Closing

I just found out this week that the local J.C. Penney store is closing. (It's in the same shopping center as the place where I get my hair cut.) This makes me sad but I have to admit that it's merely a sentimental reaction. There has always been a J.C. Penney store everywhere I have ever lived. It's just one of those places that have been around all my life and seems like it should continue to be around forever.

But the truth is I almost never shop there. I can literally count on one hand the number of items I have purchased there in the past 20 years. I go there more often than that - or I used to - but I rarely find what I'm looking for or anything that I would ever want. Part of the reason, of course, is that I make most of my own clothes and J.C. Penney mostly sells clothes, but I do buy things like sweaters, socks, undergarments, jeans, coats, jackets, and the occasional t-shirt. Every time I look for these items at JCP either they don't have my size or (usually) don't have anything I like. Everything is all so "trendy" and fussy and often slightly weird. There are no basics.

Obviously, I am not the only person with this problem. I never see more than one or two other customers in the store at the same time. Message to all the stores: Stop blaming millennials for all your problems. I'm not a millennial and I don't shop in your store either. It's not millennials' fault (or anyone else's) if you don't have anything in your stores that anyone wants to buy.

A Little Rossini to Brighten Your Day

A trio arrangement of The Thieving Magpie Overture

Eclipse (and a few more things)

As you probably know already, there will be a total eclipse of the sun across the United States on August 21st. When I first saw a map showing the path of totality I got excited because it is only about a three or four hour drive from where I live. But more lately the Scrooge in me has been coming out. I think about the traffic and the crowds because everyone is going to flock to somewhere on this narrow, 70 mile wide, path across the U.S. I picture traffic jams and general chaos. But still, it's the last chance I will ever get to see a total eclipse of the sun.

Then this morning I found this eclipse simulator. You just enter your city or zip code and it shows you what the eclipse will look like where you live. (or for any location) If this is accurate it looks like the sun will be eclipsed about 90% or more here. Technically not total but close enough to make it not really worth it to drive four hours and deal with the crowds.

Oh, and I still have my eclipse shades that I bought for the last partial eclipse we had, so I'm all set.

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I did say, when I switched back to Blogger, that I was likely going to neglect the blog but I still feel a little bad about it when I go a whole week without posting anything and there are things I want to blog about, like a whole bunch of books. Well, maybe four books that I really have to mention sometime. But not today. Why not? I don't know. I just have to be in the right mood. Know what I mean?

I have been fairly active on Twitter lately. I am @uppityokie in case anyone's interested. I mostly retweet stuff but I do occasionally post a complaint or smart-aleck comment or a "wow, cool" or something and sometimes even get into actual little conversations with a couple of people. I'm typically on it on my phone during the commercials while I'm watching TV in the evening and I also check it a few times during the day.

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Forgotten English looks like a fun site but I haven't taken time to really look at it yet.

Finally, enjoy these lovely images by Igor Zenin

Close Encounter

The most crazy awesome thing happened just a little while ago. (Sadly I don't have video evidence to prove it.) I had walked to the mailbox and was walking back up my long driveway when I saw a flash of brown in my peripheral vision. A dog? So I stopped walking and turned my head to look at it. It was a fawn and it was running toward me eagerly. I'm sure of it. It didn't just happen to be going that way. It saw me and was purposely coming toward me.

But then it stopped just four or five feet away from me and just looked at me for maybe ten or fifteen seconds. Then it walked around me, stopping to look back at me a couple of times and finally started running when it was well past me. I think the poor little guy (or girl, I didn't notice that detail) mistook me for his mom. I hope he found her. I'm flattered but I don't think I'd be a good deer mom.

Morning Walk

I spotted this beauty this morning in the woods behind my house. I don't remember ever seeing one exactly like it before. The photo is not as sharp as I would like. The little guy (or gal?) was shy and wouldn't let me get close so I had to zoom in from several feet away.

Random Linkage

Relax - a brief history of stress relief toys

Luxury Train - I want to take ride! It's in Japan of course.

Everyday Foodie Menus - How to make your ordinary meals sound pretentious

Sun Worshiping - great photos of cats, and a few dogs, enjoying the sun

Before Bond - Young Roger Moore, modeling sweaters and vests

Obnoxious Antiques - an online antique store

Textless Movie Posters - These are great. Movie poster art without the words.

Eat Your Cake; It's Good For You

Add to the list of questionable scientific studies I want to believe, eating chocolate cake for breakfast is good for you. It allegedly improves cognitive performance, memory, and abstract thinking. And - the really exciting one - it can help you lose weight. Yay! Just the good news we've all been wishing for! Now we can eat chocolate cake every morning and we'll all be thin and smart. What a wonderful world. I love science, don't you?

The scientists say that "your body converts food and energy more efficiently in the morning" plus there are those wonderful, beneficial "flavonoids" in chocolate but I have an additional idea about how this (the weight loss part of it) might work. Believe it or not I actually do tend to lose weight when I eat ice cream as opposed to when I pig out on things like pizza and giant greasy hamburgers. When I eat ice cream it's usually in the evening and because I know I am going to eat ice cream I "save up" during the day by avoiding snacks during the day and maybe eating a little less at supper. I can see some people if they eat cake in the morning "being good" the rest of the day because they think, "I had that slice of cake this morning so I better watch the calories the rest of the day."

Anyway, I don't think I'll be trying the Chocolate Cake Diet, at least not right now. A while back on Twitter I said that if I live to be 100 I'm going to eat ice cream for supper every night and tell people it's my secret for a long life. So maybe I'll add cake to my 100+ diet plan. Cake for breakfast, ice cream for supper = long life. I'll figure out what to have for lunch later.