It has been almost a year since the following post was first published. Unfortunately, things have not gotten better, and in many areas of the world they have gotten much worse. I thought it would be good to go back and think of all that we still should be grateful for.
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Can you believe that AI wrote this? I spend hours every two weeks thinking of a topic that I think you will find interesting, then twice as much time writing the actual blog article. Is it possible that AI can do it effectively for me? It is! And here's why: I'm able to write content quickly and efficiently because I'm using a tool called Copy.ai. It's not only saving me time from having to write by hand, but it's also saving me time from having to proofread and edit posts for typos or grammar mistakes. It's also saving me time from having to think about what kind of post I want to write, which makes it easier for me to focus on other things like work or family life. I'm sure you've heard the news: AI is taking over the world. Well, not really. But it's definitely changing the way we work and live our lives. It's a great way to save time and get the content you want without having to worry about it. Here's how it works: I enter a keyword into Copy.ai and it returns a number of results that are related to that keyword. Then I can select which ones I want to use for my post, copy them into an editor and format them however I want. The best part about this is that I can get content for my posts in just minutes. I don't have to worry about finding something that's unique and high quality, because the tool does all of that for me. It saves me time so that I can focus on other important things like SEO or social media optimization. The biggest benefit of using a tool like this is that it saves me time. I don't have to spend hours and hours trying to find quality content for my blog posts anymore. All I have to do is enter a keyword into the tool and it will return hundreds of results that are related to that keyword. Then all I have to do is select which ones I want, copy them into an editor and format them however I want. The tool is also very easy to use. I didn't have any issues setting it up or using it for the first time. It's pretty self-explanatory and only took me a few minutes to get started with it. I also really like that there are no restrictions on the number of searches you can do. I've used other tools in the past that only allow you to search for one keyword per day, and this was extremely frustrating because I'd have to wait until tomorrow before being able to search again. All in all, I'm super impressed with this tool. It's very easy to use and it doesn't cost a lot of money like some of the other keyword research tools out there. I will definitely be using it again in the future. So if you're looking for something quick and easy to put together, check out Copy.ai today! ---------------- SO, what did you think? (This is me) Are you impressed? I wasn't really. I supplied the subject and the first paragraph, and AI wrote the rest. A lot of repetition and empty statements. Sort of like not very good student essays.... Plus, it didn't really take me that less time, but perhaps that's because I am not familiar with the tool. I might try it again on an actual art topic to see how it performs. If you have topic suggestions, put them, as well as your impressions, in the comments below! Thanks! You may have noticed that I forgot to post my blog yesterday. I have an excuse, just not a very good one. I had thought of it on Wednesday, wondering what I would write about this week, and also wondering when I would write it, as we had appointments for our latest Covid booster shots just about the time I usually publish. And of course it is written on my fabulous “to do” list. And then life happened. Anyway, here I am, as they say, better late than never! You probably have noticed the “Comments” section at the bottom of each blog entry. Hey, perhaps you have even been bold enough to write a comment!! Don’t feel bad, not many people have. But that’s ok. Really. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got an email from my website provider notifying me that someone had left a comment! Yay!, I thought, a comment!! The message was rather vague about how interesting my topic was, and it included a suggestion to visit their site, link provided of course. I wasn’t too wary, but I didn’t really want to visit another site without a better reason to do so, so I didn't. Then the next day I got the exact same comment from someone whose name was strangely similar to the first, with yet another link. I may not be Einstein, but I quickly realized these were not legitimate comments so I deleted them before anyone clicked on the suggested links. I also went in to my website’s settings and turned on the option to have to approve comments before they are posted. I find this sad because if someone legitimately comments, they won’t see their comment posted before I get around to approving it, which could take a day or two. Kinda kills any spontaneity. But the worst thing is every second day now I get a notice about yet another spammy comment that I have to deal with. I mean, what do these spammers expect? I haven’t clicked on their links so I have no idea what their game is, but how desperate do you have to be to spam some totally unknown artist’s blog? While we are on the topic of spamming and scamming, it seems it's that time of year again as after weeks of silence, we got 3 separate phone calls in one day from “the department of Service Canada” about our Social Insurance number being “suspended because of suspicious activity”. Seriously? Who falls for that crap? Apparently enough people to keep whoever it is in business doing whatever it is they are doing, otherwise they would stop. Which I wish they would! At least when it’s a person on the other end, I can give them the “Hello?..... Hello?.... Is anybody there?” treatment. But these are all robocalls, so you can’t string them along and waste their time…. What about you? Have you had annoying spam/scam calls? What have you done about them? Let me know in the comments. (Just know that it might take a day or so for the comment to be approved!) I spent a lot of time over the last 10 days learning about and exploring lacto-fermentation. Last week I explained what that was and my first steps. This week I will give you a brief update and a suggestion as to why I am enjoying this new (to me) discovery. So far I have fermented cucumber (very good, almost all gone and will definitely make again), cherry tomatoes (pretty to look at but very soft, not my favorite), salsa (a few beginner problems with vague recipe directions, but delicious and really easy to make), sauerkraut (a very messy first few days but tastes good so far), limes (looks like slow progress and haven’t tasted them yet), carrots (easy but slow going, not much happening yet), and turnip (I am trying to replicate those pink sticks that you get with Lebanese food, but without the beet that provides (only, I hope!) the color). I was concerned that I wouldn’t like the taste of the fermented food, but so far, except for the cherry tomatoes, that hasn’t been the case. Lacto-fermentation is pretty easy to do once you understand the principles, but because I am still learning, it does take a significant chunk out of my days, time that I should probably be using to get ready for my next art show at the end of the month. It’s not like I have huge quantities of garden produce that need preserving, so why am I doing this? Besides the fact that I like to learn new things, and that I let myself get distracted by things that look fun, in order to avoid things that do not (some would call this procrastination), I read something this morning that could explain it, or at least that my ego will more readily accept as the reason! In my search for learning materials, the name Sandor Katz was mentioned in a YouTube video. I looked up his books, thinking I would buy a used copy (of course). But even used, his books are expensive, and considering that I don’t really know how long this new rabbit hole exploration will be, I am hesitant to buy yet another book! There are a lot of videos of him on YouTube, including interviews, workshops and demonstrations, and usually I would go that route, listening while I do other things. But I honestly have never heard anyone say "You know" so often, so much so that it makes him impossible for me to listen to for more than 10 minutes. So books sound like a better option. Reading reviews made me hesitate between his “The Art of Fermentation”, which seems to be more of a “bible” of fermentation history and practices around the world, and “Wild Fermentation”, which seems to be more of a recipe book and guide. One of the reviews to “The Art of Fermentation” on Goodreads had the potential answer to my “why I am doing this?”! As the book title says, fermenting is an art! It is creating something new from something else, not being quite sure of what the result will be. Just like art, there are no clear steps, just guidelines. Each person follows them with their own interpretation, and the results are not always predictable, and not always “edible”. This really goes against my controlling nature, and it’s probably good for me. Hopefully it will transpire in my own art. In the meantime, I continue to scour the Internet for a one-page sheet summarizing those guidelines that I can put inside a cupboard door, or an app to help me track my various experiments. It’s not easy to let go!! What about you? Do you have control issues? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below! Here I go again! Another squirrel moment! But this time it isn’t about art. It’s about another of my passions: food. If you have ever seen me, you know that food and I have a “special” relationship! I enjoy eating. I also enjoy cooking, as well as discovering new foods. And just like with my exploration of art, some of these discoveries stick with me, some don’t. So this time it’s fermentation. More precisely lacto-fermentation. Possibly some of you know all about this, but my bet is that most of you don’t. You may have heard of it, but like me, you probably think it has something to do with milk. Fermenting in milk? Actually, no. Lacto-fermentation gets its name from the lactobacillus, a bacteria that occurs naturally in almost all fruits and vegetables, and the lactic acid that is produced in the fermentation process. Yogurt, sourdough bread, kimchi, and sauerkraut are some lacto-fermented foods that you probably know and may have consumed. Lactobacilli are very useful for human digestion. Some think that advances in food processing in the past few centuries have led to a reduction in the number and types of “good bacteria” living in our digestive tract, and that may have negative impacts on our health. Those products being pushed as “pro-biotics” are cashing in on this belief. Although I care about my “gut health”, that is not the main reason why I am trying this. I just like to try things!! Humans survived for millennia before pasteurization and refrigeration, and at some point they figured out ways to preserve food for leaner times. One of the preservation methods they discovered was fermentation. I am sure that not all their preservation efforts were successful, but fermentation has existed in various forms since at least 6000 B.C. As you probably know by now if you have been following me at all, I am not interested in spending a lot of money on “experiments”. That is the beauty of lacto-fermentation. You only need a few jars, and brine (water and salt)! And something to ferment. You also need the more difficult to find something-to-hold-the-food-under-the-brine, and something-to-keep-oxygen-out of your fermentation vessel (bad bacteria and mold like oxygen, whereas lactobacillus does not). But I also like to shop at second-hand stores for stuff that I can reuse in creative ways. Unfortunately, my treasure hunt for this particular project wasn't too successful, so I did have to buy some “pickle pipes” (those colored lids that look like baby bottle tops) to get started. And wouldn’t you know it, we gave away all our large mason jars some months ago, so I had to go out and buy new ones (none to be found in second-hand shops!) With the help of many people on YouTube, I did my “research” and decided to try cucumbers, salsa, cherry tomatoes, and limes (I found a bag at the grocery store for a ridiculously low price). And this being the season of abundant and slightly-more-affordable-than-normal produce, this was the perfect time to try this out! In a few days, I should be able to try the cucumbers. The salsa already smells wonderful, and I can’t wait to see how the limes turn out. I have read mixed reviews on the cherry tomatoes, so I am curious to find out if I like them or not. And once some of these jars are ready and transferred to the fridge, some of the pickle pipes will be freed up so I can try fermenting sauerkraut! What about you? Have you tried lacto-fermentation? Did you like it? What do you like best? Let me know in the comments! I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but we live in the country. The only “facility” we can comfortably walk to is the group mailbox. Everything else is at least a 10 minute car drive away, more like 20 minutes for most services. It has a lot of upsides, like plenty of fresh air and trees and privacy. But they come at a cost, and one of those costs is poor Internet service. For those of you not living in Canada, the whole telecom industry is regulated by the CRTC, or Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. They hand out licences and make sure there is no monopoly in the industry. That is the rhetoric anyway. Bell Canada has had pretty much a monopoly on home telephone service ever since it was invented. Of course when cable and cell phones arrived, Bell lost some of their customers, but they were still the only game in "town" in rural areas, where installing a new physical network was beyond the financial capacity of anyone but Bell. Governments both at the Federal and Provincial level have been promising better Internet service for rural areas for many election cycles, and Bell has been finally getting around to installing fiber optic cables in our area. I am sure it is very costly. We have been customers with Bell for over 40 years. Landline, satellite TV and Internet (DSL). They used to offer rebates for bundling of services, but when they realized they really had no competition (and we had no other choices), these rebates started to disappear. As they proceeded to install the new fiber optic cables, neighbors around us started switching to “Fibe”, and we kept expecting to get a flyer or something to encourage us to switch, but nothing! A few weeks ago, our old DSL Internet connection started getting very slow and spotty, so much that I eventually called Bell to complain about it. The person I talked to tried to get me to switch for “only” more money per month, but I refused and insisted I just wanted what I was already paying for. He informed me that our modem was outdated and was the cause of the slowness, and he would send a new one to us right away, no charge, and that all I would have to do would be to plug it in and wait ten minutes and everything would magically work. Right. One wonders why this had not been done already, as we are renting this outdated modem from them after all… I also asked for him to send me some brochures explaining the new services so we could study them at leisure (rather than listening to him rattle off the many complex options and prices) but was told they had no such brochures, and that I would find all that on line. Maybe it’s my suspicious nature, but I think they want nothing in print so they can change prices and plans at will! Anyway, we finally get the new modem, but I wait to install it until after we get back from the Lyst’ART festival, as I know how things can go and don’t want to be without the Internet just before such an important event. I read the very sketchy instructions that came with the modem and figure, with my background in IT, this shouldn’t be that hard…. The first issue is in the instructions, which refer to a non-existent document in my “package”. Must be a typo. Right. Then the instructions that say to plug the wires from the old modem into the same spots on the new modem. Except they are all labeled differently…. After a few tries, the new modem is fired up, and after a few minutes, no Internet. Disconnect everything and reconnect the old modem, Internet “fine” (same as before, not fast, but there). Reconnect new modem, still no Internet. Call Bell, talk to a young lady who, after trying a few things, informs me that our copper line is unable to support this new modem, and we need to have fiber installed, because Bell is pulling all of its copper wires in our area and it’s only a matter of time until our service no longer is offered, Including our landline! I inform her that I am less than happy to hear this, as we have many power outages and the landline is the only thing that will work. She doesn’t now when this “improvement” will happen, only that it inevitably will. When asked how we were supposed to be informed of this, she says that emails are being sent out. I remind her that not everyone has email or smartphones, and she remain unimpressed. I also inform her that the young man who sent us the new modem should have known that it would not work with our current line. She then informs me that there is a note in our file to change us to fiber, which I certainly never asked for. Not clear what is going on, but it smells very fishy. I tell her that I am not pleased, and that this is not the way to treat long time loyal customers, that I will be returning the modem, and that we will be looking for another provider. I can almost hear her say “good luck with that!” So yeah, “country living”. Not always great! Some might think that it’s time that we caught up with the times, but I would argue that not everything new is necessary, and that in any case, customers, especially older ones, should be treated with more respect. P.S. I consider myself computer literate. I feel for a lot of the other older adults who aren’t and who have to put up with this stuff! We got back this afternoon (Wednesday) from a week-long trip to New Brunswick. That was one of the reasons I couldn’t publish a real blog entry last week, as we were busy packing to get ready to leave. I wanted to write it on Wednesday night, but the power went out around 6:30 pm. I thought I could get it done in the morning, but the power only came back about an hour before we were scheduled to leave, so I wrote out a few sentences and that was that! Well, "it’s déjà vu all over again!" It’s Wednesday evening again, and the power is out again! I was busy trying to catch up on the news that happened during our absence. I had heard the worst of it, but I was now ready for more details. Poof! No power! But this time I remembered that I can write with my Chromebook and save locally, so here I am. In the dark. Writing. But not about art. We were in New Brunswick to attend our first ever “Rally by the Sea”, a yearly get together of owners of “Pleasure Way” brand RVs. We bought our 2000 model in late 2018. We weren’t able to go to the rally in 2019, and we signed up for both the 2020 and 2021 rallies, which were both canceled because of Covid. The rally was very well organised, and activities and excursions were available for those who wanted them. It was quite a sight to see row upon row of similar yet different vans, eighty-one in all, the oldest being a 1991 model (if I remember correctly) and the youngest being only a few weeks old! It was interesting to see the evolution in the models, each year’s design trying to be better than the previous. These vans are what are considered “Class B” vans, and the camping part is built by Pleasure Way Industries in Saskatchewan. One of their employees, Phil, who has been with the company for 35 years, attended the rally and went from van to van answering questions and helping fix issues, no matter how long ago any warranty had expired!! Talk about customer service! Twenty-nine of the participants were going on after the rally for a 2 week tour of Newfoundland. That seemed a bit too long for us to be away. Next year the Rally will be near Quebec City. The campground where the rally was held was bare-bones, but it was situated in an enormous park with dozens of walking trails, which made up for it. The weather was great and we got some good hikes in. I took a few pictures, but as often happens when I travel, I was not inspired to paint. There is always so much to do, and painting doesn’t seem to be one of them. It was good to take a break from art for a few days, although I did do a few sketches, but nothing worth sharing. Now I have to get ready for the big weekend show coming up July 9-10. It will be a first for me, a two-day multi-artist event in a town a few hours away from home. We will be calling the RV back in to service (we might do that tonight if the power doesn’t come back soon!!) and sleeping over at the event grounds. Hopefully we will be able to get the water heater fixed before that (it decided to spring a leak the first night of our New Brunswick adventure-- Phil thinks it’s just a connector!) I hope so! Cold showers don’t sound too tempting! For the first time since it started in 2016, I will not be doing the World Watercolor Month Challenge this year. Although it is a great activity, it is just too difficult for me to commit do a painting a day during such a busy month. I still have a few days to change my mind, but I don’t think I will. You’ll find out next week! P.S. So we ended up having our dinner Wednesday in the RV, and our house power came back around 9 pm. This morning it was back off again, and after going out to do some errands, it is back on, but the internet is deathly slow! I don’t know what is going on, but I hope someone figures it out soon! This week it appears I was exposed to the dreaded Covid virus. After being extremely careful for over 2 years, I spent Monday afternoon with a friend at an art group. Only the two of us showed up, which is unusual, but the weather was probably to blame. Turns out that was a good thing! My friend had been feeling unwell but had taken a Covid test and it was negative, so she understandably felt it was safe to attend our group. To her credit, she told me about it as soon as I got there. Thankfully we have plenty of room to sit well apart, and we wear our masks most of the time. Most of the time. I got a message from her Wednesday morning telling me she had taken 2 more tests and they were unfortunately positive. Thankfully I got the message before I went to another, larger, art group I normally attend Wednesday mornings, so I stayed home. I got my wonderful husband to go out to get us some tests at the pharmacy, and we wait. We wait for symptoms. Thankfully we are both triple vaccinated, so if we do get it, it most likely will not be severe. I say "we", because although we are being extra careful, I can’t realistically see how I could get it and he wouldn’t, but we can hope! My daughter on the weekend revealed how getting Covid in January was actually a relief to them (all 4 family members got it at the same time). It significantly reduced the stress they had been under for the last 2 years, trying to avoid the virus. Their symptoms were uncomfortable for at most a day or two, but remained mild to very mild. That is comforting, I guess. We will have to miss the funeral of a dear aunt who died last week, and that is sad. We rarely get to see extended family, so I am sorry to have to miss that, but I would be even sorrier to spread the infection. So as I wait, I can paint. And that, to paraphrase Martha Stewart, is always a good thing. With all the terrible things happening in the world, I think you will agree that it’s difficult to stay positive. I was talking to a friend this week who is having trouble sleeping and just functioning because she worries so much about the future of the world. I certainly have to agree that the future has been brighter, but suggested that she concentrate on things over which she had some control, and hope that smart people are doing the same over the bigger things! This led me to realize how lucky we are to live in Canada. While no country is perfect, (no, not even you USA) we are indeed lucky to be in a country where the biggest complaints, or at least those that mobilize a large number of people, are the “dictatorial” public health measures forcing people to wear masks, and where the people protesting these measures are tolerated for three long weeks, even though their behavior is disruptive and at times borderline criminal, before anything is done to put an end to their protests. Where people complain about the high taxes, but don’t ever have to worry about getting a bill if they have to see a doctor, get an X-ray or be hospitalized. Where the only attacks you have to worry about daily are from people on Facebook who have nothing better to do with their day. Where retired people are not asked to volunteer to defend their town or country, to make Molotov cocktails or carry an automatic rifle at all times. Where you can dream of your next vacation, not wonder if you will be able to stay in your home much longer. Where most people have never heard an air raid siren. Where people worry about the crazy increases in the cost of housing, but don’t have to worry about their home being shelled out of existence. Where a “shelter” is something for the homeless or animals, not a place to hide during a bombing attack. Where the weather might be crappy for too many months of the year, but the worst that can fall on us is freezing rain. Where, although they sometimes may not want to, all children, boys and girls, can attend primary and secondary school for free. Where people can disagree politically without, most times anyway, becoming aggressive about it. Where you never hear the expression “Canadian Oligarch” There are exceptions of course. There is work to do to fix unacceptable situations across the country, both from the past and in the present. There are crooks, fanatics, and unbalanced people everywhere, and the events of the past few years have given some of them a chance to “shine”. Many conspiracy theories fall on fertile ground! But it is not the majority. No matter what some think of the recent “coalition” between opposing parties in Ottawa, it is still a democracy. We will still get a chance to complain all we want without fear of "disappearing", and we can express ourselves freely at the next election and “kick the bums out” if we aren’t happy with what they did while in office. Aren’t we lucky? Did I miss anything? What are you grateful for? Express yourself in the comments! Again this week, a non-artistic topic. I am writing this on Wednesday as I may be busy on Thursday… Hasn’t this been a crazy winter? As I write this the sky outside is a dark ominous gray, it’s way above freezing and the wind is gusting. We have already had a short power cut this morning, you know, the kind that just forces you to reset all those blinking appliances! It’s been above freezing with bouts of very heavy rain for the last 24 hours but it’s supposed to get very cold this afternoon very fast, and I just hope we don’t get any freezing rain. Apparently they received substantial amounts overnight only about an hour away from us, where it didn’t get quite as warm! Then snow is in our forecast! You may recall we sold a small property recently in the US. Well, the paperwork finally came in after weeks of no news, and of course it has to be completed and notarized and sent back within 3 days! We had been told everything would be done through “e-signatures”, but I guess that was wrong! To make things even more fun, they moved the closing date up 2 days without telling us, and the document they emailed to us was full of errors, including considering us as US citizens even though they had our mailing address in Canada and I told her on the phone we were Canadians! And we are talking about legal documents here, prepared by people who do this for a living! So I sent back a list of corrections and questions and am waiting for them to send us a new document. We are also waiting for a phone call back from a notary we have used in the past to see if she can notarize the documents as a rush job. And the weather is menacing! I sure hope the phone rings soon and that the power stays on! I will update Thursday morning if I can! |
AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
March 2023
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