mixed bag

it's a mixed bag of nuts and flakes today...too hot to be outside and yet i feel pulled to be out in my garden digging up weeds. and i have oh, so much to do inside too, none of which i find at all interesting or compelling...i'm basically very lazy - in spurts that is. there are all those books to sort through, pack up and determine when to visit powell's again, stitching to do, rearrange the office to accommodate all of the storage boxes i have for needlepoint threads and fibers, laundry (ugh) and lastly, i guess i could "clean" something - eek~! - no mystery there as there is always something in need of a sponge, dust rag or mop.

there's also the writing i want to capture...books to read, internet to explore, and just basic daydreaming....boy i can get distracted by shining objects pretty quickly.

my oldest niece is on her way to Alaska on a cruise ship out of Seattle...her husband took her as a 40th birthday (btw, Kev - her birthday is in September) gift...wish i had the self confidence to celebrate mine early(...I stopped last year with 60! ) i'm thinking she is going to see some pretty amazing landscapes over the next week. cruises to specific locales - Caribbean, Greek Isles and Alaska are on my list...however, i have no desire to go down along Mexico from either coast.

have this new acquaintance - Stephanie - amazingly beautiful, quirky and funny in a way that i have longed yearned to be and have yet to pull off. she is living her life 'large' for sure. new friendships are similar to having a new beau...road testing takes a few outings to assimilate - but she inferred that i had nice 'energy'...which i do, so this is just the beginning of a new and fun friendship. i love that she has a sense of humor about herself, we both share dysfunctional childhoods and crazy-as-bed-bugs parents...and siblings that we can't seem to disown quietly (for their i.q.s haven't acknowledged the overt signs.). surf's up girlfriend!

until we can coffee clutch again have a great week.

Not to complain, but ouch.

This is Pat Gaylord. She's married to Mike, one of my Mike's oldest friends. They live in ID, and we just saw them earlier this month while vacationing near Coeur d'Alene. Two days after seeing her, she tipped over an ATV and broke her ankle (left) and her right collar bone...spent 4 days in the hospital and is now mobile - chair bound for 10 weeks...so much for her retirement "fun" getaway plans. (Photo taken during our ID trip)
She and Mike have been in "retirement", pretty much the entire 13 years that I've known them - LUCKY, LUCKY them!

The reason I bring this up is that on Friday the 16th I while attending a self-promoting 50th birthday party that my friend Brenda gave herself I lost my footing during a free-for-all "Foot Loose" dance number and sprained my left wrist. Ouch and ouch!  Mike has no sympathy for me, well he has a bit - but he actually wanted me to promise that I would NOT do anymore wild or crazy things! I can't promise that, but I can try to consider the possibilities of flinging myself with abandon into life. I am a rather impulsive person (and he is not), so in looking back at Friday night, the party, the music and the tempo of Foot Loose - nah, I just jumped right up to shake my booty... not a moment of consideration was given over to considering the possible outcome - which I fully expected to be just fine. Chances of that changing anytime soon is pretty remote.

We are in the midst of getting things aligned with being gone for the winter...the kinds of things you don't think about every day. Like the mail service and how you pay your bills, and canceling the paper which i find incredibly hard to even think about, and what to do with the cats???? yikes I might have to consider finding good homes for them.But we are getting the 2nd home prepped for them to join us...lets see how adventurous they are!                                    

Meet Lucy the lap cat - if a lap is near she will be in it.

Lola - a bit camera shy and pretty much a loner, although she does have her moments of lap sitting and "my ears need scratching".

That's enough from me today - even I am bored.

rants and raves of late

someone sent me this cartoon in an email today. the caption is: "The 1st senior moment"....thankfully a senior more senior than moi sent it to me or i might have been offended. (she said with a smirk)  while this isn't a new cartoon to me, it does still create a wave of giggles because I get the sentiment.

yes i have my AARP card....lord knows i am a 'boomer'. late bloomer for sure, for when i look in the mirror i am most always surprised to see an 'old' young me. i don't think old until i find some task a bit more difficult to accomplish than last year, or i am more winded going up a hill on our nightly walks, or someone much younger reminds me that they READ about the assassination of JFK and i can clearly recall the exact moment that i heard the news LIVE!!!!

i also carry a library card...antiquated tho it might me but i don't consider myself 't'hat old.'

i carry a cell phone, can use the text and camera feature and have a FB page - which i use. sure i did take the 30 year plan to finish my college degree...a major goal accomplished and something i truly wish i had had the foresight to complete the first go-around...however, even should i get the "monkey" off my back - the circus will most surely still be in town.

a young boy is missing in our town. from the first weekend reports on television, i have asserted that the step-mother was somehow involved. almost 6 weeks later it appears that so does her soon-to-be ex-husband - the local paper has that reported as recently as this past weekend.  the woman clearly has some challenges. i want to be on her side and yet, i am so not! i don't understand women who have children (whether biological or not) that they then abuse, neglect or murder - it is so easy to not have children these days...but to have them or care for them and then abuse them - unforgivable. i wonder when i will be able to know that i was right-on from the onset of this sad, sad case. a part of me does hope that i will be wrong about her, albeit a very wee part.

last night while driving to my meditation class i was the victim of road rage. a young man tail-gated, honked his horn for 3/4 mi (i was not able to move over for him on the street) because i would not drive over the posted 30 mph speed limit. just as he passed me at a higher rate of speed, he had to slam on his brakes because a mobile speed trap was monitoring the street...i think he got his photo taken :-).....he then drove a ways up the street, stopped and leaned out of the car flipping me off and pumping his fist...when he pulled a left hand turn as if to fall in behind me  - i turned off and detoured around him, ready to stop and call the police should he follow. the entitlements that the young have these days - amazing.

do i have anything more to rant about today? nope, think that's it. i want to go surf amazon for some e-book offerings and find something new and interesting to read.....