08/05/19, Monday

1. Within Range: yes
2. General Wellbeing: 9 on SS
3. 10,000+ Steps: 8955
4. Fitness: mowing
5. Self-Care: meditation
6. Fun: attended America concert
7. I learned/relearned: If not now, when ?
8. Intentions: Seek balance & relax, rejuvenate, & recalibrate !!

The keys to gentling a mustang are clear expectations, chunking out expectations into manageable steps, consistency in follow through and resetting and starting again when focus is weak. Sound familiar ? We experienced a fabulous America concert at a winery venue on Keuka lake (see my FB post). The guys sounded awesome and the crowd was very appreciative. We were in an open air pavilion and the weather couldn't have been better. A view of the lake only made the experience richer.

An open air concert on a summer evening in a beautiful venue, what could be better?

I spent most of the day reading on the porch yesterday, and finished a novel, The Leaving Time, by Jodi Piccoult. Today, some housework chores need to get done. The luxury of summer break, there is plenty of time to do them, unlike during the school year. Trying not to think about going back to work soon, and just enjoy each day.

Quote: ...I've never before been so aware of the thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right every day. ~ A.J. Jacobs, writer

Sounds like a rather perfect Sunday! I spent the afternoon in my classroom purging and sorting. Today is going through books. I am not good with this task. Why am I loathe to part with any of my books? I have such attachments to books like The Hundred Dresses and Shiloh and Stone Fox. It is hard for me to part with those sets. I find I can't do it. I guess I want to hang on to what I know works, rather than embrace a self selection, personal interest based, workshop model.

Don't get rid of the books! I purged things I could find on the internet (no kid has touched a dictionary or thesaurus in my room for years), but books... one day the new mandate may be gone, and you'll need those books.

We had a lovely brunch on our deck yesterday with friends. Delish and fun.

This morning I harvested 7 cucumbers. This is on top of the cucumbers already in the fridge. I think I need to learn to make pickles stat. I am also overrun with green beans. If only I were overrun with ripe tomatoes which we are still waiting patiently for given the weird weather here this spring/summer. It's great now, but a very slow start.

Other than figuring out how to turn cucumbers into pickles, I have nothing pressing to do today.

Wishing everyone a good start to the week ahead.

German cucumber salad! YUM! A wonderful summer salad! Of course, I am biased. For me it is soul food!

We have pickled so many things. My DW grandmother made mustard pickles. I am going to try to make some of those. They are my favorite. We have cucumbers too.

It is a marvelous Monday morning here. The weather is perfect, but it will get a bit too warm this afternoon - low 90s again.

Spent some time at school yesterday, but followed it with a massage. That made the afternoon more palatable. Leaving to go to school once I finish this post. I really want to complete my purging and have my space organized by this afternoon. I have a planning day with my teaching partners tomorrow and then leave for Maryland early Wednesday morning. I won't be bac****il Saturday afternoon, so I'd like to feel like I'm pretty much ready for students by the time I leave school tomorrow afternoon.

I have been doing some deeper level thinking about weight, personal happiness, emotional influences on weight, etc... the past few days. I think much of my thinking has been triggered by the events surrounding Shel's death. (Just typing that makes my gut flip flop. Even in her passing she is continuing to give to me. Shel was a remarkable, resilient woman.) My thoughts have been centered on acceptance and acknowledgement of who I am, how I think about myself and how I need to live in the moment, but be able to see beyond the moment so I can accept the consequences of living in the moment. Gosh, I hope that makes sense. It's sort of complex when I write it out - even so simplistically.

I am missing Shel a lot this morning. I keep seeing her obit pic in my thoughts. Such a happy portrait.

Travel plans for next summer seem to be coming together more and more. I have the dogs all situated in one place - my preferred place with my handler - which puts me very much at ease about leaving them while I'm out of the country. Looks like we will be adding a few days in London prior to and a day or two in Amsterdam prior to boarding the cruise ship. Exciting stuff!

So much floating around in my brain today! Yet, I must get on with the tasks at hand. Love you all.

It's so hard to think back on our collective celebration of Shel's climb up Mount St. Helen. Watching her dot on the map. Letting it sink in, what an incredible feat!!! And then, learning that something just wasn't right. Then cancer. A small window of hope that maybe treatment might buy a little time. The stunning revelation that nothing could stop this monster. How could it change so fast? And through it all, the light that was/is Shel, still shining.

I think what you are trying to express the difference between carpe diem and Y.O.L.O. (You only live once). Carpe diem is knowing when to seize the day, to live in the moment. Y.O.L.O. is when of my students climbs on the roof, jumps onto his trampoline and tries to land in his pool. (Actual true life story, he was okay). Carpe diem is buying GOAT, Y.O.L.O. is hold my beer, watch this. Carpe diem is feel the fear and do it anyway. Y.O.L.O. is not being wise enough to know you should be afraid. As Mr. Keating says in Dead Poet's Society, carpe diem means suck the marrow out of the bone, not choke on it.

Greetings Dear Tribe

My brother died early this morning after 5 years with a brain tumor. He outlived the odds of 18 months in order to be a part of the life of his little grandson. He was placed on hospice a few days ago and I have a plane ticket to go out there wednesday which will not be used. No services for awhile as my SIL can't walk due to being in rehab for hip surgery and she doesn't want services until she can attend. Makes sense.

So the theme of the day is dealing with loss. Everyone's. Its what happens when you get old and even when you are not. My old self would have powered through some brownies. Not now. Oddly there is really nothing for me to do except send flowers to SIL and fight with United airlines. And try to seize the day a little.

Peps don't toss those books. They are special.

Diane O, what a great concert. Glad you could go.

Cucumbers Cecily! I think there are some cold cucumber soups (kind of like gespatcho ) that you could make. My grandmother made the best bread and butter pickles - the sweet kind.

Thats it for now. Off to look for something to seize. Diane S