My sister first shared this on Facebook in 2017, the year our father died, and has shared it every year since. He died in July, and I remember that she was stumbling through her day to day life, clinging to work, marriage, kids, and decided she needed something to look forward to. So she came home from work one day and booked a trip to Hawaii for Thanksgiving. A privilege I know, but it really helped her to have that trip with her immediate family to look forward to, and to get away from home for a bit. Coincidentally, after my mom died in 2008, we also went to Hawaii,…

Some of my blogging friends have had the good idea to post a getting to know you type post, for new readers due to NaBloPoMo. So, here are a few things about me. How about you? What is your perfect day?

Earlier this year, I had a bone density scan, and was diagnosed with osteopenia. Not a shock, my grandmother broke her hip at 40, and I think I had osteopenia the first time I had a bone density scan almost 20 years ago. But now that I’m approaching 60, I’m finally getting a bit more serious about things I should have been doing for the last 20 – 30 years. Mostly that means being consistent about strength training. Last November, I started doing Caroline Girvan trainings 5 days a week. I’ve chosen the 15 to 20 minute workouts, and mostly I used 5 lb hand weights, though I have increased…

Happy Halloween! The decorations at this house were not nearly as charming as skeletons playing banjos or ghosts on swings, but wow, it did scare me a bit when I came around the corner and saw it. Creepy. I don’t have a lot of randomness this week, but I did take some pictures. I went to the farmers’ market last weekend and got some berries and tomatoes. And apparently took pictures only of things I did not buy. I went to the weekly protest, which was much smaller than the big No Kings protest, but still about 125 – 150 people. Inspired by Diane’s post in which she has been…

It feels like our descent into fascism is speeding up exponentially, doesn’t it? I suspect that is because it is. This has been a rough week or 30, hasn’t it? Oh hell, a rough century so far. To say I don’t understand this world is a gross understatement. Ted recommended a podcast to me. Forum is a locally produced NPR show, and this episode is about the tension between the stresses in the world while we still need to go about our day, and continue to find beauty in our lives. Life Goes On While Systems Fray – How Do We Make Sense of the Dissonance? Give it a listen…

It’s been a busy week around here. We celebrated Ted’s stepdad’s birthday last Saturday – no pictures, but we had a lovely time. We had bbq ribs and chicken, green salad, potato salad, watermelon, hibiscus tea mixed with lemonade, wine, and chocolate raspberry cake. The weather was perfect, not too hot, but warm enough that you could sit outside if you wanted. Speaking of weather, it seems from your posts like it’s full on fall for some of you. I remember fall coming in August when I was a kid in Alaska, and when Ted and I lived in Philadelphia, it felt like a switch was flipped in mid September…

I had so many questions about the chest wrinkle pillow I got rid of the other day, so here is your quick picture to show you how it works. I wore it some, and it wasn’t uncomfortable, but it made me hot and I didn’t feel like it worked, so away it went. I’m picturing the folks at Goodwill trying to figure out what the hell it is. Apparently I was once really upset by chest wrinkles, because not only did I spend way too much on this, I also bought some kind of silicone thing to help, which also…not enough results, so I threw that away. The end. That…