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What I Did on My Summer Vacation

So, I figured that if I was going to write a post titled “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” I had better write it before October. So, here I am.

I don’t actually get a summer vacation anymore of course. I have three weeks of vacation a year that I very carefully plan out. But the weather in summertime lends itself to so much more activity than other months. It somehow feels more laid back, even though I am still working like a mad woman on my computer 8 hours a day. This is the season of picnics, taking a nap on a beach blanket under a tree in the backyard on a Sunday afternoon, and going for a walk at 6 in the morning and having it be light already. Summertime and the living is easy. Ish.

I thought I would recap my life over the last few months (since the beginning of May, actually) with a few lists of things I’ve done, read, and watched. So here goes:

Things I’ve Done:

  1. Several trips to Cincinnati to move Sam out of his apartment
  2. Going on weekly hikes with an old teaching buddy of mine.
  3. Morning walks with Sam and Pokey
  4. Lunchtime and after-work walks with Chris
  5. Teaching Sam how to drive on the highway (terrifying – actually I shouldn’t say that; he’s a good driver; but, yeah, terrifying)
  6. Spending an unexpected afternoon in downtown Cleveland – treating myself to a doughnut and coffee, browsing some interesting shops, taking photos
  7. Road trip to Connecticut – picnics with my mother, quality time with my sisters, the excitement of a hurricane warning, dinner in Fairfield with my college friend Lori, “glamping” with more college friends and laughing so much, a picnic lunch with Mom and my oldest friend, Beth (49 years of friendship and counting)
  8. A fabulous 58th birthday with cards galore from friends, an incredible dinner prepared by Chris, and the best gift of all – a gift card to a spa which I will use for much needed massages
  9. The continuation of our Covid-era version of Saturday date nights (making our own decadent food and watching something fun on TV)

Books I’ve Read:

  1. Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
  2. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
  3. Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
  4. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
  5. Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman
  6. The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
  7. My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
  8. The Age of Misadventure by Judy Leigh
  9. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  10. Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair
  11. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O by Neal Stephenson
  12. Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland
  13. The entire “Rivers of London” series by Ben Aaronovitch

Shows We’ve Enjoyed

  1. Ted Lasso
  2. What We Do in the Shadows
  3. Killing Eve (we’ve just started this one)
  4. Death in Paradise (we love a nice, gentle murder mystery)
  5. Ghosts
  6. The Cafe
  7. Trying
  8. Vera (new season!)
  9. Only Murders in the Building

As I’ve said in past posts, Autumn is my favorite season, but Summer is a close second. Even though I’ve had my struggles with feeling “meh” this summer, it’s really been a wonderful time and I’m so grateful for everything I am able to experience and accomplish. Yesterday being September 11th was enough to put me in a reflective mood, but Chris and I also attended a memorial service yesterday afternoon for an amazing woman who left this earth way too soon, and who battled ALS courageously for years. The clock is ticking, friends. Let’s get busy.

Love,

Michelle xoxo

Posted on : By : Michelle Posted in : Uncategorized

Hummingbirds

Sorry for the rather uninspired title of this post!

Here I am nearly a month after my last post. I would like to say that I’ll be posting more frequently. I really would. I do have several photos I took on a recent trip, so I can do a sort of “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” post next. I also have several ideas percolating in my brain for future posts (and some pretty gnarly photos of mushrooms I’ve taken lately – you know how I love mushrooms). So yes, I will post again soon!

This post, however, is dedicated to “my” hummingbirds. Photos from my feeder here in Ohio and from outside my sister’s window in Connecticut.

You may know that only the adult male Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have a red throat patch. The juvenile males’ throat feathers don’t turn red until after their first winter. The adult and juvenile females tend to have either plain white feathers on their throats or some light gray streaking, and the juvenile males have heavier streaking. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether the above are adult females or juveniles (I tend to think most of them are juvenile males). Also, the adult male’s throat patch can look black if the feathers don’t catch the sun. In most of my photos of adult male hummingbirds, they look kind of like dark blobs. Next year it will be my goal to get some better photos of adult males!

It will have to be next year, because I think our hummingbirds have begun their migration south. I haven’t seen any birds at the feeder for the last two days or so. There may be stragglers, but I’m sure most of them have gone.

Sigh.

Safe travels, little ones. We’ll miss you.

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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That Back-to-School Feeling

I was outside dead-heading the daisies today. They were so glorious for pretty much all of July, but with August has come the inevitable decline. It doesn’t bother me – August is one of my favorite months for the very fact that the harbingers of Autumn start to show up. That slight chill on morning walks. A few early leaves dropping from trees. Autumn is my favorite season, so I do love the anticipation August brings.

Operation Bone Strength is well underway. I’ve had my first infusion of Zometa (after a very frustrating and tear-inducing afternoon dealing with my insurance company, yikes), which I will receive every six months for the next three years. I’ve had a fitness assessment done at my new gym and have been given a resistance training routine that I will now do 3 times a week. I am counting my calcium and sodium milligrams, keeping both in optimum levels (the sodium is the hardest part for me – so many things that don’t actually taste salty contain sooooo much sodium!)

I have a new morning walk route that I have chosen because of a killer hill it contains. I walk up and down the hill repeatedly, which is good for both my cardiovascular system and my bones. Walking up and down hills, as opposed to on level ground, puts greater pressure on the skeleton because you are working against gravity as you go uphill and have added downhill physical force as you go downhill.  This added pressure stimulates the bones to get stronger. 

I love to look at the wildflowers (weeds?) as I walk. I can only identify one of them (Queen Anne’s Lace!) but I find them all fascinating. 

I have some exciting things planned for this month:  a road trip to visit my mom in Connecticut, a mini-reunion with a group of college girlfriends, a one-hour massage after I get back from my road trip, a lovely meal to celebrate my birthday (58 -yay!).

Hope you’re having a great weekend, and a shout-out to my dear friend Lisa whose birthday is today. Happy birthday, Lisa!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Becoming The Ocean

One of my favorite quotes comes from Leonard Cohen: “If you don’t become the ocean you’ll be seasick every day.” 

I’ve been working on becoming the ocean lately. Accepting what is happening in each moment. Trying to appreciate my life exactly as it is right now. 

Life is hectic with a full time job, a puppy, a child back in the nest trying very hard to leave the nest again (i.e. job hunting), and the inevitable unwelcome surprises that come into virtually every life. 

I found out a couple weeks ago that I have osteoporosis. Not entirely a surprise, as I already had osteopenia (a weakening of the bones that’s not quite severe enough to call osteoporosis yet) and I’ve been on a cancer drug for the last 6 years that is known for weakening bones. 

Still, I felt a bit let down by my medical team (why did they only casually tell me to eat a calcium-rich diet all these years? Why didn’t they get me on bone strengthening drugs to counteract the cancer drugs?) and by myself (why didn’t I advocate better for myself? Why didn’t I take the osteopenia seriously enough?). I also felt like here was one more thing that cancer had taken away from me. I felt suddenly frail. Old. Vulnerable. Depressed.

Then I decided to become the ocean:

I joined a gym, have scheduled a fitness assessment, and will be starting resistance training on the weight machines there (resistance training is good for strengthening  bones, as well as for counteracting the decrease in muscle mass that comes with advancing age).

I am incorporating more weight bearing exercise into my routine. I’ve always walked daily, but now I walk up and down hills in order to increase the load put on my bones with each step.

I have cut out caffeine and am counting milligrams of calcium and sodium in my diet. Why sodium, you ask? Our American diets are notoriously high in sodium, and sodium in the diet has been linked to osteoporosis. Some studies have questioned the link, but no studies have shown that eating twice the recommended amount of sodium per day (which is what many Americans do) is good for you in any way. So I’ll keep counting.

My medical team has sprung into action and I will now be receiving a twice yearly infusion of a bone strengthening drug called Zometa. That is, I’ll be receiving it if my medical insurance agrees it’s necessary. My first infusion will hopefully be this Friday.

I’m starting to feel more like myself these days. Taking more photos. Getting out into nature more. I’ve scheduled a weekly hike with an old teaching friend who I didn’t see all through the pandemic. I’m spending more time in the little park at the end of the street. I’m journaling more, being better about keeping in touch with friends, and being careful about what I let into my head in the way of media (I’ve deleted the only news app on my phone and am only interested in books/movies/tv that lift me up and show me the good side of humanity). 

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend, friends. I’ve missed you. 

Love,

Michelle xoxo

Posted on : By : Michelle Posted in : Uncategorized

Ordinary Days

Hello friends! I hope your summer is going well. As I write this I’m sitting next to a snoozing puppy – a sleeping puppy is a wonderful thing. I don’t really have a lot to report. My days consist of getting up at 6, walking a lap around the neighborhood with Sam and Pokey, walking another lap by myself, doing 30 minutes of yoga, shower/dress/breakfast, 8 hours in front of the computer, a couple more laps around the block with Chris, call my mom, dinner, tv show, puppy play, repeat. I also fit some reading in here and there. And hummingbird watching. On weekends there is more puppy, more reading, more hummingbird watching, no sitting in front of the computer. 

Within this pretty ordinary structure, some less-than-ordinary events:

  • A trip with Pokey to the Emergency Veterinary Hospital. We thought he had swallowed a straight (sewing) pin. Two and a half hours of waiting and three very expensive x-rays later, we learned that he did not in fact swallow a straight pin. 
  • One night as I was standing in the back yard with Pokey, waiting for him to pee, he became very alert to something. I looked up to see what that something was and saw that it was a skunk walking across the top of our yard where it bordered our neighbor’s yard. To say I moved quickly to pick Pokey up and get both of us inside would be an understatement.
  • A mother squirrel leading five baby squirrels across the telephone line that runs across the corner of our yard. Amazing that they are born with such balance. 
  • One morning as Sam and I were walking with Pokey we saw a cat-sized animal scurrying around the street and front yards about 50 yards from us, making funny warbling noises. Turned out it was a (young, I think) raccoon. We walked in the opposite direction, less quickly than I had with the skunk but with what we called in the military a “sense of urgency.”
  • I saw a pileated woodpecker fly low through our neighborhood, calling as it went. Lovely.
  • One morning on my solo walk, the heavens opened up as I was about half-way around the block. There was nothing to do but to keep walking and I was very soon soaked to the skin. Now, I’m not generally one of those perky creatures who count “walking in the rain” as one of my favorite things. I’m not a big fan of getting wet. But once I couldn’t get much more wet, I found the experience exhilarating. It brought to mind days at the beach when I was young, for in what other circumstance does a person generally find themselves soaking wet outside? 
  • A mother deer with two tiny fawns in our back yard, the fawns frolicking back and forth while the mother waited patiently. 
  • Our “wall of daisies” has started to bloom. There are easily more than a thousand buds in various stages of bursting forth with sunny goodness.

Today is Sunday and I’m feeling delightfully snoozy myself. I might just take a wee nap. Take care, friends. See you soon.

Love,

Michelle xoxo 

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The Summer of Pokey

First nap of the day, after waking at 5am
As he gets older, his ears will stick straight up. 🙂

I think if we did a DNA test on him, we’d definitely find out he’s part “Scamp”
Those eyelashes!!!

As you can see above, we have a puppy. His name is Pokey and he is a hybrid breed – chihuahua and toy fox terrier. Sam and I drove to Eastern Indiana to pick him up on Sunday and he has turned our lives upside down. Puppies are like babies, several people have said to me this week. Yes, I say, but you can put a diaper on a baby and they can’t run around for several months. Oh yes, and they’re (usually) born without teeth. 

Since January I have thought of 2021 as my “Year of Yoga.” I really enjoy my daily yoga practice. I’ve mentioned here before how satisfying it has been to notice improvements in my strength, flexibility, and balance. I also have a goal/dream of transitioning to in-person classes and going through instructor training in 2022. 

But if 2021 is my “Year of Yoga,” the summer of 2021 is definitely going to be our “Summer of Pokey.” Getting a chihuahua puppy has been a dream of Sam’s since he was about 10 years old. This summer after graduation but before his first grown-up job seemed like a perfect time to get that puppy and train him up before Sam moves on with his life. I told Sam that I would be his back-up and help out in any way I could during these first crucial months. 

Pokey could not be more adorable. He is sweet and affectionate and really smart (proud grandma here). He is also a handful, as pretty much all puppies are. I’ve had puppies before, but I was younger then and I think I had blocked out all the bad parts. So as much as I truly love this little guy, it’s good to have this reminder of what puppies are like, and I know that if I ever get a dog or cat in the future it will be of the adult variety.

Sorry I’ve been absent here lately. I’ve just been in a funk for the last month or so. I’ve been taking fewer photos too, and usually I start creating each blog post around the photos that I took over the previous few days. I really don’t want this blog to tail off into nonexistence. Since I’m not on social media, I like being able to communicate in this way with friends and family and whoever else out there in the world happens upon the blog. So please know that I’m not giving up on the blog and I do want it to continue but I’m struggling a bit at the moment with finding the type of energy needed to write these posts.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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They’re Back!

Hello friends – I’m thrilled to report that we’ve seen our first hummingbirds this week! It’s amazing to think that these little birds are here after traveling all the way from Mexico or Central America or somewhere else equally incredibly far away. I’m so happy to have them back for another season, although it’s been so cold and rainy this week I feel like a terrible host! Today it actually snowed for a period of about an hour and a half.

In other wildlife news, it’s been confirmed that we have a whole fox family living in the neighborhood. Chris and I saw the kits (baby foxes) cavorting like a litter of puppies when we were out walking the other day. The den appears to be at the far end of a neighbor’s yard a couple of houses down, in a group of bushes along the property line. We heard the eerie sounds (a bit like 0:08 to 0:49 in this clip) they make the other day at about 4am. Unsettling, to say the least!

Today is Mother’s Day, and I hope you are having a pleasant day. I know that this is a difficult day for some people, for many different reasons. I’ve had a relaxing day, even napping for about two hours, and have spoken to Sam a couple of times. I made myself a special breakfast of French toast with lots of butter and real maple syrup. It was fabulous. Last week was surprisingly difficult for me. I told a friend that with Sam now graduated from college, I’ve had to trade all the worries I had for him during his school years for a whole new set of worries. Now I wish I had all those old worries back! Which makes me laugh at myself – we humans really are ridiculous sometimes (sometimes?).

Have a great week, lovelies!

Michelle xoxo

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Big Weekend

Hello, friends. I am knackered. I just arrived back home after spending the weekend in Cincinnati. Sam graduated on Friday evening. The weather was perfect and the ceremony was perfect (one hour long – which I think is a world record for the shortest graduation ceremony ever). I stayed on to have a fun weekend with Sam – shopping thrift stores, hiking in a gorgeous park (Mt. Airy Forest – I highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in Cincinnati and want a somewhat challenging hike), watching a movie (Spy Kids – a childhood favorite of Sam’s), and eating lots of cake, ice cream, and other goodies. I am so happy for him, so amazed at how fast that four years went by, and so tired (in a good way). I’m also feeling all the parental feels that come with watching your child finish one chapter and begin a new one.

Have a great week!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Just As I Promised…

Hello Friends,

I promised you last weekend that I would be here this weekend, and here I am! Not sure what I’m about to write, but here goes…

The last several days have been full. We are in one of our quarterly busy times at work, and the load I have been given is pretty enormous. I thought I would have to put in some significant overtime (which I wasn’t really looking forward to but there are some pieces of clothing I could purchase guilt-free if I had a little overtime cash in the bank…) but it looks like that won’t be necessary. One of my teammates has stepped up to help me out – she has a full docket herself so isn’t able to do any super heavy lifting for me, but the amount that she has been able to offer has made a serious quality-of-life difference for me during this time, and I am eternally grateful to her.

In other work-related news, I was given the official word that my company wants me to continue to work from home until the end of September. They have actually asked me to temporarily move all of my things out of my cubicle until October because they have been in the enviable position of experiencing great growth during the pandemic and have hired so many new people that they will be expanding into additional office space in our building (which won’t be ready until October). I have mixed feelings about extending my work-from-home status, especially now that I am fully vaccinated. I have some dear colleagues that I miss so much. Still, I’m going to look at this time as a gift and appreciate all that it has to offer.

We had about 3-4 inches of snow last week. It was pretty crazy to wake up and see all that snow piled up on the hummingbird feeder – I’ll bet some of those early travelers are regretting their haste to move north – but I quickly knocked all the snow off just in case. The snow was gone by bedtime (replaced by another dusting the next day), but I still have no hummingbird sightings of my own to report. Soon (I keep telling myself)!

As you can see from my photos above, we have had some fox sightings lately. The little guy/gal cuts through our back yard regularly, sometimes carrying a small furry or feathered meal in his/her mouth. One of the “meals” looked very much like a baby rabbit, and I had to hum “The Circle of Life” to myself in order to stem the tears. 😉

I’m writing this missive from the couch of Sam’s apartment in Cincinnati. I drove down here yesterday in order to drive him to his second Covid shot, and I’ve stayed the night in order to do some serious mama-level-comforting in case he feels like crap today. The jury is still out on that, as he is still asleep. I might have to wake him up soon, because I’ve already cleaned his kitchen, taken out the trash, and tidied up his living room, haha. I do have to say that he keeps a very tidy apartment, which is amazing since he inherited slob genes from both myself and his dad. There must be a recessive trait at work here.

Well, gang, I think that’s all for now. You take care, and I’ll see you next weekend.

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Catch Up

Yikes! It’s been four weeks since I’ve last written here. At the beginning of the year I promised myself I would write in my blog at least once a week – it was part of my one word theme for 2021 – “Tend.” The idea was to tend to all of the things that are important to me – family, friends, my health, my photography, my writing.  Aye-yi-yi. I’ll spare you any excuses and just say I’m brushing myself off and getting right back on the wagon.

Although I’ve been absent from my blog, it’s been a fruitful four weeks for me . I’ve done a lot of reading – some favorites have been The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner (gentle and lovely) and the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (magical cops and river gods – super fun). 

I’ve been faithful to my yoga. I’m up every morning practicing with Adriene, of “Yoga with Adriene” fame (here’s her YouTube channel). I’m definitely noticing a difference in my strength, balance, and general physical confidence after practicing daily for three and a half months now. In recent years I’ve found myself getting more tentative physically, and I don’t like it. Last summer Sam and I walked on a massive rock wall along the seashore, and I hated the feeling of fragility I experienced as I picked my way along the wall. “Don’t fall and break your hip, for goodness sake,” some new inner voice warned. Ugh. Yoga is giving me the physical tools to be able to reply to that voice, “Yes, I’ll be careful – but I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”

Spring is most definitely here (although we continue to have some chilly days – this morning was 32 degrees as I worked in the garden). I haven’t gotten down to my park at the end of the street basically since my last blog post, but I’ve been out walking the neighborhood with Chris a couple of times a day, and I’ve of course been observing the birds in our back yard every day. Robins are everywhere, bob-bob-bobbing-along, and I’ve noticed several nesting pairs of various bird species gathering nesting materials.  

Soon it will be hummingbird time! I’ve been following the spring migration through this website, which collects hummingbird sightings from ordinary hummingbird-lovers like me. I put the feeder out last week, as there have been a few ruby-throated hummingbird sightings in Ohio since early April. So far I haven’t had any visitors that I’ve noticed, but it’s only a matter of time.

I’ve got a spring/summer project of revitalizing the flower beds around our house. I am not a natural gardener – I tend to start strong and then totally lose interest around early June, letting the weeds take over. Part of the problem is that I’m not a big fan of being out in the sun these days, but I’m starting a routine of going out either first thing in the morning on the weekends or in early evening right before dusk during the week. I took some “before” pictures, and I will let you know how it’s going a couple of times this summer. That should give me some motivation to keep it up!

I got my second Covid shot last Wednesday! The day after my shot I had a bit of a fever (up to 101) and a constant headache. I have a very low threshold for headache pain and so I spent the day in bed alternating between sleeping and taking in fluids. By Friday morning, I was back to normal. I am so grateful for the scientists who developed my vaccine (and for Dolly Parton for helping to fund its development!) and am looking forward to a life slightly more normal this summer. 

Sam graduates from University in two weeks. He can’t wait, of course, and I am blown away (not for the first or hundredth time these days) by how quickly time goes by when you reach a certain point in life. I am so proud of his hard work, especially during his senior year when he has been so isolated due to Covid. In order for him to have some human contact, I encouraged him to get a part-time job, and he has been getting up at 4am three days a week and walking 20 minutes to start his 5-10am shift prepping food at a restaurant. Sometimes when I wake up at 6:30 bleary-eyed and wanting more snooze-time I think to myself, “Sam’s already been working for an hour and a half!” That gets me going. 

As I write this I am sitting in what I like to refer to as “my cozy spot” – it’s a Chesterfield love seat in our front room, loaded up with soft pillows and a snuggly blanket.  It’s my favorite place to hang out – I like to sit here typing and watching people pass by with their dogs and/or babies in strollers (and there is one woman who walks her dog IN a stroller), neighbors working in their yards, and cars zooming (too fast) down the street, most likely on the way to little league practice in the park at the end of the street or some other emergency. Usually Sunday afternoons hold the dreaded “Sunday Anxieties” for me, but I’m feeling pretty chill right now. 

I hope you have a wonderful week, and I’ll see you here next weekend (I promise!)

Love,

Michelle xoxo