Blackberry Winter

I bought fresh blackberries for 99 cents a package at the supermarket this weekend. They were beautiful black jewels. Large, plump, shiny, unblemished. A delight to behold.

They had no taste what so ever.

I should have known better. I'm rather picky about the fresh fruits and vegetables I buy at a grocery store. Too often they either have little taste or a weird taste. They don't have any scent or they smell like chemicals.

The blackberries made me wonder if people in the future will have any idea what good fresh food is supposed to taste like, to smell like. Will they be satisfied with unyielding, carboard-textured, scentless, tasteless foods because they don't know any better?

Sometimes it's good to be an old lady and to know things the young can only imagine.

A little of this, a little of that

I saw a flock of robins on the way home yesterday. I don't know if they were coming or going so I don't know if they were early or late. All I know is they'd better head south or risk freezing their little tail feathers.

Last night I had a dream we were buying beef roasts in a vending machine at the bank. Not cooked beef, but raw roasts like you'd buy at the grocery store. I don't know if this was a commentary on the price of beef, or something I ate for supper.

I'm working on a training presentation for my co-workers for an application I haven't used much. I've been provided with training activities that were created by our company's "professional trainer", but I'm confused. I have one set of activities that's for everybody to use and I have one for advanced users. The only difference I can find is that one for everybody is 5 pages and the one for advanced user is 6 pages - but the 6th page is blank. That's the Dumass company for you.

A night for socks

When I got home from work today my furnace wasn't working. It was only 66 degrees in here, but it could have been worse. Sunday the low was 8 degrees and today it didn't get below freezing and the temperature outside was at least 50. Anyway, it was too late to call for repairs so I "rebooted" the furnace.

Similar to the way you reboot a computer, I turned it off, flipped the breakers, waited an hour, and turned it back on. And it worked. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't go out in the middle of the night.

On my way home the traffic light about a mile from here wasn't working and it rained heavily most of the night and day and I have a feeling we had some kind of electrical problem in the neighborhood though I couldn't find any clocks in the place that needed to be re-set.

I got to thinking. How many other things would benefit from being rebooted? Relationships? Diets? Jobs? Morals? Dreams?

Think about it.

A loaf of bread

I made bread this weekend. Not from a mix. Not from a refrigerated tube. Not in a breadmaker.

I made pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling and I made herb bread. They're edible but not prize winning, though I did notice that the house smelled pleasantly of pumpkin bread when I got home this evening.

I don't make bread very often anymore. When I was younger, and skinnier, I made homemade bread at least once a week. As my bread consumption went down, my weight went up. Just saying.

I learned several things doing the bread making process this weekend. Not the least of which was:

1. Pumpkin bread tastes better on the second day.
2. I have two sizes of bread pans - too small and too large.
3. I should make bread more often before I forget how it's done.

Weeeeeeeeeeee

I recently bought myself a Wii. It's suppose to be good for old people. Gives them a way to get exercise in the security of their own homes.

Just walking around the box it came in is more exercise than I usually get.

A negative thing about the Wii is that like most toys today, you can't just get a Wii and be set. You have to buy accessories and additional games. Like it was a kid. The Wii Fit is hot right now. The reviews claim it makes exercising fun and motivates you to exercise daily.

Unless you're lucky, about the only exercise you can get from Wii Fit is if you go shopping every day and search the stores for it. It's almost impossible to find at a retail store or on-line, but eBay always seems to have plenty. Do you find that a tad suspicious? At least you can exercise your mind trying to figure out why.

Anyway instead of Wii Fit, I bought the game set Active Life: Outdoor Challenge.

I prefer to call it by it's real name "Are you trying to kill yourself, you crazy old woman?"

I got tired just reading the instructions and almost caused myself bodily injury trying to figure out how I was supposed to jump in the air with both feet while simultaneously touching one hand to the floor in a parody of snowboarding.

You want me to get that on film, don't you?

Trust me - it ain't gonna happen.