Tag Archives: July

Never A Dull Moment Around Here

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Never A Dull Moment Around Here

Last night I did something I hadn’t done in over 20 years. I played board games with kids in my Bible Study group. I say “kids” because they’re all in their 20s except for one other and myself. The one other is my friend Clairesse who is 31. We first met a few years ago when we were renting rooms in a house in Dryden. We went to church together, went out to eat together and sought out garage sales and estate sales. Clairesse attended a youth group at a local church and then a few of them broke off to start a smaller Bible Study group. When I was here last summer, she told the others about her friend Karen. They encouraged her to bring me to group. So I came. They welcomed me warmly and I was hooked. It’s exciting to see kids that age in a Bible Study……and also very accepting of a woman in her 70s. Some of us even kept in touch while I was away in Mexico over the winter.

Now back to the board games. Last night the group met at Treasure Trove. This is a store with hundreds of different board games. You can buy them, or you can come and play them. And play them we did. We played King of Tokyo and Escalating Quickly and more than 2 hours flew by and the store was closing. I have to tell you, this group keeps me young. I can’t wait to see what we will do the next time we get together. However I did draw the line when we met at Walla Walla Point Park. While they chased around a frisbee, I was quite content to take videos of them.

Wednesday was a Cashmere day. I volunteered at a church, toured the new library and then took in the music and food trucks at the farmers market. And yes, I visited my tree.

I was out for coffee this morning at Pybus in Wenatchee. My friend had an interesting story to tell. She was in a research group years ago for GLP-1 injections. At the time she was thrilled with her weight loss. But now she regrets ever doing it. In order to maintain that weight loss, you can’t discontinue using the drug. The weight just comes right back and then some. And then there are all the side effects and the potential damage to every vital organ in your body. Despite all the warnings, people are only too eager to lose weight this way. The drug companies and the medical system are the real winners here, not the patients.

On a happier note, I went to my book club meeting yesterday. We meet at a bookstore in Wenatchee which has a meeting space for us where we can enjoy our pot luck lunch as well as discuss books. The last book we read was a rather dry historical fiction, but the next book appears to be more interesting.

Sunday night is another Gladsong concert. I can’t believe a month has gone by since the last one.

July is off to a good start. Hope yours is too.

What Do You Mean It’s Almost July?

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What Do You Mean It’s Almost July?

June has been a busy month here in Washington. And it isn’t over yet. Among other things, this coming week will be Hobby Lobby, Costco, writing group and hopefully a day of rest before July 4th. But I’ll leave that for my next post.

I wrote about Cashmere in my last post. I will mention it again in this one. Today is Founders Day, complete with a car show, a parade, a helicopter drop, a book sale, a laser show, vendors and music. On Thursday I was at a community dinner at the church. The library is also moving to its new location in Riverside Center.

I finally made it to Leavenworth for the first time this year. My first stop was the library where I printed off copies for writers group next week. Linda met me and we picked up sandwiches at Dan’s. Back at her place we watched an interesting series on Netflix depicting the life of Abe Lincoln.

I love the book club I belong to here, although I must admit that I’m not too fond of the book we’re currently reading. While I’ve come to appreciate historical fiction, this one is far too wordy and boring.

I was at a memorial service in Monitor last weekend for a woman who was a member of our book club. It’s hard to believe that just last summer we had a birthday party for her when she turned ninety-nine.

Last night we were out at Union Hill Cider Co. where we enjoyed an amazing performance by a local country singer. Lots of families in attendance so the young kids also entertained us with their dancing as well as with rolling down the hills.

Throw in church, life group, writing group and friends and the days fly by all too quickly. And then there’s editing.

I spent a fair amount of time this month editing. Revelations, the second book in the trilogy, was published yesterday and is available on Amazon. Steve is diagnosed as being bipolar and he continues to struggle with substance abuse. Shocking revelations threaten to tear the family apart. And yes, this book also has a cliffhanger at the end.

Enjoy your weekend!

Legal Again Among Other Things

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Legal Again Among Other Things

It’s the middle of May already. Despite the fact that I’ve been primarily self-isolating for over two months now, time is going by quickly.

I’ve always loved learning. Now I have the opportunity to delve into areas of knowledge I had no time for in the past.

A course I’m taking from Berkeley on EdX deals with the science of happiness. Today’s topic was forgiveness, forgiving ourselves as well as others. The health benefits of practicing forgiveness are phenomenal. It is encouraging that it is never too late to learn to forgive. Holding grudges and exacting revenge are definitely detriments to experiencing happiness.

Another course I’m taking on Coursera is offered by University of Edinburgh and deals with how to become more active and less sedentary. Because I’m self-isolating I am not nearly as active as I was. So setting new fitness goals to improve my lifestyle is quite important to me now.

Yesterday marked my final visit to Immigration. The extension of my FMM had been processed and I returned home with my renewed visa. I am now once again living legally in Mexico and am grateful that this country has allowed me to remain here at this time.

WestJet announced that international flights to Canada will not resume until at least July. The American airlines are flying to the USA but the borders are still closed to foreigners. I have an additional 180 days thanks to my new visa. Maybe in July I’ll figure out what comes next.