I AM

Who can tell me the name of this hawk? It was in a tree in front of my son’s house.

 

Hello there! Hope all is well with you. We have had Winter visit us since I last posted. Lots of fluffy snow.
After the first snow of the season we received about 10 inches more white fluffy snow and lost power for about 6 hours. Believe me when I say we were so happy we had our whole house generator instead of the ancient noisy smelly gas generator on the kitchen patio. 

Poor Roger was left on his own plowing, shoveling for the dogs, and to the bird feeders. I stayed inside and  felt guilty until I heard voices and laughing and the neighbors kids were shoveling like crazy, 4 teen boys. Roger was visiting with their dads. ☃️ Truth be told I was very happy that they stopped by to see if he needed help. Roger has an Army injury to his back and has had cancer twice. He is also 75 years old so has earned his stripes.

Today is Sunday. A beautiful sunny morning here BUT the temperature is 28 degrees. I am not venturing out to go to church with Roger. I have a lot of arthritis in this body of mine that immediately reacts to cold. I sit with my heating pad on my back in my comfy chair most of the winter. Every year it gets worse and creeps into a few more joints. I do occasionally get sick of being in and venture out.

 I always over estimate my body but not my mind, haha. Lately I feel a loss of mental agility and energy aka losing it. But that’s a story for another post. This story is about the flesh being weak. The last time I went to church the temperature was very mild, close to 50 degrees. The previous Friday I had visited my orthopedic. He gave me two injections in my knee. One for the arthritis and one for the bursitis. I was moving without pain and loving it. Now, many moons ago I was a member of a large walking club in Allentown where I lived. We walked for miles hiking different terrains including parts of the Appalachian Trail. Anyway, I told my husband I wouldn’t be going to lunch with him and the gang from church. I was going to start my walking program I had been going to do forever.

So, I went to a walking trail that is not far from the church, is flat, goes by the River and seemingly without end. I decided that a mile would do it for the first time. I have an Apple Watch that does everything you could ever wish for so I set it to measure steps and time. I took it slow at first but the walkers on the trail were all passing me so I decided to see if I could had it in me to really walk walk. If you can believe it I did a very foolish thing. I POWER WALKED FOR A MILE. I was really in my stride and so proud! I would have gone further but my knee was acting up not to mention my hip. I turned around to go back to the car. I was huffing and puffing and wishing I had brought a cane and some water. By some miracle I made it. To make a long agonizing story shorter I was in horrible pain in all parts of my body for for about 10 days. It truly was unbelievable that a one mile walk could cause so much agony to my poor out of shape body. 

I’m sure those of you in much better shape than I would say I should never have allowed myself to get to this point, out of shape and overweight. And you are so right but, alas, I am. Moving on.

Tell me dear ones…what are you doing with your time these days? Besides walking that is.☺️ Have you read any good good books or listened to any lately? I love mysteries but I also like autobiographies, biographies and historical fiction. Let’s just say I can read almost anything and enjoy it. British mystery writers are a big favorite. However, now that I knit and watch knitting podcasts on YouTube from all over the world I am trying to read books, written in English, from those countries as well. It’s a bit of a challenge finding them though.

I have gift cards from Barnes and Noble. I recently found them in my handbag. We have a lovely little shopping center about 2 miles away that has a B&N. So, as soon as the temps rise I may do something I forgot I love to do…browse.

I am reading a mysteries series by Paul Doiron. And, THE CURIOUS KIDNAPPING OF NORA GREEN. On YouTube I am following 2 nomad Iranian families (DARAL and DARAL LADY). I follow about 2 dozen knitting podcasts and I am listening to lots of older music I love going back many years to my teens! The BEEGEES (especially Robin Gibb)are one my all time favorites groups.  I also love John Lennon’s music. IMAGINE is so beautiful. Roger is into vinyl. He searches the thrift shops and has a large collection. Lately we’ve been listening to Hungarian waltzes. Don’t laugh…we are older than you are. Do you remember hating your parent's music? Well, we are there now.

So, there you have it for now.

Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.

Susan💕

*AFTERTHOUGHTS *

I love this photo!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK

Keeping a cheerful spirit and a grateful heart!

LAST YEAR’S GOALS:

1. Stop drinking so much CHAI TEA

2. Do more cooking and less ordering in and eating out

3. DUST

4. WALK more

5. Be aware of insulin sugar in diet

😢

WHAT DO I MOST MISS:

The ocean. The rhythm of the waves. The splash and drag of the tide as the waves make their way to shore.