Five Days Older

I got to my work desk early yesterday morning and out of nowhere a flood of tears came. I had just said goodbye to my long time high school friend and a five-day vacation getaway. I haven't quite figured out why it hit me so hard but I was definitely not ready to be sitting at work. Luckily, I went to work a half hour early so I could adjust my otherwise vacationing mind to the fact that I was back at what my husband calls "the law factory".

 

Vacation was good for me. My high school friends and I had planned this trip months ago. There wasn't much for me to do except write it on the calendar. Brenda took care of the hotel reservations (I had forgotten she had a travel agency business in her past life). All I had to do was scoop up our other friend, Kathy, from the airport and drive us to Spokane for three nights of our 2nd Annual Great Girlfriend Getaway.

 

In my life experience, it's not easy to find good fellow travelers but these two friends are above and beyond good travel mates. Three days together could wear on some people but it didn't with us. We talked, ate great food, shared recipes, revisited the old days, kicked our feet up, laughed out loud and saw a bit of Spokane.

 

Above all that, I learned that Brenda writes an email to her mother every single day. I marveled at this and thought about it a lot. In a world that seems so instant and fleeting, I'll bet she and her mom have racked up hundreds of emails back and forth that will remain forever. As a writer, I freaking love that. Brenda talked about a road trip she is taking with her recently retired husband across the U.S. to see family on the east coast. I am so envious.

 

Kathy and I got to spend an extra two special days together at my house. We brought home a pile of tomatoes and butternut squash from Brenda's garden. One of my favorite moments from the weekend will forever be spending time in my kitchen, making a new recipe for squash alfredo with my good friend. We also whipped up a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce with Brenda's recipe .... a first for both of us. It turned out great.  Kathy recently retired. She is enjoying her newfound freedom and it shows. Both these friends are paving the way for me for when it's my turn to turn in my work badge. Love that!

 

Me? I'm coming down from cloud nine this morning as I write this. I'll truly look forward to the next adventures with these fine friends. There is a lot of life left in all of us to live. I look forward to seeing them again ... sooner rather than later ... to see what they've filled their days with.  Living forward.

 

In the end, we are all five days older. Isn't it a wonderful thing when you get to sometimes be on the path with people you love?

 

love, susan

Manito Gardens in Spokane, WA

Conservatory at Manito Gardens

Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA

Apple Store in downtown Spokane

Oil & Vinegar store at downtown mall Spokane

Riverfront Park, Spokane

Chinese Lantern Festival, Spokane

Saw an owl mid-day at McNary Wildlife Refuge
on a walk with Kathy

Free the Wang Campout 2015 ... and other musings

Another great weekend at the Oregon coast with family. It never grows old. A nice reprieve from a busy life. Even if it is for only one day, the 600 mile roundtrip car drive is worth the price of winding down and getting away from it all. The car ride is part of the adventure.

 

I'm amazed how quickly the daily stresses of life fall off when we get to the beach. This trip I found a little turtle shell on the beach, that was a first. We heard sea lions barking all Saturday night, another first. There was a cougar sighting at our campground a couple days prior to our arrival. Another first for that spot. Weird.

 

I think this may be the 6th year of our annual campout. It has been so much fun to watch the kids grow into teens. Two of them are seniors this year.  Eeek. I felt a lump in my throat thinking about what that will be mean for next year. It was suggested that maybe we try another campground next year. Perhaps that will take our minds off the fact that maybe they won't have time for us any longer.


Next week, my high school buddy from Alaska will be coming to visit and we're heading over to meet another friend for a weekend spree in Spokane. As my favorite readers may know, I'm not a future tripper but I am here to tell you that I look forward to that weekend very much.


Isn't it the best when you have something to look forward to? It doesn't have to be a big trip or an expensive concert. I'm going to my friend's house on Thursday night to meet her chickens. I've got agility class tonight. Coffee with a friend tomorrow night. What's on your calendar that you are looking forward to? 

 

love, susan

Power Tools:

Last week my hubby mentioned something about the food processor I have sitting up in the cupboard. He has been eyeing the huge zucchini we brought indoors and wanting to shred them. He loves zucchini bread but more so I believe he loves a good power tool.  He's never used the processor before so this morning I pulled it out, set it up, gave a short demo and he got right to work. That man shredded enough to make twelve batches of zucchini bread/cake/brownies. Little does he know, I usually end up throwing out a couple of frozen containers of the zucchini in the spring because we can only eat so much of it. Was I going to stop him?  Hell, no!

Now, I have to tell you that smack dab in the middle of shredding, my power tool wielding hubby sneezed. No hand over his mouth, no turning away from the project, no awareness whatsoever that he had done anything wrong. 

EEEEEK!

Listen up, friends.  When someone is doing you a favor, you don't criticize them. Okay? You just don't.  However, please note that I will not be bringing zucchini bread to the potluck. As a matter of fact, I haven't brought homemade food anywhere for a long time. I have dogs and I'd die if you found a dog hair in one of my dishes. Dog people will understand this.  Not the point of this post ... I digress.

Last week, my main squeeze cooked dinner twice and I should have taken a picture of it to show you the love and care he took in plating it. He even went so far as to slice the pork steak into large, bite-sized pieces. The honey dew and watermelon on the side almost made me cry. That plate was a thing of beauty.

It's been a tough couple of weeks at work as we are short-handed. Several of my co-workers have been so gracious to help out and has made the wait for a new work buddy bearable. She'll arrive September 8th.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of all the power tools I have in my life. Of them, the most powerful are the words Please and Thank You.

Note to self:  Be gracious. Be grateful. Be Kind. Be generous. What would you add to this? What are your power tools?

love, susan

Limner, This One's for You!

Happy National Dog Day!   Every day is dog day at our house. We don't need no stinking holiday to celebrate the wonderfulness of our fur kids.

 

A big shout out to my pen pal, Limner (over at Oh Write Me), for her nice notecard saying she misses my blog posts. I miss them, too. There are not enough hours in the day to do all the things I wish to accomplish. I can count on one hand how many posts I've written this summer. It isn't that we haven't been busy, I just haven't written about it. My excuses are as follow:

 

I made a new year's resolution to read 52 books this year. I've dedicated early mornings to reading at least 30 minutes but 45 is better. That means I haven't been journaling, blogging, or letter writing. Note: I started this year choosing a theme word. This year I chose the word create.  In that, more than material creations, I've made time to get out and do some things I've only been talking about in the past.

 

I have set aside Monday evenings for photo shoots. I invite anyone who is willing to sit still for photos to meet me at a location. This week I hit the dog park with a co-worker and got some great shots of her dog along with mine. Other Mondays, I met friends of friends at the park to shoot family photos, I made a house call to a very pregnant lady, a friend and her son who was going off to boot camp, etc. I feel like my mission is being accomplished in the creative department in so many ways.

To date, I've finished reading 12 books. I am not deterred by the fact that I most likely will not read 52 books by December 31st.

A huge thank you to my loyal pen pal for the nice note and inspiration to write a post. This blog is a great documentation of the great life I have. It's a better idea for me to write than try to keep it in my forgetting mind.  If you're reading this, Limner, I'll be getting back to you on those questions you asked in the last long letter you wrote. Don't give up on me.  :-)

love, susan

 

Wanderlust: The Cure

Susan and Gene

A quick weekend trip to the coast to cool off from the last three solid weeks of 100+ degree days was just what we needed. I'm glad I threw in my hoodie because I needed it once we got to the Oregon coast. I am a princess and have a very small window of comfort when it comes to temperature.

 

To our surprise, there were lots of whales spouting in Boiler Bay when we stopped on Saturday morning.  On our way home today, we only spotted one but we were thrilled.



Oregon Coast

Even though it was a long way to drive for cool air, a trip to the beach is never wasted. A travel tip I'd offer is that if you've worked all day and can get off work a little early, a 4-5 hour drive is just about enough. We overnighted in Salem and hit the road early Saturday morning (a mere 2 hour drive) so we could spend the entire day cooling off. We enjoyed a short nap in the afternoon and after meeting some like-minded friends, we stopped at our very favorite Newport Café for dinner before retiring.

 

On the way home, some dear friends who were on their honeymoon near where we were, honked at us as they flew past us. I'm still smiling about that! Love birds in a jeep. We're so happy for them!

 

Hope you did something fun this weekend. If not, you have time to plan something for next weekend, right?  love, susan

Devil's Punch Bowl at low tide

Be There .... I Can Do That

Summer fun has set in and we've been gone a lot. The good news is we found a summer house/dog sitter who is wonderful and available, which means we can go places on the weekends without having to drag the dogs to the kennel. They hate it there and it makes us feel bad to take them. Win/Win for us and our new sitter. She is a teen who loves to watch Netflix and eat frozen burritos. I can do that. 

 

Not everything is wonderful right now and I've been kind of numb lately. Too many friends and family members are going through tough times and they are on my mind constantly. Serious stuff. Chronic illness, family issues, financial strife.

 

This week my beautiful, smart, funny daughter-in-law was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I'm okay talking about it here. That cat is out of the bag now and I'm glad it is not a secret. Since I'm the queen of denial, I have refused to think about it very much but it creeps in and then it's all I can think about. Fortunately, she assured me that if one has to have cancer, this is the kind to have. I think she said that to me ... or ... did my denial just make that up? At any rate, we are all glad she finally has some answers to many questions she has had the last year. She says it is curable. I'm running with that.

 

As to my other friends who are struggling, I feel so powerless.  But I'm not. The one thing I can do is be available. It's about the only thing but that's worth something.  When I worked at hospice, I learned from the grief counselor that sometimes all we can do is provide a warm silence.  Be there. Words are not always necessary. Just be there.

 

I can do that. I love you.

 

love, susan

Lessons Learned

I feel like I was transported to another world this weekend. Here I sit on Monday morning, thinking about the week ahead and smiling about the events in my life the last couple of days.

 

Friday was a good day! Some of my most favorite friends gathered after work Friday night at the park for a BBQ. It was my birthday and it's really all I wanted. I keep telling them we should gather for the sake of it but it seems like the only time we do is for some special occasion. I'm 56 now. In my mind, I'm still 25. I have to admit I'm starting to feel physically old.

 

Saturday night we drove out to a country barbeque to do a photo shoot for a friend whose daughter is graduating from high school. It was big fun and I was transported to  times when our family gets together for an outdoor party. Hubby came with me and we sincerely enjoyed meeting my friend's extended family and creating some documentation of the evening. I've never seen so many beautiful people in one gathering.  

 

I love being a weekend photographer.

 

There are so many things to learn and every time I go out with my camera I feel like I'm building on what I've already learned. Saturday night I got schooled by a young girl. I could see it in her face so I just asked her if she was tired of me taking her picture. Her sweet, polite response said it all.  Lesson learned. Kids just wanna have fun and not have to stop to smile for the stupid camera. Thankfully, I know when to stop.

 

The other lesson I'm learning is to delete pictures that don't make the grade. It is probably the hardest part of photography for me. I only took about 140 photos Saturday night. The weekend before I shot 600+ at the wedding. Too many. When I open them up, I am attached to them and have a hard time hitting the delete button. My mentor says when she is working for the studio, she does the shoot and sends the card in for someone else to edit, someone who isn't emotionally attached to each shot. Each image should tell a story. It's all business for a studio.  For me ... oh my gosh ... deleting photos is like erasing the fact that I was there. Must work on this.

 

How about you?  Were you transported last weekend?  Where did you go? What did you do?  Do you cringe when you delete photos?  Tell me!

 

love, susan

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Things I Would Say If I Gave a Commencement Address

I've been following a blogger Stacey Schneller, who posts up fun prompts for writing. I like this one ... hope you'll follow suit and post one of your own!

10 Things Susan Would Say at a Commencement Address

1. Remember where you came from.
2. Network.
3. Look and listen to people when they are talking to you.
4. Travel a little before you settle down.
5. Go off the grid on a regular basis.
6. Make plans but don't plan the outcome.
7. If you don't know what you want to do, do something anyway. You'll meet people and have experiences and your purpose will become clear one day.
8. Minimize.
9. Call your mom.
10. Help others.

What would you say?

love, susan

Upsides

This is a working weekend for me. I have so much to do, so little time. I should be at the store already this morning but the coffee hasn't kicked in yet and I'm afraid neither has my mind.

 

The thought of spending all day digging up a layer of dirt and grass so we can fill in an area with gravel has me dragging. I'm not cut out for that kind of hard labor. I'm soft. I hate it. What I hate more is looking at how the weeds keep growing up near the walkway to our front door. I keep this in mind while my back is breaking.

 

I've been through much worse things than a sore back. Someday I'll actually get that stuff down on paper and share it. But right now, I use it as a tool to get through things that are slightly unpleasant.

 

The upside is that I'm spending time with my hubby and when we're done with this little project we can stand back and say we did this. The upside is that moment when I've used every bit of energy and I fall into my chair for a glass of ice water that's never tasted so good. The upside is today I take ownership of my life and my surroundings.

 

What tools do you use to get through days where you'd rather be doing something else?

 

love, susan

That's How We Roll Dude

No matter that we are out in the middle of freaking-nowhere, my husband can find somebody to chat with. It happened today while on a scoot up to Pendleton and then over to Hepner.  We saw this guy at the gas station and hubby never said a single word to him but as we got down the road, he saw him pulled over and he could not resist the urge to stop and talk to him. It was under the guise of asking him if everything was okay. Bikers really do look out for each other that way. But criminy, he had just filled up with gas not fives miles ago. How could anything be wrong?

 

It was a beautiful day for riding. Hubby mentioned this morning that I am 1,400 miles short of having 20K on my machine. I'm pretty sure it's his mission now to make those numbers roll over. I wasn't quite prepared for a nearly 300 mile ride today but then, I never am.

I cleared my head, put on my leathers and at the last minute tucked a hoodie in my saddle bag and was glad of that. I ended up putting it on at 4,200 feet above sea level. We saw snow today on the side of the road. We also saw an antelope loping across our path and these beautiful wild flowers.

After we got back, I made a mad dash to the grocery to store to pick up salad fixins to go with pizza we would deliver to a friend who just had carpel tunnel surgery.

It has been one of those summer days that is filled with fun and adventure. Tomorrow is looking like it will be full too although if you asked me I could not give you any details. That's how we roll, dude.
How was your Saturday?

love, susan

 

 

 

Adventure 101

I went on a little adventure yesterday morning with my photo walking buddy. We set out to see the pelicans but it turned into part photo walk, part road trip. Long story short, we were trying to get to the other side of the Yakima rRiver and spent an hour driving in one direction and then backtracked to finally get there. 

 

It matters not. I had a full tank of gas.

 

To think we would have missed these three deer crossing the river. I said, "hey, I think there are deer crossing the river". She said, "I thought those were ducks".  Such is our conversation sometimes. She hands me her camera while I stop the car on a not-so-busy highway at the back road to Benton City. Good thing she emailed me this photo because I forgot all about it. We were so intent on finding the road to the other side of the Yakima River that I forgot all the wonderful things in between. We took roads we've never been on and finally decided to drive to the end of the most unlikely road to get exactly where we wanted to be. For any locals reading this, and mostly for me so I won't forget, it's at the end of N. Herrington Road in W. Richland. Just keep driving. It doesn't make sense but just keep driving.

 

I'm going back to work this morning after suffering a bout of a stomach bug that is still not entirely gone but at least I can stand up straight today. I don't do sick very well. Such a waste of time to lay in bed writhing in pain.

 

New day. New adventures to be had.

 

Have you ever just turned down a road to see what's there? Do you give up just before you find the right spot? Do you have good friends who'll go with you on adventures?

 

love, susan