What’s in your desk drawer?

6 Oct
Right

Right

In this day and age…staplers, tape dispensers, hole punch, paper clips….even flash drives are obsolete.  However, these drawers are my idea of progress have disposed of obsolete chords, phone accessories…well you can imagine…

Left

Left

What else does one do with slide rule artifacts?

The small zip pouch with the elephant emblem was the perfect gift from a friend after I traveled overseas on business and forgot spare flash drives! (That’s a keeper.)

When I gazed on my results, it struck me that I had gone “old school”……Sanity check….

What’s in your desk drawer?

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Friday Photos: I Ching No. 12 Standstill

2 Oct

The classical translation for hexagram 12 is “standstill”.  The contemporary translation is “obstruction”.  These photo choices are more contemporary interpretation.

I'm listening.

I’m listening.

 

Half time

Half time

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Flash back, could have been yesterday

29 Sep

It was October 1995.

Walking to Meadow

Crrrrisssppcccrrracckllewwooosshh walking through autumn leaves.

Wide trail lined with small trees and undergrowth

Deep ruts from tractor tires

Adjacent to small irregular shaped fields for corn and soybeans

Winding stream with rocky bed to cross twice

The stream

The stream

Broad wings take hawk gliding above tree tops

A mossy granite block marks the place where a one room farm-house stood

I stopped near the end of the road by steep eroded bank

Observing bright afternoon sun’s reflection on a calm pool in stream

A cool gust of wind sends ripples across water

Twinkling stars appear on the surface

My destination is meadow bounded by tree covered ridges

Meadow with island of tulip trees

Tulip trees with bright yellow leaves

Tulip trees with brown flower pods pointed to clear blue sky

Elements earth and sky connect through trees

I found my connection with earth and sky walking to meadow

Elizabeth Frazee 15-Oct-1995

End of the lane

End of the lane

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Friday Photo: I Ching No. 21 Biting through

25 Sep
Lunch @ Tower of London, May 2012

Lunch @ Tower of London, May 2012

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Mission organization (part 2)

23 Sep

Every so often is it time to clear, sort, clean and reorganize.  This week was one of those times.

This is where I left off in 2012!  The primary goal was to organize a pantry system (in the absence of having a designated pantry).

Mission Organization

That’s more like it!

The pantry would have served us better, if we had stayed home more and eaten out less.

The current mission started when I chose three cans of vegetables to prepare my favorite soup and 1 of 3 cans had a 2012 expiration.  Yikes!  That’s a FILO (first in, last out) not a FIFO (first in, first out) inventory system.  Now, everything has been scrutinized…including freezer and kitchen cabinets.  There were more expiration dates from 2012!

The remedy:  Significant additions to the compost and recycling bins.

Compost bin (wildlife ate thru original plastic lid)

Compost bin (wildlife ate thru original plastic lid)

Recycling bin for curbside pick up

Recycling bin for curbside pick up

Step 2:

Contents of rejected cans, boxes, bottles and packages get added to compost bin.

Step 3:

Packaging is added to recycle bin

Step 4:

Rearrange contents of cabinet for FIFO inventory.

2015 Pantry

2015 Pantry

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Friday Photo: I Ching No. 36 Darken the Light

18 Sep
Golden pond

Golden pond

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From Houzz, Evolving garden

15 Sep

 

My Evolving garden…

I observed this year the abundance of large, long blooming flowers which had above average rainfall.  Two dozen varieties of daylilies and hostas never looked so good!

It will be tempting to water more in dry spells.

Originally, (15 years ago) my garden was primarily full sun…then transitioned more to shade as the surrounding trees grew.  This year we are transitioning back to full sun due to the lost of ash trees infected by a boring insect.

Some plants will be moved.

My third observation on evolving garden is the nature of perennial plant root systems which over time choke themselves.  Division required!

More plants will be moved.

 

 

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Friday Photo: I Ching No. 14 Possession in Great Measure

11 Sep
FAITH

FAITH

This photo also works as alphabet photography.

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The joy of fortune cookies

8 Sep

The joy is not only the sweet, crunchy taste but also the message inside.  I recently found my stash of 34 fortunes.  What was I thinking?  It has been a while.  I started saving them for the vocabulary words.  A dear friend of mine adopted two daughters from China.  They were studying the language.  I prepared to test them with my fortune cookie vocabulary.

Not only does the fortune reveal messages but also the lucky lottery numbers with a vocabulary word.  Now that is a value proposition for a small slip of paper.

My favorite message is “You are one of the people who will go places in life.”  Of the 34 messages there was one duplicate.  “Your heart is pure, your mind is clear and soul devout.”

The most frequent “lucky number” was 35 with 16, 19 and 29 in second place.

I have come to understand that Chinese fortune cookies are more Japanese than Chinese.  The name changed as a consequence of World War II.  Also, this link makes fortunes available with a click.  www.fortunecookiemessage.co

http://foodbeast.com/2013/06/21/today-i-learned-fortune-cookies-originated-in-japan-not-china

The vocabulary words on my fortune collection are:  they, welcome, swim, bank, April, telephone, friends, January, refuel, opportunity, question, spring water, snowflake, supervisor, hurry, son, pen, eggplant, front door, sun, good bye, milk, cassette tape and money.

This list of random words reminds me of the creative writing exercise using the names of paint chips for inspiration.

Good thing that organizing one’s desk doesn’t usually have this many diversions.

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Friday photo: I Ching No. 11 Peace

4 Sep
Canoeing @ sunrise

Canoeing @ sunrise

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