Friday, September 27, 2018

T.G.I.F. Thinking especially of you, Paula.

No construction workers here today, which will be nice.

Yesterday was mowing and straightening up the outside of the house for my weekend company, completing insurance claim forms, a visit to the insurance agent, more errands, a two-hour mani/pedi appointment, and a visit to see my niece's first apartment.

Today it's more pedal to the metal - aquarobics, grocery shopping, house cleaning, and a little more paperwork.

My friend will arrive in late afternoon with her two nice doggies -- a Great Dane and a Greyhound. It'll be nice to hang with some dogs for a change.

By the way, the days are noticeably shorter here; the time between sunrise to sunset is now 35 fewer minutes than on the summer solstice. Winter's coming! ;)And we had rain yesterday afternoon, which we haven't had for many weeks. Today will be dry, but it'll rain all weekend. We're so drought- and heat-stricken here that I don't mind at all.

Today's theme: Dogs are good people.

Good morning!

Ann, so excited about those dogs coming to visit! (and their peeps, but The Dogs!) Fun fact: my grandfather added greyhound breeding for additional income to his usual Herefords during the depression. I have always heard such wonderful things about them.

Also, Ann...you asked where last weekend's hike was. It was on the Olympic Peninsula, Marmot pass. (Sadly, I didn't see a marmot but I might have a bit of marmot hair in the back seat of my car). How astute (as usual) that you noticed that it seemed different. I thought so to, at the time of the hike, but hard to put my finger on it. It was just a few miles from my recent Goat Hike but there were large portions of red rock rubble which I haven't seen elsewhere in WA. Plus, there were succulents up top (very pointy to sit on!) and one of those fluffy seed pods I have only seen at Crater Lake. I'll have to read up on the that mtn range, I know it is different than the cascades but would be nice to understand why.

BB, you will be THAT mom whose house smells good with good food. Funny you mention chili. Before the heat wave, I texted my DD that I was making chili. She was home in 20 minutes and said she told her friends "I have to go, my mom is making chili" You already have a habit of preparing healthy, feel-good food that smells great. And I KNOW you will teach that girl to cook. (So many kids and adults, can't)

DianeO! So glad DH is diagnosed! And yes, shopping is so much easier! I loved your listing of peeps passions. DianeS, loved your story about those "sharks". That is the kind of story that would attract DH :)

First pic below was my lunch view on the last hike. Picture Peps and M150 doing their best sound of music performance in the meadow. Have a great day! Shel

Shel, I really haven't known much about the Olympic Peninsula. But "red rubble" sent me to The Google. The red, of course, is due to iron ... as in nearby "Iron Mountain." ;)

Obviously, your beautiful neck of the woods was created by a whole lotta volcanic activity, but also by uplifts of even older igneous events. You live in a beautifully messy geologic environment. :)

I'll shut up now. ;)

Acting, check--Directing, a definite yes- Vocals? The best I can muster is a "joyful noise".

Oh, but in my imagination, you are glorious!

The hills are alive.....

Dogs are excellent people! So sensitive, helpful, and generally thankful and loving for all positive attention they receive. They are even good patients for the most part (unlike many humans).

Weight 117.8, calories 1401. English muffin and peanut butter were the higher calorie culprits, plus a couple of glasses of wine with an old friend.

I met a high school friend late yesterday afternoon for drinks because he had contacted me after our class reunion in April and said there was something he needed to talk to me about. He said he had gone to the reunion specifically to do that but had chickened out. Huh? This is a guy who I was always friendly with in high school and dated briefly after I split up with my first husband (well before I met DH). I don't really remember anything noteworthy about the dating or the breakup. Apparently he felt bad about our relationship after all these years because at the time he was struggling a lot with previous sexual abuse by an older, powerful man ****urred when he was a teenager). Apparently he ultimately charged the perpetrator in court and it all came out, but he still suffers from PTSD from it (no surprise). I really felt bad for him but surprised that he felt the need to tell me. By the way, J was one of the best looking guys in high school with an almost "pretty boy" look about him. I guess that was the problem.

So, though I was going to take DH to Mamma Mia 2 in the afternoon (it was originally supposed to rain), I went to this meeting instead. Before that we watched a movie at home that DS wanted us to see: Love, Simon. He said it had a lot of parallels to his own life. It was very beautiful and moving about a boy who is gay but hasn't told anyone by his senior year in high school. Really worth watching! I was home by dinner and we went to the town band concert last night.

Oh, interesting thing: we went out to dinner Friday, Saturday, and Sunday last weekend and DH cooked on Monday. That gave us enough leftovers for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and we are going out to dinner tonight. In other words, no real cooking for me this week (score!). I do supplement with salads and other veggies as needed, but at least the protein part carries us for a few days. So I said to SIL that even if we are spending money going out to eat, we are saving on groceries?!?

Have a fruitful Friday!

ETA: I just found the friend's case: There is a statement referring to me (how weird): "In 1978, he sought counselling for problems he was having with his then girl friend."

Your conversation yesterday with your old friend puts me in mind of my recent musings about wishing to be authentic and transparent with people who are important to me.

This is a bit of a theme for me lately and consonant with other conversations I hear from multiple corners about people wanting to be able to have more candid and respectful conversations about everything from politics to religion to you name it. This must be, in part, a reaction to the tensions among friends, families, acquaintances, workplaces, social media that arose during the last national elections.

I think I've mentioned this before ??? but I know personally of a few salon-style conversations and events happening these days designed to be places where people can discuss specific topics that are "hard to discuss."

It certainly is worthwhile to "listen louder" (as DH used to say), as well as to state more clearly and respectfully our own thoughts, positions, and opinions on issues that are important enough to all of us to have the potential to alienate us. I don't see that refusing to talk about touchy subjects brings people closer together. It just makes us not trust each other. IMHO, of course.

I think we need to also be cognizant of the fact that our time on earth is limited and we need to say the important things to our loved ones and friends when we can because you just never know...

Way to walk that extra mile. If it was that significant to him to seek you out, then you have helped him unload some of what must be a heavy burden long suffered.