New Week

Monday.  Started with my morning walk, The Husband decided to answer the pillow call.  I thought I'd be smart and do the walk I wanted in reverse, the plan was to avoid the bicyclists.  There is a large club that meets at the school near us - most weekday mornings they set off in groups, generally heading up the trail we often use.  There are usually a couple hundred of them.  They are having fun, good for them.  They are anything but considerate and careful of the people walking.  This seems to be a trait of the bikers around here in general.  

But, my plan was foiled.  Whatever it was, the timing was just right for me to be coming down the trail as  all couple hundred of them were heading up.  I was loving my personal alone time, being thoughtful and prayerful.  Only to be interrupted at least a hundred times to reply to the "good morning" that was tossed my direction.  Had to step off the trail several times to not be run over - they take up the entire width - no regard for anyone else utilizing the pavement. 

And...it was 84 degrees when I left the house.  One of those days when the clouds hold in the heat.  Was super happy I'd left the air conditioning on overnight. 

Wanted to post a picture I took of the fox we saw yesterday morning.  It's been at least a year since the last sighting.  I took a bunch of pictures - this was the best one, he was far across the horse pasture. I love his white-tipped tail.  

Today feels kind of odd / off.  First week in many, many weeks I'm not taking dinner to my friend on her cancer treatment day.  The Bishop visited her, the result was a Relief Society online sign up to take her dinner every treatment day and vacuum once a month.  She sternly told me I would not be vacuuming her house, not with my back. And the sign up for meals was filled within a couple hours.  It's kind of a relief.  But kind of sad.  I still feel like they think I wasn't doing enough.  But whatever, I get that service mostly includes some kind of sacrifice.  Was my sacrifice sufficient?  

Fast meeting was pretty good yesterday.  Most people expressing gratitude for this country.  Yes, it is flawed and troubled, just like the people.  But I would not want to live anywhere else. I did notice that most everyone bearing testimony was of a certain age - none of the young people.  I guess it takes some life experience to truly appreciate what this country has to offer.  I hope genuine patriotism endures.

I'm holding off on changing cardiologists.  I think she is qualified.  But I was left quite frustrated by her lack of interest in anything I had to say, in hearing my concerns or questions.  We've been diligent with our statins - the first time in my life I've had to take any kind of maintenance medication (and yes, I'm conflicted about it).  But so far there've been no noticeable side effects - thankfully.  More tests to come but those are to be expected - information is valuable and a baseline is important.  After our next appointment it might be decision time.

Today's gratitude?  For being born in this country.  The few times I've had the luxury of traveling out of it, I am always beyond happy to be back, I always get a huge sense of relief to be "home". I'm grateful for people who reach out to say hi to someone they haven't seen in a while.  Everyone needs to be acknowledged. I'm grateful for good medical care (and insurance to help with that), doctors have always been scary for me mostly because I grew up with such health challenged parents. I'm grateful for some song lyrics that were shared with me last week that so touched my heart, made me feel cared for. And for the kind offer to spend part of the 4th of July with us.  I'll always wish for more inclusion and care, but never ever want to inconvenience anyone in any way. (And truthfully, it was fine - too hot to go anywhere and I dislike causing people to have to work on a holiday.) I'm also grateful for the chance to try again today, and every day, to be the person that I'm certain our Heavenly Father wants me to be.  It is an ongoing (yes, willing) journey for me. 

Thursday

 Went to lunch with our friends.  I enjoyed the food and the company.  Sometimes I think I'm a tiny bit starved for social interaction.  But I'm picky: it must be with people I like and not a situation that makes me anxious.

Finished another book - our morning walk tomorrow will be to the library to return the one I finished.  Thankfully, I have a stack of several that I can choose from.  I so enjoy reading.

Saw this deer on our walk the other morning.  Saw another one today - feels kind of like we're seeing more of them lately.  

And my shirt?  I've had this shirt since before we moved into this house and we've been here for 25 years.  I keep wearing, washing and ironing it, but as is obvious from this area around the collar (and it is a representative pic of several identical areas on this shirt) it is truly nearly worn out.  The print is faded, there are a couple un-removable stains, but I don't care, I keep wearing it.

And really, I don't have a whole lot to say here.  Was doing a couple other things on my computer and decided to write a couple things.  It'll be the 4th of July, our National Holiday in a couple days.  We don't have any plans.  I always wish for invitations or people to do things with.  After being married for 55 years, you'd expect I'd be used to spending all the holidays just with our own little family.  Our family which grew from the two of us into six members and has shrunk again to just the two of us.  Then again, I'm not fond of crowds or noise or obligations and am not really up to lots of work (prep, hosting and clean up).  So I'm conflicted - as I so often am in life. Dislike feeling invisible but also dislike saying "yes" when I really want to say "no".   Bottom line is I guess I'm really ok spending the day here at home with The Husband.  We'll hopefully see our daughter and grandson at some point in the
day and that will be just right.   Netflix and Amazon Prime have been our go-to lately.  😊

They seem to be getting a handle - albeit small - on the Cottonwood Fire.  Fires scare me.  Droughts scare me. The two together are a tiny bit alarming to me.  Was asked yesterday if I was nervous about something specific, my response was that I'm always nervous about everything.  Haha, but yes, truly.

I'm grateful today for kindness that is extended to us - from anyone.  I like to see that there is still kindness in the world, even for old people that are seeing diminishing abilities.  And I'm grateful that it is finally July - only a couple more months of seriously hot weather.  Hoping for some summer monsoon to kick in - we need the moisture so badly.  I'm grateful the grass is more green than crispy, even as we baby it with only minor increased amounts of water. And I'm grateful for our country, flawed though it is, flawed as the leaders can be, divided as it is.  It is and can be again, a great country.

Yay! and Yay!!

 Today is a double - maybe triple  yay day! First and foremost:  my watch is found!  Putting clean sheets on the bed, The Husband said, "There's a watch under here."  My breathing stopped for a second.  Yes, that sounds overly dramatic, but frankly it is true.  I caught my breath as I picked up my much missed watch and just danced in happiness.  Silly?  Of course.  Don't care.  I feel like there's a huge weight off me.  It ispo0oi currently sitting in the window getting a charge, it's kind of been in the dark for a couple weeks.  Can't believe it is found, thanked The Husband profusely.  Yay!

Poking around the garden yesterday while The Husband was doing the weekly prune and feed of tomatoes, discovered the blooms on the beans.  Haven't grown beans like this that I can recall.  (Lately green beans have become what I gravitate toward.) So happy to see there are blooms and maybe pretty soon we'll have some to eat.  We did actually bring in a couple small tomatoes - I think they're the Early Girl.  Pretty tasty.  Absolutely nothing like fresh from the garden edibles. Yay for them.

Bean blossoms.

Yesterday was hard.  The wind was more than uncomfortable.  Hot, too strong and miserable.  Dust and ash and awful air quality.  So, so grateful for our air conditioning.  (I always sleep better with the windows closed.) This morning at six:  the temp was 61, air quality good, wind nearly gone and it was perfect for our morning walk.  I dislike being afraid of the air we breathe.  Yay for better air.

Today I am deeply grateful for tender mercies, which is what finding my watch feels like.  I know it's just a thing, just a watch.  It is important to me and I'm so glad to have it back.  Grateful for enough water to save our trees.  Grateful that so far we aren't aware of any lives lost from these horrid fires. My heart goes out to those who've lost homes.  And as always, so grateful for repentance.  It's a blessing I utilize every single day.

It's June

Sunrise the other morning.

And that means it's wildfire season here in the west.  Every summer I say it feels like the whole state is on fire -seems like there should be nothing left to burn.  But every summer there are more fires.  The disturbing thing to me is how many of those fires (that cost grundles of money, time and people to fight) are human caused.  That's kind of sad.  The smoke in the air (my son texted me the other day from Utah county to tell me it was raining ash where he lives) is scary to breathe.  It does make for some interestingly colored sunrises and sunsets - even the moon the other night looked really red.   

So, this morning I was on the treadmill.  Air quality index was over 100 and I'm not breathing that while I'm out walking trying to be healthy.  It was kind of fun to get some good reading done, but other than that I much prefer to be outside when the day begins.

Splurged the other day and bought some actual cherries.  I love them.  When it came time to take dinner to my friend, I included some for her and she also commented on what a fun luxury fresh cherries are.  We'll have little to no peaches / apricots this year in northern Utah - the late freeze destroyed the harvest. 

Yum!

Headed out today to see if I could actually look at a watch I'm considering buying. I really miss my lost watch and need to replace it.  Spent w-a-y too much time online looking at watches, and truly - things like that need to be seen in person.  So I did.  Saw a couple in person.  Decided that I can get it cheaper online but I'll have to figure out how to fund the purchase.  I could get a cheap watch.  Nope.  And I'm not a smartwatch kind of person.  Don't want lots of sparkle and clunky size, just a nice smallish, sort of feminine watch that can handle my every day. So, yes a bit more that I really want to spend.  But I'm thinking I want to go for it.  I'll be patient. 

After seeing the watches in person - also had a bit of a walkabout the mall - we headed to lunch.  Still had a R&R BBQ gift card.  Fabulous!  I always forget how much I love that place.  We shared a plate like we usually do, and got the free scones (loyalty member) and I'm still stuffed even after several hours.  We rarely go to lunch just the two of us, it felt good to just enjoy an outing together.  

Read this article that caused some thinking. Mental Subtraction  Don't have to agree with it all.  Just have to think and perhaps incorporate the things of value into my life.

Yay for gift card lunch.

Had to reset my email password the other night, think I got it done properly.  One never knows that it's right until it isn't right.  Complicated, right? 

They're saying we're going to have some thunder storms this evening.  Rain would be wonderful, our yard looks so bad.  Lightning wouldn't be great, we already have enough fires.  But if the air would clear just a bit that would be good. 

I'm just so very grateful for our air conditioning, and that we can keep the windows closed and all that wind-blown smoke outside.  And so grateful for The Husband who always tells me I'm important.  And grateful for hope that I might actually manage to make it through the summer heat.  I guess that's something to look forward to.  💛