Summer time and the living is....easy??

Summer time and the living is ...not so easy?


O goodness. This has been a year.   A long, sometimes hard year with lots of ups and downs.

This morning Carlos and I walked the road across the river. 

So many gorgeous views. 

Walking combats stress. 

Work has been a bear.
In the last 11 months I have worked for the hospital while being leased to the cardio clinic, worked directly for the cardio clinic, been told in April that the hospital wanted our group back as employees- with lower pay and more responsibilities-made the decision to not work for the hospital again (understandable, I think), found another job at a bank and then been told that, nope, the cardio clinic is not giving us up after all and nothing is changing in my employment except location.  So from April until July I have been jerked around employment-wise even though there has never been an issue with the quality of my work. Honestly just writing this paragraph exhausted me and made me stress a bit.
I hope to happily continue checking in patients at the cardiology clinic wherever that may be. Our location is definitely changing and may actually be a little fluid for a couple of months depending on the whims of the powers that be.  The new office mantra is "Be flexible".  If I get any more flexible I will be able to join Cirque de Soleil. Ultimately I am thrilled with the final outcome. Assuming it really is the final outcome. I think it is. I hope.

With so much rain, even all the cacti are blooming. 

Walking combats stress.

Winter was hard and lasted until June. So. Much. Snow. Then rain. June was wet and chilly and I was still using my pellet stove until mid June.   All that snow made everything green. The weed whacker has been getting weekly usage and I've made absolutely NO headway with the grass. I manage to keep the front "yard' under control and Carlos's fenced area clear...the rest of it has gone wild.  Apparently the rattlesnakes are also happy to have summer here finally and are out in full force. Carlos just got his first rattlesnake vaccination from the most patient vet in the entire world. He goes back in three weeks for his booster.

Lots of wildflowers are out, as are the little white butterflies. 

And the rattlesnakes...

(walking combats stress)

We have been walking daily. Crazy neighbor is convinced Carlos is running in a pack.  I'm actually worried about the pack of dogs on the next road getting Carlos so he has been kept close. I left town one weekend to come home to a card from the Sheriff saying I was going to be fined if Carlos was out loose again. Only problem: Carlos was at the kennel in Salida when he was reported running loose here in Howard.  I tried discussing this with the neighbor but somehow ended up calling him a f***ing idiot and he has vowed to shoot Carlos if he ever sets foot out of the yard. So...walks.

 Which is how we ended up taking off one wet evening, moments after the rain stopped, and coming up on a mountain lion. Honestly I never dreamed I would see one while walking.  Bears maybe but a cougar? Never. But we did. He walked out of the woods into the road about 100 feet in front of us. Carlos was sniffing something on the ground thankfully and never saw the cat. Kitty looked at me, I looked at him. He turned back into the woods and I slowly, slowly backed back down the road. I was enthralled and excited, not scared, but only because I got to see him and he was not the slightest bit concerned with eating me. Thankfully.
(And. He was gorgeous. Or she. Whatever. A young adult cougar, sleek and probably 2 to 3 times the size of Carlos.)


Made an airline ticket to go to Mexico and within hours of that big purchase discovered the oven had died with the last round of power surges/outages. So this weekend I ordered a new range and fridge (both are almost 20 years ago- it seemed prudent to just go for the gusto).  Mexico is still on the calendar and I cannot wait. In September, 45 years after starting school at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, I will be returning with one of my old roommates to visit our other roommate who has just moved there for good. A fourth classmate also lives there and it will be a grand reunion. I am soooo excited. Broke, but excited.

Cherrilla and Cathy

Blurry because...well, 45 years ago.

I've tried online dating. I'm still alive after meeting a stranger (my co workers were definitely requiring check ins) so I consider that a success.  Don't know why people say online dating is a nightmare.

Soooooo. No new challenges although I've tried some new things. Lots of new restaurants. Finally developed a taste for salmon after a gazillion tries.
Went to a burlesque show! Had no idea you could do so many things with tassels.

The crew from Peaks and Pasties in Colorado Springs. 

Lots of gardening has been undertaken with mixed results. The peony that came with the cabin 10 years ago finally bloomed for the first time. THAT is a success.

Never knew what color these peonies were. 

Happy to see they are pink!

The tables in the front yard are getting tiled. I find that figuring out the tile patterns is as engrossing as quilting used to be for me.  I no longer have the patience, desire, something to quilt like I used to.  I've tried a bit. But the tiling satisfies that need to create.  Plus side: It's an excuse to get dirty.  More pictures will be forthcoming once the blue table is done.

This is the second time this little table has been done. I leave it outside and it gets frost-heave.

But. I'm too lazy to bring it in over the winter. 

So this won't be the last time....

Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer. Stay safe. The Arkansas River that I follow to work and back every day just claimed the 12th freshwater recreation victim of the summer here in Colorado. This can be a dangerous place.
(See above. Snakes. Power surges. Mountain lions. Online dating.)
(Walking combats stress.)

Inspiration

Inspiration. Or... a kick in the pants.


"Do you create?"

Maybe those weren't the exact words. Maybe it was "Do you still create?" or "Do you ever create?"

But they have haunted me since they were said to me a few weeks ago.
Because the realization is...no...not really. I haven't had the time or the drive to create.

And that makes me very sad.

The winter was hard and cold and snowy and maybe that sapped my creativity. My work has been chaotic and full of change and yet more change is coming.  As in...I won't have a job after June 30th.

So much snow this winter. 

I should be panicked. I mean, I do have bills to pay and tummies to fill and one very reckless daughter's car insurance to pay. Instead I am angry. And I'm not sure what I am going to do.

I think I need to recharge. Look at some art. Experience something new. Maybe take a trip. Not rush.

Picasso: Seated Woman. 

From No. 52: Spend the day at the Museum

And maybe the words will come back to me.

When I first started this blog, I had to create. The posts wrote themselves. They insisted on being written.  All I had to do was sit down and tap the keyboard and Voila! words making sentences making a story. I revelled in completing the challenges, finding new things to share, experiencing life.

Recently though, my mind has been consumed mostly by work.

But. I  LOVE my job, I say. I love the people I work with, I love the patients. I love my window next to my tiny desk.

Then I had a premonition. My life was due for a correction. Things were going too well. Just like when the stock market gets too high, too rowdy and things crash a bit.

Amazing how intuitive we can be if we listen.

I ran over my prescription glasses with the car. The kitchen sink drains both started leaking. The roof seems to be molting with every gust of wind.  There's a funky smell coming from the basement.

And my employment is ending. No fault of my own. The office as I know it will just cease to exist.
So maybe this is just a kick in the pants. A reminder that a complacent mind loses its creativity.

Because I want the answer to that question at the very top to be "Yes. All the time."

Embracing Winter

Embracing Winter...whether I want to or not.


Last year, my first full winter in Colorado, Mother Nature was kind. The winter was warm(ish) and the snow was sparse.  I mastered driving in snow and ice in baby steps. And fortunately did not have to practice it much.

This year, winter showed up with a vengeance.  There has been more snow so far this year than we had all of last year. I have already burned through 800 pounds of pellets.  Last year I maybe used 250 pounds the entire year. (And yes, I had to carry every single one of those 40 pound bags into the house. My winter upper body work out.)

The Twin Sisters dusted all over.

The drive to work is in the dark. The drive home is in the dark. Thank goodness work has a window which warms me and gives me a dose of Vitamin D very day. That will change in the spring as the office moves to a new space. I am delighted at all the construction delays as I am dreading the move.

Snow capped

My toes seldom see the light of day. They go from Uggs to the shower - where I catch a glimpse of them under water- to socks and boots and more socks and blankets. My skin resembles the underbelly of a mushroom- pale and luminescent- deprived of the sun and a tan.  Under every shirt is a camisole, an extra layer of warmth.  

Hiding behind the clouds

The bears have set an example that I seem to be following: load up on food and hibernate.  Gone are summer's salads and shrimp tacos, replaced by potatoes and apples and pasta, pasta, pasta. Like the bears, I have put on a few extra pounds. I'll worry about that come summer...I'm the only one who sees under the layers of sweaters and jeans. 

Ham and cheese in a puff pastry on a bed of jalapeño reduction, 

courtesy of my fave restaurant, Shallots.

These are the meals I crave and live on. 

Home from work, the cabin is chilly, the floors cold. First the pellet stove gets fired up, then the dog fed. Some nights it seems the cabin never warms so I take another cue from the bears and give in, taking the iPad and a book to the warmth of the electric blanket. It's dark out anyway, why not just go on to bed? 

A blanket of snow and clouds rolling towards the cabin.

Walks are non-existent unless there is fresh snow. Then they are a workout. But the day after snow there is ice, and with ice comes slips. That's how I broke my elbow a few years ago, an experience I am in no hurry to repeat.  So my workout routine is also non-existent, except for lugging bags of pellets in and out.  The yoga classes at work call to me, maybe I need to reply. 

Clouds, fog, snow? 

But in it all there is such beauty. Driving into Salida there is suddenly the view of the Collegiate Peaks, dusted with snow.   The Sisters out my front door change daily. Snow covered, snow dusted, snow traces, repeat.  The bald eagles are out, majestically flying through the canyon,  fishing the river. Where they are during the summer I do not know, but winter and spring are when I usually see them and this winter the sightings have been frequent. That river they fish, the Arkansas, is full of ice, frozen towards the edges, chunks breaking free and floating down as the sun warms the day. 

And even as we enter January I see a flash of hope to keep me carrying on.  Last week the sun set at 4:39pm, this week it will be 4:44pm. Five minutes later each week? I'll take that. By the end of January the difference will be noticeable. There are bulbs under the snow, storing their energy, waiting for enough sun and warmth to pop through.

And until then? You will find me under the electric blanket, reading. 

Carlos and I know where we belong in the winter. 

SPRING!!!

SPRING!
And still working on No. 39: Grow a vegetable.

Believe it or don't.   Today is the first day of Spring.  It says so on my calendar.

Gorgeous, huh? Look at that moon just hanging in the morning sky. 

So of course, this is what I woke up to on the last day of winter.

Apparently Mother Nature is not a fan of paper calendars.  Or maybe she just wanted Winter to go out with a bang.

Anyway, by 3:00pm, the snow was gone and I went out and played like Oliver Wendell Douglas.

Look what is coming up in my flower beds!

Fenced in so the deer don't snack on them…

I think these are tulips. About a year and a half ago I asked the hubs to put some bulbs in the bed just in case we might be back in time to see them bloom.  I never really could tell if they came up last year- we missed that month entirely, I guess.   But I'm pretty sure these are the same bulbs.  It's kind of like Christmas, I'm not 100% sure what is in the packages.  

Lesson #1: Draw up a map of the beds as you plant things so you know what is coming up and where things are planted.  

And look what has decided to sprout after all!

Look closely on the right. There are small green sprouts.

See? 

Even though I was positive nothing would come of these seeds if they hadn't popped up within two weeks, I was wrong. 

It took almost three weeks and now I have 9 little plants. 

What are they? 

No idea.

Either tomatoes or peppers.

The two pots on the left are still just potting soil. I really am giving up on them.

Lesson #2: Label everything. 

And since Spring is upon us I decided to leverage my odds of some vegetable actually growing to fruition.  (Vegetition?)

So I planted these:

and these:

I'm going to accomplish No. 39: Grow a vegetable  if it kills me.