Occasionally, I visit the social media world just to catch up on folks and their every day doings. It is quite apparent that if you wish to find out anything, run through that "newsfeed" and it will all be laid out for you. No one tries to have privacy any more. Everything is there...what people eat, their choice of clothing for the day, their arguments, their pet peeves and even the color of their underwear. Come on, folks. Some things need to remain with you and not be plastered all over the web. Granted, I pour out my heart on this blog but I have yet, and will not, post private things. Sorry. If you want that, you will have to go elsewhere....oh, try social media! You won't find my private life there but you will find enough from others to make your head spin.
Speaking of privacy and social media, modesty has also gone the wayside. There is nary a bit of decency in some of the "selfies" posted. To be honest, it is appalling not appealing. This whole bit brought to mind a rather humorous occurrence so many years ago. It seems that when my grandparents paid to have a photograph made of their youngest daughter in her early teens, there was some tension over the instructions given by the photographer. Helen was a beauty and had on a lovely gown. The photographer told her to pull down the ruffly shoulder straps for an "off-shoulder" look. She was then told to look over her should in a "sultry" gaze. My grandmother immediately went over, pulled the sleeve up some and told Helen to smile sweetly. In the meantime, my grandfather had a "friendly" talk with the photographer about how Helen was far too young for that! The photo session proceeded and the results were lovely.
Today, parents acting like this would never fly. I see parents dressing their preschoolers in more provocative outfits than what Helen wore that day but the world sees it as perfectly fine. The kids' photographs are plastered on social media and everyone oohs and ahhs. No one thinks of the message that these tiny tots are receiving through all of this. It is no wonder that pre-teens, teens and young adults see nothing wrong with what they share with the world. It is a wonder, however, that parents cannot understand where their teenagers got the idea that it was ok. Hmmm. I guess I am just feeling my age and have an intense yearning for days past when modesty, decency and self respect were all considered admirable.
I will say this about the weather on the Bayou, as of late. It has been windy! In fact, it has been windy and rainy for almost six months now. Only a few days each month are sunny. This is ok by me, however, as I am always up for a bit of rain. The wind goes along with it so I accept that as well. It is true that complaining about the weather has never changed it, so I say just go with what you are given. No problems.
While out behind the greenhouse this afternoon, a light swishing noise caught my attention. What in the world could that be?? It reminded me of a broom being used to clean the floor. Standing still, the sound led me to the source. Yep. It pretty much was a broom sweeping the floor. A branch of a yaupon shrub was being flung back and forth by the wind. As it was bouncing around, it was doing a fine job of sweeping the forest floor. A wide path was devoid of any fallen leaves!
The wind once was, at one time, a significant source of power for so many things but now has been replaced with more convenient methods. The sweeping motion of the branch brought thoughts of how windmills and sails make use of this free energy source. Folks used to use ingenuity and make use of what was on hand but those days have gone the wayside. Now, let there be one short power outage and people are in a tizzy. Sometimes, I think the times without all of our modern day conveniences was a lot better. We are all spoiled and perhaps a bit lazy. Maybe this branch was trying to tell me to get busy and rake the leaves.
