Sipping Tea...

[Nindigo]

Have you guys ever listened to rain falling on a body of water - a small lake, for example. The sound of thousands of drops hitting the surface simultaneously, it's like a constant whispered 's'; I find it so wonderfully sleep inducing. 'Cause I'm weird like that

[MrsFlynn]

I have!! It's so relaxing. My favorite is rain falling in a forest.

Rain on Tent and Campfire Crackling Near the River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egf-q8RibSc

Soothing sounds from childhood. lol

[Nindigo]

Gosh, that reminds me of my hunting game when my character (first persion view) walks around in the wilderness in rainy weather. The sound of the rain falling on her coat sounds just like that rain on the tent. Very immersive and soothing along with the sound of wind amidst photo realistic nature. I love my hunting game for that alone

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On a totally unrelated note, I was looking up toddler age on google and this displayed at the top of my search:

'According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), kids between the ages of 1 and 3 are considered toddlers.'

At first, I totally understood that as being a toddler is a disease

[Lapaige46]

At first, I totally understood that as being a toddler is a disease

Some parents might think so. They don't call them the "terrible twos" for nothing.
Personally, I love that age.

I agree with you both about the soothing sounds of water. That's why I love cruising so much. However, when it's day after day of gloom, that starts to get to me. The sun is shining today and I feel so much better.
I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I grew up in the middle of Canada where there was more sunshine than rain. Even on the coldest winter days the sun would be shining brilliantly. But here on the "wet" coast we pretty much live in a rainforest. But having said that, I will take the gloom over -40 winter temps and 4 ft of snow. I hate being cold more than I dislike the gloom. That's why every year for the past several years, I have spent at least a month somewhere warm, Florida, Caribbean or Mexico.

I have a bad case of Wanderlust and I love being at sea - probably due to my Viking heritage (I don't know if you share the same feeling, Indigo. If not, someone has to stay home to keep the fires burning), but when I'm home, I'm a homebody.

Sheesh. I seem to be very loquacious today. Probably because I haven't talked to a soul since Friday evening. 

[Nindigo]

It's hard to say, LaPaige. I have anxiety issues which involves fear of leaving my home - among other things. But again, that is the anxiety speaking and not really me. Because there are in fact places I want to go. Until I can deal better with those issues though, I'm left to enjoy the journeys of the mind and my more immediate surroundings. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, because I get to experience the modern wonders of technology - it's quite impressive how realistic games can look nowadays. But it does leave some important senses wanting - like the sense of smell and touch. For now, games can only have visual and audible impact. And emotional, depending on the kind of game.

When I'm no longer bound by a pet, I wish to start exploring the outside world more. And no, I can't just leave my very old dog with family or someplace else. I can not be causing her that kind of emotional stress at her age. But we will probably be petless for a good while after she passes on. I have been petless for only two months since I first moved out at the age of 19. I turn 42 on Sunday.

[MrsFlynn]

Lapaige, since you can't travel this year, you could maybe consider getting Monte Vista, or Sunlight Tides and play there for a bit? Both have really sunny warm vibes.

I feel terrible that I haven't been all that chatty lately. Learning about a new game, trying to find information on parts of the gameplay we're stuck on. Not finding a whole lot of info. Either there's not a whole lot of players playing it or they're using Discord to chat about things, I don't know. I don't have Discord and don't want it. The Steam forum dedicated to the game doesn't have very many current posts.

There are a few Youtube videos on the gameplay, but I don't know how reliable they are since most of them are from this Summer. The game has had a couple of updates and changes since this summer. And will continue to have updates and changes, as it's still in early access. Still having fun playing and taking notes as we're going along.

[Lapaige46]

I totally get it about not leaving a pet, especially an elderly one. When I was traveling a lot I was leaving 3 cats behind for weeks at a time but I shared a big house with my family at that time, (I was down, they were up), so my granddaughter was there to look after them. Eventually I had only one left who used to be very annoyed with me when I got back but when she died, my granddaughter asked if I was going to get another one. I said it wouldn't be fair to a new cat to leave for extended lengths of time. The others were used to it.

Then I moved to a rental apartment (the house became too small with 3 teenagers :O), just over 3 years ago and we weren't allowed to have pets. We can here and several residents have dogs or cats and every time the thought crosses my mind, I realize that I'm happy not to have the cat hair and the litter box. I like dogs but I've never had one so I don't know much about them and it would probably be good for me to have one. I don't know if I want to make that commitment. But in the meantime, I enjoy dog/cat/horse videos on Facebook.

I am very fortunate to have been able to travel as much as I have. I read voraciously (mostly murder mysteries and police procedurals) and if I find one that's located somewhere I've been, I can following it on Google Earth and it brings back lots of good memoires and I can travel vicariously.

I might have one last trip in me. I am booked on a river cruise in Portugal for the spring of 2023 and I'm seriously considering extending that to Iceland and possibly Sweden/Denmark. Then I will have been to a very large chunk of Western Europe and after that I'll probably stick to local road trips if my neurological disorder will allow it.

[Lapaige46]

Lapaige, since you can't travel this year, you could maybe consider getting Monte Vista, or Sunlight Tides and play there for a bit? Both have really sunny warm vibes.

Um...I appreciate the suggestion, MrsFlynn, but it's not quite the same. I have actually considered ST periodically because it does remind me of the Caribbean. Maybe one day.

I miss you guys. Right now my alternate games are solitaire (which I can play in the evenings while watching tv) or a casino game I play in the mornings while I'm finishing my coffee. Not for money though but I'm running low on coins and I refuse to pay real money just to play that.

Otherwise I'm still plugging on with my Riverview Restoration. Almost finished the Purcell House. It's been pretty time consuming but I really like the way it looks. It's very full of CC so it's not very suitable for sharing. My tummy is telling me it's lunch time.

[MrsFlynn]

I thought of the suggestion because there was a few times last winter and previous winters that I would play in warmer towns. It helped keep me a bit warmer and it was nice to see the sunny days.

Even though the house isn't suitable for sharing, you can share photos here in the Sipping Tea thread or your Lapaige's Porch thread.

[Lapaige46]

I thought of the suggestion because there was a few times last winter and previous winters that I would play in warmer towns. It helped keep me a bit warmer and it was nice to see the sunny days.

Even though the house isn't suitable for sharing, you can share photos here in the Sipping Tea thread or your Lapaige's Porch thread.

My days in RV are always sunny. I have Seasons set to almost perpetual summer with very brief spring and fall and no winter at all.

I'm going to put the house on the "Porch" thread as soon as I get some screenshots. That's what I was doing when I posted the thread in the "Random Questions" thread.  I keep changing things so then I have to do new shots. It's like that old question artist's always get - "how do you know when it's finished?"

We are having some wicked weather today. Rain (of course) and very high winds. Lots of power outages nearby. We're still ok so far but I need to put on some socks and a sweater and turn on my fireplace. Brrrr...