tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90864234877368735892024-03-16T20:01:48.670-07:00Janette KokIt is for freedom that Christ has set us free.Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.comBlogger1651125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-70494082339908219192024-03-16T20:00:00.000-07:002024-03-16T20:00:51.463-07:00Let the pottering commence<p>We have had some beautiful weather the last few days, sunny and mild. I have sometimes left my door standing open in the afternoons, letting fresh air in and allowing my dogs to run in and out at will. It really feels like spring.</p><p>The forecast predicts this weather will last two more days, then start to cloud up, and then will start cool, rainy days for the foreseeable future. So <i>carpe diem</i>. Make hay while the sun shines. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Time’s wingèd chariot and all that sort of thing.</p><p>I have been clearing leaves out of plant containers and adding soil, to get them ready to receive new plants. Last year, again, I bought plants that I never transferred to the containers. Part of my work today was dumping dirt out of the little plastic starter pots. </p><p>I bought four English lavender last year and never transplanted them, yet they seem to have survived the winter albeit in a somewhat bedraggled state. I ruthlessly pruned them this afternoon, and we’ll see if they come back. </p><p>This year, I really believe, will be the year I make my comeback in growing flowers on my deck. I used to make my deck a bower of delight with fragrant and beautiful plants, but a year or two before my parents died, or maybe longer, I just didn’t have the energy. Since then, every year, I’ve bought plants and every year not planted them. I think it will be different this year because I am retired. I no longer have to get it done on the weekend or else. I can go outside and do a little work, then come in, and I can do that any day or every day.</p><p>When I was approaching retirement, when people asked me what I was going to do with my time, I replied, “Potter. Potter around my house and garden.” This week, I’ve been pottering on my deck, and it’s been wonderful.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-v74V7rJ/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-v74V7rJ/0/DVR2FLqbwBKkx9vL9fXzn7jLCkTKcxZLhzFd7zGkm/M/Honeysuckle-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">Container with honeysuckle. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Cleaned up and added a layer of new soil.</div><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-NS8q2Vn/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-NS8q2Vn/0/CQMnRN4BWbxq27qcsswWXcvg8rtgSwffdLpxFp8CR/M/Stone-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cleaned up this stone (actually resin) <br />that had been covered with dirt and mold.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-qnqS9xg/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-qnqS9xg/0/wrwTGTp9B4QDtnSGvV4vCd4p4kcJ56x7sd2tPvcC/M/Herbs-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My pot of herbs. <br />The rosemary thrives through the winter, <br />and the chives come back every year. <br />Sage & thyme were looking sorry <br />in the pots they were in when I bought them.<br />I planted them to see if they'll revive.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-19943337735550740392024-01-27T20:05:00.000-08:002024-01-27T20:05:15.628-08:00Charmed, I'm sure<p> I was scrolling down YouTube and saw a video title that I thought was “charming mistakes you may be making.” Intrigued, I looked closer and saw it really was “cleaning mistakes you may be making.” Shucks.</p><p>But it reminded me of an interior conversation I had yesterday. I had made a nice cup of coffee, and put it on my desk and then went to quickly do something—I forget what. I got distracted and much later I remembered my coffee and realized it had probably gone cold.</p><p>“Oh, Jan,” I said to myself, “you are so”—I paused—“cute. What delightfully amusing things you do.” That was not where I was originally headed, but I wanted to be kind to myself.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-mPCpnQz/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-mPCpnQz/0/68156114/M/2023.01.27%20Me-M.jpg" /></a></div>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-14323928220058416952024-01-19T14:29:00.000-08:002024-01-19T14:29:06.515-08:00Three is enough<p> Day three of inclement weather. No more snow since yesterday—instead, freezing rain, which is worse. It just covers every surface with a coat of ice. Now it’s just inching above 32° Fahrenheit. (I’m so proud I spelled <i>Fahrenheit</i> correctly on my first attempt.) It’s sprinkling rain. Where there is snow, it’s just getting rained on. Where the snow was light (under a slatted shelter) it has turned to slush. Rain and this temperature make everything slippery.</p><p>I can own to a slight feeling of ennui. All my needs are provided for. I’m not short of food or necessary supplies (read: toilet paper). The power is on, the heater works, and I am warm (enough) and dry. But the confinement becomes just a little tedious.</p><p>On Facebook, my friends with school-age children are expressing their anticipation of Monday and—they hope!—schools opening back up. Lots of businesses have been posting closures or shortened hours both for safety of their patrons and because employees can’t come in. It’s starting to look a lot like covid. But, thankfully, it will not last so long. </p><p>What a drag the pandemic was. I attribute my mental breakdown a couple years age to covid isolation. I’m still recovering. I never actually got covid, itself, ironically, but it still made me ill.</p><p>But let’s talk about more pleasant things. Um… January is more than half over—hurrah! The winter holidays are like wonderful food, and the post-holiday season is like acid reflux. Oops, forgot to be pleasant.</p><p>Handiwork, such as knitting or needlepoint, has been in abeyance ever since I brought home Beatrice three years ago. Each year for three years I adopted a puppy. Puppies are ebullient. Energetic. Lively. Hyper. Every time I sit on my couch, I am swarmed by ebullient, energetic, lively little furballs, all anxious to lick my face and also to prevent the other two from sharing in that pleasure. They wiggle and wag and chew each other’s faces and paw at me and climb up my person as though a wonderful prize waited at the top. My face, lickable. </p><p>By now, Beatrice is three and no longer inclined to chew my fingers and anything they’re holding (like knitting needles). Benedict is two, and calmer than he used to be. Rosamond is one and still highly excitable, and her antics influence Benedict. So it’s just not relaxing or tranquil to sit on the couch, and working on a craft is impossible. I’m hoping Rosamond starts to calm down as she passes her second birthday this summer.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-KdrbjJH/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-KdrbjJH/0/f01508a8/M/2023.02.25%20dogs-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We have reached maximum puppy.</td></tr></tbody></table>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-45296506628165942112024-01-17T12:54:00.000-08:002024-01-17T12:54:56.601-08:00Snow and forgetfulness<p> This time the predicted storm did show up. I woke up in the morning to couple inches of snow and now (early afternoon) a few more inches. I am snug inside.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-zRWqHTK/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-zRWqHTK/0/afefc337/M/2024.01.17%20Snow-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosamond bounds into the snow.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>My dogs have varying reactions to the snow. Beatrice, my chihuahua mix, has no interest at all in going out in the snow. Meanwhile, Rosamond finds it exciting and goes leaping through the drifts. Benedict, the chiweenie, follows Rosamond's lead but is not quite as eager to jump around in what, to small dogs, is deep snow—especially for Benedict, with his short, wiener-dog legs.</p><p>I don't like to leave them outside too long in the cold, so they're all back inside. I can hear my nephew and his little girl playing in the snow. My dogs hear them too. so Benedict keeps barking. He's the barkiest of the three. I keep sternly telling him, "No! Be quiet!" which is often effective for up to a minute and a half.</p><p>I was sitting at my desk this morning when I suddenly recalled, with a sense of panic, that I have jury duty this week. I've been supposed to call the jury message line the past three evenings to find out if I need to come in the following day. I completely spaced it. So I called the number and the message says no jurors are needed this week. Phew. I trust that is true retrospectively to Monday. If I missed showing up when I was supposed to, no doubt I will hear about it. I believe that failing to appear in response to a summons is contempt of court. In my case, it was not contempt but oblivion. I'll have to throw myself on the mercy of the court, if the need arises.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-86114267253268282982024-01-16T11:01:00.000-08:002024-01-16T11:01:00.369-08:00Time to stay home<p> Well, the blizzard tentatively predicted last week did not materialize. We had the wind and the cold (very cold), but not the snow. Now there's another winter storm watch out for starting tonight. Not blowing snow, as far as I understand, but frozen rain and snow. That will make for horrendous driving. It will be good weather for staying inside.</p><p>When I saw the prediction I thought I'd better run to the store again to stock up. But when I started to think of a list, I realized I am still pretty stocked up from last week. There are a few things it would be nice to have but not enough to make it worthwhile to drive to the store. To paraphrase some designer or other, "Take no drive that you do not know to be useful or believe to be enjoyable." I'm a great one for staying home. It's what I've longed for every morning since fifth grade.</p><p>As long as I have enough coffee, I'm good. I will hope for no power outage, although even that I can live through. I fortunately live in a neighborhood where we don't get many outages, even when lots of other areas do, and, when we do lose power, it doesn't usually last long.</p><p>There was an era in my lifetime when, after a power outage, I had to go reset the time on my microwave, alarm clock by my bed, television or video player, and sometimes even my coffee maker. Now there are just two clocks in my home. One is my phone, which is not affected by a power outage. The other is my Zaanse clock, which likewise is not affected. It runs on weights, gears, and a pendulum. It does lose about 10 minutes a week, so that I have to push the minute hand ahead every Saturday when I also pull the chains to bring the weights back up. That clock is not for accurate time-keeping but for chiming and contributing to the homely ambiance.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-SkFXJB8/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-SkFXJB8/1/c853bf24/M/Zaanse%20Clock-M.jpg" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;">My folks bought this clock while they were stationed in the Netherlands (with the U.S. Air Force). It is not any super-valuable antique but it has sentimental value for me.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-30853537398965193562024-01-09T15:09:00.000-08:002024-01-09T15:09:53.626-08:00Being the tortoise <p>Tuesday. This is the second day of what I consider my true retirement. Although my last full day of work was at the end of December, the first week of January consisted of holiday and vacation days, so I still was employed. I did go into the office at the end of Friday for my own retirement party. That was so nice. Present and past co-workers said lovely things to me and gave me lovely gifts. </p><p>Then was a weekend, which, of course, I would have had off even if I were working. Then yesterday was Monday, my first non-working work day. </p><p>I have the goal for the start of my retirement to get my house clean, organized, and de-cluttered. I have made some progress yesterday and today. Small progress, but I tell myself that any progress is progress. I will not internalize any discouraging words trying to convince me that small progress isn’t good enough. I'm like the tortoise in "The Tortoise and the Hare." Slow and steady wins the race.</p><p>My dad used to say, "We're off like a herd of turtles," so there you go.</p><p>One thing I did over the past couple days is lay in supplies, in case we get a blizzard (Northeaster) that weather people are saying is possible. I also have some paperwork that I need to complete related to a source of income.</p><p>Another thing to anticipate is jury duty. I’ve received a summons. Now I have all the time in the world to spend on a jury if I am selected. I’ll have to call in every evening to see if I must report to the courthouse. As a legal assistant, I visited the courthouse fairly often in the course of my job. The last time I was there, I thought that it would be the last time I was there. The joke’s on me. Maybe. I may just call in every night and never have to show up.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-xRz6ddM/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-xRz6ddM/0/9f57cdf9/M/Morning%20Clouds-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morning view from my deck chair while the dogs frolic. I'm in no rush.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-73191554228868859102023-12-26T20:45:00.000-08:002023-12-26T20:45:33.910-08:00Toting the weary load<p>I am close to my retirement, but not there yet. It has felt like a long final stretch since I came back from my sabbatical. People say, it's so soon, can you believe it, time goes by so fast, and the like. But to me time is going slowly. I don't mean to complain; it's just how it feels to me. Maybe because once I made the decision, my mind was halfway out the door while the rest of me has had to stay in place. My anxiety has been higher than ever during these weeks. I just went back to count up how long it's been since my sabbatical ended and it's about three and a half weeks! It feels much longer than that.</p><p>Now I have three more workdays ahead, and, fortunately, I will be able to work remotely. It's been so hard to get up and go to the office; I've really had to fight the heavy weariness. A couple times I was too weak to fight and simply could not get up in the morning. I'm baffled by this struggle. I did not expect this last month to feel like such a long, difficult time. Even the three days ahead of me this week feel like a huge challenge. I hope I can meet that challenge. At least it will be easier to get up and come to work at my computer in my living room than to get up and drive to the office in Bellingham.</p><p>When I was depressed some years back, probably around 2011 or 12, I got up with difficulty in the morning and told myself all I had to do was live through the day, just live through the day. I'm in a similar state now. For three more days.</p><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-nDDqcXH/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-nDDqcXH/0/312c31b9/O/Untitled.jpg" alt=""></a><p>The piece of a song lyric keeps coming into my mind, "Just a few more days for to tote the weary load." That's a line from a Stephen Foster song, another of those where it comes across as black people getting nostalgic for slavery. Pernicious. But from what I just read at the Bodleian (on my favorite podcast <a href="https://www.goalhangerpodcasts.com/the-rest-is-history" target="_blank">The Rest Is History</a>, "the Bodleian" is code for Wikipedia) Foster actually was an abolitionist. Go figure. Anyway, I appropriate just the one line, not the rest of the song.<br /></p><p>So. Just a few more days. And live through each day.</p><p>After that, time will probably fly by until I reach the day of my death. </p><p>I want to get my house organized before then. As Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die." Hezekiah got another 15 years after that. If I got another 15 years, I would be closer to the biblical fourscore than to the threescore years and ten. I'm already past threescore years. Oh, well. My death will be when it will be; all the days ordained for me were written in God's book before one of them came to be.</p><p>People ask me what my plans are for retirement. I tell them I plan to potter. Elizabeth von Arnim wrote, "Every now and then I leave [my] book on the seat and go and have a refreshing potter among my flower beds, from which I return greatly benefited, and with a more just conception of what, in this world, is worth bothering about, and what is not." That's my goal.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-33764515713980776482023-11-29T18:22:00.000-08:002023-11-29T18:22:50.457-08:00The Cool Sequestered Vale<p> Augh! Now my sabbatical is over. That went by fast. </p><p>I think the best part was the time I spent at my sister's house. Relaxing because there's nothing I need to do or be. I could just do what I wanted, read, do crosswords, do needlepoint, or watch Miss Marple shows with my sister. I was able to see her two California kids (her Washington kid is my upstairs neighbor) and grandkids. We ate out at some nice places. I spent a lovely evening with an old friend. I felt the love.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-wcGVK8R/A" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" height="320" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-wcGVK8R/0/38eb95df/M/The%20Struggle%20is%20Real-M.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My motto as a career woman</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">Now it's the night before I go back to work. I'm a little anxious. <i>Een beetje bang</i>, as my great-grandfather used to say. Now it's back to get up at this time, not when you naturally wake up. Be here by this time and stay until another time. Act the part you've been assigned.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">It's not all bad. The job I have now is pretty much the best one I've ever had, the most suited to my personality and talents. I only need to be back for about a month. I am retiring early in 2024. It's a bit early and therefore reduces my monthly Social Security payment compared to if I worked three to five more years. But I just don't have it in me. During covid isolation, I underwent a mental health crisis. It was pretty bad. The miracles of modern medicine got me back to functioning level, but I still am not fully equipped for the normal stresses of working life. So I'm quitting my job. It's the quiet life for me. Work (and before work school) has always been stressful for me. I've always wished I could stay home. Now I'm going to make my wish come true.</div><p style="text-align: left;">But first another month of work. On the night before, it feels like a long time stretching ahead of me, but, however long it takes, it will pass. A favorite poem of mine is Gray's <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44299/elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard" target="_blank">Elegy in a Country Churchyard</a>, and in that poem a favorite line is: <i>Along the cool sequester'd vale of life / They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.</i> That's what I'm looking for.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-63938844250616569282023-10-06T20:26:00.000-07:002023-10-06T20:26:08.093-07:00Sabbatical<div class="separator"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-ZqDxZHm/A" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-ZqDxZHm/0/aa28dcbb/M/African%20Violet-M.jpg" /></a></div><p>I left work this evening, and I won't be going back until November 30th. I'm on sabbatical. When I started working at my current job, about 10½ years ago, they offered four weeks of "bonus vacation" after 10 years of employment, to be taken alongside (if I recall correctly) two weeks of your regular vacation, which you had to accrue. A few years ago, we unionized and now, in our collective bargaining agreement, we are eligible for "bonus vacation" after seven years, making it a true sabbatical. And I think it's a bit more flexible about how much of your regular vacation you have to accrue. The change came a bit late for me, but I'm not complaining. Sabbatical, bonus vacation, whatever, it's just great.</p><p>It will be seven and a half weeks off from work. Some of the time, I'll spend in California. In about a week, I'm going to drive down to Big Sur, California, and spend two weeks at the <a href="https://www.contemplation.com/" target="_blank">New Camaldoli Hermitage</a>. As the word "hermitage" implies, it's a place for solitude, silence, reflection, and prayer. It's a remote location, where there's no internet access or mobile phone coverage. I am going to take along books, including a Bible, notebooks and pens, knitting and needlepoint. And a coffee maker. </p><p>I'm consciously keeping my expectations modest about how it will be to spend that time there. I hope and trust it will be beneficial to my mental, emotional, and spiritual health—and indeed for my physical health as well—but I am not relying on any visions, ecstasies, or revelations. Besides, those might freak me out. I think it will be kind of like a spa for my soul.</p><p>After my time at the hermitage, I will drive to San Jose, California, and spend some time with my sister and her husband. That, too, I expect will be restful and restorative.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-45769546598205676422023-09-28T21:39:00.000-07:002024-01-17T12:57:31.720-08:00It ain't just a river in South America<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I’ve been putting together a playlist for my own enjoyment. It consists of favorites of mine that I know well, which is fortunate because Amazon Music Prime will not let me listen to most of them. I buy them, generally at $1.29 per song, and download them to my own device, and then I listen to them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I started Prime membership many years ago. For $25 a year, I got free shipping on my orders and access to certain movies and music. Now, Prime costs $139 per year. I get that inflation is a scourge right now, but today’s price is five times greater than the original price and, from my perspective, I get less for more.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I think of a song I want, we’ll call it Song A. I search for it in Amazon’s digital music. I find Amazon's list of mp3s of that song. Sometimes my options are: </span><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Streaming</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> (with a “Listen Now” button) </span><b><span style="font-family: arial;">OR $1.29 to buy MP3</span></b></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If I click “Listen Now,” the chances are 50/50—or sometimes it seems like one in three—that instead of Song A, Amazon will “shuffle” and I’ll hear Song G or Song P. No matter how much I click on Song A, it won’t play.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But I can buy it for $1.29.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Other times, my choices are:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Listen with Music Unlimited OR $1.29 to buy MP3</span></b></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Music Unlimited is a subscription service, costing $9.99 a month. So for an extra $119.88 a year, on top of the $139 a year I pay for Amazon Prime, I <i>might</i> be able to hear the song that I choose. I wouldn’t know for sure because I am not going to subscribe.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What good is my $139 Prime subscription if I have to pay another $120 to listen to the Amazon Music selection online? If I want to hear the song before I decide whether I want to buy it as an mp3, I go find it for free somewhere else on the web, usually on YouTube. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here’s something interesting. I started to write this post a couple days ago, doing a first draft in Word. I got tired partway through, so I saved the Word document in my OneDrive account in the cloud under the working title </span><b style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Amazon Music Sucks</i></b><span style="font-family: georgia;">. Today I got an email from Amazon Prime (no-reply@amazon.com). Subject line: </span><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Updates to Amazon Music for Prime members</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;">. Content:</span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Hi Janette Kok,</span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We have added new on-demand features to give you more control over your listening experience. This is an addition to 100 million songs ad-free in shuffle mode.</span></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You can create your own playlist with your favorite songs and listen with unlimited skips and offline.</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We’ve improved your selection of All-Access Playlists. These are playlists personalized for you and always available to listen on demand and offline.</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We’ve created a new playlist just for you called ‘My Mix’. It refreshes daily based on your music tastes and listening history.</span></b></li><li><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Each week, we make select new release albums from top artists available on-demand for a limited time.</span></b></li></ul><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Learn how to manage your listening experience on the Amazon Music mobile app or web here.</span></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Learn more (button)</span></b></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In addition to music and podcasts, Prime members also enjoy fast, free delivery, movies, books, games, prescription savings, grocery delivery and in-store savings, photo storage, exclusive deals and shopping events, and a free one-year Grubhub+ membership. For a complete list of benefits, click here.</span></b></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It’s almost like some spybot read the Word document draft stored in my OneDrive account. Talk about killing me softly with your song.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My two favorite phrases in this email are "100 million songs ad-free in <i>shuffle mode</i>" [read: "not actually the songs you'd choose to hear"] and "on-demand for a <i>limited time</i>" [read: "Good luck finding what you want; give us $120 and we'll think about it"]. I guess Jeff Bezos went to the P.T. Barnum School of Business. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Well, Amazon and your minions, here are some of my thoughts. I’m going to retire within the next year. (Go read my emails to my family to find out when, you intrusive creeps.) After that, I’m going either to cancel my Prime membership or let it lapse—whichever is more personally advantageous to me. When I’m retired, I won’t need free delivery as much because I’ll have the time to drive around in the real world to buy what I want in person. So I’ll be shopping on Amazon much less. Much less. You were convenient when I was busy and during the pandemic, but now…well, let me go find that song that goes, <i>Na, na, na, na. Na, na, na, na. Hey, hey, hey, good-bye</i>. Will you let me play it online, or will I have to purchase it?</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-D4SzwQT/A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-D4SzwQT/0/cddbe7cd/M/Amazon%20Music%20Sucks%20-%20corrected-M.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There. Fixed your graphic for you.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">See the Egress, Bezos.</span></p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-69516964065037307892023-06-14T22:26:00.000-07:002023-06-14T22:26:05.005-07:00At twilight<p>Some days are harder than others. This week, my days are feeling long and tiring. I find myself going back to a phrase I used years ago during a difficult time. When I got up in the morning, I would say to myself, “Live through the day. That’s all you have to do. Just live through the day.” </p><p><i>Though the heart be weary, sad the day and long</i>, still, at twilight, I’m here.</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7eVSoFNF5B0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-85941719362083771832023-04-29T17:42:00.005-07:002023-04-29T17:58:02.597-07:00Huh?<p>Harry Belafonte died earlier this week. May he rest in peace. My sister posted on Facebook a link to him on the Muppet Show, singing the <a href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xo9y3s" target="_blank">Banana Boat Song</a>.</p><p>One day at work, a couple years ago, a co-worker used the word <i>banana</i> in conversation, and I was reminded of an article I'd recently read saying that Alan Arkin was one of the writers of the Banana Boat Song. I told him about that. First I had to help him know who Alan Arkin is. (My co-worker is young.) Then I had to sing a few bars of the song to call it to his mind. Then I told him that, contrary to what one might assume, Alan Arkin helped write it.*</p><p>My co-worker acknowledged (politely) that this was an interesting story but wondered why I told it. I told him because you said <i>banana</i>. Turns out he had actually said <i>Indiana</i>, not <i>banana</i>. Oh. </p><p>So I said, well, there's a song about Indiana, too: <a href="https://youtu.be/J1-S4QNsaFE" target="_blank">Indiana Wants Me</a>. He had never heard of it. (Again, young.) Later I sent him a link. Never say I have not contributed to that young man's education.</p><p>This mishearing thing happens not infrequently. It is cosmic payback. When my aged mother misheard things, she would ask, "Did you say such-and-such?" "Such-and-such" would be some ludicrous non sequitur (like <i>banana</i> instead of <i>Indiana</i>), and I would give her a look and answer, "Mom, is it likely I said such-and-such?" Now I'm saying "such-and-such" all over the place.</p><p>________________________________________________________________________________</p><p>*Looking this information up today, I find that Alan Arkin co-wrote a <a href="https://youtu.be/F-aL7HHN_kw" target="_blank"><i>version</i> of the Banana Boat Song</a>, not the original song, when he was part of a folk-music group called the Tarriers. The song itself is a traditional Jamaican folk song, just as it seems to be.</p><p></p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-28019193191983442102023-01-02T18:18:00.006-08:002023-01-02T18:21:54.003-08:00Happy New Year and all that kind of stuff<div class="separator"><br /></div><p>Now the holidays have been and gone. Today was a company holiday for me. Since New Year's Day was a Sunday, we had Monday off. That's nice. Going back to work on January 2 feels rather abrupt. Christmas cheer, sentiment, carols, candles, family, and New Year's Eve noisemakers and champagne, followed by deranged sleeping on New Year's Day, and then BANG! It's a work day! Get up and get moving! So it was nice to have this 1-day cushion.</p><p>Not that I stayed up for the New Year this time around. I thought I might, but around 9:00 p.m. I felt sleepy so went to bed. When my mom was older, she would say she could celebrate the New Year at 9:00 p.m. Pacific time because at that moment it was midnight in the time zone where she was born, on the East Coast. I was born in Seattle, so that doesn't work for me.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-xtDKWR8/A" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-xtDKWR8/0/fb785c29/M/Benedict%20the%20Watch%20Dog-M.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My fearless defender from things that go boom in the night.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As it happens, I did wake up around midnight because people in the area were sending up fireworks, and my dog Benedict felt obligated to bark at them. But I didn't really wake up fully and was soon asleep again.</p><p>I'm glad that two weeks from today we'll have another holiday (Martin Luther King Day). That will ease us in a tad more easily than an endless-seeming stretch to Presidents Day in February. I seem to recall, from my time studying at Regent College, that Canadians get a Monday holiday pretty much every month. That sounds just jim-dandy to me. We need breaks. I've seen a meme about how medieval serfs got rest days for enough religious holy days so that they had more days off than the average American employee. </p><p>This spring, I will turn 62. That is the youngest age at which one can start receiving Social Security retirement. I don't think I'll retire on the dot, but I will always be conscious that I could retire any time I want to. Actually, I want to, but when will it be propitious? I have some major purchases I want to make before I reduce my income so drastically: a love seat for my living room, two new doors for the room I have dedicated to being a library (with windows in the doors, so the southern exposure can benefit the adjoining areas), a screen door so I can get fresh air when it's pleasant outside, a new dishwasher because the one I have is kaput, a new thing over the stove (what's it called?) because the ventilation fan in mine is broken. Possibly an update to the pump system down here that sends my waste water up to street level. </p><p>Geez, maybe I'll be working till I'm 95. But I'll always know I could retire if I want to. I heard a speaker once who said you should have a Plan B for your income so that you don't feel trapped in your Plan A employment. </p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-58485600784829812532022-12-01T23:34:00.000-08:002022-12-01T23:34:05.412-08:00Ready or not<p> 'Tis the season...of Advent. It's a season of preparation for Christmas, as Lent is a season of preparation for Easter. Like Lent, it's a penitential season, and the liturgical color is purple. The advent wreath candles are purple, except for the third one, which is rose. Both Lent and Advent have a rose-colored Sunday, a break in the mournful mood. </p><p>For Advent, the third Sunday is Gaudete Sunday, and, in Lent, the fourth Sunday is Laetare Sunday. <i>Gaudete</i> and <i>Laetare</i> are both translated as <i>Rejoice</i>. Gaudete comes from St. Paul's exhortation, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!" Laetere comes from the prophet Isaiah's instruction, "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her."</p><p>But I am still in the first week of Advent, a purple (or violet) week. I went to mass and saw the Advent candle lit there, and I also have, for many years, had an Advent wreath at home. In this picture of my Advent wreath, two of the purple candles look pink, while the rose candle (across from the lit candle) looks purple or gray.</p><p><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-SVHZp7n/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-SVHZp7n/0/37fc3826/M/317477836_10229798400009938_2381260145566194556_n-M.jpg" /></a></p><p>In real life, the colors were correct. The center, Christ, candle is white. It is lit on Christmas or Christmas Eve. </p><p>I've heard of Catholic Churches having a midnight mass, so that it starts just as Christmas Day starts. I don't know if St. Joseph, my parish church, does that. Last year at Christmas I was mostly missing church because my depression and anxiety made it hard for me to go anywhere. I still have some level of that issue, just not as severe.</p><p>On this first Sunday, the Scripture readings were about the coming of Christ in glory—the Second Coming. His first coming was in humility, with his glory veiled. At his second coming, his glory will be revealed. That's what the word apocalypse means—revelation. And the word advent means coming.</p><p>During Advent, we prepare for both comings of Christ. The readings this Sunday focused on the need to be alert for the Second Coming. No one knows the hour or the day* when Christ will return, so we just have to always be ready. It could happen at any moment, any day now. We need to keep that in mind.</p><p>I can't honestly say I feel prepared, if being prepared means achieving a high degree of sanctification. When you are expecting guests, you prepare by cleaning your house. When I am expecting guests, I become anxious and stressed out and accomplish nothing. But I ask some loving members of my family for help, and they come over and clean. In terms of preparing for Christ's coming, I am as effective as I am in preparing for guests. Fortunately, I can ask for help there, too, and that's what I'll have to rely on. </p><p>That's why one of my dearest Bible verses is, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." This little light of mine is so very little—a smoldering, dimly burning wick, but he won't snuff it out. </p><p>*<span style="font-size: x-small;">During the 1990s I talked with a young woman who listened to and believed a radio evangelist names Harold Camping, who was predicting when Christ would return. I started to quote this verse to her, and she interrupted me, "I know, I know. No one knows the day or the hour, but he knows the month and the year." As it turned out, he didn't.</span></p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-51346948607429500422022-11-05T21:01:00.001-07:002022-11-05T21:01:50.884-07:00Mystic sweet communion<p>Well, I did not make it to All Souls. I had to work at my office in Bellingham that day, which meant a half-hour drive home, 5:00-5:30, and the service started at 6:00, so I would have been home for 15 minutes and left again. Days with a commute are also more tiring. I decided already around 3:00 in the afternoon that when I got home I would stay home. All Souls is not a Holy Day of Obligation.</p><p>A few days later, I was mindful that it was the 16th anniversary of my oldest brother's death. <i>Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.</i> Praying for and being in fellowship with my loved ones who have died was one of the things that attracted me to Catholicism.</p><p>A Catholic Facebook friend had this quote by Pope Benedict XVI on her page:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>The belief that love can reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death — this has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages, and it remains a source of comfort today.</i></p></blockquote><p>When my brother died, and later my parents, I missed them and I also still wanted to show my love for them. Catholic practice provides more room for me to be aware of my fellowship with them and to give love that they can receive.</p><p>Prior to being received into full communion with the Catholic Church, I felt this, but my own tradition did not address it. Catholics, in addition to praying for those who have gone ahead, also ask them to pray for us. While I was reading a Chaim Potok novel, I read a scene when a woman was talking to her dead brother and said, "Be an intercessor for me." I thought, if Jewish people do this, then I have more confidence in it, since Judaism was the faith that Jesus practiced. It indicated to me that the practice existed even prior to the Incarnation and was not a new invention by the church at some point in its history.</p><p>I always loved the verse in the hymn "The Church's One Foundation" that says:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Yet she on earth hath union</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>With God the Three in One,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>And mystic sweet communion</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>With those whose rest is won.</i></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">"Mystic sweet communion" — I love it.</p><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-RqPwJCr/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-RqPwJCr/0/9070d15c/O/Saints.jpg" alt=""></a>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-49058928311425941012022-11-01T21:09:00.005-07:002022-11-01T21:09:49.984-07:00Hallows<p>I'm glad to say that I made it to church this evening for the service for All Saints. It was bilingual, English and Spanish. On Sundays, we have separate English and Spanish services. I suppose if not for Vatican II we could all be together in Latin. But I won't go there.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-46817699736985993692022-10-31T21:40:00.005-07:002022-10-31T21:47:50.483-07:00Days of the week<p> I think I've mentioned how on Fridays I keep checking my phone, dashboard, and calendars to verify that it really is Friday, because it seems too good to be true. The odds against it are 6:1. Or would it be 7:1? Trying to figure that out would be like math.</p><p>But today is a Monday, and this evening I thought, "Is it really still Monday? Can it be?" Not that it's too good to be true but that it seems like it's been Monday for a long time. Too long. It's taking up more than its share of the week.</p><p>I'm feeling anxious (<i>een beetje bang</i>, as my great-grandfather would say) and a little down. Am I regressing back into my Slough of Despond? Am I far from the peaceful shore? Sinking to rise no more? I hope not.</p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/4afmqpUU0oc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>My sister has a certain level of Seasonal Affective Disorder, and I probably do too. We are past the fall equinox, so our diurnal cycles contain more darkness than light. I'm surprised I'm feeling this (if that's what it is) because I hated this summer. It was hot and dry all the time. Yards and plants were dying of thirst, and it was unpleasant to be outdoors. Bleah. So I welcomed the coming of fall. Which was late in coming this year, by the way. Summer kept dragging on, outstaying its welcome by weeks. But now the increasing darkness is probably getting me down.</p><p>Also, as my sister also has observed, it's a sad time of remembrance for our family because my oldest brother died on November 4. I am not always conscious that this anniversary is looming, but they say your body remembers, even if you don't.</p><p>Tomorrow will be my first All Saints Day as a Catholic. And the day after that will be All Souls Day, which is a time to remember the faithful departed. I am still learning how to be a Catholic. My church is having mass at 7:00 p.m. on All Saints Day and 6:00 p.m. on All Souls Day. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning I have a duty to go to mass. </p><p>In theory I should be able to make both services. The only obstacle is myself. Yesterday, I planned to go mass, but then I just couldn't get up. So now I am planning to go tomorrow evening and the evening after. I need to pray for the strength to go.</p><p>It's not mass in particular that's hard for me to attend. I have a great reluctance to go anywhere. This is why one of my verses of comfort is "he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick." The prophet Isaiah says that (chapter 42, verse 3) about God's suffering servant, and the Gospel of Matthew repeats it (chapter 12, verse 20), applying it to our Lord. Indeed, there are many verses in the Bible about God's love and compassion for the weak. And I definitely fall into that category.</p><p>Even the great Apostle Paul said "I can will what is right, but I cannot do it" (Romans 7:18).</p><p>It's time for me to go to bed, but my puppy Rosamund is asleep on my foot, and that makes me not want to move. I'll browse the internet for a while.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-61244115408894190282022-10-24T20:48:00.000-07:002022-10-24T20:48:25.005-07:00Catching up<p>Long time, no blog. I did go through something along the lines of a nervous breakdown earlier this year. Thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, I've been climbing out of the hole. "If you're happy and you know it, it's your meds."</p><p>But the biggest and bestest happening in my life since my last blog post is the addition of a third puppy to my household. Meet Rosamund:</p><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-MqGgbj5/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-MqGgbj5/0/60e810e7/M/Little%20Rosamund-M.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>And here are the three canine siblings this afternoon, enjoying the gas heater stove:</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-m8GpXPd/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-m8GpXPd/0/bc85e90c/M/Three%20pups%20by%20the%20fire-M.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>That's Rosamund, Benedict, and Beatrice. That's all for now.</div>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-64855445537268608542022-01-08T18:10:00.000-08:002022-01-08T18:10:32.258-08:00Another day, another chewed-up dollar<p>We had a little more snow today, which is one of those things that makes you say "ugh." It is forecast to freeze tonight and tomorrow night, but tomorrow day and the rest of the week it should be above freezing, which will allow the snow to melt. Rain most of next week, too, but that's normal for the Pacific Northwest. </p><p>When one leads a fairly boring life, what else is there to write about than the weather? At least today I got up and stayed awake all day. I didn't do much other than browse the web and read a Georgette Heyer novel (<i>A Civil Contract</i>), but at least I wasn't snoring around the clock.</p><p>The most exciting occurrence was when my puppy Benedict got ahold of a paper piece of legal tender and started to chew it up. I was in the kitchen when I heard some crinkling and tearing noises. He often finds some piece of paper or a receipt or something and chews that up, but I just took a quick look and saw him destroying a large (to me) amount of money in the form of one bill. I yelled, "Noooo! No!" and ran to rescue it. Benedict ran in circles, evading my grasp, having a fun game of keep-away. We play this game a lot, when he chews on something that I'm worried will harm him, like a piece of foil or plastic, or a toothpick. The only way for me to win is to get him a treat. As soon as he sees me head that way, he drops whatever he has and runs after me. Beatrice comes running, too, because: treats. I don't hand it out until I find and confiscate what he was chewing on. In the case of a toothpick, that can be a challenge, but in the case of this piece of money I found it immediately, then gave them their treats. Little squares of freeze-dried beef liver. They love it.</p><p>Goofy little dogs.</p><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-M7X5thH/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-M7X5thH/0/7c2f9a54/M/262378235_10227530648677572_738524421757828850_n%20%281%29-M.jpg" /></a>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-66948501871253042472022-01-07T20:56:00.002-08:002022-01-07T20:56:52.489-08:00Thrills and chills<p>2022 is off to a cold start, and 2021 had a cold ending. Christmas Day we had snow falling and the northeast wind blowing, to the point that my in-town and out-in-the-county family contingents had to meet separately, rather than drive through the drifts. We got together as one big group on January 2. </p><p>We had more snow this week, and then some rain and snow mixed. The infamous wintry mix. Temperatures are hovering around freezing so that things melt then freeze again, making for smooth, slippery surfaces. The infamous black ice (actually, transparent ice, showing the black road surface underneath).</p><p>It was back to work this week, but then I was sick yesterday and today. Pretty much slept all day both days, and woke up a little while in the evenings. I feel quite cold right now; I don't know if it's because I'm having chills or because the cold from outside is seeping into the house. It will be good to get under a quilt again when I go to bed. I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday. I can sleep some more.</p><p>One's blog entry can't be very exciting when all one's done lately is sleep. So the "thrills" of my title is ironic, but the "chills" is for real.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-39267097589969525352021-12-01T20:16:00.000-08:002021-12-01T20:16:11.645-08:00My Christmas Playlist<p> I've started listening to my Christmas playlist. A couple of years ago I searched out versions I liked of Christmas songs I like. For most of them, I bought the tracks from Amazon Music and downloaded them to my computer. So I have a file of 51 mp3 files and I just go there and click "Play All." The titles are sorted alphabetically, so usually that's how I listen to them. Here's the list:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Adeste Fideles (Latin)—Vienna Boys’ Choir</li><li>Adeste Fideles (English)—Londonderry Singers</li><li>All I Want for Christmas Is You—Mariah Carey</li><li>Angels from the Realms of Glory—Stephanie Hall Singers & the London Fox Players</li><li>Angels We Have Heard on High—Londonderry Singers</li><li>Away In a Manger—Joan Baez</li><li>Boar's Head Carol, The—The Robert de Cormier Singers and Ensemble</li><li>Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light—Not sure</li><li>Carol of the Bells (Choral)—Not sure</li><li>Christmas Song, The—Nat King Cole</li><li>Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)—Vince Guaraldi Trio</li><li>Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) —Vince Guaraldi Trio</li><li>Coventry Carol—Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles</li><li>Ding Dong Merrily on High—The Sixteen and Harry Christophers</li><li>Do You Hear What I Hear?—Bing Crosby</li><li>Ere Zij God—Dennie Christian</li><li>Feliz Navidad—José Feliciano</li><li>First Nowell, The—The Robert de Cormier Singers and Ensemble</li><li>God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen—Londonderry Singers</li><li>Good King Wenceslas—Huddersfield Choral Society</li><li>Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas—Judy Garland</li><li>Here We Come A-Wassailing—The Merrywood Singers</li><li>Holly and the Ivy, The—Choir of King’s College, Cambridge</li><li>Holly Jolly Christmas, A—Burl Ives</li><li>I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day—Harry Belafonte</li><li>I Saw Three Ships—Ambrosian Singers</li><li>I Wonder as I Wander—Joan Baez</li><li>I'll Be Home for Christmas—Bing Crosby w/John Scott Trotter & his Orchestra </li><li>In the Bleak Midwinter—Susan Boyle</li><li>Jesous Ahatonhia—Carolyn Sinclair</li><li>Jingle Bells—The Ray Conniff Singers</li><li>Joy to the World—Eugene Ormandy</li><li>Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow—Dean Martin</li><li>Linus And Lucy—Vince Guaraldi Trio</li><li>Little Drummer Boy, The—The Harry Simeone Choir</li><li>Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming—Apollo’s Fire & Jeannette Sorrel</li><li>Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord—Boney M.</li><li>Mary's Boy Child—Harry Belafonte</li><li>O Holy Night—Samuel Ramsey</li><li>O Tannenbaum—Aeolian Kammerchor</li><li>Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree—Brenda Lee</li><li>Silent Night, Holy Night—Julie Andrews</li><li>Silver Bells—Johnny Mathis</li><li>Sleigh Ride (Instrumental)—The Boston Pops Orchestra</li><li>Sleigh Ride (Vocal)—Johnny Mathis</li><li>Still, Still, Still—Libera </li><li>We Three Kings—The Irish Tenors</li><li>What Child is This (Greensleeves)—Johnny Mathis</li><li>While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks—Ambrosian Singers</li><li>White Christmas—Bing Crosby</li><li>Winter Wonderland—Frank Sinatra</li></ol><p></p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-28228956346237505912021-12-01T18:18:00.007-08:002021-12-01T18:21:17.122-08:00Pains and tweets<p>Still no second flood—hooray.</p><p>Yesterday I received a package from Amazon. It's a cushion I ordered to sit on, specially designed to alleviate and prevent tailbone pain. I sit so much for work and leisure that I was starting to have that—a real pain in the a**, har har. The cushion has that little notch cut out so that when you sit on it, your tailbone is above empty space and so has no pressure to make it start aching. I don't find these kinds of cushions attractive. That little cutout notch seems to announce, "Here's where your butt crack goes," which I feel is ungenteel. But comfort before fashion for me. It also acts as kind of a booster seat and puts me at a better angle to my keyboard, I think, So, all kinds of advantages.</p><p>Now I'm going to listen to my favorite podcast, <a href="https://play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast">The Rest Is History</a>. I like the banter of the two British hosts, as well as hearing about their topics. They also each have a Twitter account and the show itself has a Twitter account, so I re-opened my Twitter account after having shut it down a few years ago. Twitter can become a depressing place. But I just follow these guys and their show and a few family members. </p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-74060687666349036202021-11-30T19:52:00.003-08:002021-11-30T19:53:07.166-08:00High water<p>Well, Benedict is much bigger now than when I first posted pictures of him. Here he is about a month ago:</p><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-d3DRDpm/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-d3DRDpm/0/0c812d30/M/Benedict-M.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>And here is little Miss Beatrice:</div><div><br /></div><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-GfSWFrg/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-GfSWFrg/0/1958238a/M/Beatrice-M.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>They spend a lot of time play-fighting. At least, I assume it's play and not real fighting. They tire each other out and fall asleep for a while, then wake up to renew the battle. Beatrice has outgrown the stage of chewing everything all the time (she now just chews some things some of the time), but Benedict is still in full chomping and chewing mode. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have been to California and back since my last post. I visited my sister for a few days and got to see her family.</div><div><br /></div><div>We've been having excessive rain the past couple weeks. When someone from western Washington says it's a lot of rain, it's a lot of rain. We're on our third "atmospheric river" in as many weeks. The nearby Nooksack River flooded several towns in my county: Sumas, Everson, and Ferndale. It flooded them twice and my do so a third time. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was confident my creek would not flood because it has different sources than the Nooksack. The Nooksack is fed by mountain streams and snow melt, which my creek just wanders over from Canada at a lower elevation. Generally, as my dad told me, it only floods if we first get a lot of snow, then a thaw with rain, to put a lot of melted snow plus rain into the creek all at once. We weren't getting any snow, so I figured the creek wouldn't flood. It didn't flood the first time that the Nooksack did, but this past weekend, during the second atmospheric river (meaning a lot of rain coming in from the Pacific Ocean), it did overflow. Color me surprised. And, as it continued to rise, a little nervous. I always say, and it's true, that the water has never come up to the house, but a silent voice always adds "yet."</div><div><br /></div><div>Still not yet, though. My back yard is a flood plain. The creek flows over it about once every three years or so. This on Sunday was the highest I've ever seen it. </div><div><br /></div><iframe allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="640" scrolling="no" src="https://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/11257523407_KmP6mmX?width=640&height=640&albumId=26815505&albumKey=GcvDCf" width="640"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>There was still a foot or so before it would reach the retaining wall, and then there was the wall. But I kept picturing water seeping in under my door. Sunday night I kept going out and using the flashlight function of my phone to look at the water. I was freaking out a little bit. But finally I said to myself, "It's either going to happen or not, and probably not. You can't do anything either way, so go to sleep." And so to bed. In the morning, it had receded quite a bit, although still quite swampy, but it was good to see the grass again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now we'll see what happens overnight tonight, as it's raining again. This rainfall is not predicted to be as much as the last two, but the ground is saturated and the waterways are full. It's dark now, but I will not go outside and look. I'll wait until tomorrow morning and see what it's like out there.</div>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-71268370991496027492021-10-17T16:48:00.009-07:002021-10-17T16:49:46.039-07:00Ice and Fire and Cold Comfort<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-2WpC4ZC/A" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-2WpC4ZC/0/6bd19b87/S/Game%20of%20Thrones%20%282%29-S.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starks at Winterfell</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator">I recently started reading the <i>Game of Thrones</i> books, or rather <i>Song of Ice and Fire</i>. I think I'm in the third book. I'm reading them on my Kindle, so when I finish one the next one pops up as a recommendation. It occurred to me to read them because of a frivolous conversation at work. My co-workers were speculating that I would be very good at Trivia, but I pointed out I don't know a lot of recent cultural references, like <i>Game of Thrones</i> characters. Those show up sometimes in the <i>New York Times</i> crossword puzzles. I don't subscribe to the NYT, but I do subscribe to their crossword. Anyway, the next time I was considering what to read, I thought, <i>Why not?</i> So I started them.</div>
<p>They're pretty good. They move very, very slowly. I think one year of narrative has gone by since the beginning of the first book, and they are long books. Each chapter or section is a third-person limited perspective of a different character. So when you go to the next chapter, you may not go forward in time from the last one, just to a different viewpoint and locale.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-kb44KRm/A" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-kb44KRm/0/7a25a9d2/S/Cold%20Comfort%20Farm%20%282%29-S.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The story starts at a castle or fortress called Winterfell, belonging to the Stark family. Speaking of frivolity, that made me think of the Starkadder family at Cold Comfort Farm, in the amusing novel (and movie) of the same name. Later, when the Stark father left his son in charge of the place, he said something like, "There should be a Stark at Winterfell," which made me think: "There have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm." I wonder if I'll come across something that will make me think, "I saw something nasty in the wood shed!" Funny only if you've read <i>Cold Comfort Farm</i> or watched the movie.</p>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9086423487736873589.post-47633499948589993732021-06-13T22:11:00.003-07:002021-06-13T22:12:05.200-07:00My growing family<p>When I adopted my mostly chihuahua puppy—her name is Beatrice, by the way—in August, I actually had wanted to get two puppies, but she was the only one available. So last month I went on Craigslist again and saw that a woman in Blaine had a litter of Chiweenies for sale. I did not have to look that up (as apparently some of my Facebook friends did) to know that meant a mix of Chihuahua and Dacshschund, aka Wiener dog. I texted her, made the deal, and that evening she brought him over.</p><p>Meet Benedict.</p>
<a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-M7qjp24/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-M7qjp24/0/0fa00e77/M/197204414_10226389080739087_3485034075738586519_n-M.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>I wanted two dogs so they could be company for each other, especially while I'm away. My employer has recently told its employees that they plan to have us back in our offices by September y7. When I commute to and work in Bellingham, I'm out of the house for about nine hours.</div><div><br /></div><div>My previous dog (rest in peace) had pretty severe separation anxiety. If left alone in the house, he chewed things, did his "business" in inappropriate places, and generally went crazy. For a while, I crated him while I went to work, but that was a sad thing to do. In 2017, when I had to live in a hotel for months on end while my home was repaired from water damage, I could not leave him in a hotel room for fear he'd howl and bark all day. I started bringing him to "doggy daycare" at <a href="https://hylinehotel.com/" target="_blank">Hyline Hotel for Dogs</a>, and he loved it. When I moved back into my house, I did not have the heart to start crating him all day again, so I kept bringing him there every day. He was much happier, so it was worth it, but it was a bit spendy. When was had a financial advisor come to work, I told my co-workers that I was spending my retirement money on my dog's day care.</div><div><br /></div><div>My theory is that dogs, because they are pack animals, are not hard-wired to cope with solitude. It freaks them out to be alone. So, now, when I go back to the 9 to 5 slog, my dogs will not be home alone.</div><div><br /></div><div>They are still getting used to each other. It is Beatrice who has to make the biggest adjustment. Benedicts is quite placid. He waddles around cheerfully on his rather short legs, eats heartily of his puppy food, chews happily on chew sticks, and takes frequent naps. Beatrice's attitude toward him ranges from indifference to jealousy. She is not a placid dog. She is nervous and yappy, and she prances around Benedict on her long, slender legs, poking her nose at him. She has a hard time settling down with me if I want to hold both of them. She wants to be the only one in my arms. But I think eventually Benedict will come up as the alpha dog because he dominates at the food bowl. When I put it on the floor, he walks up and wades in, and if Beatrice comes up he leans over the bowl and she backs away. I've started putting two bowls down, at some distance from each other, so that if Benedict is at one Beatrice can be at the other.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I'm busy working at my desk, they do play with each other, in puppy fashion, fake-biting each other and lunging and rolling around. Sometimes they scrap over a toy. They actually do play tug-of-war with the knotted-rope tug toys I've gotten for them.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I think that as they grow up, they'll fight and play, like siblings, and eventually settle down to each other. They bring a lot of interest and enjoyment into my life.</div><div><br /></div>
The moment her world changed.<div><br /><div>
<a href="https://janettekok.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-WhVgDCL/A"><img alt="" src="https://photos.smugmug.com/Life/Blog-Pictures/i-WhVgDCL/0/2f6a4dbc/M/192885832_10226315595982014_1889730402546118255_n-M.jpg" /></a></div></div>Janette Kokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08053659376999609091noreply@blogger.com0