Our Jekyll & Hyde Weather
The weather has sure heated up again. I imagine we’ll have Jekyll and Hyde weather through October, if recent years are any example.
It is sad to watch the flowers slowly but surely fading away.
The tomato plant is still producing tomatoes, but they aren’t fit to eat.
Then the weather will cool off and we’ll have the first frost of the season. And before we know it we’ll be turning the heat on.
Maybe I’ll get over to Woodward Park or Swan Lake for a photo shoot before long. But I’ll wait until it’s a bit cooler outside.
I started a craft project yesterday, but it was a fail. From start to finish. And it was a simple craft. Covering books and notebooks with decorative paper.
First I cut the paper too short, so I threw that into the scrap drawer. I cut another piece of paper and managed to cut it too short as well. Into the scrap drawer that one went too.
Then once I finally got a decent sized piece of scrapbook paper cut right, the new glue stick I had wouldn’t make the paper adhere to the notebook cover.
And I finally just gave up. When it’s a fail it’s a fail.
Once in awhile you can rethink a project and come up with something similar that works. But I was tired of it at that point and just cleaned up the mess.
I love to read all kinds of blogs. When I first happened upon them years ago, I was enthralled.
That’s the reason, aside from sharing them with you, that I have that link to Lovely Reads up at the top of my blog. So I can easily click over and read a few blogs here and there.
Well, tell me if this is me just being cantankerous. But I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about something.
Almost every blog I click on, I have to then click out of a Subscribe Box before I can see what’s behind it. Then sometimes it pops back up and I have to get rid of it again.
Sometimes I can’t find the “X” to close the box.
Then another box might slide over from one side or the other and cover some of the content.
This gets truly aggravating to me. And it is a waste of time, because there is no way a box popping up is going to get me to subscribe to that blog to get daily emails. Or buy something from that blogger.
But one thing I will not do is push subscribe boxes in your face that you have to deal with. Because I sure as heck don’t like dealing with them either.
Oftentimes I get tired of trying to jump through all the hoops and I just click off the blog entirely.
(I know ads can be aggravating as well, and I’m sorry about that. But I must have ads in order to feed and house me and Charlie. But I certainly do realize that they can be an annoyance too.)
I had read that Google was going to start penalizing websites for covering content with such boxes, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping many bloggers from adding them.
Just curious what you ladies think.
I’m going to get up and get some things done. My daughter and Andrew will be here soon with lunch.
Most times you don’t have to click on an “x” to close it. You can just click on the page and it goes away. Annoying, yes. But it is their blog so I guess they can do as they please. I’ll still read the blog if I like it. Seems blogs are a dying breed. At least the ones I used to follow.
Well, I’ll sure try that!
That’s interesting about the subscribe boxes. I wonder whether mine does it. I use a free version of WordPress, since I am not making money off my blog–I don’t want to spend money on it, either! I know WordPress automatically places ads on my blog, which is how I get to use their platform for free, but I don’t know whether something like a subscribe box also automatically comes up. If it does, I wouldn’t know how to get rid of it.
The thing that’s annoying with these boxes, is that I do already subscribe!
I hate any kind of pop-up boxes asking you to do this (more like DEMANDING that you do this), and endless ads cluttering up text I’m trying to read. I’ll just stop reading altogether. Granted, I don’t have to monetize my blog to try and make some money. I made that decision years ago and I’ve stuck to it. It’s too much of a hassle, for one thing. And I blog so irregularly now these days that trying to keep up with all the new doo-dads and policies, this and that – I just don’t bother trying to figure out what’s what anymore. I write something and I post it, and I ignore everything else. Why must things get so complicated? All I want to do is ramble on some occasions and post photos (not very good ones), and it’s like NOOOOOO, you need to be a “professional” techy these days. Baloney. I should visit my control site though and go through my links and visit them to see if they’re still there and what they’re doing now, decide to keep or not to keep. We are back to hot and muggy in SE Wisconsin, and then three days/storms forecast beginning tomorrow. I have tomatoes that have been on the plant for 40 days now, and they’re not ripening. I have little teeny tiny ones that won’t make it very far before it gets cold here – I can’t believe October is not that far away. And sometimes we get real roller-coaster temperature changes here in October instead of the nice slow gradual cooling I always seem to remember from when I was a kid. Nothing is reliable anymore, it seems, especially not the weather!
I wish I didn’t have to use ads, but I don’t really have much of a choice in my situation.
No, I don’t think any platform will automatically add them. The blogger adds these boxes.
Very few of the blogs I read have those pop-up ads. A couple do and it’s definitely super annoying. I wonder if there is some setting on my computer that blocks them. I really appreciate those like yours, Brenda, that don’t have them. If I had a blog I wouldn’t want to annoy my readers with them since I don’t think they convince anyone to buy whatever they are advertising because you’re so annoyed you never read it. Anyway, thanks for being sensitive to your readers most of whom dislike the ads, Brenda.
Hot here again, too. AC back on racking up the $$. I don’t particularly like winter, but this constantly hot weather ALL summer and fall is not fun either. I hate to think that we are moving toward only two seasons in Michigan–Hot Summer and Freeze and Thaw Winter. Climate change is real, folks.
That little cardinal you’ve photographed is so darling. Her fuzzy feathers are so sweet! I have a lot of cardinals and blue jays come to my feeders in the winter. I love watching them while I eat breakfast as I can look out the window from my dining table. Such interesting and amazing little creatures.
I hope you and your daughter and Andrew had a nice lunch together. What is Andrew interested in these days? Is he five, yet, I can’t remember his age. My grandsons are mostly into superheroes these days. Which is okay, but hard to know what they are talking about when they try to tell me about it all! They all like to be read to, so that is good. In fact, we have so many books around here that we could start a book store! I love being a grandma and spending time with those little guys. They won’t be little for long as we all know, so I try to be with them now as much as I can before they are busy with their own lives apart from the grownups. Time….it races on so fast.
Have a good week, you and Charlie. Pats and hugs. Take care.
Andrew is four. I asked him yesterday what he likes most about school, and he said books. That’s my boy!
I love your blog and read it daily. I lived in Tulsa from Jan. 1973 to Oct. 1977. I have wondered if Swan Lake is still as beautiful as it was then. Pictures would be wonderful. I would love to come back for a visit of all my old haunts and special places, although I’m sure everything is much different now. Tulsa is where I met and married my husband who passed away in 2017. I have many good memories of Tulsa. We were married in Oct. of 1977, and what would be our 41st wedding anniversary is coming up soon. Should I return to see where it all began?
I have taken many photos of Swan Lake in the past. I’ll see if I can find a link to them until I go back out there again in a few weeks, when some of the leaves have turned.
I love love love your Lovely Reads. Many a night when I just want more company.. I think of your blog Brenda as a visit too, I go look over your list of blogs in your Lovely Reads section and look about and visit other bloggers and I am intrigued by their ingenuity and creativity. Since my back surgery in May it keeps me feeling like I am in.a bit more contact with people and I find these Reads very interesting. I hate all the pop ups too but I guess all of this has to be maintained financially too so I do my best with it until I can’t and then click off and go read my book or go to bed. Brenda I want to recommend an author to you … Daniel Silva… he has a main character in all his books but really you can pick them up out of sequence and easily read. Another author I enjoy is Ken Follett for his historical research and his big books are grand. Here in SC wet with stormy Florence but doing ok. Glad to have kept power. All be well and safe.
I hate the subscriber boxes that pop up in my way and have now gotten rid of all those blogs that do that, even when, (shouldn’t they KNOW) I was already a subscriber! And when I try a new one and that pop up subscription happens and repeats and I can’t get rid of it, I will NEVER try them again. My time is too precious!!
Love all your beautiful photos, Brenda. Take a lot before the flowers and greenery are all gone because we will all need to see them when dreary and bland winter is here…
There isn’t much to see on the patio now. Things have started to turn brown and dry up. Some greenery left, but it’s looking tired as well.
Ditto !!! It really annoys me when the pop-up for subscription continues to the point where you finally give up. To boot I am already a subscriber !!!
Yes! That truly is irritating!
I guess they get subscribers through those boxes. They say it works. It wouldn’t make me want to subscribe though. Maybe people sign up just to get rid of the box.
You are so right on with the pop up subscribe boxes. I have unsubscribed to many of the blogs I used to subscribe to, but like you, if they are having a blog hop sometimes I will go to the ones that I think will post fun or interesting subjects. I have also seen where the photos that the blogger is posting have ‘frames’ ads, those are even more annoying. I spend less time reading and more time being distracted. And on to your other subject, the heat! I am so tired of hot. I paint furniture and find myself dripping sweat onto my painted surfaces. Aaarrgghh. Hope fall comes soon. But love your photos and your writing, even when it is about sad or difficult subjects.
They put those interactive frame ads around my photos, but I hated it and told them to take it off.
For me, the ads and the pop-up boxes are the same on the “irritation scale.” But, if I like the blog, I’m willing to jump through the hoops to read it. How nice your daughter and Andrew are coming over. Enjoy your lunch.
I will too if I really want to see it.
I’m with you — can’t stand the popups that block what I’m trying to read and there seems to be no way to get rid of them. I’ve left a lot of pages unread because it’s just too aggravating. Haven’t had any problems with your pages at all.
That’s good to hear. If ever there is an issue, please let me know.
Hi Brenda, I don’t think you are being cantankerous, I think you are being normal in your irritation about the pop-up boxes. I have this same irritating issue with some news blogs I visit. I’m like others here, after a battling through the pop-ups, I don’t want to visit the blog. I actually don’t subscribe to any blogs because I find email one more irritating place to visit, and don’t want to go there for blogs.
I know all about projects that don’t work out right, and how frustrating it can be. I often get too enthusiastic and jump into something and find out I don’t have enough of the right material to finish a job. That’s happened lately when I’ve been making bead bracelets, and I discover I don’t have enough of a certain color or style of bead to finish the bracelet, something I should have figured out before I started. I’m learning to be a better planner, which isn’t as much fun, but, gets better results.
Yeah, it’s just more fun to jump into a project willy-nilly, isn’t it? By the time I’ve gotten everything, I might not want to even do it anymore. The mood might be gone.
Our weather has been all over the place as well! Today is beautiful but we’ve also had a lot of rain over the past few weeks. I agree with you on the pop ups. I don’t have any on my blog at the moment but I can understand why people do. We put so much work into writing and putting our content out there so we should make at least some money to cover that effort. There has to be some middle of the road though. You do a good job of that on your blog and I feel like I can always read through without any disturbances. Definitely something to think about…Enjoy your week!
Shelley
Why can’t they just put the subscribe box in the sidebar or after each post? That’s what I do.
I agree with you about some blogs and their advertising and subscription boxes. Too annoying to bother!
Your is the only blog I follow. I enjoy the subject matter, your writing style, photos, and decorating ideas!
Glad to hear you get to spend some time with your family today; have a great time.
We did have a good time. They’re gone now.
Funny you should talk about this today. I was just thinking about this yesterday, and how annoying it is. I follow a blog which will remain nameless as I do subscribe to hers, and she was featuring a fall decorating tour of homes every day for a week, which I have been viewing daily. Almost every single blog has one annoying popup or more on every link on their page. IMHO, that is a big annoyance and a waste of time on their part. If I like what they post, I would subscribe, and no amount of popups asking me to subscribe will change my mind. Like you, I sometimes get so aggravated, I simply click off their blog entirely as it is not worth the annoyance just to look at what they have posted.
This past year I have unsubscribed to a lot of blogs as they all do the white and gray colors, and I do not like it, as I love a lot of color in my surroundings, so they were all beginning to look alike and so what was the point? I will be so happy when color comes back in which of course it will do, and then the gray and white look will be considered dated and boring. This is why I love the thrift stores, you can always find great decor items, since the younger set is getting rid of color to do the bland gray and white look.
It has been cool here most mornings this past week, and then much warmer during the day. I re-organized my closet and now have my fall and winter clothes handy. The extended forecast says we will only have hot weather maybe one more week and then fall weather will definitely be here. This is the first year I have ever looked forward to winter, as it has been so continually hot this year, it is tiring. I have A/C, but do not like using it, although I have had no real choice this year, so I turn it on, and when I cannot stand it anymore, I turn it off, and then later on of course I have to get up and turn it on again. Where I sit in my living room, it seems to blow directly onto me and it is annoying, which is why I end up turning it off.
I also visited one of those blog tours and like to drove myself crazy with those boxes. Probably why I mentioned this today, as it was yesterday I was visiting the tour. No fall weather here for awhile.
I agree with you. I do not like gray, never have. I call them cookie cutter blogs. They all use the same decor and “neutral” colors and everything looks so bland. Even the current trend in fall decor has become very neutral. I am glad Mother Nature provides us with beautiful autumn colors, from the changing leaves to the bright pumpkins.
When I go to a blog with all those pop ups and annoyances, if it’s available, I click on the “reader view available” icon at the top of the page to the left of the web address.
I’m cantankerous about those blasted boxes, too!
I HATE them, and will not likely go back to that blog again EVAH!
It just digs into your time, waiting around and clicking. I really don’t know why they insist on having those boxes on there.
I’m sending something on a lighter mode. This morning while I was enjoying my coffee, a red bird was eating by my bottle tree and wow, here came two hummingbirds I didn’t get a chance to really check them before they flew away. Love those hummingbirds!
I even went outside with a bright pink t-shirt on, as someone said to do, and still didn’t see one.
Hi Brenda, I am so in agreement with you about the subscribe boxes popping up. I have gotten to the point that I will unsubscribe from the blog, and some of them are ones I really wanted to keep. I am too old for aggravation, so if they put boxes in I can’t get out of, I’m gone. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts. Do enjoy your blog each and every day. Take care.
I try to keep my blog free of too many annoyances. If an ad pops up that gets in your way, please let me know. I don’t handle the ads. My ad company takes care of that. But I can always chat with them about one that is annoying.