July Haiku

Ninety-one degrees.
A lazy day at the pool.
It don't get better.   

love, susan

Old. Man. River.

So.  Today we took the grandkids to the "Playground of Dreams" in Kennewick. The park has a really neat water sprinkler system for kids to run through to keep cool. They definitely needed to stay cool today because it was nearly 90.  I enjoyed sitting in my comfortable lawn chair watching all the happy kids running non-stop.  The day was all about them and it was nice to just let them play for as long as they wanted. I hope we're making some great memories for them.

While there, I watched a caregiver push an old man in a wheelchair and sit him in front of us. His wife was along on the visit.  He was quite frail and probably in his late 80's. He kept looking over at us and I tried to catch his eye but I'm not sure if he was really with us. I couldn't help but smile at the effort to get him out of the house and into the sunlight. I wondered if he was enjoying being there or if it was painful. Painful to be old and confined to a wheelchair. I hope if I live that long, someone will care enough about me to take me out so I can breath fresh air, watch little children playing in the sun and be among the living. 

For lunch we ate fried chicken and watermelon and then decided to go to another park closer to home. The kids played in the wading pool for quite some time and then they were hungry again. I'm exhausted. We have one more day to go.

Every day that goes by, I know I am closer to old than not. I sure am enjoying my waking moments. On a daily basis there are new people to cross paths with that make life interesting. When we got ready to leave, I smiled at the old man and waved goodbye to his wife. She looked exhausted too. 

love, susan

Switching Gears

I've been corresponding with a friend from my past who is in the fight of and for her life. She is battling colon cancer.  I've been following her blog and she recently posted a challenge for someone to come along with her on her journey to eating better, losing weight, etc.  She has totally changed her diet and as I sat here at my computer I had a revelation. Being the selfish and self-centered person I can be sometimes,  I've never been one of those folks who would get their head shaved to support someone going through chemo but I sure could stand to change some very bad eating habits. So I decided to take her up on her request to have someone come along on her journey.  She has gone vegan. I can't do that.  That's okay though. She's just happy to have me along.  My goal is to get white sugar out of my life, once again. I've done it before and it's not easy. 

We've been emailing back and forth and she came up with some great ideas to help me with that time in the evening when I am at my weakest. So, I'm going to try, once again, to blog at night.  

Change comes hard to me but I'm willing to keep trying.

Have you had to make any changes lately?  I'd love to hear about them.

love, susan 

Musings

My new favorite photo!

Just returned from a 3-day trip to Vancouver, Washington. We took a different route to get there on Sunday which took us over a mountain pass and on some country roads.  We got to see Mt. Rainier, a deer in the road and this awesome butterfly. We stayed with a family member ~ and had the nicest visit.

While in Vancouver, I had lunch with a high school classmate.  The last time we saw each other was more than 10 years ago but less than 20 (I'm so bad with timelines), when another high school classmate and I took a dusty road trip from Fairbanks to Central, Alaska to see her. She and her then-husband were running a gold dredge.  The things I remembered from that trip were that she had to bake everything from scratch, she had 5 young boys, and a great big wolf/dog. I remember her telling me to not look directly at the wolf as it had "issues". I hope to find the photos from that trip and maybe post them.

Mt. Rainier

Susan and Joanie ~ Class of '77

We had a great time visiting and I was just so happy her schedule allowed for a late lunch and great conversation. There are some people who just age well ... she is one of those. 

I love going on road trips but I always love coming home.

love, susan

I Heart Summer

Two-man street band ~ Richland, WA

"Music is my religion." ~ Jimi Hendrix

We took a stroll through the Friday Farmer's Market yesterday in Richland. It's a much larger market than the Saturday market in Pasco.  There were far too many people and I had a little anxiety but I just kept moving and got through it. We came home with some beautiful yellow summer squash, a big fat zucchini and a couple of fresh cucumbers. 

There was a two-man street band that caught my attention. They were singing an Eagle's tune and I'm pretty sure I could have sat there for an hour or two and just listened, letting the crowds walk right on by.

Last night, we rode our motorcycles downtown to meet with some friends. On the ride home, we took the river route and drove past a place in the park where they were showing "Smoovies".  This is an outdoor movie screen they move between two parks. They always show a kids' movie right after the sun goes down on Friday nights.  I hope our grand kids will be here for it next week as I've never been to "Smoovies" and it seems like it would be really fun. What a nice family event.

We attended an awesome bbq/pool party today with about 60 other people. It was a great time and I was surprised at how fast the time went by. I didn't go in the pool but I did sit on the edge of it and dip my feet in the water and got to visit with some really outstanding people. 

We're off to Vancouver tomorrow for 3 days. The weather forecast is for sunny skies and perfect temps over there.

Until then ... I hope you are having a peaceful, easy feeling ... wherever you are.

love, susan

 

Keeping It Real

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." - Thomas Carlyle

I am bored. This doesn't happen to me very often but I'm afraid I am in Day 2 of boredom and I'm certain relief is right around the corner. My husband says that boredom comes from a lack of imagination and I tend to agree with that. So, I wonder where my imagination has gone?

Growing up, if I said I was bored, mom would immediately say "go clean your room".  Actually, even though she has been dead for 10 years, I can hear her say it  exactly this moment as if she were standing right here in this room. As I write this post, I have dishes sitting the sink, my office looks like a cyclone hit it and I have laundry waiting for me.  I just can't seem to get motivated. 

Yesterday, I wrote quite a few cards to friends that went out in the mail today. Writing provided some relief from this restlessness. I talked with my son on the phone for nearly an hour and was so happy for the distraction from what was otherwise kind of a lazy day. And, I can't forget to mention I met a sweet friend for lunch.

It isn't that I don't have enough to do. A set of our grand kids are coming over to visit next week and there are a few things I need to do to prepare for that. It's going to be a ton of fun having them here, especially since I'm not bothered by going off to a job. I can give them 100% attention, which is what grand kids deserve.

I don't know. I think we've been just going and going and the "down-time" is hard to sit in.

Guess I'll go do the dishes.  

signed -- Eeyore

 

My Lamest Blog Post Ever

I have been dying to share some new found knowledge I picked up when we were camping a couple of weeks ago. I feel like such a dumb blonde but I have to share this in case there is just one other person out there who doesn't know this.

Did you know there is a little window on those fire starters that shows how much fuel is left in it?  See the little "window" in the handle?  Well, I did not know that until the electrician I sleep with pointed it out to me.  We've had this fire starter for quite a few years now and for some reason it was not firing up every time we hit the button.  This caused a little panic as we were getting ready to cook dinner on the cook stove, miles from any decent restaurant. I didn't have any extra "fire" with me so if it had not worked, there may have been chaos. Anybody who knows me, knows that when I'm ready to eat, there is a short window of time before I turn into a Tasmanian devil if not fed. Hypoglycemia is no joke, people! The symptom I am (and my poor husband) most familiar with is irritability (possible aggression). In other words, I'm a hungry bear.

I imagine there are lots of little things like this that I have no knowledge of ... yet.  So, here's another one that I'll bet makes you get up and go to your car to check out.

Did you know the little picture of a gas pump on your gas gauge in your car indicates what side of the car your tank is on?  I didn't know that until I read it in a very informational and silly email someone sent me last year. 

Now to some of you, this may not matter. But, we've had four cars in 10 years and the gas tanks are never on the same side.  This information is also useful if you happen to rent a car. This is particularly helpful when you pull into a gas station that only allows you to pull through in one direction.  This can be total chaos if your tank is on the wrong side, know what I mean? I want to hear from you if you ran out to your car and looked at your gas gauge! 

 

Okay. I'm so glad I got this information out of my head and onto the screen. I'd love to hear from anyone who has had similar "aha" moments! Or, am I the only one who didn't know these things?

love, susan 

Movie Madness

With the temps reaching 91 degrees yesterday, we decided it was a good day to go hit a couple of thrift shops to see what kind of treasures we could find. We found 4 Fireking coffee cups to add to our collection along with a computer book for Gene and a really cool tye-dye t-shirt for me.

The best deal we found was VHS movies 4 for $1!  There weren't many that we haven't already seen so we decided to pick some we haven't watched in a really long time. The beauty of getting older is that you can watch movies you've already seen and it's like you've never seen them before. 

The other item I bought is a foot bath. Probably everyone in the world has had one of these and taken it to the thrift store to get rid of it but I've been wanting one to soak my filthy dirty feet in at night. I've been going barefoot all summer and I'm certain my feet may be permanently dirty. I plugged it in last night outside while sitting  in my lounge chair reading a book and soaking up some sun.  What a life of leisure I've been living! 

So here are the movies we got, have you ever seen any of these?

Grease (Oh, I can hardly wait to plug it in!)

Good Will Hunting (I love Matt Damon in this)

The Sixth Sense (Gene has never seen this one ... so shhh ... don't give away the ending)

The Thomas Crown Affair (Pierce Brosnan is so good  hot in this film)

Contact (I love this sci-fi)

Along Came a Spider (great thriller)

The Mask of Zorro (Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones are great in this film)

Somewhere in Time (awesome romance movie ... I miss Christopher Reeves, don't you?)

Far and Away (Tom Cruise and Nichole Kidman ... what can I say?)

Scam (starring Christopher Walken and the chick who was the psychiatrist in "The Sopranos")

While we were at the Goodwill store in Richland, Gene found some Fireking cups that had no handles on them. He wasn't sure if he should get them, so he left them on the shelf and went looking for me in another part of the store. They were gone when we went back to find them. While at the checkout counter, a lady had picked them up to buy and she was telling the clerk that they were used on Navy ships way back in the day. The reason they had no handles is that it was far more convenient to store them on the racks.  Phooey. Sure wish we had those in our shopping cart.  You snooze, you lose when it comes to thrift shopping.

Okay, well, daylight is burning and I've got some movies to watch! Hope you have the most awesome day ever!

love, susan 

Sunshine

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." ~ Anthony J. D'Angelo

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  I feel guilty for being so crabby.

The sun is poking through some gray haze and 91 degrees is the forecast for today.

I think I'll shake off the crabbiness ... and go do something nice for somebody.

love, susan

EARLY EVENING UPDATE: We went out and hit some thrift shops today but before we left, I found a turtle in my back yard. Weird. I didn't know we had turtles in this area. "Missy" was totally focused on it so I put up a little temporary fence to keep her away from the turtle.  When we got home from thrifting, the turtle was nowhere to be found.  I'm feeling much better this afternoon.   I've been trying to cut back on coffee and sugar ... and it definitely has an effect on my mood.  This too shall pass, undoubtedly.  

Deja Vu

What an amazing 4 days. As usual, each day was nothing like I could have ever planned. Living one day at a time always brings me the best gifts and surprises. The last few days have been a testimony to that. 

We traveled 300 miles on Wednesday to a campout that Gene has gone to for two decades and I have been to about six times. Because new people have joined the group, we couldn't find a camping site there so we went down the road to another camping area. It was noisy & dark and I felt like I was in prison there. While it was disappointing to not be able to camp where we wanted, it gave us an opportunity to get in the car and drive to some nearby places we never see while in Detroit Lake and I got some great photos. After the 2nd night of chaos at Cove Creek, we decided to move on and headed to the Ochoco National Forest. We had been there years ago, early in our relationship, and going there was exactly what we needed to do for us. 

When we arrived at the Ochoco campground, there was only one other camper so we had the entire place to ourselves, at least until after dark when all the  tired road travelers rolled in for the evening. We pitched the tent and let "Missy" run leash-free.  We hit the hay before the sun went down and used the opportunity to reminisce. As I was laying there next to Gene, the awesome feeling of deja vu overwhelmed me. We had been here before and it was magic to recapture that feeling.

When we woke up Saturday morning, I knew I couldn't sleep on that air mattress one more night but I wasn't ready to go home quite yet. So, we rolled up camp and headed down the road for a long, wonderful, awesome road trip home. We traveled through the John Day Fossil Beds to see the painted hills. I took quite a few nice photos and was thrilled to see this area with Gene because it was one of the few places we've gone together that he has not already seen. 

We stopped at the Sidewalk Cafe in Mitchell, Oregon, which is a little one-horse town. Gene motioned for us to sit up at the counter for breakfast and I got to watch the grandmotherly-looking cook put together potato salad for the dinner menu. Just as we were having the last bite of breakfast, a group of 9 bikers came in and almost filled the place to capacity. Gene learned they were all old friends who are now scattered across the United States who had come together for a couple of days of riding and friendship. While he was inside talking with the bikers, I went out to let "Missy" out of the car and started talking with two young women who had a dog with them. They were heading up to Kimberly, Oregon to do some cherry picking. As luck would have it, we ended up taking the road through Kimberly and were quite surprised to find this little oasis in the middle of some very dry area. Who knew?

I shot this photo of the billboard which stands in front of the city park in Mitchell. It was only 10:30 a.m. but people had started gathering at the city park to prepare for the big event to happen that evening.  Oh, how I wished we could have been there to see it!

From Mitchell, we traveled up some winding roads way less traveled but, oh, so beautiful.  We couldn't help but think that we will see these sites again but from behind the windshields of our motorcycles. We'll have to do an overnighter at one of the small-town motels, our favorite kind.

I had a lot of favorite moments during this trip but I'd have to say the most exciting, notable one was when I finally found a butterfly that would stay still long enough to let me photograph it. I got a couple of shots and then it happened. This bee landed on the flower with the butterfly. I quickly snapped the shot and thanked the universe for sending me down this road.

I had so many spiritual (if you will) moments that perhaps will not translate into words very well.  That's okay.  I know everyone has their own moments that defy explanation.

If I had to pinpoint one or two take-aways from this trip, it would be: go down a road you've never been before and always take time to listen to others.

Hotel Motel