Today while reading from my “Jesus Calling”, one of the scriptures was Philippians 4:8:
“….whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
In other words, “Because like what you spend your energy on, that’s the day.”
I may be 65, but sometimes I think my mind is stuck in my teens. Or maybe it’s because I’m a Taurus?
Anyway, I’m like a dog with a bone. If I get a thought, especially a negative one, I can’t let it go. Money, bills, employees – it’s what swirls around my head all day. And if there’s a comment from someone rebutting me on a Facebook post about creating affordable housing in my town (I’m for it by the way) – yikes!
But then, I watched the New Heights podcast with Taylor Swift as their guest. It was one of the most entertaining and enlightening two hours I’ve had staring at my screen in a long time.
What snapped me to attention was when she said, “What you spend the energy on, That’s the Day!”. THAT’S THE DAY.
I have to say in my defense, I am only a week and a half back from a 10 day vacation cruising along the coast and inside passage of Alaska but even I’m saying to myself, Enough’s Enough!
I currently say a morning prayer to get myself right with the day and try to get a 5 to 10 minute meditation in, but, it looks like I need to add an additional mantra to the day.
After 2 flights equaling 9+ hours, one suitcase (my husband’s) put on a “later flight”, and a 2-1/2 hour bus ride, we are on the Viking Orion for an Alaska inner passage cruise with approximately 928 other people.
We booked this trip last August. We took a Viking cruise in October of 2022 down the Seine from Paris to Normandy and back but this was our first ocean cruise. It always seemed so far away. Until it wasn’t.
The countdown started at 60 days
Our embarkation was in Seward on Saturday evening and we spent Sunday there with the ship departing at 5pm. This, we thought, was going to be the opportunity to have his suitcase delivered to the ship.
Our embarkation and 1st dayOur first view of the ship!
“Just in case”, we went shopping for hiking shoes and a fleece jacket for our afternoon hike. Because my husband only had Sketcher slip ons from our trip, we knew he would need some shoes for hiking. I knew there had to be something in town for clothing and luckily there was. We headed to Seward Outdoor Store at 8am which was a short walk from the ship. They had what he needed and it was a necessary purchase for him to enjoy the day.
We also paid a visit to a gift shop which is owned by a friend of a hometown friend! We walked in and introduced ourselves and talked with the owner about our trip and our friend who directed us there. It was nice to make the connection and to tell my friend we visited.
If you’re ever in Seward, tell Fred we said hello!
For our excursion in Seward we decided to do a hike to the Exit Glacier. The cruise has an included excursion at each port but sometimes they can be a little dull so we usually pay the money for something that really interests us. A hike is right up our alley.
At 1pm we boarded a bus right off the ship and it was a 15 minute ride to Kenai Fjords National Park. 50 of us got off the bus and divided up among four young guides. Ours was a delightful young woman named Morgan. Morgan has done more in her 24 years than some people will do in a lifetime. She was very knowledgeable about the area and the glacier.
View from the busOur guide, MorganGlacier viewing siteLookout spot on way out – the driver stopped for us
We all expected (and packed) for temperatures to be in the low 60s. Well – Sunday afternoon it was 78 degrees! Thankfully I had my own water bottle and one provided by the tour group because I needed every drop.
It was a 2.5 mile round trip which took us over areas where the glacier has retreated over the years. Morgan explained how they determine how long ago it retreated by the types of trees that have grown. We also saw the striations in the rock and the angle which tells the direction the glacier retreated. It was worth the money and the exertion!
First of many sights to come!
Sadly, we didn’t receive the suitcase by the time the ship left at 5pm. More on that in my Day 2 post!
Since Hamilton, I’ve had a fascination with George Washington.
I take that back. My fascination began when I could read the markers to commemorate his stops in my town, Wallingford Connecticut to gather provisions for his troops in 1775 and after his election on a New England tour in 1789.
One of the many markers along the route
Years later, there was Hamilton and the dreamy Christopher Jackson in the role of our leader which prompted a visit to Mount Vernon on our trip last year to Washington DC.
I never read Hamilton and I’ve never read Ron Chernow’s biography of Washington. I have read “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington” by Alexis Coe, published in 2020. It is a lighter biography and although she does spent a little time in the beginning bashing the men-centric biographies written about him, I appreciated the timeline, list of family, friends, enemies, likes, and dislikes, and even diseases survived. All that, the biography, and index come in at 261 pages compared to 900+ for Chernow’s version.
Since I have visited Mount Vernon and read a biography, I’m now reading “Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy“ by Nathaniel Philbrick. He’s the author of quite a few books, and one sitting on my shelf, “Mayflower”, that I might have to dig into after this.
Although I’m not far in, I like an author who gets into the story – He’s traveling the routes Washington took for four tours! The first is his Inauguration route from Mount Vernon to New York City. Second is his New England Tour, which will take him through Wallingford on his way to Boston. Visiting the states that ratified the Constitution. He was using his popularity to talk to farmers and others along the route to create a feeling of unity. The third trip was to Rhode Island after they ratified the Constitution in 1790. The last, and the longest was the Southern Tour going as far south as Savannah Georgia and back north through Augusta.
I was surprised to read that Rhode Island was a hold out but I also didn’t realize that Rhode Island was a major hub in the transatlantic salve trade during the 1700s. This was both because of numerous natural harbors conducive to trading, the shipbuilding industry, and economic incentives. Maybe I had learned this, but forgot it over time.
Back to George!
One of the stops he made on his way through Wallingford was to the Nehemiah Royce house, constructed in 1672 where George address the townspeople in front of the house in 1789.
As seen in WikipediaOne of my visits – door in the other picture is on the right
I have a feeling as I read this book, I will have more to say about George, and I know I’m not done telling you about the Royce House and its restoration. Stay Tuned!
What historical figure has been your favorite to read about? Let me know and I may add it to my list.
If I say the number on the scale is “just a number” when it goes up, why don’t I say the same when the number goes down?
Here I am again analyzing what I ate that would cause the scale to increase by .6, yes, half of a pound. It never ends.
Does it reside in my head past the weight check? Really, that’s all it is, it is a weight check.
No, I realize it doesn’t. There are so many factors that can cause it to shift. The delicious sourdough cinnamon raisin bread with butter I had after dinner last night comes to mind….
But I drink my coffee, fill my water bottle, and head out the door for my morning workout.
“The eensy weensy spider came down the water spout”.
Was it eensy because it was in the great outdoors? What about if it’s inside your house? Still eensy or does it look like a tarantula? And where does it come from??
When I got into my glass enclosed shower this morning, I saw nothing unusual. When I got out of the same shower, there was a spider on my counter! Of the 27 or so listed on Spiderid(dot)com said to be local to Connecticut, I didn’t see my guy, but I’ve seen him before.
My colleague would have gone screaming out of her bathroom, but me, I just grabbed a tissue and – I’d like to say opened the window and let him go, but I wasn’t taking the time to think – squished him like a bug and dropped it in the toilet.
This isn’t the first time a bug mysteriously appeared in the bathroom. I guess when you live in a home a year shy of 100 (or it could possibly already be), there’s probably a whole host of things living in the attic amid the insulation and air cooling system. Maybe he dropped through the cooling vent in the bathroom? Would he have taken the long arduous route through the bathroom exhaust fan, moving forward and getting blown back each time it went on?
I don’t know how he got into the room but I’m more interested in How did he go from NOT being there to BEING there? Jump? Web and pull it in behind him?
Are you squeamish about bugs like my friend? Would you have opened the window and let him be free? Would you have shrugged and let him be?
This morning I sit in the spot my father occupied most evenings during the summer as I grew up.
In his webbed chair that glided back and forth, he’d sit with his cup of tea after dinner and watch the neighborhood go by. We might sit near by on the metal couch glider reading a book.
The Porch
Was he surveying what needed to be done around the yard? Mowing the lawn was the main focus as there were no shrubs and the trees and bushes were growing “naturally”. He was not a man who enjoyed taking care of yard work and we three girls did our share of mowing the lawn (we enjoyed the exercise!). Or was he just enjoying the view, our company, and counting his blessings?
I know he would have sat here on a Sunday morning like I am as there would be a flurry of preparation for 9:15 mass. But after Sunday midday dinner, he’d be here listening to his radio with a ballgame on or country music, watching the neighborhood go by.
Friday evening and Saturday morning I was in Massachusetts for an event with Beth Moore.
Have you ever heard of her or gone to one of her events? She is a dynamic woman who conducts bible studies through Living Proof Ministries.
The first time I was introduced to her was an online Bible Study on the book of Galatians, “fruit of the spirit”. There was a lot of food for thought – pun intended!
The second time was in Atlantic City with two long time friends. The events involve a 2-1/2 hour session on Friday evening and another on Saturday morning. I can’t recall what book of the Bible was involved but I remember Peter feeling like he was sinking when Jesus called to him to walk on water – so maybe it was Matthew!
This time in Swansea Massachusetts and was the book of Luke and specifically Chapter 9 and the transfiguration. Who was there, what it meant, chapters and verses leading to it and after it.
Along with the Bible study there was the most glorious music led by Travis Cotrell and 3 other singers and musicians. I admit there were tears rolling down my face many times during the two days and my eyes still feel a little sandpaper-ish.
I attended with my college friend again and we had such a wonderful time talking and talking on the hour ride, at dinner, in our hotel, and then breaking down the two days on the ride home. We’ve been friends since our freshman year – holy moly – 46 years! We had our time apart over the years when I was living in California but we rekindled our friendship and it’s richer than before.
I have been reading verses in my bible daily along with my daily devotional and I have realized as I read that I really want to dig deeper into various books and what they mean. I will see where what I experienced this weekend leads me.
Physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, and relational. When I looked online for self-care, I found those categories.
Based on the descriptions, I was pretty surprised that I have always practiced self-care but never put the two together.
I eat heathy and work out every day. I write in my journal daily. I read my Jesus Calling devotional every day, followed by the associated bible verse. I read at bedtime and play the New York Times games (almost) daily. I have been working on my relationship with my husband to be more open and honest about things that concern me.
I was going to say that my social self-care would be where I was lacking but I realized – that’s not true! I belong to a group at the library, and attend library events at least twice a month. I meet with former neighborhood friends every month for dinner. I meet with our class reunion committee monthly, which consists of 6 other women who really like seeing each other every month because our next reunion is still 3-1/2 years away!
I could improve on all of that if I could stay off social media!
This weekend in Connecticut is the SEVENTEENTH consecutive weekend with rain on one or both days. That means, since February we have had “weather” on the weekend. We may have had beautiful weather for 5 or 6 days and then, Boom!, the one day you have off or something planned for outdoors, it can’t be done.
Rainy morning
My husband tells me it was predicted and it’s just for the morning which is good because the Travelers Golf Championship final day is happening Cromwell today. It will be hot again after the rain, so hydrate!
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 