dream of refinishing our decks, we are going to start having big dreams about replanting our small garden spaces. “Big Dreams, Small Spaces” is already giving us some big ideas. The episode we watched last night featured a couple who live near the sea, and we saw the wonderful Monty Don — Britain’s top gardener — recommend plantings that would thrive in the winds and salt of that environment.

Do you see big dreams and/or small spaces in my images for today?

That last image shows Monty Don of “Big Dreams, Small Spaces” and here he is with some tips and tricks on gardening and planting:

Feel free to express some big dreams in the small spaces of the comments section, below.

Big thanks from me to all who help me share my dreams in this small blogging space, including YOU!

Day 3072: Strong Encouragement

Today’s post is titled “Strong Encouragement” because (1) we could all use some and (2) I captured these two images at my local supermarket last night:

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Do you see strong encouragement in my other images for today?

In college, I needed strong encouragement to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which included horrific scenes about how the sausage is made.

Do you need strong encouragement to watch and listen to the twins hearing Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” for the first time?

If so, I strongly encourage you to read this comment:

What does strong encouragement mean to you?

In case you didn’t know, I’m always grateful for the strong encouragement you give me to keep on blogging, every day.

Day 3071: Here comes trouble

Here comes trouble in the form of yet another daily blog post from me, who likes to wear these socks:

Here comes trouble as my hometown of Boston gets rid of almost all mask mandates and social distancing rules today, which is troubling many people I know.

Here comes trouble because major changes in rules and routines, widespread distrust in the media and in political leaders, real and present dangers, and uncertainties about the future are all very troubling.

Here comes trouble as I share all my latest images with you.

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Here comes trouble: I’ve posted WAAYYY more than 70 days in a row. (Three thousand more, WordPress!)

Here and here come the two songs I mentioned as I was causing trouble on Twitter:

Consider causing some trouble in the comments section below.

Here comes gratitude from me to YOU!

Day 3070: How are you coping?

As usual, I am coping by connecting with others, so I just posted this on Twitter:

I’m also coping by creating safe spaces for group work, walking near the water, balancing my needs with others’ needs, taking photos, sharing images on social media, and — of course! — blogging. Do you see coping in my other images for today?

I am also coping by sharing the weird.

This is the first thing that shows up when I search for “How are you coping?” on YouTube:

Some coping strategies are timeless and universal.

How are you coping, my friends?

As always, I am coping by expressing gratitude, so thanks to all who are coping as best they can, including YOU!

Day 3069: Best

I do my best every day to publish a blog post that helps me face the world each day. If that post helps others too, that’s the best.

As I was doing my best this morning to come up with a good enough topic, I realized I had some “best” tweets to share.

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I think it’s the best that people on Twitter are still responding to my recent post about four strangers treating me with contempt during one day (not one of my best days). Here are two of the best replies:

People can be the best.

What do you think is the best photo I took yesterday?

I don’t know if the Daily Bitch is really doing her best.

Several of my latest Twitter exchanges are about bests.

Here’s what might be the best scene from what I think is the best movie of all time.

Expressing gratitude is the best, so thanks to everyone who helps me blog every day, including YOU!

Best,

Ann

Day 3068: Contempt

In Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, Gladwell explores, among many other topics, the toxic effect of contempt on human relationships. Researcher and psychologist John Gottman, who tapes and analyzes the interactions of couples and the outcomes of their marriages, says that contempt is the single most important predictor of whether a marriage will fail. Contempt (“any statement made from a higher plane” … “trying to put that person on a lower plane”) is “closely related to disgust, and what disgust and contempt are about is completely rejecting and excluding someone from the community.”

Yesterday, I was embraced by the Twitter community after I posted this:

Here were some non-contemptuous and very helpful replies:

You may be worrying and wondering — how could I have a day where FOUR people I didn’t know showed contempt to me? Well, three of them were customer service people who talked to me from a higher plane on the phone, without helping, when I was trying to resolve a health insurance issue. The fourth was a person I didn’t know who talked down to me after I snapped one of the photos I have to share with you today.

Well apparently the Daily Bitch is familiar with contempt.

Here are a few more non-contemptuous exchanges on Twitter:

Sometime, when people treat me with contempt, I get out my negative feelings by pretending to drum along with Billy Cobham.

… and that helps me feel more like a pleasant pheasant.

Feel free to express your thoughts and feelings about this “Contempt” post in a comment, below.

Thanks to helpful communities everywhere, including this one!

Day 3067: A brief, precious moment in time

I am going to take a brief, precious moment in time to brief my precious readers that life is brief and made up of precious moments.

I find that knowledge very precious because it helps me appreciate each brief, precious moment in time and also recognize that painful moments will, in time, give way to other brief, precious moments.

What’s your favorite brief, precious moment in time from today’s blog?

Before I became a parent late in life, for a brief, precious moment in time I was able to hit all the notes in this amazing song from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide:

And I hope you enjoy brief, precious moments in time from this live Weird Al concert from 1999:

Consider leaving a brief, precious comment below and I will respond in time.

I am grateful for all my brief precious moments in time and — of course! — for you.

Day 3066: Enjoy the space

Last week, in an enjoyable space, I heard this:

Enjoy the space between where you are and where you are going.

As I enjoy the space between blogging and returning to work today after a two-week vacation, I hope you enjoy the images I share in this space between here and the end of this post.

Here’s “The Space Between” by Koethe.

This also comes up when I search YouTube for “enjoy the space between where you are and where you are going.”

I hope you enjoy the space between where you are and where you are going, which is filled with gratitude.

Day 3065: Family members

As more and more of my family members are getting vaccinated, I am now spending more time with them. Yesterday, I attended a surprise graduation party for my husband Michael’s sister Lydia, who was the Salutatorian — the student who ranked second highest in a graduating class of 1000! At the party, we family members watched Lydia’s virtual, on-line graduation ceremony, which included her talking about family members in a pre-taped interview.

Earlier in the day, I had posted a question about family members on Twitter.

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Some of my Twitter “family members” had interesting replies:

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I am not more judgmental of Michael’s family members, as I hope you can see in the photos I took yesterday at his brother John’s house (which always gives me lots of material for this blog).

Congratulations to my sister-in-law and Salutatorian Lydia, a sweet, wonderful, and accomplished family member.

Here’s “The Family Song” from Sesame Street:

What do my blogging “family members” have to say about this post?

This family member is grateful for all her family members, including YOU.

Day 3064: Survival

First of all, I want to congratulate us all for our survival skills in making it to another day. Yay!! Celebrating survival helps us survive, I believe.

Second of all, did you know that this is a survival bracelet?

Even though I wear that bracelet for survival (it’s my Medic Alert bracelet)

.. I did not know it was called a survival bracelet until yesterday. Here is my ex-brother-in-law Joe (who is also a very talented artist) …

… telling me about survival bracelets and how they are woven strands of extremely strong paracord that can be very handy in case of an emergency.

Because this daily blog couldn’t survive without helpful information from people like Joe and online websites, here’s a quote about survival bracelets from wikiversity.org:

The cord itself is made up of 7 inner strands which each contain three inner strands of their own, which gives you a fair amount of cord to work with. Cutting out the inside cord and attaching it to the outer cord using a square knot will often yield hundreds of feet worth of cord, which can be used for fishing, sewing, building shelters, among other things.

I told Joe and my ex-sister-in-law Deborah yesterday morning that I doubted my ability to survive using a survival bracelet in an emergency because I would have trouble cutting the cord, so to speak. Actually, it’s amazing I’ve survived this long considering my struggles opening all sorts of modern packaging, including those annoying and deceptive envelopes that say “tear along perforation” which I could not tear by myself even if my life depended on it.

I was wearing my survival bracelet yesterday as I captured all these images of survival. Which image says “survival” to you?

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Obviously, I survived Twitter, these amazing bagels …

… and the drive home from Connecticut to write today’s blog, and Harley the cat survived without me for two days. Also, my husband Michael survived his deck-stripping and staining experience.

Thanks to Michael, our deck should be surviving beautifully for many years.

Here are 10 Survival Stories That Actually Happened:

Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings about survival in a comment, below.

Daily gratitude is an effective survival skill, so thanks to all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!