Category: Writing

Posted in 2024, life, thoughts, Writing

Puzzles = Learning to Focus

Posted on by nancyb422

While in California in November, Aunt Mindy was working on a jigsaw puzzle. She has a nice set up at her recliner with a light and puzzle table with drawers for sorting. I’d done a few puzzle in the past and always enjoyed the hunt and thrill when you find the right pieces early on.

I bought this puzzle and the roll up pad for myself LAST CHRISTMAS but honestly was afraid to start because I didn’t know how long it would take….would I get bored?……would someone in my house be annoyed it was taking me so long? They were tucked away on the bottom shelf of our bookcase along with my adult coloring book and pencils, my French lesson card deck, my knitting books…you get the picture right?

When I opened the 1000 piece puzzle box and thought “oh my God this is going to take me a lifetime to put together”, I thought it was all about patience to complete it. As I progressed, I realized it was more about focusing on one task at a time.

Started during Christmas week; Progress on January 5th

Of course I started with the edges, praying that the size would fit on the table! Thankfully I had a 1/2 inch on either side to work with! The pad is felt-like and held everything in place. I put a mark 8” in on the pad in case I needed to roll it up.

Nearly every night after dinner I would turn on the overhead lights and start examining pieces and comparing them to parts of the puzzle and the picture. Some parts stood out but of course, it’s a puzzle, it’s not meant to be easy! At first I was putting pieces in the area I thought they belonged to, but it just got to crowded so I put them all back in the box and would pick a house or section and sort for that. What a thrill it was the first time I connected a section to the sides!

So close to the edge!

Altogether it took me about three weeks to complete. I didn’t work every evening, but when I did it was about an hour at a time. No one complained about it taking up space (I think that issue is all in my head). I didn’t lose any pieces although when I couldn’t find the last edge piece, I thought one was! I think what I enjoyed most was there was an end in sight right from the beginning.

A Day in Paris – Done!

I looked at it lovingly for a day and then took it apart. Today I bought another 1000 piece puzzle and found a pack of 7 trays for sorting that stack together! I’m going to spend a little time on my other hobbies but now that I know I can focus on it and have the patience to see it through, I’m looking forward to it!

How do you feel about puzzles? Are you a master puzzler or prefer to pass them by?

Posted in 2024, thoughts, Writing

No Man is an Island, but sometimes…

Posted on by nancyb422

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

This quote is one of my favorites, but I can’t say I’ve always followed it! I have no problem with the “love many”, but sometimes for certain reasons, I didn’t listen to my instincts (or was persuaded otherwise) on the “trust few”!

What do you think about this quote and how it applies to you?

Posted in 2024, Memories, Writing

ANNhurst, not AMherst*

Posted on by nancyb422

What colleges have you attended?

I attended one college from 1978 to 1980 and received my Associates Degree in Secretarial Science back when that was still a thing.

Annhurst College was a beautiful liberal arts college set in Woodstock Connecticut – “the quiet corner” of the state. Laid out on both sides of Route 169 it was originally a teaching college for Daughters of the Holy Spirit, the nuns who taught in the catholic schools in the eastern part of the state. It then developed into a “regular” college for girls, and by the time I got there, it was co-ed with a 5-1 ratio of females to males. At the time I was there the student body was around 250-300 people.

The college consisted of one old brick building that housed “the gym” and sciences classrooms on the second floor, and classroom/administration building, a student center/cafeteria, and cultural center of built in the 1960s. There were two dormitories – one built in the 1960s and the other built earlier, as well as another building that housed the nuns when I went there and contained the chapel. There were also old homes that some nuns lived in and one was used for the admissions office. In the basement was The Hobbit Hole, the college bar. The only official place to drink in Woodstock because it was a dry town!

I loved it from the moment I saw it. I loved walking everyday to meals and to classes along the paths, sitting out in front of the student center after a meal, or waiting for one, riding my bike to Roseland Lake, taking the school’s bus to Putnam on Fridays to pick up supplies from K-Mart, ordering pizza nearly every night (and gaining that “Freshman 15”), and just reveling in the beauty of the countryside.

Sadly, in the spring of my 2nd (and last) year at Annhurst, it was announced that it would be closing at the end of the academic year. all underclassmen were given help to find somewhere to go at that late notice and alumni were left without “a home”. It really left a hole in the hearts of everyone.

Nancy (me) Annhurst College Graduation May 1980
Views of Annhurst College present day (2023)

Thankfully about 10 years ago, an alumni association was started up and there is an annual reunion held at the campus which is now part of Woodstock Academy (a private school).

My husband and I occasionally ride out to Woodstock on the motorcycle and he drives down Route 169 so I can have my bit of nostalgia.

*A common conversation after graduation:

ME: I go to Annhurst college. THEM: Oh! Amherst in Massachusetts wow! ME: No, ANNhurst college in Woodstock. THEM: Woodstock NY! Oh wow! ME: NO ANNhurst College in Woodstock CT. It closed the year I graduated. THEM: Oh! Never heard of it.

Tell me in the comments if you’ve ever heard of it!

Posted in 2023, Politics, Writing

My Political Views

Posted on by nancyb422

How have your political views changed over time?

I heed the wise words of keeping your thoughts on religion and politics to yourself!

I have always considered myself a conservative democrat or a liberal republican which makes me Independent. I originally registered as an independent so I wouldn’t get any political phone calls but in 2023, that really doesn’t matter (does it Nikki Hailey who keeps texting for “William” to my cell phone as do the realtors in Florida hoping to buy his Coral Gables property) anymore.

My views have remained pretty consistent since I first registered to vote in 1978.

Posted in 2023, family, life, Memories, thoughts, Writing

The View Never Gets Old (even though it’s old)

Posted on by nancyb422

I moved into this house in May of 1961, the month after I turned one year old. Before that, my family rented a home a few blocks from my mother’s family home.

I imagine my parents’ eyes lit up when they saw the four bedrooms and the 1/2 acre yard. The bonus was the covered porch on the side of the house and a double bonus was a next door neighbor with four children!

The porch was where we watched thunderstorms lighting up the woods across the street, where we hung out with friends, where we slept on hot summer nights only to be woken up by the sun, well past sunrise beating down on us!

One of my Sunday mornings watching the world go by
6:30 am on a September morning

I left for seven years to California and looked we looked high and low for a house just like the one I grew up in. We found one that had it’s own charm but then we had the chance to buy this one from my dad and we took it. We moved back to Connecticut 28 years ago and are still so thankful it worked out.

August 2021 and the start of the family room addition. The back deck wrapped around the the porch

The side porch is still a special part of the house. It was given a facelift a few years ago, had a deck attached for the back of the house for 10 years or so, and is now a little bit larger to go with the family room added 2 years ago. During warmer weather, I sit out there with my morning coffee and newspaper. It’s the same location that my dad sat for 40 years, reading his newspaper in warm weather.

The sunrise from my side porch November 4 at 7:30

I love that this house keeps so many memories alive.

Posted in 2023, Books, life, thoughts, Writing

To Replay Your Life

Posted on by nancyb422

It was late 1987 and I had recently moved to California to live with my soon to be husband. I moved my belongings by UPS so there wasn’t a lot of extra stuff (books!) that came with me.

Always looking for something to read I surprisingly found a book on a shelf. It was “Replay” by Ken Grimwood published in 1986.

It was about an overweight, unhappy in his marriage 40-something man who has a heart attack at his desk. But…..he wakes up, in his dorm room at 19 years old.

It takes him a little while to realize where he is but then he does what would be expected – he DOESN’T get involved with the woman in his unhappy marriage, and he starts betting on all the major sports events!

It goes on from there and everything is great – until he “dies” again but comes back a little older, and a little older….. He realizes, he can live his life as crazy as he wants to because he’s “replaying” his life.

After a few times, he discovers that there are others who are doing the same.

I’ve read this book 3 or 4 times and It is a fascinating premise. Die and end up back in your early adulthood with the knowledge you left your existing life with. As they say “hindsight is 20/20”! What would you do? Would you want the ability to come back and right wrongs? Change behaviors? Go to the love of your life faster without dealing with all the dopes first?

I’ve contemplated it. I think about what I would do and how I would make sure I found my husband – just sooner!

Posted in 2023, life, Memories, thoughts, Writing

Daylight Saving Time Yea or Nay?

Posted on by nancyb422

Growing up I loved when the clocks moved forward an hour! This was before they started messing with when it happened. Every year it was the last Sunday in April and with my birthday being the 22nd, it was a pretty good bet it would happen on the morning of our family party.

Our relatives, including 4 close in age cousins, would come over for food and cake and us kids would play in the yard all afternoon. My dad would bring out the motor scooter with side car (on loan from his brother) and take everyone on rides around the neighborhood. It felt like the day stretched on forever!

Falling back an hour usually coincided with Halloween back in the 70s so it would be nice and dark early when Halloween rolled around. We’d get out around 5pm and by back by 9pm to sort our candy and make trades. My sisters and I went to a catholic elementary school so we’d have the next day off because of All Saints Day. It was one of the few perks of going to our school!

I came to realize very quickly that babies do not recognize Daylight Saving time! Dogs too. They are going to keep on their regular sleep, eat, poop time regardless of what the clock says!

As the years have gone by, I realize I don’t do well with the time change at all! I’m going to bed at 9 when it’s really 10 and then getting up at 5:20 – which my husband reminds me “it was 6:20” – and I feel exhausted! Or because “it’s really only 8 but the clock says 9!”, I’ll stay up for an extra hour and again, exhausted!

Arizona and Hawaii have it right – they just don’t participate. Good for them! Who do I need to talk to here in Connecticut? I think we should be a little oasis of common sense!

How to do you feel about the time change?

6:30 am sunrise
Posted in 2023, life, thoughts, Writing

🎵 If I Had a Million Dollars 🎵

Posted on by nancyb422

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

By saying “if you had a million dollars to give away”, gives me the notion that perhaps I’m already set up for retirement. Like I don’t need this million dollars. Let’s go with that. I’ve become some kind of multi-millionaire, my son and his wife, my sisters and their families are all flush because I’ve taken care of their home loans, college loans, and set up college funds for my adorable great niece and nephew, and this million is chump change to me.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way – I would give my million dollars in parts to my public library, the local Master’s Manna that provides food and clothing in our town, to our animal shelter, and to our state Foodshare that happens to be headquartered in my town.

I’d set up trusts to distribute the money so it continues to grow because these organizations aren’t going anywhere and I’d want to be sure the money is there forever. Or something like that because what do I know about donating such a large amount of money anywhere!

But it’s fun to think about!

Posted in 2023, thoughts, Writing

It’s Me! I’m the Problem!

Posted on by nancyb422

I spend the week working on my computer doing work things thinking about the things I want to do on the weekend, which are also on the computer. But then the weekend comes along and I feel – guilty? – about doing it! Like because I’m not actively moving, I’m being lazy! While I’m rationalizing it in my head, I feel an angsty feeling in my chest like I want to explode. It is fucked up.

I’ve tried to blame it on my husband by saying to him “Well, I feel like you will think I’m just being lazy” when obviously we both know it’s me being a head case!

So how or when did I get this crazy notion in my head that sorting pictures, or writing stories, or researching family names is lazy? I’m the same person who could sit for 4 hours not moving while reading a book and not think twice about it. The same person who could sleep until 1 p.m., even on a weekend morning when she wasn’t hungover!

Maybe it’s because my husband’s home activities are more active. Working on his motorcycle, yard work, and things around the house. He’s even taken over 80% of the cooking. I think there’s something to that and that’s where my guilt comes in because in my head he’s doing so much more when actually, he’s doing things I did for most of our marriage!

That’s it! Guilt gone! Don’t you wish all of life’s problems were that easy to solve?