Waking to find your room bathed in pink necessitates rushing outside, camera in hand.
Though I did pause to pull a jacket on over my nightshirt.
The cats watched in astonishment.
“We didn’t know she could move that fast!”
Ah well, I still can when it suits me.
While the eastern horizon seemed engulfed in a conflagration, the rest of the world was decidedly rose-coloured.
Which was reflected by ground frost.
Moving with speed is critical, if you wish to capture the moment because it changes in a trice.
Sometimes as it develops, dawn can become more spectacular.
Or sometimes you hear the call of geese, rising from their roost.
Just possibly, I belabor that subject…
When they disappeared beyond the range of my lens, I toddled back indoors to collect buckets of bird seed and water for the bird baths.
After bashing the ice out of three trays, my fingers reminded me that it was actually fairly cold and perhaps getting dressed might not be a bad idea.
Within a very short time, the sky had clouded over, though I kept an eye on developments as I sat with my oatmeal and iPad.
Half of my attention at breakfast is devoted to Wordle, English and French. There is a sequence to be followed:
5-letter Wordle, then 3-letter airport codes which I almost invariably fail, there being so very many more airports than I ever needed to know of. Next, 5-letter French Wordle. Here perversely, my failures are often words I know, whereas quite often I can come up with words I never did. I try likely letter combinations until something works.
The French Wordle is, I am sure, a special edition for those of us to who French is not the native tongue.
With all of those out of the way, I progress to Worlde, identifying a country from its outline.
Today’s was a no-brainer. A very large island in the Southern Hemisphere.
Thence to 4-letter Wordle. I am mortified to confess that I often fail here. But there are so many words that differ by just one letter. It’s hard luck if you don’t pick the right one. But it still annoys me.
6-letter Wordle. On a good day I will solve this. If I’ve taken too much time over the earlier puzzles, I may lay it aside till lunchtime.
Or, I may appeal to Grant for help. But if he gets the word, I have to start all over again because I have to be able to do it myself.
While all of this is going on, I would like to point out, I am eating breakfast and chatting to Grant as well as periodically getting up for a photograph.
The man often shakes his head. “Why do you do this to yourself?”
Why, indeed.
It is a tad obsessive, I’ll concede, but that is how I am. Most people who know me are probably not aware of my obsessive nature.
It comes, I think, from having no control over one’s early life. It’s a need to be able to control at least something.
The behaviour sticks and you find yourself believing that if you stray from certain patterns, you will lose control of everything. So you hold on to your obsessions. Doing things in the same order.
At least, that’s my explanation.
But I’m not done yet:
On rare occasions, I may accomplish all of the afore-mentioned tests while lingering over my tea and oats. Then I may commence the Tridle part of the sequence: three 5-letter words at once.
But usually that is deferred to lunchtime.
Tridle quite often takes many tries and I can be heard muttering profane descriptions of the creators of this torment.
It’s a good job we do not live with a parrot.
Sometimes I am still fighting the bastardly Tridle at supper time and I cannot proceed to Globle until it is satisfied. (It, or me?)
Globle is another version of the Worldle but it does not allow you to fail. There is no outline to guess.You suggest a country at random (I always choose something like Mali because it’s easiest to type) whereupon you are told the distance from your guess to the country in question.
Then you proceed, attempting to narrow the gap.
Geography has always been a favourite subject, but I get exasperated when the country of choice is an obscure island in the Pacific, for example.
Who remembers what they are all called? So then I often have to cheat by looking at a map. I am less obsessed with Globle than the rest.
But I have to have the answer before the day’s last test:
Yeardle.
Eight guesses to pin down the year in which 3 random events took place. You either win here or fail, no do-overs or second chances.
Failing at Yeardle is less likely to distress me, given the enormous history of mankind!
Why do all this?
You could say that living in the country, responsible only for the welfare of eleven cats does not offer much in the way of challenge.
(You would have to debate the meaning of the word challenge.)
Many people do a daily crossword puzzle. There are many kinds of word games. What I do is just such. It’s a mind exercise.
There is a history, in my family, of Alzheimer’s. Every day that I can complete all of these minor tests encourages me to believe I have so far stayed clear of that frightful diagnosis.
With the sky as beautiful as yours, you need to move fast, thank you, Carolyn.
Joanna
I am not up early enough to see pink skies. That’s why I retired at 60, so I could sleep.
Wordle, Scmerdle, Yodel, Schmodel. Life is too short to waste a second of what is left on that stuff, as far as I am concerned.
Best wishes, Pete.
I don’t disagree, Pete, but the fear of that disease is real.
That’s understandable, but you already have an active mind and a very intelligent brain. You write a blog, take photos, interact and communicate with bloggers around the world. I don’t really think you need the word quizzes, but if they make you feel happier, that’s okay with me.
Keep the big A at bay by all means, says Katerina. Meow.
I admire your stamina, whether mental or physical!
Gorgeous sky photos but I also love the cottage photo.
How do you find time to write so many posts? I’m trying to keep up just writing one each week.
Being retired has much to do with it and I am not able to do much physically. I used to like crafts but the fingers are too clumsy now and cats always want to assist…it doesn’t work out!
Ha, ha, can just imagine your cats wanting to assist!
What an amazing colourful sky! And it’s astonishing how quickly it changes! Well, at least you’re keeping your brain healthy with all those games! My mom fills in crosswords every day … sometimes, when she can’t find the answer, I say we can google it. But she refuses every time because she wants to find out for herself!
Your mom and I think alike. What is the point of cheating!