Olive the cat gives me the look that it’s time to eat.
Thank you to all my fellow bloggers who I follow as well as friends who follow me. Every day, I get joy from reading your posts. I love interacting with you through comments. I realize that is part of what I look forward to every morning.
It’s a bit of sanity in an ever changing, crazy world.
Most of the blogs I read are positive and you share recipes, birds, deer, pets, and relationships with your loved ones. Each of you has a unique personality. You add to the structure and fabric of my days.
Thank you!
Here’s a bit of joy in a video of Olive watching quail through the window:
I had several plans for my birthday. I signed up for lap swimming at the YMCA. I was planning on going to my favorite cafe. I wanted to go for a hike.
But when I got up, I felt like doing nothing. I decided I’d like to sit around and read for my birthday. I was reading the Wall Street Journal and I ran across two interesting articles about doing nothing. I had no idea that my new birthday plans were trending.
One article was written by Ben Zimmer and was about Hurkle Durkle:
The unpredictable pathways of language usage never cease to amaze. Who could have foreseen that one of the trendiest words of 2024 would be an old Scottish term for lounging around in bed?
That word is the delightfully reduplicative “hurkle-durkle,” which has taken TikTok and other social media outlets by storm. As defined by the Dictionary of the Scots Language, it’s a verb meaning “to lie in bed or lounge about when one should be up and about.” That dictionary cites an older one published in 1825 by John Jamieson, who reported that the word came from the dialect spoken in Fife, a peninsula in eastern Scotland.
The pendulum is swinging away from jam-packed trips and Instagram-worthy adventures and toward vacations with little to write home about beyond a pretty sunset and a cold drink.
More vacationers say they want a true break to rest and recharge during their time off. Their do-nothing vacations have no schedule. These aren’t beach trips that involve surfing or kayaking, or foodie tours requiring hours of research—and decision fatigue.
She Was a Mommy Blogger. Now She’s Covering Trump and Kennedy on the Trail—and Making a Fortune.
Jessica Reed Kraus built a massive following by sharing celebrity gossip on Instagram. Now she’s on the campaign trail and running a growing media brand.
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—For a year during the pandemic, Jessica Reed Kraus and her husband, Mike, rented out the two-room hideaway behind their ranch-style home to help support their family of six.
Then came Depp v. Heard.
Kraus, a stay-at-home mom who’d built a following as a lifestyle blogger, was part of the frenzy surrounding the 2022 defamation trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. She shared salacious stories from anonymous sources about Heard’s personal life and quotes from a phone call she said she received from Depp. Kraus told her followers she had once believed the actor was abusive, as Heard’s lawyers alleged in court. But now, she was taking his side.
600 Kindergartners Were Given Bank Accounts. Here’s What They Learned.
How San Francisco and other cities are trying to boost financial education and college savings
Tierra Ferrand started saving for college when she was in kindergarten.
She and 600 other low-income public-school students in San Francisco were each given a bank account with $50 in 2011 as part of a program that expanded the curriculum from reading and writing to interest rates. Now 17 years old, she has more than $1,500 banked and is off to Grambling State University in Louisiana this fall. That balance may be small, but Ferrand and her mother, Aisha Brown, 44, said the account changed their approach to money and saving.
“Outside of this account, we don’t have other college savings accounts,” Brown said. “We don’t have those advantages that some other families may have.”
San Francisco’s Kindergarten to College Program, which now gives $50 in savings to every student, has 52,000 active accounts with a total balance of $15 million—$10 million of which came from deposits made by the students and their families. The program aims to be both financial education and a small start to college savings, and has been replicated in 39 states across the country.
I’ve often thought there are many things we need to teach our children in school — or at home. I remember talking to my son’s fourth grade teacher.
“Can you give them a lesson on how to write a letter and address an envelope?” I asked. I discovered my son didn’t know where addresses went on an envelope. I was sure he wasn’t the only one.
That’s because kids use email and lost ordinary skills that we took for granted. Banking, savings, credit cards and compound interest are lessons that are being taught in some classes in San Francisco along with the $50 deposit into a savings account. I say “some” because in the article I learned that not all teachers use the savings account lesson plan. They said they were busy enough with existing curriculum.
Another thing I realized my son didn’t learn was how to pay for gas and fill up the tank. I homeschooled my daughter for middle school and I included lots of “adulting” lessons. I thought my son would pick up things naturally from observation. But he was always reading — every free minute — like on car rides. He was oblivious to the world around him.
Changing a tire is a skill my dad taught me when I got my first flat. Of course we have AAA now, but isn’t that a good thing to know how to do if you don’t have cell reception?
What other basic life skills do you think should be taught to our kids in school or at home?
I hope you’re enjoying my new M W F blogging schedule.
With vacation coming up and a busy schedule of getting things done before I leave, I’ve decided to change my blogging schedule. Currently, I’m posting Monday through Friday. I’m going to cut back to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think the new schedule will keep my blog fresher and also allow me time to work on other projects like revising a novel.
After reading Ally Bean’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) post, I learned a good tip from her.
“As a newbie I wish I’d understood that LESS IS MORE. Early on I drove myself batty posting daily, often long wordy posts, because I thought I was supposed to do that. But I learned otherwise and scaled back to a weekly-ish schedule. Readers seem to respond positively to less from me, than to more from me. That’s the lesson. “
I know many people post seven days a week. I don’t know how they do it. I have the hardest time coming up with ideas five times a week, let alone daily. I need days off to recharge my brain.
I’ll try this new schedule for the rest of the summer and re-evaluate it in September.
What are your thoughts about “less is more?” What is your schedule for blogging?
Both books are autobiographies which include memories of their childhood through adulthood with one of their parents in the starring role. The books are well-written, compelling and I gained so much insight into these two women.
Wynne’s book is a much happier story than Vicki’s. Wynne’s strength and independence shines through and she doesn’t shy away from taking charge of her life. From running a high tech business, climbing mountains around the world and raising her children, I gained a huge amount of respect for Wynne.
Also, I got to know her father through his stories of ministry and living in India. I was impressed that throughout his journeys, he learned about other people’s lives and religions and wasn’t there to tell others how or what they should believe.
Another thing I found interesting was my parents met at the University Presbyterian Church and at Calvin Club, just like Wynne’s parents. It might have been around the same time. They might have met! Also, I attended her father’s church as a child visiting friends who were part of the congregation.
As for “Surviving Sue,” I began to read the book with trepidation, having grown up with parents with similar issues — mental illness and alcoholism. I wasn’t sure I would be able to read it, but then with Sue’s (Vicki’s mom) unbelievable behavior striking out at Vicki, blaming her for all her own self-inflicted problems and isolating Vicki from family members, a light went off in my head. I realized my parents loved us. My parents were never mean to us.
Vicki’s story has kind supporting characters including her father, husband, daughter and a sister who is mentally disabled. Vicki’s love and kindness is visible throughout.
Through Vicki’s tale and Wynn’s, I realized they both are women of strong character, grit and in command of their lives. Neither one would ever play the role of victim.
What books can you highly recommend? What are your reading now?
I’ve been having a few quirky issues with WordPress.
I’ll comment on someone’s post and I can’t type the letter n. All the other letters work, but not n. It’s beyond frustrating.
My work around is to quit WordPress. Quit my browser and start over.
Another quirk is people I follow no longer show up in my “reader.” It may be weeks or days before I notice. It’s “out of sight, out of mind.” Then I’ll think to myself, whatever happened to that lovely blog I used to read? I type in the name and up it pops. I’m still following it, but it doesn’t always show up.
One day my stats disappeared. I don’t spend much time on stats, but from time to time I like to know if my engagement is up or my readership is growing. I reached out to WordPress and they were able to reload them for me. I will say that WordPress has a good support team.
Is anyone else having trouble with the letter “N?” What other quirky issues have you had? How often do you check your stats and insights?
A pool overlooking the Gulf of California in Puerto Penasco.
What was I thinking when I named my blog “Bleuwater” back in 2014? Today, I’m wondering why did I come up with such a difficult, hard to spell name?
I blame it on Mom, may she rest in peace.
Her favorite color was blue. She was intense about her likes and usually dressed in navy blue. Everyone who knew her also knew blue was her color. Her favorite restaurant, where my mom and dad went for special occasions, was called the Bleu Dolphin, with the French spelling of blue.
She took me there a couple times for a cup of chowder and Dungeness crab cocktail. I was wildly impressed as a child by the restaurant, the food and the name. My mom thought the name was “highbrow.” Her world was defined by things and people she’d call highbrow or lowbrow.
When I started by blog, I was living in a world of water. Summers at the beach and six days a week at the pool as a swim mom. I was so involved with my kids’ swim team that I earned a polo shirt embroidered with the team logo and “Extreme Swim Parent.” I loved to wear that shirt to parent teacher meetings at my kids’ school. The look on the teacher’s face was well worth it!
There’s the story of the name of my blog. Nine years later, perhaps I’d like to change it, but I’ll hang onto “Bleuwater” in memory of Mom and my love of the ocean, lakes and pools.
If you’re a blogger what’s the story behind your blog’s name?
