The Shed 23

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

BWOOOOOOOO!

Did that scare anyone? Happy Halloween!

Yesterday i drank beer with a friend. We had good talking about subjects that really matter in life, also we had long moments of silence but we have a long history together so shared silence doesn't feel awkward at all.

Today my old friend is coming here from northern Finland. I used to spend a lot of time with that dude. I can't tell much about him, he is a mystery. Totally strange fellow but in a good way. I just have to see him. He got married and everything and i want to shake his hand and congratulate about that!

Adding a couple of photos of my home city because i have nothing better to do right now.







Year in this last one: 1957

a reply to: Finspiracy


Mitä kauniita kuvia fin. Lovely kaupunki. Jos oli ollut aikaa ja rahaa, tulen käymään. Näyttää kiehtovan.

Ystävällisin terveisin

Bally

a reply to: Finspiracy

beautiful pics Finn 👍🏼..

Happy you are looking forward to your old friend coming to visit. 😊

a reply to: zazzafrazz

The lovely Zazzie! You never stay long, but it sure is awesome to see you pop in! Hope all is well with you. HUGS!

a reply to: bally001


Great work on Finnish language once again from you! It was not 100% grammatically correct but very easy to understand


I have been contemplating your words for a couple of days now. You gave me your wisdom "Adjust, adapt, overcome"

I actually dismissed it right away due to me being unable to do those things. But then at night, i couldn't get sleep and your three words came back to my mind. I am not ready yet with my thinking work but doing it almost all the time. Adjust... Adapt... Overcome... Seems really hard things for me but worth pursuing.

a reply to: Finspiracy

Oh lovely pics! Thanks for sharing your home city with us Fin! It's always so wonderful seeing an old friend. I'm sure you'll have a lot to catch up on.

a reply to: bally001

Ummm...what? LOL

That is so cool! How did you learn the language or do you have some interpretation thingy?

originally posted by: Night Star
a reply to: bally001

Ummm...what? LOL

That is so cool! How did you learn the language or do you have some interpretation thingy?

Actually i would like to have an answer from Bally to this question too

a reply to: Finspiracy

I have a hard time with "Adjust, adapt, overcome" too. I have so many years having to do that and sometimes it is difficult. Still, we must try every day.

Another late night/early morning where I can't sleep. Too many things running around in my head. I try to tell my thoughts to shut up so I can sleep, but they never listen. Lol

originally posted by: Night Star
a reply to: Finspiracy
we must try every day.

Yes, girl. Just like your signature says. I love your signature!

a reply to: Night Star

Same here. Two hours of trying to fall asleep go to me nowhere. It could be because of the cold weather, or of too much going on doctorwise.

Finn, those are awesome photos! I love the one of the stone street/alley, and the one on the hill is very reminiscent of many hills in & around Grand Rapids

Trick-or-treating went well, despite the cold, windy, rainy and snowy weather. It'd snow for a bit, then rain for a bit, then snow, then rain, the weather couldn't make up it's damn mind for nothing. We didn't end up with any accumulating snow here, but it was windy and thus the cold cut right through the clothing layers and coats. It didn't deter the kids any, though, they were out in droves. We opted to take the car and just park it on streets, and walk up one side for a few blocks, and then back down the other side back to the car. That way, we'd have somewhere warm and dry to duck in to if we needed it.

One of the kids' friends came with us, we'll call her Jane. They'd originally asked their friend a few doors up, who we'll call Suzie, to go, but once the forecast looked more and more assuredly cold & dreary, she started having second thoughts about ToTing out in that and decided to just stay home instead. They asked their other friend (Jane) a few blocks over to come instead, and she happily obliged. So we had a character from something called "Descendants" (Jane) a sorceress cat (older kid) and a dragon (younger kid, though her tail kept falling off)

Now, Jane's a nice kid, but holy crap, you'd think she ate the whole candy factory's output already, talk about hyper to the hilt. That girl was at Max Energy Output from the start. About 45 minutes after getting started, my kids were already getting a little annoyed at having to run after Jane to keep up between homes. Even hubby had to holler down the sidewalk after her to slow down and get back to the group, lol.

Our first stop was actually a church. I know, I know, an atheist family voluntarily went into a church, stop the presses! We know the pastor, he's one of those types who'd you never know was religious, let alone a pastor, because he sees no reason to mention it. He just likes to make friends, & know the neighbors well, religious or not.
Every year, they set up tables for any parishioner who volunteers, in the church for a sort of indoor version of a trunk-or-treat, anybody's welcome to come through.
One of the parishioners gives out Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars every year, he's a real popular guy, lol. He remembers my younger kid ever year (she's a big car fan & has a huge collection) and they talk cars for a while each year. He sets aside whatever the most unique car he has in his stockpile just for her, this year it was the matching glow-in-the-dark one to last year's car he set aside. She was THRILLED!

The spiked cider & chili guy had dialed back the amounts he made, incorrectly assuming the weather would keep people indoors. His goodies were gone pretty quick before we made it there. But his fire pit was roaring in his driveway and was a welcomed respite to warm up hands! Almost everyone underestimated how chilly it'd get & how fast, very few adults & kids had gloves (we didn't)

The Haunted Garage folks were at it again, it's a popular draw in the neighborhood for a good scare. They make a mini-haunted/horror house in their huge garage, complete with lighting, sounds, fog machines, and the whole family plays character parts. They change it up a little every year, one year was an electric chair execution chamber full of horror movie characters waiting their turns (Michael, Freddy, etc), one year was an asylum, etc. This year, it was a prison of zombies, lol.

Those folks are damn good at standing/sitting stone-still until someone gets close, the first and only time my younger kid went in there a few years ago, the electric chair theme year, she thought they were all prop mannequins, haha. She had the bejeezus scared out of her when one lunged through their cell bars, and flat refuses to go in again every year now. There's an elderly lady that sits outside down the driveway for the younger/easily upset kids so they don't have to go through the mini-haunted house for a goodie.

Now, my older kid, nothing scares her, she loves the atmosphere in those things. Jane had never been in one before, so they went in together. They were just coming out when, keeping things utterly random & unpredictable like these folks do, one of the zombies decided to shriek this unholy, skin-crawling noise of terror and chase after them. Older kid just jumped a bit and started laughing, but Jane?
Jane took off like a bat out of hell, little trick-or-treat candy bucket flying through the air (it only had the candy goodie from them in it, she emptied it into a bag in the car beforehand because it was tiny)

The old lady minding the driveway hissed something that sounded very much like "You ass!" at the offending zombie, who apologized while chuckling, picked up the dropped things and gave them back to Jane, who was a little leery at that point, lol.
Oh, and Jane's very, very, very blonde, I think the term "white-blonde" applies. I think her hair may have turned full-on white after that, haha.

After that, it was a few more streets of door-to-door, stopping to talk to folks we know, etc. By about 2 hours in, the kids were started to get colder faster and the warm-ups in the car started lasting a few minutes longer, and they were getting tired (mine were, anyway, running after Jane a lot)

They managed about 2 and a half hours of walking/running before everyone agreed they were about done. The cold was getting to them, they were getting more tired, and Jane, who wore regular sneakers instead of winter boots, managed to step in a deep puddle, soaking her shoes in icy water. Yep, we were done, time to get thee home.

The best part of the evening wasn't necessarily just the time spent out by itself, it shared that honor with the look on Jane's dad's face at the door when she held up the big grocery bag she'd been emptying her little bucket in to. His expression of utter disbelief/dumbfoundedness was priceless, lol, I don't think he expected such a large candy haul in just a few hours. I don't know exactly what hers weighed, but I weighed both my kids' bags when we got home out of curiosity and they hit 8 lbs of candy each this year (I think it was 7 last year) Hubby was thrilled, he made out well with his "Dad Tax" this year, lmao.
Boy, I bet Jane was surprised when they sorted through all of hers, both my kids received several full sized candy bars that they never realized someone had given them until they were at home sorting.

I can't vouch for Jane, but mine aren't going to eat all of that by themselves, and not fast, either. They have a habit of just randomly giving it out to people over time. The only candy I remotely like is Reese's cups (ironic, since I HATE peanut butter thoroughly, but love those damn things) They sorted out the bulk of those and gave me a big ol' bowl of them, aw.
They sorted out quite a bit of varied stuff for hubby to take to work and share in a few days, too

Okay i am about to leave now. For a day. Going to my friend's apartment and then the friend from back in the jurassic era should show up at some point. I wish you all a pleasant weekend!

Here is a Bush song "Comedown" as an acoustic version:

originally posted by: Finspiracy
a reply to: bally001


Great work on Finnish language once again from you! It was not 100% grammatically correct but very easy to understand

I have been contemplating your words for a couple of days now. You gave me your wisdom "Adjust, adapt, overcome"

I actually dismissed it right away due to me being unable to do those things. But then at night, i couldn't get sleep and your three words came back to my mind. I am not ready yet with my thinking work but doing it almost all the time. Adjust... Adapt... Overcome... Seems really hard things for me but worth pursuing.

Sorry Fin if I didn't get it right but you have to accept some aussie slang in there.

Love you mate. You're a great person.

Kind regards,

Bally

originally posted by: Night Star
a reply to: Finspiracy

I have a hard time with "Adjust, adapt, overcome" too. I have so many years having to do that and sometimes it is difficult. Still, we must try every day.

Interesting but simple concept isn't it. In it's simplest form I will explain it from 'my' perspective. I self diagnosed PTSD after leaving my job with all the evil and disgusting things I had witnessed and dealt with. I know as it affected my sleeping.

Okay, you ready...... Please don't take any offense...... If you do let me know and I will adapt, adjust and overcome accordingly. This is a 'bally' thing. I love you all. This is a combination of 'thoughts' and "actions". See the words, with different inverted commas?

Here I go to explain.

Join ATS. Been lurker for a long time. (like most). Person 'Night Star' says nice, cool things to my little threads but to my posts NS follows and says nice things. I check "The Shed!!!' This is fine.

ADJUST: If I want to be included in the shed (fear). So I look at 'The Shed' and decide I'd like to be part of it. How do I tune myself. I need to adapt. "adjust to this bally."

ADAPT: So I lurked the shed a few times. Laughed and cried with most of you. Then put in a few posts. I found this better than the other forums. So to Adapt, I wished upon myself to understand all these people and through adjustment hopefully they'll take me aboard this vessel.

OVERCOME: My fear is overcome. My shyness in expressing my 'true loves' isn't dismissed. I am confident in this forum as in the 'writers forum'. Empathetic nice people make this happen.

So here I am. I apply these rules to everything. If "overcoming" means turning my back on someone or dismissing them so be it 'for me'......

It's a simple exercise applied to most things and helps me sleep. Sometimes I forget it! And the consequences are laying awake. When I find an answer to 'overcome' I fall asleep directly.

Crikey! Well there you go chickadees. My thoughts. Hope this helps some.

Kind regards as always,

bally



Add: Fin mate. I've said it before. I have only studied the 'finnish language' since I've known you. Sure, I use translation but I project my thoughts into that translation. I'm glad you pick me up on the misspellings but as I've proffered I try to add a bit of 'aussie vernacular' there. I'll get it same as I can now talk dutch with my 'true love's' father and mother. Adjust, adapt and overcome.

My regards to Fin.

a reply to: bally001

That was beautiful Bally! You should have the 'adjust, adopt and overcome' in a signature.

Sometimes I can't sleep because of stress, but many times I can't sleep because I find so many interesting things on the internet and I guess it stimulates my brain. I'm like a little kid who says, "But I don't want to go to sleep!"

Right now, I'm half asleep and have to go out later. Wonder if I could just throw a sweater on over my nightgown. What? I'm going to Walmart later. LOL

You're a wonderful man and friend and I am grateful to have you here.

a reply to: Finspiracy

Have fun Fin! I LOVE that song!