Basking in Sunshine

Real person living in Arizona, USA. Probably older than you. Happily married 28 years. Grown children I adore. I love the outdoors. Can’t pass up a museum. Read all genres of literature, but rarely romances.

[baskinginsunshine]

Cozy, sci fi, space novel. Absolutely enjoyable and worth the read.

[sluttyhenley]

live footage of the gifmaker

[queer-boo-radley]

Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles (1974)

[baskinginsunshine]

Sunday dinner

Another family Sunday dinner tonight and my stomach hurts from all the laughter. All my kids, plus daughters-in-law, and a friend of my youngest were here. It was a simple meal of ground beef tacos and berry cobbler — simple, but yummy!

Then I pulled out these question cards and we went through a few rounds which made us all laugh, while some also reminded us all of how much we appreciate family.

Questions like “who in the family would you ask to help you bury a body” to “who inspired you when you were younger” to “what country would you move your whole family to?”

I just love these Sunday dinners — especially when they can all make it. There’s never an obligation, but the invitation is always there.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[ramblingman12]

[lizclimo]

[my-divine-rhythm]

Be kind to yourself

[dduane]

You'll doubtless want to turn this off in your Instagram...

Vie the NYT:

When Meta unveiled an artificial intelligence image generator called Muse Image on Tuesday, it came with a feature that let users create A.I. images based on people’s Instagram photos. Any adult with a public Instagram account was automatically opted in. Using the Meta AI app, the company’s stand-alone chatbot, other users could pull from “part or all of your published photos” to create new A.I. images, the company wrote in a blog post. “In addition, people may be able to create content with your Instagram content using A.I. features at Meta,” the company added. Here’s how it works: On the Meta AI app, a user can tag a public Instagram account and direct the chatbot to create new A.I. photos based on photos from that person’s account. The privacy backlash was immediate. Along with automatically enrolling users in the feature, Meta didn’t notify people when their accounts were used to generate A.I. images. Hundreds of users took to social media to decry the new feature, asking how they could opt out while criticizing the company for a lack of consent. One user said on social media that the feature was “a privacy landmine waiting to detonate,” while others on Instagram shared templates for how to disable it. A Meta spokesman said in a statement that private accounts and users under 18 were excluded from the new feature, which can be disabled “with just a couple clicks.” “We will take action against any content that violates our Community Standards,” the company added. What can I do about this? The easiest way to opt out and protect your account is to set your account to private. But if you’d like to keep your account public, go into Instagram’s settings and scroll down to the “share and reuse” tab. In the sections titled “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features,” toggle the setting to “off.” You can also change the A.I. settings for individual pictures and videos. Users cannot stop their audio, text and comments from being “reused” by Meta’s A.I., the company said.

[princesssarisa]

Where did your first name come from?

I was named after one of my parents

I was named after a dead relative or family friend

I was named after a living relative or family friend

I was named after a religious figure

I was named after a historical figure

I was named after a fictional character

I was named after a place

My parents just chose a name they liked

Other

Voting ended onJul 13

Having been named after a character in The Great Gatsby by my English-major dad, I thought I would ask about this.

[baskinginsunshine]

Seven

Hosted our annual (I think maybe 8 years running?) Fourth of July potluck / pool party. I think it was the coolest (temp wise) as it only hit 103 F yesterday. We had maybe 40-50 visit — lots of good food shared and plenty of laughter.

I went to bed long before the last few left — but I was tired. At least one person slept here - I’d always prefer giving someone a place to sleep rather than risking a drive. Husband handled all that.

I don’t think I posted but we also hosted Father’s Day a few weeks ago. To make things easier, I invited all the dads here and they all came. It was such a great evening full of love! My future DIL’s uncle also came and I guess he rarely goes anywhere. But as he was leaving, I thanked him for coming and he said “I’m a homebody, but you made me feel so welcome. It’s just like home. You make a lovely home.” I told him that he couldn’t have given me a nicer compliment and he’s welcome any time.

There’s a lot of shake up yet again at work and I know that change is the name of the game of life but it’s a lot to navigate. Doing my best to be proactive where I can and work with what IS and not try to anticipate— because things are changing every other day. Also trying to stay positive, all the while documenting just in case.

Daughter is home from Copenhagen and Prague. She had a fantastic time. So proud of her when her flight home was delayed 6 hours, she successfully changed her flights to get home right around the original scheduled time. I love that she doesn’t get flustered when things go wacky, but instead looks for solutions.

The pool was 84 F this morning. I like it better when it’s in the 90’s, which is when the rest of my family says it’s too warm. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My eldest was offered a high school teaching position! Yay! He’s very relieved and excited about making the move from middle school to high school. Also relieved to have found a job. He’ll be teaching World History.

[baskinginsunshine]

[apoemaday]

“There is a solitude of space...”

by Emily Dickinson

There is a solitude of space A solitude of sea A solitude of death, but these Society shall be Compared with that profounder site That polar privacy A soul admitted to itself — Finite infinity.

[lemongrasslibrary]

[baskinginsunshine]

Did you know a group of javelinas is called a squadron?

Seen last night when dropping off a friend.

[baskinginsunshine]

My daughter is off to Copenhagen today to visit a friend who has a summer internship there.

Her first flight left at 6am, and I was receiving frantic texts about missing her flight … up to the moment she boarded the plane.

Grateful for the efficiency of Sky Harbor. They whisked her through all the lines - even without pre check.

She’s an excellent traveler, but she cut it very close this morning on getting to the airport early enough.

Now that my heart has stopped racing, I’m logging into work hours early.

[thepeacefulgarden]

[baskinginsunshine]

Cataract surgery went well and I have good far and intermediate vision, but limited near vision. I got a couple readers to help, and it’s different but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

My husband asked multiple times if I was really going to take 3 days off … and I was a bit annoyed because I rarely take time off for being sick. But we talked about it and he was worried that it was more serious than I had told him because it is so unusual for me to take sick days. I just didn’t want to strain my eyes if I had the paid time to give my eyes time to heal.

Friday we went to see Ringo Starr and his all star band and it was a great concert!

Saturday morning I had a great therapy appointment.

Then Saturday afternoon we went to see Ponyo on the big screen and that is just such a comfort movie for me that it was lovely.

Tonight I went to dinner with my eldest and my DIL and we had such a wonderful evening together. I don’t often get time 1:1 with them without the rest of the family so I really soaked in the energy with them. (Husband is at the cabin, daughter was at rehearsal and other child & fiancée were in San Diego)

I’m headed into a work week that will likely be full of drama. I’m going to carry some of the good energy that I was filled with this weekend to hopefully deal with it peacefully.