Looking out the window this morning, at first light, I could see snow mixed with the spitting rain. I rose from my chair to get a better look out of the window. The white flakes melted on contact with earthly surfaces, no accumulation today. In the ash tree outside the window, a beautiful Blue Jay fluttered from branch to branch, found the few remaining seeds, then flew off to try his/her luck further down the street.
I have become accustomed to visiting Facebook each day to see what my friends are up to. There are friends on my friends list who really are friends! However, lately I’ve noticed a subtle state of uneasiness, which manifests as anxiety as I try to fall asleep at night. I am wondering if it is related to Facebook, and the “friends” who aren’t really friends, just interesting people on my friends list. So today is a day that I will not login to Facebook, and perhaps tomorrow and the next day too. It remains to be seen if Facebook is at the root of the uneasiness.
Facebook is not a particularly healthy place in which to spend time. It is full of emotionally homeless people. And here I failed, I had to write that on Facebook, the emotionally homeless concept, could not resist! And while I was there I noticed that someone had tagged me in a comment, and so visited the comment to see what was up, and got a link to a very useful archival technique tutorial for removing photographs from those old gluey photograph albums. Facebook has its positive aspects. I am back now though, logged out, closed the browser window, narrow escape.
I will continue to use the Internet to work on my genealogy, and was hard at it this morning by 6:30 a.m. I haven’t discovered any new-to-me data, but the process of research is like peeling an onion, layer by layer information is revealed. Every day spent with the records could bring to light something new and interesting.
It is an odd sensation, while perusing files on ancestry, to find my Grandpa and his personal information listed on a stranger’s family tree. They are not related, as far as I know. It is just weird to see strangers sifting through my family identity. I also collect information on people I am not directly related to, but who have been a part of the communities where my ancestors lived. I don’t post it on the internet though, nor do I hand over the connections, images and stories I have found to the multinational corporation that is ancestry. It is also interesting how misinformation is published and then shared with confidence in its legitimacy. That is one of the reasons I publish books with references, references that will verify the information shared.
After renovation projects there is always cleaning to be done, and clutter to clear. Furniture needs to be returned to its rightful place. This need was graphically demonstrated to me this morning, as I bumped my bad knee on an end table that was sitting in an unaccustomed spot, thankfully sustaining only a bleeding surface wound; so far the arthritis does not seem to be flaring up.
Attila has been working hard this fall, new windows in the dining area, a new window in the back bedroom, and a new kitchen floor. Renovating Mist Cottage has been a slow and laborious series of projects, which began in 2010. Attila has done all of the work himself, with the exception of putting on the new roof and gutting the basement, when Lares helped him, and the hiring of a contractor to dig and install the footing drainage around the basement. Because Mist Cottage is so small, each renovation project is intrusive and requires significant adjustments in the way we live, for the duration of the project. Because the renovations advance slowly, we are able to savour each improvement, enjoy each change to the fullest extent. Soon, I think, both the bathroom and the kitchen renovations will be completed to our satisfaction. Then I think Attila will hang up his tools until the spring, when he will tackle putting a new roof on the garage.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
2°C
Date: 6:00 AM EST Monday 13 November 2017
Condition: Light Rain and Snow
Pressure: 102.9 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 1.5°C
Dew point: -0.6°C
Humidity: 86%
Wind: ESE 12 km/h
Visibility: 16 km
Quote
“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.”
James M. Barrie
1860 – 1937
I was surprised to see the old flooring still visible. Will it be covered completely?
I have a very limited number of friends on Facebook, 17 right now. I have no idea how people add in hundreds of friends. I have extended family members, a few members from a stepmom’s group, and a few former high school friends. That’s it. Even though I have a few groups that I subscribe to for things like decorating and renovating, I’ve never had a friendship evolve from being on Facebook, and I’ve been on Facebook something like 7-8 years.
We had more snow, last night. Right now we have about an inch of snow melting off our roof. I think this is the first time in a few years where we’ve actually have snow stick for a few days before December.
Teri, the floor installation is not finished yet. The area you see and around the corner are a bit tricky, and Attila needs to do some floor construction before he can lay the tiles. There are holes in the floor that must be fixed. The work will go on a bit at a time and then be finished next weekend, I hope.
I have several friends that I met on Facebook, which surprises me a great deal. I have grown very fond of several people, through their interactions with me. There are many though who are there primarily to “network”, and if they are interesting and good hearted, I stay “friends” with them, although in reality they would hardly give me the time of day. They think I am a “fan”, and I think they are funny, and interesting, or both. I think those with hundreds of friends aren’t really friends with that many people, there is something else going on there, something that isn’t necessarily odious, just not friendly.
You are getting a lot more snow that we are! I am really enjoying this weather, gray skies or not.
I look at FB this way – if you go to a newstand or to a library or a book store, you have material you enjoy and want to read and other material lives there that you’d never wish to read… they all live together on the shelves, you just pick up what you want and leave the material you don’t want. Scrolling thru FB has so much to offer to me, especially as relates to my various obsessions like dogs and yarn… that I would never give it up voluntarily – I get too much out of it. Would you stop going to a library because they have “off color” books? You just ignore them and go for your own interests. I look at it the same way, only a lot more accessible for people like me.
Bex, thanks for sharing how you use Facebook, the analogy with the library is a fine one. I too have joined groups that I would dearly miss if I exited Facebook on a permanent basis, the subjects of yarn, crochet, and genealogy come to mind.
🙂 I woud stop going to the library if I was exposed to political posturing, activist or status quo rantings, shocking images, and advertisements every time I entered the door. It is hard to tune all the noise out on Facebook, it is designed to put things in your face, whether you like them or not. And the ads and suggestions drive me to distraction, constantly taking up my time as I try to scroll past dozens of them. But for all that I will be going back to Facebook to interact on the topics that interest me, just not so often as before.
When I see an attitude or subject I don’t like on Facebook I hide the user that generated it. That way I’m much less likely to see what I dislike. With ads, I hide ads I dislike and go through the questionnaire as to why I don’t want to see it. I only get about 2 ads or suggestions per day now, and I’m fine with things like yowling puppies that they show me.
Teri, you outline a good approach to enjoying time spent on Facebook!