On a Rainy Wednesday Morn

  Petrified wood can be used to calm down survival-based fears. It helps to make one feel safe and secure, helps one feel ageless. 

Whitehorse Woman

Heavy rain this morning.  At this point, I don't think I am going to head out to my classes today.  It's a two bus trip and neither has any shelter, plus a decent sized walk to my classes.  For the past year or so, my fingers have begun locking when I hold an umbrella.  I am able to get them open, but not without some pain.  It's not Trigger Finger.  Doctor says I have arthritis in my fingers, and when I hold an umbrella I tend to hold it too tightly.  This getting old business is no picnic, but it's also no reason to just give up.  So instead of going to classes today, maybe I'll do some work on my jewelry project.  Made this one in class on Monday.  Not as easy as it used to be.  Eyesight and fingers don't quite work like they 35 years ago when I made jewelry to sell.

 

Got this in the mail yesterday.  It looks much prettier than the picture.  My new phone doesn't take as clear pictures as my old phone.  Petrified Wood.  Petrified wood is wood that has been  created naturally in the earth from ancient trees that became fossilized over a very long period. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone.   It forms  when a tree has died and silicon dioxide forms in place of the wood that degrades until there is no wood left.  This small stone in my hand was once an ancient, living and breathing tree. 

Petrified wood is a stone of transformation and patience.  A grounding stone, it helps to make you feel safe and secure.  The Earth element is alive in this gemstone and by connecting you with the Earth's energy, it provides healing energy to both physical and emotional issues.  If you need a grounding stone, Petrified Wood is the perfect stone to work with.  This stone instill a feeling of peace with everything around you.

Petrified Wood has been known to promote communication and interaction with the spirits of nature.  This stone is another stone that can enhance past-life work and may facilitate the viewing and understanding of the Akashic records. Meditating with Petrified Wood assists us in connecting with Mother Earth and the natural realm.

A Sure Sign of Spring....Finally.

What a desolate place would be a world without flowers.  It would be
a face without a smile, a feast without a welcome.
Are not flowers the stars of the earth?
And are not our stars the flowers of heaven? 

--Clara Balfour--

Signs of spring in front of my building. For awhile it looked as if they weren't going to make it, then full bloom.  And warm weather, too?  Oh, I am in my glory.  Now, if I only had my garden.  These are the times I really miss it.

Monday This and That

Monday morning.  Another week begins.  Another busy week for me.  This morning I am out of here by 8 am and won't be seeing home until close to 5.  Qigong, Line Dance, Meditation, and then Arts and Crafts.  I love being busy and playing catch up on all the years I missed all this.  I was so wrapped up in work that I had no idea of all the fun things that there were to do.  On Friday I actually did an hour of Zumba.  Talk about a workout.  I was determined, though, and I stuck it out....and you know what?  I walked into that class with my back aching and walked out a new person.  No more pain.

My Zumba class.  Trainer in front is awesome.  I have her for Line Dance as well.

Hubby surprised me last night by taking me out to dinner at Applebees.   Had the chicken steak combo with sides of broccoli and green beans.  Green beans had a sauce on them which added points, but much less points than their mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese (my choices in the past).  Afterwards we went to see A Quiet Place.  Not quite what we had in mind.  After 15 minutes I woke hubby up and we headed on into the next theater to watch an action movie of human trafficking.  Don't even know the name of it .

My beautiful day out was not without some drama, though.   After we parked at Applebees, I climbed out of the car, went to close the door, and somehow knocked my sunglasses off, leaving a small cut on my nose.  How I did it, I don't know.  So while hubby waited in line for seating, I had to run to the ladies room and do a little first aid.  Clumsy me.

Spent most of Saturday in the kitchen.  Hubby still has regular meals, but, to be honest, I really tired of them.  So, I cooked meats for him during the week and made two different soups for me--another batch of the Harissa Spiced Bean and this delicious Weight Watchers Chicken and Orzo soup with fennel.  Got it out of one of our weeklies and added a few touches of my own.

7 cups low sodium chicken broth
Carrots
Celery
Fennel (recipe called for fennel bulb, but I used ground fennel)
cooked boneless chicken breast
black pepper
1 cup uncooked orzo

I put everything but the orzo in the pot, brought to a boil and then simmered until carrots and celery softened.  Added the cooked chicken and orzo and cooked until orzo done.  Simple, cheap, only 3 WW points, and delicious.

Well, time for me to get ready to mosey on down the road.  Classes start at 10, but it's almost a 2 hour bus trip....but, oh, so worth it.  Have a good one.

My Newest Little Angel

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. 

George Elliot

Received this little Angel as a Christmas gift from my son's wish to be girlfriend. Isn't she pretty?  They are still only friends, best friends for sure, but I have serious doubts it will go any further than that despite my son's hopes of a relationship.  It's been over two years now.  I just don't see it happening. 

Saturday Simple Thought for the Day

A wise man once sat in the
audience and cracked a joke.
All laughed like crazy. After a
moment, he cracked the same
joke again and a little less people
laughed this time.
He cracked the same joke again
and again, when there was no
laughter in the crowd, he smiled
and said, "When you can't laugh on
the same joke again and again,
then why do you keep crying over
the same thing over and over
again.

'Forget the past and move on'

Unknown

Wise advice indeed.

Mindless Eating

 A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. 

Douglas Pagels

Another week passed.  How quickly they fly by when you get older!  Had a wonderful time with friends yesterday.  Actually, this was a first for me.  Imagine that.  71 years old and this was my first luncheon with friends.  Oh, I have had luncheons with co-workers, but even though I thought of them as friends at the time, they were just co-workers.  We never did anything together outside of work. I had no idea what it was like to just have fun with 'just' friends.  (I look kind of chubby in this photo, but the blouse I was wearing was a wee bit too big and made me look heavier than I am).  Settled on an egg and spinach omelet.  Eggs and spinach are 0 points, and after the enormous cheeseburger I ate yesterday, I needed something a little tamer.  Now the home fries are another story, but who could resists?  Certainly not I.

Speaking of WW, good thing I don't have to weigh in more than once a month now that I am 'Lifetime'.  I've been doing a lot of 'stress' eating lately.  Having a pretty hard time dealing with this rodent problem.  Thought I was rid of them and felt at peace for a day or two only to discover that they are still here. Spoke to my neighbor, and she said she is having a rodent issue as well.  That's 5 people I know in my building.  Time for us all to get together and demand a professional rodent exterminator. 

My emotions pretty much rule over how much I eat and what kind of food I eat.  Sadness and hurt kills my appetite.  Stress makes me eat even if I am not really hungry.  Eating emotionally comforting foods.   Eating even after I am full because I want to 'finish my plate'.  How many of us were raised to think that way? Mindless eating.

WW will be hosting its first book club meeting early May.   Our first book to discuss is "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wanasink.  The book is great and should be an interesting discussion.  

Often our decision to eat is not a conscious decision, even when it seems like it is. Instead, we are driven by habits and behaviors. In short, Wanasink's book examines our tendencies with respect to eating: what makes us eat, what makes us enjoy food, what causes our eating habits. Wanasink demonstrates that almost all of our decisions about food and eating are psychological and even if we believe we control them, we don't. He presents many cases and analyzes many different scenarios, all of which are very interesting.  Opened my eyes up for sure.  Now to put it into practice.

Hope you all have a wonderful, fun-filled weekend.

Is it Really Thursday Already?

How wonderfully these pictures have caught the look of tentative spring—spring waiting for a single day to burst into living green. 

Alice Morse Earle, "In Lilac Tide"

And a good Thursday morning to all.  Had a wonderful day yesterday.  An hour of Qigong and then an hour of Line Dancing.  We're actually making up our own dance...The 1199 Line Dance.  We've practiced all the moves, and now it is just a matter of sorting through them and chosing the order in which we will do them.  Then, we will be performing at the annual Christmas party in early December.  Long way to go.

Today I am off to my Weight Watchers meeting.  Haven't missed one since I started a little over two years ago.  I credit them with saving my life.  Blood pressure was sky high and medication wasn't helping.  Now I'm pretty much normal all the time.   Still on medication, though.  Doctor pretty much assured me that will pretty much be a lifetime thing for me.  At any rate, I learned a new way of living and eating through them.  Weight Watcher is more than just for weight loss.  Emotional and physical health are an important part of the program.   In fact, come May, Weight Watcher is changing its branding from a weight loss to a wellness program. 

Afterward the meeting, a bunch of us regulars are going out to our monthly lunch.  I never had any time for any kind of socialization while I was working....and that 50 years, so spending quality time with friends is new to me.   In addition, I've never had an easy time of it making friends and have always yearned to have at least ONE friend to go to coffee or lunch with, and now I have 5.  Retirement has been good to me.

Some pictures from the park on Sunday.  It's really a gorgeous place, especially during the summer when it is so green and alive.  The hill where I like to sit was once an old Indian burial ground, a sacred place that looks out over the river with a view of Staten Island.  This land once belonged to my Dutch ancestors.  My 9th great grandfather. Teunis Van Pelt was the first European to lay claim on this land.