I made it out to Barr Lake for the first time this year. Barr is a state park, about 20 miles east of where I live. It’s a former buffalo wallow which was turned into an irrigation reservoir more than 100 years ago. And while the water is still used for irrigating fields, the land […]
Read More BirdwalkDescribe the last difficult “goodbye” you said. Today’s jetpack prompt is as above. I’ve described the last two difficult goodbyes previously in this blog, saying goodbye to the previous generation of cats, first Jules, and then a year later, his sister Lucy. I’ve mused over the years on why goodbyes to these creatures with whom […]
Read More goodbyesWhy sure. I haven’t been writing much these days, busy with other stuff. In August, BA and I were traveling in Iceland with a very congenial group. Unfortunately, like many summer travelers, we got Covid. She got sick there, I got sick after we returned home. I think being fully vaccinated helped us in that […]
Read More complicated?I just spent an hour talking with a man who is putting together a program in advance of the one year anniversary of the Marshall Fire, which roared through my area last December 30. During our conversation, we focused on facts and timelines and then veered into emotions, stress, reactions as this anniversary approaches. We […]
Read More Marshall MorassReinvent was yesterday’s Ragtag Daily Prompt. I noticed it yesterday afternoon, recognized its pertinence to my life, and am writing about it today. Lots of reinvention around here. BA’s health challenges continue. She spent an overnight in hospital last week with another TIA (transient ischemic attack–stroke symptoms that resolve within hours of onset) and pericarditis. […]
Read More ReinventingMonday morning, before the predicted Tuesday snowstorm, I went for a short hike. Arriving at the trailhead, I realized that this was my first time walking on Marshall Mesa since the Marshall fire started near there last December 30. Fueled by hurricane force winds and a desiccated landscape, more than a thousand homes and businesses […]
Read More Eleven Months LaterWacko haiku Jack: nips nose, pumpkin Robert’s roads less traveled Icing on the cake. For today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt of Frost And just to confuse me and perhaps a few others, Frost was also the prompt on Friday, Nov 30, 2018, back when I was was the Friday prompter. Somehow one person managed to link […]
Read More FrostToday’s ragtag daily prompt is Pakapoo Ticket. That’s a new term to me. On this Thanksgiving day in the US, I’m thankful for the internet, where I was able to look it up and confirm from a number of sources that it has its origins in a Chinese lottery game known as pak ah pu […]
Read More What kind of Ticket?I’m a big chicken when it comes to needles. I don’t like shots, although with my science and medical background I do get the vaccines I find pertinent to maintaining my and the publics heath. But voluntarily going in somewhere, giving someone money to have them poke ink into my skin with many little needles. […]
Read More No Ink for me, ThanksThe paragraphs below were drafted just after the “King Soopers shooting” in March of 2021. This morning, I awakened to the news that there was a mass shooting at Club Q, a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs late last night. That’s about 90 miles south of me. My state, my people. March 23, 2021. Yesterday […]
Read More Way Too Close to Home, AgainThe deal is done. Lucy the Van is moving to Montana, and will be home to a young woman who plans to spend some time as a full time van lifer, and then who knows what her next will be. Thanks to Van Life Trader, a website that worked really well for selling in this […]
Read More Goodbye Lucy, See you Later, Van LifeZiggy the cat. It’s not as though I had much of a choice for a Z subject. Just like when we met him at the Humane Society and he jumped from the attendant on to me and started nuzzling. Hi I’m your cat, it’s about time you got here. He has been with us for […]
Read More Z is for ZiggyOver this month, I’m learning more about what I want to say yes to in my life going forward, as well as those items or ways of being that I’m willing to let go. I’m recognizing that pacing matters. It’s not new but it’s a reconfirmed understanding. I don’t like to hurry. Related to that […]
Read More Y is for Yes!Hmmmmm. Aside from brand names such as xfinity, xcel, and xerox, I don’t know a lot of x words aside from xenophobia and many from chemistry class–xylitol, anyone? X does get used as a personal mark if you can’t write your own name, and its often a way to mark one’s choice. And of course, […]
Read More X is for . . . Maps?A sense of wonder. Being wonder-full is wonderful. A few days ago, I was walking home and I became aware of a busy-ness in my peripheral vision. Stopping to look, I noticed a house with a bird feeder on its porch. It was busy, and the main birds were goldfinches, along with some house finches. […]
Read More WonderBe a van lifer. It’s a thing, fixing up a van and taking it on the road. For some it is a full time way of living, allowing more flexibility in where and how one lives, often with less expense. For others, it’s a part-time gig, traveling part of the year and returning to a […]
Read More Van Life?Wow, I’ve made it as far as U in the blogging from A to Z challenge. Well done me, for a first month of retirement adventure. Urgent. I’m working on letting fewer and fewer things hit the category of urgent, or its horrible relative, emergent. I’ve never enjoyed feeling rushed, and after more than half […]
Read More Urgent, or Not soWhat to trust? Always a question. As time goes on, I’m learning more and more to listen to myself and trust my own internal knowing. This morning, I looked at the weather app on my phone and found this: What to do with this? In this case, an obvious and easy solution-I looked out the […]
Read More TrustScary is the word for this fire season. I live in the western US, and forest fires have been a part of the ecosystem for as long as I’ve been around. However, things are changing. It used to be that May to October was fire season. Well, it’s different these days. The Marshall fire was […]
Read More S is for ScaryIt’s R day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Reassessing seems a good thing to explore as I am finding it an important component on my new journey of retirement. What matters to me now? What do I want to keep? What is it time to let go of or do differently? Sounds […]
Read More ReassessingI quit working. Finally, after many years, I don’t have a next on the work for pay list. Done. Three weeks ago was my last day seeing clients. I’m not missing work, or the schedule. I’m surprised by how quickly I can lose track of days. I’d like it not to matter at all what […]
Read More I QuitThe Marshall Fire burned through my area nearly 4 months ago. Out walking today, there was noticeable progress on some fronts. Some lots now are cleared of all debris, burned trees are removed. It’s a big project, clearing all of this from more than a thousand locations, and recently the county published a listing of […]
Read More P is For ProgressThis is a big weekend for spring holiday observances. The big 3 monotheistic religions have something going on, in order of chronological appearance: Passover, Easter and Ramadan. I grew up nominally Christian, following that calendar of celebrations. However, it was more about being helpful and of service to those in needs as opposed to following […]
Read More Old observancesOdd Squad is a children’s program PBS. All the “agents” have names starting with O, and they investigate all manner of bizarre and absurd events. It’s funny, and my child self would have enjoyed this a lot (think Monty Python for kids). One of the characters is Doctor O. Once she’s finished with a problem, […]
Read More What’s Next?Its M day in the Blogging from A to Z April challenge. Halfway through the month and the alphabet. My theme this year is split between two; this is the first month of my retirement and it is the fourth month of recovery from the Marshall Fire in my area. Today’s post covers both themes. […]
Read More Magpies, meadowlarks, Mergansers and MoreIn the aftermath of the Marshall Fire, it’s been loud around here, and I expect that it will get louder. In fire recovery, demolition is getting going, removing old foundations (the heat weakens the concrete so it is no longer structurally sound) and all manner of burnt objects, from bathtubs and air conditioners to bicycles […]
Read More L is for Loud“My religion is very simple, my religion is Kindness” Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. That about covers it.
Read More K is for KindJust. A strange word, just. It can be used to minimize or simplify. It’s just a cold or just say no. In both of these examples, there appears to be an undervaluing of experience or complexity. It may be just a cold, but that doesn’t mean one doesn’t feel terrible and is enduring something that, […]
Read More JustThat’s how I feel today. Don’t know why. Not ill, but certainly blah. Sad, ready to cry. Perhaps depressed, not necessarily. I’ve certainly been depressed in the past, but I just don’t know. Out of sorts. No reason. Perhaps the season Time to wait and see. Hang in there. It will change, it always does. […]
Read More I is for icky and irritableI guess I better hurry, this post was “due” on Saturday. Actually, I’m not hurrying. It will or will not get done. Part of this challenge for me is allowing. This is my first month of full retirement, and I’m tired of feeling obligated or scheduled. So, doing things when and if I feel like […]
Read More No Hurry
Curious Steph 