The Thursday Ramble: Dumb Luck

AI Generated image from original photo of the Jones Point Lighthouse. The building is one story and the light tower on the top is missing. There are no mountains across the water. 

Two days in a row last week, I solved Wordle in three without resorting to any help or reference works.  Some of that is knowledge, starting with words that contain commonly used letters, knowing what letters are most likely to appear in second or fourth place, knowing what letter combinations are most likely, but most of it is luck. Very bright people that I know, struggled with the same two puzzles. 

At times like this it is easy to react or have people say, "you are on a lucky streak, you should buy lottery tickets this week!" Smile, my rational brain tells me that luck does not run in streaks. The impulse of our random reward brains is to think that because we have received rewards recently, luck is more likely to pay off again. But the reality is that luck is entirely random.  Casinos make their money on people who win a little and keep losing thinking that because they won a little the big jackpot has to be next. The big jackpots are often won on the first spin of the slot machine. Luck is random, and unpredictable. 

The weather forecast across the middle of the United States this past week talked about a large winter storm. Literally the forecasts for our corner of the world ranged from 1 inch to 24 inches of snow. I have been here when we had 24 inches of snow in one week, it takes a while to dig out from. But I have also seen snowmageddon forecast, only to get 2-3 inches. In either case, don't panic.  It is down to the luck of the winds, the drift of the clouds, sooner or later the big snow will hit, sooner or later the snow will entirely miss us. There is no reason to panic. 

My World of Wonders January 28, 2026

Where have I been this week? Aldi for a little shopping, the gym, the pool, the community center for a couple of meetings, and the Dentist. 

Who have I talked with this week?  Jack, Veronica, Shelly, Mary, Giuseppe, Marcel, Zack, Linda, Amy, Warren, my Sweet Bear, and Dr. Z. 

What random thought occurred to me this week? I remember being deeply disappointed as a kid, that comic books were not funny. I expected them to be funny. I only bought one. 

Who did we hear from this week? We received Bob and Kel's holiday letter, mailed before Christmas, most of it arrived in the mail this week, not all of it, but most of it. 

Yes, I know the photo is blurry, the non-blurry one has my actual address on it. 

What change is happening slowly on my blog? The advertising has been turned off, what is appearing now is finishing out contracts that were agreed to before I changed the settings. As those finish the rest of the adds should go away. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? We had a couple of days of not cooking. Steak and baked potato, bacon and scrambled eggs,  a chicken and rice casserole that was not very good. Beef stew. Pizza rolls - more on those in a couple of weeks, and roast turkey with homemade cornbread dressing. 

Who am I sending healing thoughts to? Larry a neighbor, who has received conflicting test results, and is still in pain. 

Who deserves a slap this week?  One of my credit cards was compromised, the bank denied the charge, sent me a message and is replacing the card. Fraudsters deserve a slap, not a pardon. 

What was the outcome of the storm? We had probably 6 or 7 inches of snow and sleet, frozen precipitation. There is a layer of fluffy snow with a crust of slippery ice on top. The weather is staying well below freezing, with intermittent sunshine. It will take longer than usual to clear or melt because of the temperatures. That is the freezing temperature of water, if it was the freezing temperature of oxygen we would not need to worry about the weather. Fortunately we didn't get freezing rain, an ice storm is probably the worst storm I have ever endured. 

Travel Tuesday: The National Gallery of Art - I Needed That!

A couple of weeks ago, I really needed to be in grand spaces, filled with awe and wonder.

 

Monday Moods: Get Out There

 Get up, Get Out There, and Explore the world around you. 

There are joys and wonders in every corner of this vast world. 

In your neighborhood, or half way around the world, 

See, Hear, Smell, Feel, and Taste the wonders around you. 

This week, try something different, 

Listen to the silence - the birds - the rhythm of the traffic - the sound of a train in the distance. These are the music of the world around us. 

Sing out loud, in a choir, or to the tune in your head, so that others know there are human sounds to be heard. 

Brighten the day of others by your radiance and kindness. 

Bring light into the world by your presence, your words, your action. 

To answer the questions about the weather here:

The Sunday Five: New Year - Brave New World

1: Do you own a typewriter, and if so when was the last time you used it? 

2: Do you have a phone that does not fit in your pocket? 

3: About what year did you start using computers? 

4: What is the earliest computer operating system you remember working with? 

5: What new technology do you think will start to be common in the next decade? 

My Answers: 

1: Do you own a typewriter, and if so when was the last time you used it?  No, the last one went when we sold the other house 7 years ago. 

2: Do you have a phone that does not fit in your pocket? Yes, I have a desk phone next to me as I write this. 

3: About what year did you start using computers? I was an early adopter, probably 1983, A Radio Shack Color Computer II. 

4: What is the earliest computer operating system you remember working with? Basic, I even did some programing. 

5: What new technology do you think will start to be common in the next decade? Electric flight, the pioneers are starting to fly larger and larger craft. 

Please share your answers in the comments.

The Saturday Morning Post: Compost and Creativity

Compost takes time to create, you pile in organic plant materials, control the level of water, let the bugs, and worms feed and garbage breaks down and creates rich and fertile compost. The raw materials of vegetable peels, lawn clippings, prunings, fallen leaves won't work as fertilizer until given time to compost. They have to have time to biologically and magically transform. You can speed the process of composting, but you can't skip it. 

The ideas that we use are artists and creatives also needs time to compost.  The inputs that we feed our creative beast with, morph in our brains into ideas we had no idea existed.  When we try to create based on what we just saw, read, heard, smelled or tasted, we create a copy of what we have experienced. Sometimes a very good copy, but still a duplicate of the works of others. When we give this input time to compost, to break down, and reconfigure in our creative spirits, we create our art, our work, our writing.  

Creating those copies may help us digest what we have experienced, practicing and developing our skills.  The wisdom of age, if there is such a thing, is really the product of long term input, composting in our minds to create our ideas. It takes time for our brains to find the connections between seemingly unrelated input, in the mash of composting we will find it. It takes time to make compost, the compost of creativity needs time. And creativity needs that compost. Keep adding to your compost pile this week. 
 

Foodie Friday: Beef Pie

I had pastry in the refrigerator from the mini quiches I made a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to use up.  I had stew beef, and veggies so the logical choice was a beef pie. 

1 - medium onion chopped

3- stalks of celery chopped

6 - medium mushrooms chopped

1- pound, more or less of cubed beef 

1-2 cups red wine 

1-2 cups beef stock

2-3 medium potatoes peeled and cubed

3 carrots peeled and sliced 

butter

flour

seasonings 

Pastry 

This one take a while, start like three hours before you want to serve. 

Saute the onions, celery, and mushrooms in a little olive oil,  add the beef to lightly brown, salt, pepper and any other seasonings you want to add. Add red wine and stock, cover and put in a 350 (f) oven to braise for about two hours. You want the beef to be fork tender. 

After about two hours: 

Steam the potatoes and carrots until tender. 

Remove the beef, onions, celery and mushrooms from the liquid with a slotted spoon and set aside. Make a roux with butter and flour, add the about 1 to 1.5 cups of the braising liquid to make a very thick sauce. 

Leave the oven hot. 

Combine the beef, onions, mushrooms with the steamed potatoes and carrots, and add the sauce to make a thick mixture, allow to cool partially. I put it in a stainless steel bowl, with a slightly larger stainless steel bowl of ice under it. You want to get this down to about 100 (f) or so, or it may melt the bottom layer of pastry. 

Put in the bottom layer of pastry, fill with the mixture, put on the top pastry, seal the edges, and bake for 45 minutes at 350 (f). 

I baked this in a flat shallow dish, the filling was only 3/4 to 1-inch thick. Slice and serve.

Variations?  Add different veggies; peas, sliced green beans would be good. Add shredded cheese to the filling.  Make it with pork, veal, lamb, or chicken instead of beef. Very hearty food for a cold winter day.