Tilapia. Brown rice with mushrooms. Steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Yams. If that sounds appealing join us for dinner virtually. Wanna?

Thank you for your reply. I've no idea what the photo represents. Looks like a massive amount of dead fish.

I think Element might be showing you a photo of a Tilapia catch on an industrial scale.
No way to tell if the catch is of feral pests or aquafarmed produce.

Hope you are doing well bw under the circumstances. Our state of California has been on LOCKDOWN since March 19. Life is very different now than it was a couple of weeks ago. Take care and thank you for your helpful answer. Happy Sunday and STAY SAFE! :) This post was edited by my2cents at March 23, 2020 5:45 AM MDT

Here, Ari and I are living in seclusion, except for shopping for food and groceries. There's no immediate lockdown around us now, though I'm sure it will come eventually. We're just being cautious. I'm feeling very grateful for social media as a means of keeping in touch with friends and the world.

Hope your home is a comfortable place to be. Will you be much inconvenienced by the lockdown? This post was edited by my2cents at March 23, 2020 5:47 AM MDT

Well Jim and I of course live in California and we have been LOCKED DOWN since March 19. The lockdown affects me less since I am a homebody. But Jim used to play tennis on Wednesdays and golf on Saturdays and also putz around doing "guy stuff" at stores like Harbor Freight, Lowe's, Home Depot or Costco. All of that has ended. We are under ORDERS to only go out for a specified list of reasons. I believe if we do not comply there will be some kind of punishment for that. I cancelled all routine doctor/dental appointments. Since I am 82 and Jim is 84 we are in the high end of extreme risk and since we enjoy our lives we are doing all we can to stay well. As long as we have electricity and gas we can enjoy the TV and the Internet. So far so good. We used to do takeout on the days we had to go out to do errands/shopping but that has stopped so I cook every day. Fortunately I LOVE TO COOK so now I am researching different recipes. Thank you for your concern m'dear. Whatever happens we will adjust. We have survived many things as most folks our age have. We will survive this. Fingers crossed.  ((hugs)) That's for just being you! This post was edited by my2cents at March 23, 2020 5:49 AM MDT

It's great to know you and Jim are OK, Rosie.
In taking such good precautions, I expect you'll come through all this in good health.
I imagine Jim would find it hard to be without his usual sources of exercise and social contact.
But I'm guessing you can probably Skype with your son, grandkids and OldSkool.

I watch the American news from Australia, being constantly shocked at the rapid spread.
Here, we've only a thousand cases nationally, so far, but it's set to quadruple very soon. The government's reactions are always a little too slow due to the bureaucratic processes that slow down decisive responses to the experts' advice.


This post was edited by inky at March 22, 2020 10:30 AM MDT

Hopefully your country's experience will be far less devastating than ours. Our clown in chief said it was a hoax for months. Now to make up for it he lies every day. I doubt any country has such a viper maggot as we do to "lead" us through this crisis. Thank you for your thoughtful and kind reply m'dear. STAY SAFE! Oh. Old School has been BANNED from the site. Favoritism once again rears its UGLY head. We don't Skype so we rely on emails and the phone. Hope you and your family will sail through this. It is a WORLDWIDE abomination bw and it will get MUCH WORSE. This post was edited by RosieG at March 22, 2020 11:07 AM MDT

Yes I was utterly flabbergasted that Trump called it a hoax. He's paying for it now - or rather, the country is - and regrettably will pay even worse before it's over. I wonder how the Republicans are trying to justify his errors. Trump's latest lies seem typical of the way he's always been - like a very small kid that genuinely believes that denying evidence will get him out of trouble. To me, it's always seemed on the surface that he's a little bit mad. But under that impulsive surface, I think he's machiavellian; his Tweets and press releases tell his base supporters the line he wants them to spin for him, and I think he believes the masses are highly gullible. Maybe they are, in the sense that these days they're inclined to listen only to the news outlets they agree with.

I was very disappointed when OldSkool was banned, quite a while ago now. I thought he helped lift the level of discussions. Wish I knew the issues and triggering event. He was so bright and had a great sense of humour and irreverence. This post was edited by inky at March 22, 2020 11:07 AM MDT

He INSISTED on fair and it just was never there for him. He got banned for much less bad than those who are still here who are great pals with the deciders apparently. I'm in my own space so I really don't know what goes on elsewhere out there. Not interested.  It isn't what you know that matters but whom. It is always that way wherever you go because people will be people and feathers flock together. That is what we give up if we are not the favored ones. SIGH. OLD SCHOOL wondered why I get away with so much and he gets away with nothing. I told him he insists on suffering FOOLS and I ignore/avoid them. I don't fall into the trap  I used to long ago but then I saw how things work so now I don't engage with fools. I leave. I ignore. I avoid. So far so good. Once in a while I get my hand slapped and a question removed. My strength is I don't give a rat's a** about any of that. I ask what I want and whatever happens thereafter is of zero concern to me. I reply to those who don't waste my time and the rest I simply ignore. I'm too old to put up with any of that claptrap gobbleygook junk. Now of course this could ban me too. If so it's been a good ride. If not I'll be here tomorrow! Take care bw! :) ((hugs)) This post was edited by RosieG at March 22, 2020 11:18 AM MDT

You are correct...and thank you.

Excuse me, but that response WAS a no thank you. If the pic offended you, it was supposed to...and offend anyone else that saw it. I am sorry you took it so personally. It was an invitation to show you the awful conditions under which tilapia are farmed.

Thank you for your reply. Happy Monday.

Yes...it is tilapia. I won't eat it.

Thank you for your reply.

((hugs)) We would be honored to dine with you m'dear. We eat mostly whole grains beans veggies nuts seeds and fruits. We may eat meat once a week and I have to confess I loved canned tuna! I like it best just with lemon juice and sliced onions/celery. The way my mom fixed it when I was a kid. Jim and I could easily switch to being vegetarians though. Not Vegans. I love my dairy products A LOT. I totally understand why killing living things and eating them is unacceptable to Vegetarians. I don't understand at all why eating the products the animals produce is a bad thing. I shall ask. Thank you for your swell reply bw! I always look forward to your showing up! :):):) This post was edited by RosieG at March 22, 2020 10:32 AM MDT

I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian, not a vegan.
I've known several vegans well and so do understand their reasoning. It's usually based on the fact that, in commercial farming practices, the means of obtaining products such as milk and eggs causes suffering to the animals. I could detail exactly what that suffering is, but wouldn't unless you want to know. In non-commercial farming it's easy to get the produce without causing suffering - which is what Ari and I do.

Dinner with you and Jim would be great fun. Like you, Ari and I have liberal views and favour green approaches to the environment. I'd ask lots of questions about what it's like to live in California, and about the lives you've lived - which I'm sure would have been very rich and interesting. Although, if you didn't like questions, I'd refrain, and instead engage in your passions for current affairs. :)

Well in a virtual world with active imaginations and a desire to engage we shall have our dinner m'dear. Perhaps we can plan the menu together. I know you've heard of the Algonquin Round Table that existed many decades ago in New York City. I always thought an internet social site could be like that depending of course upon the participants. I love being with witty intelligent talented people. What I could bring to it would be a superduper appreciation. I've always wished I were creative in some way. My mother and sister are the artistic ones. My son told me I was an artist in the kitchen vis a vis cooking. Isn't that a kind and sweet and loving thing to say? Cooking a tasty meal and writing a symphony or a beautiful poem or a haunting melody or a memorable book is not remotely comparable but I shall always treasure it. Are you artistic bw? My sister hooks rugs and makes wondrous things at a pottery studio near her home and sends us some of her creations and also paints on canvas. I have a few of her works....unicorns of course. I have a hooked rug she made decades ago with unicorns. I am surrounded by evidence of her artistry. My grandfather was an artist in wood. He owned a shop in Highland Park, Michigan and created such beautiful things..marquetry was my very thing as well as tables and chairs. He was commissioned by hotels to make pieces for them.  My grandmother could knit crochet do needlepoint. I wish I could create something beautiful and lasting like that but not everyone is so blessed. I LOVE to learn so coming to an internet social site with knowledgeable kind people who enjoy sharing what they know is like heaven for me. What kind of questions do you think I wouldn't like? That sentence popped out at me and I wonder if you could clarify it? I can't imagine you'd say anything at any time I wouldn't like. If we were to disagree I'm positive it would be with the utmost civility. Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday to thee. I wonder what awaits us today? STAY SAFE! :)

How apposite to mention the Algonquin Round Table, 1919 until roughly 1929. They started at around the same time as the Spanish flu, January 1918 to December 1920. I wonder if that's just a coincidence. Or is their something about pandemics that might actually inspire like-minded people to come together more than they would normally?
I loved the Bloomsbury Group, Gertrude Stein's Salon, and the Sydney Push; all had thinkers and writers who changed the direction of culture.
Recently I've been attending the Pink Flamingo Writers Salon and Poets Out Loud - but they're closed now, for the duration of the pandemic. Some of us still exchange online - it has slowed the rate of interaction.

I believe being creative is innate to all humans, but whether we develop it depends on what we practice. If I remember correctly, you were an accountant - an extremely valuable profession without which most of us would be in serious trouble. An accountant would be great at analytical thinking, but would have less opportunity to practise the kinds of lateral thinking that is used by artists, comics and scientists. Arthur Koestler wrote a great treatise on the prerequisites of creativity, "The Act of Creation." It has long has its influence on me. Edward de Bono was also great on that topic, Between the two of them, it becomes easy for anyone to explore and develop their creativity if they wish. And cooking in the kitchen - yes, definitely - cooking at its best is one of the most enjoyable of the arts. I feel sure your son is right. You've raised him to to see reality as it is and be honest.

How delightful to have the craftworks and artistry of your relatives all around you. I can imagine the conversations as your guests, arriving for dinner, encounter them.

I've been creative in various ways, initially as a sculptor and part-time teacher of art for twenty years. I gave that up to come to the country and breed and train Arabian horses for nigh on another twenty years. That was a financial catastrophe. I've found homes for all but four of the horses and the stallion is now gelded. In the meantime, I've returned to creativity, this time writing. Fiction and poetry on ecological themes interests me the most. Have been writing many hours daily for about six years now, and have almost reached a publishable standard. Am studying Creative Writing at uni, very slowly, one subject per semester. This gives me the time to do each topic justice and achieve good marks - but it also allows me time for the horses and land management (which is hard yakka (work).)

I love to learn too - always happiest growing dendrites.

You asked, "what kind of questions do you think I wouldn't like? That sentence popped out at me and I wonder if you could clarify it?"

I wasn't making any assumptions about you, but I've occasionally encountered people who believe it's nosey and rude to ask too many questions. These types have a different way of getting to know people, much slower, letting little facts slip out one at a time. They take longer to take the measure of others and develop trust.
I tend to be an open book, happy to answer any questions, and sometimes likely to ask questions that some might consider too personal. I might ask, what most inspires your most passionate interest or concerns right now? And that could take a conversation in all sorts of directions, but it's the person who answers who suggests the topic.

My today (Tuesday in Australia):
fed the horses,
did some training with the youngest, Sammi,
spent three hours cutting the seedheads of Parramatta Grass in the "Egg Arena" (a training arena named for its shape), and poisoning each clump with a few crumbs of Flupropanate. Parramatta is an inedible species of grass which propagates so quickly that if not treated there is nothing for the animals to eat in only two or three years. The poison treats only this species - makes it infertile. I burn the seeds.
Back inside our small shack, shower, treat my insect bites with calamine lotion and antihistamine tablets, and get down to study.
Today, read three chapters on copyediting - what publishers require of editors, equipment and insurance, communications, and learning the skills themselves. Beginning to think I might like this kind of work for a living.
One very good thing, all this keeps me well away from the virus.

How has your day been?
If you could invite anyone you liked to your version of an Algonquin Round Table, who would it be?