Skip to main content

Stray Bits

I have had a busy time since getting back to Vermont.  I had dinner with my son on Wednesday night, dinner out with my friend Ginnie on Thursday, a long walk in the country with my friend Donna on Friday and I went to see my daughter and grandkids this past weekend.  I have fit in a couple yoga classes and other exercise.  I have been practicing my watercolor painting.  And Zen doodling.

In the evenings, I have been sitting wrapped in my favorite quilt next to the gas fireplace, sometimes watching television, sometimes reading.  I started a book I am enjoying very much -- A Man Called Ove.

I really have not liked the cold weather.  My bones actually ache.

It has warmed up today and tomorrow everyone will be complaining about the heat.  I have some container gardens to get started, but the warm weather is not supposed to last through next weekend.  I am planning to visit the garden center tomorrow though.

I have been staying away from Facebook and I do think my mental health has benefited from it.  Still, I don't want to have my head buried in the sand either.  I read the Washington Post and watch nightly news on PBS and sometimes ABC. It's like watching a train wreck -- painful but I can't pull my eyes away.  I haven't suffered from GERD since my retirement, but lately it is back in full force.

I guess I better go doodle some more.

Comments

  1. RianMay 16, 2017 at 5:57 PM

    I can see that you've been busy since returning to Vermont! And for the most part, you seem to be enjoying it. I too am reading "A Man called Ove"... a friend lent it to me... but can't say that I'm enjoying it. I find it all a bit depressing. But it's a strange read... and I will finish it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Arkansas PattiMay 16, 2017 at 6:59 PM

    I have heard a lot about that book and will see if my library carries it.
    Hard to imagine snuggling up to a heater. I've been hitting the A/C a lot lately. Hope you warm up soon and can get your hands dirty.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Linda MyersMay 16, 2017 at 8:37 PM

    I read the book out loud to my husband Art. He laughed at all the descriptions of Ove that are like he is!

    I have removed most of the political posts from my Facebook feed. I read the online Washington Post and the local paper. Politics appear to be "more of the same" but I have an underlying optimism that the American system will hold and come through for us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SakuMay 16, 2017 at 9:53 PM

    Sounds like you've been busy since arriving in Vermont. Hope the weather improves soon so you can get warmed through and through, as well as getting your container gardens planted.

    I won't say anything about the American political scene.

    Take care,
    Eileen

    ReplyDelete
  5. Linda ReederMay 16, 2017 at 11:22 PM

    Tom and I both read "Ove" and enjoyed it.
    We are very tired of the cold here on the left coast too. We wrap up in fleece blankets almost every evening as we watch TV.
    We follow the current events in DC quite closely - a new bomb shell almost every day. But we are not stressing over it. We are encouraged that so many are watching closely and digging deep into 45's antics. He is not escaping attention on anything now. We obviously have "eyes" in the White House. I heard today that the majority of the Republicans are now through with him. As if they didn't know BEFORE he was elected. Duh.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Granny AnnieMay 17, 2017 at 8:56 AM

    I loved A Man Called Ove very much!

    ReplyDelete
  7. TaborMay 17, 2017 at 12:07 PM

    Weather back to hot here today while the other side of the country is cold. NO in between. The country is in the throws of some very dangerous times, so do not give up being an active citizen. Do for those that come after us.

    ReplyDelete
  8. DebbyMay 17, 2017 at 9:48 PM

    I too, am weaning myself off Facebook. I go on once a week, just to check some family that live back east. I stay away from all the crap political groups pages and I no longer post or update my status.

    The good thing is, I am staying busy getting my house and garden in order and enjoying it. I may even have time to start doing some crafty items. I guess I should thank Trump for getting me to get back into the things I used to enjoy, before facebook. Ha ha.

    ReplyDelete
  9. joaredMay 18, 2017 at 2:55 AM

    So you haven't been doing anything since you returned? I don't waste my time with FB or Twitter. People often get all overly worked up on those sites seems to me. My book club coming up with titles for us to read over next year. Maybe that will be one of them. I have 7 titles to get to, so hope some of them get chosen.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotteMay 28, 2017 at 11:03 AM

    Gerd is a new term for me. After researching it I realized it happens to me. I just put a teaspoon of pure baking soda in water and drink it. It gives very fast relief. Here spring is still slow. Cooler than most years.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I appreciate readers' comments so much. You don't even always have to agree with me.

Popular posts from this blog

It's TIme

 It's been a while since I have posted anything and even my reading your posts is falling by the wayside. I am in Florida now. I have a yard where little attention was spent on landscaping for the past years so I am slowly and (somewhat) methodically addressing that. I also volunteer to work at the pollinator garden and the edible garden I helped install at the UU grounds and I took over the volunteer job of cleaning out the overgrown community garden by my neighborhood mailboxes. The neighbor who was doing that got sick and could no longer attend to it. It's a bigger job than I'd thought at first -- not only overgrown with weeds, but the plants that are wanted there are in life and death competition for each others' spaces. And two walks a day, morning and evening, so Levi can keep up with addiction to canine social media and a daily rousing came of stick or ball midday take up another chunk of my time. I have a weekly meditation group that I co-facilitate, and my own ...
10 comments
Read more

New Furniture

 We went shopping for a new couch. I liked this one, the first store we went to. Of course it would be an impulse to buy the first one so we trekked around to other stores -- something we liked more, a better deal? No surprise that we ended up going back to that first store the next day and purchasing that couch for our living room. Also a matching love seat for the den where we watch TV. Because I had replaced my old love seat with two recliners. We couldn't keep three households worth of furniture after all. Well, my recliner was not big enough to accommodate both Levi and me. Poor boy had to watch TV from his bed on the floor. There! This is much better! Spoiled much? The little tail on the floor belongs to his toy squirrel, Buddy. It's like having a toddler with the need to be picking up toys or risk tripping over them. But his very favorite play thing is that bathmat that can be found anywhere but the bathroom floor.
10 comments
Read more

Walking

 I have always been a walker. Now that I have a high energy dog there is no excuse for not getting out there. And the weather is not an interfering factor here. Early morning and early evening are our preferred times so even when it gets hot we should be okay. We can get quite a long walk going around the neighborhood, greeting neighbors out working in their yards or walking their own dogs. But the landscape changes quickly just beyond the confines of the housing developments. It could be described as natural Florida or as sites of future housing developments. I do prefer the first option. And I really enjoy being out in natural areas so I often opt to head to a nature setting. I would have liked to put a picture here. Unfortunately my iPhone has made a unilateral decision. It will no longer be sending my photos to my computer. Why? I have no idea. However, we may be walking along happily enough -- me listening to the birds or trying to identify wildflowers and other plants while L...
10 comments
Read more