Keeping Up With The Joneses

I read an article by a journalist, in which they posited that modern parenting suffered from comparisons of self with influencers, that comparisons were toxic. The article also focused very heavily on comparing current parenting with past generations of parents, including my generation, indulging in the toxic approach of comparisons. The author seemed entirely unaware of this paradox. I found the article cherry picked the challenges and solutions of parenting, both past and present. It got me thinking about “keeping up with the Joneses”, an “old” saying from past generations, that seems to be experiencing a rebranding.

So, do Attila and I keep up with the Joneses. Quite frankly, it is a full time occupation just to keep up with ourselves!

This past week we took a day trip to the Camp, we hadn’t been there all summer. We don’t go out when the weather is hot, I do not tolerate the heat. The weather is cooler now, so out we went. It was a property maintenance trip. Attila used the weed eater to cut the long grasses on the drive and around the campsite. I collected fallen branches and kept a campfire burning. Attila emptied the mouse trap (we caught three mice). These activities took up almost the entire day.

The highlight of our day was our lunch, cheese and onion sandwiches grilled over the open fire, with home canned coleslaw, fruit cups (commercial), and a nice cool cup of homemade Kombucha.

Because I am still doing intermittent fasting, I brought along a simple dinner, a peanut butter and peach jam sandwich, and some chocolate zucchini muffins. Low sugar jam, and low sugar muffins.

The weather was perfect for our visit, sunny, coolish, with a lovely breeze. Since it was a weekday, the power boats were not active out on the lake, and the cottagers were not doing their ATV thing, so it was quiet and lovely. Well, not so quiet when Attila was operating the weed eater, but very quiet when he was not.

I was very pleased to see a garter snake slither away under Grace the trailer, as I stepped up to the door. Snakes keep the mouse population under control. We did have rat snakes on the property a few years ago, but have not seen them this year. I prefer the garter snake, as the rat snakes will climb trees, and eat birds as well as mice and rodents. Also, rat snakes are quite large, at least the ones at the Camp were, so I find their proximity unpleasant.

We continue to preserve our garden produce. Yesterday we processed tomatoes to can three jars of Pizza Sauce. This morning we canned four jars of Cowboy Candy. Tomorrow it might be more Pickled Banana Peppers, we shall see though, what the garden yields in the morning.

Worldly

Weather

22°C
Date: 3:02 PM EDT Sunday 1 September 2024
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 100.9 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 21.8°C
Dew point: 20.4°C
Humidity: 92%
Wind: WSW 18 gusts 34 km/h
Humidex: 30
Visibility: 16 km

Quote

“One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
1884 – 1962