I wrote the blog title and spontaneously abandoned the computer because I *had to* go and get myself a small packet of crisps. Craving for something salty – after *that* title. The reason it is on the blog today, is this:
I hear you saying – why didn’t you hide the nasty advertising as you usually do? Well, somehow I really like this logo. That light blue feels so fresh, and really, it was the design of the tin that inspired the contents. I *did*, however, cover the back with all the nutrition information. But it’s just sparkly gold, so I won’t bother showing you.
So, what do you think of when you hear “seasalt”? My first thought was this above all:
Just imagine going for a walk on the beach and bumping into a windblown RA. Well, actually, just imagine going for a walk on the beach, full stop. It’s one of those really simple pleasures of life that I am really hankering for at the moment.
[Apologies for a slightly fuzzy image.] So it turns out that “This above all” segues into the famous Polonius quote from Hamlet. (When it comes to RA, I actually think that he remains pretty true to himself. Or what do you think?) It’s a nice sentiment, and hence felt good to place in a shrine.
So there, a bit of self-care courtesy of a RA pocket shrine. Doesn’t have a candle, but the future owner could always just light a candle beside it.
I’ll make this a “letter bomb with love”, I think. I was saying to a friend bts today, that I am somewhat unsure about the whole postal situation world-wide. My own national mail service, An Post, assures the public that it is business as normal and there are hardly any restrictions in place. A couple of weeks ago they actually handed postcards with postage paid to each household, suggesting that people write a nice message to their loved ones if they can’t see them due to the pandemic. That, to me, suggests that we are encouraged to keep using the mail service. Then there was the alarming news from the US that the national mail service was suffering in this pandemic because the restrictions meant that less commercial and promotional mail was being sent. However, instead of bailing out the national carrier, Trump has decided to cut it off from funding. The public responded beautifully and immediately started buying stamps via the USPS online shop. Again, that sounds as if mail might be welcome. – At the other end of the spectrum, I have heard from the UK that requests have been made to preserve the Royal Mail’s service for essential communications/shipments and not send anything that is promotional (or merely entertaining). So I am slightly at a loss. Can I send out some “unessential” shrine love – or not. Damn, it’s really a heavy burden to be born a German submissive to authority!
I was chatting with someone on Twitter today. I don’t know her well at all, but her admission that she is currently feeling really down, finds it hard to even engage in hobbies that she usually loves, and spends most of her time listening to audio books, resonated with me. To all you readers out there who are struggling through the prolonged isolation: Please hang in there. Ok, that may not be helpful advice, because hanging in there is what we are all doing, whether we want to or not. But here’s this: Do not feel guilty for feeling down or for not getting anything done. Let’s take it one day a time, and not think about tomorrow or next week or next month. Nevertheless, we *will* get through this, eventually. That is a fact. I do not presume to believe that I have a solution for your feelings of anxiety, depression or worry. And I know that it is hard to lift yourself from under this weight of uncertainty. But be true to yourself, and believe yourself, because *you* know what is best for you!
This cheers *me* up – a look at how nature is currently springing forth. A couple of weeks ago the trees were literally bare. Now, when I look out of my bedroom window, this is the view. The ornamental cherry tree (pink flowers on the right) is in full bloom. A few more days and/or a heavy shower, and all that splendour will be in our neighbours’ car park. Suits them right for concreting their garden over to make space for cars *huffs*. The other flowers you can see are actually a clematis that has taken possession of another ornamental cherry tree. How beautiful they are…
Stay safe, guys, we’ll get there!
Guylty Pleasure 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photoshop thing and the tin is fabulous as is. Good choice on keeping the front intact.
Nature is indeed the one good thing right now. I was standing über our cherry tree today (not ornamental, but yummy) and the buzzing was incredible. Many happy bees.
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*Photo shoot. I love this photo shoot. How on EARTH did photoshop thing happen? Ottokorrekt is on drugs rn.
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LOL – he just likes to play up, that dastardly Otto!
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I just watched the clip – that is wonderful. All those bees really busy. I so hope that they will thrive this year, based on the humans having scaled down their environmentally unfriendly activities! (Beautiful tree, too!)
That photo shoot was really one of the best. I loved what Kennedy did there.
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Love that photo shoot. It was authentic—as photo shoots go—in that it made him look his age in the best possible way imo.
That tree is wonderful and bears tons of fruit as well. Yummy yummy but a lot of work for harvest time.
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Authentic is a good word. Yes, he looked like an extremely attractive middle-aged man. And as a mini-ad for the audio book, it was really effective.
Lucky you re. fruit-bearing tree! Our cherry is only ornamental. (But we have a lovely pear tree that always has tons of fruit.)
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I’ll send you some jam in the fall.
I love your ornamental tree. The pink blossoms are so pretty. 🌸
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Oh, yesssssss. Jam is definitely welcome here.
The pink blossoms are now almost gone. They are such a short pleasure…
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I bought $80 of stamps online on Monday!
Ah, one of my fave RA photo shoots! He is indeed a breath of fresh air, salty or otherwise. Beautiful RAPS!
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Hehe, I see lots of letters in your future, LoLo!!!
“Breath of fresh air” – so true!
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Heh heh, your salty reference made me reach for my sea-salt chocolate eggs, rather than crisps, and think of RA’s salty lips, walking by the sea. It’s a beautiful Raps, for salty-peppery Richard. Is he true to himself? I don’t think he’s always been honest, he’s contradictory (says he won’t do promos with guns for Strike Back, then does) but that doesn’t mean he’s not true to himself at the core, and he does show that he has integrity.
I don’t really know how the postal system works but I would imagine that essential supplies may be sent differently from the odd small parcel. We are certainly getting regular post, quite quickly, and I don’t miss the junk mail. Thank you for your uplifting words and there are few things more uplifting than blossom trees.
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Had a salted caramel easter egg yesterday and immediately thought of wind-swept beach RA. Made the chocolate even better.
Yep, RA, thy name is contradiction. I often have the impression he just says things – especially in junket interviews – to fill the time, and never really means it. But it tends to be the inconsequential stuff (like which poster was on his wall as a teenager and such), so I cut him some slack. By and large, I think he has some clear principles which he is (stubbornly) adhering to. Good for him.
Thanks for the feedback re. the mail service. I have decided to send some letters again – in a way, I do find encouraging cards and notes quite essential during these times. I have no problem with the mail service putting my letters to the bottom of the pile and prioritising other shipments first, but I actually think I am putting some money into the postal service by sending letters, so that is good in my book.
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I want some salty chocolate as well. Have to ask at my preferred purveyors of chocolate confections if they have anything like that.
RA is always essential. What would we do without him? And taking care of people’s mental health is as important as feeding their bodies right now. We’re all under a lot of stress. Letters of love are definitely a good thing, I think. My happy mail also came during Thais time (unplanned, but still) and I was actually glad for the timing.
Maybe I should write some letters?
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Ha, convinced. Thank you for that pep talk. I am declaring myself essential (fandom) worker now and will proceed with morale-lifting work. Ha!
I’ve been meaning to write letters, too – it’s just that I really don’t look forward to writing three pages by hand… So it’s been cards or nothing these days.
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I’m still too lazy to do anything… 😐
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I think that is your body telling you you need rest. That’s perfectly valid.
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I’ve been reorganizing and sorting my crafting stash today. I find myself doing practical stuff, just nothing creative.
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Reorganising is creative, too. Finding a place for everything needs vision and improvisation.
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Actually, I guess I did some light crafting. I repurposed some chocolate boxes and made them pretty before filling them. And I ended up with a jar full of bells and disco balls that looks quite lovely.
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I love it when the containers that hold all my pretty things, are already blinged up, too. Well done!
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Added bonus: If you use empty chocolate boxes, everything smells really nice when you open them for a while because the scent lingers.
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That is such a good idea. (Also means I need to buy some pralines in boxes… strictly for the boxes, of course.)
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Only for the boxes. Same here.😉
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I have potato chips I”m going to have to open because of this.
First, this is a lovely shrine. Very very lovely shrine!
Second, our postal service is running just fine and dandy, tyvm. Just sayin’…
Third – yeah, the isolation is getting to the most of us, I believe. My son is literally going stir crazy – he’s much more extroverted than I am. Right now, I’m content to write on Trevor and lesson plans, while listening to professional learning courses. I’m currently mapping out my year next year – what to teach when and what to target – what holidays and what programs I know I’m going to be in charge of – specifically Veterans Day and Christmas. I dropped the ball on Veterans Day last year but my Christmas program was a hit! (Sing along!) I’m getting ready to do up another Donor’s Choose to replace instruments that are falling apart in my classroom. I swear my claves are older than I am! Most of them are held together with masking tape, as are my maracaras. And my jingle bells have been cut apart – it’s horrible. Someone left the boomwhackers outside all summer, so they’re warped. I wanted to do a Donor’s choose for Orff instruments this summer. Nope. Not gonna happen.
Soooooo…
Spawn and I are going OUT tomorrow. A teacher friend of mine is sneaking out to the cliffs on the Georgia coast for a walk with her dog and we are going to join her and practice social distancing. Afterwards, we will go to the little BBQ joint at the end of the road and enjoy bbq with outside social distancing dining. Afterwards, we will head to old stomping grunds, refilll meds and see if I can purchase a NEW PHONE as this POS I have is… well… a POS!
And I have designated Saturday as clean house day.
Praying and all are safe and healthy!
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Did you take your walk? It really is good to get out every once in a while. I don’t go shopping every day, but I try to go out and get at least half an hour’s walk in. I think the body really needs the sunlight and the fresh air.
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we went to the coast on one of the islands – a walk I’ve not been to! It was so beautiful!!! A fellow teacher, Spawn and I had a nice long leisurely walk and my blood sugar dropped significantly this morning. I”m going to have to find somewhere to walk during this time.
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Can you not just go for a walk in your neighbourhood? Over here we are not allowed to take our personal exercise any further than 2km from our homes, so walks in the beach or in the mountains are out of the question. I simply walk a big circle around my house – better than just sitting at home.
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I live on a narrow, twisty road with no sidewalks, no edge around the side to walk on and people tend to ZIP through here. I am considering walking around the burned out church, if they don’t mind. They’ve started to clear the land and what’s left of the building, so I hope they’re going to rebuild it..
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I always forget how very car-centric the US is. Burnt-out church sounds 😱, though!
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Yeah, very very very car-centric.
Caddy corner to our home is… WAS… a church. The first time we saw it, we thought it had been fire-bombed. It IS a black church and I’m like – who DOES that in this day and age??? It was sickening. Spawn and I sat in the parking lot and cried. Stayed there until we could get ourselves together.
As soon as we got home, we looked it up. Not fire-bombed, but lightening strike! Everything was destroyed except the founding pastor’s robes and picture. The current pastor and several others were in the church and all got out safely. They’ve had a few fundraisers and they are meeting at another facility temporarily. Next fundraiser – picnic – whatever they have, we’re donating!
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i like the sea shells-very 3 dimensional 🙂
i use salt spray to give my hair texture sometimes lol
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Beach hair? 😁
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that’s the idea!
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The sea shells are one of the first ever shrine gifts I was given. They were sent by a fellow fan who collected them in Sardinia.
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Gorgeous RAPS! I love that photoshoot, and the accompanying video too has some lovely shots of RA. Yes, I do think he is true to himself. Inasmuch as I only “know” him from his public persona, I do believe he is a man of integrity. My crush wouldn’t have lasted as long as it has if I thought otherwise.
The ornamental cherry blossom is beautiful. Inevitably I’ve found though that as soon as it appears, the weather is guaranteed to get very windy so the flowers don’t last long! We have one outside our kitchen window. It’s actually getting too big for it’s position but I don’t have the heart to get it chopped out. It’s a lovely sight in full bloom.
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Integrity – yes, I would think of him as a man of integrity, too. Some times annoyingly so *haha*. But as you said, it’s what makes him someone who can sustain my interest over such a long period of time.
Oh, I can totally understand what you are saying about the need to chop the beautiful tree. My heart would break if the neighbours cut down that cherry tree.
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Our’s is a weeping cherry, so not all that high but very wide and taking up a lot of space. Reducing it’s area means losing its shape and that’s part of the appeal.
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That would be a tragedy. And the question is, would the tree recover from that?
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I’m thinking I’ll wait until it’s bare in mid-winter and prune it right back, about two thirds, taking out a lot of the spindly stuff. I did that to a weeping birch and it survived its haircut so hopefully the cherry tree will too. It will just look a bit odd for a while and there won’t be as much blossom come spring.
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Lovely RAPS! And that was one of his best photo shoots in a while I think.
Everything is blossoming down here & giving my sinuses a run for their money.
One thing I have noticed over here in the US is that things ordered online seem to get delivered faster now.
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I agree. That photo shoot really came up with some of the best images yet.
Interesting that online deliveries are faster than ever. I received a package for an online order today, too, but I had the impression it took longer than usual. (I order a dress – although it doesn’t look as if I am ever going to go outside and wear it *haha*)
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A dress? Doesn’t fit? Do you like it?? Online purchases can be adventurous sometimes.
(I’m still eyeing that die cut machine…)
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No, dress fits (although it is a bit too big under my arms – my typical problem) but it is sleeveless, and the weather is way too cold for that…
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Ah, something to look forward to then.
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How can you ever, EVER, for a minute doubt whether a posted item involving RA is “essential?” YESSSSS ESSENTIAL, MAIL THEM ALL. But put them in opaque wrappers, so postal employees do not have an opportunity to second guess your judgment. 😉
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Haha, actually, that is my way of thinking, too. Totally essential for all of us. So much so that it needs to be hidden away in the envelope so as to not attract too much attention. Otherwise it might be stolen.
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I should have been walking on the windy North Norfolk coast over Easter but I had to cancel because of the emergency.
We are fully expecting to hear restrictions to remain in place for another 3 weeks.
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Yes, looks like most places will remain in lockdown for a little while. I hear that Germany is going to loosen up a little soon. Nothing here in Ireland yet.
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Bavaria will start slowly with senior classes in schools coming back to prep for finals and a staggered opening of some types of stores between next week and mid May. Day care and elementary schools closed indefinitely. We’ll see what happens in the next two weeks. They’ve another meeting scheduled for then.
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I really look forward to seeing how Germany starts reopening gradually over the next few weeks. It’s actually handy for us over here because we are kind of behind you in the response to Covid-19.
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Great RAPS. Love that coast too. Those photos always make me feel that cutting wind – ideal for your bucket and spade work on the beach or getting your cossie on for a dip in the sea. 😂
And those were gorgeous blossom pics. I’ve missed getting out to see the trees in bloom this year.
Just seen this drone footage of Dublin under lockdown: spooky!
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It was a very windy day on that shoot – but that is what makes it so English.
Dublin is truly spooky these days. I’ve been meaning to get up really early one day and walk around and take pictures, but I almost feel unsafe doing so, for the absence of other people in the street. Strange.
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Ooh, beautiful shrine again! Yeah, loved that windy, beach photoshoot. And lovely seeing those blossoms, I was taking pictures of blossoms on my walk yesterday as well. So beautiful right now!
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I take pictures of cherry blossoms every year. Always thinking that they are just glorious. (And then I eventually delete those pictures *haha*)
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