Monthly Archives: May 2020

Day 2688: What is essential?

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Ann Koplow

I believe I may have published another blog post with the title “What is essential?” However, I’m creating this post on my iPhone, which makes it more difficult to check past posts, and I’m deciding that knowing that is not essential.

Other facts are much more essential, these days.

I often take photos of things that are essential to me.

I essentially don’t know how these two images …

… got onto my iPhone. Other facts are much more essential these days.

Because of the work I’m doing — remotely providing group and individual therapy at an essential Boston hospital — it’s essential that I take a day off once in a while, which I’m doing today.

If you’re interested in attending a remote Open Mic this Friday May 15, 7 – 9 PM U.S. Eastern Time, when I’ll be performing a slightly rewritten version of my original song “Triggers,” it’s essential that you sign up by the end of the day before (May 14), using this link:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040b4eadaa23a2f49-jamn3

The essential Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been cancelled this year — the first time in its history — but here‘s my performance of “Triggers” at last year’s festival:

What’s essential to you?

It’s not essential that you leave a comment, but if you do, it’s essential that I express my sincere gratitude.

Categories: life during the pandemic, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: 2020, cats, class of 2020, Jam'n Java Open Mic, Oscar and Aaron on Mother’s Day, red snapper in parchment, social distancing, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the South Shore of Boston, the U.S. Postal Service, triggers | 23 Comments

Day 2687: Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 10, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Yesterday, the day before Mother’s Day, I was happy to look at all the posts on our cat Oscar’s Facebook page, including this one from four years ago:

Here’s another post from Oscar’s Facebook page that I’m especially happy to share on Mother’s Day:

This mother of Aaron will be happy to share more posts from Oscar’s Facebook page (which has the title “Oscarthenonjudgmentalcat”) over the coming days.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate Mother’s Day on this Polar Vortex weekend with these photos taken yesterday by a mother:

You may call me nuts, but it’s made me very unhappy to witness many wonderful mothers shamed (by others and themselves) for being “fat” or “old.” Therefore, I posted this selfie yesterday on my Facebook page yesterday with the caption “Does this mask make me look fat?”

And I posted this one with the caption “Does this mask make me look old?”

That seemed to make some mothers and others happy.

This recent Jimmy Kimmel segment with texts from celebrities’ mothers made this blogging mother happily laugh out loud:

Jimmy Kimmel says at the end of that edition of Mom Texts, “Happy worst Mother’s Day ever.” Do you agree? If you give this mother the gift of a comment below, it will make me happy.

Thanks to all the mothers and others who help me happily create this blog, every day!

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: Jimmy Kimmel, meatloaf, Mom Texts, Mother's Day 2020, Oscar's Facebook page, Polar Votex, Texts from celebrities' mothers, toilet paper is back on the shelves!, wear a mask, Whole Food Markets | 30 Comments

Day 2686: Responses to Illness

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Ann Koplow

I have many decades of experience observing responses to illness, because I’ve being dealing with a heart condition since birth. The responses to illness I’ve seen include:

pity,
sympathy,
empathy,
fear,
courage,
ignorance,
ingenuity,
misunderstanding,
understanding,
denial,
acceptance,
coldness,
warmth,
despair,
hope,
disrespect,
respect,
anxiety,
calm,
avoidance,
acceptance,
confusion,
clarity,
cruelty,
caring,
neglect,
kindness,
resentment,
inspiration,
isolation,
connection,
distancing,
embracing,
hate, and
love.

What responses to illness have you observed, in others and in yourself?

Now that our cat, Oscar, is ill with cancer, I’m noticing my responses to him, which are based on the golden rule:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I am treating Oscar when he is ill as I always wish to be treated when I am ill: with respect, caring, compassion, understanding, love, and connection.

Last night, my responses to Oscar included dancing with him to Steppin’ Out.” by Joe Jackson. Would you like to respond to this by dancing with us?

Personally, I think dancing is a great response to everything.

Do you see responses to illness in my other photos from yesterday?

My response to that last photo is this: In this current time of illness, many people would go more places if more places had drive-thrus.

My final response in this blog post is gratitude for what I’ve got, including Oscar, my health, and YOU!

Categories: heart condition, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: "Steppin' Out", cat dancing, cat with cancer, Daily Bitch Calendar, gratitude, Joe Jackson, meatloaf, The Golden Rule, Yogi Tea | 29 Comments

Day 2685: Despair

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Ann Koplow

In all the two thousand, six hundred and eighty-five days I have been blogging, I have never once used the word “despair.”

Today, the news causes me to despair.

What should I do with despair? I shall turn to others who have written about despair before:

“Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.” — Elie Weisel

“The opposite of hope is despair, and when we despair, it is because we feel that there are no choices.” — Warren G. Bennis

“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

“Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.” — Edmund Burke

“The most common form of despair is not being who you are. ” — Søren Kierkegaard

“Despair is is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you’ll always find despair.” — Irvin Yalom

“Despair is the fleeting fury of a hopeless soul.” — Immanuel Kant

“Despair is the suicide of the heart.” — Jean Paul Richter

“Human life begins on the other side of despair.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

“Life, which creates despair, is stronger than despair.” — Alain Grandbois

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.” — George Eliot

“Action is the antidote to despair.” — Joan Baez

I was beginning to despair that all the quotes today would be from men, until I found those last two.

Do you see despair in any of my photos from yesterday?

Here is “Despair” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs:

I believe gratitude is an antidote to despair, so thanks to all who help me create this blog, day after day.

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: barbecue chicken, Elie Weisel, George Eliot, Immanuel Kant, Irvin Yalom, Joan Baez, living with uncertainty, Mahatma Gandhi, Melody Beattie, quotes about despair, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs | 28 Comments

Day 2684: Oscar

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Oscar, who deserves an Oscar for being the sweetest, most loving cat I’ve ever met, has cancer.

We’re grateful we still have the 18-year-old Oscar for more precious moments, even if we don’t know how many.

How many Oscars can you find in these photos from yesterday?

There are four Oscar-worthy appearances of Oscar in videos I’ve posted on YouTube (here, here, here, and here) over the past 13 years:

As you can see, Oscar has been a great supporting actor for both me and my son Aaron, who wisely picked him out of a shelter fourteen years ago.

Thanks to all sweet and supportive creatures, here and now, including YOU.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: "Third Wind", cancer in cats, cat videos, Graduation Cat, salmon dish, Spring 2020, Wizard Cat | 36 Comments

Day 2683: Don’t even talk to me unless …

Posted on May 6, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Don’t even talk to me unless you are

paying attention,
thoughtful,
honest,
interested in others’ responses,
open-minded,
self-aware,
authentic,
friendly,
committed to helping yourself and others survive,
wearing a mask in public places and otherwise following social distancing orders,
hopeful,
realistic,
able to laugh at yourself,
able to laugh at me, and
kind to animals.

DO even talk to me about what you see in this post.

I can’t even talk about how anxiety-provoking it is when an animal is sick, because they can’t even talk to you about how they’re feeling and I can’t talk to Oscar about the ultrasound he’s having today.

Are these two people even talking to each other?

Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda can really talk about friendship.

Don’t even talk to me unless you accept my appreciation and thanks that you showed up today, exactly the way you are.

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: "It's Not About the Nail", cats, communication, friendship, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin TED talk, Jason Headley, social distancing, The Daily Bitch Calendar, the South Shore of Boston, when an animal is sick | 29 Comments

Day 2682: Where all the monsters are

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Looking back at yesterday’s Daily Bitch Calendar, I see where all the monsters are.

I don’t know if I agree with the Daily Bitch Calendar that all the monsters are in back of me, since I see monsters elsewhere.

When we look back at my other images from yesterday, are there monsters there?

Therapists EVERYWHERE must deal with the monsters within their patients and themselves.

Here‘s “Calling All the Monsters” with China Anne McClain from A.N.T. Farm:

Where do you think all the monsters are?

Looking back again, I thought the coronavirus monster might be at CVS when I snapped this photo yesterday:

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: "Calling All the Monsters", China Anne McClain and A.N.T Farm, COVID-19, CVS, flounder with garlic aioli, monsters, the coronavirus, The Daily Bitch Calendar, the New York Times, therapists | 17 Comments

Day 2681: Traceability

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Traceability (according to this traceable point on the internet) is

The ability to trace (identify and measure) all the stages that led to a particular point in a process that consists of a chain of interrelated events.

Let’s see if we have the ability to trace (identify and measure) all the stages that led to this particular title in a process that consists of a chain of interrelated blog posts.

That’s it. Today’s blog post title is traceable to that sign in a Whole Food Market, which I saw yesterday when Michael and I were doing our weekly food shopping.

After we shopped, removed our masks, and got into my traceably bright yellow car, Michael said, “That was stressful. I used to enjoy food shopping.” Michael’s comment has traceability — we are in a particular point in a process of a chain of interrelated pandemic events.

Do you see traceability in my other photos from yesterday?

My choice of video today has traceability back to my watching Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire and Jane Powell yesterday.

Fred Astaire’s character dancing on the walls and ceiling has traceability from Sarah Churchill‘s character revealing earlier in Royal Wedding that she used to imagine she could dance all over the floors, walls and “even the ceiling” when she was a child. Sarah Churchill’s lineage has traceability to her father, Winston Churchill.

So much traceability, so little time.

Today’s thanks — to everybody who helps me blog every day, (including YOU) — have traceability to yesterday’s visit to Whole Foods, too.

Categories: definition, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: cod cake sandwich with homemade refried beans, Fred Astaire, gratitude, reducing stress, Royal Wedding, Sarah Churchill, spinach is back!, the South Shore of Boston, Whole Foods Market | 14 Comments

Day 2680: Goofballs and Hearts

Posted on May 3, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Yesterday, somebody called me a “goofball” during a Zoom meeting after I expressed my love for people by making the sign of a heart with my hands. While I could have easily used my standard reply — “It takes one to know one” — I said, instead, “Thank you for the compliment.”

I do believe that was a compliment, because being a goofball and sharing my heart are two of my biggest strengths.

Do you see any goofballs or hearts in my photos from yesterday?

This goofball believes that our hearts could use a repeat of the awwsome cat video I posted two bitching days ago.

Heartfelt thanks to all the goofballs and oddballs who help me create these daily posts, including you. (And from me, that’s a compliment!)

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: cats, cod cake dinner, expressing love, Funny Cats - Cutests and Funniest Cats Compilation 2020, goofballs, gratitude, hearts, Just Aww, oddballs, the South Shore of Boston | 19 Comments

Day 2679: What’s your biggest strength?

Posted on May 2, 2020 by Ann Koplow

What’s your biggest strength?

Holding a grudge is not one of my biggest strengths. Neither is cooking. Luckily, I’m married to somebody whose biggest strengths include making great meals, like chili and cornbread.

My biggest strengths include

group therapy,
blogging, and
writing and performing original songs, like this one:

I felt stronger lat night because fellow blogger beth and my friend Barbara both attended that Zoom Open Mic, and when I finished my song, somebody yelled out “Bitchin‘!”

Do you see any biggest strengths in my other photos from yesterday?