Beauty Discovered

Posted on February 4, 2021 by cordeliasmom2012

It’s the dead of winter. Streets and yards are snow-covered, temperatures are frigid, sunshine is rare. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is real; this year it’s heightened for many people. Depression and other mental issues have increased in the general population as stay-at-home orders, mask-wearing and social distancing mandates continue.

Fortunately, I don’t suffer from true depression, but I have found the long winter a bit wearing. It’s too cold and snowy to go out, except on work days, and my desire for photography and blog-writing is absent most days.

‘Cause, you know, since I started doing my own photography for this blog, I find I can’t write unless I have a picture ready to go (or at least in mind). And inasmuch I don’t care to go out into the snowy winter, I don’t have photos ready to go, and I find it difficult to create staged photos unless I have a post idea in mind.

It’s a chicken-or-egg-first situation.

Recently, I was at the end of another ho-hum workday. I had just dropped a couple of finished projects into my boss’ in-box and was leaving her office when she called me back.

Even though it’s been three years since I left The Job From Hell, I still have that feeling of constant anxiety that I will be berated for something I have, or haven’t, done. Certainly I know better – my current employers are wonderful, caring people who value their employees and who never yell or threaten, but the feelings are still there sometimes.

So, I turned back to my boss with a silent sigh, expecting I had done something wrong.

BOSS: [CM], you are …

I’m what? A good worker but sloppy? A nice person but just a bit lazy? Too stupid to live and about to be the first employee ever fired at this firm (the latter half of this sentence being a direct quote from The Job From Hell)?

BOSS: … a wonderful photographer who takes beautiful pictures. Go over to my window and see what’s there.

Now, my boss’ office is rather large and normally I have no reason to go over toward the window, nor to even look that way. Rounding her desk and approaching the window-side table, I saw …

Her Christmas Cactus had bloomed! Such a gorgeous cascade of luscious pink flower and succulent green foliage!

A camera-must. All I had with me was my little Olympus pocket point-and-shoot, and I did my best:

Not perfect, but not too bad, even considering it was late in the afternoon and the light was bad. I loved that my boss was fascinated by my efforts to get just the right angle, and allowed me all the time I needed, or wanted. That evening, I edited the photos and emailed her the two above.

She thought they were wonderful, but I wasn’t satisfied.

The next day, I took my somewhat better Nikon camera to work and retook the shots, earlier in the day and with better light. And I was pleased with the results (see photos at the head of this post and at the end of this post).

As I told my boss, she made my day. Have I mentioned that I currently have The. Best. Job. Ever! ?

I’m easily uplifted by small kindnesses. It helps that I’ve recently learned that several other bloggers have picked up my photos from Flickr.com for their own blogs (yes, with proper credit and link-backs!). This makes me feel like a real photographer.

Happy February, folks. Soon winter (and the pandemic) will end, spring will come, and yours truly will (hopefully) find the spirit and energy for better writing and more varied post scenarios.

Hugs, friends!

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Covid-19, Photography, That's Life | Tagged beauty, Christmas Cactus, employment, flowers, Nikon Coolpix A1000, Olympus VG-190, work | 17 Comments

Small World

Posted on January 28, 2021 by cordeliasmom2012

May, 1971, Washington, DC. The May Day protests against the Vietnam War took place over a span of several days. Protestors took over the city, blocked bridges, and camped out on the National Mall.

Not all protests were peaceful. I recall one story, in particular, of a young government worker who was surrounded by angry protestors while driving across a bridge between Virginia and DC, became frightened, and accidentally (or so she said) hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, thereby running over one or more individuals.

I don’t recall how I got to work that day; since I normally took a bus from my apartment in the Maryland suburbs, I can only assume that either buses were getting through or that there weren’t any blocked bridges on the route. Hey, it was 50 years ago; it’s a wonder I can even remember where I lived at that time! Probably I slept through the entire ride and didn’t even know anything was going on.

In 1971, I was young, single and working for a federal alphabet agency in the heart of DC, whose agents were tasked with monitoring the protests. Agents on the roof of the building would radio down their observations while I sat at my desk and transcribed same. We had been instructed to stay in the building and not to even venture out at lunchtime, inasmuch as some of the protestors had chained themselves to the outside doors and were hassling staff members. It was payday, and there were certain employees who felt it necessary to get to the bank to cash paychecks, despite the warnings. One of my co-workers did so, only to be attacked by the mob and then wound up in the hospital with broken bones.

Heady times, indeed. But time marches on. The protests ceased, eventually the war ended, and things returned more or less to normal.

Fast forward about 40 years.

I was now married, with kids, had become a real estate paralegal in Buffalo, NY, and was attending a closing at the Erie County Clerk’s Office. While waiting for the results of the title search update, the paralegal for the lender and I engaged in light chitchat. I don’t recall how the conversation turned to 1971 and the Vietnam War, but it did. Imagine my surprise when the bank paralegal said she had also been in DC during those protests! I asked which agency she was working for back then – and she replied that she was not working for the government, she was, in fact, one of the protestors!

What a small world! 40 years later and nearly 400 miles away, here we were sitting at the same table trying to accomplish the same goal – close a real estate deal between our respective clients. And neither of us looking to injure the other. We had a good laugh and finished the work we were there to do. Over the following years, we would often pass at the Clerk’s Office and share a small smile, but eventually we each found other jobs and lost contact with each other.

Sometimes I wonder if our paths had crossed in 1971 without either of us knowing it. How many people do you come across each day (when it’s not a pandemic, of course), and how many might you see again 40 or 50 years later, without realizing you had met before?

Just a little food for thought on a snowy January day. If you’ve had similar experiences, feel free to leave a comment, or a link to your story. I’d love to hear from you.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Relationships, That's Life | Tagged 1970s, employment, protests, time, Vietnam War, work | 11 Comments

Stay-cay Va-cay

Posted on January 18, 2021 by cordeliasmom2012

11 days off in a row!

My office has a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy, and my work anniversary is February 1. I had two as yet unused vacation days. So, it occurred to me that since my normal work week is now Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, and today being a federal holiday for which my office is closed, if I took tomorrow and Wednesday as vacation days, I would have more than an entire week to do absolutely nothing.

So I did.

When I asked for the days off, my boss said, “Sure – you haven’t had a vacation in the three years you’ve worked here, have you?” Well, no, unless you count the three months off during the state’s COVID-19 lockdown in March, April and May. Otherwise, I only took a day here and there for medical appointments and the like (and, of course, when I fell down the steps on my way to work).

Isn’t it wonderful that even on a part-time job, I’m granted paid vacation time? I work for the best employers ever!

Porch before it was repainted. It wasn’t slippery then.

You wouldn’t think I’d need any vacation time on a three-day work week, would you? But I’ve noticed over the last year or so that even three days is becoming a struggle, what with my age and health. And then there’s the weather. Staying home for 11 days means that’s 11 days that I’m less likely to slide into another vehicle at a slippery intersection or to fall down my icy porch steps.

(BTW, to those who read me regularly: you may be happy to know that we have now put rubber treads on those porch steps. What a difference!)

There’s the added plus (or minus, depending on your viewpoint) of having the ability this week to watch all the news surrounding our Presidential inauguration and the aftermath of the recent Capitol riots. Will there, in fact, be another attempted coup before or during the inauguration itself? I’ll be safe at home, but glued to the TV and internet, so I’ll let you know.

(I did find it interesting, however- and a bit unnerving- that the State Police chose this week to advise me that my pistol permit is due for re-certification. Do they think I might be needing it? Certainly hope not!)

History in the making. Sometimes it’s good; sometimes it’s bad. This year it’s a bit of both.

Other than lazing about, my only plans are to catch up on chores and maybe do some shopping. Also, a much needed haircut – which, I admit, still makes me a bit nervous considering the upsurge in COVID-19 cases. Is this pandemic ever going to end?

I know I’ve been remiss in both posting and photography. Like many others, being house-bound except for work is definitely taking its toll on me. I’ve been wracking my brain for post ideas, and nothing comes to me; the weather has made it too uncomfortable, and sometimes dangerous, to venture out to scenic locations. Never mind that my body simply isn’t cooperating these days – a couple of weeks ago, I helped hubby lift something heavy into my vehicle and my knee gave out. I couldn’t bend my left leg for three days! And the pain was barely tolerable. Fortunately, this happened on a Thursday and I had already completed my work week, and happily, I can now walk more or less normally again.

It sucks getting old[er].

But Puppy Cody is slowing down a bit, too, now that she’s “middle-aged” (for a dog). It balances out nicely for us.