Posted in 2025, Dreams, life

Interpreting Last Night’s Dream

Actually, it was a dream from early morning after I woke up at normal weekday time but fell back to sleep. That is when I usually have the strangest dreams!

While we sleep…

Here’s what happened:

I’m somewhere with a group of people and there is another group of people (women) in another room. A young girl, Beth, is going to be performing(?) and I’m not sure how I feel about her. I don’t know how old I am in the dream.

I leave the table and when I come back, there is something, like a small poster, rolled up and secured with tape with Beth’s name on it. But not the shiny scotch tape, the matte kind that I think is for presents? Anyway, of course I have to open it! Inside there is a motor vehicle violations ticket and I think, “haha what did she get herself into?”, only to realize it’s a joke ticket designed to surprise her from the people she is with in the other room. They couldn’t have it delivered to the table she’s at, so put it on my table.

I roll the ticket back into the poster but now have no way to secure it because the tape won’t re-stick! Oh no! I leave with the poster in hand to find some tape, none….can I find an elastic band? I find one – it breaks. What about ribbon? I think I have ribbon somewhere. I find it but I can’t tie it without someone to hold it and no one is there. What do I do?!

I roll it super small. It’s all grubby and the edges mangled. I bring it to the table, only to realize everyone has left and her party is going to wonder what happened to it!

I run out to give it to her telling her I found it and yes, this is what it looked like when I found it!

Then I woke up….

My initial thoughts are feelings of jealousy and my “curiosity killed the cat” curiosity. Feelings of being left out, and lying to avoid confrontation.

Could it have anything to do with the fact I succumbed to yes, curiosity and read some Facebook posts and comments that irritated me!

Any thoughts?

Posted in 2025, Gardening, life

Sunday Morning Walkabout

Oh this weather!

The angle of the sun coming up over the trees and the subtle changes in the leaves just screams, “Fall is coming!” I don’t hate it. As a lover of sweater weather and “the chill behind the heat”, I’m here for it.

This morning I did a little walk around the yard and I noticed how one side of the steps is getting a little more Sun Love than the other side and it’s popping. One rose bush is budding all over the place and this little purple plant is blooming still while its other side of the steps counterpart is brown and sad.

This plant is part of the honeysuckle family (caprifoliaceae) of flowering plants. There are four “clades” (group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor – hey! Like genealogy) above the family name. The Genus is Scabiosa but the common name for members in the genus is Pincushion Flowers. (Wikipedia).

Thinking about honeysuckles, we had a tree in our yard and would pluck the flowers, pull the center out (like the little pincushion piece), and taste the (supposed) honey at the end. Was it really? I have no idea, I’m sure our dad told us it was!

Take a close look at the blooming and post bloom and you see the little “needles” sticking out.

“Scabiosa” makes you think of scabs right? How about Scabies? That’s because the herb’s traditional usage as a folk medicine was to treat scabies, an illness that causes a severe itching sensation. (Wikipedia)

In my need to limit my social media footprint (facebook and instagram), I’ve stopped taking daily morning pictures of my short walk from the house to our garage workout room but weekends give me time to really enjoy my yard.

Okra

In the vegetable garden, the okra Just Keeps Producing! My husband slices it length wise, mixes it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasts it to a golden crunch.

I’m looking for at least 2 more months of backyard wandering.

Posted in 2025, life

As Summer Comes To An End…

Early morning 9/10/2025

I walk out my back door almost every morning at about 6:15 to work out. I have taken so many pictures of these mornings. Why? I don’t know! I feel like I have to capture what I see to make it real. To remind me of what I’ve seen.

As I stood and looked around this morning, I wondered “did I enjoy this summer? Did I dig in? Or did I just go through the motions?”

I felt very confident that yes, I did embrace this summer. It was hotter than Heck, but I sat outside under the cover you see in the picture or on the covered side porch where there is always a nice breeze.

My reading spot

I would head out there after dinner and my husband would soon follow. We’d sit outside there for 2 hours, me reading and him watching you-tube videos.

I rode my bike a few times, less than I hoped, with my husband and friends but that is something there is still time for before the winter sets in.

We didn’t spend much time on our boat and that will be a conversation during the winter. Give it one more year? Give it up? The few times I was on it, I enjoyed it! Sometimes it’s the getting there…

And of course, there was our cruise to Alaska! That took up 10 days of the summer. The travel to and from felt like it took 10 days itself, but it was worth it.

For me, it’s not about being busy, or going to a lot of events. In the summer, it’s about being outside!

I’d been feeling down for the last couple of weeks, but the other day something shifted (full moon?), and now I just feel GRATEFUL and THANKFUL.

Posted in 2025, Healthy Living, life

Digging In

If you are a reader here, you’ll see I can be “in my head” a lot.

I am reading a book entitled, “High Functioning” overcome your hidden depression and reclaim your joy by Dr. Judith Joseph.

I have told myself that I don’t fall into the perfectionist category and a lot of what she says about overworking was something I did in the past, but not now. However, by beating myself up mentally, I think I should be perfect, or strive to be perfect. Both in my work and my “being”.

She says it relates back to “trauma” most times childhood based, but not always. There can be trauma with a capital T or it can be lower case t.

What I’m more concerned about is that feeling of “blah”. Anhedonia – the reduced ability to experience joy in life which makes you feel meh or blah all the time. For me, I t’s a feeling of doing to get through the day and then the night. When did that start?

I have begun to explore how all this figures in my life. I can see why I am never (never ever) happy with my weight or shape.

I’m beginning to understand some thoughts and reactions in my marriage.

As my business coach says, “what gets measured, gets improved”.

I’m looking forward to digging in deeper.

Posted in 2025, Gardening, hobbies, life

Yard Work

I’ve talked about my yard before and the history of my home.

Over the last six months, my husband has been adding landscaping to all sides of the house. My father, not having grown up in a family without a home of their own said, “why do I want to plant something when I’ll have to take care of it”. Anything that grew wild, stayed wild and any spot with nothing, stayed that way.

We had discussed landscaping in the front of the house but I grew up with a father who didn’t plant anything remember? It all feels so permanent and “what if it looks bad, doesn’t grow, etc.”, is my school of thought.

Thankfully, my husband ignored me! We now have a variety of plants along the house including, azaleas, Joe-Pye Weed (fun name!) and Little Pye, Goldenrod, and Panicle Hydrangea. Most were purchased at our local nurseries and a few at Lowe’s.

My project this Labor Day weekend is to take pictures of, and lay out on paper, the plants and their locations. I (don’t think my husband cares) want to know what they are and what the colors are going to be. Some that have already bloomed, I forgot what they looked like!

I’m not going to go for perfection, just a sense of what we have!

I’m hoping that cooler and moister weather will green things up again!

Posted in 2025, life

9:37 AM

If you were to look at your clock on this Saturday morning and it said 9:37 am, would your brain say, “ONLY 9:37 am yay!” Or “OMG already 9:37 am!” ?

I am in the camp of “OMG Already?!”, but I literally have nothing planned for the day, nothing to do except work out (heading there now), hit the Farmers Market (open til 1 or 2pm), read, and do some ancestry research.

I make myself crazy.

Posted in 2025, thoughts

Struggling

Do you ever have days that you just struggle to get through it? To get work done? This is me. I am there.

What is the cause? Is it all the news that just seems to get worse every day? I don’t watch news but I do subscribe to a couple of sites for daily updates. They don’t overwhelm me and anyway, I can’t put my head in the sand and say, “oh well, so sad but it’s not about me.”

When are the congresspeople who are equally angry going to speak up? Step up? Band together? Anyone?

Posted in 2025, biking, Healthy Living

Today’s Ride – Getting Stronger!

Loaded and ready to go!

We packed up the bikes today and met our friends for a ride that started out on the Airline Trail. The fifty mile trail is an old railroad that used to travel from New York to Boston. We start out in Portland CT which is on the east side of the Connecticut River. One section of the railroad still exists and was taken over by Tilcon Tomasso (or what we used to call Trap Rock) and travels from there operations in Middlefield down to the harbor in New Haven, or so I’m told!

So, we headed out and although we start on the trail, it’s not too far before we take a left and start UP THE HILL. We’re on the road for a while and then head into I think some state forest which involves gravel roads and washouts, but thankfully no massive puddles of mud! I wish I could take pictures as I ride but honestly sometimes I’m just praying to get me down the steep gravel hills in one piece!

Today’s route ! Not sure what the colors mean!

It was a beautiful day – not too hot, not too cool and we stop for breaks along the way. My husband and our friends are very patient with me because I’m always bringing up the rear – especially on downhills!

The ride results

I couldn’t record this as a Peloton outdoor cycle ride because I’m at 499 rides and I want to do a live ride so I get a “shout out” by the instructor! Silly, but, whatever. I’ll do a live ride on Tuesday afternoon for that!

After burning all those calories we were starved! So what better way to fill our bellies?

I’m hoping I’ll be able to ride more often in the next few months. I’ll have to work on that!

Posted in 2025, life, thoughts

What I DIDN’T Do

I walked into the bank today and waited for a teller to call me over. There was one other customer there.

I handed my teller the deposits and walked to the counter to grab a lollipop. As I turned back, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I recognized the woman. When I heard her voice, I knew who it was. Someone from high school. Someone who was on the cheerleading squad with me. Someone who I’d call an acquaintance, or someone that I used to know.

Hmmm….do I just kept my head turned and sneak out after my transactions are done? Or do I find my friendly face and say hello? What to do what to do!

I turned toward her and said, “I’d know that laugh anywhere!”. We shared a hug, had a small conversation, I collected my receipts, and left with a breezy, “It was nice to see you!”.

It would have been so easy to just ignore her, and go on my way. I feel a smidge better that I didn’t.

Posted in 2025, Healthy Living, life

Fall Is Around The Corner

It never fails. We have days and weeks with 100 degree heat and suddenly we wake up one morning and it’s cool and breezy!

Today is that day. But I confess, it feels beautiful, albeit a little chilly as I’m in a tank top and shorts here on the porch.

I actually wore something other than a summer dress for work and took a nice 20 minute walk around our complex. I think it’s 5 times around for 1 mile but I forget to count…

On my way home from work, I stopped at the library to pick up the DVD Troy (it’s only for rent on Amazon), and stopped at the bank and post office. I really had a spring in my step!

I think the hot weather has finally broken and we’ll see some cooler weather moving forward. Central Air is still on for bedtime though!