I don’t know why, exactly, but a severe case of inertia has been my default mode and mood all month long. Motivation? Nah.
I’ve been keeping my brain busy, though! For instance, I’ve been absolutely riveted with following the fascinating (and nail-biting) progress of the James Webb Space Telescope ever since it launched one month ago on Christmas Day. NASA has a dynamic website that has kept me up-to-date throughout every development, deployment, unfolding, and gobsmacking success of such an immensely complex and intricate undertaking. Everything had to go perfectly—like, a million different huge and tiny things—and so far it all has! Today it entered the L2 orbit, nearly a million miles from Earth, and there it will stay. Originally it was expected to be there for 10 years until the fuel burned out, but it’s all gone so unbelievably well that it has used a fraction of the fuel expected, giving it an additional ten years of life! Now it’s down to calibrating the telescope’s mirrors to achieve clear focus, which should take about three months. I don’t think we’re expected to start seeing images until around June or so. (I can hardly wait!!!)
I’ve also been immersed in the internet craze, Wordle. You’ve probably been seeing a lot of these in your social media feeds lately:
People share their results, but without the letters showing so it doesn’t give anything away. It’s a once-a-day word game, and you have six tries to figure out the word. The white (or gray) boxes mean that the letters you selected are not in the word. Yellow boxes mean the letter IS in the word, but not in the correct position. And the green boxes are correct letters in the correct position. Here’s one I did a while back that shows the process of getting to the correct word:
It’s addicting! I start it in the morning after I’ve had some coffee in me, which is when I’m finally alert enough to THINK. Heh. The first line is a guess, and I’ve since come up with a few starting words to select from that have LOTS of vowels. Then logic and process of elimination, like never re-using dark gray letters, guides you to the correct word. Here is the link if you’d like to give it a try! (Repeat: It’s addicting).
We’ve watched a few decent binge-worthy shows lately (although we’re currently on a stretch of clunkers). But one I really liked was “The Detectorists.” It’s a quirky British show about these people who belong to a metal detector club. It is subtly very funny, and the characters are lovable nerds. Whenever the two main characters are out detecting, and one’s detector beeps and he uses his mini-shovel to dig up the patch of sod, the other calls out in his British accent, “What do ya got?” Of course, the hope is always gold! Anyway, I got to the point that whenever I’d hear that I’d crack up. I find myself using it in everyday life! (Like when John and I are opening our delivered Amazon boxes). “What do ya got?”
We were invited to our neighbors’ for a Tapas lunch! What a lot of fun that was! My favorite way to eat, with small plates of a variety of things.
What a joyful, leisurely, delicious way to hang out and chat and giggle! I’ve been thinking a lot recently about fondue. I used to have a fondue pot back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and some friends did too, so we’d now and then bring our pots together and have a fondue party. (Again, so much fun!) I eventually got rid of that ol’ “Coppertone” fondue pot and haven’t thought much about it for years and years. But lately I have! There’s been a fondue revival, and the fondue restaurants, like The Melting Pot, are very popular (although off-the-charts expensive). But I got to thinking that the main elements of fondue (besides the chocolate for dessert) are the melted cheese and the oil/broth for cooking meats. The idea of cleaning out a pot after serving the cheese portion in order to heat up oil in the midst of the meal did not appeal to me. I remember a fondue restaurant I went to on a date once and they had two pots on the table, one with cheese and the other with hot oil, and that just made sense to me. (The chocolate pot was brought later). So I would need two fondue pots to do this right. After recoiling from sticker shock, I finally found one that seemed very decent and was also reasonably priced, so I bought two!
I also bought a couple of fondue cookbooks (one from The Melting Pot!) And…I’ve been reading up on it—all of the wines and brandies and spices to add to the cheese. All of the variety of ingredients to add to the broth. Broth or oil? Dipping sauces. What to dip! How to serve it! It’s quite a lot to absorb, so I have lots of notes! I may “dip” into it later this week when I’ll do just a cheese pot for John and me. It’s time to experiment!
With all of my surfing lately, I ran across these and boy did they catch my eye! I just think they’re so cute!! (But I DO NOT need anymore knicky-knackies). (But I wouldn’t say “no.”)
“Beliefs don’t change facts. Facts, if you’re reasonable, should change your beliefs.”
-Ricky Gervais
