Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
~Luther Burbank
You’re welcome.
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emotional health
O pioneer woman
Zippy and I just returned from a hike in the open space. We walked up the street a little ways and were out on the trails.
Invasive mulleins in the foreground.
Unfortunately, I started having discomfort in one of my toes and guessed that the neighboring nail was cutting into the skin. We stopped so I could take off my boot and sock and, sure enough, my toe was bloody. So I found a small rock and used it as a file to grind down the nail’s sharp edge. It worked! For the first time ever I had faith that I could’ve survived more than an afternoon in Lonesome Dove (contrary to a friend’s long ago teasing).
Zippy and I continued on our hike. There was so much cool stuff to see (flowering thistles and seeded-out knapwood plants and bright red rose hips and wildflowers and hawks and songbirds), and I kicked myself for not bringing camera and binoculars. But Zippy used his phone camera for these shots, and I’m glad to have documentation of our lovely hike on this August afternoon.
Another mullein invading the space on the right side of photo.
This photo doesn’t do justice to the thicket of white stalks which reminded me of birch trunks but is probably wild parsley or wild parsnip or something like that?
I’m so very grateful for open space that allows me to clear my mind and ease my soul.
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Give me adorable, STAT!
I’m a big fan of Craigslist and have used it to buy and sell and give away all sorts of stuff. I’ve had some annoying experiences (I’m looking at you, SAGA OF GIVING AWAY THE FREE ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREE), but nothing too bad.
This morning Zippy figured out that the PayPal deposit Zebu received for the laptop he was about to ship out of state was fraudulent. When the guy texted Zebu to follow up on the scheduled shipment, Zebu informed him that we knew it was a scam. The guy tried to bluff his way out of it and Zebu ignored him. A couple hours later Zebu received another text: the guy said he was alerting the FBI. (Obviously, Zebu needs to block that number.)
Instead of jumping in the car for a road trip to Missouri to beat the guy’s ass, I’m gonna look at these three.
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One of those days
Oddly enough, this seems like a fair representation of today:
I was very tired and so didn’t accomplish much. I felt a bit, you know, pointless. So it’s weird that this is the photo that jumped out at me from Morguefile.com when I went cruising for photos. But somehow these pointy-headed mannequins capture my mood.
Two positive notes regarding today:
- Loki and Marcel took turns curled up on me as I read and napped on the couch.
- No one used my head to play Ring Toss.
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It saves going to heaven
Wrote some blues
Woke up this morning feeling low,
nothing specific driving my blues.
More like a muffled blanket of sad
wrapped around me.
I forced myself out of bed for:
stretching
yoga
hooping.
Slightly better
but still wanted
to crawl back under the covers.
Grabbed some coffee and breakfast
along with my YA project notebook and pages.
Got to work.
Slightly better
but still blue around the edges.
Trying to use it to my advantage.
I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
~ Duke Ellington
Thankful Thursday: The Green Edition
With all the scary and ugly going on in the world, sometimes the little things can make a huge difference. Tonight I salute this green smoothie that I nearly forgot I’d made earlier today!
Happiness is …
. . . a good sneeze.
. . . Coreopsis blooming.
. . . hoop dancing to Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady.”
. . . watching my sons find their way.
. . . the versatility of the word “fuck.”
. . . checking an item off a to-do list.
. . . singing along with the radio.
. . . cherries in season.
. . . a Red-tailed Hawk floating on an air current.
. . . realizing a revised chapter is much better than before.
. . . yelling “Steve Holt!”
. . . wrestling with a dog.
. . . peeing after holding it too long.
. . . not caring what anyone else thinks.
. . . popcorn and beer.
. . . a no-look basketball pass.
. . . napping on a rainy afternoon.
. . . napping on a snowy afternoon.
. . . reading on a rainy or snowy afternoon.
. . . never feeling guilty about napping or reading.
. . . a cat on the lap.
. . . a Western Meadowlark’s song.
. . . running hard and feeling strong.
. . . clean sheets.
. . . never, ever having to change another poopy diaper.
. . . hearing a tantrum in a restaurant and knowing it ain’t my responsibility.
. . . laughing ’til you cry.
. . . painted toenails.
. . . coffee in bed.
. . . changing out of boots after a long hike.
One little piece of happiness for every day in June.
An introvert walks into a party…
For much of my life I believed I was an extrovert because I enjoy meeting people and having conversations, making people laugh. But I can only do that for so long before I feel drained of energy. I learned that I need alone time to recharge my batteries (which is what defines an introvert), whereas extroverts recharge their batteries by being around other people.
The past several days were filled with socializing. Zippy and I had family and friends in town, which meant lots and lots of talking and laughing and laughing and talking. By the time we got home yesterday evening, I was wiped out. The strange thing was, I didn’t realize how far gone I was until I was in my jammies and on the couch ready to watch some Netflix. It was too much being in the same room with Zippy and I needed to be completely alone. So I closed myself off in our room.
from The Quiet Revolution (www.quietrev.com)
Today was spent refilling my well.
Lots of quiet time.
A couple naps.
And it wasn’t until this evening that I had the energy
for a little yoga and some hoop dancing.
I finally feel like me again.
Tracy Abell 
