Oct3

It’s That Time Of Year Again

Posted on by
Standard
It’s That Time Of Year Again

I never liked fall. Frost came, plants died, leaves fell off trees. And then winter descended. But then I discovered Washington State. Vermont, eat your heart out. The trees here are gorgeous in the fall.

But fall is also a bittersweet kind of season. It means it’s time to pack up and head for Mexico for the winter. Envy me all you want. There’s a lot of preparing and organizing that goes along with this type of lifestyle. And in my case, a lot of procrastination.

Today is Friday. After running around all week I decided to stay in today and get into some of that organizing. But it’s already afternoon, and what have I done all morning? Okay, it was productive to check my newsfeeds, email and what’s app. Also checked other messages and texts. After that I headed for my happy place. Writing.

But I’ve moved on now from my WIP to this blog post. And I’m determined to continue sorting through documents later today. Documents? I have literally pounds of those. Legal documents. Medical history. They all pile up.

Then there’s all the paper I pretty much successfully avoid. Tap my card and no receipt please. I can easily follow that one online, although I’m fascinated by the hoards of people who still want that paper copy. Do they still put them in folders in file cabinets? I wonder.

However I think I’ll continue my procrastination just a little bit longer. Yesterday at book club I got a copy of the new book and I’m determined to read it before I head to Mexico later this month. After that I’ll be looking for books on Libby while I’m gone.

Have a great weekend!

Sep29

More Ash And Smoke

Posted on by
Standard
More Ash And Smoke

With the air quality alerts we’ve had recently, I’ve been finding more things to do inside. I’ve been reading and writing more. And I’ve been watching more TV. I know. I should be sorting through documents and clothes in preparation for my trip to Mexico next month. I should be contemplating that last venture to Bath and Body as well as Walmart. I should be hunting for my 2026 Kinkade calendar. But I’m procrastinating.

Went to the theater on Saturday to see Eleanor The Great. Enjoyed the movie but not all the ash that had settled on the car in the parking lot. As always, the pastor delivered a great sermon on Sunday. Then we all descended to the lower level of the church for the chili cook-off. Fellowship and food. And I got to show off a photo of my granddaughter Madeline that my daughter sent me that morning.

Monday is my stay at home day. Laundry. Ugh! Not my favorite indoor activity. In the afternoon I had my Bible Study on Zoom. A great way to stay in touch with friends when it isn’t possible to meet in person. Then I finished off a module in a course I’m taking online.

Coming up indoors this week are writers group, book club, small group and lunches with friends. Possibly a hike through Costco, LOL. I’d rather be out on the loop.

The weatherman keeps threatening rain. Hmmmm. Hopefully, but no lightning please. There are enough wildfires burning all around us. One of them is limping towards Wenatchee. That’s getting a little too close for comfort.

Please keep praying for all the firefighters and the people who have been evacuated.

Sep24

Smoke And Ash

Posted on by
Standard
Smoke And Ash

It’s a little late this year but it’s time to get out those M95 masks. Washington State is on fire. Wildfires are raging everywhere. Blewett is closed and traffic has been rerouted through Stevens Pass. Several areas have received evacuation notices. And I’m hibernating inside as much as possible.

Autumn Leaf Festival happens this coming weekend. I usually go to Leavenworth for the annual parade. But not this year. The air is saturated with smoke and ash. I follow the air quality warnings and they are far from encouraging.

As I sat outside yesterday waiting for my ride, I could hear the drone of aircraft overhead, but I could not see them. As I write this, I’m looking out the window at the dreary sky. It’s a good day to stay in and write. The smoke is worse than it was yesterday. And I haven’t heard the sound of helicopters today. Not a safe day to fly.

Please keep all the firefighters in your prayers.

Sep21

Hahahahahahaha!

Posted on by
Standard
Hahahahahahaha!

Laughter is the best medicine. This quote actually has its roots in the Bible. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Proverbs 17:22, King James Version.

Laughing can affect our mental health as it improves mood. Laughing lowers the stress hormones in the body. Remarkably, children laugh fifteen times as much as adults do every single day.

As adults, how do we make ourselves laugh more? Look for opportunities to laugh. Engage in enjoyable activities. Interact more with children.

This was my laughter therapy yesterday. It began with Saturday morning cartoons. Yes, I’m in my seventies and I still watch those. My favorite is Beep Beep The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. I also enjoy the antics of Sylvester and Tweety, Tom and Jerry, Woody The Woodpecker and so many more cartoon characters.

Then it was off to the cinema to see Freakier Friday where we laughed even more.

Next I capped the day off with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I recall seeing this movie back in the 80s. I also remember watching it with my kids. And decades later it still makes me laugh.

I haven’t watched any cartoons or funny movies today, but enjoyable activities is at the top of my list. Church this morning and brunch with a friend after. Also looking forward to going to a concert tonight.

What has made you laugh this weekend?

Sep14

Thicker Than Smoke

Posted on by
Standard
Thicker Than Smoke

It rained this morning. It’s a cloudy day. Smoke has rolled in from the wildfires surrounding East Wenatchee. But the air is charged with something far more potent. And it has felt that way since I arrived in May. It’s very different than the usual, and everyone is commenting on it.

The atmosphere here is tense and emotionally charged. And not in a good way. Uncertainty. Unsureness. Doubt. Ambiguity. Discontent. Vagueness. Anxiety. Fear. These are just some of the words people are using to describe it.

School has been in session for only a couple of weeks. There have already been lockdowns due to suspicious persons roaming nearby. Other states have already reported shootings. When I was in school it was accepted that the teacher was always right. By the time my kids were in school it had changed. The parents were always right, not the teachers. Today it seems like it has shifted again. The kids feel entitled and they are the ones who are always right. Unfortunately that only leads to more violence.

And then there was the assassination of Charlie Kirk this past week. Freedom of Speech is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Just because you may not agree with the words of a speaker does not give you the right to kill him. This shouldn’t be a matter of Republican versus Democrat. This is man’s inhumanity to man we’re talking about . And Kirk’s murder was a senseless and horrible tragedy.

This morning at church the sermon was about the importance of prayer and forgiveness. If there were more of that our world wouldn’t be in such a mess right now. That’s right. The entire world. It doesn’t matter what country you live in.

And while we’re on the topic of church, I never cease to be amazed by the men who walk into church with a Bible in one hand and a gun in a holster on their hip. Or the women who carry guns in their purses. The church I attend now is a smaller one and I haven’t noticed it here, but when I went to some of the more mega-sized churches it was definitely noticeable. Of course I’ve also had the experience of being locked inside a Christian church in Mexico once the service began. All in the name of security. And scary.

That’s it for doom and gloom. I pray that this coming week is a peaceful one for everyone.

Sep13

When It Works

Posted on by
Standard
When It Works

It’s a marvelous tool when it works. It enables me to write, work, bank, research and so much more. And I can do this from wherever I happen to be at the moment. But in order to do this, it requires a good internet signal with a secured connection as well as a variety of passwords.

I’ll start with the connection. In Mexico it’s an exercise in futility to do banking or make plane reservations between four and six in the afternoon. Otherwise I have a strong signal and encounter no problems. Where I am in East Wenatchee it’s a little more complicated. I usually have to reboot the modem at least once a day. And even then it can be slow.

Like this morning when I tried to do some banking. I couldn’t connect with my bank at all. I rebooted the modem. Then I was able to connect but it took forever to pay a bill. I postdated a payment this morning although payment isn’t due until sometime in October. That eliminates the frustration of not being able to connect or another slow connection closer to the due date.

Now on to passwords. I have pages of passwords.

It’s nice that some can be stored on my computer, but inevitably I’m asked to change them for one reason or another. Once again, that happened this morning. I’m thinking maybe because it was taking too long to log in to the website. And when I finally did get on the first time I couldn’t do anything so that my bank didn’t believe it was me. Until I reset my password.

Do you remember when you had to go in person to a bank to pay a bill? Somehow the inconvenience of finding a parking space and standing in line seem less frustrating now than they did years ago.

Maybe I’m showing my age.

Sep6

Take This Drug

Posted on by
Standard
Take This Drug

The mountains have disappeared for a change. There are wildfires burning all around us. All we have are masks to protect us. Why isn’t there a drug to combat the effect of smoke on the body?

There are drugs for just about everything else. Hypertension. Memory Loss. Constipation. Weight Loss. Heartburn. Arthritis. Sciatica. Hair Loss. Depression. And those are just a handful of the commercials I zap through when I watch TV.

The side effects alone are enough to dissuade me from ever using them. But unfortunately many people tend to ignore the warnings and are only more than eager to take these wonder??? drugs. Especially when some doctors are more than willing to prescribe them.

Kickbacks. How tempting these are for medical professionals; far too often too tempting to resist. The result is that patients often take inappropriate drugs that may not benefit them or indeed may even prove harmful to them.

One of the most controversial regarding kickbacks is Ozempic. I personally have a friend who two years ago lost a substantial amount of weight. However she has found that not only has the weight crept back on when she discontinued the use of this drug, but other health issues have surfaced. This miracle drug has been around for approximately six years. Unfortunately, research regarding its usage, especially long-term, is just not readily available yet.

Seniors are especially vulnerable when it comes to the drugs which claim to improve memory. I personally know people who hungrily grab at the latest drug on the market in a futile attempt to improve their memory or to prevent more memory loss.

It is important to check with your pharmacist about how these wonder drugs will interact with the drugs you are already on for other health conditions. Your pharmacist is far more knowledgeable about these than your doctor. Seriously consider the potential side effects. They can prove to be deadly.

As for me, I will continue to zap through the commercials advertising all these products. These drugs have no place in my life.

Sep2

When You’ve Gone Through The Entire Alphabet

Posted on by
Standard
When You’ve Gone Through The Entire Alphabet

It’s time to go back to Plan A, second time around. Or maybe it’s third or fourth time around. I’m really not sure. But I’ll have to see if this Plan A works out.

I had hoped to publish two books this summer. But it looks like it will be next spring. Far too complicated to publish in Canada while I’m still in the USA or in Mexico. And I’ve decided to go straight back to Mexico next month instead of taking any side trips to Canada.

And that’s okay. The third book in the trilogy will be ready to publish in the spring.

I did an interesting workshop online the other day. It was all about choosing titles for books. Right now I have a title carved in stone for the first book of the trilogy. Now I have some new ideas to toss around for the second and third books.

It’s September and the kids are all back in school. School Year’s Eve is over. And that date varied from state to state. Actually the term School Year’s Eve was a new one for me. I guess I watched too many TV commercials this year. That term was never around when I was a child nor when my kids were school-age.

It’s September and temperatures in the 100s are still in the forecast for this week. I hope I’ll still be around to see the leaves change color. Fall has become my favorite season.

Talk about plans changing……………..booking flights today was on my radar but Alaska’s website appears to have the flu today, or maybe it’s that new strain of Covid. Whatever. Or maybe someone up there doesn’t want me to book flights. Hmmmmm.

And now I’ll turn to a different type of writing. I need to make some notes to be read at book club later this week.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Aug29

Not So Typical

Posted on by
Standard
Not So Typical

While this past week has been a busy one, it has also been not so typical. But I’ll start with the weather. Way too hot and way too muggy. It started early this year and looks like it’s still going to be around for a while. No rain in sight, not around here. But last night there were quite a few lightning strikes in other parts of the state that triggered wildfires.

The USA had issued a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory a couple of weeks ago to certain states in Mexico, one of them being Sinaloa. It looks like this will be the second winter in a row that I will be unable to visit with my Mexican family in Culiacan due to all the cartel activity and violence. And I fear for the safety of my five nietos.

Here in Washington I met a woman when I was doing volunteer work. She is currently going through an ugly divorce and has decided to change her name. Okay, I get that. Once I’m legally divorced I also might do that. But I doubt that I’d turn it into a three day reclaiming celebration involving wineries and parties. And there’s also the matter of the invitation to attend the official hearing at the Court House in Wenatchee. Nope. That’s a little too bizarre, even for me.

Last night I heard from a long lost friend in Mazatlan asking me to transfer money to her Mexican bank account. When I lived in Mazatlan I had helped her out before with a few pesos from time to time. After all, we used to bake some awesome brownies together back then.

Here’s another not so typical. Linda and I went to Costco earlier in the week and I didn’t buy a single thing. No groceries. No clothes. Not even a hot dog. Very unusual.

I was sitting sipping coffee out on the patio at Weeds in Cashmere yesterday when I struck up a conversation with two women from Quincy. They had a beautiful, exceptionally well-behaved dog with them. I’d love to have a dog again. But then there is the matter of my constant travels between countries that pretty much rules out pet ownership.

The other day I went out to Lake Chelan with a friend from my writing group. Donna had grown up there decades ago and it was interesting seeing this area through her eyes. So many changes. Buildings torn down. High volume of tourist traffic. A street of condominiums where her grandparents’ house had once stood. Her childhood home gone. A very different view from the Lake Chelan that I’ve come to know in the past few years.

And now it’s Friday. I wonder if this will be a not so typical weekend too.

Aug23

More Memories

Posted on by
Standard
More Memories

August 23, 2009. International Peace Gardens. Murals in Boissevain. Morden Corn and Apple Festival. I’m exhausted just thinking that I did all that in one day. Solo too. But people who know me are well aware that if I want to travel somewhere, I don’t always wait to find someone who wants to go with me. I just go.

I had always wanted to visit the International Peace Gardens. When I was a child, some of my friends went to a music camp there in the summer. I envied them. I actually auditioned, was accepted but never did go. My parents were not in favor of it. Growing up in the shadow of an older sibling, their expectations were that I would do what he had done. And attending this camp was never anything he had done. I think that maybe this contributed to my urge to be a non-conformist and somewhat of a rebel. At any rate, it has definitely influenced my determination to explore and seek adventure in life.

Here it is, decades later, and I am able to spend a few hours at the Peace Gardens. Aside from the beautiful flower gardens, I found tranquility in The Peace Chapel. There was a monument to 9/11. The Peace Tower and The Bell Tower were rather formidable. I hope that someday I will have an opportunity to revisit this area.

I drove through Boissevain admiring all the murals I’d heard about. And then it was time to lighten the mood at the Corn and Apple Festival, an event I’d attended on previous visits to Morden.

Since 2010, most of my August 23rds have been spent in Mexico or in Washington. But there is one August 23rd that stands out in my memory and it happened years before 2009, years before I had Facebook to remind me of memories. It was a celebration in Winnipeg that actually filled the entire weekend. It involved one of my kids and sadly many people who are no longer with us today. I do have photos that are backed up on an external hard drive. Think I might just go and check them out.

Enjoy your weekend!