Day 2569: It’s hard to say

It’s hard to say why

• greed is such a force in our world,
• we’re not coming together over climate change,
• people don’t care about the actions of their leaders,
• we do things that make ourselves feel worse,
• it’s so difficult for our minds to stay in the moment,
• we judge ourselves and others so harshly,
• it’s so difficult to speak up,
• ridiculous prejudices linger,
• we’re so afraid of people who are different from us,
• the negative sticks and the positive fades,
• awful people often outlive wonderful people,
• I have trouble making decisions,
• I stay in New England with all the snow and cold,
• I keep starting new songs and not finishing them, and
• I take pictures of so many things.

Hard To Say

by Ann Koplow

Some things in  life are hard to say,

Like “I want you to go away.”

Or “Despite what you did, I forgive you, okay.”

Or “I need you, my love, to stay.”

 

For me, I find it hard to say

A different kind of communiqué,

Two words you’ll see in a candy display,

Ferrero Rocher.

 

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher.

That gets stuck in my mouth along the way.

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher.

So easy to eat and so hard to say.

 

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher,

Those chocolate orbs wrapped in gold lamé.

Whether I’m home or going away.

So easy to eat and so hard to say.

© Ann Koplow, 2019

 

It’s hard to say why I haven’t gone viral yet.

Here’s the late Dan Fogelberg with “Hard to Say”:

I knew somebody who must have found “Dan Fogelberg” hard to say, because he always called him “Dan Fogelberry.”

What’s hard for you to say?

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts, you’ll know that “Thank you” is not hard for me to say.

 

 

 

Day 2559: I give thanks for you

Today, I give thanks for you.

I am also giving thanks for everyone and everything else, including whatever I photographed yesterday.

I give thanks for Jimi Hendrix and messages to love.

I’ll end this Thanksgiving 2019 post by repeating this message to love: I give thanks for you.

Day 2556: What’s so funny about 2019?

What’s so funny about 2019?

Esquire Magazine asked and now I’ve asked, too.

What’s so funny about these 2019 images?

What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?

What’s so funny about gratitude for all who helped me create this “What’s So Funny?” post in 2019?

What’s so funny about “Thanks a hole punch”?

 

Day 2535: Please don’t die

During both of my group therapy retreats this past weekend, people honored and remembered the amazing and beloved Deb Carmichael, past President of the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy.

After the retreats — which involved some small talk but mostly medium and big talk — I was thinking about all the wonderful friends I have lost over the last few months and I remembered how I’ve been saying to people, “Please don’t die.”

Then, last night at our local supermarket, I saw this:

Please don’t die, all you people who are reading this. Or, at least, do your best to stay alive as long as possible.

Here are the other photos I took yesterday:

Please don’t die, Harley and Oscar.

Please don’t die, tigers and other wildlife.  Please don’t die, cousin Lani (who sends me great photos of tigers through snail mail, which is  apparently still alive).

Please don’t die and use whatever remedies that might help you stay alive.

Dwell in possibility (following the undying words of Emily Dickinson) and please don’t die.

Please don’t die and please celebrate every day that you are alive.  YAAAAY!

Please don’t die, no matter who you are, what you are, or how you say hello.  Just don’t say goodbye.

Here‘s “Please Don’t Die” by Father John Misty.

Please don’t die,  Josh Tillman (a/k/a Father John Misty).

Please leave your undying comments below and please accept my gratitude, which does not die.

 

Day 2521: Double takes

I did a double take, just now, when I realized this is my first post about double takes, defined as ….

noun
a rapid or surprised second look, either literal or figurative, at a person or situation whose significance had not been completely grasped at first:
His friends did a double take when they saw how much weight he had lost.

I’m doing a double take at that definition because

1. I don’t know what a figurative double take would look like, literally or figuratively.
2. I don’t know how much weight I’ve lost recently because, as I discovered yesterday, our scale in the bathroom presents two very different weights, depending on where you move it on the floor.

In case you haven’t completely grasped the weight or significance of today’s title, here are some visual double takes:

 

Did you do any double takes at any of those photos, literally or figuratively?

Yesterday, Michael & I were trying to remember supermarkets that were around when we were young.  We remembered Stop & Shop (still around today) and A & P (no longer with us).  I asked Michael, “Do you remember the old joke that Stop & Shop and A & P are merging and the new name is ‘Stop & P’?” I did a double take when Michael said he’d never heard that.

I also did a double take when I saw how few views “Double Take” by Blondie has on YouTube:

Here’s a double take of gratitude for (1) all those who helped me create today’s blog and (2) YOU.

Day 2449: This & That

I’m on vacation this week & next!

During my vacation I’ll be

• staying at home & traveling overseas,
• taking Oscar & Harley to the vet,
• seeing a lawyer & changing my will,
• attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival & performing there,
• doing this & doing that.

I noticed this & that yesterday:

 

 

The Stop & Shop and this & that appear in this song by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers:

 

When I feel great, I fear that something bad will follow. Good things & bad things happen, but not necessarily in that order.

 

Last night, when I was feeling great about this week & next, that crown fell off.  My dentist — who is wonderful & enjoying a much earned vacation in Florida — reassured me & texted another dentist at Beacon Hill Dental Associates.  On Tuesday, I’ll take the cats to the vet & see that dentist.

Are you reading & commenting today?

Thanks & more thanks to all who helped me create today’s post & to you (including my wonderful dentist!) for reading, here & now.

Day 2416: Evolving

To help with my personal evolving, I’ve been reading articles like How to Stop Feeling Overly Responsible, How to Stop Being Petty: 7 Sure Fire Tips to Calm Your Inner Rage,  and Change your relationship with food — and stop eating your feelings, and also reading books like My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies and Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.

Yesterday, I saw this at the home of my evolving friend Jenn, her evolving husband Joe, and their three evolving pugs:

As usual, this post is evolving into a place to share all my photos from yesterday.

 

Did you see any evidence of evolving there? And BTW, any of those photos will be evolving into a larger one if you click on it.

Here’s the result of a search for “Evolving” on YouTube:

And here’s a comment from an evolving YouTube visitor:

Kameron Kargel
3 years ago
That moment you realize that it says envolving and not evolving

Evolving thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2366: Visitors may catch a glance

Yesterday, when I was catching a glance of millions of things, I noticed this sign:

It was not a summer’s day, but I’m always looking to catch a glance of snowy egrets, as you shall see at a glance.

I also caught a glance of this t-shirt but not the glance of the owner.

That t-shirt says  “Lonely Forever Club,” which caused me to catch a glance of other people on their own, at least for the moment.

While I was taking those photos alone, I caught a glance of an inadvertent change of filter, which I changed back.

Sometimes I feel like a visitor and sometimes I feel like I belong. The difference often depends on how I’m filtering what I’m glancing.

Visitors may catch a glance of ellipses, memorials, flowering trees, numbers, waves, stones, pets, weirdness, whimsey, money, health, kindness, a kite, a robot, resting places, the past, sweets, gardens, groups, a pug imitating Napoleon, connections, and different perspectives.

 

Did you catch that glance of Oscar almost making a break for it, last night? Here’s another glance of that.

I’m curious what my visitors are catching a glance of, here and now.

Today I’m going to catch a glance of a fund-raiser for group psychotherapy, spanakopita (which Michael is making for the fund-raiser), and the ending of Game of Thrones (even though I’ve just recently started catching glances of that series).

Here‘s what comes up on YouTube for “Game of Thrones at a glance.”

I then caught a glance of Emilia Clarke on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert show, describing catching a glance of death in real life and also the end of Game of Thrones.

Now I’m ready to catch all the glances of this new day.  And I look forward to catching a glance of comments, below.

Finally, here’s a glance of gratitude for all, including YOU.

 

Day 2360: Internal ____________

On this day in which I will be calling the Internal Revenue Service regarding an internally complex  tax issue, I am noticing internal dread, trepidation, and other discomfort.

As I’ve blogged about many times (including here, here, here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here, here,  here, here, and here), I have internal fears about dealing with the Internal Revenue Service, perhaps resulting from my early internalization of this message:

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

I’m having an internal response to that internalized message (which internally and eternally links taxes and DEATH, for cripe’s sake), which I will now externalize:

OTHER THINGS IN THIS WORLD ARE CERTAIN BESIDES DEATH AND TAXES, PEOPLE!

For example, it’s certain that this post will include photos.

I had many positive internal and external reactions to that incredibly delicious pasta concoction Michael made last night.

When I do a search for songs with “internal” in the lyrics, I find “Diet of Strange Places” by k.d. lang:

My internal clock tells me it’s time to prepare for my phone call to the Internal Revenue Service.

But first, allow me to externalize my internal gratitude for all those who help me express my internal thoughts in this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 2328: A Year of No Worry

Yesterday, when I was at Home Depot with Michael, we had a conversation about worry. Don’t worry, I’m going to share it.

Michael:You know,  I’m always happy when I’m at Home Depot. So I’ve decided to not worry about anything for a year. I’m not going to worry about the repair to the plumbing  I’ll be doing with these supplies and all the other home projects I’m planning.  And no matter what’s going on in the news, I’m just not going to worry. I’ll worry about everything a year from now.

Me:  That’s great! I’m going to join you in that pledge.  So no more worrying until a year from today.  That will be easy to remember, too, because it’s National Sibling Day.

When we were at the cash register buying the plumbing supplies, I told a a helpful employee about our year of no worry and invited her to join us.  She said, “Gee. I don’t know. It’s my job to worry.”  I invited her to realize that there’s a difference between worry and planning ( as well as a difference between worry and helping).  She said, “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

I’m not going to worry about that interaction or any other personal interaction for a year.  Yay!

Does anybody reading this want to join Michael and me in A Year of No Worry? I unworriedly recommend it. For example, I have no worries about the photos I have to share with you today.

 

I’m not going to worry about anything in those photos including that black hole, especially since worry can be a black hole.

Here’s a song about not worrying:

I’m not gonna let anything bother or worry me until April 10, 2020. And don’t worry, I’ll keep you updated on my and Michael’s progress in this blog.

Thanks to all who helped me create this “A Year of No Worry”  post and — of course! — YOU.