Thoughts to Ponder While Listening to the Crickets Chirping

     I just finished my weekend at work, and now it's time to relax for a little while.  Sometimes I don't have enough "material" for an entire blog essay, so it's fun to just write about a bunch of things. Andy Rooney called it  "Pieces of my Mind", local Boston journalist Mike Barnicle called it "I was just thinking".  I have thoughts to ponder while listening to the crickets chirping!  I just love to listen to the crickets at night. You know it means that summer is winding down.

      My vegetable garden is not up to par this year.  I just never gave it the attention it deserved.  We never even planted tomatoes because we wanted to rest the soil. We planned on cutting down some trees that we "temporarily" put in our old garden spot 12 years ago! Another summer passes and I never got it done. It's a big job, maybe we'll get to it before winter. It's on my to-do list.  

     But getting back to the current garden, all I planted was basil and four varieties of peppers. They are just getting buds on them this week.  I also had a zucchini plant, but I waited too long to plant, and even though it blossomed, I doubt it will do much.  The bean seeds I planted never even sprouted, and I have never had trouble growing those before. Oh well.

      I mentioned my free time "problem" now that my class is over.  I have actually been spending a lot less time on my computer.  I have spent more time working on creating movies from my photos. It's fun, but tedious.

The other thing I've been looking at online is the job sites, just to see if there are any activity director positions open in my area, and to help a co-worker find a job closer to home.  I found out I have to go to Woburn or Boston to take my national exam after I apply for the certification, which I will do soon. I feel very impatient, but it takes a few weeks to get the ball rolling. It took four months to get my certificate from the first part of the class.  

     Meanwhile, I have my writing class called "Breaking into Print", by the Long Ridge Writer's Group. I had started the class at the turn of the century, and it came in real handy to finish it now. It's a lot better the second time around. Instead of a correspondence course by mail, you can submit the lessons online, and contact your instructor via e-mail.  It's so much faster! My next assignment is 2,000-3,000 words, and it's going to be about my cats Bigfoot and Willamina and how they met and fell in love (don't laugh, it's true- you'll have to wait until my article is in your favorite magazine- wouldn't that be cool?!)  My instructor is a best selling author, and I'm lucky that she really likes my work so far, and has been supportive.

     The most exciting thing going on this week in my yard are the discovery of goldfinches!! They aren't actually in the yard, they have been on the sidewalk, eating seeds among the Queen Anne's Lace, and other weed flowers, those ones that are cornflower blue.  How beautiful they are, especially the males!! I have seen them as I walk to the bus stop, they obviously do fly away as I approach.  I have to recharge my camera batteries, and try to get some pictures. I tried to get some shots from the other side of the street, but the camera would not focus well. Sometimes a movie is better because birds tend to move around a lot, and by the time you get ready to hit the shutter, it has flown away. My plan is to get some thistle seed, and set up three or four feeders, and maybe one of those remote motion-sensor cameras to capture them on film.   I would love to get a fountain/ birdbath too! 

     I was kind of disappointed in last week's episode of Breaking Bad.  It just wasn't plausible to me. I realize that they have to get back into manufacturing drugs in order to advance the plot, but if Mr. White is reasonably intelligent, he would count his blessings and move to Canada or something. He's already cheated death, and if they had ended the series with the cliffhanger from October, it would have been OK if we knew he was going to go straight. 

     Of course, the reason he needs the money is because his dingbat wife gave it all to her ex-boss, who I accurately predicted was still alive after all. But since they own the car wash, why can't they just run a legitimate business and we can still be on the edge of our seats wondering when Hank, the brother- in-law, would catch on? 

     The other thing that didn't seem to be in character was Mike, and the restraint he showed in not killing Walt and Jessie in the previous episode, and the woman they introduced in last week's episode. Sure, I'm glad he didn't kill them, but someone as trigger happy as him who had incentive to put these people away just didn't seem to be in character. But what do I know?

     Then there's Jessie. He was never known for his brain, but if he already checked his rumba for the ricin cigarette, why does he so readily accept finding it there? 

     Overall, I didn't like last week's episode because there were too many new characters, one who kills himself at the start of the episode, and another that gets shot, and then Mike has to kill the guy that shot him. I felt like I should take a shower after the show, just kind of creepy.

     Tonight's episode wasn't that great, either.  I don't much care for Skyler, but her sister Marie is even more annoying. The less seen of them, the better.  Walt and his partners decided to start cooking their product in houses that are being fumigated, which was kind of original (I give credit to the writers, I could never think this stuff up.)
However, the cost of doing business is high, and you know Mike and Walt are clashing big time until one of them is eliminated.  
    Well, have a great week!