Flummoxed..........

 

There are a growing number of folks that are convinced that the earth is flat, and that we've all been brainwashed that the earth is round ~ headed by NASA, our government, and likely other organizations.  I watched about 3/4's of the show Behind the Curve.  That was all I could do, I just couldn't do it after that.  And, perhaps more importantly, it was driving Romeo crazy.  

The very first part was narrated by a flat earth believer, Mark Sargent.  He seems like a reasonable person, who apparently truly believes the earth is flat.  Then things take a rather weird turn.  

Not much of the FEB's (flat earth believers) actually have any proof.  They have some experiments that seem to support them.  But mostly they are talking about believing what they believe and then working hard to support their theory.  It's not based on having a theory and then applying the scientific method to find the truth, but sticking with working on proving their theory....and if their test doesn't prove it, trying another test until they find what they're looking for.  I watched as they were trying to use some special gyroscope to prove their theory, but when it didn't work (this was to prove the earth doesn't rotate), they kept trying with different processes.  As far as I know, they failed every single time.  

Neil Degrasse Tyson describes this movement as an anti-intellectual movement that borders on the end of civilization as we know it.  Hmmmm.  I think his frustration has influenced the vehemence of his words😡, lol.

There was quite a bit of film that had absolutely nothing to do with the theory.  A guy who makes a "flat earth motorcycle" ~ the possible romance between Mark and Patricia Steere (who is apparently well known in FEB you tube videos) ~ a dating service for FEB, because who else would date someone with those beliefs? 

Some of these people are making a lot of money off of the believers of this baseless theory too.  One guy spends hours (and is quite talented) making flat earth models that are very elaborate.

Anyway, it was interesting.  I watched because I wanted to see their "proof", or at least understand why they are convinced that the earth is flat.  I have come away agreeing with one of the psychologists that commented here and there ~ there are those who, for some reason, do not want to believe in the "establishment".  It's a thing.  I've had experience with this, and I bet you have too.  People that insisted when the vaccine first came out that it would be "the mark of the beast" or that there would be some kind of tracker in either the vaccine or the freaking band-aid.  

If I could ask a FEB a questions, it would be "then why is the moon round, the sun is round, the planets are round"?  I'm sure they have a theory on that too.  Romeo would shake his head at me for even engaging in such nonsense.

Love, 365 

Mean people, possible puppy, and other adventures.....

 

Do you ever read those articles that pop up on your phone ~ I get them every day.  Usually there is one or two that I find interesting.  Today, Time Magazine had an article on why people seem increasingly rude lately (although "lately" is incorrect).  One of the reasons listed is that we're now unused to dealing with others during the pandemic.  Hmmm, perhaps.  It seems more likely that we're just so frustrated with all the pandemic brings, we're taking it out on each other.  And although the article didn't mention social media, that gets a good bit of my vote too.  People can't get enough of it, haven't you noticed?  Now that we can't have any magazines (honestly, didn't they already state that the virus is very unlikely to be transmitted from surfaces??), there's not much to do unless you bring your own book.  If you're already feeling rather pissed off all the time, social media is comparable to using gas to light a match.  

It's become a bit rough out there.  I haven't experienced much of the rudeness, just people who don't want to wear masks anymore.  Otherwise, most people I've encountered haven't been mean just for the sake of it.  The story is different on airplanes, in cafe's, and retail.    Crime is definitely up in our area too.  Hit and run accidents have been more common.  I think I'd rather stay home or go for a hike.  But I am missing having a dog.....

One of our hygienists has a dog that is pregnant.  The dog is a blue eyed husky.  Romeo hasn't said anything about wanting a dog, but when the puppies arrive, I'll show him a photo and see if he wants to do it...although he did say we should go for a smaller dog, since they tend to live longer ~ but prefers larger dogs.  Ugh.  Not sure that adopting a dog for longevity is the best way to go, although we both like Corgi's and Scottish Terriers.  

We're supposed to go to Costco today.  Wish us luck!  Yikes!

Enjoy your Saturday

Love, 365

Oh, how I miss breakfast.....

 

Even as a kid I was a big breakfast eater.  During my teen years, when body image is stupidly geared to thin thin thin ~ well, lets not go there, it was an unhealthy time of my life.  I feel as though I've always had issues with my weight.  Peer pressure, social pressure ~ women are always under fire to be thin.  There's a reason why most magazine and clothing lines advertise with tall thin women.  Oh, for the Renaissance, when it was popular for women to be chubby.

Sigh.

When we age, most people ~ men and women ~ put on pounds over time.  For me it really started coming on when I turned 60.  None of the usual tactics worked anymore.   I tried exercising more, counting calories, etc.  Nothing worked.  The scale stayed stubbornly the same ~ or crept up, despite my efforts.  Then I read about intermittent fasting.  The basic idea is limiting eating during an 8 hour period.  Because Romeo and I enjoy eating dinner together, I chose the 12-8 period.  Oh, how I miss breakfast.  The eggs, the toast, the pancakes, the waffles....bacon.  All postponed until noon.  

I have to say, by 10:30, my tummy is rumbling.  I drink two cups of coffee, then I go for water to stave off the hunger pains.  Which, truthfully, has limited results.  

I started this on a trial basis, and have been sticking with it for the past three months.  So far I've lost 6 pounds, which doesn't sound like much, does it?  It's been more successful than anything else I've tried. When I traveled I didn't follow the plan, but I didn't gain any weight, which was amazing.  

But boy, I sure do miss breakfast.

Love, 365

Hiking and baking........

Look closely at the sign.....at some recent point in time a kid ~ or kid at heart ~ put a little toy dinosaur on it.  A bright blue one.  Sometimes you see small cairns too.  A few months after the pandemic came, people were painting rocks and placing them along the trail.  Seems like every week there were new ones and the collection was fun to keep up with.  

 

I loved this Halloween display that faces only the park.  Very clever and cute.  

Bees, still busy out there.  Lots of blooming plants still around here, but I loved that I caught this one on a lowly dandelion.

Not long ago I saw some suggestions on how to take photos from a different perspective, so I placed my phone on the ground beneath this dandelion for the photo.  I was pleasantly surprised, but I need a little more practice.

Yesterday I baked a new Greek desert ~ ravani.  I'm not sure it turned out very well, but I have no way to know, never had one.  It's really too bad the recipe didn't explain to take the cake out of the pan before you pour on the syrup.  It would have turned out so much better if I had, I rather squished it getting it out.  I'll have to ask one of my cowokers (she's made it before).  So, I guess I'll keep it in the fridge until Monday.  All in all, rather disappointing. 

Sleep well!

Love, 365

Coupla days off..............................

 

Group photo of many of the dancers, our priest, and organizers/instructors.  I didn't take this photo, I stole it off of Facebook.  I did not manage to make it to watch any of the dances.  At the end of my shift I was tired and just wanted to go home!  

We actually did sell ALL of the pastries by the end of Saturday.  I was amazed.  And so happy not to have to go through another shift.

Yesterday I helped my friend with a catering job she had.  It was either a pre-wedding or post-wedding shindig by a wealthy lady who lives in a very nice house at one of the best locations in Albuquerque.  She loves Greek food, and called the Philoptokos society (philanthropic) to see if they would be interested in cooking for her event.  They were not.  Not sure why.  My friend didn't explain that part, but she did volunteer to do it herself.  She asked me to help, I suppose she just needed a warm body that could run food back and forth.  Without going into a lot of boring detail, I now know I have absolutely no interest in the catering business.  I can't imagine that it's at all lucrative, and it's tons of work (and frustration).  And for this I agreed to skip church yesterday.  :-(  Lesson learned.  It's true that you're never to old to learn shit.

Today is my regular day off, but I took tomorrow off too, thinking I would need an extra day.  So glad I did.  And the weather is lovely!  Romeo took off on his walk early, but I was setting up to cut the rest of the towel fabric, which has been sitting around since my first go round.  I am finished with that, and will start sewing later today....it is a lot of fun to see how the fabric changes with washing and drying.  This will give me three sets, but I do plan to give a set to my sister.  Maybe for Christmas?  Or just for the heck of it.  This time I want to sew a loop option for hanging. 

Well, I'm going off for the walk!  I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Happy fall!

 

Greek Festival time!.....

 

I know it's hard to see what's going on here.....shelves and shelves of baked goods for sale at the festival.  Tsoureki, paximadia (plain and chocolate), kourabiedes, baklava, etc.  These represent months of baking, I believe they started in June.  Last week was a whirlwind of last minute baking of things that don't freeze well, clearing out the hall, putting up all the decorations.  It is a huge production.  I only helped with a tiny bit of it.  Next year I can be more involved since I won't be working (YAY).  

I worked yesterday from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm.  I was exhausted.   We started with stocking the shelves, moving frozen items from the freezer to one of the refrigerator units.  As the shelves emptied, we restocked and restocked.  I would have thought Friday would be relatively low key ~ but no!  We were fairly busy until about 3 pm when it ramped up.  My friend who is the head of all of this said she thinks we will run out of pastries today!  But we'll see.  More than once people asked me who baked all of this, and when I swept my arm around to indicate all the women working the booth and said "we did" they were amazed.  I guess they thought we bought all of this stuff, lol.  

One of the reasons we had so much traffic on Friday was folks that buy the pastries every year, and really missed not being able to get any last year.

This is not one of this year's dancers, I haven't taken any photos of that yet.  I plan to do that today.  Luckily I can enjoy a relaxed morning since I'm not signed up until 2 pm.  

This is also the weekend that the International Balloon Fiesta begins.  Romeo turned on the tv and we watched with amazement at all the people who are on the field.  My thought that people are just hungry for places to go and things to do must be spot on.  Covid be damned, haha.

Well, I'd best finish my coffee and slice a piece of tsoureki before I shower to go! 

Love, 365