Thursday Trios – Technical Problems

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Mama Cormier

…this week the delay was due to being unable to post photos

I finally broke down and upgraded my WordPress site to Professional. Hopefully I won’t have any more problems with the media end of my blog.

The following trios are flowers and fruits from this week. The end of August is traditionally the beginning of the harvest season and the closing for summer flowers. There are still many flowers blooming and the autumn varieties are starting to show up.

If you have any trios to share I’d love to see them. Just copy my link and paste it into your post. I’ll be sure to get back to you.

Under the Weather

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Mama Cormier

…first post in six days

I have not vanished off the face of the Earth or gone down some rabbit whole that I can’t get out of. Instead I have been missing in action due to the worst cold I’ve had in years. It has literally kept me in bed or on the couch. Yesterday was the first day I ventured outside and that was to the pharmacy to fill a prescription.

I did try to check my emails but even that became a chore, especially when my computer told me that I had no room left to run any programs. I tried to delete some non-essential programs but even that became problematic and I feared that I was going to delete something essential.

Anyway, I hope to get back into the groove and start posting again soon. I’m currently planning for a trip to the UK at the end of this month so I need to stay healthy and try to get over this nagging cough. Hope everyone is healthy and happy, especially now that spring is officially here and better days are ahead.

Love

Mama Cormier/Carol

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Off to the Cottage

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Mama Cormier

…for a weekend of reading and relaxation

See you again on Sunday. As you know or maybe don’t know, I don’t have access to the internet.

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Finished this book last weekend. Will be tackling Fayne, which is over 600 pages but I’m loving it.

Away on Vacation

Posted on July 30, 2023 by Mama Cormier

….Will try to post but can’t make any promises

Last Thursday Kevin and I boarded a plane for Calgary, Alberta. We’re here visiting family and friends. My baby sister and her husband moved here right after they were married almost 40 years ago and I’ve only been here once to visit them. They’ve been back home many times. It was time….

Feeling Overwhelmed

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Mama Cormier

….not sure why but it has affected my blog

I’ve been writing and posting on this blog for over 10 years. I rarely miss a day and as of late I’ve been missing a day or two a week. Sometimes the issue has been with internet connections not working because of severe weather or just being crazy busy with life. This last week however I had not posted in a week and I left my emails go unanswered. Yesterday I finally responded to over 50 comments that were left on my site. I feel that I’m letting my followers down.

Yesterday I told my husband that I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’ve been cat sitting for a sick neighbour since Mother’s Day and we were dog sitting for 10 days while our daughter and daughter-in-law were on holiday on the East Coast. This holiday weekend I stayed home from the cottage to attend the Lawn Bowling Canada Day BBQ and be around when Andrea returned to pick up Olive. The cat and dog situation did not go well because they just didn’t get along so Tober spent more time in his house and didn’t come over at all. Today he is back.

88-AAEDCE-4565-4-CDC-9383-A8577-CD41-DA1 — *Tober before the arrival of Olive*

A76-B8-B0-F-51-E3-4-D4-D-8559-6-F7-B626-E0851 — *Kevin with Olive…Tober is back in his house*

Summer has barely started and I feel like it is almost over. Two days a week I’m baking at the Montgomery’s Inn, I belong to a book club and our meetings keep getting changed because of conflicts with people’s schedules. When a date was finally agreed upon I was the one with a conflict because our evening meeting was changed to the afternoon and I had already made a date with a friend. I told the group to go ahead without me. Lawn bowling is taking up some of my days as well. I’m part of the Golden Girls and five times this summer I’m scheduled to play in a tournament. Earlier this week when we played we got caught in a sudden storm and I was drenched. We had our Canada Day BBQ on the weekend and that was fun and much drier. I also play bridge with my neighbours and Mary wanted to host a garden bridge party. Unfortunately all the dates selected didn’t work for me and I had to decline.

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I could go on about the BBQs I’ve attended , planning a trip to go to Calgary in two weeks, trying to maintain my garden, going to the dentist, and trying to keep the house somewhat clean but I don’t want to bore you. What I’m not doing is making art and I think that is part of my problem. I love all the things that I do but the most creative activity has taken a back seat. Kevin is painting up a storm but I haven’t been able to pick up a brush or pencil. I have to learn to say no and I have been doing that more often but I’m still busy. This weekend I’m making time to go to the cottage and I’ll bring a book and some art supplies.

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44-AC68-A1-F147-4-DB6-942-F-0093-C18-A104-B — *Some of Kevin’s abstract landscapes inspired by his trip to Ireland last fall*

So I’m sorry that I haven’t been getting to my emails but I’ll try to do better. I’ll try to post at least one story a day. It might just be a photo of a flower or my husbands weekly art challenges but I need to get my groove back.

Gone Fishing!

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Mama Cormier

…not really

I’ll be at the cottage for a few days so you won’t see any new posts after tomorrow until Saturday or Sunday. As many of you know I have no internet or electricity. Hopefully we’ll have some nice days but regardless it always nice to get away.

Here is a recent photo of our granddaughter catching her first fish. The photo was taken by her Mom. Boy do I miss these guys.

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Problems Again

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….not sure if I’ve been hacked

Almost a year ago I experienced some issues with my WordPress account because I couldn’t like any posts or leave comments on anybody else’s blog. It turned out to be a Safari problem and thanks to some of my readers I was able to correct the problem.

The same thing is happening again but this time going into Safari looking for the same setting is not the issue. I’ve contacted WordPress and they’ve informed me that the problem rests with my ‘over’ usage of my blog. Here is exactly what they said.

…..please note that your account has been flagged for an excessive amount of social activity which made your account appear more like a spam-bot than a human being.

Please keep in mind that our like features are designed to help you keep up with your favorite blogs, give easy feedback to their authors, and nurture direct conversations. They are not to be used as a means of promoting your site through mass notifications.

Does this sound like me? Many of you have probably wondered where I’ve been because I haven’t been able to keep up with all my emails in the last two months. To keep from getting too far behind again I’ve tried to read emails as they come in and many of those I do ‘like’. I’m probably reading 50 emails a day on average. Is that considered over use?

When I questioned them on what is considered excessive this is the answer I received:

To clarify, I’m specifically referring to the amount of times you’ve been using the Like feature. When you like content on WordPress.com, the owners of that content receive notifications each time. This is intended to inform content owners about who is interacting with their content and is not intended as a system to attract mass attention to your content.

After blogging for seven years I think I know how to use the Like feature. I only have 2000 followers, many of whom I assume are dormant. I don’t have time to look for new blogs. Anyway after 24 hours the Like feature will supposedly be enabled again.

I apologize to those who haven’t heard from me in awhile. I have tried to remedy that but WordPress has made that impossible. Hopefully all will be sorted soon. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I’d like to know and any advice that you can give me would be most appreciated.

Apologies to My Followers

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….WordPress no longer likes Safari

For a couple of months now I’ve not been able to ‘like’ or leave a comment on some of your blogs. I’d say that 60 percent or you or more have not heard from me in awhile. It’s not that I don’t read your posts, I do but I can’t press ‘like’ or leave a comment when I open up WordPress in Safari. For over six years it hasn’t been a problem. I know that some of you are experiencing the same thing because you’ve written about it.

When I open up in Google Chrome I’m able to connect with all of you but I find it difficult to write my own posts and add photos. Has anyone had a similar problem with Chrome?I’d much prefer to stay with Safari but if I have to move over I guess I will. Please leave me some advice if you’ve experienced a similar problem. I haven’t contacted WordPress yet. If no one can help me I guess that will be my next step.

On Vacation

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….I’m leaving tonight for London, England

I’ve scheduled a few posts ahead of time so you’ll see some activity on my blog until Oct. 2. I’m not taking a laptop with me and I’m not sure I can post from my iPhone. I’m sure I will take a ton of photos but you might have to wait a couple of weeks before I can share them with you.

I’m very excited about this trip. It’s my first time to England and I’ll finally get to see where our son and daughter-in-law reside. My husband and I are travelling with our oldest daughter and her wife and we’ll be staying together for the first eight days. After that Andrea and Josie are taking the train to Scotland and we’ll stay in London.

The only thing that we’ve booked so far is a tour of Buckingham Palace and on the second of October we’re going out to a nice restaurant to celebrate my husband’s birthday. There are lots of places we want to see and and things we want to do in London. I expect that we’ll take some bus tours and definitely walking tours and of course we’ll check out the art galleries and museums.

We haven’t booked things ahead of time because of my husband’s condition. He never quite knows when he can leave the house safely without having to rush to a bathroom. With the time change and jet lag the first few days could be tricky. We’ve done this before and it’s not ideal but spending time with our son and his wife is more important.

The only thing I’ll miss when I’m away is being able to spend time with this sweetie:

Portraits of Two Fine Gentlemen

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..days 136 and 137 of 365 Days of Art

Yesterday I posted some portraits of older men that I found photos of on the internet. Two of my followers, Ivor and Derrick, made some nice comments about my work so I decided to try and draw them. I hope they won’t be offended at my attempts.

I found a photo on Ivor’s site Ivor.Plumber/Poet which I attempted to draw. The glasses were a bit tricky because there was a glare on them and I drew them slightly off kilter.