Maybe the best I got in me today is admiring a pair of polka dot Kate Spade tupper ware containers, for $30, and I didn’t bite. Yea me!
December glooms starting early? Oy, get over yourself!
Life ain’t that gloomy. Tomorrow will be better.
Hope to see you along the way.
And Happy Birthday Toop!! 60 wow, you make it look like 40; no joke!
Weird day, the end of a long long Thanksgiving weekend, holidays are in the air, but it is still Sunday which means tomorrow is Monday. Blech.
Went for a cold walk to shake off the blech and was rewarded with this lovely callicarpa.
Walking engages the senses differently than running. Either mode, it feels good to be moving!
Hope to see you along the way
Leaving shortly for foot surgery, means putting away sneakers for 4-6 weeks. Even no swimming for some period of time.
Gonna be interesting. Keep ya posted.
And hope to see you along the way.
Swam this morning!! 2000 yards at a pace that was laughable even for my comical slow pace. And it felt glorious. Let’s go baby!!
Toes are still pretty sore on the left foot, right foot feels better but not perfect. Almost fully released to the wild, I’ll take it!
on the move, hope to see you along the way.
practicing as a new Apple gal
Soup.. so many pots
Not a new concept posting a ‘something’ every day for a few year. I’ve seen brilliance over multiple years; recently a photographer who compiled a photo journal of simple photos of her parents every time she left their house. A sweet shot of the two parents with a simple wave in front of the house. A one point there was only one parent, and then just a house. Poignant perfection.
Anyway I’m going to give it a try.
Today could be day one but 12/1, tomorrow, has a distinct today is the day feel to it.
Hope to see you along the way.
Luck… oh how I wish it found me in lottery winnings, but have a few Irish friends and more than a few friends with Irish in them… so I am lucky enough!
What took me to you today, beyond the luck of friendship and family, is the annual contemplation of a credit card. Okay don’t laugh, and surely don’t try to find the connection. Zero connection at the surface level. Maybe by the completion of the blog, I will have found a connection?
Each year American Express hits me with the annual fee. It ain’t cheap, surely not the mac daddy fee that Platinum card holders pay, just the joe schmo price of admission fee. But each year I rail, what the hell, what’s wrong with this equation, blah blah blah, and pay it.
This year, maybe Marie Kondo and sparking “Joy” was in my head, maybe being more forward thinking was in my head, who knows, but I did not pay it. Payed the charges; I’m nothing if not a good citizen to the credit structure, I charge, I pay, but did not pay the fee. I’ll show that damn AMEX… and the thing does not expire until Dec 2024!!
Just received my latest bill, of course they zapped me with a late charge. Hah, go pound sand AMEX, as soon as I figure out how to move monthly EZ Pass charge that sits on this card, I’m done with you!! I pulled the card out of my wallet. And then I noticed.
Member since 1989.
Damn it AMEX. I was immediately in memories, 35 years ago, working for a law firm, the only credit card in my wallet… Sears.
Ps – good old Sears, loved them for taking a chance on me. I was the original chucklehead who associated checks in the checkbook with money in the bank… oh honey, no, hard no. Checks = Pretend. Money=Money.
American Express took a chance on me too. And I was learned soul who did not mess with the AMEX model, charge today but pay it ALL at the end of the month. A friendly loan if needed, but only until the end of the month. And then the jig (circling back to that Irish!) is up, pay the teller.
1989… the start of, the end of, all part of my history. A financial planner would not like me anthropomorphizing a credit card. Is that the right use of that word? But that card and its annoying fee does indeed spark Joy so I’ve met the Marie Kondo test?!
Tomorrow I will call AMEX, ask them to waive their late fee, in exchange I will pay their maniacal annual fee, and we’ll dance on for another year.
Good Spring tidings. Talk soon.
Hope to see you along the way.
An old friend is having serious cancer surgery today, it is weighing heavy on my mind. What is she feeling this morning? She has a family she is devoted to and they to her, what goes through the brain? Her path forward has a path, that’s good news, but not without treatment that includes a chemo wash. Don’t google, it sounds awful.
On the flip side, for the first time ever I will be a godparent this weekend. My niece’s daughter, my great niece (?) needed someone with paperwork. Yes, laugh aloud as my friend Susan says. I am not a trusted advisor, a dear member of their family posse, but more so… I got paperwork. Was baptized, confirmed, married in the Catholic church so my religious cred is good. Or something like that.
Couple those two events/thoughts with, January, and you have contemplative me. New year, new look at life, new hope, opportunity.
Scrolled through some old posts, not much has changed. Still want to challenge myself to write more, learn more (Spanish!!! Hola!!), do more, see “stuff” for pete’s sake. And those are all within me to do. So let’s get going.
Talk soon.
Hope to see you along the way
So I have a basket of masks, a passel of masks, a shit ton of masks… what do I do with them? Do I toss? Is that bad karma?
I was/am not anti-mask should the need arise, just not a fan. Never got to the “don’t even notice I have it on” phase that people described during the pandemic.
My instinct is to chuck ’em. And let the karma be positive and on we go, not tempting the fates or acting with false bravado!
That said, if pandemic type conditions return, feel free to blame me for hubris.
As a thought I googled 2nd hand uses. Super clever people are doing super creative projects per pinterest, so I cut the bands, will wash, and donate. Best I got, ’cause we know I ain’t handy!!
Wherever you’re doing your laundry,
Hope to see you along the way..
In no particular order, a wrap up of France. Mostly pictures.
Each day we would get an itinerary of the day, including a written summary of the history of the locations written by the Backroads staff. Good info. Below are copies of the overall route and the itinerary sheets.
If I had to pick a favorite day, it may have been Day 6. It was grey and drizzly, and also quiet along the miles we rode. Allowed me time to think and appreciate. That said, every day was a treat, some bit of magic and wonder. We were lucky to take the trip and savor the memory.
If all goes well, today really is our last day in France. Its a Saturday morning, different energy outside the hotel. And its grey and drizzly, kind of perfect. What seemed sketchy last night seems just fine this morning. I went for a good brisk walk and was able to quickly find Sacre Coeur. Very stunning, and lots of steps up!
Good cafe Americano for both of us and on our way to Charles de Gaulle.
No drama, yeah, we picked the right metro and we’re here, checked in, and hopeful for an on-time departure.
The cycling was hard no doubt, but the “concierge” travel was divine. Nice to have someone schlep your bags, check you in to great hotels and navigate dinner reservations. Normandy and Brittany coasts were divine, and on the shoulder season even better with less tourists.
Promise a wrap up summary but for now, time to shut down the laptop.
Hope to see you along the way.
