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Getting to Know You–One Way or the Other

Daily writing prompt
In what ways do you communicate online?
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I have to admit, I haven’t really gotten into too much online communication other than this blog. Okay, I’m on Facebook, but I rarely post. WhatsApp is something I’d like to explore since my uncle, who now lives in Portugal, uses that. But Instagram, Tik Tok, all the rest hold no interest for me.

I work with a woman who uses Tik Tok excessively. She gets all her news from that app, and it’s often wrong. I’ve told her she should find her news from reputable sources, but she just shrugs. While I’m sure some of what she reads is accurate, I know a lot of it is not.

What’s interesting to me is she wasn’t aware of the looming Tik Tok ban. It’s possible, although no one is quite certain about this, that the app could go dark after January 19. I’m not sure what my colleague would do after that, given her reliance on Tik Tok for news, entertainment, makeup tips, and a dozen other things I don’t remember right now.

I hate the thought of relying so much on social media, although I’ll be the first to admit it’s the only way I stay in contact with many of my friends from college. I’ve found it interesting to see how much some of us have changed our world views from one end of the spectrum to the other. We bond together and support each other through Facebook (as I’ve said before, I rarely post, but I keep up with other’s posts). I also get really good book suggestions from my friend Sue.

I still favor more personal communication, such as meeting in person with my friends or phone calls. Okay, I rarely use the phone, but I do text. The one-on-one conversations are much more satisfying to me than anything I can get on social media.

Still, I’ve made some friends through this blog, and I care about all of them. I want to know what’s next in their lives. Through our posts I’ve gotten to know about how they relate to the world around them and some details that delight me, for example, a love of cats. If something happened to one of them, I would grieve.

Will my relationship with social media change? Who knows. My life is bound to be different in the next couple of years, so perhaps my dependence on social media will be, too.

Image Credits: Wooden Figurines © Valerii Evlakhov–stock.adobe.com; New View © muhammad–stock.adobe.com; Cat © Yana–stock.adobe.com

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Mimi Has A New Toy!

Last week my friend Deb (“Aunt Deb” to Mimi and Walter) graced Mimi with a new toy. It’s actually a dog toy, but Mimi LOVES it. She tosses it so high it lands on the armrests of the wicker chairs, where I have to retrieve it so she can start her play again. You can see there are other toys surrounding her, but none is as popular as The Beav right now.

Three chubby cats jumping up ecstatically in play
If we keep playing like this, maybe we’ll lose some weight!

Image Credits: Cesar Cat © Belinda O; Paws in Heart © Bigstock Photo; Cats Playing © fishyo-stock.adobe.com

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Happy 2025!

Hope you celebrated the advent of the new year last night, even if you did it like me–a few favorite movies and off to bed early. It’s odd having a day off in the middle of the week, but I plan to enjoy it!

May 2025 be full of blessings for you.

Image Credits: Happy New Year header © cienpies design–stock.adobe.com; Happy New Year gift © Wayu–stock.adobe.com

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Mimi’s Resting

She’s had a hard day of playing with toys and playing with Walter. Now it’s time for the next leg of her daily sleep–which I hear totals about twenty hours for cats. What I would give for a little more sleep myself.

Illustration of cat sleeping on quarter moon, surrounded by stars
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream…

Image Credits: Cesar Cat © Belinda O; Paws in Heart © Bigstock Photos; Sleeping cat illustration © Natthapat–stock.adobe,com

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Perfect Space? Probably Not–Yet Still…

Daily writing prompt
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?
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Some time back I bought a book called “At Work At Home” about building the perfect office space. It had a multitude of ideas, none of them practical for me–my budget didn’t stretch that far. Since that time I’ve perused many books on the same topic, and keep coming back to a favorite kind of space. It’s a cubby with a sofa, surrounded by bookshelves on top and each side, bursting with books. Add a spacious desk nearby and I know I could be inspired by something like that.

Maybe a desk like this?

Instead what I have is much simpler. A small corner desk in my spare bedroom, a room which doubles as a storage space, and a few sparse bookshelves in my living room. I don’t have room for anything more. Still, somehow, I manage to write on a regular basis. I read every work day at lunch in my car, although I’ve learned not to buy books, in part because I don’t have room for them and in part because on hot summer days the binding comes apart. So I Kindle it.

Let’s face it, I’ll likely never have a dream reading and writing space. So I work on ways to make mine better. A nicer lamp, for instance, instead of the thirty-year-old thing I’ve got. I can’t even use the lampshade because it’s too dark, so my lamp is this unattractive base with a light bulb on top. Okay, let’s move on from there. I could be better organized. I have papers overflowing the desk file holders I have. I’d like the walls to be less sparse. Perhaps I could hang up something besides my Peanuts “Happiness Is…” calendar?

If I kept looking for the ideal space, I’d never find it. But dreams are good. They fuel the imagination and give us hope. I guess that’s why I still haven’t gotten rid of my copy of “At Work At Home.”

Image Credit: Office Space © thejokercze–stock.adobe.com Glasses on book © Sippung–stock.adobe.com