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February’s End

One of the things on my 23 for 2023 list was “Meatless February” which I am close to completing successfully. During this month I have had eggs and dairy (I don’t drink cow’s milk because I lost my taste for it some time ago, but I do eat cheese and yogurt) but no animal flesh of any kind. 

I’ve flirted with vegetarianism and veganism several times over the last few years, but I never went an entire month without meat. This month I went to the library several times to check out vegetarian cookbooks and spent hours on Pinterest and other websites researching recipes. My goal was to find food that I absolutely loved – not to gag down endless salads and lentil casseroles. 

I’ve enjoyed this month so much! I don’t eat soy products, so I couldn’t use tofu as a source of protein, but thankfully I absolutely love beans (not a huge lentil fan, though). Cold salads don’t really appeal to me when the weather is cold, but I found several warm salads that were fabulous. I feel great and I’m excited to continue eating this way for the foreseeable future. Chris and I both love roasted vegetables of all kinds, and we’ve discussed how most of the recipes I’ve made can simply have a piece of salmon or chicken added if he wants that. Will I ever have bacon, a beef burger, steak, or chicken again? Probably. Or maybe. Who knows? But right now I love eating this way, so I’ll continue and see how it goes.

As you can see from the photos, I’ve been out birding several times since my last blog post — both weekend days and some evenings after work. I’ve discovered wildlife photography FOMO is a thing – “The herons have started building their nests! I need to get over there TODAY!” And I love having something I look forward to every single day. 

Going out onto the trails, or even sitting in my own kitchen with my camera watching for birds in my back yard, is so meditative for me. When I’m on the trails, I move slowly, constantly scanning, stopping often. This is not a work out. I do my workout walking five mornings a week – on the weekends I might walk a total of 5 or more miles each day, but they are slow miles. I’ve read before about something called a state of “flow” – when you are so immersed in an activity that you don’t even notice time passing. When I’m out looking for birds I’m definitely in a state of flow. 

I won’t be putting up a new blog post for about three weeks. I’m going to be busy with something that I will tell you all about when I return to this space! 

Love, 

Michelle xoxo

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Baking (and Birds)

I’m doing really well on my “23 for 2023” list. Number five on the list was “Baking Lesson with Howard and Beth”, which was a bit cryptic, I know. So now I’ll tell you all about it because it happened today!

My friend Beth introduced me to The Great British Baking Show (or The Great British Bake-Off, as it’s known in the UK). I’m generally not one for reality or competition shows, but Beth’s enthusiasm for the series (“Everyone is so nice!”) won me over, and I’ve watched a few of the seasons over the last year. I absolutely love it.  I was quite happy that I was able to return the favor and introduce Beth to a podcast related to the show, called “The Bake Down,” in which former contestants discuss each episode. The podcast is run by a company called “Bake with a Legend”, which runs online and in-person baking classes with former contestants on the show. 

Around Christmas time, Beth said, “I’d really love to take one of those classes.” “Let’s do it!” I replied. 🙂

And so we did! Howard Middleton was our instructor. He was in season 2 (or 4 if you are in the US). We were provided with the recipe and a list of required/suggested kitchen tools for the class several weeks in advance. It was a Zoom class, with about 25 participants from all over the US and the UK. 

I was so nervous before it started! I don’t know why – I guess because it was a completely new experience and I didn’t quite know what to expect. It turns out it was a total joy from start to finish. Howard was so lovely and Sarah, the facilitator, kept things going smoothly. I highly recommend taking one of their classes (link to their website here). 

Yesterday I went in search of the elusive (to me) Eastern screech-owl. I had heard that there was at least one on a certain trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, but information was sketchy as to where exactly it might be found. I walked a couple of miles down the (very muddy) path scanning every tree for a possible owl tenant with no luck. I turned back and got nearly to the parking lot when I was distracted by a tree just full of small birds I don’t ever remember seeing before (it turns out they were cedar waxwings). Instead of going straight to my car after those birds flew away, for some reason I climbed to the top of a small hill and, lo and behold, there was a screech owl sunning itself in a hollow of a tree. Four miles of searching and the owl was literally living next to the parking lot!

Screech owls are quite small, about 6-10 inches tall. They are adorable and I am completely smitten.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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The Next Level

One of my 23 for 2023 goals was to get a new zoom-ier lens for my camera. I did a good amount of research before buying this lens – I wanted something that would give me further reach than the zoom lens that came with my camera; I wanted a high quality lens, but I did not want to spend more than $1,000. My price range filtered out major brand names like Canon, but there are some very good third party lens manufacturers out there, and I chose Sigma for their excellent reviews. 

This weekend was the first chance I had to take it out into the field, and I am so happy with my purchase. I visited three different areas in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park – the Bath Road Heronry, the Beaver Marsh, and Station Road Bridge. The great blue herons are due back very soon, with the males beginning to prepare the nests sometime in mid-February. I didn’t see much action there, but one pair did circle around a while, and a single heron landed in one of the trees and hung out for a while. Beaver Marsh is a place I have also seen great blue herons in the past, but this time I only saw Canada geese and mallard ducks. 

I have visited the Station Road Bridge trail several times since mid-January and while I had seen the eagles’ nest, I didn’t see any eagles. I was thrilled to see a nesting pair both yesterday and today. They apparently have some eggs, because they appear to be taking turns sitting on the nest (the nest is very large and very deep so you can’t actually see an eagle when they are sitting on the nest, only when they pop their head up or leave the nest). The nest is across the Cuyahoga River from the best viewing area, which I am happy about because it means that I could take my photos and not bother the birds. 

I’m finding that wildlife photography is mainly just waiting around for something to show up, and I did have to wait several hours both days to get the photos I’m sharing here. What was really lovely is the fact that I met some other birders/photographers while we waited and heard some of their stories/tips.  I still have an enormous learning curve, but I’m so excited to go to the next level with my photos – I hope you enjoy them!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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Feeling Amazing

This is just to remind you that some days you feel simply amazing (a cup of coffee doesn’t hurt!)

You feel optimistic, you know everything will work out ok for everyone

You know that life is short and whatever troubles are encountered — this life will be over in a blink of an eye and it just does not matter

So when you are feeling awful and depressed and like everything is bad and the weight of the world is on your shoulders

Remember, it’s just a feeling. 

It will pass.

You don’t always feel this way.

The world does not always look this way to you.

Sometimes you feel amazing.

And that feeling will pass too.

But that’s OK. 

It’ll be back soon.

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January 22

Hello, friends. I thought that, as the year goes by, I would share with you what I’ve checked off of my “23 for 2023” list so far. One of the things on my list is to review the list on the 23rd of each month. As today is the 22nd and I will be unlikely to write a blog post on a weekday, I am checking in now.

I have bought a pair of high quality walking/hiking shoes. One of the things I was looking for in a shoe was a wide, natural-shaped toe box, as I have trouble with bunions and want to be nicer to my feet now than I was in my younger years. I bought these shoes by Topo, a company known for making hiking and trail running shoes that have a natural shape to them. I got a blister the first time I wore them for a one-hour walk, which cooled my ardor, but I think I just have to be patient and break them in.

I went to Hallmark last weekend and bought my Valentine’s Day cards, so I’m planning to write those out and mail them at the beginning of February.

January Joy Box I told you about in my last post – I’m enjoying it so much and plan to put in an order for some more perfume samples when January is over. 

I’ve planned when my first visit to see my mother will be – for her 92nd birthday in April! I’m really looking forward to that. Just have to buy my tickets. 

I went to the trailhead where the eagle’s nest is again (just to clarify, the nest is across the river from the trail, so no eagles will be disturbed in this quest). No eagles yet, but I did see a red-shouldered hawk and a lovely duck couple. 

Oh! And I’ve already read 4 novels since January first! A dear friend recommended the book “Other Birds” by Sarah Addison Allen. There was a waiting list for that particular book at the library, so I checked out a couple of the author’s other books while I waited (“Garden Spells” and “First Frost”). After finishing these and Other Birds I read “The Girl Who Chased the Moon.” Lovely. All of this author’s books I’ve read so far are in a genre called magical realism. I will be sad when I’ve read everything she’s written so far, but she’s young so there’s a lot to look forward to.

Tomorrow begins a busy-season-within-a-busy-season for me at work. It will be five weeks long. I’m hoping to not have to do any overtime this time, but that is probably unlikely. We’ll see!

Have a great week!

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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January Joy Box

I love a good Advent calendar – even if the chocolates are dodgy, even if there are no chocolates, opening that little door each day is such a perfect, simple pleasure. For Advent 2022 a friend gave Chris and me a coffee advent calendar, with a different K-Cup coffee each day. Two years ago I got Sam a Moomin advent calendar – each door revealing a tiny, plastic Moomin figure. That year we decorated our Yule Log cake with meringue mushrooms and Moomins. 

The January Joy Box is like an Advent calendar — but a perfume advent calendar meant to be opened in January. When you think about it, it’s a brilliant idea; January can be such a dismal month. The only good thing I can say about January is that it is on the right side of Winter Solstice – I have actually printed out a list of sunrise/sunset times so that I can see how far we’ve come since the solstice. 

If you read my post about my “23 for 2023” list, you saw both  “Find a signature scent” and “January Joy Box.” They are related endeavors. In addition to 2023 being a year of Focus, Order, Serenity, and Joy, it will be my “Year of Scent.” I will read about scent/perfume, try many different scents, and learn as much as I can about perfume, perfume ingredients, and the history of perfume. January Joy Box sort of jump starts this entire project. 

January Joy Box is the invention of independent perfumer Sarah McCartney. Sarah has had one of those circuitous life paths that seems random until it reaches a point where all of the experiences and skills learned coalesce into an “of course she ended up here” destination – perfumer and founder of the independent perfume company, 4160 Tuesdays (website here).  A maths and science major in university, head writer for 14 years at Lush – a company whose marketing was so creative, playful, and unique at the time it burst upon the scene that it spawned many imitators. Sarah embodies the word “creative” – it just seems to be how she lives her life, from the moment her feet hit the bedroom floor each morning. I so admire true creatives like that. 

Anyway – January Joy Box. There are fifteen little tester bottles, each one labeled and wrapped in colorful tissue. Every two days in January you pick the scent for that day and fully experience it for 48 hours before moving on to the next one (and if you are like me, making notes so that you remember which ones you loved most and why). Everything about the January Joy Box truly brings me joy – the colorful wrappers, the scents themselves (even when I decide one isn’t “me”), and the names. Oh my goodness, the names: Evil Max, Be Careful What You Wish For, Fruits of the Tree of Knowledge, Burnt Cedar Rainbow Doves, Clouds Illusion – I know that cheeky product names have been a “thing” for several years, but somehow Sarah elevates even that to a more creative level. 

There is a catch (for me) – in order to fully jump into the experience you really need to participate in the 4160 Tuesdays News Group on Facebook. That’s where people discuss that day’s fragrance. As you know, dear Reader, I quit all social media in 2019. Dipped my toes gingerly back into Instagram in early September 2022 and three months later dumped it again. I was not eager to enter the kingdom of Zuckerberg again. But I wanted to be a part of this group, so I created a pretty anonymous account on FB and will delete it on the first day of February. The 4160 Tuesdays group fascinates me – I love to read all of the discussions about the different scents – it’s like being in a room full of wine experts describing different vintages, using a language I sort of understand but sort of don’t. I still couldn’t identify a “mossy” note all on its own versus an “amber” note. I assume that comes from lots of experience and experimentation with different scents, so that eventually I will be able to conjure up an impression of an “amber” scent as easily as I can conjure up a feeling for citrus, or vanilla. I’m a life-long learner. If I could get paid to go to school every day for the rest of my life, I would jump at the chance – so I am enjoying this January journey and these teachers so much. I am soaking up as much as I can, because on February first I will be deleting my account. 🙂

The January Joy Box is the beginning of my “year of scent” and my search for a scent which fills me with joy and which I will want to wear always. I recently read in someone’s review of a perfume that it surrounded them in “a bubble of delight.” Sign me up for traveling through the rest of my life in a bubble of delight. 

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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23 for 2023

Today I went for a walk in a part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that is known for eagle sightings. One of my 23 for 2023 goals is to see an eagle and photograph it. It wasn’t easy, but I found a nest! It was across the Cuyahoga river from the path I was on – it actually wasn’t visible from the main path; I had to follow a horse trail to the river. But now that I know where it is I will keep returning until I see an eagle – they re-use old nests, so this will be a good place to hopefully catch a glimpse.

Without further ado, the following is my 23 for 2023 list – a list of 23 things I want to accomplish or experience this year. Some of them are already completed or underway, which I think helps get the momentum going for such a project. The idea for this list comes from a favorite podcast, “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.” If you want to learn more about this type of list, here is a link to Gretchen’s most recent podcast, where she and her sister Elizabeth reveal and discuss their own 23 for 2023 lists.

  1. January Joy Box
  2. Get a pair of high quality walking/hiking shoes
  3. Meatless February
  4. Send Valentines cards
  5. Baking lesson with Howard and Beth
  6. Trip to New Zealand
  7. See my mom
  8. Buy a new, super-duper camera lens
  9. Photograph the entire nesting season of the great blue herons
  10. Visit 12 different parts of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (or other local park or nature preserve)
  11. Use up the last of my massage gift cards
  12. Find a way to celebrate my 60th birthday in a special way
  13. Spend a day at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
  14. Go thrifting
  15. Find a signature scent
  16. Plant hummingbird friendly plants in the garden
  17. Go eagle watching until I actually see and can photograph an eagle
  18. Read 23 novels
  19. Compile a list of simple joys/delights
  20. Celebrate Summer Solstice
  21. Trip to NYC and Washington DC with Chloe
  22. Ruthlessly edit the basement, the loft, my wardrobe, and my desk
  23. Review my 23 for 2023 list on the 23rd of each month

I realise that some of these entries are rather cryptic, so I will be explaining them as they arise. One that is already underway is the January Joy Box, and I will write about that in my next blog post.

Love,

Michelle xoxox

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Isn’t (S)he Lovely?

This post was supposed to be about my “23 for 2023” (that will come tomorrow) but I just had to devote a post to this beautiful mourning dove. I searched birding sites online to see if I could identify it as male or female, but there seem to be very few differences between the two. I *think* it’s a female because the males are supposed to have a slightly iridescent patch of feathers on their necks that this one doesn’t seem to have.

Anyway, I came home for lunch one day to find this beauty perching nonchalantly on top of my bird feeder. We do get doves in our backyard – being so large, they tend to scrounge around the fallen seeds under the feeder. Seeing one just hanging out ON the feeder was surprising, and as she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave I was able to snap several photos.

I’ve never been too excited about doves. I do love the call of the mourning dove — for many years I thought they were called “morning doves” because that’s when I tended to hear their calls. Doves have always reminded me of pigeons, though – like a slightly more refined relative of the pigeon. And pigeons have never really done it for me.

Having these photos now, though, I am head over heels in love. The subtle browns/tans/grays and the random black spots – gorgeous. But what really gets me is the turquoise around the eyes. I can’t stop looking at these photos and at the “pop” of that turquoise against the more subdued shades. That Mother Nature – she really knows how to accessorize.

Love,

Michelle xoxo

p.s. I know those first two pictures are nearly identical, but to me they are different and I couldn’t choose between the two!

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My Theme(s) for 2023

I’ve been choosing a word of the year since 2020. My words so far have been Create (2020), Tend (2021), and Joy (2022). The idea behind choosing a theme is to focus your attention on one area of your life you would like to change or enhance in some way. So, if someone wanted to improve their fitness they might choose the word Strength. There are many, many articles online regarding the practice of choosing a yearly theme. I was introduced to the concept through a podcast I enjoy, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. 

I have spent the last couple of weeks in a period of discernment, looking back on my 2022 and imagining how I want my 2023 to look and feel.

2022 felt like a very scattered year –  like I had a lot of good intentions and not enough follow through. I don’t think I sent out one birthday card to friends and family. No Christmas cards. I fell down on my correspondence with dear friends. 

I’m very hard on myself, so it’s very easy to pick out the places where I fell down in 2022. I did struggle with time seeming to fly by (oops, I missed that birthday; oops I missed the best time to photograph the herons nesting; oops, I’m late in renewing the registration for my car) and with life seeming to be more something that happened to me rather than something I made happen. 

Of course, many aspects of life are not ours to plan or choose. They do just happen. Catastrophic weather. Health problems large and small. Getting older. The decisions/moods/happiness of other people. Some of these things we realize we have no control over. Others we (I) somehow tend to think we can influence to a greater extent than is realistic. I know that part of the work I still need to do within myself is to be better at categorizing things into what I can control and what I cannot control.

Which brings me to my word(s) for 2023 – working on some of the things that are under my control.

In 2023 I want to make my life feel more intentional. When I think back on 2022 it’s like I was driving a car and only looking at the road directly in front of the car, not seeing the road work or the slow-down a mile ahead. I was reacting more than acting. As you can imagine, this can and did lead to a lot of unnecessary stress. 

I picked four words for 2023 instead of one. My words are: FOCUS, ORDER, SERENITY, and JOY. 

Focus and Order will inspire and remind me to be more strategic in my life. To plan, to record that plan, to refer to the plan often, and to carry out the plan in a calm manner. I will be using an old-fashioned paper-and-pen planner into which I will faithfully record doctor’s appointments, birthdays, oil changes, registration renewals. The one I have chosen (this one from Amazon) starts with a broad overview of the year and then drills down to the nitty gritty day to day. I’ve used paper-and-pen planners before and they have worked well for me, so I am realistically optimistic that this tool will help me this year.

Serenity, my third word, is hopefully a state of mind I will reach by keeping all of the minutiae of my life under control. It will also remind me of the Serenity Prayer, which states, “God, grant me the serenity to accept  the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” That wisdom to know the difference, man. That is the hard one.

I’m keeping Joy as one of my themes for this year. I loved having it as my theme last year, and I want to keep the notion of being joyful at the forefront. A dear friend of mine focused on Joy as well, and she would send me texts telling me what brought her joy on any given day (not every day, but on a regular basis). I derived so much joy just seeing what brought her joy. 

Speaking of joy – today I went for a walk in the Cuyahoga National Forest with Sam and Pokey. We saw two herons, one of which was so close and so unconcerned with our presence that I was able to get some pretty nice photos. Even Pokey’s barking didn’t scare it away. Those moments of being in the presence of such beautiful creatures in such close proximity absolutely filled me with joy. 

Happy New Year, everyone. My next post will be my “23 for 2023” – 23 things I plan to experience during this year. 

Love,

Michelle xoxo

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The Big Chill

Like much of the United States, Ohio is currently being visited by a pretty extreme weather system. We have been under a winter storm warning and wind chill warning since early Friday morning. As I write this at 6:43 am on Saturday morning, the temperature is negative 2 degrees Fahrenheit, with high winds making it feel like negative 24 degrees Fahrenheit. We have been hunkering down here, venturing outside briefly only to shovel the small amount of snow in the driveway (Chris) or refill the bird feeder (me).

Have you ever wondered how birds stay warm in frigid temperatures? I found this article fascinating, but if you don’t want to click on the link the photos here will show you the main way they stay warm: by fluffing up their feathers. They trap pockets of air around their bodies this way – their very own “down jacket”, literally.

The birds were at the feeder all day long yesterday. I added some handfuls of high energy feed (a mixture with raisins and peanuts) to a couple of flat surfaces on our patio. On a normal day I notice a lot of feeding activity in the morning and then not again until later in the afternoon. Yesterday was constant.

Today is Christmas Eve. We have a very quiet evening planned: Sam and Pokey will sleep over and we will eat cheese fondue (with this homemade bread) and watch Paddington. Tomorrow morning we will have a breakfast of various homemade baked goods (almond croissants, ham and cheese croissants, sausage rolls) and, a blast from my childhood and a necessary fixture at all celebratory mornings, Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. Sam will meet up with his dad later on Christmas morning and Chris and I will have a quiet Christmas meal of New York strip steaks, mushroom sauce, and homemade oven-baked, parmesan-coated French fries.

To be honest I have not been in a very Christmas-y mood this year. Possibly because I contracted Covid from my workplace a couple of weeks ago. Ten other colleagues in our rather small workplace also came down with it within the space of one week, and the entire office was subsequently told to work from home until after Christmas. I was lucky in that I had nearly no symptoms, but the process of isolating myself in the house (thankfully Chris did not get it) and suspending my walking practice out of an abundance of caution sort of threw me for a loop.

One thing I have been doing is thinking about what my one-word theme for 2023 will be. I love the process of deciding what my theme will be – it makes me really consider these types of questions: What do I need? What needs to go? What needs to be done in me and through me?

That last question sounds a bit religious, and I’m not a religious person. But I do believe in positive energy (which makes me sound New-Age-y, which I’m not, either). I think that energy is highly contagious, whether it be positive or negative. Think of how you feel after a wonderful visit with a friend, versus how you feel after listening to a coworker’s gossip or rant. Or, heaven forbid, Fox News or MSNBC. I do want to, in some way, contribute to the positive side of things, and that’s what I will be contemplating over the next week.

I will share my 2023 theme, as well as my “23 for 2023” list next weekend. Until then, stay warm. Merry Christmas to those who observe/celebrate the holiday!

Love,

Michelle xoxo