Celebrating it All

Preparations are in full swing, and everyone here seems to have Christmas in their heart.....LM, Teddy and I are off to drive a good friend to the airport this morning, and then we will come back to begin cooking our Christmas Eve dinner, for which, Sara and Samantha will join us....exciting times for the wee ones, and us, too.

Much love to all, and may your Christmas be exactly the way you would like.

Int he words of one of  my faves, celebrate it all and embrace the holidays, one and all, for whatever reason you like.

Love, peace and deep gratitude for you all this Christmas Eve.

Time Crunch

Ah, my dear and loyal readers, I am breaking the rules by starting off here with an apology for my silence here. I miss writing, and I miss my friends, but my enthusiasm is lost in my health challenges and responsibilities. Completely changing my life by retiring and moving, is taking me down some roads I never thought I'd travel.  Being quite responsible for 6 year old Teddy on a daily basis is an amazing privilege, but one that my body is not quite up to these days.  I never gave a second's thought to the fact that GRIEF would begin to consume me.  It was only today that I was able to define why I was crying, feeling very lonely, and experiencing severe exhaustion, when I am living in such a lovely place surrounded by loving family, and fairly free to do whatever I like each day, that I fully realized that I am suffering loss in many forms.  Add in the fact that dangerously high blood pressure, ulcers, and pain so piercing that I am nauseous, and the result is not a happy place.  Changing  meds to try to control this issues is mind boggling. The rush is on to fix things or my knee replacement surgery may be canceled in February. That is just about unthinkable to me right now.  I can only walk a few steps before staggering down or falling and the surgery has been a source of great hope. 
Grief and loss is a natural part of life when one has left work and a wonderful group of co-workers with whom one shared such camaraderie.  I've taken steps to increase my energy and centeredness. A personal trainer is putting me through some tough paces and I am talking with a counselor.  This too shall pass.
I'd been fighting the grief symptoms when I needed to go with them and embrace it as a natural life event.  We shall see how long I can keep my perspective.

Otherwise, we had a fun birthday party for Teddy last week, and are now looking forward to having a simple Christmas celebration centered around the children. 

Sending you all wishes for celebrations of your own choice to be filled with light, love, peace and joy.

A Glimpse of MS G's World this Morning

Reporting in on Ms G's world this cold and blustery morning....she really has a lot to deal with and has been quite busy!
There seems to be a small reading lamp on the coffee table that must be tipped on its side, and no matter how often the human component rights the lamp, it must be set on its side again at her earliest convenience. Meanwhile, she would much prefer that the rays of morning sun stay settled for a bit so she could nap in their warmth on the living room rug.
The UPS man brought a lovely big packing tape-adorned cardboard box this week. It contained a big bag of Fromm's Gold dry cat food. YUM.....she loves that stuff, but there was also a bag of Greenies cat treats in there, too, and they are the ultimate.  That Greenie bag is just out of her reach on top of the refrigerator, as it is a well-known fact that Ms G will tear the bag to bits in a second to have a Greenie or two or three.  She's had to settle for hours of fun ripping and chewing the packing tape on the Fromm's box. 

Ms G's humans are busy trying to get ready for a little turkey dinner next Thursday.  Other family will be off to be with their own families and we will be happy to quietly reflect on our lives and give thanks for all the wonderful people we have to love.

Sending you all love and peace and wishes for a delicious and beautiful Thanksgiving celebration.

Sunday Catch-up

It's a dark, cold and cuddly-happy Sunday afternoon at Chez Ms G and LM.  Some cleaning has been done, Ms G has been helping and entertaining, and some lasagne awaits us for dinner.  All too soon, I will be headed back to "home" at Teddy's house. Since moving there after retirement, my life is completely changed and happy in ways I have never known could be, even though, I still look forward to my weekends with keen anticipation, so that I can be wrapped in the love of LM and Ms G, once again.

These past months have not been easy on my health, and now I am in the race of my life to get my thyroid levels and resulting blood pressure issues, under control. If the BP doesn't come down, I cannot have my scheduled knee replacement on 2/2/15.   I have gone through a plethora of meds and began a new regimen yesterday that does not make me feel very well. We have 3 weeks to see if it will work. Meanwhile, I have some serious arthritis pain limiting walking and endurance. Both feet are not happy and both hands, as well. This all prevents me from sleeping, and I lay there knowing morning is going to come quickly, with Teddy in need of my help to be ready for the bus.  The pain works on my morale and leaves me in tears, at times. I just keep going the best I can and remember my Mum and how she suffered with the same pains, and mysteriously, one day, it all stopped and never came back. We have no idea why that happened. I am ready for my genetic disposition to arrive.

In other news, yesterday LM and I shopped for new window treatments and really found some great things at Christmas Tree Shop.....his living and dining room curtains were shot. We had great fun finding what we wanted and then went on a beautiful ride through the back roads of Plymouth and Carver to admire the cranberry bogs in all their crimson Fall glory.  After a nice seafood dinner, we came home and installed all the new curtains. Looks so fresh and it was fun to do it together.

Back at my other home with Jason, Alison and Teddy, last week found us witnessing the clear cutting of the beautiful, heavily wooded lot next door. New neighbors are coming!  I have too admit, though, that it was so painful to see the trees, many white birch, fall to the ground. The steep shape of the lot didn't allow for any trees to be saved, as a lot of excavation must take place before a foundation can be installed.  I admit to a few tears and days of grief over this event. There were so many little animals fleeing from the giant machines...and to lose an acre of birches was so sad. We still have some in our back yard. We had been warned by the builder that the clearing would take place so Teddy was in prime viewing position when the huge machines arrived at 6:30 am.

 The roar of the machines working brought that gleeful smile, although he shows it to me often for nicer reasons.

 He was sitting out there in light rain, too, but it mattered not a bit.

 A bee-line was made for the back deck when the workers headed to the top of the hill.

 We so hoped that the big oak in the foreground would not fall.

 Taking down the birches at the top of the hill.....

The oak finally lost its spot......we are promised that the new neighbors will be doing some lovely landscaping.

So now the lot has been left alone for the past week. We are waiting for the big excavation to happen.  

I hope you all are looking forward to a lovely Thanksgiving and time of gratitude spent with loved ones.  Sending you wishes for peace and love!!!

Dark and Stormy

If I can keep a certain gray and furry purrson off the laptop long enough, there will be a few words here this dark, windy, rainy, stormy morning. Oh, I do love these kinds of weekends. Not that I don't love clear sunny days, too. But I love the cocooning feeling of being with LM and Ms G to ride out a storm.  There are some beautiful colors in the trees and bushes outside the windows, and there is already a delicious beef stew made to enjoy later. We'll be watching a few movies this afternoon as we say hello to November.  The month of humble and delicious Thanksgiving.

NOTICE:  This missive is now being edited by gray paws.....=^..^=

For the first time in a few weeks, I feel well!  My energy is most of the way back, bringing me a great feeling of relief. Now, if I could just jump on to my magic carpet and be flown over Feb and March 2015, I would be free of knee pain and falling, and be ready to take on the world with more vigor.  Alas, it is one of those experiences I must take on to be appreciative of modern science and my own inner fortitude.

My editor is becoming very pushy and demanding ownership of laptop space so I'll be off. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, safety if you are in the eye of this storm, and a win for the Patriots.
Back to reading Graham Nash's autobiography, "Wild Tales".....so interesting.

Love and peace.......and a glimpse of one of  Mother Nature's artful creations

Home Again

I'm ALIVE.....kicking my way back from a month of upper respiratory illness that began right after I had a colonoscopy... Still a little worn out but as of yesterday I am back to water aerobics and more exercise, and feeling myself. We are having the most beautifully warm and sunny late Fall day today, but the weather promises a very cold spell coming tomorrow so I am relishing open windows, breezes, and finding a final few flowers blooming here and there....Teddy and I found a big patch of johnny-jump-ups in the front garden this morning as we headed out on our walk to the bus stop.
Below is a post that I began a few weeks ago .

LM picked me up at 4:30 am last Friday, 10/10, and we were off to Providence RI from where I would fly to Baltimore.  The airport was so crowded and I was pulled out of line to be tested for illness. It seemed to be random. I was still coughing a bit but felt fine, and was quickly passed along through security.  As soon as I sat down on the plane, I began to feel really sick again, and by the time I was at my brother and sister-in-laws, I could feel something happening. Within a hour or so, I couldn't stop shaking from fever, and I spent the rest of the afternoon under a heating blanket, sound asleep. I was sick the entire visit!!! So very upsetting and at one point I was afraid LM would have to drive down to get me home.  By Sunday morning I had rallied a little and we were able to visit the wonderful Baltimore City Farmers' Market. It was really beautiful and filled with gorgeous produce, flowers and prepared food.  Although, it was wonderfully good for my soul to be with loved ones again, I felt so sad that it was tainted by more sickness and was very concerned they would get sick, too.
So here are the only photos I got of the trip.

Baltimore City Market - the most beautiful arrays of apples greeted us. So many types!!

Bountiful Basil!!

A straw turkey

Flowers everywhere and luscious tomato selections

Raspberries and blackberries at their Fall peak. So sweet.

An amazing collection of mushroom! We did enjoy some delicious deep fried mushroom atop a salad from this stand.

Tomatoes in the early morning sunshine and the proud farmer preparing them for sale.

Crazy, scary pumpkins of all types

Smiling sunflower faces

One last view of the Baltimore skyline, between the bridges overhead. 

Meanwhile, here is  my dear nurse, Jenni, surrounded by my other very rambunctious nurses, Tiger and Cammie.

The canine critters LOVE to play tug-o-war.

The view from my recliner seat. Cammie imploring me to play....Sweet girl.

Ev cooked me a delicious steak dinner .....perfection! I was able to muster the energy to make the mashed potatoes with fresh herbs and garlic,,,,in a beautiful crockery bowl that belonged to our dear, Mum.

Nephew, Martin, holding down Tiger and Cammie.

Tired doggies after an afternoon of jumping at windows to scare away the UPS driver, wrestling, and looking for food.

So , those are a few glimpses into my stay in Baltimore. Hopefully, I can go back again soon and visit all my favorite places and be with my wonderful family in a healthier state!

Back in September when we took Teddy fishing, I spotted this message on the bridge support at one of LM's favorite haunts.  Seems so appropriate.  I choose and day now to be happy and to delight in llfe. I wish the same for you all!

Love and peace!!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Off to Baltimore very early tomorrow morning. Looking very forward to seeing my brother and family for a few days.
See you on the return with many photos and fun to share.
I leave you with another wonderful sunset photo from LM's evening fishing trips this Fall. He loves clouds, and this one is very special.
Love to all.......

Got it!

When LM came down with a nasty sore throat and cough virus almost two weeks ago, I decided that no way was I going to get sick, as well. After all, I did my time last winter for 5 months, and I have been so healthy since then. Not to be, the thing grabbed my throat last Thursday and has really knocked me for a loop. At first it was just the scratchy throat, and an all over sick feeling, then the cough began in earnest. As sick as I felt, I took my coughing self out in nature for a walk in a new-to-me conservation area along a herring run in Bournedale - barely a mile from home.Thought you might like to come along for a glimpse of some more Cape Cod beauty.  I cannot wait to go back and walk this area again with LM.

This is southwesterly view of the herring run at Carter Beal Conservation Area

Northeasterly view below

 

 Walking toward the little bridge to lead to the trail

View from the bridge

The floor of the forest was even showing Fall...tiny wild asters, and below an ancient house foundation

Sneaking through some brush along the trail, this beautiful sight was revealed.

More forest floor beauty, and a dormant ladyslipper

The air was redolent with the scent of wild Concord grapes and finally they revealed themselves over my head.  Took me back to all the times I picked wild grapes and made jelly with my Mum.

This beautiful rock and reflection were visible from the bridge...the rock reminds me of a giant clam!

Back to the entrance.....

and some more shots of the ancient herring run as it flows toward the Cape Cod Canal.

Old stone pillars at the entrance covered with English ivy and Autumn jasmine.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour.