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THE MORNING DAWDLE

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The Morning Dawdler – Questions from Rory

The goldfinch have come home
The house finches are maturing

This morning, I realized the bluebirds are back. It’s early, but the weather is not wintry at all. I guess they decided they don’t have to go someplace warm since it’s plenty warm enough here.

What is the weirdest fact you know?

I know a lot of weird facts which makes me a really good player of Trivial Pursuits. The number of weird facts I know is huge. I doubt I could rank them by weird, weirder, or weirdest. This is probably because I read ALL the time when I’m not writing or taking pictures or cooking dinner. Or sleeping. Eventually all that reading adds up to a vast collection of interesting trivia.

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

I love breakfast, but only when we eat it for dinner. It’s too big a meal to start my day. I just have coffee and toast at day’s beginning. I think, now that you mention it – or really, I mention it — I’ll make breakfast for dinner tomorrow since I can’t think of anything worth defrosting in the freezer.

What do you enjoy most about your blog?

Hearing stories other people tell. I’ve gleaned a huge amount of information from the comments of readers. As a result, I’ve read books about the history of Australia which I’d never have read them except it occurred to me I knew almost nothing about their history except from movies. I was pretty sure the movies were not accurate.

I’ve been trying to get myself to read Winston Churchill’s story of the Boer War, but so far, I get a page or two into it and my brain goes numb. I think I need a livelier teller of the tale. And a less one-sided view of the event. Churchill was not even remotely neutral in his writings which were really all about HIM and the British Empire.

What are you passionate about outside of writing?

I love taking pictures which is probably obvious. I used to be pretty passionate about music, but since I no longer can perform, it has taken the edge off. My hands will not play piano anymore. It’s not a choice. It’s very painful.

I had one doctor offer to remove the arthritis in my hands which, she assured me, would make them work again. But I did more research and discovered that this surgery has no better than a 50-50 success rate and when it goes wrong, which is often, your hands can become quite useless. I decided to skip it.

I love art, looking at it and creating it — but my hands don’t like it. They don’t like piano and they don’t like holding pencils or pens for extended periods. To make the hand problem worse, I have a bum shoulder that I should have taken care of 55 years ago. When I was 20, it would have been a simple little surgery. There were bigger things on my plate and I put it off. Now it’s too late.

I enjoy art and I have it all over my house. Paintings and sculpture, all kinds of antique porcelain plus many old hard-plastic strung dolls. And of course, books. Audiobooks and regular books and movies.

I love unique things, one of a kind items. I love my house. It’s too full of everything, but it’s beautiful and interesting — and it’s so very ME.

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Categories: #Birds, #Photography, Anecdote, bluebirds, Goldfinch, House Finch, Humor, Q & A, questions, Winter

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17 replies

  1. Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud
    02/10/2023 • 16:05

    I see your photo but still believe mine are house finches!

    Like

  2. The Autistic Composter
    02/10/2023 • 11:13

    Some great answers here Marilyn. My father was a huge fan of Winston Churchill and so l grew up with the writings of WC. He was an exceedingly vain man, accomplished of that there is no doubt, but very vain haha and so too was Winston Churchill. 🙂

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  3. Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes
    02/10/2023 • 04:38

    Life can be so unfair in what it gives and takes…

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  4. Sadje
    02/10/2023 • 02:42

    I love your pictures and drawings

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      02/10/2023 • 15:26

      Thanks Sadje. My hands are problematic. Of all the things I expected in “old age,” this is the one thing I KNEW was likely to happen. Pianists ALL have arthritis in their hands when they get older. When you start playing as a kid — I was 4 — all that pounding takes a big toll. All the retired concert pianists I know of eventually stopped performing because of arthritic hands. It’s one of the prices you pay. Piano is a physically hard instrument.

      The only problem is that we use our hands for more than making music, so when your hands don’t work well, unless you set some kind of limits on using them, it gets hard to do much of anything. Almost everything I love doing involves manual dexterity. I don’t want to lose what I’ve got left so I’m careful.

      In return, my hands let me continue to type and use cameras. I’ve lost a lot of strength in my hands, so I’ve switched to the lightest weight dishes, pots, pans, etc. IF I’m careful, maybe I can get years more from my hands.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Sadje
        02/10/2023 • 20:35

        Inshaa’Allah, you will have strength in your hands for many many years. I’ve recently been given turmeric pills by my aunt. I take it once a day. It has helped to reduce the pain in my small joints. Perhaps you can try those. Turmeric is a very powerful anti-inflammatory

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        • Marilyn Armstrong
          02/10/2023 • 22:20

          I use a lot of turmeric in our food, but maybe I should give it a try. I love hearing Inshaa’Allah again. It has been awhile since I heard it. I have always loved the sound of Arabic. It is such a melodious language.

          Liked by 1 person

          • Sadje
            02/11/2023 • 00:00

            I knew that you’d understand this word/ prayer. I think cooking turmeric in food takes away from its healing properties. I found eating the tabs is way better

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