Sam Squared

      Photo by Marta Branco      My mom's book club is made up of very busy women, present company excluded. We've had to pivot and adapt on dates and by our June meeting, we'll have read eight books. We'll skip July and August. S, our fearless coordinator and probably the busiest, had a fun idea to cap off the year. We each picked a book and will bring a food or beverage featured in the book. She's doing string cheese and complimentary bites to represent The Measure.  M picked Dear Mrs. Bird but didn't say what she'd bring.       P hopped on  Something from Tiffany's  right away and not to give away the book too much, is going to bringing sweet rolls. I'm stretching a bit, but selected the Venice set book, The Instrumentalist, which did reference the fruit and veg markets so I'm bringing a fruit platter. There's two other regular attendees and three sporadic joiners so we'll see what else might surface.      J...

         I've been doing a lots of day dreaming while trying to be fully present. When I want to feel productive with this dreaming, I research and track potential itineraries for vacations and longer stays/slow travel. This is my travel notebook, appropriately using a Princess Cruise line notebook that was part of a Christmas White Elephant gift. Two sisters and their husbands are on back to back cruises as I finish this post and it's been good fun seeing glimpses of their trip.      I've thought a bit about a permanent vacation home but have ruled it out at least for the time being. There's too much to do owning one home on my own, so buying a vacation property feels daunting. My friend who has a Florida place has a love-hate relationship with it. She loves the familiarity of the area, the beautiful beach, and pretty condo, but hates that even with a management company, at a high price point, it consumes a lot of her non-vacation time, and neces...

                                                     I appreciated the feedback and will keep posting these checkins on Friday, though might try and edit word count.  For my Friday posts, I copy the previous week, delete the old and update as I go along the week. This helps me add as the week goes on. I just sort of list things as they come up, then edit before publishing. As I wasn't feeling great last week, I didn't keep track well so this covers a few weeks.  Use it Up/Avoid Waste  Made the strawberry jam from the pre-measured supply. As I've now plenty for my own family and giving, t he remaining frozen fruit will be used for muffins, quick breads, and desserts for get together before the summer fruit starts coming again. I want to get involved in new jam varieties to me such as blueberries and peach. My SIL made last summer and t...

      Humor amongst my sister's. Yet, hoping  I'm moving away from this default response to challenges in life.       Oh my gosh do I need to keep moving, reading, learning to feel like I'm not just surviving in life. I blink and the week is over with not much to report or even have a conversation about. I fear I'm in the early steps of heading for one of my gray periods. Summer, with all the promise of sunshine and fun, brings forward complex initiators to anxiety mixed with expectations and loneliness. My physical soreness isn't helping, reminiscent of my sense of helplessness/ hopelessness pre- knee surgery. I'm trying hard to push through this current mood drop and irrational thoughts that my life is just leftovers and crumbs or another day figuring out yet another problem.      I recently got a lesson via a memorial, given by my friend in tribute to her dad. She summarized his life in three "rules" to live by, and I took them as a l...

      Photo from pexel.com      So about Mothers Day...      All my optimism for getting my outside shaped up, a garden planted, and healthier behaviors was hit with a big pause sign on Mother's Day. I still don't quite remember how or exactly what happened. One minute I was carefully trimming around the new (last year) hostas planted on the side of the patio, and the next I was falling backwards. Perhaps I tripped on the subtle step up to the patio, merely inches, catching a foot. Maybe I just tripped over my own feet. I fell hard, hitting my head and getting the wind knocked out of me.       Fortunately I wasn't alone, but my poor daughter finding me laying there as I was trying to get my breathing regulated was sure scared. I got a lump on my head and a cracked rib, but no other damage but even days later, a lot of pain in certain positions or movements . I've been moving slow all week and it'll take weeks to heal prope...

      I've been noodling and drafting this post for a while. As I haven't posted for a few days as a bit of an accident has me slow, I'm just doing a quick edit before hitting publish.  Photo from Pexels.com      The ripple effect of the Iran war, high gas prices, lingering tariff BS, is hitting in just about every expense American's have. I'm sorry to my international friends that you're caught in this as well. We all know, with the exception of gas, once prices on consumables go up, they do not go down. I love how stores market "new lower prices" by cherry picking a few items as loss leaders, hoping folks don't get too frustrated overall. Humans need food, clean water, gas to get to work or school/public transport options, and dare I say the occasional indulgence to feel like we're living not just surviving.      My family is not hurting too much. Our needs are covered and we're enjoying things in our free time. However, knowing there...