Weekend Coffee Share......Come Sit with Me

It's another week of Weekend Coffee Share. I always love everyone's posts. Are you like me and try to visit everyone? It doesn't always happen but I try. I have loved getting to know different bloggers and I figure if they take the time to write a post, I'll find the time to visit, even if it's a week later. 

I was MIA last week. Just a lot going on, but I also kind of messed up my computer a bit. Mostly with Photos (I use a Mac). So I just was a bit too anxious to sit and write posts. 

If we were having coffee we'd probably talk about:

The weather: It has stayed pretty hot but this week has cooled down enough to be more bearable. Even a few scattered rain showers, which was nice because that meant no watering needed for me. The hotter weather will return next week. 

What we're thinking about: I've been thinking about why we post things on social media. What is our motivation, what do we hope to accomplish? Have you paid attention to the patterns of certain people you follow on any platform? I have. I can't speak for anyone else, but it does make me wonder sometimes. I know for me I try to post things that I think friends and family would enjoy, updates for those who live far away, things that will encourage, uplift, maybe challenge thinking a little bit. I refuse to use it as a platform for pointing fingers, judging, promoting division, portray a victim mentality. I have seen some posts that make me think "honey, you will never get out of the cycle you've been in by posting those kinds of things". Things won't change if we don't change our thinking. Other times, with someone in particular I think, "hmmm is that aimed at me or a few others in the family", and then I have to walk away and not go back for awhile because that does nothing good for my mental and emotional well being. I try to be supportive of those ones but sometimes you have to just not engage. A few people will spew their thoughts but you can't share your thoughts on your page because they get offended. Oh boy! I know life isn't always rainbows and butterflies, but I do believe that what we allow to consume our thoughts and emotions and what we put out in the world will be what we produce in our own lives. And not everyone on my social media needs to have access to the tougher things, and rather than "vague posting", I choose to reserve things for a select few.

What we're thankful for: I'm thankful for experiences that make me grow and change, and evaluate myself. I don't ever want to be in a place that doesn't allow for change and growth. Definitely not perfect at it but who really is right?

What we're reading or wanting to read: I haven't had time to look at the photography e-book I bought. I've also done terrible about reading my book club book. I think we're meeting tomorrow...I need to get busy. I'm not quite halfway there and I'm not a fast reader.

I did order a new book called Suite Spot by Trish Doller. We are going on vacation in 2 1/2 weeks to Kelley's Island, Ohio. My aunts vineyard is the venue for a book signing with this books author..there will be food, signing the book and a discussion. Its character moves to Kelley's Island to manage a hotel. I thought it would be super fun to go to, so I purchased a ticket to the event and bought the book. My goal is to get it read before we get there. 

What we're watching or listening to: I've still been trying to listen to Ted Talks but haven't gotten them in every day. I haven't watched much else. I feel like this last week was just too much going on. 

Around the house: The plants in my planters are all doing good even with the heat. Other than that, not much going on. I really need to get our family photos ordered so we can get our gallery wall up. I don't know why I'm procrastinating. I guess I'm not sure where I want to order them from. I have gotten about 10 gallon size bags of blueberries off our 8 bushes. Yay! That should last us til next season. I think I can get a few more. 

From the kitchen: I didn't make much this week, at least nothing new. I did buy some stew meat, but instead of making stew, I marinated it and then after cooking it, served it over rice. Really easy and really good. I'll do that again this week. I made some new popsicles for the grandkids. This time I used coconut milk, and then a frozen mixture of dragonfruit, banana, and mango. They liked them. 

Favorite Quote from the week: This week's #WQW theme was lakes, here were a few of my faves. 

One of our beautiful local lakes in the fall.

Favorite photo(s) of the week: The other day I had an appointment with my naturapath and after stopping at a few stores I had time to kill before the appointment. A month or so ago, I went on a mural walk with my youngest daughter in downtown Vancouver, Wa. You can read about that here. So to kill time, I decided to drive down 4th Plain Blvd in Vancouver to find some more murals that I had seen online. They are being created in an attempt to revitalize this area which tends to be a more rundown, higher crime area of Vancouver. Here's what I found. I know there were a few I missed. It's a busy road so it was hard to navigate on my own. I'll be going back for sure. 

 Michael Feliz in 2018

Christian Barrios 2018

Titled Community by Mary Josephson

This one and the one below I had to do a slow down and snap picture because it was a little sketchy at the time I drove by. 

Travis London 2018

Christopher Rice 2019 This one also had his quote "judge not a man by the color of his skin but by the content of his character"

Travis London 2021

Chloe King and Joanna McCarthy 2017

Sarah Hunter 2021

Randomness: A lot of randomness last week. I mentioned I didn't post last week mainly because of a computer issue involving Photos for mac...I inadvertently while thinking I was fixing something, ended up messing something up and now things are "stuck". I'm paranoid to undo them because I don't want to lose photos, so I'm going next week to a local tech company to have them hopefully fix my "uh oh". In a nutshell, I thought I was copying my "photos library" to my EHD but it actually moved it which isn't beneficial for me so I tried to move it back. But before I did that, I updated my computer since I've not had enough room to update it for awhile. Well, when I moved it back, it messed something else up. I think I didn't do it right. Anyways...long story, and apparently I don't know anyone who could come help me...I even offered to feed them yummy food. I'm paranoid so I've been moving some photos and videos to the EHD but because of the issue some aren't moving...uggh. So off to the techies I'll go. 

In other news my hubby hosted some of his work team and their families at our house last Saturday. We bought this large lawn Jenga game so we had to try it out. We got it to 52" high. We haven't gotten it that high since then. Lol.

One of his coworkers gave us this bowl for hosting. It is made by a local Tacoma, Wa artist named Peter Yohann. I think it is so pretty. Here is a link to his website. On his site he says "God made the wood....He just lets me open it up to show it's beauty".  

I had the kids at our house one day to babysit. It was going to be hot and I knew they'd want to be outside, so I found a fun idea on Facebook and gave it a try. I went to the Dollar Store and bought some little dinos and a few bigger ones and some latex balloons. I put a small dino in a few balloons, filled them with water and froze them. With the large ones I took a bowl, filled it part way with water, put the larger dinos in and froze it. Then I filled the bowl the rest of the way and froze it again (the dinos kept floating and I wanted them buried in the ice). When the kids came over, we took them out one at a time and they got to "dig for the dinos". It was a fun idea. 

This weekend we have company coming over, I have a book club meeting hopefully (we actually decided to change it just an online discussion since two of the gals can't come), and we may hit the county fair on Sunday with our grandson. In between that I'll be getting some things caught up on the computer in case they keep it longer than I expect, but I'm hoping it's a quick fix. I did back it up before I did anything. 

Check out all the other posts on Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I'm off to go visit some now. #weekendcoffeeshare

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin