I’m grateful for spring also because this season of the year helps me in my efforts to lose the lard.
I’m growing leaf lettuce, head lettuce, radishes, yellow squash, zucchini, red onions, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, and celery. Being able to look forward to harvesting some of this straight from the garden to our table at night makes a big difference in my eating. I can throw off the comfort food of the winter and embrace being outside longer each day and eating big, healthy salads for our dinners.
All of my outside activities encourage me to drink more water, as well. My pedometer takes notice of my increased mobility and that encourages me to do even more.
Fingers crossed that this all comes together and I can make some good progress on my efforts to get healthier, stronger, and more flexible.
Daffodils and Tulip TreeForsythiaRed Bud TreeAnother Red Bud Tree
We actually have 7 Red Bud Trees blooming right now. Iris greenery is spearing out of the ground and in some of the planters around the yard. Today the sun is shining and the high is supposed to get to 70!
Much of the rest of the week will be rainy, bringing life to more and more.
There are things left to be done of course, but my main spring garden is planted. I weeded two brick planters yesterday and got my tomato plants in, too. We have ordered new sprinklers for the main garden, and the irrigation system for the yard needs to be tested. We need to replace a PVC pipe that waters one planter in the front yard. I have two celery starts that need to go out to the main garden. These are details.
I’m still overwhelmed by how my SPIRITS lifted when I bought the plants and worked to get them into the garden. I guess I’ve let the state of our world sit on my shoulders too much. It’s hard to stay upbeat when there is so much bad stuff happening all around you. I felt good feelings FLOOD into me, though, with HOPE for the future as I found places for all my plants the past two days.
I’m smiling as I type, ready to get back outside and see what details I can handle today. :0)
I hope there is something wonderful flooding YOUR heart and soul today.
I have told you I’m enjoying re-reading my Robert B. Parker book collection. I’ve finished the Spenser series and the Jesse Stone series, and now I’m re-reading the Sunny Randall series.
I think one of the main characteristics of a great writer is that the reader doesn’t ‘notice’ the writing. You are grabbed from the first sentence and don’t come up for air until the last. If you are distracted by the writing – if you notice flowery phrases or vocabulary, it takes away from the story and the characters.
Robert B. Parker’s writing is so clean. His wit, sarcasm and crisp dialog make me smile, snort, and occasionally laugh aloud. When I finish the Sunny Randall series, there are some other books of his I’ll enjoy again, as well that aren’t part of his ‘main’ series, as such.
When I finish, I will feel a bit sad. I have lots of other books to read, but I’ll have to leave his world until the next time…
After Lunch Bunch yesterday, we went to the co-op and bought a bunch of veggie plants.
This is the way my raised bed square foot garden has looked all winter. I did an experiment this year. Hoping to avoid having to spend a day or two weeding the boxes before I could plant, I cleaned out the boxes when the growing season was over, filled up the boxes with Mel’s Mix (soil alternative), put a pail in the middle of each box and covered each box with a tarp, held in place by bungee cords. I really wasn’t sure what to expect.
Happily, this is what I found!
I planted Buttercrunch Leaf Lettuce, Head Lettuce, Spinach, cabbage, yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, and red onions. I will add radish seeds and some celery I’m starting in the kitchen.
We discovered we needed to replace a section of the hose. Then we discovered that the sprinklers’ pressure setting parts in the center of each were broken from being in the weather too long, so we have ordered new sprinklers.
Today I need to weed the two brick planters we converted to square foot gardening and plant the tomato plants we bought yesterday.
I can’t tell you how MUCH my spirits lifted to be outside in the sunshine digging in the dirt, planting my spring garden!
I hope that you are enjoying some nice weather, too.
When we were in the co-op buying veggie plants, we found this huge, long pork stick for Amber. We balanced it on the garage trash can while we brought in packages from our errands. Amber came out of the utility room, as usual, went right over to the pork stick, picked it up and carried it outside.
There wasn’t any question that she knew it was ‘hers,’ but she wasn’t really sure what to do with it.
She finally picked it up, her tail wagging like mad.
She whipped it all around, like she was doing a victory lap.
The Weight Loss Mindset: 10 Thoughts that Are Keeping You Fat and How Changing Your Mind Can Change Your Body Kindle Edition by Sarah Patterson
I read this book last night. A lot of it I already “knew,” but zeroing in on the mind games I’ve been playing with myself hit me right between the eyes.
This is a well-written book that doesn’t waste your time. It’s straight-forward, explaining the 10 “thoughts,” but not beating you into the ground with them. Two of them in particular grabbed me. I will keep reading this book again until I really SEE how I’m sabotaging myself, kidding myself, and slowing my efforts to be as healthy as I can be.
Another thing I like is that the purpose of this book is to really talk to you – NOT sell you a product. She says straight out that you will get from it as much as you are willing to put into it.
Spring officially starts tomorrow. I’m hoping to be able to get some veggie plants for my garden today, kicking off my season of being outside every possible day, kicking up my activity level, cutting DOWN on my comfort eating!
I will also look forward to eating fresh stuff from my garden. I always try to grow lots of spinach and lettuce, radishes, onions, and broccoli, and then whatever else looks interesting. In two other planters, I plant tomatoes. Availability varies, but I LOVE watching things grow, taking care of my plants, and then harvesting the results.
Some years I’m really successful and I can take fresh food to my friends. That is the BEST. :0)
Each year I feel renewed hope for the growing season – a new lease on life.
It’s especially welcome this year, and I look forward to sharing my efforts with you.
Since we’re having a cold, rainy day, I’m having to acknowledge another of my eating triggers. I want lots of comfort food, since I can’t have spring yet. You don’t think I’m spoiled, do you?
What we will ACTUALLY have is tuna fish salad for lunch and one of our delicious, healthy individual portion frozen dinners we get from the two ‘new’ places in town, REAL FOOD and STU’S CLEAN COOKIN’. These additions to our town have been wonderful for us. They pride themselves on no preservatives, no additives, no unpronounceable ingredients – just good, healthy food in reasonable portions. Wonderful food. Wonderful timing. Lucky US!
It’s 37 degrees, gray and rainy here today. UGH. I know that ‘spring’ doesn’t begin officially until Saturday, but I’ve been more than ready for a LONG time now.
I was HOPING to go to the local co-op today to get veggie plants for my garden, but I felt like I was freezing to death just putting out fresh bird seed and suet this morning.
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I feel guilty griping about our weather. We dodged a bullet of possible severe stuff yesterday, and that system has now moved east, threatening other good people today. I hope everyone stays safe.
When kids on the playground bullied him because of a childhood accident that resulted in one arm and hand being damaged, he made the bullies laugh and that solved the problem. He saw the funny side of most everything. Our family life was rich with good, healthy sarcasm, a sense of the ridiculous, and a love of finding a reason to laugh. One of my favorite things was to listen to him tell one of his favorite jokes or stories. He would laugh helplessly while telling it and it was truly contagious. Just before we lost him, he wrote, “Remember me laughing.” And I do.
Some of my favorite quotes are about laughter.
“All you need in the world is love and laughter. That’s all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other. ~ August Wilson
“I have always felt that laughter in the face of reality is probably the finest sound there is and will last until the day when the game is called on account of darkness. In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can.” ~ Linda Ellerbee
“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” ~ Mark Twain
I was trying to decide what is so special about comedians. What is funny is a very personal thing and is different for each of us. Some people make us laugh helplessly and others just aren’t on our wavelength.
Some of my all-time favorites are George Carlin, Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters, Tim Conway, Steven Wright, and Red Skelton.
Our son, makes me laugh until my stomach hurts and I’m begging him for mercy. He really gets into it, with facial expressions, funny movements, etc, building and building until I cannot take anymore.
The ability to stand back a bit and see some humor in what is happening around me is one of my most important survival skills.
This is always a good thing to remember, particularly when the world is challenging.
I am maintaining my sanity (I THINK :0) ) by spending a bit of time each day fully relaxing. Part of the time is spent doing yoga stretching poses, where I concentrate only on relaxing and breathing INTO each part of my body as I change positions.
Then, when I’m simply lying on the mat after my practice, or even for awhile in my recliner, I stretch out under my throw, close my eyes, and go to another place. This time is MINE. I can bring up favorite memories of people I love, see and hug people I can no longer see everyday – but who are in my heart forever, re-visit places I’ve gone, re-live experiences, entertain wishes, and more.
When the world “is too much with us” (William Wordsworth) – we can ease into a world of our own making, giving us a bit of respite. As long as we are breathing, we have a place to ‘go’ that brings us joy. And remember that each day is an opportunity to make NEW memories.
In my efforts to move more, I’ve decided to change things up a bit today.
You might be able to hear me breathing a bit hard as I type. I just came in from taking our trash out and getting our mail. That doesn’t sound like much, but our driveway is gravel, STEEP, and more than 650 feet long. I carried the trash bag and box about half of the way, changing from one hand to the other, walking carefully so I didn’t skid and fall on my head. I also brought my phone in my pocket, to be able to call for help, if needed. I dragged the trash bag part of the way.
Going down, I was mainly worried about losing my footing. I really need cleats. Once I got down to the bottom of the driveway, I put the trash where it is picked up and got our mail. THEN there was the process of walking UP the steep driveway.
By the time I had made it about a third of the way, I was breathing hard. I stopped and breathed for a minute or two, and then started in again. By the time I got about half way up, I started thinking about the children’s book, “The Little Engine that Could,” and started thinking, “I think I can. I THINK I can…”
I had to stand and rest a couple more times before I reached the top, humming the theme from “Rocky.” :0)
My breathing has returned to normal. My husband was taking a nap when I decided to do this. He roused enough to ask, “Do you want to drive the trash down now?” I calmly smiled and said, “I just did.”
I’ve told you that the Gremlins are in full force in our area lately.
The latest is our Honda Ridgeline. We took it in yesterday. They called today, saying the repairs it needs will be about $600. Sigh.
I also finally reached the propane people. A guy will come out between 12 and 3 on Thursday to see if he can help my husband get the pilot light for the heater in the shop lit, or figure out what needs to be repaired or fixed out there.
When things tame down a bit, our porch ceiling sheet rock needs to be replaced.
And so it goes.
In my NEXT life, I will be tall as a basketball player, strong as a football player, smart about fixing things, and have a gazillion dollars….
One of the gifts I received for my birthday recently was this beautiful pot of “Mime” roses with the solar-powered glass hummingbird. I finally was able to get some pics at night to give you an idea of how much fun it is.
It changes color very rapidly, but I tried to show you many of the colors.
I love the way that the hummingbird lights up, and then you can also see the reflection in the window.
We are just back from taking our Honda Ridgeline truck into the dealership because a couple of lights started showing up on the dash this weekend. We looked up the icons and couldn’t make much sense out of them, except one had to do with emissions, so we thought it was important that someone who works with Hondas all the time and knows what they’re doing should look at it. They will call us when they have an estimate on fixing the problem. We have been running from one thing to another lately that needs repair or replacing, so we have had to spray money in all directions – a bit stressful. So I’m hoping that THIS time, we’ll hear some good news. I’ll stay in close proximity to the phone so that I won’t miss the call.
I wasn’t sure where the dealership was. I followed my husband – a nerve-wracking prospect – so the trip seemed to last forever. We’ll go back together to pick up the truck when it is ready, and I won’t have any trouble getting back home.
My husband is building a new welding table out in the shop. He found one online that would allow the table to be tilted and turned, giving him more flexibility and ease of working on his projects. The trouble was, the table cost over $2200! He looked at it, deciding that he could build one. He ordered the table top online. We went to Davis Iron in Fort Smith and bought the heavy square tubular metal he needed, and then went to Harbor Freight to get some really heavy duty wheels. He has been working on the project for several days now, and is at the point where he will paint the metal support for the table.
The bolt at the top (to the left of the table top) can be loosened, and then the table top can be tightened to any angle desired. The top can also be turned so that he can work on long items. He can roll the table around, or store it out of the way. He also MADE a breaking mechanism so that the wheels can be locked so the table doesn’t roll while he’s trying to weld something.
We have a nice, sunny day today (AMAZING!!!!) – so he is trying to get the metal support for the table painted today so it won’t rust.
Once we have paid for whatever the truck needs, I need to call the propane people again for help with the pilot light in the shop’s heater, the Window World people to see if they have been successful on making our replacement windows, the property tax people to see if they have sent out bills yet, and finally (I hope!) a contractor who can help us repair or replace the sheet rock on our porch ceiling…. 2021 seems to be an unending series for us. Our son, who lives in Thailand, said when we chatted briefly this morning, “I hereby declare a moratorium on things developing problems.”
I have been an avid reader since I was about 5 years old. My mom started teaching me when I was very young. I had looked around my living room, seeing my dad engrossed in a large book about geology, my mom doing the NY Times Sunday Crossword puzzle, and my brother sitting on the couch devouring a comic book. I got more and more frustrated, finally announcing in a loud voice, “I wish to HELL I could read!” After the shocked and appalled silence, my mom joined me on the floor and began to teach me.
The gift she gave me has only grown. The only time I lost my love for reading was when I was in graduate school, working on my Master’s Degree as a reading specialist. I wanted to share my love for reading and learning, but it’s amazing that anyone could come through that program and still love to read. I studied so hard and long, taking one class each semester and three each summer while teaching full time. I found I had lost the ability to read for pleasure, tensely reading – taking mental notes – as though I would be tested on the material when I finished. After a year or so, I finally gave myself permission to just enjoy – and my love for reading returned.
I finished re-reading the “Spenser” series by Robert B. Parker a couple of days ago. I was a bit sad to finish the last one. The writers who have tried to emulate him and extend the series just don’t capture the flavor for me.
Now I’m re-reading his “Jesse Stone” series. I love the character created here, and it was only enhanced when Tom Selleck was chosen to be Jesse Stone in the movie versions.
I hope a LOT of people are enjoying the work of their favorite authors, plus finding new ones, to help them through these challenging times.
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