Sunday Morning

Hello friends! It’s still technically Sunday morning as I write this, but it feels like this morning has stretched out loooooong for me, in the very best way. Woke up before my 8:00am alarm, headed immediately out to hike my favorite park (thunder showers predicted for the afternoon), a leisurely breakfast after, reading some of my new book, a couple coffees. I missed catching my daisies at their peak beauty, darn it, but I wanted to document them here anyway.

What have I been up to? I just finished a book that I loved. It is called “Still Life” and was written by Sarah Winman (Goodreads description here). I had accidentally happened upon the book as I thought I might reread the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, and the first book in the Gamache series is called “Still Life.” I’m still reading all of my books on my iPad, checked out from our metro library system. I find it so very convenient being able to check a book out from the library at 10pm on a Sunday if I have a mind to, and never having a book go overdue (the checkout simply expires when the time is up). I also love the ease of getting my name on a waiting list for a book and being notified by email when it becomes available, then just opening up the app to download. No human interaction required! Which could be part of the problem in our world today…Currently I’m reading a book called “This Time Tomorrow” by Emma Straub. It involves time travel which I’m usually into 100% but I actually preferred the trajectory of the story before the time travel element was introduced. We’ll see.

My latest little mini-hobby is making freeze pops and I’m having a blast! I’m sure there must have a been a version of them in your childhood no matter where you grew up – like a popsicle (ice lolly for you Brits) but in a plastic tube. I bought a package of 200 empty zip-lock tubes from Amazon and I’ve been experimenting with flavors ever since. So far I’ve made watermelon/strawberry, watermelon/cherry, tangerine/coconut milk, and pineapple/coconut milk. I use fresh and frozen fruit only – adding only a packet of stevia to the ones I think need an extra boost of sweetness. I blast the ingredients in my nutribullet and use a funnel to fill the tubes. If you feel so inclined, here is the link for the tubes I bought. They are of good quality and the zip-lock works easily with no leakage. The funnel that is included is a bit fiddly, however, and I use my own.

Work is good – we’ve officially gone to a hybrid arrangement where people can choose to work up to three days a week from home. I’ve decided for the moment to work only one day a week from home. I like the office. I like having a clear delineation between my work environment and my home environment. But I also like to wear whatever I want one day a week and drink coffee from my own coffee maker. 🙂

I love the saying that to be happy one must have someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to. I have so many people that I love. I am just bursting with love for all the dear people in my life. I have plenty to do – my job, my photography, reading, enjoying nature. And I have some lovely things to look forward to. At the end of next month I fly to Connecticut to spend time with family; in September I fly to Providence for a long weekend with my bff Beth (during which we will walk a lot, eat yummy food and celebrate/reflect upon our 50 years of friendship – that will be a blog post all of its own!); in October there will be a wedding and other adventures in London with Chris; and in the first part of 2023 there will be a two-week trip to New Zealand where my step-daughter Chloe and I will cause all sorts of trouble.

I had originally included a paragraph here about my anxiety and how I’m dealing with it (pretty well, with the help of Zoloft and lots of exercise in nature) – I think I included it to push against the “shiny, happy people” aspect of social media or other online presences. I don’t ever want to suggest that I live the perfect life or am perfectly happy (hashtag “I love my life!”) – I feel like that aspect of social media is completely toxic, and I don’t ever want to be a part of it. I don’t want anyone to ever look at my life portrayed here and feel that their life is lacking in comparison, because I myself did that so much when I participated in Facebook and Instagram. I think, though, that if you’ve been reading this blog for a while you realize that I have stuff to deal with just like you. I am an incredibly privileged person compared with much of the world and my “stuff” is decidedly of the first world variety but when it’s your own stuff it looms large. But deal with it I do, and amidst dealing with it I also like to share with you lovely people some of the beauty that I find around me.

Have a great Sunday!

Love,

Michelle xoxo